Sculpture on the Font, Portchester.
The font is a very fine Norman example, with an intersecting arcade all round, and on one side a curious and valuable sculpture of the Baptism of Christ.
The priory does not appear to have been a foundation of much importance at first; for although many of the monkish historians give an enumeration of religious houses founded by Henry, the priory of Portchester, so far as I have been able to ascertain, is not mentioned. Probably it was intended only as a small religious fraternity, sufficient to supply the spiritual wants of the garrison and retainers of the castle.
The holy brotherhood, however, did not remain long in their original abode. Whether it was that they found the interior of a strong hold, in the turbulent and warlike times of Stephen, too little adapted for a religious life, or that they were tempted by the quiet seclusion of the spot which they selected for their new settlement[1], it is certain that they had quitted Portchester, and settled at Suthwyk, within twenty years from the time of the foundation.
There is nothing to enable us to fix precisely the exact date at which this removal took place. But there are extant among the records of the priory two bulls of Eugenius III., by one of which he received the church and convent of Portchester under the protection of the apostolic see; by the second he received them again under the same protection, and decreed that the rule of the blessed Augustine should be inviolably observed by the prior and convent, and granted them the privilege of free sepulture, saving the rights and customs of the mother church. But this second bull is addressed to the prior of St. Mary, and the brethren of Suthwyk. Now the pontificate of Eugenius III. began in 1145, and ended, with his life, in
- ↑ The canons seem to have found the new settlement not altogether comfortable in some respects, for there is extant a letter from Pope Nicholas, permitting them to wear caps or amuces, during divine service, on account of the coldness of the situation, provided that due reverence were observed on the reading of the Gospel, and at the elevation of the host.
