[Illustration: ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH (SOUTH SIDE).
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]
THE CHURCH OF ST. MARTIN CANTERBURY
AN ILLUSTRATED ACCOUNT OF ITS HISTORY AND FABRIC
BY THE REV. C. F. ROUTLEDGE, M.A., F.S.A.
HON. CANON OF CANTERBURY
[Illustration: Arms of the See]
LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1898
W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH
PREFACE
The associations connected with St. Martin's Church are manifold, and of
universal interest. During recent explorations so much fresh matter has
been brought to light that it has become almost necessary to re-write
the structural description of the building, and to re-consider the date
of its foundation. We have endeavoured to lay before our readers a plain
summary of the discoveries that have been made, and to elucidate them,
as far as possible, from the pages of history--for (in the words of a
sound antiquary) "It is every day more true that people _want_ history
in guide-books. The tourist is a much better informed person than he
used to be, and desires to be still more so."
Charles F. Routledge.
CANTERBURY, _May 1898_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--Introduction 3
Early Christianity in Britain 6
CHAPTER II.--History of the Church 14
Roman Canterbury 15
The Saxon Invasion 21
The Mission of St. Augustine 24
Baptism of Ethelbert 31
Bishops of St. Martin's 34
CHAPTER III.--
Description of the Church--Exterior 41
Dedication 41
Walls 45
Buttresses 48
Doorways 51
Description--Interior 62
Font 67
West Wall of Nave 71
Norman Piscina 74
Chancel 76
Chrismatory 83
APPENDIX A: List of Rectors 93
B: Date of Church 94
C: Eastern Apse, etc. 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
St. Martin's Church (South Side) _Frontispiece_
East End of Church (Cathedral in Distance) 2
West Front of Church (Exterior) 15
Plan of Roman Canterbury 16
Church in 1840 (Interior) 39
Plan of Church 42
S.-E. Angle of Nave (Foundations) 49
Stukely's Engraving of Church 50
Foundations (under Panel) 51
Mrs Parry's Sketch of S.-W. of Chancel 53
Wall above Adjunct 55
Saxon Doorway (Interior) 57
Saxon Doorway (Exterior) 59
Font 65
West Wall of Nave 69
Roman Window 72
Norman Piscina 75
Chancel (Photo) 77
Sedile 79
Queen Bertha's Tomb 81
Chrismatory (Shut) 83
Chrismatory (Open) 85
St. Martin's (from Old Print) 91
Tracings of Apse--Appendix C 99
[Illustration: EAST END OF CHURCH (SHOWING CATHEDRAL IN THE DISTANCE).
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]
ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
St. Martin's Church, both from its history and structure occupies a unique
position. It is at once the cradle of purely _English_ Christianity,
and also a witness of that earlier Christianity which existed in Britain
during the period of the Roman occupation. At the recent commemoration
of the thirteen-hundredth anniversary of the "coming of St. Augustine," a
solemn pilgrimage was made by the Archbishops and Bishops of the Anglican
communion to this venerable church as being the _one_ remaining building
that could certainly be associated with St. Augustine's preaching;
the _one_ spot that without doubt felt his personal presence, whatever
we may think of the more or less strong claims put forth on behalf of
Ebb's Fleet, Richborough Castle, the ruins of St. Pancras, or the site
of Canterbury Cathedral. In a prayer specially written for that occasion
occurs the following passage: "We give Thee, O God, hearty thanks that
by the preaching of Thy Blessed Servant Augustine, especially in this
Holy House in which we are gathered together in Thy Name, Thou didst
bring home the truth of the Gospel to our English forefathers, and didst
call them out of darkness into Thy marvellous Light."
At the same time, those who were somewhat jealous of the claims of
St. Augustine to be considered (as he often is by modern Roman Catholics)
"the introducer of Christianity into this island," could point to the
fact that, though the _ecclesia vetusta_ of Glastonbury had disappeared,
and its later abbey was in ruins, there was _here_ some portion at least
of an actual edifice stated by the Venerable Bede to have been "dedicated
to the honour of St. Martin, and built of old, while the Romans were
still occupying Britain,"--that is, at least 200 years before the advent
of the Italian Mission.
Beyond this authentic passage, the proofs of its pre-Augustinian origin
can be gathered only from the evidence of archaeological research, upon
which we shall enter hereafter: and we must to a great extent depend
upon this same evidence for its subsequent history after 597 A.D.,
though it undoubtedly gave the title of "Bishops of St. Martin's"
to some _chorepiscopi_ before the Norman Conquest. The interesting
detailed references to individual churches, usually gleaned from ancient
Archidiaconal Visitation Registers, are wanting in this case, because
the church is, and always has been, exempt from the jurisdiction of
the Archdeacon of Canterbury, and we can derive little or no information
from the archives at Lambeth, since the Archiepiscopal visitations were,
as a rule, merely diocesan and not parochial.
The church is situated on a gently-sloping hill, about a thousand yards
due east of the cathedral.
To one looking from the elevated terrace which bounds its churchyard,
the panorama is exceedingly picturesque and beautiful. In the distance
rises a range of low wooded hills that almost encircle Canterbury,
and the conspicuous building of Hales' Place, now the Jesuits' College;
while beneath is spread in a hollow the city itself, with its red-tiled
roofs interspersed with patches of green, the library and twin towers
of St. Augustine's Abbey, and above all the massive cathedral, with
"Becket's Crown" in the foreground, and the central "Bell Harry" tower
lifting out of the morning's mist its magnificent pinnacles and tracery.
The prospect to Dean Stanley's eye was "one of the most inspiriting that
could be found in the world," because of its religious associations, and
its reminder that great and lasting good could spring from the smallest
beginning. But even in its physical aspect, it is one that, in England
at least, can seldom be surpassed; and in olden times the view must have
been even more grand and extensive than it is at present, as the church
stood in almost solitary grandeur, a permanent brick and stone edifice,
above the wooden buildings nestling among thickets of ash--fit emblem
of the durability of Divine, as compared with the perishable nature of
human, institutions. It must even then have been somewhat of a marvel,
on account of the rare mode of its construction, for at that early
epoch churches were usually built of hewn oak, and the stone church of
St. Ninian's at Whithern is specially mentioned by Bede as having been
erected "in a manner unusual among the Britons."
The hill itself, on its northern and eastern sides, is honey-combed with
springs, from which down to a late period the city was supplied with
water. We can imagine it studded here and there with Roman villas, of
which some remains in the shape of tesselated pavements were discovered
two or three centuries ago--and crowned possibly by a small Roman
encampment; while the church, situated only a few yards off the road to
Richborough, would frequently have been seen and admired by soldiers on
their march from the sea coast to the great fortress of London, or to
the southern stations at Lympne and Dover.
Imagination would picture to itself the reverence felt for so sacred
and venerable a spot, yet the fact remains, that up to a recent date the
present church was regarded simply as a memorial of the past, a monument
erected on the site of the ancient edifice, and reproducing some of its
characteristic materials.
Mr Matthew W. Bloxam, for instance, in his preliminary observations to
the "Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture," after giving a
sketch of its history and ancient fame, declares that it was _rebuilt_
in the twelfth or thirteenth century, though to all appearance with the
materials of the original church. Even Dean Stanley, who cherished for
it a fond and enthusiastic love, assures us that, old as the present
church is, "it is of far later date than Bertha's Chapel"; while so close
an observer of archaeological facts as the late Mr Thomas Wright sweeps
away all question as to its traditional continuity by stating boldly that
"not a trace of Christianity is found among the innumerable religious
and sepulchral monuments of the Roman period in Britain!"
It has been pertinently observed, that "these are conclusions too hastily
arrived at; and antiquaries should ever remember that their facts of
to-day may receive fresh additions, illustrations, and corrections from
the discoveries of to-morrow,"--for since 1880 a series of explorations
arried out both above and below ground, and a minute investigation into
the character of the existing masonry, have made it more than probable
that parts of the original structure mentioned by Bede are still standing,
and that the present walls were not only consecrated by the preaching,
and actually touched by the hand, of St. Augustine, but may be traced
back to a considerably earlier period.
The church has survived its period of apparent disuse after the Roman
departure from Britain. It escaped the destructiveness of the Jutes,
and the devastation inflicted on Canterbury by the Danish invaders,
and has been preserved to us (as we hope to show hereafter) a venerable
and genuine relic of Romano-British Christianity. It suffered, indeed,
after the Norman Conquest, both from centuries of neglect and also from
so-called restoration--becoming at one time what Mr Ruskin would call
"an interesting ruin," at another time being plastered and modernised
till its ancient features were almost obliterated; but even when enemies
were attacking religion from without, and faith grew cold within, the
worship of Almighty God was carried on continuously under the shadow of
its sacred walls, and on its altar for more than thirteen centuries has
been offered the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.
History is silent as to its builder--silent as to the exact date of its
foundation. In the simple words of Fuller, "The Light of the Word shone
here, but we know not who kindled it."
The mere fact of the existence of such a church involves of necessity the
further question as to its immediate origin, whether it be attributed to
Roman Christians, or to British converts working under the influence, if
not the direct superintendence, of their conquerors. And in discussing
this, we must perforce touch lightly the fringe of that well-worn,
yet ever-fascinating, inquiry respecting the "earliest introduction of
Christianity into Britain"--difficult as it is in ancient traditions
and allusions to dissociate fact from fiction, genuine documents from
forgeries, history from legend, so eager were the so-called writers of
ecclesiastical history to advance their theories, even at the expense
of truth.
We may indeed derive some assistance from the fact which we learn
from secular historians, that in Apostolic times there was frequent
communication between Rome and Britain. After the first conquest of
Britain, Roman governors were sent in almost uninterrupted succession,
and with them would come, of course, legions and cohorts, perhaps even
some of the Prætorian soldiers in whose company the apostle St. Paul
lived for a time during the reign of Nero. British chieftains were
taken prisoners to Rome, and their sons left there as hostages. Some
few Romans, too, such as Seneca, the brother of Gallio, held large
possessions in the island. People and places connected with Britain are
mentioned by the Roman poets Martial and Juvenal, and by the historian
Tacitus. With such constant intercourse as there must have been, stories
at least and reports of Christianity would have been brought over to the
island as early as the first century, and there were probably individual
Christians either among the numerous soldiers quartered here, or among
returned captives. We may be doubtful whether at so early an epoch, save
perhaps in a few exceptional cases, they formed themselves into regular
societies or congregations, and it is not likely that they erected for
themselves permanent places of worship. No such antiquity as this can be
claimed even for the remains of the Roman church found amid the ruins
of Silchester; and church building, as it is generally understood, did
not begin at Rome before the fourth century, and it would have taken a
few years to spread thence to Gaul, and from Gaul to Britain.
That Christianity did exist in Britain from early times, in a more or
less settled form, is no longer a matter of dispute. In the words of
Gildas, "Christ, the true Son, offered His rays (_i.e._ His precepts)
to this island, benumbed with icy coldness, and lying far distant from
the visible sun. I do not mean from the sun of the temporal firmament,
but from the Sun of the highest arch of heaven, existing before all
time." Relative to this fact there are a few statements of ancient writers
given at dates which are precisely known, during the third century and
subsequently: and these statements are familiar to all students, so
that they need not be recapitulated at any length. Tertullian (in 208),
Origen (in 239), Eusebius (about 320), allude in unmistakable terms to
the existence of British Christianity, however rhetorical the passages
may appear.
There is, too, the account of the martyrdom of _St. Alban_, recorded at
length in the pages of Bede, which cannot be treated as an idle legend.
It took place at Verulam during the persecution under Diocletian and
Maximian, somewhere about 303. Although the record does not rest on
contemporary evidence, the story was fully believed at Verulam itself as
far back as 429 A.D. (_i.e._ within a hundred and twenty-six years of the
traditional date) and is accepted by Constantius in the fifth, as well
as by Gildas and Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth, century--while the
difficulty of believing in the possibility of a persecution in Britain,
which was then under the kindly and tolerant rule of Constantius,
seems to us purely imaginary. It is hardly probable that Constantius
would have been able to restrain the persecuting zeal of subordinates,
in face of the superior authority of Maximian, who is said by Gibbon to
have "entertained the most implacable aversion to the name and religion
of the Christians." Dean Milman sees no reason for calling in question
the historic reality of the event, and suggests that the probable fact
of St. Alban being a Roman soldier may have been an additional reason
for his not having received the "doubtful protection" of Constantius.
But after this period we come to even surer ground--and from the beginning
of the fourth century we find a Christian church fully organised in
Britain. At the Council of Arles (in 314) three British bishops were
present, whose very names and dioceses are recorded--viz. Eborius of York,
Restitutus of London, and Adelphius of Caerleon-on-Usk or Lincoln. British
bishops took part in the Councils of Sardica (347) and Ariminium (359),
and probably also in the great Council of Nicæan (325). We have also
testimony to a regular organisation in the pages of St. Chrysostom,
Jerome, Theodoret, etc., ranging from the end of the fourth to the
beginning of the fifth century. The conversion of the Southern Picts by
Ninian, Bishop of Whithern--the visits of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre,
and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, to Verulam and elsewhere--the missions of
Palladius and Patrick to Ireland--the pilgrimages of British Christians to
the Holy Land--and even the fact of the Pelagian heresy being propagated
by a Briton--all equally bear witness to the prevalence of Christianity
in these early centuries, so that Gildas may not be drawing entirely on
his imagination when he describes the Church as "spread over the nation,
organised, endowed, having sacred edifices and altars, the three orders
of the ministry and monastic institutions, embracing the people of all
ranks and classes, and having its own version of the Bible, and its own
ritual."
Now, in view of these facts, many writers have not unnaturally endeavoured
to trace the introduction of Christianity to some great man, or to some
special effort. It seemed so impossible that a complete organisation
should have sprung up without a definite founder--and claims have been
made on behalf of St. Peter, St. John, Simon Zelotes, and Aristobulus,
though without even a shadow of probability to recommend them. Something,
indeed, may be urged in favour of the pious belief that St. Paul made
his way to this island between his first and second imprisonment. St.
Clement of Rome says that he preached "to the extreme boundary of the
West"; St. Chrysostom, that from Illyricum "he went to the very ends
of the earth"; and Theodoret, that the Apostles, including St. Paul,
"brought to all men the laws of the Gospel, and persuaded not only the
Romans ... but also the Britons, to receive the laws of the Crucified,"
while the theory has received the support of Soames, Bishop Burgess,
Collier, and other ecclesiastical writers--even Bishop Lightfoot thinking
it "not improbable that the western journey of St. Paul included a visit
to Gaul," from which an extension of his journey to Britain would not
of course be impossible. It is true, too, that (as with the closing
years of St. Peter) there is an interval of time after St. Paul's first
imprisonment (variously estimated as from four to eight years) which
cannot be accounted for; and that the mere fact of silence as to St. Paul
having preached in this island need not be unduly pressed, because Britain
was at that time an obscure and unimportant province at the extremity of
the Roman empire. But the critical historian cannot accept what is, after
all, a mere conjecture, unsupported by long tradition or any positive
evidence--any more than he can lay stress upon what is only a curious
coincidence, between the mention by Martial of Claudia, a British lady in
Rome newly married to Pudens--and the salutation of "Claudia and Pudens"
in St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, written from Rome. The theory
as to this identification, is based on a string of hypotheses, called
by Dean Farrar "an elaborate rope of sand." Similar remarks would also
apply to the legend that the father of Caractacus, King of the Silures,
called Bran the Blessed, was converted to Christianity when captive at
Rome (A.D. 51-58) and introduced the Gospel into his native country
on his return, though there is a tradition to that effect incorporated
into the Welsh Triads, which are probably none of them earlier than
the fourteenth century. Tacitus (Ann. xii. 35) only mention the "wife,
daughter and brothers" of Caractacus as having surrendered with him,
and he would scarcely have omitted the "father," if he had shared their
captivity.
There is, indeed, one story which we are very loath to surrender--viz.
the story that St. Joseph of Arimathea was sent, with twelve companions,
to Britain by the Apostle St. Philip (about 63 A.D.) settled in the Isle
of Avalon or Glastonbury, and founded there a monastery, striking his
staff into the earth, and making it burst, like Aaron's rod, into leaf,
and bloom with the blossom of the Holy Thorn. This legend, indeed, is not
actually recorded in writing before William of Malmesbury in the twelfth
century, but it may have rested on earlier local tradition. We know
that Glastonbury was a Christian sanctuary before the Saxons conquered
the district, and Bishop Browne (of Bristol) reminds us that Domesday
Book speaks of the "twelve _hides_ (the portions of land said to have
been granted to St. Joseph's companions) which never have been taxed,"
and that at the Council of Basle in 1431 the English Church claimed and
received precedence as founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea in Apostolic
times. The tradition, too, that the first British Christians erected
at Glastonbury a church made of twigs or wattlework (called afterwards
the _Vetusta Ecclesia_, and only destroyed by fire in 1184) has been
illustrated, if not confirmed, by recent discoveries at Glastonbury (among
the ruins of British houses burned with fire) of baked clay showing the
impress of wattlework. There is no known fact connected with the life
of St. Joseph of Arimathea that would negative the conclusion that he
might have been sent to Britain as a missionary.
Some difficulties would be solved if we could believe the tale about
Lucius, a British King, having requested Eleutherius, Bishop of Rome
from 171 to 185, to send someone to teach his people Christianity. This
legend is recorded by Bede, partly confirmed by Nennius, and accepted
by William of Malmesbury. And the name of Lucius has been variously
associated with Winchester, Gloucester, Llandaff, St. Peter's Cornhill,
St. Martin's Church, St. Mary's Church in Dover Castle, and even the
church on the site of Canterbury Cathedral. The story probably owed
its origin to a note in _Catalogus Pontificum Romanorum_, but it does
not occur in the earlier catalogue written about 353, and was added
to it nearly two hundred years later, with the object apparently of
connecting the primitive growth of Christianity in Britain with the See of
Rome. Though this ancient story cannot be considered as historical, it is
not altogether impossible that it had some foundation in an application
from a British prince to receive instruction in Christianity about the
end of the second century: and this would give point to the statement of
Tertullian (in 208) that "the kingdom and name of Christ were venerated
in districts of Britain not yet reached by the Romans."
There is much force in the conclusion arrived at by Bishop Browne, that,
"with Gaul so close at hand, its people so near of kin, its government
so identical with theirs, the Britons would learn Christianity from,
and through, Gaul," to whose church ours should occupy the position of
a younger sister. At the same time, this fact must be considered--viz.
that the earliest bishops mentioned as having attended the Council of
Aries are anterior in point of time to the dated bishops in a great
majority of the dioceses of Gaul adjacent to this island, so that we
should not too readily abandon the possible belief that there was an
independent church in Britain, though we know not _when_ or _by whom_
it was founded.
It only remains in this chapter to mention a few of the traces of British
Christianity as supplied by monumental or other evidence well attested. We
may believe, with Bede, that over St. Alban's tomb at Verulam, "when the
peace of the Christian times returned, a church was built of wonderful
workmanship, and worthy of that martyr"; and three churches are spoken
of at Caerleon, two of which were dedicated to Julius and Aaron, said
to have been martyred in the Diocletian persecution; another at Bangor
Iscoed, near Chester; besides one at Candida Casa or Whithern, and the
Vetusta Ecclesia at Glastonbury, our own church of St. Martin, and the
foundations of that lately discovered in Roman Silchester. This is a
fair number, even if we pass over for the time any possible claims to
Roman origin on the part of Brixworth, Lyminge, Reculver, and St. Mary's
Church in Dover Castle, all of which are ascribed to the Saxon period
by Mr J. T. Micklethwaite in his interesting paper read at Canterbury
in 1896 before the meeting of the Royal Archæological Institute--though
we need not allow that his reasoning is in all cases indisputable.
We possess, too, some sepulchral monuments and inscriptions (not
at present very extensive, but probably greatly to be multiplied as
fresh excavations and explorations are made) at St. Mary le Wigfred,
Lincoln, Caerleon, and Barming, and the _Chi-Rho_ monogram (which
was first introduced as a Christian symbol by the Emperor Constantine
at the beginning of the fourth century) on various rings, stones, and
tesselated pavements, also crosses on pavements at Harpole and Harkstow,
and various Christian formulas such as "Vivas in Deo," "In pace," etc.
The dogmatism and incredulity of antiquaries may well be illustrated in
the case of Mr T. Wright ("The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon"). He
disbelieves in all traces of Christianity said to be found among
monuments of the Roman period; and his scepticism is thorough and
comprehensive--more extreme in our opinion than the credulity which he
denounces. He allows, indeed, the possibility of there having been some
individuals among recruits and merchants and settlers who had embraced
the truths of the Gospel, but with a qualification. He thinks the early
allusions made by Tertullian, Origen, Jerome, and others are "little
better than flourishes of rhetoric." The list of British bishops at
the Council of Aries seems to him "extremely suspicious, much like the
invention of a later period." He disbelieves the whole account of the
Diocletian persecution having extended to Britain, even partially or
locally. He doubts the authenticity of the work attributed to Gildas,
though his objections have been met and set at rest, for most people,
by such competent authorities as Dr Guest and others. But, as an instance
of what I cannot but designate as far-fetched scepticism, we may note his
explanation of the Christian monogram found on the pavement of a Roman
villa at Frampton. He does not question its genuineness, but explains
it by surmising that the beautiful villa had probably belonged to some
wealthy proprietor, who possessed a taste for literature and philosophy,
and with a tolerant spirit, which led him to surround himself with the
memorials of all systems, had adopted, among the rest, that which he
might learn from some of the imperial coins to be the emblem of
Christ--Jesus Christ standing, in his eyes, on the same footing as
Pythagoras or Socrates.
Surely we have here a warning against the dogmatism which is often
indulged in by archaeological experts, and it may be extended from
monuments and remains to legends and traditions, which are often of
great weight, even when they cannot be historically proved. It is not
unnatural that many people should have become impatient and wearied of
such purely negative criticism.