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A HISTORY OF LONDON of the original position of St. Paul's, that of the church of the bishop and the central church of the diocese ; *** but it shows it to be actually the church of an exclusive body of clergy who owe to the bishop more respect than obedience. St. Paul's claimed immunity from metropoliti- cal visitations. Therefore Archbishop Boniface was not suffered to enter the cathedral until after a protracted struggle, and the arrival of a papal mandate. The memory of such real or fictitious privilege continued in the seventeenth century.**' But the jurisdiction of the bishop over the cathedral, as a church within his diocese, was apparently not questioned. As bishop of London he visited St. Paul's and addressed ad- monitory letters to the chapter ; ^*^ in this capacity he intervened both in the government of the church and in the management of her pro- perty.*" In 1289, however, all prebends were declared free from episcopal as from archidiaconal jurisdiction."^ The bishop's ancient and inti- mate relation to the cathedral resulted in the chapter's function of electing him. And prob- ably because he thus derived his power from the clergy of St. Paul's they appear to have been regarded as its ultimate holders, as able to exer- cise it when his office was void. During a vacancy of the see of London Ralph de Diceto officiated in the place of the bishop at the coro- nation of Richard L"^ Serious disputes were •settled in 1262 by an agreement between Arch- bishop Boniface and the dean and chapter, that whenever there was no bishop of London the dian and chapter should choose two or three major canons, or one minor and one or two major, and that the archbishop should depute one "^ Some customs indicate the dioces.in position of St. Paul's. At the third hour on Sunday no proces- sions were suffered in lesser churches within the City and archdeaconries, but as many of the people as were able then assembled in the cathedral, and all were obliged to go to St. Paul's in procession, with the archdeacon and other members of their several arch- deaconries, on the second, third, and fourth feast days in Pentecost week, respectively. (.Rfg- S. Pauli, [ed. W. S. Simpson], 79.) In 1393 Bishop Braybrook revived an ancient cus- tom by which the parochial clergy repaired to St. Paul's on the days of the Conversion and Commem- oration of St. Paul, and the Deposition and Transla- tion of St. Earconwald, and joined in the procession of the choir. {Hist. MSS. Com. Rej>. ix, App. i, 58.) "' v. infra. "' Reg. S. PauFi (ed. W. S. Simpson), 163, 167, 169, 271, 272, 281, 286, 317, 391, 393, and MSS. of D. & C. of St. Paul's, W. D. 22, fol. 6<)b, &c. "' Reg. S. Pauft (ed. W. S. Simpson), passim. "" Ibid. 89. An injunction of Bishop Gravesend in 1387 declared prebends free from all special juris- diction ; MSS. of D. & C. of St. Paul's, W. D. 6, fol. 10. "' R. de Diceto, Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 69. of these to exercise episcopal jurisdiction during the vacancy. The deputy must take an oath of office before the archbishop, and another in the presence of the dean and chapter."" In 1273 the first arrangement was somewhat modi- fied by Archbishop Robert Kilwardby, who determined the proportion of the profits and costs of the vacant see which fell to the dean and chapter."' Thus the canons received as- sured possession of a right which they still exer- cised in 1723.^" It was confirmed to them in 1594 as the result of an investigation ordered by the lord treasurer.-" The bishop was still in some degree an official of the cathedral. He nominated prebendaries and canons,"'^ but he sent all whom he beneficed in St. Paul's, except the chaplain of his own chapel, to the dean and chapter for institution. He appointed the keeper of the Old Work,'" but it was declared, when Ralph de Diceto was dean, that the supervision of both the old and the new parts of the building belonged to the dean and residents since they must chiefly bear the burden of repairs.*'* Thebishop's right to sit in the chapter, mentioned as a matter of course in the early rule, appears to have been the subject of a dispute which ended in his defeat. Pope Alex- ander IV granted to him that, as a canon, he should enjoy the rights of canons, a concession which included participation in the chapter's property. It was revoked by a bull of Urban IV in 1262."' The bishop held the most honourable place in the services and ritual of the church and chap- ter ; as often as was possible he ministered at the high altar on great feasts."^" The province of the dean, who was next to the bishop in dignity,*" was confined to the cathedral and its property. From William, in the beginning of the twelfth century, the deans were customarily canons.*** Such qualification does not appear to have been essential, but Ralph de Diceto ruled that no dean should receive any portion of the offerings at obits, of the ' com- munia,' or of any pittances, except in so far as he was a prebendary or other dignitary of the cathedral.**' A later declaration of the ' ap- proved custom of the church,' by Simon Sudbury in 1368, asserts that a dean who was not a canon and prebendary could take no part in the busi- ness of the chapter beyond his duty of summoning '" Wilkins, CmciRa, i, 758. '» Ibid, ii, 27. '" Lambeth MSS. Index to archiepiscopal regis- ters ; Wake, pt. i, fol. 48. '" Stow, Sttrr. ofLond. (ed. Strype), iii, 157. '" Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), iii, 157. •" Ibid. 182. "Mbid. 131. "• Lambeth MSS. 644, 57. '" Reg S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 11. «' Ibid. 13. «* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. i.x, App. i, 67. •" Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 131. 426