Part 7 (1/2)
The vicissitudes in the church's fortunes have left little for us to see that is not part and parcel of the structure.
That there were ”orgaynes” as early as 1461 we know from entries in the city records giving the cost at different times of wire, glue, nails, thread, etc., for the reparation of them, while a payment of _2d._ for ”a string” suggests that they were a combination of wind and string stops, similar to the 1733 organ of St. Michael's as built by Thomas Swarbrick. In 1519 the Prior bought the ”metell of ye old orgayns in bablake” for _9s. 10d._, but doubtless the new one disappeared in the troublous times that followed. A new one has recently been set up.
The pulpit is of stone and quite new, and the font, erected in 1843, is a copy of that of St. Edward's, Cambridge.
There are five bells, the inscriptions on them being as follows:
1st. Henrycus Bagley. M.C. Fecit 1676.
2nd. Pack & Chapman. London 1778. Richard Eaton, Church-warden.
3rd. Henric Dodenhale, Fecit. M.C.E.I.C.R.I.
4th. (Illegible.) Probably of the end of fifteenth century.
5th. I ring at six to let men know When to and from their work to go.
Neglect and decay it has been seen had provided only too plausible excuses for restoration. In 1858 the church had a narrow escape from a worse fate, for it was proposed to extend it in some direction, and the architect suggested the lengthening of the north transept and the addition of a new north aisle. Probably lack of funds alone prevented the carrying out of a proposal which would have completely spoilt the proportions of this beautiful interior.
THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT
CHRIST CHURCH
The third of the ”three tall spires,” albeit nothing else remains of the church to which it belonged, deserves that some notice should be given of it and of the men who reared it.
In 1234, eleven years after their first coming into England, the Franciscan Friars are heard of at Coventry, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, having granted them land for their oratory, and the Sheriff of Warwicks.h.i.+re, on behalf of the King, giving them s.h.i.+ngles from the woods of Kenilworth wherewith to cover it. In 1359 the Black Prince, then owner of the Manor and Park of Cheylesmore, just outside the walls of the city and adjacent to their convent, granted them so much stone from his quarry there, ”as they should have occasion to use about their buildings and walls,” and probably at this time the church, of which Christ Church spire is a remnant, was built.
At the same time he gave them ”liberty to have a postern into the Park to carry out any of their convent that should be diseased.”
The house was surrendered to the King in 1539, the warden and ten brethren being compelled to sign a humiliating doc.u.ment, in which they professed to ”profoundly consider that the perfection of Christian living doth not consist in dumb ceremonies, wearing of a grey coat, disguising ourself after strange fas.h.i.+ons, ducking, nodding and becking, in girding our selves with a girdle full of knots and other like Papisticall ceremonies.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH.]
It is certain at least that they had no acc.u.mulated wealth. Whatever they had received had been distributed for the advantage of the Church or the poor. At their suppression they had neither lands, tenements, nor other possessions, save their church and house and the land these stood on. The site was granted to the city and the buildings thrown down, only the spire with its supporting walls and arches being allowed to stand until 1829, when it was incorporated with the new nave of Christ Church from the designs of Rickman, to whom we are indebted for the first comprehensive and systematic account of English Mediaeval architecture. The work shows how imperfectly in those days even a genuine admirer of Mediaeval Art understood its spirit.
Unfortunately the tower and spire were recased with new stone, and the original character of the work largely disappeared. The total height is 204 feet, exclusive of the vane. The plan of the old church was interesting, especially in the arrangement of the crossing. The short transepts had little real relation to choir or nave, which were almost completely separated from one another, the nave being intended for the use of the public.
The narrowing of the tower from east to west, and the insertion of secondary north and south arches to carry the slender octagonal tower is unusual and ingenious. The whole length was 250 feet, and the transepts were 96 feet from north to south. The nave and choir differed little in length.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (CROSSING).]
The connection of the Franciscans with the production of the Mysteries, or sacred plays, should not pa.s.s unnoticed. Dugdale, who had spoken with eye witnesses, thus alludes to the subject:
Before the suppression of the Monasteries this City was very famous for the Pageants that were played therein upon Corpus Christi-day; which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto; which Pageants being acted with mighty State and Reverence by the Friars of this House, had Theatres for the several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels and drawn to all the eminent parts of the City for the better advantage of spectators; and contained the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. int.i.tuled, _Ludus Corporis Christi_, or _Ludus Coventriae_.
Along with a number that were performed by the city companies they are still to be seen in the British Museum. We know that the Friars presented them as late as 1492, when Henry VII was present with his Queen to see the plays ”acted by the Grey Friars.”