s size of the
Lincoln diocese was under consideration; and Ely seemed on every account
to be the best place for the cathedral of a new diocese to be taken from
it. The pope was entirely favourable to the design. Though the letters
announcing the pope's consent were dated November 21st, 1108, it was not
till October, 1109, that the king granted his charter for constituting
the bishopric. In this he nominated Hervey to be the first bishop, in
accordance with the recommendation of the pope himself.

The monastery did not come to an end by the substitution of a bishop for
an abbot. But for the purposes of this handbook, concerned as it is
mainly with the fabric of the cathedral, the remainder of the historical
portion will be associated with the names of the bishops--not that, by
any means, the most important works connected with the church were due
to the initiation of the bishops, nor was the cost always, or indeed
generally, defrayed by them. The monastic body spent large sums upon the
building, as has been seen in the case of the octagon: but these works
are mostly to be credited to the whole body, and, except in a few cases,
which are duly noticed, are not assigned specially to the prior who was
the head of the house at the time.

[Illustration: BISHOP ALCOCK'S CHANTRY FROM THE RETRO-CHOIR.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Memorials of Ely," p. 18. Gloucester is another example.

[2] "The Cathedral Church of Chester," in Bell's "Cathedral
Series," p. 3.

[3] In MS., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Referred to by
Bentham, p. 63.

[4] Quoted in "Fenland Notes and Queries," i., p. 163. The writer
has found a will in the Probate Registry at Peterborough in which
the testator, John Mobbe, of March, dates his will on the day of
S. Ermenilda (February 13th), 1457.

[5] Introduction to Farren's "Cathedral Cities of Ely and
Norwich."

[6] Pages 76-78.

[7] The success of this attempt may have encouraged the monks to
make a similar effort some fifty years later. The body of S.
Felix, the first of the East Anglian bishops, had been interred
at Soham, where he is said to have founded a monastery. Soham was
also at first, before the removal of the seat of the bishopric to
Dunwich, the headquarters of his diocese. Felix had indeed first
been buried at Dunwich, but (probably from fear of the Danes) the
body had been rem