c. Sept. 1165;[1] but it appears that he was elected before the death of Hugh archbishop of Rouen († 11 Nov. 1164),[2] and that his consecration was delayed. As far then as our knowledge at present extends, we seem to be justified in placing Dean Ivo's death towards the end of 1163 or in the course of 1164.
The first dean of Wells, then, held office for nearly a quarter of a century (c. 1140-64). In the early years of his rule much must have been doing on the fabric of the church. It is probable that the church of Bishop Giso's time was sadly out of repair, and had to be almost, if not altogether, rebuilt. The ' Historiola ',[3] after speaking of Bishop Robert as having rebuilt the church of St Peter at Bath at great expense, says: ' Nor should it be forgotten that the church of Wells was built by his counsel and assistance '. It goes on to say that at its consecration three bishops were present, namely, Jocelin of Salisbury, Simon of Worcester, and Robert of Hereford. Jocelin became bishop of Salisbury in 1141: Robert of Bethune died at Rheims during the council, 16 April 1148: we can thus give the ceremony an approximate date. But we are quite in the dark as to the nature and extent of the work that had been done: we only know that within forty years it was determined to build anew from the foundations, and we cannot point to much more than a single stone of Bishop Robert's church: this is part of the base of a Norman pier, dug out of a wall some sixty years ago, and now lying on the stone bench in the north aisle of the choir. A century later it was still remembered that Bishop Robert had given lands at Dultingcote 'at the dedication of the old church';[4] the grant thus referred to is preserved, and also a lease of the lands made by Dean Ivo and the chapter, which has a special interest as giving us the names of a number of the canons.[5]
There is little that we can tell of Dean Ivo's personal story. On 14 Nov. 1148 he and two of the canons, Master Alfred (Aluredus) and Edward, accompanied their bishop on the occasion of the Translation of St Erconwald at St Paul's.[6] On 13 Dec. 1157 Ivo
- ↑ Eyton, Itinerary of Hen. II, p. 84. The reference in Le Neve (ii. 613) to the Gloucester Chronicle is an error: the passage to which he refers is from Robert of Torigny's Chronicle (Domit. 8, f. 78 b) and is in itself inexact. This error has led the compiler of the Sarum Fasti into a further mistake as to the charter cited by Eyton, which has nothing to do with Gloucester.
- ↑ A letter was written by Archbishop Hugh to the bishop-elect of Bayeux: see Gallia Christ, xi. 864 (ed. Paris, 1874).
- ↑ pp. 24 f.
- ↑ R. iii. 3 ff.
- ↑ R. i. 46.
- ↑ Inspeximus in Charter Roll, 12 Edw. III, no. 40 (cf. Patent Roll, 6 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 21).
