The beautiful gate of Erpingham, which was erected in 1420 and faces the west end of the Cathedral, recalls the munificence of Sir Thomas Erpingham, by whom it was built. He greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Agincourt, and was eventually interred in the Cathedral of Norwich, the town of his residence, though not of his birth. Another resident was Sir John Fastof, who lived fighting as a renowned warrior for Henry IV., V., and VI. in their wars in France.
From the old Grammar School came, besides Borrow, Sir Edward Coke, who was born in Norfolk. When only forty years of age he became Attorney-General, and lived in the reign of Elizabeth, always at strife with his dangerous and brilliant legal rival, Francis Bacon. Coke, by his opposition to the royal prerogative of raising money on the validity of the Court of High Commission, and in taking a considerable share in the drawing up of the Petition of Right, and in the debates upon the conduct of Buckingham, earned the dislike of James I. Though treading on dangerous ground, Coke nevertheless received active employment, and appears to have got on quite well in spite of royal displeasure.
Two other scholars were Brooke and Lord Nelson. Brooke entered the East India Company's army in 1819 at the age of sixteen. In his remarkable career he assisted the Sultan of Brunti to reduce the marauding Dyak tribes of Sarawak, and with such success that the Sultan created him rajah of the province of Sarawak in 1841.
A famous school of landscape painting was that at Norwich. It flourished in the first part of the nineteenth century, the principal artists of which were Crome,--who by the way was a native of Norwich,--Cotman, Vincent, and Stark.
Of recent years the Cathedral has undergone extensive restoration, namely, in 1892 and 1900.
Before closing this account we think it would be of interest to outline the causes that embittered the existence of the Jews and led to their persecution through the disappearance of a Christian boy in 1144 from Norwich.