Canterbury Cathedral in
Canterbury
, Kent
, is one of
the oldest and most famous Christian
structures in England
and forms
part of a World Heritage
Site. It is the
cathedral of
the
Archbishop of
Canterbury, leader of the
Church
of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide
Anglican Communion. Its formal title is
the
Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at
Canterbury.
History
Foundation by Augustine
The
cathedral's first archbishop was St. Augustine of Canterbury,
previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome
. He
was sent by
Pope Gregory the Great in
597 as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine founded the
cathedral in 602 and dedicated it to
St.
Saviour. Archaeological investigations under the nave floor in
1993 revealed the foundations of the original Saxon cathedral,
which had been built across a former
Roman road.
Augustine also founded the
Abbey of St. Peter and Paul
outside the
city walls. This was
later rededicated to St. Augustine himself and was for many
centuries the burial place of the successive archbishops.
The abbey
is part of the World Heritage
Site of Canterbury, along with the ancient Church of St.
Martin
.
Later Saxon and Viking periods
A second building, a baptistry or mausoleum, was built on exactly
the same axis as the cathedral by Archbishop
Cuthbert (740-758) and dedicated to
St.
John the Baptist.
Two centuries later,
Oda (941-958)
renewed the building, greatly lengthening the
nave.
During the reforms of Archbishop St.
Dunstan
(c909-988), a Benedictine abbey named Christ Church Priory was
added to the cathedral. But the formal establishment as a monastery
seems to date to c.997 and the community only became fully monastic
from
Lanfranc's time onwards (with monastic
constitutions addressed by him to prior Henry). St. Dunstan was
buried on the south side of the High Altar.
The Saxon cathedral was badly damaged during Danish raids on
Canterbury in 1011.
Lyfing (1013-1020) and
Aethelnoth (1020-1038) added a western
apse as an oratory of
St. Mary.
Priors of Christ Church Priory included
John of Sittingbourne (elected 1222,
previously a monk of the priory) and
William Chillenden, (elected 1264,
previously monk and treasurer of the priory). The monastery was
granted the right to elect their own prior if the seat was vacant
by the pope, and — from
Gregory IX
onwards — the right to a free election (though with the
archbishop overseeing their choice). Monks of the priory have
included
Æthelric I,
Æthelric II,
Walter d'Eynsham,
Reginald fitz Jocelin (admitted as a
confrater shortly before his death),
Nigel de Longchamps and
Ernulf. The monks often put forward candidates for
Archbishop of Canterbury,
either from among their number or outside, since the archbishop was
nominally their abbot, but this could lead to clashes with the king
and/or pope should they put forward a different man — examples
are the elections of
Baldwin of
Exeter and
Thomas Cobham.
Norman period
After the Norman Conquest in 1066,
Lanfranc
(1070-1077) became the first
Norman
archbishop.
He thoroughly rebuilt the ruined Saxon cathedral in a Norman design based
heavily on the Abbey of St.
Etienne
in Caen
, of which he
had previously been abbot. The new cathedral was dedicated
in 1077.
Archbishop
St. Anselm (1093-1109) greatly
extended the
quire to the east
to give sufficient space for the monks of the greatly revived
monastery. Beneath it he built the large
and elaborately decorated
crypt, which is the
largest of its kind in England.
Though named for the 7th century founding archbishop,
The Chair of St. Augustine may
date from the Norman period. Its first recorded use is in
1205.
Martyrdom of Thomas Becket
A pivotal moment in the history of Canterbury Cathedral was the
murder of
Thomas
Becket in the north-east
transept on
Tuesday 29 December 1170 by knights of
King Henry II. The king had frequent
conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is said to have
exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent
priest?" The knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his
own cathedral. Becket was the second of four Archbishops of
Canterbury who were murdered (see also
Alphege).
Following a disastrous fire of 1174 which destroyed the entire
eastern end,
William of Sens rebuilt
the choir with an important early example of the Early English
Gothic design, including high pointed arches, flying buttresses,
and rib vaulting.
Later, William the Englishman added the
Trinity
Chapel
as a shrine for the relics of St. Thomas the
Martyr. The
Corona Tower was built at
the eastern end to contain the relic of the crown of St. Thomas's
head which was struck off during his murder. Over time other
significant burials took place in this area such as Edward
Plantagenet (The '
Black
Prince') and King
Henry
IV.
The income from
pilgrims (of whose journeys
are famously described in
Geoffrey
Chaucer's in "
The Canterbury
Tales") who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a
place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the
Cathedral and its associated buildings.
12th century monastery
A curious
bird's-eye view of Canterbury Cathedral and its annexed conventual
buildings, taken about 1165, is preserved in the Great Psalter in
the library of Trinity College, Cambridge
. As elucidated by Professor Willis, it
exhibits the plan of a great Benedictine monastery in the 12th
century, and enables us to compare it with that of the 9th as seen
at the abbey of Saint
Gall
. We see in both the same general principles
of arrangement, which indeed belong to all
Benedictine monasteries, enabling us to determine with
precision the disposition of the various buildings, when little
more than fragments of the walls exist. From some local reasons,
however, the
cloister and monastic
buildings are placed on the north, instead, as is far more commonly
the case, on the south of the church. There is also a separate
chapter-house, which is wanting at St
Gall.
The buildings at Canterbury, as at
St
Gall, form separate groups. The church forms the nucleus. In
immediate contact with this, on the north side, lie the cloister
and the group of buildings devoted to the monastic life. Outside of
these, to the west and east, are the halls and chambers devoted to
the exercise of hospitality, with which every monastery was
provided, for the purpose of receiving as guests persons who
visited it, whether clergy or laity, travellers, pilgrims or
paupers.
To the north a large open court divides the monastic from the
menial buildings, intentionally placed as remote as possible from
the conventual buildings proper, the stables, granaries, barn,
bakehouse, brewhouse, laundries, etc., inhabited by the lay
servants of the establishment. At the greatest possible distance
from the church, beyond the precinct of the convent, is the
eleemosynary department. The almonry for the relief of the poor,
with a great hall annexed, forms the paupers' hospitium.
The most important group of buildings is naturally that devoted to
monastic life. This includes two Cloisters, the great cloister
surrounded by the buildings essentiallyconnected with the daily
life of the monks,---the church to the south, the refectory or
frater-house here as always on the side opposite to the church, and
farthest removed from it, that no sound or smell of eating might
penetrate its sacred precincts, to the east the
dormitory, raised on a vaulted
undercroft, and the chapter-house adjacent, and
the lodgings of the cellarer to the west. To this officer was
committed the provision of the monks' daily food, as well as that
of the guests. He was, therefore, appropriately lodged in the
immediate vicinity of the refectory and kitchen, and close to the
guest-hall. A passage under the dormitory leads eastwards to the
smaller or infirmary cloister, appropriated to the sick and infirm
monks.
Eastward of this cloister extend the hall and chapel of the
infirmary, resembling in form and arrangement the nave and chancel
of an aisled church. Beneath the dormitory, looking out into the
green court or herbarium, lies the "pisalis" or "calefactory," the
common room of the monks. At its
north-east corner access was given from the dormitory to the
necessarium, a portentous edifice in the form
of a Norman hall, long by 25 broad (44.2 m × 7.6 m),
containing fifty-five seats. It was, in common with all such
offices in ancient monasteries, constructed with the most careful
regard to cleanliness and health, a stream of water running through
it from end to end.
A second smaller dormitory runs from east to west for the
accommodation of the conventual officers, who were bound to sleep
in the dormitory. Close to the refectory, but outside the
cloisters, are the domestic offices connected with it: to the
north, the kitchen, square (200 m
2), surmounted by
a lofty pyramidal roof, and the kitchen court; to the west, the
butteries, pantries, etc. The infirmary had a small kitchen of its
own. Opposite the refectory door in the cloister are two
lavatories, an invariable adjunct to a monastic dining-hall, at
which the monks washed before and after taking food.
The buildings devoted to hospitality were divided into three
groups. The prior's group "entered at the south-east angle of the
green court, placed near the most sacred part of the cathedral, as
befitting the distinguished ecclesiastics or nobility who were
assigned to him." The cellarer's buildings were near the west end
of the nave, in which ordinary visitors of the middle class were
hospitably entertained. The inferior pilgrims and paupers were
relegated to the north hall or almonry, just within the gate, as
far as possible from the other two.
14th-16th centuries
Prior
Thomas Chillenden
(1390–1410) rebuilt the nave in the Perpendicular style of
English
Gothic, but left the Norman and Early English east end in
place.
Dissolution of the monasteries
The cathedral ceased to be an abbey during the
Dissolution of the
Monasteries when all religious houses were suppressed.
Canterbury surrendered in March 1539, and reverted to its previous
status of 'a college of secular canons'.The New Foundation came
into being on 8 April 1541.
In 1688, the joiner Roger Davis, citizen of London, removed the
13th century
misericords and replaced
them with two rows of his own work on each side of the choir. Some
of Davis's misericords have a distinctly medieval flavour and he
may have copied some of the original designs.
When Sir George Gilbert Scott performed
his renovations in the 19th century, he ripped out the front row of
Davis misericords, replacing them with his own designs, which
themselves seem to contain many copies of the misericords at Gloucester Cathedral
, Worcester Cathedral
and New College, Oxford
.
18th century to present
The original
Norman northwest tower was
demolished in the late 1700s due to structural concerns. It was
replaced during the 1830s with a Perpendicular style twin of the
southwest tower, currently known as the 'Arundel Tower'. This was
the last major structural alteration to the cathedral to be
made.
The Romanesque monastic dormitory ruins were replaced with a
Neo-Gothic Library and Archives building in the 19th century. This
building was later destroyed by a
high-explosive bomb in
the Second World War, which had been
aimed at the cathedral itself but missed by
yards, and was rebuilt in similar style several years later.
The cathedral is currently sponsoring a major fundraising drive to
raise a minimum of £50 million to fund restoration. The cathedral
is the Regimental Church of the
Princess of Wales's Royal
Regiment.
The Canterbury Cathedral Appeal
In 2006, a new fundraising appeal to raise £50 million was launched
to much media attention under the dramatic banner Save Canterbury
Cathedral.
The
Canterbury Cathedral
Appeal was launched to protect and enhance Canterbury
Cathedral's future as a religious, heritage and cultural centre.
Every five years the cathedral carries out a major structural
review. The last so-called Quinquennial made it very clear that a
combination of centuries of weathering, pollution and constant use
had taken its toll on the building and there were some serous
problems at Canterbury Cathedral that needed urgent action.
Much of the cathedral's stonework is damaged and crumbling, the
roofs are leaking and much of the stained glass is badly corroded.
It is thought that if action is not taken now, the rate of decay
and damage being inflicted on the building will increase
dramatically with potentially disastrous results, including closure
of large sections of the cathedral in order to guarantee the safety
of the million plus worshippers, pilgrims and tourists who visit
the cathedral every year.
The closure of parts of the cathedral would be seen as a
significant loss of part of Britain's architectural heritage, and a
huge limitation on the activities and services currently provided
by the cathedral.
As well as restoring much of the historic beauty of the cathedral,
the appeal aims to fund enhancements to visitor facilities and
investment to build on the cathedral's significant musical
tradition.
By November 2008, the current appeal had raised more than £9
million. Previous major appeals were run in the 1950s and
1970s.
The Foundation
The Foundation is the authorised staffing establishment of the
cathedral, few of whom are clergy. The head of the cathedral is the
dean, currently the Very Reverend
Robert Willis, who is assisted by a chapter of 24
canons, four of whom are residentiary, the
others being honorary appointments of senior clergy in the
diocese. There are also a number of lay canons who
altogether form the greater chapter which has the legal
responsibility both for the cathedral itself and also for the
formal election of an archbishop when there is a vacancy-in-see. By
English law and custom they may only elect the person who has been
nominated by the
monarch on the advice of
the
prime
minister. The Foundation also includes the choristers, lay
clerks, organists, King's Scholars and a range of other officers;
some of these posts are moribund, such as that of the cathedral
barber. The cathedral has a full-time work force of 250 making it
one of the largest employers in the district.
Bibliography
- William Temple:
Archbishop of Canterbury - His life and Letters by F A
Iremonger. Illustrated with black and white plates, includes list
of events in William Temple's life, and an Index
- The Romance of Canterbury Cathedral by Margaret
Babington. With a foreword by Cosmo Cantuar and black and
white.plates of the cathedral interior Although initially printed
in 1932, it was revised and reprinted in many editions, and in the
1955 edition and some other later editions, a further forward was
added by Archbishop Lord Lang of Lambeth.
- Fisher of Lambeth
: A Portrait
from Life With photographic plates (The biography of Geoffrey
Francis Fisher — Archbishop of Canterbury) by William
Purcell
- A History of Canterbury Cathedral, ed. P. Collinson,
N. Ramsay, M. Sparks. (OUP 1995, revised edition 2002)
Organs and organists
Organ
Details of the organ from the National Pipe Organ
Register
Organists
- 1407 John Mounds
- 1420 William Stanys
- 1445 John Cranbroke
- 1499 Thomas
- 1534 John Wodynsborowe
- 1547 William Selby
- 1553 Thomas Bull
- 1583 Matthew Godwin
- 1590 Thomas Stores
- 1598 George Marson
- 1631 Valentine Rother
- 1640 Thomas Tunstall
- 1661 Thomas Gibbes
- 1669 Richard Chomley
- 1692 Nicholas Wotton
- 1697 William Porter
- 1698 Daniel Henstridge
- 1736 William Raylton
- 1757 Samuel Porter
- 1803 Highmore Skeats
- 1831 Thomas Jones
- 1873 William Longhurst
- 1898 Harry Perrin
- 1908 Clement Charlton Palmer
- 1937 Gerald Knight
- 1953 Douglas Hopkins
- 1956 Sidney Campbell
- 1961 Allan Wicks
- 1988 David Flood
Assistant organists
- William Henry Longhurst 1836 - 1873 (then organist)
- John Browning Lott 1873 - ???? (later organist of Lichfield
Cathedral
)
- Herbery Austin Fricker 1884 - 1890
- Frank Charles Butcher
- Rene Soames 1918 - 1926
- John Malcolm Tyler 1953 - 1956
See also the
List of organ scholars of Canterbury Cathedral.
See also
References
- Priors of Canterbury, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae
1066-1300: volume 2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern
provinces) (1971), pp. 8-12
- "Canterbury Cathedral" Sacred Destinations.
- Barrie Dobson, 'Canterbury in the Later Middle Ages,
1220-1540', in A History of Canterbury Cathedral, OUP
1995, p. 153.
- From a copy of William Temple: Archbishop of
Canterbury First published by Geoffrey Cumberlege at OUP
(Oxford University Press) in 1948
with no ISBN
- Detail from a copy published by Raphael Tuck with no date
(Foreword dated 1932) and with no ISBN
- From a copy of an 1955 edition of the same book
- First published by Hodder and Stoughton in the (UK) in 1969
with an ISBN 340 02938 2
- Toby Huitson, The Organs of Canterbury Cathedral,
Canterbury: Cathedral Enterprises, Ltd., 2001. ISBN 0906211514
- Dictionary of organs and organists. First Edition. 1912.
p.276
- Who's who in Music. Fourth Edition. 1962. p.197
- Who's who in Music. Fourth Edition. 1962. p.216
External links
)
, then Organist, Christ Church, Oxford
)
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