ght Bishops lived and died at Crediton, and the ninth demanded that
the see should be transferred from Crediton to Exeter. The chief reason
put forward was that Exeter was a strong city, and less likely to be
ravaged by Irish Danes and other 'barbarian pirates,' but Professor
Freeman suggests that Leofric also desired the change because he had
been educated on the Continent, where it was never the custom for a
Bishop's chief seat to be in a village when a larger town was in his
diocese. Anyhow, Leofric obtained his wish, and was led to his throne in
St Peter's Church in Exeter by the King on one hand and the Queen on the
other, in the presence of two Archbishops and other nobles.

The palace and park at Crediton remained in the possession of the
Bishops till the Dissolution.

The beautiful Church of St Cross stands either upon or close to the site
of the original cathedral of the Bishops, which, on the removal of the
See to Exeter, was made a collegiate church, with precentor, treasurer,
dean, eighteen canons and as many vicars, besides singing-men or
lay-vicars.

The present church is mainly Perpendicular, though the Lady Chapel is
early Decorated, and there are portions of still earlier work. The tower
is central, square, and rather low. It is surmounted by four embattled
turrets, and battlements run round the roof of the church. The whole
building is of a soft rose-red colour, but the walls within were once
whitewashed, and are now of a slightly cooler tint. The clustered
pillars look as if, over a warm, soft grey, a faint, transparent tinge
of rose-colour had passed, leaving a very lovely effect; they are tall
and graceful, and delicate carving adorns the capitals. The nave is
lofty and unusually long. On the south side of the chancel are sedilia,
once elaborately decorated and glorious in vermilion and gold; a design
resembling a very large but intricate network in gold spreads over the
backs of the sedilia, and a little figure, with faint traces of colour
and gilding, stands at one end. On the north side of the chancel is the
effigy, lying at full length, of William Peryam; and close by is a
monument to John Tuckfield, engraved with an epitaph full of praise, in
which occur these lines, in peculiar lettering and spelling:

'Why do I live, in Life and Thrall,
Of Joy and all Bereaft,
Yor Winges were grown, To Heaven are flown,
'Cause I had none am Leaft.'

The Lady Chapel is beautifully decorat