Jocelin of Wells: Bishop, Builder, Courtier

238 Pages·2010·7.538 MB·English

by  Robert Dunning (editor)

spine 22mm P
15 apr 10
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Jocelin, bishop of Wells (d. 1242), is an iconic figure in his native city of Wells C
in Somerset, though his career as churchman, courtier and statesman also took
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him beyond the boundaries of the west country. Coming from a family which had
produced bishops over several generations, he played a major role in a developing L
diocese and mother church, and in the growth of towns, fairs and markets in early
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thirteenth-century Somerset. He had a crucial influence on the completion of what
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was to become Wells Cathedral, and on the Bishop’s Palace beside it.
The essays in this volume look at Jocelin’s life and career from a variety of

perspectives, with a particular focus on his involvement in the building work to o
complete the cathedral as well as the building of the earliest part of the Bishop’s f
Palace. Architectural, archaeological and even botanical approaches are used to
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explain the curious physical nature of the palace site, the significance of the work For a description of this book, see the
back of the jacket.
still standing there from Jocelin’s time, and the possible sites of other contemporary
work. A final chapter studies the design and purpose of Robert Burnell’s additions to
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Jocelin’s work.
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Contributors: RoBeRT Dunning, CHRiSToPHeR geRRARD, DiAnA gReenWAy, L
DAviD J. Hill, MARk HoRTon, MATTHeW Reeve, JeRRy SAMPSon, JAne SAyeRS,
S
TiM TATTon-BRoWn, Alex TuRneR, niCHolAS vinCenT, SeTHinA WATSon,
keiTH WilkinSon. J
O C E L I N
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o
b of W E L L S
The crozier head found at Wells and now e
r
ascribed to the time of Bishop Jocelin. t

Reproduced with permission of the Dean D
and Chapter of Wells. u Bishop, Builder, Courtier
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(
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an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY14620-2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com
Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
VOLUME XXXVI
JOCELIN OF WELLS
BISHOP, BUILDER, COURTIER
Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
ISSN 0955–2480
General Editor
Christopher Harper-Bill
Previously published titles in the series
are listed at the back of this volume
JOCELIN OF WELLS
BISHOP, BUILDER, COURTIER
Edited by
ROBERT DUNNING
THE BOYDELL PRESS
© Contributors 2010
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
First published 2010
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978–1–84383–556–1
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction Robert Dunning 1
Bishop Jocelin of Wells
1 Jocelin of Wells: the making of a bishop in the reign of King John 9
Nicholas Vincent
2 Jocelin of Wells and the role of a bishop in the thirteenth century 34
Jane Sayers
3 Jocelin of Wells and his cathedral chapter 53
Diana Greenway
4 The bishop and his cathedral cities 67
Sethina Watson
Bishop Jocelin the Builder
5 Jocelin of Wells as a palace builder 101
Tim Tatton-Brown
6 Bishop Jocelin and his buildings in Wells 110
Jerry Sampson
The Bishop’s Palace at Wells
7 Geophysical and geoarchaeological survey at the Bishop’s Palace, 125
Wells
Alex Turner, Christopher Gerrard and Keith Wilkinson
8 The location of Bishop Jocelin’s palace at Wells 137
Mark Horton
9 Lichens on the stonework of the Bishop’s Palace, Wells 154
David J. Hill
10 Robert Burnell and the transformation of the Bishop’s Palace 169
Matthew Reeve
Index 197
Illustrations
Colour plates (between pp. 114 and 115)
1 Crozier head found at Wells and now ascribed to the time of Bishop
Jocelin.
2 The election of Bishop Jocelin, 1206.
3 The consecration of Bishop Jocelin, 1206.
4 Seal of Bishop Jocelin, attached to the declaration of his consecration.
5 Jocelin, bishop of Bath, grants to the dean and canons of Wells the church
of Congresbury.
6 Wells Cathedral, west front: hot mastic repairs.
7 Wells Cathedral: the west doors and the painting scheme of 1239.
8 The Bishop’s Palace.
9 Bishop Jocelin’s range from the south-east.
10 The Bishop’s Palace: two blocked windows.
11 a and b The Bishop’s Palace: ashlar lining and decoration in the roof-
space of Bishop Jocelin’s range.
12 Extract from the plan by John Carter of the ‘General Plan of the
Monastical Buildings’ at Wells.
13 Excavations on the south side of Bishop Burnell’s Great Hall.
14 Culvert to carry water from gardens to moat
15 Caloplaca polycarpa growing on Verrucaria baldensis.
16 Sarcogyne ‘pruinosa’ with Caloplaca variabilis.
17 The rare Catapyrenium rufescens, Physcia sp. and Caloplaca aurantia.
18 Collema confertum, Candelariella medians and Caloplaca citrina.
19 Capping stone of rampart wall east of the north tower, showing the
weathered surface with solution holes.
20 Bishop Burnell’s Great Hall and chapel from the north-west.
21 Bishop Burnell’s chapel from the north.
22 The solar end of the Great Hall.
Figures
1 Bishop Jocelin, Bishop Richard Poore of Salisbury and Hugh de 39
Tournai, chancellor of Chichester, give absolution to those about to
fight for the liberation of England and praise God for the victory over
the French off Sandwich in 1217
2 Ordinance of Bishop Jocelin, changing the common payments of the 62
canons and vicars of Wells from bread to money; 17 October 1242
3 The Wells brothers. Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, grants to Jocelin, 92
bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, half a knight’s fee in Rowberrow
and Draycott; 11 July 1214
4 Bishop Jocelin’s range: plans of ground and first floors 106–107
5 Bishop Jocelin’s range: extract from the engraving of 1733 by Samuel 120
and Nathaniel Buck
6 Plot of the resistivity data for the Bishop’s Palace 128
7 Plot of the magnetometry data for the Bishop’s Palace 128
8 Annotated interpretation of the resistivity data for the Bishop’s Palace 129
9 Annotated interpretation of the magnetometry data for the Bishop’s 129
Palace
10 Location of boreholes drilled in 2003 and 2004 130
11 The percussion drilling equipment being used to sample an area of 131
the present croquet lawn
12 North-west to south-east composite stratigraphic transect 132
13 North–south composite stratigraphic transect 132
14 Engraving of the Bishop’s Palace by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, 1733 138
15 Extract from the map of Wells by William Simes, 1735, showing 140
details of the palace grounds
16 Drawing of the Bishop’s Palace by C.A. Buckler 142
17 General plan of the Bishop’s Palace by C.A. Buckler 143
18 Extract from the map of Canon Grange manor, before 1827, showing 146
Horse Pond and Upper (or Palace) Mill
19 Relieving arches along the north wall of the palace enclosure 147
indicating the line of the earlier stream
20 Detail of the southern hearth on the south side of the Great Hall 150
with a crescent of stones and internal charcoal spreads
21 Reconstruction of the topography of the palace at the time of 152
Bishop Jocelin
22 Plan showing locations of the sites referred to in Table 9.1. 162
23 Windows of Bishop Burnell’s Great Hall 178
24 Window in the church at Nantwich, Cheshire 179
25 The Great Hall: elevation and section of the south-west turret, 184
sketched and measured by A.W. Pugin
26 Junction between the south-east turret of the Great Hall and the 186
south-west corner of the chapel
27 Windows of the palace chapel of St Etheldreda, Holborn 190
Preface and Acknowledgements
This collection springs from two main initiatives.
In the mid-1990s some linear features appeared in the lawn of the B ishop’s
Palace at Wells, which were investigated by the archaeologist Dr Lucy
MacLaurin. Subsequently, recognising their importance, the then bishop of
Bath and Wells, Jim Thompson, asked Dr MacLaurin to form a committee
of local experts. With advice from the Somerset County Archaeologist,
Bob Croft, and with the bishop’s enthusiastic encouragement, she gathered
together a group of archaeologists and others interested in the history of the
building and its site. Some of the work commissioned by this committee is
now published here for the first time.
Peter Price, who succeeded Jim Thompson in 2001, and his wife Dee
immediately saw the immense potential of the palace and continued to
support the committee in its wish to examine their home and garden in
detail and to explain the site, the ruins and the buildings still in use so that
visitors might be attracted in greater numbers and receive increased satisfac-
tion from their experience. The year 2006 provided a convenient one for
drawing attention to the palace, for it marked the 800th anniversary of the
election and enthronement of Bishop Jocelin, sometimes known as Jocelin
Trotman, more often as Jocelin of Wells, as bishop of Bath. It may not have
been in 1206 that Jocelin put up the first buildings on the present site but
without question it was the beginning of his significant rule as bishop, signifi-
cant both for the palace he clearly built, for the great minster church to the
north which was to become his successor’s cathedral, and for the diocese that
he presided over for nearly forty years. Such an anniversary needed to be
marked so that the great bishop and his palace could be worthily celebrated.
Thus, during a busy week of celebrations in September 2006, actively
inspired and supported by the bishop and his wife and organised under
the leadership of Brigadier John Hemsley, two days were given over to a
conference where an enthusiastic audience heard experts talk on historical,
archaeological, liturgical, cultural and architectural aspects of the history
of the cathedral, palace and city of Wells, set in both national and interna-
tional contexts. Dr Lucy MacLaurin most successfully organised the confer-
ence and a large debt of gratitude is owed to her.
The thanks of the planning committee are due first to the contributors to
the conference and to this volume; and second to a number of people who
made significant contributions in so many ways: Mrs Judy Bloom-Davis; Mrs
Elizabeth Cairncross and the pupils of Wells Cathedral School; Mrs Marian