On the 950th anniversary of its royal transfer, John Goodall looks at the medieval development of one of Europe’s most brilliantly conceived cathedrals
IN 1066, a well-born monk of Fécamp called Remigius supplied a ship and 20 knights to William, Duke of Normandy, as he prepared to assert his claim to the English throne by force of arms. Remigius sailed with the Norman fleet that autumn and was present at William’s victory at the Battle of Hastings. Reward for his support came the following year, when he was granted the first diocese to fall vacant in England. This had its cathedral church at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and enjoyed authority over a vast swathe of territory that extended north to the Humber.
Remigius’s appointment was mired in scandal, but it would prove hugely significant. In 1072, as part of the far-reaching reform and reorganisation of the English church, he was commanded by the King—acting with the advice of the Pope—to transfer his cathedral church to Lincoln at the opposite geographical extreme of his diocese. At the time, Lincoln was one of the largest and most populous settlements in England, strategically positioned where the River Witham cuts through the limestone ridge that extends up the eastern side of the kingdom.
The medieval city
