Chapter XVIII: Wolvesey--St. Cross--The Castle Hall--The Round Table

And for great Arthur’s seat ould Winchester preferres,
Whose ould Round Table yet she vaunteth to be hers.
DRAYTON’S _Polyolbion_.

From College one turns naturally to Wolvesey--Wolvesey with its wonderful grey stone walls, its memories of Saxon and Norman, Plantagenet and Stuart times. Here Alfred kept his Court, with all the learned men of his time around him; here the _English Chronicle_ was first compiled; and here, above that very Wolvesey wall, it may be, the Danish pirates captured in the Solent were hanged--as has been already related--in retributive justice. But the big blocks of ruin in Wolvesey Mead are of later date; they recall to us the career of that notable figure among the Bishops of Winchester, Henry of Blois, King Stephen’s brother, bishop from 1129 to 1171--the masterful man, devoted churchman, and scheming politician, whose story has been somewhat fully related in