Dugdale. The site was granted 37 Henry VIII. to Richard Bethell.

The reason assigned for this removal by Tanner, and the authors he cites, was, that the Churches and habitations of the two societies were so near together, that differences arose to a great height, occasioned by singing, the ringing of bells and other matters. Milner, quoting Trussel's MSS. attributes it to the unhealthiness of the situation, from the waters which issued from the new made castle ditches passing through a great part of the city, and at last, settling round the Abbey. This seems confirmed by Malmesbury's remark on the newly erected Monastery at Hyde, viz-"sanius incolitur." De Pontif.

In addition to these acts of munificence, the Bishop built a spacious Palace at Southwark, near London bridge, for the town residence of the Winchester Prelates. Gale, as has been observed in our reprint of his work, observes, that this Palace is now converted into streets of dwelling-houses, the rent of which is appropriated to the

See.

A plate of Winchester house, bank side, Southwark, is engraved in the Gent. Mag. 1791, p. 1169, accompanied by the following account:- "Winchester House was built by William Giffard, Bishop of that See, about the year 1107, 7. Henry I., upon a plot of ground belonging to the Prior of Bermondsey, as appears by a writ directed to the barons of the Exchequer, 1366, 41. Edward III. and was undoubtedly one of the most magnificent of its kind in the city, or suburbs, of London. We find the Bishop of Winchester in the reign of Henry VI., on his being made Cardinal of St. Eusebius in France, was, on his approach to London, met by the Mayor, Aldermen, and many chief citizens on horseback, and conducted by them in great state to his palace at Southwark. To judge of the original grandeur of this place, an intelligent spectator need only visit it in its present state of ruin. Time has not yet been able to extinguish the marks of venerable antiquity; though perhaps from its commercial situation, few places have been more exposed to the attacks of violence."

It appears from the Annales Wint. under the year 1122, that great disorder arose between the Cathedral Monks and the Bishop, on account of the latter's alienation of some of the revenues. Their disagreements were at length settled by the interference of the King; and under the

year 1128, we find the Bishop living in the greatest harmony among the monks, and at length he even took the monastic habit.

After having sat Bishop here 21 years, reckoning from his actual consecration, Giffard died according to the Annal. Wint. p. 299, and Matt. Paris, vol. 1. p. 71, l. 47, in 1128; but according to Florentius's Continuation, and the Sax. Chron. in 1129. The latter adds, that he was buried at Winchester the 8th day before the Calends of February. See Ingram's Trans. p. 359.

The following is his Epitaph, engraved on a stone, placed just above the tomb of his predecessor:

Wilhelmus Giffard, Prosul jacet hic tumulatus,
Qui suscepit adhuc vivens habitum Monachatûs.

Rudb. 1. 5. c. 3.

III. HENRY DE BLOIS.

SUCCEEDED A. D. 1129.-DIED A. D. 1171.

This Prelate was nephew of King Henry I., being a son of his sister Adela, and son of the Earl of Blois, and brother of King Stephen. He was previously to his elevation to the purple, Abbot of Glastonbury. "A. D. 1129, The King (Henry I.) gave the Bishopric after Michaelmas to the Abbot Henry, of Glastonbury, his nephew, and he was consecrated Bishop by the Archbishop, William of Canterbury, on the 15th day before the Calends of December."-Sax. Chron. p. 359.

He had been a Monk at Clugny. "Cluniacensis a puerilibus annis monachus existens. Girald. Camb.

de vitis. 6 Epis. coat. p. 421. Gale and others, call him Abbot of Bermondsey. Giraldus does not mention that preferment. In 1134 he was appointed the Pope's legate. -Annal. Wint. p. 299.

I have endeavoured in this work, as much as possible, to keep Biography and History, distinct: but in the present instance, so involved was this Prelate with the measures of the Court, in consequence of his near affinity to the reigning monarch, that the history of the man, will in a great measure, necessarily be the history of the times.

King Henry I. called Beauclerk, dying in Normandy at the end of 1135, his nephew Stephen hastened to London, and used such diligence, that he procured himself to be crowned on the ensuing festival of the saint of his name, only 22 days after his predecessor's demise. Our Prelate, whether from natural affection or ambitious views, took part with his brother.

At this period the Prelates, like the lay nobles, built their Palaces in the form of castles, and Bishop Blois in 1138 (Rudb.An Wint.) erected the Castle of Wolvesey, at the east end of the city of Winchester, as likewise others at his principal manors Merden, Farnham, Waltham, Downton, and Taunton. (Annal.) The King, suspicious of the fidelity of his more potent subjects, and impelled by avarice, seized upon several of the castles belonging to the Prelates, and appropriated their treasures to his own use. His barbarity towards Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, we have already had occasion to notice in the History of the Lives of the Bishops of Salisbury. The ingratitude of King Stephen towards that Prelate, and the violence offered to the Church in the person of some of its most distinguished members, alienated in some degree, though as the sequel shows, not irretrievably, even his own brother the Bishop of Winchester, who employed his authority as papal legate to convene a Synod at Winchester, before which, he cited the King to answer to the outrages he had committed; but the arguments of Aubrey de Vere, an able lawyer on the King's side, disconcerted the assembly: in consequence of this, the Prelates had recourse to supplications which the King treated with indifference, and he thereby alienated the affections both of the Prelates and Citizens.

In this situation of affairs the Empress Matilda (or Maud, as she is frequently called), landed with her brother Robert, Earl of Gloucester, on the coast of Sussex, (Prid. Cal. Oct. an. 1139, W. Malm.) and the flames of civil war were soon lighted up throughout the Kingdom. The Empress was apprized of the favourable dispositions of the people of Winchester towards her, (W. Malm. Hist. Novel) and she even hoped that her cousin, (our Bishop,) who had lately as well as on many other occasions opposed the unjust pretensions of his brother the King, would assist her cause. But he had marshalled himself on his brother's side, and to support his cause, put in practice a most unjust and base stratagem

towards her. He invited a great number of the Nobility and chief men in the interest of Matilda, to an hospitable entertainment at his new Castle of Wolvesey, and causing the gates to be shut upon them, he then endeavoured, partly by persuasion and partly by constraint, to induce them to give up the strong holds they were in possession of to his brother. (Matt. Paris, ad. an. 1139.) The scheme, however, failed in the most important article of it, which was to secure the Castle of Winchester: for the chief magistrate of the city, who was the commanding officer of that fortress, suspecting what was intended against him, escaped in time from Wolvesey, and flying to the citadel, secured it for the Empress.

The war continuing with encreasing fury and ravages, Stephen at length, after performing prodigies of valour, was taken prisoner under the walls of Lincoln, and almost the whole Kingdom declared in favour of Maud. In these extremities, our Bishop found it necessary to enter into a negociation with the Empress and Earl Robert; (Will. Malm.) the terms of which being settled, he went out as far as Magdalen Hill in solemn procession, accompanied by the Nobility, Bishops, Abbots, Citizens, Priests, the Monks of both Universities, and even the Nuns of the Abbey,* in order to receive her and her brother, together with the Nobility that attended her. Dismounting from her horse, she was accordingly conducted by her cousin, the Bishop on her right hand, and the Bishop of St. David's on her left, with four other Bishops, and the company above described, through the principal street of the City, amidst unbounded acclamations and joy, to the Cathedral. (Will. Malm.) The service being concluded, she retired to the Castle, when both the City of Winchester and the Kingdom in general, flattered themselves they had seen an end of their calamities, which in fact were only then beginning. The cause of their recommencement as we are informed by William of Malmesbury, who, as himself, informs us, was present at the Synod which was held at Winchester, he acknowledging Matilda's title. The Bishop who was

In patenti planitie camporum juxta Winton." Will. Malm. “On Madg. Hill."-Trussel. For an account of these transactions see Chron. Gervas. an. 1141,

So, souling a peace upon secure grounds, and om wat would satisfy his family under

Es proposed to Matilda that the the Continent of the captive King, at his son Eustace. The Empress, who Citizens of London by her haughtig. Rer. Angl.) treated this proposal Contempt. (Will. Malm.) This conduct shop, made him neglect to pay court to er he had done since the late pacification. apart, growing suspicious, came from she had spent some time, to Winchester, erable force, under pretence of taking up in the Royal Castle; but, evidently for the A securing the Bishop and his Castle at Wolccordingly as he had neglected to wait upon seat him a summons to attend her, to which he the following ambiguous answer :- 'I will yself.' (Will. Malm.) And so he did, by As Castle in fit condition to stand a seige, which wly laid to it by the Empress's partizans, Robert der, and David King of Scotland her uncle. This was a signal of insurrection to Stephen's Queen, also Matilda, to his General, William of Ipres, and to tizans in general, who were numerous in London. Malm.) They accordingly marched in all haste relief of the besieged Prelate, upon whose arrival he tables were turned, and those who had made the were now forced to stand on their defence. The As were great and warlike on both sides, and they yed on their military operations seven weeks (Gervas. www.) in the heart of the city: (Annal. Wint.)--a calamity ost unparalleled in the history of other cities. The ty of the Empress had possession of whatever was to o north side of the High-street, where the houses of the itizens stood in general together with the Royal Castle. The King's party held the Bishop's Palace, the Cathedral, and whatever else was to the south of the High-street, By degrees, also, they forced their enemies from all the other quarters of the city, and confined them to the Castle; but in effecting this, they made use of a most barbarous atratagem. They threw fire balls from Wolvesey upon the houses possessed by the opposite party: (Will. Malm.) a destructive measure in which the Earl of