Part 8 (1/2)
Chester was captured by the Earl of Derby, who held it for the Crown during the war between Henry III. and the barons. The contest was ended with the defeat of the barons at the battle of Evesham, close to Worcester. Here, in 1300, it was that the Welsh chieftains paid homage to the first English Prince of Wales, the infant son of Edward I.
Richard II., by Act of Parliament, erected the earldom of Chester into a princ.i.p.ality to be held only by the eldest son of the King. This was rescinded in the next reign. In fact, Richard II. was made captive by Henry of Lancaster, and was imprisoned in a tower over the gateway of the Castle. The city suffered greatly during the Wars of the Roses. It was visited by Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI. This queen played a prominent part with regard to the claim to the English throne.
She was daughter to Rene, who was a relation of the King of France. He was t.i.tular king of Sicily, but without territories. Though Margaret brought to Henry a rich dower, he was persuaded to consent to the deduction of a large portion of Maine and Anjou to her father Rene.
During the Duke of Gloucester's life, who had strongly opposed the royal marriage, Margaret and her coadjutor, the Duke of Suffolk, had not dared to carry into effect the agreement they had extracted from Henry. The Duke of York, who was regent in France, through his integrity, was also a serious obstacle. She and Suffolk had him recalled, and the regency given to Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, nephew to Cardinal Beaufort. York felt injured, and took revenge by a.s.serting his claim to the Crown.
By his father he was descended from Edward III.'s fourth son. From his mother, the last of the Mortimers, he inherited that family's claim from Lionel, the second son of the same king. On the other hand, John of Gaunt, from whom Henry VI. was descended, was Edward's third son. Thus York, through his mother, had a prior claim. These rival claims caused confusion and tumult throughout England. In the meantime the English possessions in France were lost one after the other, till in 1451 only Calais remained. The misgovernment of the regency in France under Somerset contrasted most unfavourably with that of York.
In these troublous times England looked towards York as the only one to be trusted, who then became Protector during the King's mental weakness.
He imprisoned the Duke of Somerset. The latter as soon as he was free a.s.sembled an army, and was killed at the battle of St. Albans, the first War of the Roses. His followers, the Lancastrians, were defeated by the Duke of York, and the King made prisoner. Eventually York declared himself. By Act of Parliament he and his heirs were const.i.tuted successors to the throne of England after the death of Henry VI.
Margaret, however, defeated the Yorkists in battle, in which York was slain. He left behind him three sons,--Edward, George, and Richard,--the first of whom later on deposed Henry VI. and became Edward IV. We have ventured to give this brief sketch of the origin of these rival claims, in that most of the cathedral cities were affected by the fortunes or misfortunes of their favoured party.
Chester, in the years 1507, 1517, and 1550, suffered from a terrible visitation of the sweating sickness. From 1602 to 1605 the plague made it necessary to suspend all the city fairs, and to hold the a.s.sizes at Nantwich. This epidemic occurred again with great loss of life to the inhabitants, between 1647-48. During the Civil War this city of Chester endured great sacrifices for its loyalty to Charles I.
The King came there in 1642, when the citizens gave him great pecuniary a.s.sistance. Not till after a memorable siege, lasting from 1643 to 1646, did the citizens agree to surrender. The garrison were allowed to march out with all the honours of war, the safety of the persons and property of the citizens with liberty of trade were secured, and the sanct.i.ty of the sacred buildings and their t.i.tle-deeds preserved.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHESTER
ST. WERBURGH STREET]
Sir Charles Booth, in 1659, with the aid of the citizens, overcame the garrison of Charles II., then an exile, but was afterwards defeated by Lambert, Cromwell's general.
The presence of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1683, stirred the populace to a tumult. Amongst other excesses the mob spent its fury in forcing the cathedral doors, breaking the painted gla.s.s, destroying the font, and other regrettable damage to this building. In 1688 the city was taken by the Roman Catholic lords, Molyneux and Ashton, for James II., who, after all, rendered further efforts useless by his abdication. Under William III. Chester was included in the six cities for the residence of an a.s.say master, and was permitted to issue silver coinage. The last important military event that took place in this city was in the Rebellion of 1745, when it was fortified against the Pretender.
In architecture the great characteristic is the quaint way the houses have been built. The streets have been cut out of the rock below the general surface of the land. The houses appear to have been built into the rock, or rather to have been piled up against it. The shops are level with the streets, and over them runs a bal.u.s.traded gallery. Steps at certain intervals lead the way down into the streets. These galleries are called by the inhabitants ”The Rows.” These Rows are houses with shops. Overhanging the shops, like the eaves of a house, are the upper stories, to which additional flights of steps give access.
Two explanations are given for this unusual construction of houses: one, that the Rows, or promenades, are the remnants of the ancient vestibules of the Roman houses; the other that they were probably originated to afford ready defence against the sudden raids of the Welsh. The latter appears the more likely. The Rows, from their position to the streets, would afford the besieged greater facilities of shelter and attack.
In Bridge Street and Eastgate Street the Rows are made pleasant promenades. Though many of the houses have been rebuilt, they still retain the old character. In addition to these interesting buildings there was the castle built by the Conqueror, of which there remains only a large square tower, called ”Julius Agricola's Tower.” The front has been entirely renewed. This tower served probably as a place of confinement of the Earl of Derby. Here were imprisoned Richard II. and Margaret, Countess of Richmond. Just shortly before the Revolution James II. heard Ma.s.s in the second chamber.
Though the Cathedral has been left to the last, its history is no less interesting than the other features of Chester. The Cathedral was originally the church attached to the convent of St. Werburgh, under which name its ecclesiastical site is mentioned in ”Doomsday Book.” It was first dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, but Ethelfrida afterwards transferred their patronage to that of the Saxon saint, Walmgha, the daughter of Wulphen, King of Mercia. Besides this princess the great benefactors were Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and Hugh Lupus, who subst.i.tuted Benedictine monks for secular canons.
On the dissolution of the abbey, in lieu of the abbot and monks, a dean, prebendaries, and minor canons were appointed, the last abbot being made dean. Here it is as well to remember that a church was called an abbey, whatever its former denomination might have been, if an abbot became its head. In much the same way the name ”minster” is derived from a monastery, and cathedral is due to the fact that the bishop had his cathedra, or throne, placed in the sacred building for his own use. At the dissolution the Cathedral of Chester was dedicated to ”Christ and the Blessed Virgin.” Though there are some interesting remains of the abbey, the present building was built in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. The diocese of Chester dates at the period of the kingdom of Mercia. It was afterwards incorporated with that of Lichfield, but in 1075, Peter, Bishop of Lichfield restored the See to Chester. His successor, however, removed it for the second time to Lichfield. Henry VIII., in 1541, created six new sees, in which he included Chester. With a portion of the possessions of the Abbey of St. Werburgh, which was dissolved, he endowed the new see. The first bishop after the dissolution was John Bird. In 1752 the palace of the bishop was rebuilt by Bishop Keene.
The cathedral site is on the eastern side of Northgate Street. Excepting the western end, it presents the appearance of a heavy, irregular pile, when viewed externally. The interior is very impressive, and contains portions in the Norman, and in the Early and Decorated styles of English architecture. It possesses a clerestory in the Later style. Some chapels in the Early English style, are to the east of the north transept. The south transept, separated from the Cathedral by a wooden screen, forms the parish church of St. Oswald. The style of the Bishop's throne, sometimes known as St. Werburgh's Shrine, belongs to the Early period of the fourteenth century. In the eastern walk of the cloister stands the Chapter House, of Early English style, built by Earl Randulph the First. It served as the burial-place of the earls of the original Norman line, except Richard, who perished by s.h.i.+pwreck.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHESTER
BISHOP LLOYD'S PALACE AND WATERGATE STREET]
The sacred edifice has from time to time undergone extensive reparations.
As a port Chester was at one time most important, but through the silting up of the Channel in the fifteenth century, it lost a considerable amount of its s.h.i.+pping trade. In spite of the Channel being deepened in 1824, its s.h.i.+pping prosperity cannot be said to have advanced hand in hand with the progress of the city, though it possibly may be greater than it was in the fifteenth century.
The great Chester Ca.n.a.l comes from Nantwich, pa.s.ses through Chester, and merges into the Ellesmere Ca.n.a.l, which winds up northwards to the river Mersey. Thus the city is connected with Liverpool.
As the crow flies, the country traversed from London to Chester is most interesting. The track pa.s.ses through the counties of Middles.e.x, Buckinghams.h.i.+re, Northamptons.h.i.+re, Warwicks.h.i.+re, with its famous towns, Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Coventry, through Staffords.h.i.+re, famous for its beautiful old china and its Cathedral at Lichfield, and finally into Ches.h.i.+re, the county containing Chester and Northwich.
Among the many eminent men born at Chester was Randolph Caldecott, in 1846. He is handed down to posterity as the famous ill.u.s.trator of the works of Was.h.i.+ngton Irving. But the achievement that gained him the greatest _acclame_ was a series of coloured books for children. They began in 1878 with ”John Gilpin” and ”The House that Jack Built,” and ended the year before his death, in 1886, with the ”Elegy on Madame Blaize” and ”The Great Panjandrum Himself.” In the crypt of St. Paul's, London, his memory is perpetuated through the great artistic expression of a brother artist, Alfred Gilbert, R. A.