INTRODUCTION
Peterborough cathedral's foundation charter was granted by the king, Henry
VIII, a couple of days after he founded Gloucester and a few days before he
refounded Ely as a secular cathedral. Peterborough, like Oxford, was carved
out of the enormous medieval diocese of Lincoln. The archdeaconry of
Northampton, consisting of the counties of Northants and Rutland, was made into
the new diocese. However, unlike Oxford, where the archdeaconry's
administrative centre became the cathedral city, in this case, the church of the
former abbey of Peterborough, at one extremity of the diocese, was made the
cathedral. On the dissolution of the abbey on 29 November 1539, the list of
pensions granted shows that some monks had left, but that another category was
'appointed to remain'. This suggests that plans for the new cathedral foundation
were already in motion. The last abbot, John Chambers, was appointed
'guardian' and accounted for the revenues, and on 4 September 1541, when the
new diocese and cathedral were set up, in fairly standard form, he was made the
first bishop. At the cathedral, a dean and a chapter consisting of six canons were
established. The former prior of St. Andrew, Northampton, became dean; the
former prior of Peterborough and three other monks became canons. One
version of the foundation charter gives the remaining two prebends as held by
former monks of Peterborough also: perhaps it was at the last minute that two
secular priests were appointed to the chapter. The archdeacon of Northampton
was released from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Lincoln and placed under that
of the new bishop of Peterborough. (fn. 1) The king presented to the deanery and the
bishop to the archdeaconry. The prebends were all initially in the gift of the
Crown, but the right of presentation was granted to the bishop of Peterborough
by Queen Mary I in 1553 and 1557, (fn. 2) and the bishops retained it. Collations
referred to the prebends by their numbers, and this practice persisted. In the
nineteenth century, the diocese was further enlarged at the expense of Lincoln by
the transfer of the archdeaconry of Leicester in 1837. (fn. 3) At the same time, the
number of prebends was reduced from six to four, of which one was annexed to
the archdeaconry of Northampton. (fn. 4)
Peterborough was not a wealthy cathedral. At the foundation, the bishop's
annual income was £333. In 1575, it was assessed at £414 19s 11d, which
placed Peterborough nineteenth in value on a national scale, with only Rochester,
Oxford, Gloucester, Bristol and the Welsh dioceses worth less. Sir Thomas
Cecil, writing in 1595 to his brother Robert, declared, The place is of small
revenue, and but for the title of a bishop, I think few will affect it but to step
forward to a better'. By 1831, the bishop's average income over the previous
three years was £3,103, which was higher than that of eight other bishops, but
was expected to be less in future. (fn. 5) The dean's income at the foundation was
£100, which was of course augmented when leases of chapter property were
renewed. The average income of the dean for the three years to 1831 was
£1,139 10s 0d, in comparison with the dean of Christ Church, Oxford's £3,200 6s
8d (less some college and university dues). This partly explains why
Peterborough had as many as thirty-five deans during the period 1541-1857, of
whom eighteen were promoted to higher office. White Kennett, when dean, is
said to have excused himself on the grounds of poverty from donating the
customary piece of plate for the table of the royal chaplains at Court, saying that
he was 'only Dean of Pewterborough'. (fn. 6) At the foundation, the prebends were
worth twenty pounds, although 'but 7l, unless resident'. By 1720, the nominal
value of a prebend was thirty-six pounds a year, but when a proportion of the
fines for renewal of leases was included, one canon's yearly profits ranged
between forty-nine pounds and £281. In the eighteen-thirties, a canon's average
income amounted to £525 15s 0d, far short of that of a canon of Christ Church,
Oxford, at £1,510 1s 6d (less some dues). (fn. 7)
Peterborough's diocesan records are at the Northamptonshire Record Office,
while those of the dean and chapter are divided between that record office and
the Cambridge University Library, with some remaining in the Peterborough
Cathedral Library. The bishops' institution act books form a complete series,
though they contain gaps, especially in the sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries. The series of dean and chapter registers begins in 1692, but prior to
that many installations are to be found in the various act books, leger books and
registers of earlier deans, and other information on tenure of offices can be
gleaned from treasurers' accounts and miscellaneous documents. Simon
Gunton, a canon 1646-76, and a resident in Peterborough from birth, wrote a
History of Peterburgh, which was enlarged and revised for publication in 1686
by the dean, Simon Patrick, (fn. 8) and this is a useful source for details within
Gunton's lifetime.