After a life thus devoted to the cause of literature and religion; and not spent in solitary seclusion from the world, but in the midst of its most active and busy scenes, he died on Monday the 18th of May, 1807, and was buried on the 25th, in a vault in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The above particulars were extracted from authentic documents, in possession of his son, the Rev. W. Douglas, now chancellor of this diocese, and prebendary of Westminster.

64-1807. George III.-47.

JOHN FISHER,

The present bishop, is the eldest son of the Rev. John Fisher, rector of Calbourne, in the Isle of Wight, prebendary of Preston, in this cathedral, and chaplain to Dr. John Thomas, successively bishop of this diocese, and of Winchester. He was born in 1748, educated at St. Paul's school, and at Peter-house, Cambridge; and from thence, in 1773, elected to a fellowship of St. John's, in the same university. He was nominated, in 1780, sub-preceptor to his royal highness prince Edward, now duke of Kent. In 1781 he was made one of his majesty's chaplains, and in 1786 canon of Windsor. Dr. Fisher was installed bishop of Exeter in 1803; appointed preceptor to her royal highness the princess Charlotte of Wales in 1805; and in 1807 translated to Salisbury.

OF

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH

OF

SARUM, OR SALISBURY.

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

Historical notices relative to WILTON and OLD SARUM, and the ecclesiastical establishments at those places.-Removal of the see to Old Sarum.Erection of a Cathedral, by bishop Osmund-His charter, benefactions, and Book of Customs.—Improvements of the city and church, by bishop Roger.-Charters of privileges and donations, by Henry the First, Stephen, Maud, Henry the Second, and John.-Vexations endured by the clergy, and plans for removing the establishment.- William de Wanda's history of the foundation of the new Cathedral. 495-1225.

WILTON, Old Sarum, and Salisbury, where our episcopal see was successively established, are no less intimately connected by their origin, and subsequent fate, than by their local situation.

Wilton, which gave a name to the county of Wilts, was so called from its situation on the river Wily. It rose into notice at the earliest period of the saxon history; for, according to an antient manuscript in the Cotton

Library, it was the capital of Cerdic, * who landed in our island, in 495, and soon after established the west saxon kingdom.

During the various struggles of the Britons for independence, and the still more frequent contests of the Saxons for dominion, our local history partakes of the confusion which it records. No distinct notice of Wilton occurs until the beginning of the ninth century, when it was the seat of a monastery,+ founded by Alburga, sister of Egbert, who succeeded to the west saxon throne in 802. A charter, granted in 850, proves it to have been distinguished as a royal town, ‡ or temporary residence of the saxon kings. In these circumstances it rose in importance; but, during the troubles attending the danish invasion, it shared in the general calamities; for, in 871, this neighbourhood was the scene of a bloody conflict, between Alfred the Great and the Danes, in which the saxon prince was compelled to relinquish the field of battle to the superior numbers of the enemy. §

For the greater part of the tenth, and the beginning of the eleventh century, Wilton, with Ramsbury and Sunning, was the see of a bishop, whose jurisdiction comprised the county of Wilts. The advantages which it derived from this distinction, were probably again lost by the hostilities of the Danes; for Sweyn, in 1003, making an irruption from the west, wasted and burnt Wilton in his way toward the sea. It, however, rose from its ruins, and acquired some importance from its monastic establishment; but after the re-union of the see with that of Sherborne, and its removal to Old Sarum, the history of Wilton is foreign to the present design. Old Sarum, which may be regarded as the parent, both of Wilton and

*Faustina, b. 3, Antiquit. Sarisb. p. 15.

Thorn Twysd. p. 2127.

† Monasticon, t. 1, p. 191.

§ Saxon Chronicle, p. 82.

Saxon Chronicle, p. 133.

Salisbury, was a fortress of the native Britons, or Celts, the earliest race who are known to have peopled this Island. The remoteness of its origin is proved by the barrows and other vestiges of antiquity, scattered on the neighbouring plains; by the numerous camps which crown the hills in every direction; and particularly by its vicinity to those extraordinary monuments of druidism, Stonehenge and Abury. *

At the period when the classic writers throw the first distinct light on the state of our Island, Old Sarum was a city of the Belgæ, an intrusive tribe from the neighbouring continent, and by some considered as a branch of the german people. We may doubtless reckon it among the thirty cities, or towns of the Belgæ, which are said to have been reduced by Vespasian. By the Roman government its advantageous situation, as the key of the western part of the Island, was duly appreciated: it was made a station for troops; connected with the great posts of Winchester, Silchester, and Dorchester, by military roads; admitted to the privileges of the Latian law; and appears in the Roman Itineraries, by the name of Sorbiodunum. +

Few traces of its history can be discovered between the decline of the Roman power and the Norman Conquest; but the same advantages of situation, which attracted the notice of the Romans, must have rendered it valuable to the Saxons. Accordingly, we find it ranked among the most considerable towns of the west saxon kingdom, under the name of Searobyrig, from which the modern denomination of Salisbury is evidently derived. If we may credit the acts quoted by the author of the Antiquitates Sarisburienses, it possessed ecclesiastical establishments soon after the

*See Sir R. C. Hoare's Antient Wiltshire; a work unique in its kind, and one of the richest treasures yet offered to the british antiquary.

+ Richard of Cirencester, p. 36, 68, 113. The appellation of Sarum is a contraction of Sorbiodunum.

conversion of the Saxons to christianity. According to these, Ina, king of the West Saxons, granted to the church of St. James, in Sarisbyrig, the lands of Tokenham; and Ethelburga, his queen, the lands of Bedyngton, to the nuns serving in the church of St. Mary. In the beginning of the ninth century it was the frequent residence of king Egbert. *

In 872, when Alfred was engaged in his eventful struggle with the Danes, he turned his attention to the security of this important fortress. An order was issued by him to Leofric, earl of Wiltonshire, to strengthen the castle of Sarum with a new trench and palisades. This was apparently the outer ditch, which forms its principal defence, and displays evident marks of the saxon mode of fortification. Notwithstanding the care of the provident monarch, Sarum could scarcely have escaped the calamities which fell on Wilton, and many other places in the West of England, where the footsteps of the Danes were marked by devastation, pillage, and slaughter. Still, however, it regained its consequence; and, in 960, was selected by king Edgar as the place of convocation for a national council, to devise the means of repelling the invasion of the Danes in the north. +

In 1003, it was visited by Sweyn, after the pillage and destruction of Wilton; but whether it equally suffered from his ravages, is uncertain. At least the ecclesiastical foundations appear to have been spared: for, by a grant, dated in 1060, Editha, relict of king Edward, conferred the lands of Shorstan, in Wiltshire, on the nuns of St. Mary. ‡

From the time of the Conquest, our antient records afford more specific information relative to the state of Old Sarum. In 1086, the

*

Antiq. Sarisb. p. 250. Monast. t. 1. p. 191.

+ Brompton Twysd. 866.

Antiq. Sarisb. p. 252.