ey of nuns within the city and the
monastery which is called Hyde without the walls. Here was an image of
Our Lord crucified, wrought with a profusion of gold and silver and
precious stones, through the pious solicitude of Canute, who was
formerly king and presented it. This being seized by the flames and
thrown to the ground was afterwards stripped of its ornaments at the
command of the Legate himself; more than five hundred marks of silver
and thirty of gold, which were found in it, served for a largess to the
soldiers."

It would, perhaps, be untrue to say that Winchester never really
recovered from the appalling sack and pillage which followed the flight
of Matilda; but it is true to assert that time was fighting against
her, and that the thirteenth century did not bring the splendid gifts
to her that it brought to so many of our cities. One great ceremony,
the last of its kind, however, took place in her Cathedral in 1194; the
second coronation of Coeur de Lion. "Then King Richard," we read,
"being clothed in his royal robes, with the crown upon his head,
holding in his right hand a royal sceptre which terminated in a cross,
and in his left hand a golden wand with the figure of a dove at the top
of it, came forth from his apartment in the priory, being conducted on
the right hand by the Bishop of Ely, his Chancellor, and on the left by
the Bishop of London. ... The silken canopy was held on four lances
over the King by four Earls. ... The King being thus conducted into the
Cathedral and up to the High Altar, there fell upon his knees, and
devoutly received the archbishop's solemn benediction. He was then led
to the throne, which was prepared for him, on the south side of the
choir. ... When Mass was finished the King was led back to his
apartments with the solemnities aforesaid. He then laid aside his robes
and crown, put on other robes and a crown that were much lighter, and
so proceeded to dinner, which was served in the monks' refectory."

Winchester's next glory was the birth of Henry III., known to the day
of his death as Henry of Winchester--this in 1207. In 1213 the city was
the scene of the reconciliation of King John and Archbishop Stephen,
but in 1265 she was sacked by the younger de Montfort, and this seems
finally to have achieved her overthrow. When Edward I. came to the
throne in 1272 he abandoned Winchester. The city never regained its
place, London was too strong for it both geographically and
eco