Exeter - Cathedral

After the conquest of Britain under Emperor Claudius, the Romans founded the city of "Isca Dumnoniorum" on the site where a Celtic settlement already existed. Numerous sections of the Roman city wall have survived to this day.

In the 7th century, the city fell to Wessex. An Anglo-Saxon monastery was built here around 680. In 876, the Danes attacked Exeter and occupied it briefly, but Alfred the Great was able to drive them out a year later and had the Roman city wall repaired. In 893, Alfred was able to hold the city against a Danish attack for a second time.

In 1001, the Danes again failed to take control of Exeter. However, after the town came into the possession of Emma of Normandy in 1002 through her marriage to Æthelred the Unready as part of her dowry, Emma's steward allowed the Danes under Sven Forkbeard to enter Exeter and sack the city the following year.

In 1050 the seat of the bishopric, formed in 1032 from the bishoprics of Cornwall and Crediton, was transferred to Exeter and Leofric became the first bishop of the bishopric of Exeter.

In 1068 the town was besieged by Norman troops of William the Conqueror, to whom it had refused to swear allegiance, and surrendered after 18 days. The Norman ruler had the fortress of Rougemont built here. However, the Bishop of Exeter also acted as a landowner and feudal lord, as mentioned in the Domesday Book.

In the early stages of the civil war that broke out after the death of Henry I, Baldwin de Redvers held Exeter for three months in 1136 against King Stephen, but then surrendered. Henry II granted Exeter its first charter.

In the 13th century, Exeter developed into the most important city in the southwest of England. It exported tin and cloth, among other things. From 1295 onwards, it sent representatives to the English Parliament.

Exeter had to survive several more sieges, for example in 1467 during the Wars of the Roses, in 1497 by the pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck and in 1549 by insurgents from Cornwall and Devon who rebelled against the religious reforms of Edward VI, while Exeter remained loyal to the king.

During the English Civil War (1642-1649), Exeter was initially on the side of the supporters of Parliament, but was conquered by the Royalists in 1643 and held for King Charles I for almost three years.

Construction of the cathedral began in 1112 in the Norman/Romanesque style. The outer walls of the nave and the two colossal square towers, which now serve as the transept, are still preserved from this building. The architect of the Romanesque predecessor had resorted to this unusual solution because the crossing towers, which had previously been built according to English tradition, had collapsed.

The new Gothic building began in 1224. The Lady Chapel, a single-nave building with three bays, marked the beginning. Around 1280/90, the retrochoir and the nave followed in the dimensions of the Romanesque church. At about the same time (1270/1280), the chapter house was added to the south transept.


The choir stalls were made in the 1870s by Sir Gilbert Scott. More than 40 medieval misericords from the mid 13th century were integrated.

This misericord is one of the medieval examples.

This is the oldest known depiction of an elephant in Britain - and it is anatomically quite accurate.

Only three elephants were seen in Europe between 800 and 1300.

1. ‘Abul Abbas’ (+810), owned by Charlemagne, a gift from Harun al-Rashid.

2. The ‘Cremona Elephant’ owned by Frederik II in 1229, a gift from Al-Kamil al-Malik.

3.The elephant that Louis IX (Saint Louis) brought to France on his return from the sixth crusade in 1255 and gave to Henry III. This elephant died in London in 1258.

The artist who created this misericord must have seen Henry III's elephant in London or at least had some kind of drawing of it.