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[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.]
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
CANTERBURY
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
ARCHIEPISCOPAL SEE
BY HARTLEY WITHERS, B.A.
[Illustration: Arms of Canterbury.]
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1897
_First Edition December, 1896._
_Second Edition, Revised, with many Additional Illustrations, May, 1897._
* * * * *
GENERAL PREFACE.
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to the great
English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide books at a
popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a work compiled
with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the student of
archaeology and history, and yet not too technical in language for the use
of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each case
would be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the general
sources of information which have been almost invariably found useful
are:--firstly, the great county histories, the value of which, especially
in questions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognized;
secondly, the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in
the transactions of the antiquarian and archaeological societies; thirdly,
the important documents made accessible in the series issued by the Master
of the Rolls; fourthly, the well-known works of Britton and Willis on the
English Cathedrals; and, lastly, the very excellent series of Handbooks to
the Cathedrals, originated by the late Mr. John Murray, to which the
reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially in
reference to the histories of the respective sees.
GLEESON WHITE.
E.F. STRANGE.
_Editors of the Series._
* * * * *
PREFACE.
Among authorities consulted in the preparation of this volume, the author
desires to name specially Prof. Willis's "Architectural History of
Canterbury Cathedral" (1845), Dean Stanley's "Historical Memorials of
Canterbury" (Murray, 1855, and fifth edition, 1868), "Canterbury," by the
Rev. R.C. Jenkins (1880), and the excellent section devoted to Canterbury
in Murray's "Handbooks to the English Cathedrals, Southern Division,"
wherein Mr. Richard John King brought together so much valuable matter,
to which reference has been made too often to be acknowledged in each
instance. For permission to use this the publishers have to thank Mr. John
Murray.
For the reproduction of the drawings of the various parts of the
Cathedral, and the arms on the title page, by Mr. Walter Tallent Owen,
the editors are greatly indebted to the artist, from whose volume, "Bits
of Canterbury Cathedral," published by W.T. Comstock, New York, 1891, they
have been taken. Others are taken from Charles Wild's "Specimens of
Mediaeval Architecture," and from Carter's "Ancient Sculpture and
Paintings."
The illustrations from photographs in this volume have been reproduced
from the originals by Messrs. Carl Norman and Co.
H.W.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--History of the Building 3
CHAPTER II.--Exterior and Precincts:
The Angel or Bell Tower 24
The Monastery 32
Christchurch Gate 35
Ruins of the Infirmary 38
The Treasury 38
The Lavatory Tower 40
The Chapter House 42
The Library 44
The Deanery 44
The Green Court 48
CHAPTER III.--Interior:
The Nave 52
The Central Tower 55
The Western Screen 56
The Choir 57
The Altar 61
The Choir 64
The Choir Stalls 65
South-East Transept 67
South-West Choir Aisle 69
St. Anselm's Tower and Chapel 69
The Watching Chamber 72
Trinity Chapel 72
Tomb of the Black Prince 75
Becket's Crown 88
St. Andrew's Tower 90
North-East Transept 90
Chapel of the Martyrdom 92
The Dean's Chapel 94
South-West Transept 95
St. Michael's Chapel 95
The Main Crypt 96
The Eastern Crypt 101
CHAPTER IV.--The History of the See 103
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Cathedral from the South _Frontispiece_
Arms of Canterbury _Title_
The Cathedral from the North 1
Plan of Canterbury Cathedral (_Circa 1165_) 4
The Cloisters 19
View on the Stour 22
The Central Tower, "Bell Harry" 25
Detail of St. Anselm's Tower 32
The Christchurch Gate 33
The South-West Porch of the Cathedral 36
Cloisters of the Monks' Infirmary 37
Ruins of the Monks' Infirmary 38
The Baptistery Tower 39
Turret of South-West Transept 41
The Cloisters 43
Norman Staircase in the Close 45
Details of the Norman Staircase in the Close 46
Details of Ornament 47
Old Painting, "The Murder of St. Thomas a Becket" 51
The Shrine of St. Thomas a Becket (from the Cottonian MS.) 52
Capitals of Columns in the Eastern Apse 54
The Choir--looking East 59
Do. before Restoration 62
A Miserere in the Choir 65
Some Mosaics from the Floor of Trinity Chapel 73
The Black Prince's Tomb 77
Shield, Coat, etc., of the Black Prince 80
West Gate 81
Trinity Chapel, looking into Corona, "Becket's Crown" 88
Chair of St. Augustine 89
Transept of "The Martyrdom" 92
Part of South-Western Transept 94
The Crypt 97
Do. St. Gabriel's Chapel 100
Do. Cardinal Morton's Monument 101
Plans of Cathedral at three periods 130
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH
(FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY CARL NORMAN AND CO.).]
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.
CHAPTER I.
THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.
More than four hundred years passed by between the beginning of the
building of this cathedral by Archbishop Lanfranc (1070-1089) and its
completion, by the addition of the great central tower, at the end of the
fifteenth century. But before tracing the history of the construction of
the present well-known fabric, a few words will not be out of place
concerning the church which preceded it on the same site. A British or
Roman church, said to have been built by a certain mythical King Lucius,
was given to St. Augustine by Ethelbert in A.D. 597. It was designed,
broadly speaking, on the plan of the old Basilica of St. Peter at Rome,
but as to the latest date of any alterations, which may or may not have
been made by Augustine and his immediate successors, we have no accurate
information. It is, however, definitely stated that Archbishop Odo, who
held the see from A.D. 942-959, raised the walls and rebuilt the roof. In
the course of these alterations the church was roofless for three years,
and we are told that no rain fell within the precincts during this time.
In A.D. 1011 Canterbury was pillaged by the Danes, who carried off
Archbishop Alphege to Greenwich, butchered the monks, and did much damage
to the church. The building was, however, restored by Canute, who made
further atonement by hanging up his crown within its walls, and bringing
back the body of Alphege, who had been martyred by the Danes. In the year
1067 the storms of the Norman Conquest overwhelmed St. Augustine's church,
which was completely destroyed by fire, together with many royal deeds of
privilege and papal bulls, and other valuable documents.
A description of the church thus destroyed is given by Prof. Willis, who
quotes all the ancient writers who mention it. The chief authority is
Eadmer, who was a boy at the monastery school when the Saxon church was
pulled down, and was afterwards a monk and "singer" in the cathedral. It
is he who tells us that it was arranged in some parts in imitation of the
church of St. Peter at Rome. Odo had translated the body of Wilfrid,
Archbishop of York, from Ripon to Canterbury, and had "worthily placed it
in a more lofty receptacle, to use his own words, that is to say, in the
great Altar which was constructed of rough stones and mortar, close to the
wall at the eastern part of the presbytery. Afterwards another altar was
placed at a convenient distance before the aforesaid altar.... In this
altar the blessed Elphege had solemnly deposited the head of St. Swithin
... and also many relics of other saints. To reach these altars, a certain
crypt which the Romans call a Confessionary had to be ascended by means of
several steps from the choir of the singers. This crypt was fabricated
beneath in the likeness of the confessionary of St. Peter, the vault of
which was raised so high that the part above could only be reached by many
steps." The resting-place of St. Dunstan was separated from the crypt
itself by a strong wall, for that most holy father was interred before the
aforesaid steps at a great depth in the ground, and at the head of the
saint stood the matutinal altar. Thence the choir of the singers was
extended westward into the body of the church.... In the next place,
beyond the middle of the length of the body there were two towers which
projected beyond the aisles of the church. The south tower had an altar in
the midst of it, which was dedicated in honour of the blessed Pope
Gregory.... Opposite to this tower and on the north, the other tower was
built in honour of the blessed Martin, and had about it cloisters for the
use of the monks.... The extremity of the church was adorned by the
oratory of Mary.... At its eastern part, there was an altar consecrated to
the worship of that Lady.... When the priest performed the Divine
mysteries at this altar he had his face turned to the east.... Behind him,
to the west, was the pontifical chair constructed with handsome
workmanship, and of large stones and cement, and far removed from the
Lord's table, being contiguous to the wall of the church which embraced
the entire area of the building.
Lanfranc, the first Norman archbishop, was granted the see in 1070. He
quickly set about the task of building himself a cathedral. Making no
attempt to restore the old fabric, he even destroyed what was left of
the monastic building, and built up an entirely new church and monastery.
Seven years sufficed to complete his cathedral, which stood on the same
ground as the earlier fane. His work, however, was not long left
undisturbed. It had not stood for twenty years before the east end of the
church was pulled down during the Archiepiscopate of Anselm, and rebuilt
in a much more splendid style by Ernulph, the prior of the monastery.
Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph as prior, finished the choir, decorating it
with great magnificence, and, in the course of his reconstruction, nearly
doubling the area of the building. Thus completed anew, the cathedral was
dedicated by Archbishop William in A.D. 1130. At this notable ceremony the
kings of England and Scotland both assisted, as well as all the English
bishops. Forty years later this church was the scene of Thomas a Becket's
murder (A.D. 1170), and it was in Conrad's choir that the monks watched
over his body during the night after his death.
Eadmer also gives some description of the church raised by Lanfranc. The
new archbishop, "filled with consternation" when he found that "the church
of the Saviour which he undertakes to rule was reduced to almost nothing
by fire and ruin," proceeded to "set about to destroy it utterly, and
erect a more noble one. And in the space of seven years he raised this new
church from the very foundations and rendered it nearly perfect....
Archbishop Anselm, who succeeded Lanfranc, appointed Ernulf to be
prior.... Having taken down the eastern part of the church which Lanfranc
had built, he erected it so much more magnificently, that nothing like it
could be seen in England, either for the brilliancy of its glass windows,
the beauty of its marble pavement, or the many coloured pictures which led
the wondering eyes to the very summit of the ceiling." It was this part of
the church, however, that was completed by Ernulf's successor, Conrad, and
afterwards known as Conrad's choir. It appears that Anselm "allowed the
monks to manage their own affairs, and gave them for priors Ernulf, and
then Conrad, both monks of their own monastery. And thus it happened that,
in addition to the general prosperity and good order of their property,
which resulted from this freedom, they were enabled to enlarge their
church by all that part which stretches from the great tower to the east;
which work Anselm himself provided for," having "granted to the said
church the revenues of his town of Peckham, for seven years, the whole of
which were expended upon the new work." Prof. Willis, unable to account
for the haste with which the east end of Lanfranc's church was pulled
down, assumes that the monks "did not think their church large enough for
the importance of their monastery," and moreover wanted shrine-room for
the display of relics. The main body of Lanfranc's church was left
standing, and is described as follows by Gervase. "The tower, raised upon
great pillars, is placed in the midst of the church, like the centre in
the middle of a circle. It had on its apex a gilt cherub. On the west of
the tower is the nave of the church, supported on either side upon eight
pillars. Two lofty towers with gilded pinnacles terminate this nave or
aula. A gilded _corona_ hangs in the midst of the church. A screen with a
loft (_pulpitum_) separated in a manner the aforesaid tower from the nave,
and had in the middle and on the side towards the nave, the altar of the
holy cross. Above the _pulpitum_ and placed across the church, was the
beam, which sustained a great cross, two cherubim, and the images of St.
Mary and St. John the Apostle.... The great tower had a cross from each
side, to wit, a south cross and a north cross, each of which had in the
midst a strong pillar; this pillar sustained a vault which proceeded from
the walls on three of its sides," etc. Prof. Willis considers that as far
as these parts of the building are concerned, the present fabric stands
exactly on the site of Lanfranc's. "In the existing building," he says,
"it happens that the nave and transepts have been transformed into the
Perpendicular style of the fourteenth century, and the central tower
carried up to about double its original altitude in the same style.
Nevertheless indications may be detected that these changed parts stand
upon the old foundations of Lanfranc."
The building, however, was not destined to remain long intact. In A.D.
1174 the whole of Conrad's choir was destroyed by a fire, which was
described fully by Gervase, a monk who witnessed it. He gives an
extraordinary account of the rage and grief of the people at the sight of
the burning cathedral. The work of rebuilding was immediately set on foot.
In September, 1174, one William of Sens, undertook the task, and wrought
thereat until 1178, when he was disabled by an unfortunate fall from a
scaffolding, and had to give up his charge and return to France. Another
William, an Englishman this time, took up the direction of the work,
and under his supervision the choir and eastern portion of the church
were finished in A.D. 1184. Further alterations were made under Prior
Chillenden at the end of the fourteenth century. Lanfranc's nave was
pulled down, and a new nave and transepts were constructed, leaving but
little of the original building set up by the first Norman archbishop.
Finally, about A.D. 1495, the cathedral was completed by the addition of
the great central tower.
[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, ABOUT A.D. 1165.
From a Norman drawing inserted in the Great Psalter of Eadwin, in the
Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. First published in _Vetusta
Monumenta_ (Society of Antiquaries, 1755). For full description and a
plan of the waterworks see _Archaeologia Cantiana_, Vol. VII., 1868.]
During the four centuries which passed during the construction and
reconstruction of the fabric, considerable changes had manifested
themselves in the science and art of architecture. Hence it is that
Canterbury Cathedral is a history, written in solid stone, of
architectural progress, illustrating in itself almost all the various
kinds of the style commonly called Pointed. Of these the earliest form of
Gothic and Perpendicular chiefly predominate. The shape and arrangement of
the building was doubtless largely influenced by the extraordinary number
of precious relics which it contained, and which had to be properly
displayed and fittingly enshrined. Augustine's church had possessed the
bodies of St. Blaize and St. Wilfrid, brought respectively from Rome and
from Ripon; of St. Dunstan, St. Alphege, and St. Ouen, as well as the
heads of St. Swithin and St. Furseus, and the arm of St. Bartholomew.
These were all carefully removed and placed, each in separate altars and
chapels, in Lanfranc's new cathedral. Here their number was added to by
the acquisition of new relics and sacred treasures as time went on, and
finally Canterbury enshrined its chiefest glory, the hallowed body of St.
Thomas a Becket, who was martyred within its walls.
Since, owing to an almost incredible act of royal vindictiveness in A.D.
1538, Becket's glorious shrine belongs only to the history of the past,
some account of its splendours will not be out of place in this part of
our account of the cathedral. It stood on the site of the ancient chapel
of the Trinity, which was burnt down along with Conrad's choir in the
destructive fire of A.D. 1174. It was in this chapel that Thomas a Becket
had first solemnized mass after becoming archbishop. For this reason, as
we may fairly suppose, this position was chosen to enshrine the martyr's
bones, after the rebuilding of the injured portion of the fabric. Though
the shrine itself has been ruthlessly destroyed, a mosaic pavement,
similar to that which may be seen round the tomb of Edward the Confessor
in Westminster Abbey, marks the exact spot on which it stood. The mosaic
is of the kind with which the floors of the Roman basilicas were generally
adorned, and contains signs of the zodiacs and emblems of virtues and
vices. This pavement was directly in front of the west side of the shrine.
On each side of the site is a deep mark in the pavement running towards
the east. This indentation was certainly worn in the soft, pinkish marble
by the knees of generations of pilgrims, who prostrated themselves here
while the treasures were displayed to their gaze. In the roof above there
is fixed a crescent carved out of some foreign wood, which has proved
deeply puzzling to antiquaries. A suggestion, which hardly seems very
plausible, connects this mysterious crescent with the fact that Becket was
closely related, as patron, with the Hospital of St. John at Acre. It was
believed that his prayers had once repulsed the Saracens from the walls of
the fortress, and he received the title of St. Thomas Acrensis. Near this
crescent a number of iron staples were to be seen at one time, and it is
likely that a trophy of some sort depended from them. The Watching Tower
was set high upon the Tower of St. Anselm, on the south side of the
shrine. It contained a fireplace, so that the watchman might keep himself
warm during the winter nights, and from a gallery between the pillars he
commanded a view of the sacred spot and its treasures. A troop of fierce
ban-dogs shared the task of guarding the shrine from theft. How necessary
such precautions were is shown by the fact that such a spot had to be
guarded not only from common robbers in search of rich booty, but also
from holy men, who were quite unscrupulous in their desire to possess
themselves and their own churches of sacred relics. Within the first six
years after Becket's death we read of two striking instances of the
lengths to which distinguished churchmen were carried by what Dean Stanley
calls "the first frenzy of desire for the relics of St. Thomas." Benedict,
a monk of Christ Church, and "probably the most distinguished of his
body," was created Abbot of Peterburgh in A.D. 1176. Disappointed to find
that his cathedral was very poor in the matter of relics he returned to
Canterbury, "took away with him the flagstones immediately surrounding the
sacred spot, with which he formed two altars in the conventual church of
his new appointment, besides two vases of blood and parts of Becket's
clothing." Still more striking and characteristic of the prevalent passion
for relics is the story of Roger, who was keeper of the "Altars of the
Martyrdom," or "Custos Martyrii." The brothers of St. Augustine's Abbey
were so eager to obtain a share in the glory which their great rival, the
neighbouring cathedral, had won from the circumstances of Becket's
martyrdom within its walls, that they actually offered Roger no less a
reward than the position of abbot in their own institution, on condition
that he should purloin for them some part of the remains of the martyr's
skull. And not only did Roger, though he had been specially selected from
amongst the monks of Christ Church to watch over this very treasure, agree
to their conditions, and after duly carrying out this piece of
sacrilegious burglary become Abbot of St. Augustine's; but the chroniclers
of the abbey were not ashamed to boast of this transaction as an instance
of cleverness and well-applied zeal.
The translation of Becket's remains from the tomb to his shrine took place
A.D. 1220, fifty years after his martyrdom. The young Henry III., who had
just laid the foundation of the new abbey at Westminster, assisted at the
ceremony. The primate then ruling at Canterbury was the great Stephen
Langton, who had won renown both as a scholar and a statesman. He had
carried out the division of the Bible into chapters, as it is now
arranged, and had won a decisive victory for English liberty by forcing
King John to sign the Great Charter. He was now advanced in years, and had
recently assisted at the coronation of King Henry at Westminster.
The translation was carried out with imposing ceremony. The scene must
have been one of surpassing splendour; never had such an assemblage been
gathered together in England. Robert of Gloucester relates that not only
Canterbury but the surrounding countryside was full to overflowing:
"Of bishops and abbots, priors and parsons,
Of earls, and of barons, and of many knights thereto;
Of serjeants, and of squires, and of husbandmen enow,
And of simple men eke of the land--so thick thither drew."
The archbishop had given notice two years before, proclaiming the day of
the solemnity throughout Europe as well as England: the episcopal manors
had been bidden to furnish provisions for the huge concourse, not only in
the cathedral city, but along all the roads by which it was approached.
Hay and provisions were given to all who asked it between London and
Canterbury; at the gates of the city and in the four licensed cellars tuns
of wine were set up, that all who thirsted might drink freely, and wine
ran in the street channels on the day of the festival. During the night
before the ceremony the primate, together with the Bishop of Salisbury and
all the members of the brotherhood, who were headed by Walter the Prior,
solemnly, with psalms and hymns, entered the crypt in which the martyr's
body lay, and removed the stones which covered the tomb. Four priests,
specially conspicuous for their piety, were selected to take out the
relics, which were then placed in a strong coffer studded with iron nails
and fastened with iron hasps.
Next day a procession was formed, headed by the young king, Henry III.
After him came Pandulf, the Italian Bishop of Norwich and Papal Nuncio,
and Langton the archbishop, with whom was the Archbishop of Rheims,
Primate of France. The great Hubert de Burgh, Lord High Justiciary,
together with four other barons, completed the company, which was selected
to bear the chest to its resting-place. When this had been duly deposited,
a solemn mass was celebrated by the French archbishop. The anniversary of
this great festival was commemorated as the Feast of the Translation of
the Blessed St. Thomas, until it was suppressed by a royal injunction of
Henry VIII. in 1536.
A picture of the shrine itself is preserved among the Cottonian MSS., and
a representation of it also exists in one of the stained windows of the
cathedral. At the end of it the altar of the Saint had its place; the
lower part of its walls were of stone, and against them the lame and
diseased pilgrims used to rub their bodies, hoping to be cured of their
afflictions. The shrine itself was supported on marble arches, and
remained concealed under a wooden covering, doubtless intended to enhance
the effect produced by the sudden revelation of the glories beneath it;
for when the pilgrims were duly assembled on their knees round the shrine,
the cover was suddenly raised at a given signal, and though such a device
may appear slightly theatrical in these days, it is easy to imagine how
the devotees of the middle ages must have been thrilled at the sight of
this hallowed tomb, and all the bravery of gold and precious stones which
the piety of that day had heaped upon it. The beauties of the shrine were
pointed out by the prior, who named the giver of the several jewels. Many
of these were of enormous value, especially a huge carbuncle, as large as
an egg, which had been offered to the memory of St. Thomas by Louis VII.
of France, who visited the shrine in A.D. 1179, after having thrice seen
the Saint in a vision. A curious legend, thoroughly in keeping with the
mystic halo of miraculous power which surrounds the martyred archbishop's
fame, relates that the French king could not make up his mind to part with
this invaluable gem, which was called the "Regale of France;" but when he
visited the tomb, the stone, so runs the story, leapt forth from the ring
in which it was set, and fixed itself of its own will firmly in the wall
of the shrine, thus baffling the unwilling monarch's half-heartedness.
Louis also presented a gold cup, and gave the monks a hundred measures,
medii, of wine, to be delivered annually at Poissy, also ordaining that
they should be exempt from "toll, tax, and tallage" when journeying in his
realm. He himself was made a member of the brotherhood, after duly
spending a night in prayer at the tomb. It is said that, "because he was
very fearful of the water," the French king received a promise from the
Saint that neither he nor any other that crossed over from Dover to
Whitsand, should suffer any manner of loss or shipwreck. We are told that
Louis's piety was afterwards rewarded by the miraculous recovery, through
St. Thomas's intercession, of his son from a dangerous illness. Louis was
the first of a series of royal pilgrims to the shrine. Richard the Lion
Heart, set free from durance in Austria, walked thither from Sandwich to
return thanks to God and St. Thomas. After him all the English kings and
all the Continental potentates who visited the shores of Britain, paid due
homage, and doubtless made due offering, at the shrine of the sainted
archbishop. The crown of Scotland was presented in A.D. 1299 by Edward
Longshanks, and Henry V. gave thanks here after his victory over the
French at Agincourt. Emperors, both of the east and west, humbled
themselves before the relics of the famous English martyr. Henry VIII. and
the Emperor Charles V. came together at Whitsuntide, A.D. 1520, in more
than royal splendour, and with a great retinue of English and Spanish
noblemen, and worshipped at the shrine which had then reached the zenith
of its glory.
But though the stately stories of these royal progresses to the tomb of
the martyred archbishop strike the imagination vividly, yet the picture
presented by Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" is in reality much more
impressive. For we find there all ranks of society alike making the
pilgrimage--the knight, the yeoman, the prioress, the monk, the friar, the
merchant, the scholar from Oxford, the lawyer, the squire, the tradesman,
the cook, the shipman, the physician, the clothier from Bath, the priest,
the miller, the reeve, the manciple, the seller of indulgences, and,
lastly, the poet himself--all these various sorts and conditions of men
and women we find journeying down to Canterbury in a sort of motley
caravan. Foreign pilgrims also came to the sacred shrine in great numbers.
A curious record, preserved in a Latin translation, of the journey of a
Bohemian noble, Leo von Rotzmital, who visited England in 1446, gives a
quaint description of Canterbury and its approaches. "Sailing up the
Channel," the narrator writes, "as we drew near to England we saw lofty
mountains full of chalk. These mountains seem from a distance to be clad
with snows. On them lies a citadel, built by devils, '_a Cacodaemonibus
extructa_,' so stoutly fortified that its peer could not be found in any
province of Christendom. Passing by these mountains and citadel we put in
at the city of Sandwich (_Sandvicum_).... But at nothing did I marvel more
greatly than at the sailors climbing up the masts and foretelling the
distance, and approach of the winds, and which sails should be set and
which furled. Among them I saw one sailor so nimble that scarce could any
man be compared with him." Journeying on to Canterbury, our pilgrim
proceeds: "There we saw the tomb and head of the martyr. The tomb is of
pure gold, and embellished with jewels, and so enriched with splendid
offerings that I know not its peer. Among other precious things upon it is
beholden the carbuncle jewel, which is wont to shine by night, half a
hen's egg in size. For that tomb has been lavishly enriched by many kings,
princes, wealthy traders, and other righteous men."
Such was Canterbury Cathedral in the middle ages, the resort of emperors,
kings, and all classes of humble folk, English and foreign. It was in the
spring chiefly, as Chaucer tells us, that
"Whanne that April with his showres sote
The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veine in swiche licour,
Of whiche vertue engendred is the flour;
When Zephyrus eke with his sote brethe
Enspired hath in every holt and hethe
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foules maken melodie
That slepen alle night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature in hir corages;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken strange strondes
To serve hauves couthe in sondry londes;
And specially from every shires ende
Of Englelonde, to Canterbury they wende
The holy blissful martyr for to seke,
That hem hath holpen when that they were seke."
The miracles performed by the bones of the blessed martyr are stated by
contemporary writers to have been extraordinarily numerous. We have it on
the authority of Gervase that two volumes full of these marvels were
preserved at Canterbury, and in those days a volume meant a tome of
formidable dimensions; but scarcely any record of these most interesting
occurrences has been preserved. At the time of Henry VIII.'s quarrel with
the dead archbishop--of which more anon--the name of St. Thomas and all
account of his deeds was erased from every book that the strictest
investigation could lay hands on. So thoroughly was this spiteful edict
carried out that the records of the greatest of English saints are
astonishingly meagre. A letter, however, has been preserved, written about
A.D. 1390 by Richard II. to congratulate the then archbishop, William
Courtenay, on a fresh miracle performed by St. Thomas: "_Litera domini
Regis graciosa missa domino archiepiscopo, regraciando sibi de novo
miraculo Sancti Thome Martiris sibi denunciato._" The letter refers, in
its quaint Norman-French, to the good influence that will be exercised by
such a manifestation, as a practical argument against the "various enemies
of our faith and belief"--_noz foie et creaunce ount plousours enemys_.
These were the Lollards, and the pious king says that he hopes and
believes that they will be brought back to the right path by the effect
of this miracle, which seems to have been worked to heal a distinguished
foreigner--_en une persone estraunge_.
Another document (dated A.D. 1455) preserves the story of the miraculous
cure of a young Scotsman, from Aberdeen, _Allexander Stephani filius in
Scocia, de Aberdyn oppido natus_. Alexander was lame, _pedibus contractus_,
from his birth, we are told that after twenty-four years of pain and
discomfort--_vigintiquatuor annis penaliter laborabat_--he made a
pilgrimage to Canterbury, and there "the sainted Thomas, the divine
clemency aiding him, on the second day of the month of May did straightway
restore his legs and feet, _bases et plantas_, to the same Alexander."
Other miracles performed by the saint are pictured in the painted windows
of Trinity Chapel, of which we shall treat fully later on. The fame of the
martyr spread through the whole of Christendom. Stanley tells us that
"there is probably no country in Europe which does not exhibit traces of
Becket. A tooth of his is preserved in the church of San Thomaso
Cantuariense at Verona, part of an arm in a convent at Florence, and
another part in the church of St. Waldetrude at Mons; in Fuller's time
both arms were displayed in the English convent at Lisbon; while Bourbourg
preserves his chalice, Douay his hair shirt, and St. Omer his mitre. The
cathedral of Sens contains his vestments and an ancient altar at which he
said mass. His story is pictured in the painted windows at Chartres, and
Sens, and St. Omer, and his figure is to be seen in the church of Monreale
at Palermo."
In England almost every county contained a church or convent dedicated to
St. Thomas. Most notable of these was the abbey of Aberbrothock, raised,
within seven years after the martyrdom, to the memory of the saint by
William the Lion, king of Scotland. William had been defeated by the
English forces on the very day on which Henry II. had done penance at the
tomb, and made his peace with the saint, and attributing his misfortunes
to the miraculous influence of St. Thomas, endeavoured to propitiate him
by the dedication of this magnificent abbey. A mutilated image of the
saint has been preserved among the ruins of the monastery. This is perhaps
the most notable of the gifts to St. Thomas. The volume of the offerings
which were poured into the Canterbury coffers by grateful invalids who
had been cured of their ailments, and by others who, like the Scotch king,
were anxious to propitiate the power of the saint, must have been
enormous. We know that at the beginning of the sixteenth century the
yearly offerings, though their sums had already greatly diminished, were
worth about L4,000, according to the present value of money.
The story of the fall of the shrine and the overthrow of the power of the
martyr is so remarkable and was so implicitly believed at the time, that
it cannot be passed over in spite of the doubts which modern criticism
casts on its authenticity. It is said that in April, A.D. 1538, a writ of
summons was issued in the name of King Henry VIII. against Thomas Becket,
sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, accusing him of treason, contumacy, and
rebellion. This document was read before the martyr's tomb, and thirty
days were allowed for his answer to the summons. As the defendant did not
appear, the suit was formally tried at Westminster. The Attorney General
held a brief for Henry II., and the deceased defendant was represented by
an advocate named by Henry VIII. Needless to relate, judgment was given in
favour of Henry II., and the condemned Archbishop was ordered to have his
bones burnt and all his gorgeous offerings escheated to the Crown. The
first part of the sentence was remitted and Becket's body was buried, but
he was deprived of the title of Saint, his images were destroyed
throughout the kingdom, and his name was erased from all books. The shrine
was destroyed, and the gold and jewels thereof were taken away in
twenty-six carts. Henry VIII. himself wore the Regale of France in a ring
on his thumb. Improbable as the story of Becket's trial may seem, such a
procedure was strictly in accordance with the forms of the Roman Catholic
Church, of which Henry still at that time professed himself a member:
moreover it is not without authentic parallels in history: exactly the
same measures of reprisal had been taken against Wycliffe at Lutterworth;
and Queen Mary shortly afterwards acted in a similar manner towards Bucer
and Fagius at Cambridge.
The last recorded pilgrim to the shrine of St. Thomas was Madame de
Montreuil, a great French dame who had been waiting on Mary of Guise, in
Scotland. She visited Canterbury in August, A.D. 1538, and we are told
that she was taken to see the wonders of the place and marvelled at all
the riches thereof, and said "that if she had not seen it, all the men in
the world could never 'a made her believe it." Though she would not kiss
the head of St. Thomas, the Prior "did send her a present of coneys,
capons, chickens, with divers fruits--plenty--insomuch that she said,
'What shall we do with so many capons? Let the Lord Prior come, and eat,
and help us to eat them tomorrow at dinner' and so thanked him heartily
for the said present."
Such was the history of Becket's shrine. We have dwelt on it at some
length because it is no exaggeration to say that in the Middle Ages
Canterbury Cathedral owed its European fame and enormous riches to the
fact that it contained the shrine within its walls, and because the story
of the influence of the Saint and the miracles that he worked, and the
millions of pilgrims who flocked from the whole civilized world to do
homage to him, throws a brighter and more vivid light on the lives and
thoughts and beliefs of mediaeval men than many volumes stuffed with
historical research. No visitor to Canterbury can appreciate what he sees,
unless he realizes to some extent the glamour which overhung the resting
place of St. Thomas in the days of Geoffrey Chaucer. We have no certain
knowledge as to whether the other shrines and relics which enriched the
cathedral were destroyed along with those of St. Thomas. Dunstan and
Elphege at least can hardly have escaped, and it is probable that most of
the monuments and relics perished at the time of the Reformation. We know
that in A.D. 1541, Cranmer deplored the slight effect which had been
wrought by the royal orders for the destruction of the bones and images
of supposed saints. And that he forthwith received letters from the king,
enjoining him to cause "due search to be made in his cathedral churches,
and if any shrine, covering of shrine, table, monument of miracles, or
other pilgrimage, do there continue, to cause it to be taken away, so as
there remain no memory of it." This order probably brought about the
destruction of the tombs and monuments of the early archbishops, most
of whom had been officially canonised, or been at least enrolled in the
popular calendar, and were accordingly doomed to have their resting-places
desecrated. We know that about this time the tomb of Winchelsey was
destroyed, because he was adored by the people as a reputed saint.
Any monuments that may have escaped royal vandalism at the Reformation
period, fell before the even more effective fanaticism of the Puritans,
who seem to have exercised their iconoclastic energies with especial zeal
and vigour at Canterbury. Just before their time Archbishop Laud spent a
good deal of trouble and money on the adornment of the high altar. A
letter to him from the Dean, dated July 8th, A.D. 1634, is quoted by
Prynne, "We have obeyed your Grace's direction in pulling down the
exorbitant seates within our Quire whereby the church is very much
beautified.... Lastly wee most humbly beseech your Grace to take notice
that many and most necessary have beene the occasions of extraordinary
expences this yeare for ornaments, etc." And another Puritan scribe tells
us that "At the east end of the cathedral they have placed an Altar as
they call it dressed after the Romish fashion, for which altar they have
lately provided a most idolatrous costly glory cloth or back cloth."
These embellishments were not destined to remain long undisturbed. In A.D.
1642, the Puritan troopers hewed the altar-rails to pieces and then "threw
the Altar over and over down the three Altar steps, and left it lying with
the heels upwards." This was only the beginning: we read that during the
time of the Great Rebellion, "the newly erected font was pulled down, the
inscriptions, figures, and coats of arms, engraven upon brass, were torn
off from the ancient monuments, and whatsoever there was of beauty or
decency in the holy place, was despoiled."
A manuscript, compiled in 1662, and preserved in the Chapter library,
gives a more minute account of this work of destruction. "The windows
were generally battered and broken down; the whole roof, with that of the
steeples, the chapter-house and cloister, externally impaired and ruined
both in timber-work and lead; water-tanks, pipes, and much other lead cut
off; the choir stripped and robbed of her fair and goodly hangings; the
organ and organ-loft, communion-table, and the best and chiefest of the
furniture, with the rail before it, and the screen of tabernacle work
richly overlaid with gold behind it; goodly monuments shamefully abused,
defaced, and rifled of brasses, iron grates, and bars."
The ringleader in this work of destruction was a fanatic named Richard
Culmer, commonly known as Blue Dick. A paper preserved in the Chapter
library, in the writing of Somner, the great antiquarian scholar,
describes the state in which the fabric of the cathedral was left, at the
time of the Restoration of King Charles II., in 1660. "So little," says
this document, "had the fury of the late reformers left remaining of it
besides the bare walles and roofe, and these, partly through neglect, and
partly by the daily assaults and batteries of the disaffected, so
shattered, ruinated, and defaced, as it was not more unserviceable in the
way of a cathedral than justly scandalous to all who delight to serve God
in the beauty of Holines." Most of the windows had been broken, "the
church's guardians, her faire and strong gates, turned off the hooks and
burned." The buildings and houses of the clergy had been pulled down or
greatly damaged; and lastly, "the goodly oaks in our common gardens, of
good value in themselves, and in their time very beneficial to our church
by their shelter, quite eradicated and _set to sale_." This last touch is
interesting, as showing that the reforming zeal of the Puritans was not
always altogether disinterested.
After the Restoration some attempt was made to render the cathedral once
more a fitting place of worship, and the sum of L10,000 was devoted to
repairs and other public and pious uses. A screen was put up in the same
position as the former one, and the altar was placed in front. But, in
A.D. 1729, this screen no longer suited the taste of the period, and a
sum of L500, bequeathed by one of the prebendaries, was devoted to the
erection of a screen in the Corinthian style, designed by a certain Mr.
Burrough, afterwards Master of Caius College, Cambridge. A little before
this time the old stalls, which had survived the Puritan period were
replaced: a writer describes them, in the early half of the seventeenth
century, as standing in two rows, an upper and lower, on each side, with
the archbishop's wood throne above them on the south side. This chair he
mentions as "sometime richly guilt, and otherwise well set forth, but now
nothing specious through age and late neglect. It is a close seat, made
after the old fashion of such stalls, called thence _faldistoria_; only in
this they differ, that they were moveable, this is fixt."
Thus wrote Somner in A.D. 1640: the dilapidated throne of which he speaks
was replaced, in A.D. 1704, by a splendid throne with a tall Corinthian
canopy, and decorated with carving by Grinling Gibbons, the gift of
Archbishop Tenison, who also set up new stalls. At the same time Queen
Mary the Second presented new and magnificent furniture for the altar,
throne, stalls of the chief clergy, and pulpit. Since then many alterations
have been made. The old altar and screen have been removed, and a new
reredos set up, copied from the screen work of the Lady Chapel in the
crypt; and Archbishop Tenison's throne has given place to a lofty stone
canopy. In 1834 owing to its tottering condition the north-west tower of
the nave had to be pulled down. It was rebuilt on an entirely different
plan by Mr. George Austin, who, with his son, also conducted a good deal
of repairing and other work in the cathedral and the buildings connected
with it. A good deal of the external stonework had to be renewed, but the
work was carried out judiciously, and only where it was absolutely
necessary. On the west side of the south transept a turret has been pulled
down and set up again stone by stone. The crypt has been cleared out and
restored, and its windows have been reopened. The least satisfactory
evidences of the modern hand are the stained glass windows, which have been
put up in the nave and transepts of the cathedral. The Puritan trooper had
wrought havoc in the ancient glass, smashing it wherever a pike-thrust
could reach; and modern piety has been almost as ruthless in erecting
windows which are quite incredibly hideous.
In September, 1872, Canterbury was once more damaged by fire, just about
seven hundred years after the memorable conflagration described by
Gervase. On this occasion, however, the damage did not go beyond the outer
roof of the Trinity Chapel. The fire broke out at about half-past ten in
the morning, and was luckily discovered before it had made much progress,
by two plumbers who were at work in the south gutter. According to the
"Builder" of that month, "a peculiar whirring noise" caused them to look
inside the roof, and they found three of the main roof-timbers blazing. "The
best conjecture seems to be that the dry twigs, straw, and similar
_debris_, carried into the roof by birds, and which it has been the custom
to clear at intervals out of the vault pockets, had caught fire from a
spark that had in some way passed through the roof covering, perhaps under
a sheet raised a little at the bottom by the wind." Assistance was quickly
summoned, and "by half-past twelve the whole was seen to be extinguished.
At four o'clock the authorities held the evening service, so as not to
break a continuity of custom extending over centuries; and in the
smoke-filled choir, the whole of the Chapter in residence, in the proper
Psalm (xviii.), found expression for the sense of victory over a conquered
enemy."
Thus little harm was done, but it must have been an exciting crisis while
it lasted. "The bosses [of the vaulting], pierced with cradle-holes,
happened to be well-placed for the passage of the liquid lead dripping on
the back of the vault from the blazing roof," which poured down on to the
pavement below, on the very spot which Becket's shrine had once occupied.
"Through the holes further westward water came, sufficient to float over
the surfaces of the polished Purbeck marble floor and the steps of the
altar, and alarmed the well-intentioned assistants into removing the
altar, tearing up the altar-rails, etc., etc. The relics of the Black
Prince, attached to a beam (over his tomb) at the level of the caps of the
piers on the south side of Trinity Chapel, were all taken down and placed
away in safety. The eastern end of the church is said to have been filled
with steam from water rushing through with, and falling on, the molten
lead on the floor; and, in time, by every opening, wood-smoke reached the
inside of the building, filling all down to the west of the nave with a
blue haze." The scene in the building is said to have been one of
extraordinary beauty, but most lovers of architecture would probably
prefer to view the fabric with its own loveliness, unenhanced by numerous
streams of molten lead pouring down from the roof.
Since that date Canterbury Cathedral has been happy in the possession of
no history, and we pass on, therefore, to the examination in detail of its
exterior.
[Illustration: THE CLOISTERS.]