Understanding the world of cathedrals: the Cathedral of Canterbury in Kent (England)

Even if you have not made it to the Cathedral of Canterbury, you probably still have heard of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales or have learnt during your studies that the Black Prince was buried there. Maybe you have heard about Thomas Becket’s tragic death…

When I made it to England a few years ago and toured the country, I absolutely had to drive to Canterbury and stop first of all at the cathedral!

Fascinated by all of the history behind it, I had to see it for myself.

The tales of Canterbury written by the poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century recount the stories of a group of pilgrims going to Canterbury.

But Canterbury is much more than the funny tales written by Chaucer.

 

Canterbury has an history full of murders, destruction, fires, treasures being stolen and corrupt archbishops.

Building and reconstruction and history behind it:

You enter the cathedral by the Gate called Christ Church, also called Prior Goldstone’s gate. It is done in perpendicular style made during the time of the Tudors. We know it was renovated in 1803 and 1930.

The date of the actual building has been argued by historians for years despite the inscription on the gate, but it is thought to be between 1507 and 1517.

So how did it all start?

 

Early History of the Cathedral of Canterbury:

So many books have been written about Canterbury and the English cathedrals.

It all began with St. Augustine, a Bishop from France who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in 597 A.D. He had been sent by the pope, who believed he could convert the monks to Christianity. He converted the king of the time, King Ethelbert, and baptized him.

Augustine used the original Roman church of St. Martin and later built his own cathedral in 602 A.D. on land given to him. St. Martin’s church still exists today and is the oldest church in service in the country.

Augustine built the first Saxon Cathedral. At the time, there were about 40 monks. During the Great Plague in 833 only 5 monks survived but many centuries later during the Black Death in 1349 only 4 months died.

The first fire we know about was in 1011 caused by the Danes.

On Dec. 6th, 1067 a Norman fire destroyed the first cathedral and it was rebuilt by the Archbishop Lanfranc in 1070.

The Archbishop Anselm in 1086 built a choir during Conrad’s priory and rebuilt the east end in 1096. The fire destroyed Conrad’s choir and the Trinity chapel. The choir was redone a decade later. The crypt was fortunately ok.

 

In 1183 there was not much money to continue the work of William of Sens.

The nave constructed under Lanfranc was redone in 1405 by Thomas Chillenden. It took almost 30 years to redo in perpendicular style! At that time there was more money to spend than usual. It cost between 6,000 and 11,000 English Pounds and was financed by archbishops and priors.

The central tower was demolished in 1430 and rebuilt under Henry VII. The central tower or Bell Harry tower was built at the end of 15th century (1498). It had been put on hold for a long time due to the Wars of Roses. The tower weighs 3 tons and got its name from Prior Henry of Eastry, who in 1316 put the bells on the central tower. Bell Harry tower has stunning fan vaults looking like gigantic lanterns, the work of the architect John Wastell. The vaults are the most well-known European vaults.

The Angle steeple, which was installed on Bell Harry in 1433 was built with the donation of Cardinal Morton.

This put an end to the construction of Canterbury Cathedral, taking about 400 years to finish after Archbishop Lanfranc.

• architecture
• Black Prince
• Canterbury
• cathedral
• God
• Thomas Becket