church. Leland hardly mentions it. He states merely that a tomb, "ex marmore calchedonico," lay on the wall south of the high altar, and questions whether it was that of the founder, or of the countess Petronilla. But as the founder was buried, according to the testimony of one of the canons, on the right, or north side of the choir, the tomb which Leland saw cannot have, been his; and Petronilla was buried in the middle of the choir.
The church was very richly endowed with chantries and chapels and altars.
In 1323 John de Tours founded a chantry there, which he endowed with a considerable amount of land; and in 1352 Simon de Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, handsomely endowed another. In all there are said to have been four chantries. The principal chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was enriched by pictures and fittings presented by William Geryn, a 14th century canon. Here Bishop Penny may have been buried; and here, "in the middle of the chapel," lay the great Cardinal Wolsey.
On the south side of the church was the chapel of St. Augustine, and the altar of St. John the Baptist. Others recorded in Charyte's Rental are those dedicated to the Holy Trinity, St. Gabriel, St. Stephen, St. Michael, St. Leonard, St. Andrew, St. Katherine and St. Anne.
The ceiling of the choir, and that of the body of the church, were designed and painted about the year 1340, through the munificence of William Geryn.
At the Visitation of Bishop Alnwick, which took place in 1441, a sermon "of a very pretty fashion," was preached in the chapterhouse. The record of this Visitation may be read in Mr. A Hamilton Thompson's, "Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln," (II. 206-217). The Abbot was accused of witchcraft.
A few years after the tragic end of Cardinal Wolsey the Abbey was dissolved, and the church stripped of all its beauty. The peal of bells was then valued at £88, and the lead at £1,000. This is so enormous a sum, that the printer of Thompson's
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