The mission of St. Augustine, backed with the royal countenance of
Ethelbert, had, though not completed, done much towards conversion; but
on their death practically the whole of the Christian territory,
excepting Kent, relapsed into heathenism, and to such an extent that
Augustine's successor, Laurentius, was on the point of giving up the
whole mission and taking refuge in Gaul. Not until 625 did a mission
again venture forth from the Kentish kingdom, and then their tentative
efforts were rendered abortive by the battle of Hatfield in 633, which
for a while seems to have crushed all hope at Rome. But a couple of
years later an independent missionary, Birinus, was consecrated in
Italy, and was sent by the people to make fresh attempts to break down
the barriers of heathenism in England. Through his influence Cynegils
became the first Christian king of the West Saxons. To inaugurate his
conversion the monarch decided to establish a bishopric, and immediately
began to collect materials for building, at his capital of Winchester, a
cathedral, which was eventually constructed by his son Cenwahl in 646.
The Danes in 867 broke up the establishment, and the year following,
secular priests were substituted. They remained till 963, when
Ethelwold, by command of King Edgar, expelled them to make room for the
monks of the Benedictine Order from Abendon. They enjoyed uninterrupted
possession, and were richly endowed with royal donations, as the
dissolution revealed the extent of its revenue. Henry VIII. then
refounded it for a bishop, dean, chancellor, twelve prebendaries, and
other subordinate officers. The Cathedral was first dedicated to St.
Amphibalus, then jointly to St. Peter and St. Paul, and afterwards to
St. Swithin, once bishop here. With Henry VIII.'s regime the title was
altered to the Holy and undivided Trinity. The church of Cynegils having
become entirely ruined, a new cathedral was commenced in 1073-98 by
Bishop Walkelyn. The two Norman transepts and the low central tower, as
also the very early crypt, still exist. The church is a spacious,
massive, and splendid cruciform building of Norman architecture with
subsequent additions in the Gothic style. The whole of the Norman nave
was demolished and re-erected on a far grander scale by William of
Wykeham at the end of the fourteenth century, though not quite completed
till after his death. The choir was much restored in the fourteenth
century, whilst it underwent considerable alteration by Bishop Fox
from 1510 to 1528. Here is the tomb of William II. A great feature is
the magnificent reredos behind the altar. It extends the full width of
the choir, with two processional entrances pierced through its lofty
wall, and covered with tier upon tier of rich canopied niches. They once
contained colossal statues. Behind this reredos there is a second stone
screen, which enclosed the small chapel in which stood the magnificent
gold shrine studded with jewels. It contained the body of St. Swithin,
and was the gift of King Edgar. The Cathedral, in fact, received at one
time and another great treasures of gold and jewels by many of the early
kings of England. Canute is said to have caused his crown of gold and
gems to be suspended over the great crucifix above the high altar.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER