Lincoln Cathedral: Encyclopedia II - Lincoln Cathedral - History

Lincoln Cathedral - History

King Henry II of England approved the election of Hugh of Avalon, a Carthusian monk and later canonized a saint, as Bishop of Lincoln in 1186, and St. Hugh died in 1200, before his plan for the rebuilding was completed. The western end of the cathedral was always where it is now, but the eastern end (east of the original, now "great" transept) was moved eastward each time the cathedral was enlarged: The eastern wall of the Norman building (1073) was in the middle of what is now St. Hugh's Choir. The eastern end of the Early English building (1186) was in what is now the Angel Choir behind the High Altar. The existing structure was finished by about 1280, but repairs and remodeling have continued, and there have been repeated problems with the spires (removed in 1807) and towers, which were sometimes thought to be in danger of collapsing, this was despite attempts to shore up the towers by digging underneath them to increase support, an early attempt of what is a common engineering project today on such building as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Among the persons interred in Lincoln Cathedral are:

• St. Hugh of Avalon, in the Angel Choir
• Richard Fleming, (died 1431), Bishop of Lincoln, in the first cadaver tomb ever, in a chantry on the north wall. His moldering corpse is realistically depicted below his effigy.
• Katherine Swynford and her daughter Joan Beaufort, in a chantry on the south side of the sanctuary

Lincoln Cathedral and its bishops have also had a leading role in the history of England. Most importantly is the Magna Carta which was signed by the Bishop of Lincoln amongst others, and what is one of only two copies resides in the cathedral's library although it is lent out to American museums to raise funds, a problem the diocese has suffered ever since the reformation. With more monasteries than everywhere else in England put together in Lincolnshire alone and a vast number in other lands controlled by the diocese the reformation cut off the main source of income to the Cathedral leaving the massive structure under the care of an organisation that can barely support it.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki