History of the Cathedral Church of Wells / As Illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old Foundation

The author presents a connected account of a cathedral's institutional, architectural, and documentary history through three lectures, tracing its origins, episcopal authority, clerical constitution, liturgical discipline, and the impacts of ecclesiastical reforms and external political changes. He examines early organizational changes that introduced stricter monastic-inspired rules among secular canons, the relocation of the bishop's seat to a larger town, and the tension between original founding principles and later alterations. The text combines structural description, archival notices, and critical commentary on reform efforts, and concludes with notes and references aimed at informing both local and broader studies of cathedral foundations.