proceedings by procuring his removal, some two years later, to the abbacy of Tewkesbury, which office he held until his death in the year 1202 (Annales Tewkes., in Annales Monast., Rolls Ser., i. 53, 56).
The ‘Life of Becket,’ the only printed work which can with any certainty be attributed to Alan, was professedly written as a kind of supplement to the life by John of Salisbury, and was designed as a kind of introduction to the collection of Becket's epistles which Alan had formed and arranged. It is printed in the second volume of the collection entitled ‘Materials for the History of Thomas Becket,’ edited for the Rolls series by the Rev. J. C. Robertson. Other writings of Alan are preserved in manuscript in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
The foregoing outline having been written on the assumption that Alan of Tewkesbury was a different person alike from Alan of the Isles (or Alan of Lille) [see Alain de Lille], known as the ‘Doctor universalis,’ and from Alan, bishop of Auxerre, it will be desirable to indicate the sources from which these conclusions are derived. The facts which establish (in opposition to Oudin) the distinct individualities of Alan of the Isles, and of Alan, bishop of Auxerre, are given by Dom Brial, ‘Hist. Litt. de la France’ (ed. 1824), xvi. 396–425; and also by Dupuis, ‘Alain de Lille,’ pp. 52–56. But Dom Brial, it is to be noted, considers Alan of Tewkesbury and the ‘doctor universalis’ to have been the same person. In contravention of such a view it may be observed that none of the writers nearest to the times in which Alan lived, such as Otho of St. Blasius, Alberic of the abbey of Trois Fontaines, and Henry of Ghent, when speaking of the ‘doctor universalis’ refer to the fact of his having filled any important post in England, or speak of any relations existing between him and Thomas of Canterbury. On the other hand, Henry of Ghent expressly states that the ‘doctor universalis’ was head of a school for the clergy (‘ecclesiasticæ scholæ’) at Paris (De Scriptt. Eccles., in Fabricius, Biblioth. Eccles. part ii. 121)—a statement repeated by Trithemius (ibid. part iii. cap. 527), but one which it is difficult to reconcile with the known facts in the life of Alan of Tewkesbury. None of the writings attributed to the latter, again, bear the title of ‘doctor universalis.’
[Chronica of Gervase of Canterbury; Annales Tewkesburienses; Preface to Materials for History of Thomas Becket, ed. Robertson, Rolls Ser., vol. ii.; Alain de Lille, par Albert Dupuis (1859);]
ALAN of Walsingham (d. 1364?), a celebrated architect, is first heard of in 1314 as a junior monk at Ely, distinguished by his skill in goldsmith's work, and for his acquaintance with the principles of mechanics. He afterwards turned his attention to the study of architecture, and in 1321, when subprior of his convent, designed and began to build the beautiful St. Mary's Chapel (now Trinity Church) attached to the cathedral. At the same time he was engaged in the erection of Prior Cranden's chapel, the new sacristy, and many minor works.
In December 1321, he was elected sacristan, with sole charge of the fabric of the cathedral.
In February 1322, the great central tower of the cathedral fell, and carried with it the choir and other attached portions of the structure. Instead of rebuilding the four piers which carried the square Norman tower—a weak point in cathedral construction from that day to this—Alan advanced the supports, to the extent of one bay, into each arm of the cross; and by so doing he not only distributed the weight upon eight piers instead of four, but obtained a magnificent central octagonal hall, which he roofed with a dome surmounted by a lofty lantern.
The result was not only supremely beautiful, but in every sense original. It is almost certain that Alan never travelled beyond the limits of his convent, and that he was not acquainted, except perhaps from hearsay, with the domed churches of the East, whose principles of construction, moreover, differ essentially from those employed by Alan. His work remains to this day unique amongst the cathedrals of Europe. He subsequently rebuilt the bays of the choir which had been ruined by the fall of the great tower, and these are admittedly amongst the most beautiful examples of ‘Decorated’ or ‘Second Pointed’ English Gothic.
In 1341 Alan was elected prior of his convent, and in 1344 to the bishopric of Ely, rendered vacant by the death of Simon de Montacute; and it would appear from the epitaph given in Dugdale that at this date Alan, as might have been supposed, ceased to hold the office of sacristan. He was then bishop-elect, and the works connected with the fabric of the cathedral had been conducted to a successful termination, leaving for his successor only the decorations and fittings.
His election to the vacant throne was, however, set aside by the pope in favour of Thomas L'Isle, a Dominican friar, who was at Avignon with the pope at the time.
A similar honour was destined for Alan in
