canterburry-cathedral.docx

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Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedralis one of the oldest Christian

churches in England and it continues to play a central role

in English Christianity. Originally founded in 602 AD by St.

Augustine, it still functions as the cathedral of the

Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the worldwide

Anglican Communion.

Canterburywas an important spiritual center ever since

Augustine, but it became a major pilgrimage destination

after the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in 1170 (familiar
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to most as the subject of Geoffrey Chaucer's

humorousCanterbury Tales).

The grandeur of the architecture reflects Canterbury's

historic and religious importance, as does the magnificent

collection ofmedieval stained glass windowsdepicting

miracles experienced at Thomas' shrine, biblical scenes,

prophets and saints.

History of Canterbury Cathedral

The history of Canterbury Cathedral begins withSt.

Augustine, a Roman missionary sent to England by Pope

Gregory to convert the heathen Anglo-Saxons. The mission

was a success: in 597 AD, Augustine baptized King

Ethelbert of Kent.
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In602 AD, Augustine dedicated a cathedral church on this

site to Christ the Savior. It was in fact probably an existing

church building from Roman times, rehallowed by the

missionary saint.

Amonasterywas also established in connection with the

cathedral. Around 750 AD, Archbishop Cuthbert added a

baptistery-mausoleum to the north of the church, but none

of this survives.

In 1011, Canterbury was among the many English towns

devastated bymarauding Danes, who traveled up therivers killing and pillaging from their longships. The city

was destroyed, the cathedral was set on fire, and

Archbishop Alphege was taken hostage in hopes of ransom.

Alphege reportedly refused to allow anyone to pay for him,

and was pelted to death with oxbones at the Danish camp

in Greenwich. The archbishop became a martyr and a saint

and his life story is told in a medieval stained glass window

in the cathedral.

Another disastrous fire broke out in 1067, the year after

the Norman Conquest, destroying what was left of the

Saxon cathedral. When the NormanLanfrancwas

consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, the

ceremony had to be held in a temporary shelter.

But Archbishop Lanfranc was a motivated and highly

capable leader. He immediately set about reorganizing the

monastery, asserting the primary of Canterbury overYork,

and rebuilding the cathedral.
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Before coming to Canterbury Lanfranc had been the abbot

ofSt-EtienneinCaen, Normandy, where he had supervised

the reconstruction of the abbey church. The strong

influence of the earlier building can still be traced inCanterbury Cathedral. Lanfranc's new Norman cathedral

was dedicated inOctober 1077.

In 1093, a man namedAnselmbecame Archbishop of

Canterbury. Anselm was a quiet scholarly type, known for

his wisdom and piety. But it is to him, along with the priors

Ernulf and Conrad, that we owe much of the Romanesque

architecture and art that survives today.

Most notably, Anselm built the huge and beautifully

decoratedcryptbeneath the east end, which still survives

fully intact. An extensive choir with ambulatory,

consecrated in 1130, was then built over the crypt.
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Critical to the history of Canterbury Cathedral was

themurder of St. Thomas Becketon Tuesday, December

29, 1170, by order of King Henry II. The king later

performed penance there in 1174. On September 5 of thatsame year, the great Romanesque choir was devastated by

a fire.

The income frompilgrimsvisiting the Shrine of St.

Thomas, which was reported almost immediately to be a

place of miraculous healing, largely paid for the subsequentrebuilding of the cathedral.

The highly talentedWilliam of Sensbegan the rebuilding

work on the choir in 1175, but tragically fell from faulty


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scaffolding in 1178 and died shortly after. William of Sens

is credited with pioneering the Early English Gothic style in

his choir at Canterbury Cathedral.

His successor wasWilliam the Englishman, who

contributed the Trinity Chapel and Corona at the east end.

These were designed specifically to house the relics of St.

Thomas Becket, which were originally interred in the crypt.

The work was completed in 1184.

Meanwhile, numerous artists, who had probably worked in

France, were hard at work on the stained glass windows.The first stained glass panel to be completed was "Adam

Delving" in 1174 or 1175, the first of more than 80

ancestors of Christ placed in the clerestory windows.

This creative activity was rudely interrupted in 1207, when

Canterbury's archbishop and monks wereexiledby King

John. Work resumed immediately upon their return in

1213, and St. Thomas was moved to his new home in the

Trinity Chapel in 1220.

Prior Thomas Chillenden (1390-1410) rebuilt the Nave in

the Perpendicular style of English Gothic. In 1430 the

short central tower was demolished and rebuilt at a height

of 297 feet.

The medieval greatness of Canterbury Cathedral and its

monastery came to an end in1538. King Henry VIII, who

had recently declared himself head of the Church of

England, ordered the Shrine of St. Thomas destroyed and

despoiled.


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Many cartloads of treasure, representing gifts from

centuries of grateful pilgrims, were carried off and

appropriated by the king. One such treasure was the

Regale of France, a great ruby donated by Louis VII, whichHenry had made into a thumb ring. Today a candle burns

at the site of the former shrine.

It ceased to be an abbey during theDissolution of the

Monasteriesunder King Henry VIII when all religious

houses were suppressed. Canterbury surrendered in

March1539and reverted to its previous status of "a college

of secular canons."

DuringWorld War II, the cathedral's beautiful stained

glass windows were removed for safekeeping from Hitler's

air raids. It was a wise decision - the replacement windows

were blown in. A large area of the town of Canterbury was

destroyed, as was the cathedral library, but the main body

of the cathedral remained intact.

What to See at Canterbury Cathedral


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Theexteriorof Canterbury Cathedral immediately

impresses by its size, but also rewards closer attention to

its details. Viewed directly from the south, the abruptchange from Romanesque to Gothic is clearly evident - to

the right (east) are round arches, blind arcades, and rough

surfaces; to the left are the abundant pointed arches and

pinnacles of the Gothic nave.

Decorating the Romanesque exterior are intertwined blind

arches embellished with decoratively carved columnsandfigurative capitals, all of which date from Archbishop

Anselm's reconstruction around 1120. Many of the capitals

are weathered beyond recognition, but others still clearly


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display proud Green Men and other interesting medieval

characters.

The main entrance is through the Gothicsouthwest

porch, built in 1424-25 by Thomas Mapilton and 1455-59by Richard Beke. It was restored with new statues of

Canterbury's most notable archbishops by Theodore

Pfyffers in 1862. There are some details to spot here, too -

look for grinning faces and tiny symbols carved along the

top.

The nave terminates at a great Gothicchoir screen(a.k.a.

pulpitum) at the top of a wide stairway. The pulpitum was

built about 1455 by Richard Beke and originally had

sculptures of Christ and the twelve apostles along with the

shield-bearing angels and six kings that survive today.


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East of the choir is the largeTrinity Chapel, a level higher

than the rest of the interior and surrounded by an

ambulatory. It is reached by stone stairs on either side,

which have been worn down from the feet (and sometimesknees) of centuries of pilgrims.

The Trinity Chapel was built specifically for theShrine of

St. Thomas, which stood here from 1220 to 1538, when it

was destroyed on orders of King Henry VIII. It has been left

empty and a single candle burns over the site of the shrine.

The floor of the Trinity Chapel, near the west end, has a setof interestinginlaid marble roundelsrepresenting the

signs of the zodiac, months of the year, virtues and vices.

These were added in the early 13th century to embellish

the shrine. They are badly worn today, but many can still

be identified.

The ambulatory around the Trinity Chapel is home to some

of the most interesting and accomplishedstained glassin

Canterbury Cathedral. Most of the glass is original, ranging

in date from about 1180 to 1220, but there were significant

restorations (and replacements) made in the 19th century.

Circling around the ambulatory are a total of eight windows

depicting theMiracles of St. Thomas Becket. The first

window, in the north ambulatory, depicts some of theevents leading to his martyrdom, but the rest tell stories of

ordinary people who experienced miracles by praying to the

saint or visiting his shrine.


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The narratives depicted in these windows provide a

fascinating glimpse into medieval life, particularly its most

common illnesses and accidents. Many scenes take place

around Thomas' tomb, which is shown in its originalposition in the crypt. It was only after the Trinity Chapel

and its windows were completed that his relics were moved

to the new shrine.

The far east end of the cathedral is occupied by an apse

chapel known as theCorona("crown"), because it once

housed the relic of St. Thomas' head. Here there are two

more medieval windows of interest: the Tree of Jesse and

the Redemption Window. Both date from about 1200.

From theTree of Jesseonly two original panels survive,

which are displayed in the far left window: King Josiah and

the Virgin Mary. The entire window has been reconstructed

with modern glass to its right. TheRedemption Windowis

a typological window, showing four Old Testament "types"(foreshadowing events) for each of five scenes related to the

Passion and Resurrection of Christ. You can explore the

Redemption Window infull illustrated detail here.

Two moretypological windows, equally fascinating,

survive in the north choir aisle. They are earlier than the

Becket Windows, dated to about 1180. There were

originally six of these windows; the surviving panels have

been compiled into what are now calledTypological Window

2and Typological Window 3.
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For a good look at most of the medieval stained glass found

throughout the cathedral (with even more waiting to be

processed), please see our feature article onCanterbury

Cathedral's Stained Glass Windowsand itsaccompanyingStained Glass Photo Gallery.

Another notable feature of the ambulatory are its many

tombs of archbishops and royals. The most famous of these

is theTomb of the Black Prince(1330-76), topped with a

bronze chainmailed effigy of the knight, in the south

ambulatory. It's not clear how he got his romanticnickname; his contemporaries knew him as Edward of

Woodstock, Prince of Wales. He was the eldest son of a king

(Edward III) and the father of a king (Richard II), but was

never king himself because he died before his father.
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The massivecryptbeneath the east end of the cathedral is

one of the most fascinating parts of the building (and, alas,

was closed when I visited). Built under Archbishop Anselm

in the early 1100s, it still has extensive Romanesquemurals and exquisitely carved columns and capitals.

Quick Facts on Canterbury Cathedral

Site Information

Names: Canterbury Cathedral

Cathedral and Metropolitical

Church of Christ at Canterbury Christchurch Cathedral

Country: England

Categories: cathedrals;World Heritage

Sites;Grade I listed buildings

Styles: Gothic;Anglo-Norman

Dedication: ChristDates: 1070-1430

Status: Active

Visitor and Contact Information
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Coordinates:51.279696 N, 1.082883 E

Address: The Precincts

Canterbury, England

CT1 2EH

Phone: 01227 762 862

Email: enquiries@canterbury-

cathedral.org

Hours: Summer: Mon-Sat 9-5:30; Sun

12:30-2:30

Winter: Mon-Sat 9-5:00; Sun12:30-2:30

Lodging: View hotels near Canterbury

Cathedral

Note: This information was accurate when first published

and we do our best to keep it updated, but details such as

opening hours and prices can change without notice. To

avoid disappointment, please check with the site directlybefore making a special trip.

References

1.Personal visit (November 18, 2007).

2.Jonathan Keates,Canterbury Cathedral.

3.Michael Michael,Stained Glass of Canterbury

Cathedral.

4.Canterbury Cathedral- official website
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More Information

The Canterbury Mosaic Appeal- help save the South

Oculus window by buying a mosaic tile for 10

Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St

Martin's Church- UNESCO

Canterbury Cathedral Reviews- TripAdvisor

Charmed by Canterbury-The Sunday Tribune(India)

Margaret Agnes Babington,The Romance of

Canterbury Cathedral.

E.W. Boyd,English Cathedrals: Their Architecture,

Symbolism and History

Derek Butler,Canterbury Cathedral.

John Butler,The Quest for Becket's Bones: The Mystery

of the Relics of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury.

T.S. Eliot,Murder in the Cathedral.

Sally Rousham,Canterbury: The Story of a Cathedral.

Michael Wanton,The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: The

Monks of the Monasteries of Winchester, Canterbury,

Peterborough, Abingdon and Worcester.
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Photos of Canterbury Cathedral- here on Sacred

Destinations
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Map of Canterbury Cathedral

Below is a location map and aerial view of Canterbury

Cathedral. Using the buttons on the left (or the wheel onyour mouse), you can zoom in for a closer look, or zoom out

to get your bearings. To move around, click and drag the

map with your mouse.

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