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GRAV'S WORK AT THE MINSTER. 147
revived. To Archbishop Gray is also due one of
the noblest features of that stately church, the south
transept of the minster. Both transepts belong to
his period, but the northern one is the earlier. It is
ascribed to John Romanus, who became sub-dean in
1228. Both are of the best and most characteristic
style of Early English. Both have east and west
aisles, which wonderfully enhance the picturesqueness
of their effect. In the southern transept, as
Professor Willis has remarked, " the pier arch under
which the tomb stands is made wider than the other,
apparently to give it importance." The tomb he
refers to is that of Gray, and is in the centre of the
chantry which he founded in 1241, and in which in
all probability it was his wish to be interred. Gray
issued the first archiepiscopal indulgence for the
fabric of the minster which is on record. It is dated
1 8th July, 1227.
The chantry founded by Archbishop Gray is one
amongst very many of those foundations which date
from the thirteenth century. Their number increased
rapidly at this time, not only in the minster, but in
parish churches, and as separate foundations; the
offspring of a pious regard for the souls of the
departed, an outcome of that belief in purgatory
which became so firmly fixed throughout the western
Church at an early period of the middle ages.
Belief in the efficacy of the sacrifice of the altar for
the dead as well as the living led naturally to the
special celebration of masses for the souls of the
former. It was a natural wish—it was a pious hope,
that the prayers of the priest when engaged in his
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