The first Bishop of Lincoln Remigius de Fécamp moved the
episcopal seat (
cathedra) there "some time between 1072 and 1092". About this, James Essex writes that "Remigius ... laid the foundations of his Cathedral in 1072" and "it is probable that he, being a
Norman, employed Norman masons to superintend the building ... though he could not complete the whole before his death." Before that, writes B. Winkles, "It is well known that Remigius appropriated the
parish church of St Mary Magdalene in Lincoln, although it is not known what use he made of it." When Lincoln Cathedral was first built,
William the Conqueror granted the
parish of Welton to
Remigius in order to endow six
prebends which provided income to support six canons attached to the cathedral. These were subsequently confirmed by
William II and
Henry I. Until then
St Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church" of Lincolnshire (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at
Dorchester Abbey in
Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the
Thames to the
Humber. Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 7 May of that year, two days before it was
consecrated. In 1124, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire.
Alexander (bishop, 1123–48) rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by
an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185 (dated by the
British Geological Survey as occurring 15 April 1185). After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of
Avalon, France, who became known as St
Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. With his appointment of
William de Montibus as master of the cathedral school and chancellor, Lincoln briefly became one of the leading educational centres in England, producing writers such as
Samuel Presbiter and
Richard of Wetheringsett, though it declined in importance after William's death in 1213. Rebuilding began with the
choir (St Hugh's Choir) and the eastern
transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early
English Gothic architectural style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time – pointed arches, flying
buttresses and
ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed support for incorporating larger windows. There are thirteen bells in the south-west tower, two in the north-west tower, and five in the central tower (including Great Tom). Accompanying the cathedral's large
bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour
striking clock which was installed in the early 19th century. The two large stained glass
rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and the Bishop's Eye were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's Eye, in the south transept was reconstructed a hundred years later in 1330. A contemporary record, "The Metrical Life of St Hugh", refers to the meaning of these two windows (one on the dark, north, side and the other on the light, south, side of the building): After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the cathedral petitioned
Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral. This was to handle the increasing number of pilgrims to the cathedral, who came to worship at the shrine of Hugh of Lincoln. In 1290
Eleanor of Castile died and King
Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved
evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral and Edward placed a duplicate of the
Westminster Abbey tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy. On the outside of Lincoln Cathedral are two prominent statues often identified as Edward and Eleanor, but these images were heavily restored in the 19th century and they were probably not originally intended to depict the couple. Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of . The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1548. Around 1380, the western towers were raised to their current height. They were capped with wooden spires covered with lead in 1420, but by 1807 they were dismantled. With its spire the tower reputedly reached a height of , making it the
world's tallest structure at the time, though some consider this doubtful. Other additions to the cathedral at this time included its elaborate carved screen and the 14th-century
misericords, as was the Angel Choir. For a large part of the length of the cathedral, the walls have arches in relief with a second layer in front to give the illusion of a passageway along the wall. However the illusion does not work, as the stonemason, copying techniques from France, did not make the arches the correct length needed for the illusion to be effective. In 1398
John of Gaunt and
Katherine Swynford founded a
chantry in the cathedral to pray for the welfare of their souls. In the 15th century the building of the cathedral turned to chantry or memorial chapels. The chapels next to the Angel Choir were built in the
Perpendicular style, with an emphasis on strong vertical lines, which survive today in the window tracery and wall panelling.
Magna Carta Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, was one of the signatories to
Magna Carta and for hundreds of years the cathedral held one of the four remaining copies of the original, now securely displayed in
Lincoln Castle. The Lincoln Magna Carta was on display at the British Pavilion during the
1939 New York World's Fair. In March 1941, the
Foreign Office proposed that the Lincoln Magna Carta be gifted to the United States, citing the "many thousands of Americans who waited in long queues to view it" and the US passage of the
Lend-Lease Act, among other reasons.
Little Saint Hugh In August 1255 the body of an eight-year-old boy was found in a well in Lincoln. He had been missing for nearly a month. This incident became the source of a
blood libel in the city, with
Jews accused of his abduction, torture, and murder. Many Jews were arrested and eighteen were
hanged. The boy became known as Little Saint Hugh, to distinguish him from
Saint Hugh of Lincoln, but he was never
canonised. The cathedral benefited from these events because Hugh was seen as a martyr, and many devotees came to the city and cathedral to venerate him.
Geoffrey Chaucer mentions the case in "
The Prioress's Tale" and a ballad was written about it in 1783. In 1955 a plaque was placed near "the remains of the shrine of 'Little St Hugh in the cathedral, that decries the "Trumped up stories of 'ritual murders' of Christian boys by Jewish communities." == Features ==