DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6912#0128
76
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
monastic buildings to the south of the edifice here represented, the same style and
ornaments prevail. Hence it may be fairly inferred that they are all of the same
age, to ascertain which we must refer to the history of the monastery. In this it is
recorded that, "upon Easter-day, in the year of our Lord 1148, the four bishops of
Worcester, Exeter, Landaffe, and St. Asaph, consecrated the church and buildings
which Robert Fitz-Harding had newly built near the town of Bristow in his manor
of Bileswicke."* Barrettf says, "the monastery was began to be erected in the
year 1 140." An inscription on the north front of the gateway is at variance with
these dates, in stating that King Henry the Second and Robert Fitz-Harding were
the first founders of this monastery. As Henry did not succeed to the crown till
1154, there must be some error either in the inscription, or in the former date :
unless, indeed, Henry joined Fitz-Harding in the foundation before he came to the
throne, or unless this applies to the time of converting the priory into an abbey. J
The letters of the inscription appear to be of the same age as the upper part of the
gateway; i. e. the reign of Henry VII. It extends from buttress to buttress, on a
facia, immediately over the large arch;
l\ty ^enrirbg ^rrbnuus; ft SBommbs ftobertbs filibs ^artringt fflu SBegte
Dariaf foujtisi iWonastrrii prtmC funiiatorrss ejrtiterunt
* Smythc's Berkley-Hernesse MSS. This Robert Fitz-Harding, according to these MSS. in Berkley Castle,
was son of Harding, a mayor of Bristow, who was "certainly second son of a King of Denmark, and was sent
to England by William the Conqueror, in 1069, and settled in Baldwin Street, Bristol. His eldest son, Robert,
advanced Henry II. several sums of money to support his expenses in carrying on his wars against Stephen. In
return, that monarch granted him the estate of Roger de Berkeley, of Dursley. About this time Stephen was a
prisoner at Bristol. Robert Fitz-Harding, as Camden states, " was an alderman of Bristol, and so great a
favourite of King Henry, that, by his favour, his son Maurice married the daughter of Lord Barkley, whence his
descendants, who flourished in great honour, are still styled Barons Barkley, and some of them are buried in this
church." Cough's Camden, I. p. 64. In "the Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain," Vol. I. p. 28, is a view
of a monument, said to be raised to the memory of Robert Fitz-Harding, and Eva his wife ; and an inscription,
attached to the tomb, contains the same statement: but the tomb is evidently commemorative of Maurice, Lord
Berkley, who died 1368, and his lady, whose statues, in the costume of that age, are recumbent on the tomb.
The founder was interred at the entrance to the choir; but a flat stone, which formerly indicated the spot, has
been removed, and is now nearly covered by " the Dean and Prebendaries seat." Willis's Survey of Cathedrals,
I. p. 768. The plan of the cathedral, in Barrett's History, is copied from that in Willis's Survey.
t History of Bristol, p. 247.
X Tanner says, " this monastery was certainly founded before King Stephen's death ; " Henry, " when only
Duke of Normandy, made several donations to it." Notitia Monastica. It was first a priory of black-canon»,
and " changed into an abbey in the latter end of the reign of Henry II." Fitz-Harding died 1170.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
monastic buildings to the south of the edifice here represented, the same style and
ornaments prevail. Hence it may be fairly inferred that they are all of the same
age, to ascertain which we must refer to the history of the monastery. In this it is
recorded that, "upon Easter-day, in the year of our Lord 1148, the four bishops of
Worcester, Exeter, Landaffe, and St. Asaph, consecrated the church and buildings
which Robert Fitz-Harding had newly built near the town of Bristow in his manor
of Bileswicke."* Barrettf says, "the monastery was began to be erected in the
year 1 140." An inscription on the north front of the gateway is at variance with
these dates, in stating that King Henry the Second and Robert Fitz-Harding were
the first founders of this monastery. As Henry did not succeed to the crown till
1154, there must be some error either in the inscription, or in the former date :
unless, indeed, Henry joined Fitz-Harding in the foundation before he came to the
throne, or unless this applies to the time of converting the priory into an abbey. J
The letters of the inscription appear to be of the same age as the upper part of the
gateway; i. e. the reign of Henry VII. It extends from buttress to buttress, on a
facia, immediately over the large arch;
l\ty ^enrirbg ^rrbnuus; ft SBommbs ftobertbs filibs ^artringt fflu SBegte
Dariaf foujtisi iWonastrrii prtmC funiiatorrss ejrtiterunt
* Smythc's Berkley-Hernesse MSS. This Robert Fitz-Harding, according to these MSS. in Berkley Castle,
was son of Harding, a mayor of Bristow, who was "certainly second son of a King of Denmark, and was sent
to England by William the Conqueror, in 1069, and settled in Baldwin Street, Bristol. His eldest son, Robert,
advanced Henry II. several sums of money to support his expenses in carrying on his wars against Stephen. In
return, that monarch granted him the estate of Roger de Berkeley, of Dursley. About this time Stephen was a
prisoner at Bristol. Robert Fitz-Harding, as Camden states, " was an alderman of Bristol, and so great a
favourite of King Henry, that, by his favour, his son Maurice married the daughter of Lord Barkley, whence his
descendants, who flourished in great honour, are still styled Barons Barkley, and some of them are buried in this
church." Cough's Camden, I. p. 64. In "the Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain," Vol. I. p. 28, is a view
of a monument, said to be raised to the memory of Robert Fitz-Harding, and Eva his wife ; and an inscription,
attached to the tomb, contains the same statement: but the tomb is evidently commemorative of Maurice, Lord
Berkley, who died 1368, and his lady, whose statues, in the costume of that age, are recumbent on the tomb.
The founder was interred at the entrance to the choir; but a flat stone, which formerly indicated the spot, has
been removed, and is now nearly covered by " the Dean and Prebendaries seat." Willis's Survey of Cathedrals,
I. p. 768. The plan of the cathedral, in Barrett's History, is copied from that in Willis's Survey.
t History of Bristol, p. 247.
X Tanner says, " this monastery was certainly founded before King Stephen's death ; " Henry, " when only
Duke of Normandy, made several donations to it." Notitia Monastica. It was first a priory of black-canon»,
and " changed into an abbey in the latter end of the reign of Henry II." Fitz-Harding died 1170.