Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/364

Rh 340 W A L W A L Norman, and in the opinion of Mr Freeman forms part of the original building of Harold, although others assign its date to the time of Henry I. Only the western supports of the ancient tower now remain. A tower corresponding with the present size of the church was erected in 1556 and restored in 1798. On the south side of the church is a lady chapel of about the end of the reign of Edward II. or beginning of that of Edward III., containing some good decorated work. Bishop Hall became curate of Waltham in 1612, and Thomas Fuller was curate from 1648 to 1658. At Waltham Cross on the great northern road, about a mile west of Waltham, is the beautiful cross erected (1291-94) by Edward I. at one of the resting-places of the corpse of Queen Eleanor on its way to burial in Westminster Abbey. It is of Caen stone and is supposed to have been designed by Pietro Cavalini, a Roman sculptor. It is hexagonal in plan, and consists of three stages, de creasing towards the top, which is finished by a crocketed spirelet and cross. The lower stage is divided into com partments enclosing the arms of England, Castile and Leon, and Ponthieu. It underwent restoration in 1833, and a scheme for the same object was started in 1885. The old Elizabeth market-house that formerly stood in the market-square of Waltham was taken down in 1852. The town is the seat of a county court for Epping division of Essex, and possesses a court house erected in 1849. The royal gunpowder factory is in the immediate vicinity; and the town possesses gun-cotton and percussion-cap factories, flour-mills, malt kilns, and breweries. Watercresses are largely grown in the neighbourhood, and there are exten sive market-gardens and nurseries, including Paul s famous rose nursery. The area of the urban sanitary district of Waltham Holy Cross, which is identical with the parish, of Waltham Abbey and is in the civil county of Essex and registration county of Middlesex, is 11,017 acres, the popu lation being 5197 in 1871 and 5368 in 1881. Waltham appears first in history as the hunting seat of the Danish thane Tovi or Ton, the royal standard-bearer at whose wedding feast Hardicanute died. The great forest on the edge of which it was built was long known as the forest of Waltham, but the only portion of it now remaining is called Epping forest. A wonderful cross which had been found in Tovi s land at Montacute, Somerset, was brought to Waltham, and Tovi built a church for its reception, which was named the Church of the Holy Cross. When the estate after being confiscated to the crown came into the possession of Harold, he pulled down* Tovi s church and built a new one of great magnificence, which was consecrated in 1060. He also founded a great secular college, which, though usually referred to as an abbey, did not, as is pointed out by Mr Freeman, become a religious house till the reign of Henry II. Shortly before the fatal battle of Hastings, Harold made a pilgrimage to Waltham, bringing with him many gifts. His body, which was first buried under a cairn at Hastings, was subsequently brought to Waltham and buried in the place of honour by the high altar. The tomb was destroyed about 1540. The site and property of the abbey were given by Henry VIII. to Sir Anthony Denny, whose grandson, Sir Edward Denny, was created by James I. baron of Waltham, and by Charles I. earl of Norwich. The town obtained a grant of a market from Henry III. See &quot; Architecture and Early History of Waltham Abbey Church,&quot; by E. A. Freeman, and other pnpers in vol. ii. of Transactions of the Essex Archxological Society; Thomas Fuller s History of Waltham Abbey; Stubbs s Foundation of Walt/Kim Abbey; and Freeman s Nonnan Conquest. WALTHAMSTOW, a town of Essex, England, now practically a suburb of London, is situated a short dis tance east of the river Lea, on a branch of the Great Eastern Railway, 6 miles north of Liverpool Street station. The original village grouped round the church is of com paratively small dimensions, but a large number of houses and villas have been built along the high road, from which diverge a number of streets and &quot; ends.&quot; The church of St Mary existed at a very early period, but the present building, chiefly of brick, was erected in 1535 by Sir George Monoux, lord mayor of London, and has under gone frequent alteration and improvement. Besides other old brasses it contains in the north aisle the effigies in brass of Sir George Monoux and Anne his wife. Among the other public buildings are the town hall, erected in 1876 at a cost of 4500, the literary institute, founded in 1882, and the working men s club and institute. There are a number of educational institutions, including a school of art connected with the science and art department of South Kensington, the Monoux grammar school, the Forest school, founded in 1834 in connexion with King s College, and the home for orphan boys. The benevolent and charitable institutions include the public dispensary (1873), the Leyton and Walthamstow hospital home for children (1877), Sir George Monoux s almshouses for thirteen poor men (1527), the Collard almshouses for ten married couples (1851), and the Squire almshouses for widows of decayed tradesmen. In the vicinity are the reservoirs of the East London Waterworks Company. On the banks of the Lea there are flour-mills and an oil-mill. The popu lation of the urban sanitary district (area 4374 acres) in 1871 was 10,692, and in 1881 it was 21,715. In Domesday the name occurs as Welamestuu. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it belonged to Waltheof, son of Siward, earl of Northumberland, who married Judith, niece of the Conqueror, who betrayed him to his death in 1075. The estate subsequently passed to Guy de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, and on the attainder of Earl Thomas in 1396 reverted to the crown. Afterwards it came into the possession of Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset; from the Somersets it passed to Sir George Rodney, and subsequently it came to the Maynard family. It is supposed to have been the birthplace of George Gascoigne the poet (d. 1577). Sir William Patten, commissioner of the navy, the friend of Pepys, had his seat at Walthamstow, and was frequently visited there by Pepys. WALTHER, BERNHARD (1430-1504), astronomer, was born at Nuremberg in 1430. He was a man of large means, which he devoted to scientific pursuits. When REGIOMONTANUS (q.v.) settled at Nuremberg in 1471, Walther built for their common use an observatory and a printing office, from which numerous calendars and ephemerides were issued, which became of great importance for the voyages of discovery. At this, the first German observatory, clocks driven by weights were first used in astronomical observations in 1484. The observations, con tinued until Walther s death in May 1504, were published by Schoner in 1544, and by Snell in 1618, as an appendix to his edition of Landgrave William s observations. WALTHER VON DEE VOGELWEIDE (c. 1170- c. 1230), the most illustrious of the German minnesa nger, was born in Tyrol between 1165 and 1170. He belonged to a noble family, but had no hereditary possessions. At an early age he seems to have given evidence of an apti tude for poetry, and his genius was developed under the influence of the older poet Reinmar, whom he soon far surpassed. His earliest patron was the young and brilliant Duke Frederick of Austria, at whose court in Vienna he spent several years. After Duke Frederick s death Walther betook himself to King Philip, at whose coronation in Mainz, on the 8th September 1198, he was present. King Philip appreciated his genius, but nothing is definitely known as to their relations to one another, or as to the causes which brought their connexion to an end. After a short stay at the court of Duke Leonhard of Carinthia Walther went to Eisenach, where poets were always welcomed by the landgrave Hermann. Here he remained until 1211, when the landgrave, in deference to the pope, joined some other princes in an attempt to secure the crown for the prince afterwards known as Frederick II. Walther, who disapproved of this policy, soon after wards entered the service of the emperor Otho ; but, the emperor having proved unfriendly towards him, he associ ated himself with the cause of Frederick, who greatly pleased him by granting him a small fief near Wiirzburg, thereby gratifying a wish the poet had often expressed. He might now have led a settled life, but he had so long