The Canterbury Cathedral, whose formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury, is located in the country of England, the city of Canterbury, in the County Kent. It is now one of the oldest and most famous church's in England, and along with the Church of St. Martin and forms a World Heritage Site. It shaped Christianity during the Middle Ages, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and the symbolic leader of the World Wide Anglican Community.
In 597 AD, Archbishop St. Augustine was sent to Canterbury as a missionary by Pope Gregory the Great, to convert Pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Augustine was previously an abbot at St. Andrew’s Benedictine Abbey in Rome and was reluctant to set up a seat (or Cathedra) in Canterbury. He founded the Cathedral in 609 AD. He also built an abbey in honor of Saints Peter and Paul outside the town walls, which was later rededicated to Augustine himself. This was the burial place for the archbishops of Canterbury for centuries.
A baptistery and mausoleum were built on an axis of the Canterbury Cathedral by Archbishop Cuthbert and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Two centuries later Archbishop Oda updated the building by enlarging the length of the nave. Archbishop Dunstan, who had a cult following for his heretic teachings, added a Benedictine abbey named Christ Church Priory to the cathedral around 980 AD. He is buried on the south side of the High Alter.
In 1993 excavations done under the nave floor uncovered the foundations of the original Saxon cathedral which was built across from an ancient Roman road. The Saxon cathedral was damaged during a raid by Vikings in 1011, when Archbishop Alphege furthered the cult of St. Dunstan with his heretic teachings. He added a western apse as an oratory to St Mary. He was captured in 1011 and held hostage for a year before being tied to a stake on April 10, 1012, and used as a target for ox bone throwing practice by Vikings. He was killed after refusing to allow a ransom to be paid in return for his freedom. He is the first Archbishop to be killed in the cathedral. The second, Archbishop St. Thomas Becket, was praying to St Alphege when he was killed.
Archbishop St. Thomas Beckett was a longstanding thorn in the side of the Plantagenet King Henry II. They fought constantly on church and state. Henry was said to have exclaimed, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest!" Four of his knights took this literally and on December 29, 1170, went to Canterbury Cathedral and attacked Becket, and then beheaded him. He was not a very likeable Archbishop when alive, but his death caused a huge uproar leading to him being canonized within two years of his death . His canonization lead to thousands of people make pilgrimages to the Canterbury Cathedral as a place of healing and miracles. He was originally buried in a crypt under the cathedral but later was moved into an above ground tomb which can still be visited today. He became such a celebrity in the Middle Ages, that several rows of stained glass in the cathedral are dedicated to St Thomas Becket. They depict his good works, miracles performed and the sequence of his death.
After the Norman conquest of Saxons in 1066 the first Norman Archbishop was Lafranc. He completely rebuilt the destroyed cathedral in the Norman design based on the Abbey of St. Etienne located in Caen, (present day northwestern France). Archbishop St. Anselm extended the quire to the east for the monks and built an elaborately decorated and large crypt under the monastery. It is the largest of its kind in England.
After a fire in 1174, William of Sens rebuilt the choir using early Gothic design, including flying buttresses, vaulted ribbed ceilings, and high crenellating arches. William the Englishman added the Trinity Chapel for the housing of the relics of St. Thomas Becket. The rebuilding of the cathedral during this time was paid for largely by the income generated from pilgrimages.In 1380 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales about a pilgrimage from Rochester to Canterbury Cathedral though it was mostly unfinished at the time of its first publication.The last major renovation was done in the 1830’s with the building of the Arundel Tower.
On June 17th, 1207 Archbishop Stephen Langton was appointed by Pope Innocent III, and caused consternation between the Pope and King John, who wanted someone else appointed to that position. Archbishop Langton and all people who recognized him as Archbishop were banished from England by King John, who seized all possessions of the Cathedrals Canterbury and York. Pope Innocent III retaliated by issuing an interdict in 1208, in which priests were not allowed to perform any services, including last rites. A year later, he excommunicated King John, who turned on the English churches and issued extremely high levies, crippling the churches of England and taking most their wealth into his own coffers. It took four years to straighten everything out, with King John having to make large payments back to the church and to return all the churches possessions. Most of the churches were financially devastated and it took many years for them to recover. ArchbishopLangton negotiated between the King and barons, influencing King John to sign the Magna Carta. Langton also helped sign a peace treaty between King Henry II and Prince Llewellyn of Wales, in 1224. Archbishop Langton is buried in a tomb, outside the pilgrim entrance of what used to be St. Michaels Chapel. Only the foot of the tomb is visible today, which sticks out of the building.
In the next two hundred years, the tower sees many constructions and deconstructions. King Henry VIII signed a Commission for the Destruction of Shrines, which had officers in 1538, systematically destroy shrines, carting off their treasures and adding them to his own coffers. It is said a small treasure was taken from the shrine of St Thomas Becket alone, including the gold crown of Scotland given by Edward I. During the Cromwell Years, making a religious statement, Puritans smashed the noses of statues, destroyed stained glass panes, and demolished monasteries. In 1539, the cathedral ceases to be a monastery during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when all religious houses were under suppression by the crown. The cathedral reverted to a college of secular canons.
There are many Archbishops and royalty buried at the Cathedral, some of them are; The Black Prince: Edward Plantagenet who was considered a true knight, Archbishop St Thomas Beck, Henry IV, and his consort Joan of Navarre, Cardinal Reginald Pole, Cardinal Odet de Coligny, Archbishop Hubert Walter, Cardinal Thomas Bouchier, and Archbishop Henry Chichele the founder of All Souls College, Oxford. Most of these tombs also have monuments dedicated to them. There are also relics of Archbishops who have become saints, and other relics from saints throughout history.
The stained glass windows of the cathedral are some of the oldest in Europe. The South Oculus Window, established in the 12th century shows images of Jesus, the Four Evangelists, and the apostles. Other well known and beautiful parts of the cathedral that are popular among tourists are the Southwest Porch, the Trinity Chapel, the monument of St Michael Chapel and many more. Huge conservation efforts are going on at this time to preserve all the beautiful monuments, tombs, and artwork found at the Chapel. Today, the preservation of 16,000 books and pamphlets housed in Canterbury Cathedral’sHowley -Harrison Library, is underway. These books were threatened due to adverse environmental conditions, such as ever-changing humidity levels.