nd enlarged the south aisle,
joining it to the rest of the building. In one of its porches, or
side-chapels (_in uno porticu_), he built an altar to the Virgin Mary,
erecting over it a stately image of gold and silver, adorned with
valuable jewels. It is probable that this chapel, and the one that
possibly replaced it when the present cathedral was built, may have been
colloquially known as the lady-chapel, for it is sometimes said that a
lady-chapel was in existence before the fourteenth century; but there
was nothing about it of the dignity and importance usually associated
with the name.

Although the Isle of Ely plays so important a part in the history of the
Norman Conquest, and was the scene of the last great stand made against
the Conqueror, neither the party of Hereward and the Camp of Refuge, nor
the forces of the king, did any material damage to the buildings of the
monastery. Its affairs were indeed brought to confusion, as the monks
had sided with Hereward, and the Conqueror gave orders for the plunder
of all the goods of the monastery. But the monks purchased from the king
his forgiveness, and the liberty of the place, and the restoration of
what property had been taken away, for the sum of a thousand marks. To
raise this amount they had to sell almost everything in the church of
gold and silver; and the "Liber Eliensis" enumerates among precious
objects thus alienated, crosses, altars, shrines, texts, chalices,
patens, basins, brackets, pipes (_fistulas_), cups, salvers, and the
image of the Virgin seated with her Son on a throne, which Abbot Elsin
had wrought of gold and silver. It is true that most, if not all, of
these were recovered in about ten years, for it is on record that the
Norman abbot, Theodwin, refused to accept the abbacy until the king
would restore what had been taken away. This seems to refer to the goods
sold to raise the money demanded as the price of his forgiveness.

When the building of the existing cathedral was commenced there was not
the same necessity as existed in many other cases. There was no ruin to
be rendered serviceable. A church was actually standing and in constant
use. It must therefore have been felt that the importance and wealth of
the foundation demanded a more magnificent minster. When Simeon, the
ninth abbot (1081-1093), was appointed, he found the property of the
abbey still in an unsatisfactory state. Lands really belonging to it
were in many instances held by