William
also at the same time gave him the manor and castle of Bishop
Stortford, thus making him a baronial noble. There was need for haste,
for the Conqueror died at Rouen on the 9th of September that same
year.
So began the great Cathedral of St. Paul, the finest in England in its
time, which, witnessing heavy calamities, brilliant successes,
scenes both glorious and sad, changes--some improvements and others
debasements--lasted on for nearly six centuries, and then was
destroyed in the Great Fire. We have first to note the main features
of the architectural history.
Bishop Maurice began in the Norman style, as did all the
cathedral-builders of that age, and splendid examples of their work
are still to be seen in our cities. Bishop Maurice's, as I have said,
was the finest of them all in its inception, but he really did little
more than design it and lay the foundations, though he lived until
1108. He seems to have been too fond of his money. His successor,
Richard Belmeis, exerted himself very heartily at the beginning of his
episcopate, spent large sums on the cathedral, and cleared away an
area of mean buildings in the churchyard, around which his predecessor
had built a wall.
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