of body which could only be exceeded by the horrors of his mind.* The report of this miraculous interposition was highly advantageous to the convent; the people imposed on themselves a voluntary tax of four-pence for every carucate of land in the diocese, which they offered to the honor of the saint and martyr, as an acknowledgment of their gratitude and devotion.

Canute, the son and successor of Sweyn is said to have been so terrified by the vengeance of Edmund, that to expiate his father's crimes, and propitiate the angry saint, he took the monastery of Bury under his especial protection. Such was the ascendancy which the regulars had gained over the mind of this monarch, that Ailwin, who in 1020 was consecrated bishop of Hulm, availed himself of it to eject the secular clergy from this convent, and to supply their places with twelve Benedictine monks, whom, with Uvius their prior, he removed hither from the monastery at Hulm. At the same time he exempted the convent, and all within its jurisdiction, from episcopal authority, which was to be exercised by the abbot only, and four crosses were erected to fix with accuracy the boundary of his jurisdiction. The following year the bishop laid the foundation of a magnificent church, the expenses of which were defrayed by the voluntary tax upon land above-mentioned, and by the contributions of the pious.

ones.

These proceedings of Ailwin were not only ratified by Canute, but he issued a royal charter, confirming all former grants and privileges to the abbot and convent, and conferring several new Of these, the most important was the right of reserving for their own use that proportion of the tax called Danegeld, levied upon the inhabitants of the town. These gifts were settled on the abbey with a fearful curse, on such as should molest the monks in the possession of them; and the charter, signed by the

king,

• Though most of our historians nearly correspond in their account of Sweyn's death, yet one of them, William of Malmsbury, observes, that the cause of it was uncertain; and Batteley has attempted in his work to rescue the memory of Sweyn from what he terms the calumnies of the monks.

king, queen, and archbishops, was attested by thirty-two nobles, prelates and abbots.

*

In 1032, the new church being finished, was consecrated by Athelnorh, archbishop of Canterbury. The body of the royal martyr was deposited in a splendid shrine, adorned with jewels and costly ornaments; and Canute himself repairing hither to perform his devotions, offered his crown at the tomb of the saint.

The mistaken piety of succeeding monarchs augmented the fame, the importance, and the wealth of the abbey of Bury; but to none was it more indebted than to Edward the Confessor. This monarch granted to the abbot and convent the town of Mildenhall, with its produce and inhabitants, the royalties of eight hundreds, together with the half hundred of Thingoe, and also those of all the villages situated in those eight hundreds and a half which they previously possessed. He likewise conferred the privilege of coining at a mint established within the precinct of the monastery. Edward often paid his devotions in person at the shrine of the royal martyr, and so great was his veneration for him, that he was accustomed to perform the last mile of the journey on foot like a common pilgrim.

The

It appears that the third church was either entirely, or chiefly constructed of wood.

+ The occasion of this princely gift is thus related in the Collect. Buriens. In the first year of his reign the king came to Bury on St. Edmund's day; and next morning seeing the young monks eating barley-bread, enquired of the abbot why those young men of his kinsman, as he called St. Edmund, were not better fed. " Because,” replied the abbot, our possessions are too weak, to maintain them with stronger food."—" Ask what you will," said the king, " and I will give it you, that they may be better provided for, and better enabled to perform the service of God." The abbot, having consulted with his monks, asked of the king the manor of Mildenhall, with its appurte nances, and the jurisdiction of the eight hundreds and a half, with all the royalties, afterwards called the Franchise. The king observed, that his request was indiscreet, because the grant of these liberties would involve him and his successors in continual trouble; that he would willingly have granted him three or four manors; nevertheless, out of respect to his kinsman, he would grant the request, however indiscreet.

The establishment had now attained such wealth and splendor, that the monks resolved to provide a still more magnificent receptacle for the body of their saint than any in which it had hitherto been deposited. The church built by Ailwin was demolished, and another was erected of hewn stone, under the auspices of abbot Baldwin. The materials for this structure were brought by the permission of king William the Conqueror, free of expense from the quarries of Barnack, in Northamptonshire; and it was in a state of sufficient forwardness to receive the sacred remains in 1095. This was the last removal, as the church now erected continued to exist till the period of the dissolution.

It could not be doubted, were no record left to attest its magnificence, that the plan, execution, and embellishments of this structure, corresponded with the princely revenues of the establishment to which it belonged. Leland, who saw it in all its glory, in speaking of this town, describes it in the following terms ---A city more neatly seated the sun never saw, so curiously doth it hang upon a gentle descent, with a little river on the east side; nor a monastery more noble, whether one considers its endowments, largeness, or unparalleled magnificence. One might even think the monastery alone a city; so many gates it has, some whereof are brass: so many towers and a church, than which nothing can be more magnificent; as appendages to which there are three more of admirable beauty and workmanship in the same church-yard.”

The abbey church, or church of St. Edmund, was 505 feet in length, the transept 212, and the west front 240. This last had two large side chapels, St. Faith's and St. Catharine's, one on the north-west, and the other on the south-west, and at each end an octagon tower thirty feet each way. The shrine of the saint was preserved in a semicircular chapel at the east end; and on the north side of the choir was that of St. Mary, eighty feet long, and forty-two broad; and St. Mary in cryptis was 100 feet in length, eighty

Part of this front, with one of the towers, is still standing, as will be noticed hereafter.

eighty in breadth and supported by twenty-four pillars. Besides the dome, there was a high west tower over the middle aisle, and the whole fabric is supposed to have been equal in some respects in grandeur to St. Peter's at Rome. As to its height, no data are left to enable us to form an opinion.*

The abbey was governed by an abbot, who had several great officers under him, as a prior, sub-prior, sacrist, and others; and in its most prosperous state there were eighty monks, fifteen chaplains, and one hundred and eleven servants, attending within its walls. It had three grand gates for entrance; and its lofty walls enclosed three other churches, besides the abbey church, several chapels, the cloisters, and offices of every kind.

Among other privileges conferred on this abbey, we find that Edward the Confessor granted to abbot Baldwyn the liberty of coinage, which was confirmed by William the Conqueror. Stephen, in his seventeenth year, gave authority for two additional mints to be set up in Bury. Stow informs us, that there was one in the town in king John's time. Edward I. and II. also had mints at Bury; and some of their pennies coined here are yet extant.

The abbot of Bury enjoyed all the spiritual aud temporal privileges of the mitred abbots; and in addition to them, some very important exclusive immunities. Of the latter kind, was the exemption from the ecclesiastical authority of the diocesan, so that none but the Roman pontiff, or his legate, could exercise any spiritual power within the limits of the abbot's jurisdiction. This privilege often involved him in violent disputes. As early as the reign of William the Conqueror, we find the abbot Baldwin engaged in a controversy on this subject with Herfastus, bishop of

Hulm,

* A very curious model of this church was to be seen some years ago at Mr. Tillot's, on the Angel-hill. It was ten feet long, five wide, and of proportional height, and had 280 windows, and 300 niches, adorned with images, and other Gothic figures. The model of the shrine was ornamented with images, and crowns, and gilt, as in its original state. The twelve chapels belonging to this magnificent edifice were also represented.

Hulm, who had announced his intention of removing the see to Bury. The abbot, alarmed at this threatened invasion of the privileges of his convent, applied to the king, and by his advice, repaired to Rome, where pope Alexander II. not only confirmed its former immunities and exemptions, by a bull dated at the Lateran, 6th Calend. Novemb. A. D. 1071. but also presented him with a porphyry altar for his church, with this extraordinary privilege, that if all the rest of the kingdom were under excommunication, mass might be there celebrated, unless expressly and by name prohibited by his holiness. These favors only served to redouble the bishop's exertions to carry his point, and he resolved to try what the seductive eloquence of gold would effect; while the monks, on the other hand, had recourse to still more persuasive means. The issue of this affair is thus related by archdeacon Herman, who himself bore a part in the transaction. "The bishop riding one day, and conversing on the injuries which he meditated against the monastery, was struck upon the eyes by a branch, and a violent and painful suffusion of blood occasioned immediate blindness; St. Edmund thus avenging himself, and punishing the temerity of the invaders of his rights. The prelate long remained entirely blind, and could obtain no relief. Coming in one morn ing and commiserating his condition, I said to him: "My lord Bishop, your endeavors are useless, no collirium will avail; you should seek the favor of God and St. Edmund. Hasten to abbot Baldwin, that his prayers to God and the saint may provide an efficacious medicine! This counsel, at first despised, was at length assented to. I, Herman undertook the embassy, and executed it on the same day, the festival of St. Simon and St. Jude. The abbot benignantly granted the request; and the feeble bishop came to the monastery, being graciously received by the abbot, and admonished to reflect, that as offences against God and St. Edmund were diminished, the medicine to be applied would more certainly alleviate his sufferings. They proceeded into the church, where, in the presence of the elder brethren, and certain peers of the realm, Hugo de Montfort, Roger Bigod, Richard, the son of

Gilbert'