oved to Soham. But Soham itself, in its turn,
was utterly destroyed by the Danes, and the remains of the bishop
became neglected. In 1020 the Abbot of Ramsey obtained permission
to move them to his abbey; and while he was doing this, the monks
of Ely set out with the intention of intercepting the convoy and
securing the body for their own church. A dense fog prevented the
Ely men from reaching the monks of Ramsey.

[8] "Annals of England," i., p. 115.

[9] The Saxon version, together with some valuable notes by
Professor Skeat, including a literal transcript, a corrected
transcript in the true spelling of the period, and a discussion
of the grammatical forms, is given in Dean Stubbs' "Memorials of
Ely," pp. 49-52.

[10] "Christian Ballads and Poems," by Rev. Arthur Cleveland
Coxe. The author was ultimately Bishop of Western New York.

[11] Bentham, p. 97.

[12] "Chronicon Angliae Petriburgense," p. 57, _sub anno_ 1072.

[13] Bentham says, "after he had lived too years complete." The
"Liber Eliensis" says he was in his eighty-seventh year when
appointed abbot; if so, he was nearly, but not quite, one hundred
years old at his death.

[14] "Chronicon Angliae Petriburgense," _sub anno_ 1102.

CHAPTER V.

HISTORY OF THE SEE.

Ely thus became a cathedral--of the kind that was called conventual
cathedrals. No such cathedral had a dean and canons till the time of
Henry VIII. The prior and convent were the custodians of the fabric, and
perhaps to a certain extent they acted as the bishop's council; and the
bishop, as representing the abbot, had the right to preside in the
chapter-house whenever he chose.[1] The bishop also had the power of
appointing several of the officers of the monastery, and of displacing
them. At Ely the priors were appointed by the bishop until 1198. In 1197
the offices of bishop and prior were vacant at the same time, and the
convent was unable to elect a bishop without having a prior: so the
Archbishop of Canterbury authorised the monks to proceed to the election
of a prior; and it is believed that subsequent priors were all elected
by the monks, and not appointed by the bishop.

The first bishop, as has been seen, was #Hervey# (1109-1131), Bishop
of Bangor.[2] He had been consecrated in 1102. His ecclesiastical
discipline in Wales was very strict, and he made many enemie