DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1457#0057
ESSAY. 29
in Bede consistent, we must necessarily allow
that the royal family of Kent, and the first
eight archbishops [20] of Canterbury, were
all buried in this church; the former in St.
Martin's, or the south portico or aisle; Au-
gustm and his five immediate sussessors in the
north portico or aisle; and Theodore and
Berctwakl in the body of the church: for
when he says the two latter were deposited
in ipsa ecclesia he certainly means no more
Coventriae jacent aedificatores loci prascellentissimi conjuges."
(Scil. comes Leofrieus et Godiva comitissa uxor ejus, qui
Leofrieus obiit A. D; 10.37.) Ibid. p. 302. In all the
above-cited places, a more considerable part of the church is
certainly intended by porticus than what is commonly under-
stood by the church-porch, as it is usually rendered by our
ecclesiastical writers. It was frequently distinguished by the
name of some saint; for we read of Porticus Sti. Martini in
St. Augusta's church at Canterbury, Porticus Sti. Gregorii
in St. Peter's at York, Porticus Sti. Petrii at Beverley, Por-
ticus Sti. Pauli in St. Andrew's at Rochester; and other dis-
tinctions of that kind in many of our ancient churches. The
reason of which appears to be, that they were dedicated to
the honor of those saints. Thus we find by King Edgar's
charter to Tborney abbey, that the church there was dedicated,
A- D. 972, to St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Benedict; i. e.
the east part of the choir, where the altar was placed, to St.
Mary, the western part to St. Peter, and the north porticus to
St. Benedict. Ibid. p. 243.—From all these instances where
we word porticus occurs, it appears that the writers meant by
>t either what is now commonly called the side-isle of the
church, or sometimes it may be a particular division of it,
consisting of one arch with its recess; as in the following pas-
sage m Bede's account of the relics and ornaments with which
the church of Hexham was furnished by Acca, who succeeded
«llfred in that bishopric, A. L>. 710: " Acquisitis unde-
cunujue reliquiis B. apostolorum et martyrum Cnristiin venc-
ationem illorum altaria distinctis porticibm in hoc ipsum
u'tra muros ecclesia posutt" Bedae Hist. lib. ?. cap. 20.
in Bede consistent, we must necessarily allow
that the royal family of Kent, and the first
eight archbishops [20] of Canterbury, were
all buried in this church; the former in St.
Martin's, or the south portico or aisle; Au-
gustm and his five immediate sussessors in the
north portico or aisle; and Theodore and
Berctwakl in the body of the church: for
when he says the two latter were deposited
in ipsa ecclesia he certainly means no more
Coventriae jacent aedificatores loci prascellentissimi conjuges."
(Scil. comes Leofrieus et Godiva comitissa uxor ejus, qui
Leofrieus obiit A. D; 10.37.) Ibid. p. 302. In all the
above-cited places, a more considerable part of the church is
certainly intended by porticus than what is commonly under-
stood by the church-porch, as it is usually rendered by our
ecclesiastical writers. It was frequently distinguished by the
name of some saint; for we read of Porticus Sti. Martini in
St. Augusta's church at Canterbury, Porticus Sti. Gregorii
in St. Peter's at York, Porticus Sti. Petrii at Beverley, Por-
ticus Sti. Pauli in St. Andrew's at Rochester; and other dis-
tinctions of that kind in many of our ancient churches. The
reason of which appears to be, that they were dedicated to
the honor of those saints. Thus we find by King Edgar's
charter to Tborney abbey, that the church there was dedicated,
A- D. 972, to St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Benedict; i. e.
the east part of the choir, where the altar was placed, to St.
Mary, the western part to St. Peter, and the north porticus to
St. Benedict. Ibid. p. 243.—From all these instances where
we word porticus occurs, it appears that the writers meant by
>t either what is now commonly called the side-isle of the
church, or sometimes it may be a particular division of it,
consisting of one arch with its recess; as in the following pas-
sage m Bede's account of the relics and ornaments with which
the church of Hexham was furnished by Acca, who succeeded
«llfred in that bishopric, A. L>. 710: " Acquisitis unde-
cunujue reliquiis B. apostolorum et martyrum Cnristiin venc-
ationem illorum altaria distinctis porticibm in hoc ipsum
u'tra muros ecclesia posutt" Bedae Hist. lib. ?. cap. 20.