symbolism of the time. The subjects are arranged in three
quatrefoils and two lozenges: the Crucifixion occupying a square
panel at the foot, surrounded by representations of the spies
carrying the great bunch of grapes; of Moses striking the rock; of
the sacrifice of a lamb in the Temple, and of Abraham offering up
Isaac on Mount Moriah. Next above is a lozenge-shaped panel,
painted with the Entombment, adjoining which we have Joseph’s
brethren putting him in the pit; Samson shorn in his sleep by
Delilah; Daniel in a walled city, labelled Babilonia, and Jonah let
down into the jaws of the whale by two men in a ship. Above these
scenes is a quatrefoil, in the centre of which we see the
Resurrection, surrounded by representations of Moses and the
burning bush; Noah in the Ark; Rahab letting the spies down by the
wall, and Jonah landing near Nineveh from the mouth of a great
whale. Then another lozenge represents the Ascension and the scenes
surrounding it are the Ark of the Mercy-Seat; Elijah ascending in a
chariot of fire; the burial of Moses, and Hezekiah sick, while an
angel gives him the sign of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz. The
last of the series is at the top. In a square panel we see the
great event of the Day of Pentecost. Above it Christ sits enthroned
in glory. Moses receiving the Two Tables of the Law is below. On
one side is the first ordination of deacons, and on the other the
descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. The whole style of
this window is later than that of the Becket series.”--(W. J. L.)
[Illustration: CANTERBURY: CHOIR, EAST]
[Illustration: ROCHESTER: WEST FRONT]
Passing west, down the steps worn by the pious pilgrims we reach =St.
Anselm’s Tower= and =Chapel=. Anselm’s Tower (like St. Andrew’s opposite)
is Prior Ernulf’s work. The elaborate south window (1336) is Decorated
of five lights.
St. Anselm’s Tower is entered through splendid gates of ancient wrought
iron.
At the east end behind the Altar of SS. Peter and Paul, the great Anselm
(1093-1109) was buried. Over the chapel is a small room with a window
looking into the Cathedral. This was the =Watching Chamber=, in which, as
we have seen, a monk was stationed at night to keep watch over the
Shrine of St. Thomas. There is a tradition that King John of France was
imprisoned here.
We now reach the =South-east Transept=, the work of both William of Sens
and English William on Ernulf’s walls.
At the corner of the =South-west choir-aisle= architects love to notice
the round arch and double zigzag of the Norman style fitted into the
Pointed Arch and dogtooth of the restoration of 1180. Under the windows
are the tomb of =Archbishop Reynolds= and the monument to =Hubert Walter=,
the latter the warrior-prelate and Crusader who kept the Realm for
Richard Cœur de Lion and raised the ransom for his release.
The steps leading down into the great =South Transept= are similar to
those of the opposite Transept of the Martyrdom.
Opening east from this Transept is =St. Michael’s=, or =The Warriors’
Chapel=, so named because of the martial monuments and tombs contained in
it.
The famous East Kent Regiment “The Buffs” place their memorials here.
This Chapel is particularly notable for containing the tomb of =Stephen
Langton=, the author of the Magna Charta, which is of earlier date than
the chapel. A very beautiful alabaster monument of =Lady Margaret Holland=
with her two husbands, John Beaufort, son of John of Gaunt, and the Duke
of Clarence, son of Henry IV., beautifully represents the armour and
dress of the Fifteenth Century.
The Warriors’ Chapel is Perpendicular (about 1370), with a complex
lierne vault. The architect is unknown.
Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, is the =Transept of
the Martyrdom=. Here was erected a wooden altar to the Virgin, where a
portion of the Martyr’s brains were exhibited under a piece of
rock-crystal and fragments of Le Bret’s sword.
Before this altar Edward I. was married to Queen Margaret in 1299. A
rude representation of the altar may be seen over the south-west door of
the Cathedral.
Returning to the =North-west Transept=, we visit the scene of the
Martyrdom which took place near St. Benedict’s apsidal chapel (now
occupied by the Dean’s Chapel) Dec. 29, 1170, during vespers. The west
door from the cloisters by which Becket entered and the pavement by the
wall, where he fell, remain. He was mounting the stairs to the north
aisle (now removed) when the knights attacked him.
We have already noticed the great =Window= here, which was the gift, in
1465, of Edward IV. and his Queen, whose
“figures still remain in it, together with those of his daughters
and of the two Princes murdered in the Tower. The ‘remarkably soft
and silvery appearance’ of this window has been noticed by Mr.
Winston. In its original state the Virgin was pictured in it ‘in
seven several glorious appearances’ and in the centre was Becket
himself at full length, robed and mitred. This part was demolished
in 1642 by Richard Culmer, called Blue Dick, the great iconoclast
of Canterbury, who ‘rattled down proud Becket’s glassie bones’ with
a pike, and who, when thus engaged, narrowly escaped martyrdom
himself at the hands of a malignant fellow-townsman.”--(R. J. K.)
In this transept stands the monument of =Archbishop Peckham= (1279-1292)
with his effigy in Irish oak. This is the earliest complete monument in
the Cathedral.
We now pass into the =Dean’s Chapel=, occupying the site of St. Benedict’s
Chapel. It was formerly the Lady-Chapel, built by Prior Goldstone in
1460 and dedicated to the Virgin. The beautiful fan-vault is similar to
that in Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey and to the roof of the
staircase leading to the dining-hall of Christ Church College, Oxford.
The Dean’s Chapel received its present name from the number of tombs and
monuments to deans here, one of the most curious of which is that of
=Dean Boys=, who died in 1625. He is represented as he was found dead in
his Library, and the arrangement of the books with the edges turned
outward from the shelves strikes every one as singular.
=Archbishop Warham=, the last Archbishop before the Reformation, also lies
here, his heavy tomb in great contrast to that of Archbishop Peckham,
already mentioned, near it,--good examples of the styles between 1292
and 1533.
The =East Window= is also notable.
“The figures of Dean Neville and his brother, against the eastern
wall, were transferred to this place on the destruction of the
chapel which formerly projected from the south side of the nave,
and of which the marks in the wall are clearly visible. In the east
window some points may be noted. We see the Neville arms, and a red
shield with white saltire, and also the elaborate Bouchier arms,
the most distinguishable features of which are the water ‘budgets,’
two curious red skins joined together at the top, sometimes given
as an honourable blazon to those who supplied an army with water.
We also see the Bouchier knot alternating in most of the panes with
the oak leaf and acorn. This is the mark of Woodstock.”--(F. and
R.)
A door here leads into the Great Cloister.
Opposite to St. Anselm’s, =St. Andrew’s Chapel=, now used as the Choir
Vestry, contains interesting remains of coloured decorations. In olden
days St. Andrew’s was a sacristy, where, as we have seen, were kept the
very precious offerings to the Shrine. On the inner side is a building
of late Norman work--this was originally the Treasury.
The =North-east Transept= is a repetition of the South-east Transept. It,
however, contains a monument to Archbishop Tait, designed by Boehm; and
in the north wall are three slits called hagiscopes. Through these “holy
spy holes,” the Prior could see Mass being celebrated at the High Altar
and in the altars in the Chapels of St. Martin and St. Stephen in the
Transept below.
Before descending into the Crypt we must stop to look at =St. Augustine’s
Chair=, by tradition the throne on which the kings of Kent were crowned
and given by Ethelbert to St. Augustine. All the Archbishops of
Canterbury have taken office in it.
“This chair, which is sometimes called the chair of St. Augustine,
but which belongs to the Thirteenth Century, is composed of Purbeck
marble. In it each successive archbishop for the last six hundred
years has sat when he has been admitted to his metropolitan
functions.”--(W. H. F.)
The famous =Crypt= is usually entered from the South Transept. It is the
oldest part of the Church, having been built between 1093 and 1107 in
the reigns of William II. and Henry I. It is heavy, massive, dark and
low, like all Norman work. The capitals of the pillars are quaintly and
sometimes harmoniously carved; one under St. Anselm’s Chapel, for
instance, represents a concert of beasts playing on musical instruments.
The whole crypt was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and in the centre
stood her altar and chapel. “The Virgin Mother,” Erasmus wrote, “has
there an habitation, but somewhat dark, enclosed with a double iron
rail, for fear of thieves; for indeed I never saw anything more loaded
with riches. Lights being brought we saw a more than royal spectacle.
This chapel is not shown but to noblemen and particular friends.”
The beautiful =Screen=, which resembles the screen behind the High Altar
of the choir, is thought to have been added with other decorations of
the Crypt at the time of the Black Prince’s marriage to the Fair Maid of
Kent (1363), when he founded two chantries in the Crypt. These now form
the entrance to the =French Church=, where the descendants of the Huguenot
and Walloon refugees still hold service in the ritual of their
ancestors.
Queen Elizabeth gave up the whole of the Crypt in 1561 to the Flemish
and French refugees “whom the rod of Alva bruised.” The silk-weavers
set up their looms here.
Before the magnificent shrine of the Virgin lies Henry VII.’s minister,
=Cardinal Morton=, whose tomb is enriched with the crown and roses of York
and Lancaster, the Cardinal’s hat, the Tudor portcullis and a passing
allusion to his name--Mort (hawk) and Ton or Tun (a barrel). He assisted
in building Bell Harry (or the Angel) Tower.
Another famous tomb in the Crypt is that of =Isabel, Countess of Atholl=,
granddaughter of King John and sister-in-law of John Balliol, King of
Scotland. She owned the castle of Chilham near Canterbury and died in
1292. Her tomb stands at the entrance to the =Chapel of St. Gabriel=. The
latter is extremely dark, but shows, when lighted up, some remarkable
frescoes of the Twelfth Century, representing the _Nativity of Christ_
and of _John the Baptist_.
“Further beyond the Duchess of Atholl’s tomb the crypt is much
loftier and becomes almost a church in itself. This is the part
beyond the apse of the original Cathedral, the place of Becket’s
first burial, where Henry II. did penance, passing the night in
fasting and in the morning baring his back and receiving three
lashes from each of the monks. Here the miracles began to be
wrought and the Tumba, even after its contents were removed, was
still reckoned a holy place. The present lofty crypt was built over
and round the Tumba after the great fire of 1174; and, some forty
years after its completion and that of the Trinity Chapel above it,
the remains of Becket were translated by Stephen Langton, with
great pomp, to the shrine prepared for them in the sanctuary
above.”--(W. H. F.)
The Crypt is largely the work of Ernulf; and the diaper pattern and
marble shaft by the door that leads from the S. E. corner of the
Martyrdom, occur again in Rochester, where Ernulf became bishop (See
page 34). A statue of Ernulf, intended for the west front of the
Cathedral, is now in his Crypt.
The lower part of the Crypt ends towards the east in a semi-circular
sweep of pillars. The end of the Crypt was built by Ernulf in 1096.
The old Benedictine Convent of Christ’s Church that St. Augustine
established grew to be of the utmost importance. Portions of the massive
wall by which they were surrounded still remain. The monastic buildings
were numerous and extensive. The Prior, who had the right of wearing the
mitre and carrying the episcopal staff, lived in great dignity. In a set
of state chambers, known as the Meist’ Omers and belonging to the Prior,
pilgrims of high rank were lodged. Somewhere in the vicinity of the
Infirmary and its chapel was the miraculous =Well of St. Thomas=, which
appeared in the Fourteenth Century. A passage and the =Dark Entry=,
haunted by the ghost of Nell Cook of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, takes us
into the =Priors’=, or =Green Court=, planted with linden trees, or limes,
as the English call them. Here we find remains of the great Dormitory,
the Guest House, built by Prior Goldstone, the Norman Almonry Gate and
the =Norman Staircase=, the only construction of its kind existing. The
Hall above was built in 1855.
The beautiful =Cloisters=, the work of Prior Chillenden (about 1400), are
decorated on the roof with the arms of Kentish families. In the
northwest corner is the doorway through which Becket passed to his
doom.
“The cloister occupies the same space as the Norman cloister built
by Lanfranc, but of the Norman work only a doorway remains at the
north-east corner; there is some Early English arcading on the
north side, but the present tracery and fan-worked roof belong to
the end of the Fourteenth Century, when Archbishops Sudbury,
Arundell and Courtenay, and Prior Chillenden (1390-1411) rebuilt
the nave, the cloister and the chapter-house. The latter work cuts
across the older in the most unceremonious way, as is seen
especially in the square doorway by which we shall presently enter
the Martyrdom, which cuts into a far more beautiful portal of the
Decorated period. If we take our stand at the north-west corner of
the cloister, from which a very fine view is gained of the
Cathedral, especially about sunset, we may picture to ourselves the
life of the monks. Above the north-eastern side of the cloister are
the old Norman arches of their dormitory, now taken in to the new
library; on the eastern side is the chapter-house, with its fine
geometrical ceiling, where they transacted their business; on the
south the great church, the services of which occupied so many
hours of the day.”--(W. H. F.)
ROCHESTER
DEDICATION: ST. ANDREW. FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE
MONASTERY.
SPECIAL FEATURES: DOOR OF CHAPTER-HOUSE; WEST DOORWAY; CRYPT.
After landing in 567, St. Augustine preached in Rochester, where
Ethelbert soon founded the church of St. Andrew for secular canons. In
604, a bishop was appointed,--St. Augustine’s companion, Justus. Justus
became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, and was succeeded in Rochester
by Paulinus; and he, in his turn, by the first English bishop, St.
Ythamar (644-655). Rochester’s three chief saints in early days were,
therefore, Justus, Paulinus and Ythamar.
Gundulf, a monk of Bec in Normandy, was appointed to Rochester in 1076.
He immediately turned it into a Benedictine monastery and built a church
for his monks. Gundulf was one of the greatest architects of his day: he
also built the great Keep of Rochester Castle, portions of the Tower of
London and the Castle of Dover. The Saxon Cathedral had suffered from
the ravages of the Danes and upon the ruins, Gundulf, with assistance
from Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, completed a larger cathedral
between 1080 and 1089. The plan was peculiar: it was neither English nor
Norman.
“All this work of Gundulf’s is now gone except portions of the
crypt, the keep and the nave. Of Gundulf’s nave there remain on the
south side five arches, together with the lower parts of the walls
of both aisles. It is very doubtful whether he built any part of
the triforium or clerestory. At present his work can only be seen
in its original condition from the side of the aisles. The
pierarches had originally two square orders, which remain unaltered
on the side of the aisle (cf. Winchester transept). Gundulf’s
masonry was in rough tufa.”--(F. B.)
Gundulf placed the relics of St. Paulinus in a silver shrine at the
eastern end of his new cathedral.
Ernulf, Prior of Canterbury, began the second Norman church about 1120.
This was continued by his successor, John of Canterbury.
“Subsequently the choir was re-arranged and the nave partly
rebuilt, partly re-faced, added to, and finished with the west
front, which, to a great extent, still remains. This later Norman
work was carried out from east to west during the episcopate of
Ernulf (1115-24) and John of Canterbury (1125-37). The upper part
of the west front and some of the carving may not have been
completed within even that period. What seems certain is, that we
are indebted to later Norman builders for the re-casing of the
piers of the nave arcade, the greater richness of their capitals,
the outer decorated order of the arches, the triforium with its
richly diapered tympana, and the west front. Assigning most of
these works to the time of Bishop John, as seems best, we can point
to others that testify to Ernulf’s architectural skill. He is
recorded to have built the refectory, dormitory and chapter-house.
Portions of these still remain, and one feature, in the
ornamentation of the chapter-house, especially, marks it as his
work. This is a peculiar lattice-like diaper, which occurs
elsewhere at Rochester--in fragments that belonged probably to a
beginning by him of the renovation of the choir--but has only been
noticed at one other place: by the entrance to the crypt at
Canterbury, where also it is due to him.”--(G. H. P.)
The Cathedral was dedicated in 1130; but while King Henry I., the
Archbishop of Canterbury and many of the nobility were still in the
city a fire broke out “without any regard to the majesty of the King,
grandeur of the church or solemnity of the occasion,” as an old
chronicle quaintly observes, and greatly damaged the new church.
Two other fires occurred in the same century, and in 1179 the monks set
to work to rebuild the whole cathedral.
“As usual they arranged their building operations so as to avoid
interfering with the services in the choir as long as possible.
First they rebuilt the north aisle of the choir, but not so high as
it is at present. The aisle remained narrow because Gundulf’s tower
was in the way. But the south aisle of the choir they doubled in
width. Next they set to work at the east end, planning it, as at
Hereford, as an eastern transept with an eastern aisle and
projecting eastward an oblong sanctuary (cf. Southwell). The new
transept was lofty and broad; and it is quite possible that it was
built over the top of Gundulf’s east end without disturbing daily
services within it. Then when all was finished Gundulf’s east end
was pulled down. Unlike the Worcester monks they preserved the
level of the Eleventh Century choir, and consequently had to
continue Gundulf’s crypt eastward. In the new presbytery is seen
the same curious mixture of quadripartite and sexpartite vaulting
as in St. Hugh’s eastern transept at Lincoln. All this work was
finished in 1227.”--(G. H. P.)
The monks were enabled to undertake rebuilding on this large scale
because in 1201 they acquired a new saint. A baker of Perth, named
William, famed for his piety, started to the Holy Land. He got as far as
the road to Canterbury, where his servant killed him for his money. The
monks found the body and buried it in the choir of St. Andrew’s. St.
William soon began to work miracles and attracted many of the pilgrims
on their way to the Shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The choir,
rebuilt by means of the offerings, was first used for service in 1227.
“The choir and transepts of Rochester Cathedral are a very
beautiful and remarkable example of Early English. The architect
was William de Hoo, first sacristan, then prior, and there is some
reason to believe that he is the same person as William the young
Englishman, who assisted William of Sens after his fall from the
scaffold at Canterbury, and completed the work there. A young man
at Canterbury in 1185, able to carry on and complete such a work,
may very well have become the architect on his own account of the
daughter church of Rochester in 1201-1227, and there is great
resemblance in style between Rochester and the later work at
Canterbury.”--(J. H. P.)
About this time the monks resolved to have a central tower and to
rebuild the nave. While all this work was going on, the church was
desecrated by the troops of Simon de Montfort. A chronicler relates that
“They entered the church of St. Andrew on the day on which the Lord
hung on the cross for sinners. Armed knights on their horses,
coursing around the altars, dragged away with impious hands some
who fled for refuge thither, the gold and silver and other precious
things being with violence carried off thence. The buildings were
turned into horses’ stables, and everywhere filled with the dung of
animals and the defilement of dead bodies.”
In 1343 the central tower was completed by Bishop Hamo de Hythe, who
hung in its wooden spire four bells, named Dunstan, Paulinus, Ythamar
and Lanfranc. Bishop Hamo is said to have reconstructed in alabaster and
marble the shrines of Paulinus and Ythamar. To the middle of the
Fourteenth Century belongs also the beautiful doorway leading into the
Chapter-House and Library.
In the Fifteenth Century, the clerestory and vaulting of the
north-choir-aisle were finished and Perpendicular windows were placed in
the nave aisles. The great west window was inserted about 1470, and the
whole of the Norman clerestory was taken off and a new clerestory and a
new wooden roof were put up. The northern pinnacle of the west gable was
also rebuilt. About 1490, the Lady-Chapel was erected in the corner
between the south transept and the nave.
In 1540 the Cathedral surrendered to the King; and became known as the
Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1558 the body
of Cardinal Pole rested here one night on its way to Canterbury. An
eyewitness speaks of
“the funeral pompe which trulie was great and answerable both to
his birth and calling, with store of burning torches and mourning
weedes. At what time his coffin, being brought into the church, was
covered with a cloth of black velvet, with a great cross of white
satten over all the length and bredth of the same, in the midst of
which cross his Cardinal’s hat was placed.”
The church suffered from the Puritans in 1642.
Samuel Pepys speaks of repairs in 1661. More were made in 1742-43. In
1749, the steeple was rebuilt. A new organ was acquired in 1791; and at
the close of the Eighteenth Century the upper part of Gundulf’s tower
was taken down.
Throughout the Nineteenth Century repairs and restorations were
constantly made. The glass chiefly consists of memorials to heroes of
the wars of the Nineteenth Century.
The best approach is from the High Street through the =College Gate=,
which marks the entrance to the Precincts, or Green Church Haw. This is
also known as Chertseys, or Cemetery Gate, which lovers of Dickens
remember as Jasper’s Gateway; for Cloisterham of _Edwin Drood_ is
Rochester. The =Deanery Gate= dating from the reign of Edward III. was
formerly the Sacristy Gate. The =Priors’ Gate= dates from the Fourteenth
Century.
The north side of the nave shows two-lighted Perpendicular windows with
irregular quatrefoils in their heads; the north transept (Early English)
a high gable with three circular windows and pinnacles. And on the north
side of the choir =Gundulf’s Tower= to which there are two entrances,--one
through an opening in the north wall, the other through a doorway in the
south-west corner. In the angle between the south aisle and transept we
note the Lady-Chapel (Perpendicular) with three-lighted windows three
bays long from east to west and well-buttressed; the south side of the
choir contains three lancet windows and a fine doorway that used to open
into the cloisters. The south transept (Early Decorated) is well
buttressed and its gable adorned with pinnacles and gargoyles. The
lowest row of windows belongs to the crypt.
=The West Front= has been restored. The great central window, and the flat
gable above, are Perpendicular (restored), but all the rest is either
original Norman work, or as accurate a reproduction of this as possible.
The great =West Doorway= (late Norman) dates from the first half of the
Twelfth Century.