erect a more noble one. And in the space of seven years he raised this new
church from the very foundations and rendered it nearly perfect....
Archbishop Anselm, who succeeded Lanfranc, appointed Ernulf to be
prior.... Having taken down the eastern part of the church which Lanfranc
had built, he erected it so much more magnificently, that nothing like it
could be seen in England, either for the brilliancy of its glass windows,
the beauty of its marble pavement, or the many coloured pictures which led
the wondering eyes to the very summit of the ceiling." It was this part of
the church, however, that was completed by Ernulf's successor, Conrad, and
afterwards known as Conrad's choir. It appears that Anselm "allowed the
monks to manage their own affairs, and gave them for priors Ernulf, and
then Conrad, both monks of their own monastery. And thus it happened that,
in addition to the general prosperity and good order of their property,
which resulted from this freedom, they were enabled to enlarge their
church by all that part which stretches from the great tower to the east;
which work Anselm himself provided for," having "granted to the said
church the revenues of his town of Peckham, for seven years, the whole of
which were expended upon the new work." Prof. Willis, unable to account
for the haste with which the east end of Lanfranc's church was pulled
down, assumes that the monks "did not think their church large enough for
the importance of their monastery," and moreover wanted shrine-room for
the display of relics. The main body of Lanfranc's church was left
standing, and is described as follows by Gervase. "The tower, raised upon
great pillars, is placed in the midst of the church, like the centre in
the middle of a circle. It had on its apex a gilt cherub. On the west of
the tower is the nave of the church, supported on either side upon eight
pillars. Two lofty towers with gilded pinnacles terminate this nave or
aula. A gilded _corona_ hangs in the midst of the church. A screen with a
loft (_pulpitum_) separated in a manner the aforesaid tower from the nave,
and had in the middle and on the side towards the nave, the altar of the
holy cross. Above the _pulpitum_ and placed across the church, was the
beam, which sustained a great cross, two cherubim, and the images of St.
Mary and St. John the Apostle.... The great tower had a cross from each
side, to wit, a south cross and a north cross, each of which had in the
midst