upper tiers contains two two-light windows, while below there is a
large four-light window uniform with the windows of the aisles. The
base tier is ornamented with rich panelling. The parapet is
battlemented and the angles are finished with fine double
pinnacles. At the west end there is a large window of seven-light
transoms. The gable contains a window of very curious shape, filled
with intricate tracery. The space above the aisle windows is
ornamented with quatrefoiled squares, and the clerestory is pierced
by windows of three lights.”--(H. W.)
Above the aisle windows are quatrefoiled squares. The clerestory, Choir
and Becket’s Crown contain lancet windows. In the main transept there is
a fine Perpendicular window of eight lights.
The South side of the Cathedral is the one most generally admired.
“On the south side is seen the porch; the nave (a beautiful
design); and the charming pinnacle of the south-west transept. East
of the Warrior’s Chapel is the projecting end of Stephen Langton’s
tomb. East of this, the two lower rows of windows are those of
Conrad’s Choir; the upper row that of William of Sens. The middle
windows in the south-east transept were the clerestory windows of
Conrad; the windows above them are those of William of Sens. The
three upper stages of the tower on the south of this transept are
late Norman work; one of the prettiest bits in Canterbury. Farther
east we have French design, pure and simple; here, for the first
time in English architecture, the flying-buttresses are openly
displayed; notice how flat and plain they are; it had not yet
occurred to architects to make them decorative. The grand sweep of
apse and ambulatory seems to send one straight back to France. Then
comes the broken rocky outline of the _corona_--the great puzzle of
Canterbury. North-east of the _corona_ are two groups of ruined
Norman pillars and arches discoloured by fire; once they were
continuous, forming one very long building, the Monk’s Infirmary,
of which the west end was originally an open dormitory, open to the
roof, and the east end, separated off by a screen, the Chapel;
which has a late Geometrical window. On the north side of Trinity
Chapel is seen the Chantry of Henry IV.; then St. Andrew’s Tower
and the barred Treasury; the lower part of the latter is late
Norman work, largely rebuilt.”--(F. B.)
The =Porch= on the south side of Chichele Tower is the work of Prior
Chillenden. It has a central niche on which the _Martyrdom of Becket_
was represented on a panel of the Fifteenth Century. The niches are
filled with statues. Through it we now pass into the Cathedral.
The =Nave= (Perpendicular) resembles the bolder nave of Winchester, built
at the same period. The most striking feature is the manner in which the
Choir is raised above the level of the floor, owing to the fact that it
stands over the crypt. The
[Illustration: CANTERBURY: SOUTH PORCH]
[Illustration: CANTERBURY: NAVE, EAST]
flight of steps placed between the Nave and the Choir adds to the
effect.
“The nave, of eight bays, has no triforium. Each bay consists of a
huge arch resting on filleted pillars, and is subdivided into the
pier-arch, with the clerestory and panelling reaching to the
string-course above. It is paved with Portland stone. The vaulting
and vaulting-shafts are the prominent features of the nave, and the
pier-arches are quite subordinate; these shafts are banded, as at
Bath, like Early English. The main transept has no aisles.”--(W. J.
L.)
Of the Nave windows none remain entire. The great =West Window= is made up
of fragments from the others. It contains the arms of Richard II.
impaling the Confessor’s; and those of Anne of Bohemia (north); and
Isabella of France (south).
The beautifully carved =Screen= of solid stone, separating the Nave from
the Choir, was placed there in the Fifteenth Century. Of the six crowned
figures in the lower niches, the one holding the church is supposed to
be Ethelbert; and the one on the extreme right, Richard II. The figures
of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, which filled the thirteen mitred
niches around the arch, were destroyed by “Blue Dick” and his
companions. A staircase leads to the top of the Screen.
Another Screen partly fills the space between the two western piers of
the central, or Angel, Tower.
“The piers which support the central tower are probably the
original piers of Lanfranc’s erection, cased with Perpendicular
work by Prior Chillenden at the same time with the building of the
nave. To this Prior Goldstone II. (1495-1517) added the vaulting of
the tower, and all the portion above the roof, together with the
remarkable buttressing-arches supporting the piers below, which had
perhaps shown some signs of weakness. These arches have on them
the Prior’s rebus, a shield with three golden bars, or stones. The
central arch occupies the place of the ancient roodloft, and
probably the great rood was placed on it until the
Reformation.”--(R. J. K.)
The =Choir= of five bays shows the earliest instance of the Pointed Arch
in England and groining on a large scale. The clerestory of the Choir is
filled with windows representing the genealogy of the Saviour. The
carvings on the stalls are said to be by Grinling Gibbons.
In 1096, Prior Ernulf began a longer and wider Choir than originally
existed; and this was dedicated in 1114, before he left Canterbury to
become Bishop of Rochester. Prior Conrad, his successor, finished the
decoration of it and “the glorious Choir of Conrad,” as it was somewhat
unjustly called, was consecrated in 1130. In 1174 it was destroyed by
fire to the great distress of everybody. All that remains is a portion
of the pavement consisting of large slabs of “stone or veined marble of
a delicate brown colour,” between the two Transepts.
“About four years after the murder on the 5th of September, 1174, a
fire broke out in the Cathedral which reduced the Choir--hitherto
its chief architectural glory--to ashes. The grief of the people is
described in terms which show how closely the expression of
Mediæval feeling resembled what can now only be seen in Italy or
the East--‘They tore their hair; they beat the walls and pavements
of the church with their shoulders and the palms of their hands;
they uttered tremendous curses against God and his saints--even to
the patron saint of the church; they wished they had rather have
died than seen such a day.’ How far more like the description of a
Neapolitan mob in disappointment at the slow liquefaction of the
blood of St. Januarius than of the citizens of a quiet cathedral
town in the county of Kent! The monks, though appalled by the
calamity for a time, soon recovered themselves; workmen and
architects, French and English, were procured; and among the
former, William, from the city of Sens, so familiar to all
Canterbury at that period as the scene of Becket’s exile. No
observant traveller can have seen the two Cathedrals without
remarking how closely the details of William’s workmanship at
Canterbury were suggested by his recollections of his own church at
Sens, built a short time before. The forms of the pillars, the
vaulting of the roof, even the very bars and patterns of the
windows are almost identical.... The French architect unfortunately
met with an accident which disabled him from continuing his
operations. After a vain struggle to superintend the works by being
carried round the church in a litter, he was compelled to surrender
the task to a namesake, an Englishman, and it is to him that we owe
the design of that part of the Cathedral which was destined to
receive the sacred Shrine.”--(A. P. S.)
“On entering the choir, the visitor is immediately struck by the
singular bend with which the walls approach each other at the
eastern end. By this remarkable feature, together with the great
length of the Choir (180 feet; it is the longest in England) and
the lowness of the vaulting; the antique character of the
architecture enforced by the strongly contrasted Purbeck and Caen
stone, and the consequent fine effects of light and shadow. The
style is throughout Transition, having Norman and Early English
characteristics, curiously intermixed. The pillars with their
pier-arches, the clerestory wall above and the great vault up to
the Transepts, were entirely finished by William of Sens. The whole
work differed greatly from that of the former choir. The richly
foliated and varied capitals of the pillars, the great vault with
its ribs of stone, and the numerous slender shafts of marble in the
triforia, were all novelties exciting the great admiration of the
monks.”--(R. J. K.)
William of Sens, however, retained the second or Eastern Transepts,
which had existed in the former church.
Before the Reformation the Choir contained the high altar and the
altar-shrines of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan. No trace of the former
remains; but on the south wall of the Choir, between the monuments of
Archbishops Stratford and Sudbury, there is some diaper-work of open
lilies that adorned St. Dunstan’s altar.
The =High Altar= is on a higher level than the floor of the choir. It is
approached by two flights of steps (one on either side) in the
Presbytery, about 25 feet higher than the floor of the Nave. The Altar
was placed over the new Crypt, which is a good deal higher than the
older, or western, Crypt. The =Reredos=, erected in 1870, was designed in
the style of the screen-work in the Lady-Chapel in the Crypt. The
crimson velvet altar-coverings, now in use, were presented by Queen
Mary, wife of William III., and the gold chalice by the Earl of Arundell
in 1636. The =Archbishop’s Throne=, a gift of Archbishop Howley (£1200),
was carved by Flemish workmen from designs by Austen. The stone-pulpit,
by Butterfield, was erected in 1846. The eagle used as a Litany desk is
dated 1663.
The organ, built by Samuel Green, is believed to be the one used at the
Händel Festival in Westminster Abbey in 1784. It was remodelled in 1886.
Among the tombs and monuments of Archbishops and Cardinals are: Cardinal
Bourchier, who crowned Edward IV., Richard III. and Henry VII.;
Archbishop Howley, who crowned Queen Victoria; Stratford, Grand
Judiciary to Edward III.; Simon of Sudbury, whose head was cut off
during Wat Tyler’s rebellion; and Cardinal Kemp, who was present at
Agincourt.
In the north aisle, in a coloured and gilt altar-tomb, lies Archbishop
Chichele (died 1443), according to Shakespeare, the instigator of the
war with France (see _Henry V._, Act I., Sc. I.). Here also lies Orlando
Gibbons, Charles I.’s organist.
Of the six splendid =windows= in the north aisle of the Choir described by
the old authorities, only two remain.
“They should not be overlooked by the visitor, as they are full of
curious symbolism. The birth of Christ and His early life are
depicted in the central panels and the types from the Old Testament
with them. Observe the Magi all asleep in one bed; Shem, Ham and
Japhet, dividing the earth, which one of them holds in his hands,
like a gorgeously painted map; and in the sixth panel of the first
window a very curious scene, in which we see depicted a bronze idol
or statue, similar, no doubt, to some the artist had seen as of
Roman work. Whoever he was who designed the work, he knew what was
classical art. The exaggerated muscular development which came in
again under Michael Angelo and his contemporaries in Italy, is seen
here quite plainly.”--(W. J. L.)
The same fire that destroyed the Choir also damaged the Transepts. The
windows and arcades in them are more completely reconstructed than those
in the side aisles. One feature here is the double range of triforia, or
open galleries. The lower triforium belongs to Ernulf’s time: the
windows in the upper one were his clerestory.
The pilgrims were usually conducted into the =North Transept=, or =Transept
of the Martyrdom= through the dark passage under the choir steps. In the
west wall here, a door opened into the cloister, through which Becket
passed to his tragic death.
Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, the =Warriors’ Chapel=
is situated.
The apse, approached by a broad flight of steps, is entirely occupied by
the =Chapel of the Holy Trinity=, which contained the =Martyr’s Shrine=. The
work here shows the influence of the French. From the =Transept of the
Martyrdom= the pilgrims were conducted through the North Aisle of the
Choir on their way to the great Shrine; and, at the end of the aisle,
close to the steps ascending to the =Retro-Choir=, we find the door of =St.
Andrew’s Tower=. This is part of Lanfranc’s building and now used as a
vestry; but it was once the sacristy, where the rich offerings and
precious relics connected with Becket were exhibited to privileged
pilgrims.
The =Retro-Choir= is reached by steep flights of steps necessitated by the
height of the Crypt below. Up these steps the pilgrims climbed on their
knees, chanting the hymn to St. Thomas:
“Tu per Thomæ sanguinem
Quem pro te impendit,
Fac nos Christo scandere
Quo Thomas ascendit.”
All this part of the Cathedral is the work of English William, which is
lighter, in general character, than that of William of Sens.
The =Chapel of the Holy Trinity= (or that of =St. Thomas=) occupies the
central portion of the Retro-Choir between the piers formed by double
columns. In the old Chapel of the Trinity (destroyed by fire at the same
time as Conrad’s Choir) Becket celebrated his first Mass as Archbishop.
His body lay in the Crypt immediately below this spot.
“In earlier times the easternmost chapel had contained an altar of
the Holy Trinity, where Becket had been accustomed to say mass.
Partly for the sake of preserving the two old Norman towers of St.
Anselm and St. Andrew, which stood on the north and south side of
this part of the church--but chiefly for the sake of fitly uniting
to the church this eastern chapel on an enlarged scale, the pillars
of the choir were contracted with that singular curve which
attracts the eye of every spectator, as Gervase foretold that it
would, when, in order to explain this peculiarity, he stated the
two aforesaid reasons. The eastern end of the Cathedral, thus
enlarged, formed, as at Ely, a more spacious receptacle for the
honoured remains; the new Trinity Chapel, reaching considerably
beyond the extreme limit of its predecessor, and opening beyond
into a yet further chapel, popularly called Becket’s Crown. The
windows were duly filled with the richest painted glass of the
period, and amongst those on the northern side may still be traced
elaborate representations of the miracles wrought at the
subterranean tomb, or by visions and intercessions of the mighty
Saint. High in the tower of St. Anselm, on the south side of the
destined site of so great a treasure, was prepared--a usual
accompaniment of costly shrines--the Watching Chamber. It is a rude
apartment with a fireplace where the watcher could warm himself
during the long winter nights, and a narrow gallery between the
pillars, whence he could overlook the whole platform of the shrine,
and at once detect any sacrilegious robber who was attracted by the
immense treasures there collected. On the occasion of fires the
Shrine was additionally guarded by a troop of fierce ban-dogs.
“When the Cathedral was thus duly prepared, the time came for what,
in the language of those days, was termed the ‘Translation’ of the
relics.”--(A. P. S.)
Becket’s body was removed here on July 7, 1220 (See page 4), and
remained the only occupant of this chapel for more than a hundred
years.
It only proves in what deep affection the English nation held the Black
Prince to have placed his remains by the side of Becket. His body lay in
state in Westminster from June 8, 1376, to September 29; and on the
Feast of Michaelmas it was taken to Canterbury, which he had selected
for his resting-place. The procession from London to Canterbury was
magnificent; and the idol of the nation was laid not in the Crypt, as he
had expected, but in Trinity Chapel.
“In this sacred spot--believed at that time to be the most sacred
spot in England--the tomb stood in which ‘alone in his glory,’ the
Prince was to be deposited, to be seen and admired by all the
countless pilgrims who crawled up the stone steps beneath it on
their way to the shrine of the saint.
“Let us turn to that tomb, and see how it sums up his whole life.
Its bright colours have long since faded, but enough still remains
to show us what it was as it stood after the sacred remains of him
had been placed within it. There he lies; no other memorial of him
exists in the world so authentic. There he lies, as he had
directed, in full armour, his head resting on his helmet, his feet
with the likeness of ‘the spurs he won’ at Cressy, his hands joined
as in that last prayer which he had offered up on his deathbed.
There you can see his fine face with the Plantagenet features, the
flat cheeks and the well-chiselled nose, to be traced perhaps in
the effigy of his father in Westminster Abbey, and his grandfather
in Gloucester Cathedral. On his armour you can still see the marks
of the bright gilding with which the figure was covered from head
to foot, so as to make it look like an image of pure gold. High
above are suspended the brazen gauntlets, the helmet, with what was
once its gilded leopard-crest, and the wooden shield, the velvet
coat also, embroidered with the arms of France and England, now
tattered and colourless, but then blazing with blue and scarlet.
There, too, still hangs the empty scabbard of the sword, wielded
perhaps at his three great battles, and which Oliver Cromwell, it
is said, carried away. On the canopy, over the tomb, there is the
faded representation--painted after the strange fashion of those
times--of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, according to the
peculiar devotion which he had entertained. In the pillars you can
see the hooks to which was fastened the black tapestry, with its
crimson border and curious embroidery, which he directed in his
will should be hung round his tomb and the shrine of Becket. Round
about the tomb, too, you will see the ostrich feathers, which,
according to the old, but doubtful tradition, we are told he won at
Cressy from the blind King of Bohemia, who perished in the thick of
the fight; and interwoven with them the famous motto, with which he
used to sign his name, ‘Houmout,’ ‘Ich diene.’ If, as seems most
likely, they are German words, they exactly express what we have
seen so often in his life, the union of _Hoch muth_ that is _high
spirit_, with _Ich dien_, _I serve_. They bring before us the very
scene itself after the battle of Poitiers, where, after having
vanquished the whole French nation, he stood behind the captive
king, and served him like an attendant.
“And, lastly, carved about the tomb, is the long inscription,
selected by himself before his death, in Norman French, and still
the language of the court, written, as he begged, clearly and
plainly, that all might read it. Its purport is to contrast his
former splendour and vigour and beauty with the wasted body which
is now all that is left.”--(A. P. S.)
The Black Prince’s effigy of brass was once entirely gilt. Round the
tomb are escutcheons of arms, and on the canopy there is a
representation of the Holy Trinity with emblems of the Evangelists at
the corners.
At the foot of the Black Prince’s Tomb is the monument of =Archbishop
Courtenay= (1381-1396), the great opponent of the Wycliffites; and
directly opposite is the =Tomb of Henry IV.= and his Queen, =Joan of
Navarre=, whose effigies lie under a most elaborate and beautiful
canopy.
“In spite of some damage they remain the most interesting
representations, not only of the costume of the time, but also, we
cannot doubt, of the actual features of the persons. When the tomb
was opened some time ago the features of the king were seen for a
moment and corresponded closely with the representation on the
tomb. The figures at the foot of the Queen, known in heraldry as
genets, and to the ordinary person perhaps as weasels, appear also
in the canopy combined with eagles and the motto ‘Soverayne and
Atemperance.’ The defaced painting on wood at the foot of the tomb
represented the Martyrdom of St. Thomas.”--(F. and R.)
Adjoining this tomb is the =Chapel of Henry IV.’s Chantry=, built, as
directed in the will of King Henry, who died in 1413, “a chauntrie
perpetual with twey prestis for to sing and pray for my soul.” It
contains the first example in Canterbury of the “fan-vaulting,” so
splendidly represented in the =Dean’s Chapel=.
The windows here and in the Corona should be studied.
“They are of the Thirteenth Century, and among the finest of this
date in Europe, excelling in many respects those of Bourges, Troyes
and Chartres; ‘for excellence of drawing, harmony of colouring and
purity of design they are justly considered unequalled. The skill
with which the minute figures are represented, cannot even at this
day be surpassed’ (Stanley). Remark especially the great value
given to the brilliant colours by the profusion of white and
neutral tints. The scrolls and borders surrounding the medallions
are also of beauty.
“The three windows remaining in the aisles surrounding the Trinity
Chapel are entirely devoted, as were all the rest, to the miracles
of Becket, which commenced immediately on the death of the great
martyr. The miracles represented in the medallions are of various
characters. The Lucerna Angliæ, a true St. Thomas of Kandelberg, as
the Germans called him, restores sight to the blind. Loss of smell
is recovered at the shrine of this _Arbor Aromatica_. Frequently
he assists sailors, the rude crews of the Cinque Ports in his own
immediate neighbourhood. At the Norway fishing his figure came
gliding over the seas in the dusk, and descended, burning like
fire, to the imperilled ships of the Crusaders. In the window
toward the east, on the north of the Shrine, is represented a
remarkable series of miracles, occurring in the household of a
knight named Jordan, son of Eisulf, whose son is restored to life
by the water from St. Thomas’s well, which, mixed with his blood,
was always carried off by the pilgrims. The father vows an offering
to the martyr before Mid-Lent. This is neglected; the whole
household again suffer, and the son dies once more. The knight and
his wife, both sick, drag themselves to Canterbury, perform their
vow and the son is finally restored. On a medallion in one of the
windows on the north side is a representation of Becket’s Shrine,
with the martyr issuing from it in full pontificals to say Mass at
the altar.”--(R. J. K.)
At the extreme east end, just behind Trinity Chapel, is the circular
apse called =Becket’s Crown=, or the =Corona=. On the north side lies
Cardinal Pole, Bloody Mary’s cousin, who died the day after she did.
“The great lightness and beauty of the Corona, the extreme east end
of the Cathedral, are remarkable. It is English William’s work.
When Archbishop Anselm was at Rome in the early part of his
episcopate and attending a council in the Lateran, a question arose
as to his proper place, since no Archbishop of Canterbury had as
yet been present at a Roman council. Pope Pascal II. decided it by
assigning to the ‘_alterius orbis papa_,’ a seat in the ‘corona,’
the most honourable position. It is possible that this fact may
have led the architects, on the rebuilding of the choir, to make
the addition of an eastern apse, or corona, which did not exist in
the earlier church. In it were the shrines of Archbishop Odo and
Wilfrid of York, and a golden reliquary in the form of a head,
containing some relic of Becket, perhaps the severed scalp. By a
confusion of its proper name with this relic the eastern apse came
to be generally known as Becket’s Crown. On the north side is the
tomb of Cardinal Pole, Queen Mary’s Archbishop (1556-1558) and the
last Archbishop buried at Canterbury. His royal blood gave him a
title to so distinguished a place of sepulture.”--(R. J. K.)
From here one gains the best view of the Cathedral as a whole.
Canterbury is one of the longest of cathedrals (514 feet).
The central window (Thirteenth Century) in =Becket’s Crown= is very
ornate.