Editing Bath Abbey (section)

==History==
===Early history===

In 675 AD, [[Osric, king of the Hwicce|Osric]], King of the [[Hwicce]], granted the Abbess Berta or Bertana<ref>"Houses of Benedictine monks: The cathedral priory of Bath", in ''A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2'', ed. William Page (London, 1911), Victoria County History, p.&nbsp;69 [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol2/pp69-81 British History Online (accessed 23 December 2023)]</ref> 100 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] near Bath for the establishment of a [[convent]].{{sfn|Davenport|2002|pp=31–34}} This religious house became a [[monastery]] under the patronage of the [[Bishop of Worcester]]. King [[Offa of Mercia]] successfully wrested "that most famous monastery at Bath"<ref name="Poliquin" /> from the [[bishop]] in 781. [[William of Malmesbury]] tells that Offa rebuilt the monastic church, which may have occupied the site of an earlier [[Pagan religions|pagan]] temple, to such a standard that King [[Eadwig]] was moved to describe it as being "marvellously built".<ref name="Poliquin">{{cite web| title=Bath Abbey| url=http://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/orgues/angleterre/batha.html#English| work=Robert Poliquin's Music and Musicians| publisher=[[Université du Québec]]| access-date=11 January 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111155457/http://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/orgues/angleterre/batha.html#English| archive-date=11 January 2014| url-status=live}}</ref> In 944 [[Folcwin]] reformed the [[Abbey of Saint Bertin]] in France along [[Benedictine]] lines and monks who opposed the reform fled to England. King [[Edmund I]] gave them the church at Bath, which was then in royal hands.{{sfn|Dumville|1992|p=176}} Little is known about the architecture of this first building on the site. [[Monasticism]] in England had declined by that time, but Eadwig's brother [[Edgar, King of England|Edgar]] (who was [[Coronation of the British monarch|crowned]] "King of the English" at the abbey in 973)<ref name="Edgar">{{cite web |url=http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxon_12.htm |title=Edgar the Peaceful |access-date=18 December 2007 |publisher=English Monarchs – Kings and Queens of England |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701165135/http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxon_12.htm |archive-date=1 July 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> began its revival on his accession to the throne in 959. He encouraged monks to adopt the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], which was introduced at Bath under Abbot Ælfheah ([[Ælfheah of Canterbury|St. Alphege]]), who also repaired the church.<ref>Hasted, Edward. "The archbishops: From 988 to 1161." ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 12.'' Canterbury: W Bristow, 1801. 298-326. [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol12/pp298-326 British History Online website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301234059/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol12/pp298-326 |date=1 March 2021 }} Retrieved 19 April 2020.</ref> Sometime in the 10th century, as a result of the monastic reforms of [[Oswald of Worcester|Oswald]] and [[Dunstan]], the monastic community of the site was re-established as a Benedictine monastery, which it remained until the [[Dissolution of the monasteries|Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in the 16th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Davenport |first=Peter |date=1988 |title=Bath History Volume II: Bath Abbey |url=https://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2002%20-%2001.%20Davenport%20-%20Bath%20Abbey.pdf |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=historyofbath.org |pages=5, 20, 25–26}}</ref>

===Norman Conquest to the Dissolution===
[[File:Himnastigi.jpg|left|thumb|100px|On the west front, angels<br />climb [[Jacob's Ladder]]]]
Bath was ravaged in the power struggle between the sons of [[William the Conqueror]] following his death in 1087. The victor, [[William II of England|William II Rufus]], granted the city to a royal physician, [[John of Tours]], who became [[Bishop of Bath and Wells|Bishop of Wells]] and [[Abbot]] of Bath.{{sfn|Powicke|1939|p=205}}{{sfn|Barlow|2000|p=182}} Shortly after his consecration John bought Bath Abbey's grounds from the king,{{sfn|Barlow|2000|p=182}} as well as the city of Bath itself. Whether John paid Rufus for the city or whether he was given it as a gift by the king is unclear.<ref name=DNB>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14846|title=Tours, John of (d. 1122)|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14846 |access-date=11 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710192131/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14846|archive-date=10 July 2015|url-status=live|last1=Ramsey |first1=Frances }}</ref> The abbey had recently lost its abbot, [[Ælfsige II (bishop of Winchester)|Ælfsige]], and according to [[Domesday Book]] was the owner of large estates in and near the city; it was likely the abbey's wealth that attracted John to take over the monastery.{{sfn|Smith|1942|pp=134–135}} By acquiring Bath, John also acquired the mint that was in the city.{{sfn|Mason|2005|p=130}}

In 1090 he transferred the seat, or administration, of the bishopric to Bath Abbey,{{sfn|Fryde|1986|p=227}}{{sfn|Huscroft|2004|p=128}} probably in an attempt to increase the revenues of his see. Bath was a rich abbey, and Wells had always been a poor diocese. By taking over the abbey, John increased his episcopal revenues.{{sfn|Williams|2000|p=136}} William of Malmesbury portrays the moving of the episcopal seat as motivated by a desire for the lands of the abbey, but it was part of a pattern at the time of moving cathedral seats from small villages to larger towns.<ref name=DNB/> When John moved his episcopal seat, he also took over the abbey of Bath as his [[cathedral chapter]], turning his diocese into a bishopric served by monks instead of the [[Canon (priest)|canons]] at Wells who had previously served the diocese.{{sfn|Knowles|2004|p=132}} John rebuilt the monastic church at Bath, which had been damaged during one of [[Robert de Mowbray]]'s rebellions. Permission was given to move the [[Episcopal see|see]] of [[Somerset]] from [[Wells Cathedral|Wells]]—a comparatively small settlement—to the then [[Bath city walls|walled city of Bath]].{{sfn|Barlow|2000|p=182}}{{sfn|Huscroft|2004|p=128}}

When this was effected in 1090, John became the first Bishop of Bath, and St Peter's was raised to [[cathedral]] status.{{sfn|Greenway|2001}} As the roles of bishop and abbot had been combined, the monastery became a [[priory]], run by its [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]]. With the elevation of the abbey to cathedral status, it was felt that a larger, more up-to-date building was required. John of Tours planned a new cathedral on a grand scale, dedicated to [[Saint Peter]] and [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]], but only the [[ambulatory]] was complete when he died in December 1122.{{sfn|Powicke|1939|p=205}} He was buried in the cathedral.{{sfn|Greenway|2001}} The most renowned scholar monk based in the abbey was [[Adelard of Bath]]; after his various travels he was back in the monastery by 1106.{{sfn|Hylson-Smith|2003|pp=89–90}}

The half-finished cathedral was devastated by fire in 1137,{{sfn|Page|1911}} but work continued under [[Godfrey of Bath|Godfrey]], the new bishop, until about 1156; the completed building was approximately {{convert|330|ft|0}} long. It was [[Consecration|consecrated]] while [[Robert of Bath]] was bishop. The specific date is not known; however, it was between 1148 and 1161.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=54}}

In 1197, [[Reginald Fitz Jocelin]]'s successor, [[Savaric FitzGeldewin]], with the approval of [[Pope Celestine III]], officially moved his seat to [[Glastonbury Abbey]], but the monks there would not accept their new Bishop of Glastonbury and the title of Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury was used until the Glastonbury claim was abandoned in 1219.{{sfn|Brooke|1976|pp=184–185}} Savaric's successor, [[Jocelin of Wells]], again moved the bishop's seat to Bath Abbey, with the title Bishop of Bath. Following his death the monks of Bath unsuccessfully attempted to regain authority over Wells.{{sfn|Robinson|1916|p=161}} There were 40 monks on the roll in 1206.{{sfn|Wroughton|2006|pp=25–38}}

Joint cathedral status was awarded by [[Pope Innocent IV]] to [[Diocese of Bath and Wells|Bath and Wells]] in 1245.{{sfn|Hylson-Smith|2003|p=80}} [[Roger of Salisbury (bishop of Bath and Wells)|Roger of Salisbury]] was appointed the first [[Bishop of Bath and Wells]], having been Bishop of Bath for a year previously. Later bishops preferred Wells, the canons of which had successfully petitioned various popes down the years for Wells to regain cathedral status. The great Romanesque cathedral church, begun in the early twelfth century, was allowed to fall into chronic disrepair during the fifteenth century. In 1485 the priory had 22 monks.{{sfn|Wroughton|2006|pp=25–38}} When [[Oliver King]], Bishop of Bath and Wells (1495–1503), visited Bath in 1499 he was shocked to find this famous church "ruined to its foundations".{{sfn|Luxford|2000|p=315}}<ref name="sacreddest">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey|title=Bath Abbey|work=Sacred Destinations|access-date=1 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018141230/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey|archive-date=18 October 2009|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=visitbath/>{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=54}} He also described lax discipline, idleness and a group of monks "all too eager to succumb to the temptations of the flesh".{{sfn|Wroughton|2006|pp=25–38}}

[[File:Bath Abbey from the North West.jpg|thumb|A black and white photograph of Bath Abbey, taken at night, from a north-westerly direction]]

King took a year to consider what action to take, before writing to the Prior of Bath in October 1500 to explain that a large amount of the priory income would be dedicated to rebuilding the cathedral.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/dream.shtml | last=Manco | first=Jean | title=Oliver King's Dream | publisher=Bath Past | access-date=17 January 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129193233/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/dream.shtml | archive-date=29 November 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref> There are several stories that, on a visit to Bath, King had a dream in which he "saw the Heavenly Host on high with angels ascending and descending by ladder" which is now represented on the west front of the cathedral.{{sfn|Hammond|2012|p=80}}{{sfn|Britton|1825|p=35}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Bath Abbey|url=http://greaterchurches.org/visit/bath-abbey|publisher=Greater Churches Network|access-date=11 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111235055/http://greaterchurches.org/visit/bath-abbey|archive-date=11 January 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, this interpretation, which first appeared in the writings of [[John Harington (writer)|John Harington]], around 100 years after it was supposed to have happened, has been challenged.{{sfn|Hammond|2012|p=80}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Manco|first=Jean|title=Oliver King's Dream|url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/dream.shtml|publisher=Bath Past|access-date=11 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129193233/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/dream.shtml|archive-date=29 November 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Robert Vertue|Robert]] and [[William Vertue]], the king's masons were commissioned, promising to build the finest vault in England, promising "there shall be none so goodely neither in England nor France".{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=54}} Their design incorporated the surviving [[Norman architecture|Norman]] crossing wall and arches.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=54}} They appointed Thomas Lynne to supervise work on site and work probably began the following spring.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=54}} [[Oliver King]] planned a smaller church, covering the area of the Norman nave only.{{sfn|Wroughton|2006|pp=25–38}} He did not live to see the result, but the restoration of the cathedral was completed just a few years before the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] in 1539.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mayorofbath.co.uk/renaissance-bath |title=Renaissance Bath |access-date=11 January 2014 |publisher=The Mayor of Bath |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114061225/http://www.mayorofbath.co.uk/renaissance-bath |archive-date=14 January 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Reformation and subsequent decline===
[[File:Bath Abbey, 1875.jpg|thumb|right|The abbey in 1875]]

Prior Holloway surrendered Bath Priory to the crown in January 1539. It was sold to Humphry Colles of [[Taunton]].{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=56}} The abbey was stripped of its [[co-cathedral]] status in the aftermath of the Dissolution when the cathedral was consolidated in Wells. The church was stripped of iron, glass and £4,800 worth of lead and left to decay.<ref name=":0" /> Colles sold it to [[Matthew Colthurst]] of [[Wardour Castle]] in 1543. His son [[Edmund Colthurst]] gave the roofless remains of the building to the corporation of Bath in 1572.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=56}} The corporation had difficulty finding private funds for its restoration.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=3}}

In 1574, [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] promoted the restoration of the church, to serve as the grand parish church of Bath. She ordered that a national fund should be set up to finance the work,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/bath/A25243.html |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=27 September 2007 |work=Frommers Guide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510125130/http://www.frommers.com/destinations/bath/A25243.html |archive-date=10 May 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1583 decreed that it should become the parish church of Bath.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=3}} [[James Montague (bishop)|James Montague]], the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608 to 1616, paid £1,000 for a new nave roof of timber lath construction; according to the inscription on his tomb, this was prompted after seeking shelter in the roofless nave during a thunderstorm. He is buried in an [[alabaster]] tomb in the north aisle.{{sfn|Hylson-Smith|2003|p=132}} The restoration work on the Abbey financed by Montague was completed by 1611.<ref name=":0" />

===Modern renaissance===
[[File:Bath Abbey c1900.jpg|thumb|Bath Abbey {{Circa|1900}}]]
During the 1820s and 1830s buildings, including houses, shops and taverns which were very close to or actually touching the walls of the abbey were demolished and the interior remodelled by [[George Phillips Manners]] who was the [[List of Bath City Architects|Bath City Architect]].<ref name=":0" /> Manners erected flying buttresses to the exterior of the nave and added [[pinnacle]]s to the turrets.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=4}}

Major [[Victorian restoration|restoration work]] was carried out by Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]] in the 1860s, funded by the rector, Charles Kemble.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=4}} The work included the installation of fan vaulting in the nave, which was not merely a fanciful aesthetic addition but a completion of the original design.{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} Oliver King had arranged for the vaulting of the choir, to a design by William and Robert Vertue. There are clues in the stonework that King intended the vaulting to continue into the nave, but that this plan was abandoned, probably for reasons of cost. In addition a stone screen between the choir and nave was removed.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=4}} Scott's work was completed by his pupil [[Thomas Graham Jackson]] in the 1890s including work on the west front.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|pp=57–58}} Gilbert-Scott also designed the finely-carved pews in the nave, and are among the finest examples of Church seating from the period, and have been described as "one of the most magnificent and extensive suites of Victorian church seating in the country".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lawandreligionuk.com/2018/03/20/bath-abbey-pews-refusal-of-permission-to-appeal/|title=Bath Abbey pews: refusal of permission to appeal &#124; Law & Religion UK|first=David|last=Pocklington|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426081937/https://www.lawandreligionuk.com/2018/03/20/bath-abbey-pews-refusal-of-permission-to-appeal/|archive-date=26 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Work carried out in the 20th and 21st centuries included full cleaning of the stonework and the reconstruction of the [[pipe organ]] by [[Klais Orgelbau]] of [[Bonn]]. The west
front of the building, having decayed badly in the 500 years since it was built, has been subject to almost wholesale restoration.{{sfn|Luxford|2000|p=317}} The stonework of the west front had been subject to natural erosion therefore a process of lime-based conservation was carried out during the 1990s by Nimbus Conservation under the guidance of Professor Robert Baker who had previously worked on the west front of [[Wells Cathedral]]. Some of the damage to sculptures had been made worse by the use of [[Portland cement]] by previous work carried out in the [[Victorian era]]. A statue of St Phillip was beyond repair and was removed and replaced with a modern statue by Laurence Tindall.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|pp=5–6}}

===Rectors of Bath Abbey===
{{div col|colwidth=33em}}
* 1583–1584 John Long
* 1584–1608 [[Richard Meredith (priest)|Richard Meredith]] <small>(as Dean of Wells from 1607)</small>
* 1608–1621† John Pelling
* 1621–1634 [[George Webb (bishop)|George Webb]] <small>(appointed Bishop of Limerick)</small>
* 1634–1639 Theophilus Webb <small>(son of George Webb)</small>
* 1639–1665† James Masters <small>(sequestered by the [[Westminster Assembly]]; restored; Sub-Dean of Wells from 1661)</small><ref>{{cite book|title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857|year=1979|volume=5|pages=20–22|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1541-1847/vol5/pp20-22|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>
* 1666–1680† [[Joseph Glanvill]]
* 1681–1711† [[William Clement (priest)|William Clement]] <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath from 1690)</small>
* 1711–1733† [[William Hunt (Archdeacon of Bath)|William Hunt]] <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath)</small>
* 1733–1752† Thomas Coney<ref>{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Joseph|year=1891|title=Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714|section=Coney, Thomas|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp304-337|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>
* 1752–1767† Duel Taylor<ref>{{acad|id=TLR736D|name=Taylor, Duel}}</ref>
* 1767–1768† John Taylor<ref>{{acad|id=TLR742J|name=Taylor, John}}</ref>
* 1768–1786† [[John Chapman (Archdeacon of Bath)|John Chapman]] <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath)</small>
* 1786–1815† [[James Phillott]]<ref>{{cite wikisource|title=Alumni Oxonienses|chapter=Phillott, James (1)|wslink=Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886|last=Foster|first=Joseph|authorlink=Joseph Foster (genealogist)}}</ref> <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath from 1798)</small>
* 1815–1837† Charles Crook
* 1839–1854 [[William Brodrick, 7th Viscount Midleton|William Brodrick]] <small>(later Viscount Midleton and Dean of Exeter)</small>
* 1854–1859† [[Thomas Carr (bishop)|Thomas Carr]] <small>(formerly Bishop of Bombay)</small>
* 1859–1874† Charles Kemble<ref>{{cite wikisource|title=Alumni Oxonienses|chapter=Kemble, Charles|wslink=Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886|last=Foster|first=Joseph|authorlink=Joseph Foster (genealogist)}}</ref>
* 1875–1895 Richard England Brooke<ref>{{acad|id=BRK840RE|name=Brooke, Richard England}}</ref> <small>(grandfather of [[Rupert Brooke]])</small>
* 1895–1901 [[John Quirk (bishop)|John Quirk]] <small>(appointed Bishop of Sheffield)</small>
* 1902–1938 [[Sydney Boyd]] <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath from 1924)</small>
* 1938–1947 [[William Selwyn (bishop)|William Selwyn]]<ref>{{acad|id=SLWN898WM|name=Selwyn, William Marshall}}</ref> <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath; appointed Bishop of Fulham)</small>
* 1947–1960 [[Edwin Cook]] <small>(as Archdeacon of Bath)</small>
* 1960–1989 Geoffrey Lester<ref>{{cite news|last=Bullamore|first=Tim|work=The Independent|title=Obituary: Prebendary Geoffrey Lester|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-prebendary-geoffrey-lester-1157308.html|date=25 May 1998|access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref>
* 1990–2000 Richard Askew
* 2001–2003 Simon Oberst <small>(resigned, disqualified from priesthood)</small><ref>{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Priest disqualified after affair|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3537375.stm|date=6 March 2004|access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref>
* 2004–2017 Edward Mason
* 2019–present Guy Bridgewater
{{div col end}}

† ''Rector died in post''