diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-0.txt | 1458 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/13890-h.htm | 1379 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29069 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plan-1.png | bin | 0 -> 313811 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg | bin | 0 -> 73152 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plan-2.png | bin | 0 -> 400173 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg | bin | 0 -> 33419 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 89066 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 165342 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg | bin | 0 -> 79667 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 85364 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 162558 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 90856 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 160482 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 109450 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg | bin | 0 -> 230799 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg | bin | 0 -> 162810 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg | bin | 0 -> 88143 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-h/images/title.png | bin | 0 -> 73183 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-0.txt | 1848 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/13890-h.htm | 1782 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29069 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plan-1.png | bin | 0 -> 313811 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg | bin | 0 -> 73152 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plan-2.png | bin | 0 -> 400173 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg | bin | 0 -> 33419 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 89066 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 165342 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg | bin | 0 -> 79667 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 85364 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 162558 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 90856 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 160482 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 109450 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg | bin | 0 -> 230799 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg | bin | 0 -> 162810 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg | bin | 0 -> 88143 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13890-h/images/title.png | bin | 0 -> 73183 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/13890-8.txt | 1848 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/13890-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 38057 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/13890-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 2359074 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/13890.txt | 1848 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/13890.zip | bin | 0 -> 38024 bytes |
46 files changed, 10179 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13890-0.txt b/13890-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49fc4e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1458 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13890 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 13890-h.htm or 13890-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h/13890-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h.zip) + + + + + +BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN + +Canterbury + +by + +GORDON HOME + +MCMXI + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration] + + + + "When that Aprillé with his showerés soote [= sweet] + The drought of March hath piercéd to the roote, + + * * * * * + + "Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages, + And palmers for to seeken strangé strands, + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [=known] in sundry lands + And specially from every shirés end + Of Engéland, to Canterbury they wend, + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek + That them hath holpen when that they were sick." + + CHAUCER: _Canterbury Tales_. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + II. THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + III. THE CATHEDRAL + IV. THE CITY + INDEX + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATE + + 1. THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL (Frontispiece) + 2. CHRIST CHURCH GATE + 3. THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST + 4. THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL + 5. THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL + 6. THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL + 7. THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + 8. THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM + 9. THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY + 10. THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS + 11. WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN + 12. THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL (On the cover) + + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE + MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS. +REFERENCE + A. Mercery Lane. + B. St. Peter's Church. + C. All Saints' Church. + D. St. Margaret's Church. + E. Poor Priests' Hospital. + F. St. Margarets Street. + G. Green Court. + H. Archbishops' Palace. + J. Norman Staircase. + K. St. George's Church. + L. Site Of Roman Gate. + M. Greyfriars. + N. Christ Church Gate. + O. St. Alphege's Church. + P. St. Mary Bredin Church] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + + +It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the +name of Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of +Canterbury"--who had then been dead for 368 years--"to appear within +thirty days to answer to a charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion +against his sovereign lord, King Henry II." But the days passed, and no +spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the wonder-working saint, +on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was decreed +that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous +shrine overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be +forfeited to the Crown. Further than this went the sentence, for +Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no longer, and his name and +memory were to be wiped out. The remains were not burned, but +throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and window to the +said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from +every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that +the year 1538 saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the +Martyr. + +A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of +iconoclasm, and the shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first +phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. It might have been truly thought, +if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a century ago, when +Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, that +the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to +Canterbury had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly +untrue would that impression have been in the light of the new +enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A considerable literature on +the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, and this +little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as +evidence of the journey he has made, provided he cares to write +inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words +"at Canterbury." + +Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century +pilgrims are not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and +instead of approaching the object of their journey by the old-time +way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and Kent, they use the iron +road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the +saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the +motley throng of the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds +properly attuned, and who is prepared to say that because the majority +of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the convenience of +the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, +serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on +horseback--the most convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of +travel then available? + +There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use +the railway, in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city +set in the midst of soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the +first stage of the gradual unfolding of the tragic story. The +lukewarm pilgrim should therefore remember that he will add vastly to +the richness of his impressions if he deserts his train at Selling or +Chartham and walks the rest of the way over Harbledown, where he will +see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its ancient wall +and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the +cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century +after century feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot. + +[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY. +This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between +1507 and 1517. The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + + +It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody +deed perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times +that Canterbury occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English +history, for the city was ancient before the days of Thomas of +Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's endeavour to +indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of +the former Kentish capital. + +The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near +Canterbury belong to the Palæolithic Age; but as it is not known +whether this remote prehistoric population occupied the actual site, +or even whether the valley may not have then been a salt-water creek, +it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over these primitive people +and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were +possibly their successors, and come to the surer ground of history. +This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius +Cæsar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found +on a higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described +them as being little different in their manner of living from the +Gauls, whose houses were built of planks and willow-branches, roofed +with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he adds: + + All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a + bluish colour, and so makes them very dreadful in battle. They + have long hair, and shave all the body except the head and + upper lip. + +These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps +or villages defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman +expeditions which invaded Britain in the opening years of the +Christian Era, and there is evidence for believing that there was a +British settlement of considerable importance on the site of +Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known +as the Dane John--another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans +called it Durovernum, a name perhaps derived from the British +Derwhern, and although their historians are curiously silent in +regard to the place there cannot be any doubt that the town rose to +great importance in the later years of the four centuries of the Roman +occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman roads in Kent +shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the +coast towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus +Ritupis (Richborough, near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also +the Isle of Thanet, and from this important centre the Watling Street +ran straight to Londinium. These roads all converge upon the spot +where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was +fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to +Gaul would therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of +the size of the town is found in the five Roman burial-places +discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything else were needed it is +only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey and many +other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of +Roman material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place +in the heart of the present city, the foundations of Roman buildings +with tesselated pavements and quantities of pottery, small objects of +domestic use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are +all far beneath the present surface, a most significant fact in +relation to the transition period between Roman and Saxon Canterbury. + +The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth +century, the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent +form, and the Jutes gained possession of the south-eastern corner of +England. During the period of struggle between the rival groups of +invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by the Britons, +and the conquerors, having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, +appear to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that +when, after a lapse of perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, +no attempt was made to dig down to the former surface. The new +buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet above the +original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap +between the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually +grew up that men had had time to forget the old name, and, finding it +necessary to invent one, called it Cantwarabyrig, which meant the +city of the men of Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new +settlers had by this time fixed their limits in Kent, and that they +had found this site at the junction of all the Roman roads the most +convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had +begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place +in Kent, and at that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the +town walls. Ethelbert, it should be mentioned, had extended his power +so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had authority as far north +as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, which was +the metropolis of all his dominions." + +Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all +south-eastern England, was completely heathen, saving only the King's +Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop Luidhard, who had come over as her +chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage with the heathen +Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark +in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed--if Bede may +be trusted for a topographical detail of this character--on the island +of Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found a haven +for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, called +Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous +and broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, +while expressing himself as content with the gods of his forefathers +(these included Thor, Woden, Freya, and the rest), yet would place no +obstacles in the way of these missionaries of new and strange ideas. +He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in the old +church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in +the habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks +began to preach and instruct all who cared to listen. It seems +unlikely that the influence of the queen and her good chaplain should +have been entirely without results, and it is quite possible that +Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began +to sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that +of St. Augustine, appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope +Gregory's mission, and his remains were eventually placed in a golden +chest in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, afterwards St. +Augustine's. + +The zeal and enthusiasm of the band of missionaries began to bring in +many converts. Ethelbert himself consented to be baptized on June 2 in +the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons soon began to embrace +the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the +Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury +became the headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position +it has held without interruption ever since--a period of over 1,300 +years. It took England nearly nine centuries to make up its mind to +rid itself of the stultifying authority of the Bishop of Rome and to +shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of idolatrous +worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; +but these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city +of Canterbury, hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, +continues to be the metropolis of the Established Church of England. +And the imminence of further change carries with it no danger of any +break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical +control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there +should cease to be a State Church in this land, the organization of +the churches holding to the Elizabethan form of worship will no doubt +continue to be centred and focussed at Canterbury. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST. +The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful +works of the Perpendicular period in existence.] + +As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian +worship St. Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of +the little building does not conclusively prove that it is even in +part the actual church of this fascinating period. Cautious +archæologists, represented by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, regard the +earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman +materials having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the +other hand, there are various careful antiquaries who are willing to +accept the oldest parts of the church as Roman, and claim that St. +Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman occupation. +Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until +then it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very +early Saxon building, very probably standing on the site of the +restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha worshipped before +Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts of +the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether +the building were older than the two early Christian churches of +North Cornwall, preserved through the ages by the drifting sand of +that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so many have done, +that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not +justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a +fourteenth century chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or +idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to pray and to sacrifice to +demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was purged +from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he +dedicated it to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about +halfway between St. Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in +1901, it was found to possess a nave about 47 feet long by 26 feet +wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and depth +separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John +Hope, of the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations +with Canon Routledge, has suggested that this may be the first church +built by Augustine out of Roman materials ready to hand, while the +larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to the west, +was slowly being constructed. It was not finished when, in 605, +Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the canonized +first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building +when it was finished. The other great figures of the period--Ethelbert +and his Queen, and her chaplain--were also laid to rest in the church. +A few years ago it was only possible to form an idea of this large +structure from the Norman north wall of the nave and part of the +north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the eastern end has +been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all +the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, +having been converted two years after his accession, built another +church east of that of Saints Peter and Paul, and this was joined on +to the abbey church when the east end was extended about the time of +the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the monastery +subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his +headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls +of the Saxon city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name +of the Holy Saviour," and thus arose the name Christ Church--the name +the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore +five Christian churches either restored or under construction, and +they were all roughly in a line running east and west. First there was +Christ Church and Augustine's residence--eventually the priory--within +the walls, then the embryo abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, with the +chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther still was the church +of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little hill, +St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of +St. Mildred near the castle, but this is much later than anything that +has been discovered on the other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he +claims as pre-Conquest work in St. Dunstan's outside the city, on the +Whitstable Road. + +Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various +attacks made by the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a +defence lasting nearly three weeks, fell into the hands of the +invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, the good old +archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they +burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included +the monks of Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 Saxons +perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the +cathedral. Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, +who at Greenwich gave way to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion +killed their prisoner. The body was brought from London, where it had +been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by Canute, the first +Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending +his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the +martyr's remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further +demonstrate his submission to the Church his people had devastated by +hanging up his crown in the cathedral which Alphege's successor, +Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having made a journey to Rome +in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would amend +his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon +cathedral was properly repaired and decorated. + +During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in +Canterbury, which, besides destroying many houses, reduced the +unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin once more. Three years +later, in 1070, when Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he +decided that the Saxon walls were worthless, and he swept away every +trace of the building, which may have been partially Roman, before +proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman style +familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, +left its mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by +Eadmer, the monkish historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church +being demolished. It was only a small affair, but it must have been +the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small oblong +building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an +undercroft beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says +Eadmer, "a certain crypt, which the Romans call a confessionary, had +to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of the +singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger cathedral, +constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps +one ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural +methods of rude Saxon times." + +Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, and in his lifetime he +also founded the great Benedictine priory of Christ Church, whose +considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings of +the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a +few years, during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep +the see vacant while the revenues were diverted into the royal +coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his predecessor's church was +finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and constructed in +its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels +standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished +by Prior Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which +became known as Conrad's Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop +de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement and omit to mention the +ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were Henry I. +and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of +dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the +historian found nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of +the Temple! + +This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman +master-builders and workmen, rising high above the domestic quarters +of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part of +the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of +low wooden houses, had now reached the stage in its development when +it was to be the scene of the murder which was to make Canterbury the +most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. This occurred forty years +later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken place in +that period. + +So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every +temptation to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, +and the headlong journey from Normandy to Canterbury made by those +four knights whose foul deed history has not ceased to condemn; but +for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean Stanley's +"Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the +same month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to +Canterbury after an absence of six years, and at the close of a decade +of continual struggle with the King. The Archbishop, having landed at +Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received with the +greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed their +delight in every possible manner. There were imposing banquets, and +hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; +but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, +the four murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day +on which all the great events of Becket's life had taken place; for +not only had he been born on a Tuesday, but on that day he had been +exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending martyrdom, and +on that day he had returned from exile. + +[Illustration: THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY. +The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the +lightness and delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.] + +While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample +detail Dean Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his +account of the first interview between Becket and the four knights, +for too often the memory recalls nearly every fact of the murder +except the indictment, if it may be so called. The four knights had +discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak and +gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on +their first appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect +was sinister without being immediately threatening. Becket had just +finished dinner, and was seated on his couch talking to his friends +when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly continued, his +conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was +leaning. + + They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting + exchanged in a whisper to the attendants who stood near the + door, and then marched straight to where the Archbishop sate, + and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among the + clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate + behind them, on the boards. Becket now turned round for the + first time, and gazed steadfastly on each in silence, which he + at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who + throughout took the lead, replied with a scornful expression, + "God help you!" Becket's face grew crimson, and he glanced + round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire from + Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a + message from the King over the water--tell us whether you will + hear it in private, or in the hearing of all." "As you wish," + said the Archbishop. "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Fitzurse. + "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but + the doorkeeper ran up and kept the door ajar, that they might + see from the outside what was going on. + + +Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, +Becket appears to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four +men, who afterwards admitted that they thought of killing him then and +there with the only weapon that was handy--a cross-staff that lay at +his feet. + + The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by + their presence, resumed his statement of the complaints of the + King. The complaints--which are given by the various + chroniclers in very different words--were three in number. + "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to + the King on this side of the water, instead of taking away his + crown." "Rather than take away his crown," replied Becket, "I + would give him three or four crowns." "You have excited + disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to + answer for them at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, + "shall the sea again come between me and my Church, unless I + am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated the + bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied + Becket, "but the Pope, and you must go to him for absolution." + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE + CATHEDRAL. +Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often +miscalled. The morning light in winter fills the spaces between the +massive Norman piers.] + +After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's +contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured +enough, but Becket, putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that +he should speak privately to the angry knights, began to complain of +the grievances and insults he had himself received during the preceding +week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they have cut off my +sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that were +the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least +aggressive of the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King +of these outrages? Why did you take upon yourself to punish them by +your own authority?" But Becket, turning sharply towards him, said: +"Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights of the +Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge +them. I will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to +God the things that are God's. It is my business, and I alone will see +to it." Taking up such an attitude in front of four men who had come +hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination to seek an +excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate. + + For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed + an attitude of defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once + through the bonds which had partially restrained it, and + displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures which + are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South + and East, but which seem to have been natural to all classes + of medieval Europe. Their eyes flashed fire, they sprang upon + their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed their teeth, + twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above + their heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us--you + threaten us! are you going to excommunicate us all?" + +Becket sprang up from his couch at this insulting demonstration, and +in the state of great excitement into which he could fall when roused, +he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England +could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to +fury by other passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to +arms!" They made their way with an excited throng to the great +gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to shut off the +monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to +have been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused +to take the smallest measure for his safety, opening with his own +hands the door from the cloisters into the north transept which some +of the monks had closed and barred immediately after they had dragged +the Archbishop into the nearly dark building. + +Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of +that service was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the +knights to try to drag the defenceless Archbishop out of the +Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, flinging one of the men +down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and killed him +with three or four sword strokes, the last of which, as he lay prone, +was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so tremendous was +the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was +severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement. + +Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the +murderers found escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed +seem to have been at the sacrilege rather than at the murder. + +It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of +Canterbury. Within a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having +fallen and the great church being closed and deserted, Osbert, the +Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in his hand, found his +master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, the +monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by +the name of Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity +to this enthusiastic anticipation of the canonization, officially +announced at Westminster in 1173, was the discovery that Becket had on +beneath his outer robes, and the many other garments he wore, the +black cowled cloak of the Benedictines, and next to his skin a +hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the body was being +prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for +the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the +marks of the stripes administered on the previous day being plainly +visible. Dean Stanley adds another fact not easy to be believed by +those who have never become intimate with the practices of medieval +monasticism: + + Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, + and the marvel was increased by the sight--to our notions so + revolting--of the innumerable vermin with which the hair-cloth + abounded--boiling over with them, as one account describes it, + like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double + ardour. They looked at one another in silent wonder, then + exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we knew it + not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, + between the sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of + having found such a saint. + +[Illustration; THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL. +It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing +the tomb of Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of +Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands.] + +Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a +martyr's blood made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's +body anxious to obtain a scrap of a blood-stained garment to soak in +water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short time many parts of the +clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; but as +soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood +these precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up +in value until the possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the +owner. Any relic of the body itself had still greater value, its +efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the pilgrims who began +to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the neighbouring +monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of +St. Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the +Martyrdom," the position of Abbot of their own abbey if he would +contrive to bring with him a portion of Becket's skull. Roger had been +specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed to the +temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, +and having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly +installed in the highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole +affair was public property at the time does not fully appear, but +those who recorded events at St. Augustine's did not hesitate to +glory in the success of their scheme! + +So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic +Archbishop who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime +was soon to become the most frequently invoked of all the calendar of +saints, and the King himself, finding that his submission to the Papal +legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not sufficient to +avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form +of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to +Canterbury in 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. +Landing at Southampton, he came by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, +and so entered the ancient city. At the church of St. Dunstan, outside +the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot through +the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but +being in the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to +keep off the rain could not have been the cause of very great physical +discomfort apart from the cutting of his feet by stones on the road. +At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the man whose death he +had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and +lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by +Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights +and property of the Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a +hair-shirt with a woollen one above it, placed his head and shoulders +in one of the openings in the tomb and there received five strokes +with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots present, and +afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was +now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare +feet still muddy and in the same penitential garb. + +[Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + OF THE CATHEDRAL. +Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this +portion of the Cathedral has been re-constructed.] + +Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a +dangerous fever, but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in +Yorkshire that the Scots had been defeated and driven north, he +recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the manner of his age, +that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone on +the day before the battle. + +And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe +penance of a king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to +resound all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims +commenced to traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to +the little Norman city. Not by that way only did the vast crowds reach +Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road that at some period of the +year did not send its contribution to the throng which jostled through +the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. +Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims +went away lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them +the little leaden bottle in which the infinitely diluted blood of the +martyr mixed with water was distributed. + +Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the +Cathedral caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and +rage, found themselves unable to stay the progress of the flames until +nearly everything that could burn had vanished. The nave suffered less +than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less ruined portion of the +building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it might +have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it +appeared during the stirring events just recounted; for, +notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would +have probably been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as +possible as it appeared in Becket's time. The fire came, however, and +the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, but fortunately the chapels +were only slightly affected. + +After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens +as architect for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this +clever Norman craftsman lives to-day in the eastern portion of the +cathedral church. He set to work soon after the fire; but, after four +years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the scaffolding +that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his +native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of +completing the work. + +Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own +ideas, he finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand +to-day in the year 1184. To one or both of these architects is due the +unusual device of narrowing the choir to avoid altering the site of +the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the reconstruction of +Conrad's Norman choir began, the Gothic style was just beginning to +appear--an incipient tendency towards a pointed arch here and there +which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; and to this +style--in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its +accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early +English, distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars +decorating the triforium and clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and +capitals--the choir belongs. + +When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly +two centuries elapsed before any further change took place beyond the +beginning of the chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, +however, one of Canterbury's most magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical +pomp occurred in connection with the remains of Becket. The summer of +1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the +translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the +most astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as +being without a parallel in the history of England, the crowds +including people from many foreign countries. Money was spent so +lavishly on the entertainment of the innumerable persons of +distinction who were present or took part in the great ceremony that +for several years the finances of the see were unpleasantly +reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he +was not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest +containing the poor remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence +of nearly every ecclesiastical dignitary in the land the remains were +placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow with jewels set in gold +and silver. + +Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, +the little walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly +stream of pilgrims of every grade of society, and the huge doles of +food and drink given away by the two great monasteries and the lesser +houses of the city must have brought together an unwholesome concourse +of the needy. + +Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the +great shrine there was a special festival on July 7, when the people +of the archiepiscopal city would find their resources strained to the +very uttermost in feeding and housing the great assemblage. The +martyrdom took place on December 29, but owing to the time of the +year this festival did not draw so many as the summer one. All through +the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of falling off in +numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not +reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of +frequent occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, +Canterbury would appear to have entertained more distinguished +personages than any other. + +Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman +nave and transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in +the Perpendicular style, then prevailing. When this work was finished +and the south-western tower had been completed, in 1481, there was not +much left of the Norman priory church built by Lanfranc. The +north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's +church, was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular +neighbour and the central tower--the external masterpiece of the +cathedral--commenced by Prior Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior +Selling in the closing years of the century. The piers supporting this +tower are Norman with a later casing, and the foundations of the nave +walls belong to the same period. + +Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and +the dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of +Becket's shrine must have been to the city, on a much larger scale, +what the sweeping away of all the Shakespearean landmarks and relics +from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. Nevertheless the city +could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with £30 in a scented purse +when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained +the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church +prevented the city from decaying. And even if this dignity had not +remained the position of the town in relation to the comings and +goings between England and France would have saved it from any sudden +fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution. + +To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not +possible here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven +into a connected narrative by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be +procured by all who may, by reading this little sketch, feel some of +the glamour which the old city has for the writer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CATHEDRAL + + +From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant +glimpses of the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light +that is the joy of a summer's morning in Kent, are so hauntingly +beautiful that it is hard to believe that no disillusionment need be +anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great church seen +at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are +agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is +entirely needless. From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped +himself to a shirt and cloak on entering as a penitent, the road is +lined with houses whose quietly picturesque frontages improve as the +city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing perspective +stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing +through the archway, one is at once in the narrow, jostling +familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at +the arms of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming +increasingly rich in overhanging storeys and curious sixteenth and +seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances rapidly from side to +side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a +peep--such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen--of the +Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone +gateway framed by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another +in the neighbourly fashion of old cronies. It might be that the modern +pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by the vision he sees in this +cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention of going +straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to +the east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of +that narrow way belonging altogether to the world of romance. He +stands for a moment transfixed, and then plunges into the opening, +forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality before him. He +walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless +pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts through the weather-worn +gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between 1507 and 1517. + +From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, +nearly the whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite +are the two western towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the +further rebuilt seventy years ago. The heavily buttressed nave, in the +same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the transept, where the +eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered +pinnacles of the _campanilis Angeli_--the Angel Tower, as Prior +Molashe by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature +he added to his priory church. Beyond the south-west transept appears +the plain Norman work of the larger and more massive transept to the +east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into the inner angle, a +part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of the +Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks +eastwards--the other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace--St. +Anselm's Tower and Trinity Chapel with its corona, or semicircular +extension, successively appear. Armed even with such brief information +as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on these weathered +cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the +Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder +which brought so much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its +present form is due to little else. To wipe out Becket's name +completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish the whole church. + +[Illustration: THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE + CLOISTERS. +It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers +on that fatal afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was +deepening.] + +The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the +monks as a lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the +south-east shaded by old elms was their own burial-ground. All the +monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual custom, on the north, +for having only a narrow space between the south side of their church +and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they +naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to +the city wall to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, +therefore, one finds under its ample shadow the remains of many of the +domestic offices of the great priory. The great hall, with its kitchen +and offices, is now part of the house of one of the prebendaries, and +is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the interesting +ruins of the infirmary. This was a long building with aisles, having +a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the sick brethren +while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south +arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an +ivy-grown clerestory, is still standing, and there are also some +arches of the south side of the hall still showing the orange-pink +colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, when +Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the +infirmary hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful +Transitional-Norman treasury built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to +the right through a passage called the Dark Entry, one has the site of +the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the infirmary +cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This +passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, +a wide grassy space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed +between the spreading branches appears one of the most perfect +groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up roofs of the library, +chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to the vast +tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect on the mind, scarcely +equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave when one first +enters--but the interior must wait for a little, while the remaining +portions of the precincts are seen. + +Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the +Deanery. It was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times +as a guest-house for the reception of strangers, but has been much +altered since that time. At the north-west corner of the court is a +very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern buildings of +the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, +which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other +destruction was in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a +staircase of this early period is the most remarkable feature of the +monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate stood the almonry and a +granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's Palace, so +ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street +is practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite +modern. Coming back to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque +little circular Lavatory Tower standing on late Norman open arches is +noticeable in its shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir +chapels. This is generally known as the Baptistery, but the name only +began to be used when the font Bishop Warner presented to the +Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the +Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a +century ago when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is +the library, standing on part of the site of the great dormitory, and +opening on to the cloisters is the chapter house, commenced in 1304 by +Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior Chillenden. The windows at +the east and west ends are the largest in the Cathedral. + +The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present +appearance to Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful +Perpendicular work with a splendid roof of lierne vaulting. Part of +the south walk, with the doorway into the north transept--the +successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his +death--is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing page 43. If +one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be +in the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to +be all about one, notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of +the actual scene, but the historic entrance is by the south porch +facing the great gate of the priory, and as it is still the usual +place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at that +point. + +[Illustration: THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY. +This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in +1220, stands on a branch of the Stour near Stour Street.] + +The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior +Chillenden, and, with its double row of canopied niches containing +statues, is a beautiful feature, even with the central space which +contained a representation of the martyrdom of Becket still vacant +since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a vast +Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered +beauty. It may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and +without order that an achievement of such magnitude representing years +of labour and concentrated thought in steadily following out a +preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast to the +smallness and pettiness of the majority--a contrast so great that it +is mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new +possibilities attainable when once the feverish clinging to the ideals +of the totem post is abandoned. This vast nave, reminiscent in many +ways of Winchester, but far more satisfying, is generally bathed in a +cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a magnificent vestibule to +the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of emptiness +existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze +upon while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for +before the Reformation and the complete sweeping away of the +enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof and walls were brilliant +with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of medieval +glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars +twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the +aisles. All this barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this +splendour of a ritual that appealed to an age capable of stilling the +voice of conscience with an absolution obtainable for a few pence has +passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of the reality of +endeavour of one side of monastic life. + +[Illustration: THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY + WEAVERS. +The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which +joins the High Street to St. Peter's Street.] + +Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the +supporting arch inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already +stated, built the Angel Steeple above the roof-line where it had been +left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a disfigurement, and as +it was not originally intended such an opinion may be justifiable, and +yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill +which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it +is scarcely possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying +arch appears the splendid western screen, approached by the flight of +steps necessitated by the crypt or undercroft, for, being on perfectly +level ground, there would have been no need for this unique feature. +Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south include the +memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and +William Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at +the King's School. In the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. +Hales showing his burial at sea is curious and picturesque, and other +memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando Gibbons, and to the +Archbishops Boyes and Sumner. + +The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are +ascended, is the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the +traditional spot where he fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead +down to the undercroft, and also up to the south choir aisle--the way +the pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from +the south-west transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as +it is now popularly called. In the illustration facing p. 30, the tomb +of Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of +Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, is shown occupying the centre +of the chapel, but it just misses a more interesting, if much less +beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous Archbishop +who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The +plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for +when it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much +to the east that it became necessary either to move Langton's tomb or +else to make an arch in the wall, and the latter course was taken, +with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing contrast to +the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of +Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform +Bill in 1831 so raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they +greeted his next arrival in the city with showers of stones and rotten +eggs. In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage +slowly struggled to the Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman +who was convinced that the Reform Bill was "mischievous in its +tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the constitution." +Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people +think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally +unfounded order. + +Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the +whole of the elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as +they were reconstructed by William of Sens and his English successor. +The arcades of alternately circular and octagonal pillars have richly +carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in form and a +profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic +style--indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is +the present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in +comparison. In its great length this choir is unique, and in the +lowness of its vaulted roof is also unusual, but this is accounted for +by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the choir the remarkable +inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination not +to alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so hallowed by the memory of +the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent it helps to +give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with +the chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their +apsidal chapels almost as they were built by Conrad. + +Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, +where his eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels +and precious metals, merely look between the pillars upon an empty +space. A vacant spot, however, can be eloquent enough, and to those +who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late Mr. Snowden +Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the +study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was +European is able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by +the wayworn folk of the Middle Ages. + +By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears +marking the exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by +the endless stream of pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the +object their eyes had longed to feast upon. To the west is a fine +thirteenth-century mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's +Chapel at Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare +this chapel, for if it is not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a +King--Henry IV.--and a king's eldest son--the Black Prince--on either +side, and after Westminster Abbey there was scarcely a more sacred +spot in the kingdom than this. + +It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken +a considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and +had been liberal in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his +second wife, Joan of Navarre, are believed to be faithful +representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if space +permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work +apart from the historical interest that attaches to the soldier +Prince, whose two great victories at Crécy and Poitiers have thrilled +every English schoolboy during all the subsequent centuries. The +strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the bronze or latten +effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of +gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the +days of chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by +the Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French +inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a +flat canopy of wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a +much decayed painting of the Trinity, if one may call it such when the +Dove is not represented. On the beam from which the canopy is +suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass gauntlets, +and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, +one for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as +the Prince had ordered in his will. + +The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name +tradition associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion +of St. Thomas's skull. One window contains old glass, and in the +centre of the floor is placed the chair of Purbeck marble in which the +Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered as old as the +days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as +a figure of speech. + +By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in +Trinity Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of +St. Thomas, have come down to the present time almost unharmed, and +this magnificent range of thirteenth-century glass is finer than +anything else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to +1220, and without it there would have been no representation of the +first shrine at all. The colour in these windows is all subservient to +the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, but in the +north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period +where the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at +Chartres. For any description of the tombs of the archbishops there +is, unfortunately, no space here. In the splendid crypt, besides the +interest of the various periods of Norman and Transitional work, there +is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our Lady of the +Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's +Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to +the French Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up +their looms in this hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr +was laid until his translation in 1220 and where Henry II. had passed +the night after his severe penance. This very short description of +such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the study +of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely +possible. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CITY + + +A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of +romance for which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town +that has long ago discarded its old tower-studded girdle. And among +the half-dozen or more English towns still possessed of their old +mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within its walls +there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of +twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the +atmosphere of Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The +wall itself does not stand out with the splendid completeness of York +or Conway, and on the western side it has vanished altogether, while +of the seven or eight gates, one only--the West Gate--has been saved; +yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it is difficult +to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last +century all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments +were destroyed by the city until one only was left, and even that +would have been wantonly sacrificed to facilitate the entry of some +circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie visited the city! +This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to +demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his +procession through the low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is +infinitely more difficult to understand the aboriginal minds of some +of the members of the Corporation when the records unblushingly reveal +that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a proposer +and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, +and it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the +city its noble entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into +dazzling clearness the almost entire lack of appreciation for its +historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the city must make +one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that +is old and picturesque to survive. + +[Illustration: WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN. +This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediæval +walls of the city.] + +From the East Station there extends as far as the site of the old +Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall with semicircular +towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. +Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of +the wall, with a tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval +foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. In Pound Lane the wall continues +in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it ends at the West +Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications of +a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which +Queen Bertha was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. +Martin's Church. This, however, presupposes that the portion of the +wall immediately surrounding this particular point is Roman or very +Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the same +position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of +the twelfth century. + +Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry +the wall just as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle +towards the south side of the Cathedral. Following the direction Queen +Bertha would have taken brings one to the great gateway of St. +Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery founded by Augustine on +the land given for that purpose by Ethelbert. It was at first +dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original buildings were +finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of +Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of +Christ Church, until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried +within the claustral confines of his own priory. At the Dissolution +Henry converted the stately buildings into a palace, so that the royal +visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the days of +monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed +through the hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and +Charles II. paid visits on various occasions. + +A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead +centuries when Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to +its lowest, the Abbey had sunk to inconceivably debased uses. The +monastic kitchen had been converted into a public-house, and the great +gateway--the finest structural relic of the Abbey--had become the +entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in the state +bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, +had become a dancing-hall, and the ground, unoccupied by buildings, +soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated +with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils +of pagan ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The +popular mind had seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place +they were desecrating with fireworks and variety shows. + +At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed +remnants of the abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present +missionary college was founded, and the buildings restored or +reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have been suggested +than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of +Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into +the dark places of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by +Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the +guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the chief portions of +the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround three +sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of +the huge walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are +the extensive excavations of the east end of the crypt and other +fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an +earlier chapter (p. 17). + +Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in +a few minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to +which Queen Bertha directed her steps. It is, however, a +disappointingly familiar type of Early English village church to the +casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font have been +examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archæology it +is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of +the structure. To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly +Roman, work in the fabric, and to know the reasons for considering the +font a relic of Saxon times, it is scarcely possible to find a better +instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book is all one can +desire. + +When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been +visited, it is too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all +her treasures, but this is an amazingly mistaken idea. There still +remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old inns, the many +interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of +the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of +interesting churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the +great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been +allowed to remain because the walls were found to be too hard to +easily destroy; but up to the time of writing the Corporation has not +purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains a storage place +for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings +of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who +belonged to the rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the +Stour, and are marked in nearly every plan of the town. The hospitals +include that of St. John the Baptist in North Gate Street, Eastbridge +Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital near +Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old +Hospital of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately +housed. + +Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is +merely space to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All +Saints' in High Street. At St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More +is preserved in a vault, but it is never possible to see it, and one +must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the Roper house +in St. Dunstan's Street. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE. + +KEY TO NUMBERS. + 1. Door to Cloisters. + 2. Door In Cloisters. + 3. Dean's (or Lady) Chapel. + 4. St. Michael's Chapel. + 5. Baptistery. + 6. Library (Howleian). + 7. Treasury. + 8. Chapel of King Henry IV. + 9. Arundel Tower (N.W.). + 10. Dunstan Tower (S.W.). + 11. Entrance to French Church. + 12. Archbishop Benson. + 13. Bishop Parry. + 14. Archbishop Sumner. + 15. Sir T. Hales. + 16. Colonel Stuart. + 17. Dr. Beaney. + 18. Dean Fotherbye. + 19. Archbishop Chicheley. + 20. Archbishop Bourchier. + 21. Archbishop Kemp. + 22. Archbishop Sudbury. + 23. St. Dunstan (site). + 24. Archbishop Tait. + 25. King Henry IV. + 26. Edward, the Black Prince. + 27. Becket's Shrine (site). + 28. Cardinal Pole. + 29. Unknown. + 30. Archbishop Mepham. + 31. Archbishop Winchelsey. + 32. Henry de Estria. + 33. Stephen Langton. + 34. Archbishop's ancient Chair. + 35. Memorial to Dean Farrar. + 36. Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide. + 37. Archbishop Boyes. + 38. Tomb of Dean Farrar. + 39. Tomb of Archbishop Temple. + 40. Two columns from Reculver.] + + + + +INDEX + +Alphege, Archbishop, 19, 20 +Angel Steeple, 42, 44, 48 +Anglo-Saxon invasions, 12 +Archbishop's Palace, 42, 45 +Augustine, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 54, 59 + +Becket, Thomas à, 5, 6, 23-28, 43, 47, 49, 52, 54 +Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), 13, 14, 16, 58, 61 +Black Prince, 53, 54, 55 +Boyes, Archbishop, 49 +Bret, Richard le, 29 +Broughton, Bishop, 49 + +Cæsar, Julius, 10 +Canute, 20 +Castle, the, 62 +Cathedral, the, 40-55 +Charles I., 59 +Charles II., 59 +Chartres, windows at, 55 +Chillenden, Prior, 38, 46, 47, 48 +Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, 50 +Conrad's choir, 34 +Conrad, Prior, 22, 51, 52 +Corbeuil, Archbishop de, 22 +Cuthbert, Archbishop, 59 + +Dane John, the, 10 +Danes, the, 19, 20 +David I. of Scotland, 22 +Dover, 11 + +Eadbald, 18 +Eadmer, 21 +Elizabeth, Queen, 39, 59 +Ernulph, Prior, 22 +Estria, Prior, 46 +Ethelbert, 13, 14, 17, 18, 59 + +Farrar, Dean, 49 +Fitzurse, Reginald, 25, 26 +Foliot, Gilbert, 33 +Fyndon, Abbot, 60 + +Gates of Canterbury, the, 56-58 +Gibbons, Orlando, 49 +Goldstone II., Prior, 48 + +Hales, Sir T., tomb of, 49 +Harbledown, 8, 32, 62 +Hengist and Horsa, 13 +Henry I., 22 +Henry II., 23, 34, 40, 55 +Henry III., 37 +Henry IV., tomb of, 53 +Henry VIII., 5, 43, 47, 59 +Holland, Lady Margaret, 50 +Hospitals, medieval, 62 +Howley, Archbishop, 50 +Huguenot Chapel, 55 + +Joan of Navarre, 53 +John, King, 50 + +King's school, the, 45, 49 + +Lady Wootton's Green, 58 +Lanfranc, Archbishop, 21, 22, 38, 43 +Langton, Stephen, 50 +Living, Archbishop, 20 +Luidhard, Bishop, 13 +Lymne, 11 + +Magna Charta, 50 +Mercery Lane, 41 +Molashe, Prior, 38, 42 +More, Sir Thomas, 62 +Moreville, Hugh de, 27 + +Norman staircase, 45 + +Pilgrims' Way, the, 6, 32, 34 +Prior's Gate, 44, 45 + +Reculver, 2, 46 +Reform Bill, the, 50, 51 +Religious houses, 62 +Richborough, 11 +Roman Canterbury, 10-12, 16, 58, 61 + +St. Augustine's Abbey, 11, 14, 19, 31, 58-60 +St. Dunstan, Church of, 19, 32, 40, 62 + +St. Martin, Church of, 14, 16, 17, 19, 41, 58 +St. Mildred, Church of, 19 +St. Pancras, Church of, 17, 19 +Salisbury, John of, 26 +Sandwich, 23 +Selling, Prior, 38 +Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, 50 +Stanley, Dean, 23, 24, 30 +Sumner, Archbishop, 49 + +Thorn, William, 17 +Tracy, William de, 25 + +Walls of the city, 56-59 +Warrior's Chapel, the, 50 +West gate, the, 56-57 +William of Sens, 35, 51 +William Rufus, 22 +William the Englishman, 35 + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13890 *** diff --git a/13890-h/13890-h.htm b/13890-h/13890-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d56f16e --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/13890-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1379 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home</title> + <style type="text/css" id="internalstyle"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 50%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.short {width: 25%;} + + ol { list-style-type: decimal; + } + body{margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + } + .signature{margin-left: 50%;} + .ctr {text-align: center;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em; + font-style: italic; + font-size: small; } /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13890 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <p> </p> + <h1>Beautiful Britain</h1> + <h2>Gordon Home</h2> + <p class="ctr"><a name="COVER" id="COVER"></a> <img src="./images/cover.jpg" + alt="THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL" /></p> + <h1>Canterbury</h1> + <hr /> + <hr /> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_1" id="PLATE_1"></a> <img src="./images/plate-1.jpg" + alt="THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL" /> <a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <p class="ctr"><img src="./images/title.png" alt="TITLE ILLUSTRATION" /></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <p class="poem"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> "When that Aprillé with his + showerés soote [= sweet]<br /> + The drought of March hath piercéd to the roote,<br /> + </p> + <hr class="short" /> + <p class="poem">Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages,<br /> + And palmers for to seeken strangé strands,<br /> + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [= known] in sundry lands<br /> + And specially from every shirés end<br /> + Of Engéland, to Canterbury they wend,<br /> + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek<br /> + That them hath holpen when that they were sick."</p> + <p class="signature">CHAUCER: <i>Canterbury Tales</i>.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + <div class="ctr"> + <table summary="toc" border="0" cellpadding="5"> + <colgroup> + <col span="2" align="left" /> + <col align="right" /> + </colgroup> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">CHAPTER</th> + <th>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>I.</td> + <td>THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_I'>5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II.</td> + <td>THE STORY OF CANTERBURY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_II'>9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III.</td> + <td>THE CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_III'>40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV.</td> + <td>THE CITY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>INDEX</td> + <td><a href='#INDEX'></a></td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + <h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + <table summary="toc" border="0" cellpadding="2"> + <colgroup> + <col span="2" align="left" /> + <col align="right" /> + </colgroup> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">PLATE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1.</td> + <td>THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <th colspan="2" align="right">FACING PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2.</td> + <td>CHRIST CHURCH GATE</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_2">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>3.</td> + <td>THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_3">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4.</td> + <td>THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_4">25</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>5.</td> + <td>THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_5">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>6.</td> + <td>THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_6">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7.</td> + <td>THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_7">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>8.</td> + <td>THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_8">43</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>9.</td> + <td>THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_9">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>10.</td> + <td>THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_10">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>11.</td> + <td>WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_11">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>12.</td> + <td>THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL</td> + <td><a href="#COVER"><i>On the cover</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>13.</td> + <td>PLAN OF CANTERBURY.</td> + <td><a href="#PLAN_1">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>14.</td> + <td>PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE.</td> + <td><a href="#PLAN_2">63</a></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <p class="ctr"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><a name="PLAN_1" id="PLAN_1"></a> <a + href="./images/plan-1.png"><img src="./images/plan-1_th.jpg" width="640" height="447" + alt="PLAN OF CANTERBURY" /></a><br /> + PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h1><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>CANTERBURY</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + <h3>THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY</h3> + <p>It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the name of + Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of Canterbury"-—who + had then been dead for 368 years—-to appear within thirty days to answer to a + charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion against his sovereign lord, King Henry + II. But the days passed, and no spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the + wonder-working saint, on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was + decreed that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous shrine + overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be forfeited to the Crown. + Further than this went the sentence, for Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no <a + name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>longer, and his name and memory were to be wiped out. + The remains were not burned, but throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and + window to the said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from + every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that the year 1538 + saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the Martyr.</p> + <p>A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of iconoclasm, and the + shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. + It might have been truly thought, if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a + century ago, when Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, + that the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to Canterbury + had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly untrue would that + impression have been in the light of the new enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A + considerable literature on the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, + and this little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as evidence + of the journey he has made, provided <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>he cares to + write inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words "at + Canterbury."</p> + <p>Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century pilgrims are + not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and instead of approaching the + object of their journey by the old-time way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and + Kent, they use the iron road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the + saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the motley throng of + the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds properly attuned, and who is prepared + to say that because the majority of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the + convenience of the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, + serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on horseback—the most + convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of travel then available?</p> + <p>There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use the railway, + in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city set in the midst of + soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the first stage of the gradual unfolding + <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>of the tragic story. The lukewarm pilgrim should + therefore remember that he will add vastly to the richness of his impressions if he + deserts his train at Selling or Chartham and walks the rest of the way over + Harbledown, where he will see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its + ancient wall and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the + cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century after century + feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_2" id="PLATE_2"></a><img src="./images/plate-2.jpg" + alt="CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY" /><br /> + CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY.<br /> + This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between 1507 and 1517. + The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly. <a name="Page_9" + id="Page_9"></a></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + <h3>THE STORY OF CANTERBURY</h3> + <p>It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody deed + perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times that Canterbury + occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English history, for the city was ancient + before the days of Thomas of Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's + endeavour to indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of the + former Kentish capital.</p> + <p>The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near Canterbury + belong to the Palæolithic Age; but as it is not known whether this remote + prehistoric population occupied the actual site, or even whether the valley may not + have then been a salt-water creek, it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over + these primitive people and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were + possibly their successors, <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>and come to the surer + ground of history. This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius + Cæsar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found on a + higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described them as being little + different in their manner of living from the Gauls, whose houses were built of planks + and willow-branches, roofed with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he + adds:</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a bluish colour, and + so makes them very dreadful in battle. They have long hair, and shave all the body + except the head and upper lip.</p> + </div> + <p>These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps or villages + defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman expeditions which invaded + Britain in the opening years of the Christian Era, and there is evidence for + believing that there was a British settlement of considerable importance on the site + of Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known as the Dane + John—another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans called it Durovernum, a + name perhaps derived from the British Derwhern, and although <a name="Page_11" + id="Page_11"></a>their historians are curiously silent in regard to the place there + cannot be any doubt that the town rose to great importance in the later years of the + four centuries of the Roman occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman + roads in Kent shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the coast + towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus Ritupis (Richborough, + near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also the Isle of Thanet, and from this + important centre the Watling Street ran straight to Londinium. These roads all + converge upon the spot where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was + fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to Gaul would + therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of the size of the town is + found in the five Roman burial-places discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything + else were needed it is only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey + and many other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of Roman + material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place in the heart of the + present city, the foundations of Roman buildings with tesselated pavements <a + name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>and quantities of pottery, small objects of domestic + use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are all far beneath the + present surface, a most significant fact in relation to the transition period between + Roman and Saxon Canterbury.</p> + <p>The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth century, the + invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent form, and the Jutes gained + possession of the south-eastern corner of England. During the period of struggle + between the rival groups of invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by + the Britons, and the conquerors having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, appear + to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that when, after a lapse of + perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, no attempt was made to dig down to the + former surface. The new buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet + above the original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap between + the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually grew up that men had had + time to forget the old name, and, finding it necessary to invent one, called it<a + name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a> Cantwarabyrig, which meant the city of the men of + Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new settlers had by this time fixed their + limits in Kent, and that they had found this site at the junction of all the Roman + roads the most convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had + begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place in Kent, and at + that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the town walls. Ethelbert, it should + be mentioned, had extended his power so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had + authority as far north as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, + which was the metropolis of all his dominions."</p> + <p>Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all south-eastern England, + was completely heathen, saving only the King's Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop + Luidhard, who had come over as her chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage + with the heathen Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark + in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed—if Bede may be + trusted for a topographical detail of this character—on the island of + Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found <a name="Page_14" + id="Page_14"></a>a haven for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, + called Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous and + broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, while expressing + himself as content with the gods of his forefathers (these included Thor, Woden, + Freya, and the rest), yet would place no obstacles in the way of these missionaries + of new and strange ideas. He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in + the old church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in the + habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks began to preach and + instruct all who cared to listen. It seems unlikely that the influence of the queen + and her good chaplain should have been entirely without results, and it is quite + possible that Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began to + sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that of St. Augustine, + appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope Gregory's mission, and his + remains were eventually placed in a golden chest in the church of Saints Peter and + Paul, afterwards St. Augustine's.</p> + <p>The zeal and enthusiasm of the band o <a name="Page_15" + id="Page_15"></a>missionaries began to bring in many converts. Ethelbert himself + consented to be baptized on June 2 in the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons + soon began to embrace the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the + Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury became the + headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position it has held without + interruption ever since—a period of over 1,300 years. It took England nearly + nine centuries to make up its mind to rid itself of the stultifying authority of the + Bishop of Rome and to shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of + idolatrous worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; but + these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city of Canterbury, + hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, continues to be the metropolis of + the Established Church of England. And the imminence of further change carries with + it no danger of any break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical + control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there should cease to be a + State Church in this land, the organization of the churches holding to the + Elizabethan form of worship will no <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>doubt continue + to be centred and focussed at Canterbury.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_3" id="PLATE_3"></a><img src="./images/plate-3.jpg" + alt="CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST." /><br /> + CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST.<br /> + The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful works of the + Perpendicular period in existence.<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a></p> + <p>As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian worship St. + Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of the little building does + not conclusively prove that it is even in part the actual church of this fascinating + period. Cautious archæologists, represented by Mr. J.T. Micklethwaite, regard + the earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman materials + having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the other hand, there are + various careful antiquaries who are willing to accept the oldest parts of the church + as Roman, and claim that St. Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman + occupation. Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until then + it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very early Saxon building, + very probably standing on the site of the restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha + worshipped before Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts + of the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether the building + were older than the two early Christian churches of North Cornwall, preserved through + the ages by the drifting sand of that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so + many have done, that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not + justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a fourteenth century + chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to + pray and to sacrifice to demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was + purged from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he dedicated it + to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about halfway between St. + Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in 1901, it was found to possess a nave + about 47 feet long by 26 feet wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and + depth separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John Hope, of + the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations with Canon Routledge, has + suggested that this may be the first church built by Augustine out of Roman materials + ready to hand, while the larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to + the west, was slowly <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>being constructed. It was not + finished when, in 605, Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the + canonized first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building when + it was finished. The other great figures of the period—Ethelbert and his Queen, + and her chaplain—were also laid to rest in the church. A few years ago it was + only possible to form an idea of this large structure from the Norman north wall of + the nave and part of the north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the + eastern end has been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all + the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, having been + converted two years after his accession, built another church east of that of Saints + Peter and Paul, and this was joined on to the abbey church when the east end was + extended about the time of the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the + monastery subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his + headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls of the Saxon + city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name of the Holy Saviour," and + thus arose <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>the name Christ Church—the name + the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore five Christian + churches either restored or under construction, and they were all roughly in a line + running east and west. First there was Christ Church and Augustine's + residence—eventually the priory—within the walls, then the embryo abbey + of Saints Peter and Paul, with the chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther + still was the church of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little + hill, St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of St. Mildred + near the castle, but this is much later than anything that has been discovered on the + other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he claims as pre-Conquest work in St. + Dunstan's outside the city, on the Whitstable Road.</p> + <p>Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various attacks made by + the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a defence lasting nearly three + weeks, fell into the hands of the invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, + the good old archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they + burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included the monks of<a + name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a> Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 + Saxons perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the cathedral. + Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, who at Greenwich gave way + to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion killed their prisoner. The body was + brought from London, where it had been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by + Canute, the first Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending + his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the martyr's + remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further demonstrate his + submission to the Church his people had devastated by hanging up his crown in the + cathedral which Alphege's successor, Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having + made a journey to Rome in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would + amend his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon cathedral + was properly repaired and decorated.</p> + <p>During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in Canterbury, which, + besides destroying many houses, reduced the unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin + once more. Three <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>years later, in 1070, when + Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he decided that the Saxon walls were + worthless, and he swept away every trace of the building, which may have been + partially Roman, before proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman + style familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, left its + mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by Eadmer, the monkish + historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church being demolished. It was only a small + affair, but it must have been the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small + oblong building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an undercroft + beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says Eadmer, "a certain crypt, + which the Romans call a confessionary, had to be ascended by means of several steps + from the choir of the singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger + cathedral, constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps one + ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural methods of rude + Saxon times."</p> + <p>Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, <a name="Page_22" + id="Page_22"></a>and in his lifetime he also founded the great Benedictine priory of + Christ Church, whose considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings + of the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a few years, + during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep the see vacant while the + revenues were diverted into the royal coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his + predecessor's church was finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and + constructed in its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels + standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished by Prior + Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which became known as Conrad's + Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement + and omit to mention the ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were + Henry I. and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of + dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the historian found + nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of the Temple!</p> + <p>This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman + master-builders and <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>workmen, rising high above the + domestic quarters of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part + of the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of low wooden + houses, had now reached the stage in its development when it was to be the scene of + the murder which was to make Canterbury the most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. + This occurred forty years later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken + place in that period.</p> + <p>So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every temptation + to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, and the headlong journey + from Normandy to Canterbury made by those four knights whose foul deed history has + not ceased to condemn; but for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean + Stanley's "Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the same + month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to Canterbury after an absence + of six years, and at the close of a decade of continual struggle with the King. The + Archbishop, having landed at Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received + with the greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed <a name="Page_24" + id="Page_24"></a>their delight in every possible manner. There were imposing + banquets, and hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; + but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, the four + murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day on which all the great + events of Becket's life had taken place; for not only had he been born on a Tuesday, + but on that day he had been exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending + martyrdom, and on that day he had returned from exile.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_4" id="PLATE_4"></a> <img src="./images/plate-4.jpg" + alt="THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY." /><br /> + THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY.<br /> + The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the lightness and + delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></p> + <p>While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample detail Dean + Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his account of the first + interview between Becket and the four knights, for too often the memory recalls + nearly every fact of the murder except the indictment, if it may be so called. The + four knights had discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak + and gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on their first + appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect was sinister without being + immediately threatening. Becket had just finished dinner, and was seated on his couch + talking to his friends when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly + continued, his conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was + leaning.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting exchanged in a + whisper to the attendants who stood near the door, and then marched straight to + where the Archbishop sate, and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among + the clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate behind them, on the + boards. Becket now turned round for the first time, and gazed steadfastly on each + in silence, which he at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who throughout took the + lead, replied with a scornful expression, "God help you!" Becket's face grew + crimson, and he glanced round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire + from Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a message from the + King over the water—tell us whether you will hear it in private, or in the + hearing of all." "As you wish," said the Archbishop. "Nay, as <i>you</i> wish," + said Fitzurse. "Nay, as <i>you</i> wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but the doorkeeper ran up + and kept the door ajar, that they might see from the outside what was going on.</p> + </div> + <p>Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, Becket appears + to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four men, who afterwards admitted that + they thought of killing him then and there with the only <a name="Page_26" + id="Page_26"></a>weapon that was handy—a cross-staff that lay at his feet.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by their presence, + resumed his statement of the complaints of the King. The complaints—which are + given by the various chroniclers in very different words—were three in + number. "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to the King on + this side of the water, instead of taking away his crown." "Rather than take away + his crown," replied Becket, "I would give him three or four crowns." "You have + excited disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to answer for them + at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, "shall the sea again come between me + and my Church, unless I am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated + the bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied Becket, "but the + Pope, and you must go to him for absolution."</p> + </div> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_5" id="PLATE_5"></a> <img src="./images/plate-5.jpg" + alt="THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL." /><br /> + THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL.<br /> + Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often miscalled. The + morning light in winter fills the spaces between the massive Norman piers.<a + name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a></p> + <p>After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's + contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured enough, but Becket, + putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that he should speak privately to the + angry knights, began to complain of the grievances and insults he had himself + received during the preceding week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they + have cut off my sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that + were the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least aggressive of + the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King of these outrages? Why did + you take upon yourself to punish them by your own authority?" But Becket, turning + sharply towards him, said: "Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights + of the Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge them. I + will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to God the things that are + God's. It is my business, and I alone will see to it." Taking up such an attitude in + front of four men who had come hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination + to seek an excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed an attitude of + defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once through the bonds which had + partially restrained it, and displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures + which are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South and East, but + which seem to have been natural to all classes of medieval Europe. Their eyes + flashed fire, they sprang upon their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed + their teeth, twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above their + heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us—you threaten us! are you going to + excommunicate us all?"</p> + </div> + <p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a> Becket sprang up from his couch at this + insulting demonstration, and in the state of great excitement into which he could + fall when roused, he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England + could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to fury by other + passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to arms!" They made their way with an + excited throng to the great gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to + shut off the monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to have + been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused to take the smallest + measure for his safety, opening with his own hands the door from the cloisters into + the north transept which some of the monks had closed and barred immediately after + they had dragged the Archbishop into the nearly dark building.</p> + <p>Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of that service + was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the knights to try to drag the + defenceless Archbishop out of the Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, + flinging one of the men down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and <a + name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>killed him with three or four sword strokes, the last + of which, as he lay prone, was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so + tremendous was the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was + severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement.</p> + <p>Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the murderers found + escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed seem to have been at the + sacrilege rather than at the murder.</p> + <p>It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of Canterbury. Within + a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having fallen and the great church being + closed and deserted, Osbert, the Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in + his hand,found his master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, + the monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by the name of + Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity to this enthusiastic + anticipation of the canonization, officially announced at Westminster in 1173, was + the discovery that Becket had on beneath his outer robes, and the <a name="Page_30" + id="Page_30"></a>many other garments he wore, the black cowled cloak of the + Benedictines, and next to his skin a hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the + body was being prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for + the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the marks of the + stripes administered on the previous day being plainly visible. Dean Stanley adds + another fact not easy to be believed by those who have never become intimate with the + practices of medieval monasticism:</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, and the marvel was + increased by the sight—to our notions so revolting—of the innumerable + vermin with which the hair-cloth abounded—boiling over with them, as one + account describes it, like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double ardour. They looked at one + another in silent wonder, then exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we + knew it not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, between the + sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of having found such a saint.</p> + </div> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_6" id="PLATE_6"></a> <img src="./images/plate-6.jpg" + alt="THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL." /><br /> + THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL.<br /> + It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing the tomb of + Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of Lady Margaret Holland and + her two husbands.<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></p> + <p>Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a martyr's blood + made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's body anxious to obtain a scrap + of a blood-stained garment to soak in water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short + time many parts of the clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; + but as soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood these + precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up in value until the + possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the owner. Any relic of the body itself + had still greater value, its efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the + pilgrims who began to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the + neighbouring monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of St. + Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the Martyrdom," the position + of Abbot of their own abbey if he would contrive to bring with him a portion of + Becket's skull. Roger had been specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed + to the temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, and + having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly installed in the + highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole affair was public property at + the time does not fully appear, but those who recorded events at St. Augustine's <a + name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>did not hesitate to glory in the success of their + scheme!</p> + <p>So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic Archbishop + who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime was soon to become the most + frequently invoked of all the calendar of saints, and the King himself, finding that + his submission to the Papal legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not + sufficient to avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form + of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to Canterbury in + 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. Landing at Southampton, he came + by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, and so entered the ancient city. At the church of + St. Dunstan, outside the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot + through the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but being in + the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to keep off the rain could + not have been the cause of very great physical discomfort apart from the cutting of + his feet by stones on the road. At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the + man whose death he had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and + lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by Gilbert + Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights and property of the + Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a hair-shirt with a woollen one above + it, placed his head and shoulders in one of the openings in the tomb and there + received five strokes with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots + present, and afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was + now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare feet still + muddy and in the same penitential garb.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_7" id="PLATE_7"></a> <img src="./images/plate-7.jpg" + alt="THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT OF THE CATHEDRAL." /><br /> + THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT OF THE CATHEDRAL.<br /> + Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this portion of + the Cathedral has been re-constructed. <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></p> + <p>Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a dangerous fever, + but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in Yorkshire that the Scots had been + defeated and driven north, he recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the + manner of his age, that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone + on the day before the battle.</p> + <p>And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe penance of a + king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to resound <a name="Page_34" + id="Page_34"></a>all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims commenced to + traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to the little Norman city. Not + by that way only did the vast crowds reach Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road + that at some period of the year did not send its contribution to the throng which + jostled through the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. + Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims went away + lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them the little leaden bottle + in which the infinitely diluted blood of the martyr mixed with water was + distributed.</p> + <p>Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the Cathedral + caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and rage, found themselves + unable to stay the progress of the flames until nearly everything that could burn had + vanished. The nave suffered less than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less + ruined portion of the building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it + might have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it appeared + during the stirring events just <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>recounted; for, + notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would have probably + been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as possible as it appeared in + Becket's time. The fire came, however, and the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, + but fortunately the chapels were only slightly affected.</p> + <p>After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens as architect + for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this clever Norman craftsman lives + to-day in the eastern portion of the cathedral church. He set to work soon after the + fire; but, after four years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the + scaffolding that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his + native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of completing the + work.</p> + <p>Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own ideas, he + finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand to-day in the year 1184. To + one or both of these architects is due the unusual device of narrowing the choir to + avoid altering the site of the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the + reconstruction <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>of Conrad's Norman choir began, the + Gothic style was just beginning to appear—an incipient tendency towards a + pointed arch here and there which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; + and to this style—in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its + accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early English, + distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars decorating the triforium and + clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and capitals—the choir belongs.</p> + <p>When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly two centuries + elapsed before any further change took place beyond the beginning of the + chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, however, one of Canterbury's most + magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical pomp occurred in connection with the remains of + Becket. The summer of 1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the + translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the most + astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as being without a + parallel in the history of England, the crowds including people from many foreign + countries. Money was spent so lavishly <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>on the + entertainment of the innumerable persons of distinction who were present or took part + in the great ceremony that for several years the finances of the see were + unpleasantly reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he was + not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest containing the poor + remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence of nearly every ecclesiastical + dignitary in the land the remains were placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow + with jewels set in gold and silver.</p> + <p>Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, the little + walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly stream of pilgrims of + every grade of society, and the huge doles of food and drink given away by the two + great monasteries and the lesser houses of the city must have brought together an + unwholesome concourse of the needy.</p> + <p>Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the great shrine + there was a special festival on July 7, when the people of the archiepiscopal city + would find their resources strained to the very uttermost in feeding and housing the + great assemblage. The martyrdom took place <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>on + December 29, but owing to the time of the year this festival did not draw so many as + the summer one. All through the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of + falling off in numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not + reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of frequent + occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, Canterbury would appear + to have entertained more distinguished personages than any other.</p> + <p>Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman nave and + transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in the Perpendicular style, + then prevailing. When this work was finished and the south-western tower had been + completed, in 1481, there was not much left of the Norman priory church built by + Lanfranc. The north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's church, + was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular neighbour and the central + tower—the external masterpiece of the cathedral—commenced by Prior + Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior Selling in the closing years of the century. + The piers supporting this tower are Norman with <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>a + later casing, and the foundations of the nave walls belong to the same period.</p> + <p>Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and the + dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of Becket's shrine must + have been to the city, on a much larger scale, what the sweeping away of all the + Shakespearean landmarks and relics from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. + Nevertheless the city could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with £30 in a + scented purse when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained + the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church prevented the city + from decaying. And even if this dignity had not remained the position of the town in + relation to the comings and goings between England and France would have saved it + from any sudden fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution.</p> + <p>To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not possible + here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven into a connected narrative + by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be procured by all who may, by reading this + little sketch, feel some of the glamour which the old city has for the writer.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a><a id="CHAPTER_III" + name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + <h3>THE CATHEDRAL</h3> + <p>From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant glimpses of + the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light that is the joy of a summer's + morning in Kent, are so hauntingly beautiful that it is hard to believe that no + disillusionment need be anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great + church seen at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are + agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is entirely needless. + From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped himself to a shirt and cloak on + entering as a penitent, the road is lined with houses whose quietly picturesque + frontages improve as the city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing + perspective stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing + through the archway, one is at <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>once in the narrow, + jostling familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at the arms + of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming increasingly rich in overhanging + storeys and curious sixteenth and seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances + rapidly from side to side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a + peep—such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen—of the + Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone gateway framed + by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another in the neighbourly fashion of + old cronies. It might be that the modern pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by + the vision he sees in this cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention + of going straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to the + east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of that narrow way + belonging altogether to the world of romance. He stands for a moment transfixed, and + then plunges into the opening, forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality + before him. He walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless + pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts <a name="Page_42" + id="Page_42"></a>through the weather-worn gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between + 1507 and 1517.</p> + <p>From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, nearly the + whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite are the two western + towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the further rebuilt seventy years ago. + The heavily buttressed nave, in the same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the + transept, where the eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered + pinnacles of the <i>campanilis Angeli</i>—- the Angel Tower, as Prior Molashe + by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature he added to his priory + church. Beyond the south-west transept appears the plain Norman work of the larger + and more massive transept to the east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into + the inner angle, a part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of + the Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks eastwards—the + other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace—St. Anselm's Tower and Trinity + Chapel with its corona, or semicircular extension, successively appear. Armed even + with such brief information as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on + these weathered cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the + Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder which brought so + much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its present form is due to little + else. To wipe out Becket's name completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish + the whole church.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_8" id="PLATE_8"></a> <img src="./images/plate-8.jpg" + alt="THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE CLOISTERS." /><br /> + THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE CLOISTERS.<br /> + It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers on that fatal + afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was deepening.<a name="Page_43" + id="Page_43"></a></p> + <p>The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the monks as a + lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the south-east shaded by old elms was + their own burial-ground. All the monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual + custom, on the north, for having only a narrow space between the south side of their + church and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they + naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to the city wall + to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, therefore, one finds under its + ample shadow the remains of many of the domestic offices of the great priory. The + great hall, with its kitchen and offices, is now part of the house of one of the + prebendaries, and is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the + interesting ruins of the infirmary. This <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>was a + long building with aisles, having a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the + sick brethren while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south + arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an ivy-grown clerestory, + is still standing, and there are also some arches of the south side of the hall still + showing the orange-pink colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, + when Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the infirmary + hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful Transitional-Norman treasury + built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to the right through a passage called the Dark + Entry, one has the site of the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the + infirmary cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This + passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, a wide grassy + space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed between the spreading branches + appears one of the most perfect groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up + roofs of the library, chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to + the vast tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect <a name="Page_45" + id="Page_45"></a>on the mind, scarcely equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave + when one first enters—but the interior must wait for a little, while the + remaining portions of the precincts are seen.</p> + <p>Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the Deanery. It + was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times as a guest-house for the + reception of strangers, but has been much altered since that time. At the north-west + corner of the court is a very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern + buildings of the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, + which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other destruction was + in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a staircase of this early period is + the most remarkable feature of the monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate + stood the almonry and a granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's + Palace, so ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street is + practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite modern. Coming back + to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque little circular Lavatory Tower standing + on late Norman open arches is <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>noticeable in its + shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir chapels. This is generally known + as the Baptistery, but the name only began to be used when the font Bishop Warner + presented to the Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the + Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a century ago + when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is the library, standing on + part of the site of the great dormitory, and opening on to the cloisters is the + chapter house, commenced in 1304 by Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior + Chillenden. The windows at the east and west ends are the largest in the + Cathedral.</p> + <p>The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present appearance to + Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful Perpendicular work with a splendid + roof of lierne vaulting. Part of the south walk, with the doorway into the north + transept—the successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his + death—is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing <a href="#Page_43">page + 43</a>. If one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be in + the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to be all about one, + notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of the actual scene, but the + historic entrance is by the south porch facing the great gate of the priory, and as + it is still the usual place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at + that point.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_9" id="PLATE_9"></a> <img src="./images/plate-9.jpg" + alt="THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY." /><br /> + THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY.<br /> + This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in 1220, stands on a + branch of the Stour near Stour Street. <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a></p> + <p>The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior Chillenden, and, + with its double row of canopied niches containing statues, is a beautiful feature, + even with the central space which contained a representation of the martyrdom of + Becket still vacant since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a + vast Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered beauty. It + may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and without order that an + achievement of such magnitude representing years of labour and concentrated thought + in steadily following out a preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast + to the smallness and pettiness of the majority—a contrast so great that it is + mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new possibilities attainable when + once the feverish clinging to the ideals of the totem post is abandoned. This vast <a + name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>nave, reminiscent in many ways of Winchester, but far + more satisfying, is generally bathed in a cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a + magnificent vestibule to the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of + emptiness existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze upon + while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for before the Reformation + and the complete sweeping away of the enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof + and walls were brilliant with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of + medieval glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars + twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the aisles. All this + barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this splendour of a ritual that + appealed to an age capable of stilling the voice of conscience with an absolution + obtainable for a few pence has passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of + the reality of endeavour of one side of monastic life.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_10" id="PLATE_10"></a> <img src="./images/plate-10.jpg" + alt="THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS." /><br /> + THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS.<br /> + The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which joins the High + Street to St. Peter's Street.<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a></p> + <p>Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the supporting arch + inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already stated, built the Angel Steeple + above the roof-line where it had been left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a + disfigurement, and as it was not originally intended such an opinion may be + justifiable, and yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill + which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it is scarcely + possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying arch appears the splendid + western screen, approached by the flight of steps necessitated by the crypt or + undercroft, for, being on perfectly level ground, there would have been no need for + this unique feature. Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south + include the memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and William + Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at the King's School. In + the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. Hales showing his burial at sea is + curious and picturesque, and other memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando + Gibbons, and to the Archbishops Boyes and Sumner.</p> + <p>The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are ascended, is + the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the traditional spot where he + fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead down to the undercroft, and <a + name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>also up to the south choir aisle—the way the + pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from the south-west + transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as it is now popularly called. In + the illustration facing <a href="#Page_30">p. 30</a>, the tomb of Lady Margaret + Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of + Clarence, is shown occupying the centre of the chapel, but it just misses a more + interesting, if much less beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous + Archbishop who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The + plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for when it was + rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much to the east that it became + necessary either to move Langton's tomb or else to make an arch in the wall, and the + latter course was taken, with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing + contrast to the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of + Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform Bill in 1831 so + raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they greeted his next arrival in + the city with showers of stones and rotten eggs.<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> + In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage slowly struggled to the + Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman who was convinced that the Reform Bill + was "mischievous in its tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the + constitution." Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people + think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally unfounded + order.</p> + <p>Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the whole of the + elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as they were reconstructed by + William of Sens and his English successor. The arcades of alternately circular and + octagonal pillars have richly carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in + form and a profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic + style—indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is the + present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in comparison. In its + great length this choir is unique, and in the lowness of its vaulted roof is also + unusual, but this is accounted for by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the + choir the remarkable inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination + not to <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so + hallowed by the memory of the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent + it helps to give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with the + chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their apsidal chapels + almost as they were built by Conrad.</p> + <p>Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, where his + eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels and precious metals, + merely look between the pillars upon an empty space. A vacant spot, however, can be + eloquent enough, and to those who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late + Mr. Snowden Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the + study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was European is + able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by the wayworn folk of the + Middle Ages.</p> + <p>By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears marking the + exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by the endless stream of + pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the object their eyes had longed to feast + upon. To the west is a fine thirteenth-century <a name="Page_53" + id="Page_53"></a>mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's Chapel at + Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare this chapel, for if it is + not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a King—Henry IV.—and a king's + eldest son—the Black Prince—on either side, and after Westminster Abbey + there was scarcely a more sacred spot in the kingdom than this.</p> + <p>It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken a + considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and had been liberal + in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his second wife, Joan of Navarre, are + believed to be faithful representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if + space permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work apart from + the historical interest that attaches to the soldier Prince, whose two great + victories at Crécy and Poitiers have thrilled every English schoolboy during + all the subsequent centuries. The strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the + bronze or latten effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of + gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the days of + chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by the<a name="Page_54" + id="Page_54"></a> Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French + inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a flat canopy of + wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a much decayed painting of the + Trinity, if one may call it such when the Dove is not represented. On the beam from + which the canopy is suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass + gauntlets, and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, one + for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as the Prince had + ordered in his will.</p> + <p>The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name tradition + associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion of St. Thomas's skull. + One window contains old glass, and in the centre of the floor is placed the chair of + Purbeck marble in which the Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered + as old as the days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as a + figure of speech.</p> + <p>By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in Trinity + Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of St. Thomas, have come + down to the present time almost unharmed, and this magnificent range <a + name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>of thirteenth-century glass is finer than anything + else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to 1220, and without it there + would have been no representation of the first shrine at all. The colour in these + windows is all subservient to the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, + but in the north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period where + the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at Chartres. For any + description of the tombs of the archbishops there is, unfortunately, no space here. + In the splendid crypt, besides the interest of the various periods of Norman and + Transitional work, there is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our + Lady of the Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's + Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to the French + Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up their looms in this + hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr was laid until his translation in + 1220 and where Henry II. had passed the night after his severe penance. This very + short description of such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the + study of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely + possible.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a><a id="CHAPTER_IV" + name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + <h3>THE CITY</h3> + <p>A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of romance for + which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town that has long ago discarded + its old tower-studded girdle. And among the half-dozen or more English towns still + possessed of their old mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within + its walls there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of + twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the atmosphere of + Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The wall itself does not stand + out with the splendid completeness of York or Conway, and on the western side it has + vanished altogether, while of the seven or eight gates, one only—the West + Gate—has been saved; yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it + is difficult to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last century + all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments were destroyed by the + city until one only was left, and even that would have been wantonly sacrificed to + facilitate the entry of some circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie + visited the city! This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to + demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his procession through the + low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is infinitely more difficult to understand + the aboriginal minds of some of the members of the Corporation when the records + unblushingly reveal that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a + proposer and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, and + it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the city its noble + entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into dazzling clearness the almost entire + lack of appreciation for its historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the + city must make one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that + is old and picturesque to survive.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_11" id="PLATE_11"></a> <img src="./images/plate-11.jpg" + alt="WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN." /><br /> + WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN.<br /> + This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediæval walls of the + city.]<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p> + <p>From the East Station there extends as far as <a name="Page_58" + id="Page_58"></a>the site of the old Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall + with semicircular towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. + Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of the wall, with a + tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. + In Pound Lane the wall continues in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it + ends at the West Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications + of a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which Queen Bertha + was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. Martin's Church. This, however, + presupposes that the portion of the wall immediately surrounding this particular + point is Roman or very Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the + same position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of the + twelfth century.</p> + <p>Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry the wall just + as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle towards the south side of the + Cathedral. Following the direction Queen Bertha would have taken brings one to the + great gateway of St. Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery <a name="Page_59" + id="Page_59"></a>founded by Augustine on the land given for that purpose by + Ethelbert. It was at first dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original + buildings were finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of + Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of Christ Church, + until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried within the claustral confines of + his own priory. At the Dissolution Henry converted the stately buildings into a + palace, so that the royal visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the + days of monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed through the + hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and Charles II. paid visits on + various occasions.</p> + <p>A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead centuries when + Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to its lowest, the Abbey had sunk + to inconceivably debased uses. The monastic kitchen had been converted into a + public-house, and the great gateway—the finest structural relic of the + Abbey—had become the entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in + the state bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, had + become a dancing-hall, and the <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>ground, unoccupied + by buildings, soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated + with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils of pagan + ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The popular mind had + seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place they were desecrating with + fireworks and variety shows.</p> + <p>At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed remnants of the + abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present missionary college was founded, + and the buildings restored or reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have + been suggested than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of + Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into the dark places + of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of + the fourteenth century, the guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the + chief portions of the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround + three sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of the huge + walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are the extensive excavations + of the east end of <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>the crypt and other + fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an earlier chapter + (<a href="#Page_17">p. 17</a>).</p> + <p>Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in a few + minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to which Queen Bertha + directed her steps. It is, however, a disappointingly familiar type of Early English + village church to the casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font + have been examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archæology + it is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of the structure. + To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly Roman, work in the fabric, + and to know the reasons for considering the font a relic of Saxon times, it is + scarcely possible to find a better instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book + is all one can desire.</p> + <p>When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been visited, it is + too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all her treasures, but this is an + amazingly mistaken idea. There still remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old + inns, the many interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of + the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of interesting <a + name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the + great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been allowed to remain + because the walls were found to be too hard to easily destroy; but up to the time of + writing the Corporation has not purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains + a storage place for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings + of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who belonged to the + rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the Stour, and are marked in nearly + every plan of the town. The hospitals include that of St. John the Baptist in North + Gate Street, Eastbridge Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital + near Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old Hospital + of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately housed.</p> + <p>Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is merely space + to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All Saints' in High Street. At + St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More is preserved in a vault, but it is never + possible to see it, and one must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the + Roper house in St. Dunstan's Street.<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></p> + <table summary="Plan 2"> + <tr> + <th>KEY TO NUMBERS.</th> + <th>PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <ol> + <li>Door to Cloisters.</li> + <li>Door In Cloisters.</li> + <li>Dean's (or Lady) Chapel.</li> + <li>St. Michael's Chapel.</li> + <li>Baptistery.</li> + <li>Library (Howleian).</li> + <li>Treasury.</li> + <li>Chapel of King Henry IV.</li> + <li>Arundel Tower (N.W.).</li> + <li>Dunstan Tower (S.W.).</li> + <li>Entrance to French Church.</li> + <li>Archbishop Benson.</li> + <li>Bishop Parry.</li> + <li>Archbishop Sumner.</li> + <li>Sir T. Hales.</li> + <li>Colonel Stuart.</li> + <li>Dr. Beaney.</li> + <li>Dean Fotherbye.</li> + <li>Archbishop Chicheley.</li> + <li>Archbishop Bourchier.</li> + <li>Archbishop Kemp.</li> + <li>Archbishop Sudbury.</li> + <li>St. Dunstan (site).</li> + <li>Archbishop Tait.</li> + <li>King Henry IV.</li> + <li>Edward, the Black Prince.</li> + <li>Becket's Shrine (site).</li> + <li>Cardinal Pole.</li> + <li>Unknown.</li> + <li>Archbishop Mepham.</li> + <li>Archbishop Winchelsey.</li> + <li>Henry de Estria.</li> + <li>Stephen Langton.</li> + <li>Archbishop's ancient Chair.</li> + <li>Memorial to Dean Farrar.</li> + <li>Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide.</li> + <li>Archbishop Boyes.</li> + <li>Tomb of Dean Farrar.</li> + <li>Tomb of Archbishop Temple.</li> + <li>Two columns from Reculver.</li> + </ol> + </td> + <td><a name="PLAN_2" id="PLAN_2"></a><a href="./images/plan-2.png"><img + src="./images/plan-2_th.jpg" alt="PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE." /></a></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a><a id="INDEX" name='INDEX'></a>INDEX</h2> + <p>Alphege, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Angel Steeple, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a + href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + Anglo-Saxon invasions, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> + Archbishop's Palace, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + Augustine, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a + href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Becket, Thomas à, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a + href="#Page_23">23-28</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a + href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> + Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> + Black Prince, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a + href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Boyes, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Bret, Richard le, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> + Broughton, Bishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Cæsar, Julius, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> + Canute, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Castle, the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Cathedral, the, <a href="#Page_40">40-55</a><br /> + Charles I., <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Charles II., <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Chartres, windows at, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Chillenden, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a + href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Conrad's choir, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> + Conrad, Prior, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a + href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> + Corbeuil, Archbishop de, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Cuthbert, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Dane John, the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> + Danes, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + David I. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Dover, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + <br /> + Eadbald, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> + Eadmer, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> + Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Ernulph, Prior, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Estria, Prior, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> + Ethelbert, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Farrar, Dean, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Fitzurse, Reginald, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> + Foliot, Gilbert, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> + Fyndon, Abbot, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> + <br /> + Gates of Canterbury, the, <a href="#Page_56">56-58</a><br /> + Gibbons, Orlando, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Goldstone II., Prior, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + <br /> + Hales, Sir T., tomb of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Harbledown, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Hengist and Horsa, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> + Henry I., <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Henry II., <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a + href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Henry III., <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> + Henry IV., tomb of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> + Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a + href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Holland, Lady Margaret, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Hospitals, medieval, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Howley, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Huguenot Chapel, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + <br /> + Joan of Navarre, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> + John, King, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + <br /> + King's school, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Lady Wootton's Green, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> + Lanfranc, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a + href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> + Langton, Stephen, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Living, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Luidhard, Bishop, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> + Lymne, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + <br /> + Magna Charta, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Mercery Lane, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br /> + Molashe, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> + More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Moreville, Hugh de, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> + <br /> + Norman staircase, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + <br /> + Pilgrims' Way, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> + Prior's Gate, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + <br /> + Reculver, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> + Reform Bill, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> + Religious houses, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Richborough, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + Roman Canterbury, <a href="#Page_10">10-12</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a + href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> + <br /> + St. Augustine's Abbey, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58-60</a><br /> + St. Dunstan, Church of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + <br /> + St. Martin, Church of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a + href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a + href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> + St. Mildred, Church of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> + St. Pancras, Church of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> + Salisbury, John of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> + Sandwich, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> + Selling, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> + Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Stanley, Dean, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a + href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> + Sumner, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Thorn, William, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> + Tracy, William de, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> + <br /> + Walls of the city, <a href="#Page_56">56-59</a><br /> + Warrior's Chapel, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + West gate, the, <a href="#Page_56">56-57</a><br /> + William of Sens, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> + William Rufus, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + William the Englishman, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> + </p> + <p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13890 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13890-h/images/cover.jpg b/13890-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3217ed --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plan-1.png b/13890-h/images/plan-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..45af8f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plan-1.png diff --git a/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg b/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67b3859 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plan-2.png b/13890-h/images/plan-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62376ef --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plan-2.png diff --git a/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg b/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..688caf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c07b4d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5092119 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d2153a --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f7d79d --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c92a0b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c53306 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..16fb9ba --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d8f830 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8067f67 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b3bc12 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg b/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..309df15 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg diff --git a/13890-h/images/title.png b/13890-h/images/title.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d08f891 --- /dev/null +++ b/13890-h/images/title.png diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a9ed93 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13890 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13890) diff --git a/old/13890-0.txt b/old/13890-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c325d47 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Beautiful Britain + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13890] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Victoria Woosley, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 13890-h.htm or 13890-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h/13890-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h.zip) + + + + + +BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN + +Canterbury + +by + +GORDON HOME + +MCMXI + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration] + + + + "When that Aprillé with his showerés soote [= sweet] + The drought of March hath piercéd to the roote, + + * * * * * + + "Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages, + And palmers for to seeken strangé strands, + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [=known] in sundry lands + And specially from every shirés end + Of Engéland, to Canterbury they wend, + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek + That them hath holpen when that they were sick." + + CHAUCER: _Canterbury Tales_. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + II. THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + III. THE CATHEDRAL + IV. THE CITY + INDEX + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATE + + 1. THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL (Frontispiece) + 2. CHRIST CHURCH GATE + 3. THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST + 4. THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL + 5. THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL + 6. THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL + 7. THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + 8. THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM + 9. THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY + 10. THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS + 11. WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN + 12. THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL (On the cover) + + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE + MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS. +REFERENCE + A. Mercery Lane. + B. St. Peter's Church. + C. All Saints' Church. + D. St. Margaret's Church. + E. Poor Priests' Hospital. + F. St. Margarets Street. + G. Green Court. + H. Archbishops' Palace. + J. Norman Staircase. + K. St. George's Church. + L. Site Of Roman Gate. + M. Greyfriars. + N. Christ Church Gate. + O. St. Alphege's Church. + P. St. Mary Bredin Church] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + + +It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the +name of Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of +Canterbury"--who had then been dead for 368 years--"to appear within +thirty days to answer to a charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion +against his sovereign lord, King Henry II." But the days passed, and no +spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the wonder-working saint, +on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was decreed +that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous +shrine overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be +forfeited to the Crown. Further than this went the sentence, for +Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no longer, and his name and +memory were to be wiped out. The remains were not burned, but +throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and window to the +said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from +every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that +the year 1538 saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the +Martyr. + +A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of +iconoclasm, and the shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first +phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. It might have been truly thought, +if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a century ago, when +Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, that +the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to +Canterbury had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly +untrue would that impression have been in the light of the new +enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A considerable literature on +the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, and this +little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as +evidence of the journey he has made, provided he cares to write +inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words +"at Canterbury." + +Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century +pilgrims are not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and +instead of approaching the object of their journey by the old-time +way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and Kent, they use the iron +road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the +saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the +motley throng of the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds +properly attuned, and who is prepared to say that because the majority +of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the convenience of +the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, +serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on +horseback--the most convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of +travel then available? + +There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use +the railway, in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city +set in the midst of soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the +first stage of the gradual unfolding of the tragic story. The +lukewarm pilgrim should therefore remember that he will add vastly to +the richness of his impressions if he deserts his train at Selling or +Chartham and walks the rest of the way over Harbledown, where he will +see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its ancient wall +and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the +cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century +after century feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot. + +[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY. +This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between +1507 and 1517. The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + + +It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody +deed perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times +that Canterbury occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English +history, for the city was ancient before the days of Thomas of +Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's endeavour to +indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of +the former Kentish capital. + +The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near +Canterbury belong to the Palæolithic Age; but as it is not known +whether this remote prehistoric population occupied the actual site, +or even whether the valley may not have then been a salt-water creek, +it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over these primitive people +and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were +possibly their successors, and come to the surer ground of history. +This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius +Cæsar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found +on a higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described +them as being little different in their manner of living from the +Gauls, whose houses were built of planks and willow-branches, roofed +with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he adds: + + All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a + bluish colour, and so makes them very dreadful in battle. They + have long hair, and shave all the body except the head and + upper lip. + +These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps +or villages defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman +expeditions which invaded Britain in the opening years of the +Christian Era, and there is evidence for believing that there was a +British settlement of considerable importance on the site of +Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known +as the Dane John--another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans +called it Durovernum, a name perhaps derived from the British +Derwhern, and although their historians are curiously silent in +regard to the place there cannot be any doubt that the town rose to +great importance in the later years of the four centuries of the Roman +occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman roads in Kent +shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the +coast towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus +Ritupis (Richborough, near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also +the Isle of Thanet, and from this important centre the Watling Street +ran straight to Londinium. These roads all converge upon the spot +where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was +fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to +Gaul would therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of +the size of the town is found in the five Roman burial-places +discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything else were needed it is +only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey and many +other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of +Roman material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place +in the heart of the present city, the foundations of Roman buildings +with tesselated pavements and quantities of pottery, small objects of +domestic use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are +all far beneath the present surface, a most significant fact in +relation to the transition period between Roman and Saxon Canterbury. + +The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth +century, the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent +form, and the Jutes gained possession of the south-eastern corner of +England. During the period of struggle between the rival groups of +invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by the Britons, +and the conquerors, having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, +appear to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that +when, after a lapse of perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, +no attempt was made to dig down to the former surface. The new +buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet above the +original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap +between the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually +grew up that men had had time to forget the old name, and, finding it +necessary to invent one, called it Cantwarabyrig, which meant the +city of the men of Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new +settlers had by this time fixed their limits in Kent, and that they +had found this site at the junction of all the Roman roads the most +convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had +begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place +in Kent, and at that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the +town walls. Ethelbert, it should be mentioned, had extended his power +so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had authority as far north +as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, which was +the metropolis of all his dominions." + +Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all +south-eastern England, was completely heathen, saving only the King's +Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop Luidhard, who had come over as her +chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage with the heathen +Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark +in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed--if Bede may +be trusted for a topographical detail of this character--on the island +of Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found a haven +for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, called +Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous +and broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, +while expressing himself as content with the gods of his forefathers +(these included Thor, Woden, Freya, and the rest), yet would place no +obstacles in the way of these missionaries of new and strange ideas. +He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in the old +church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in +the habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks +began to preach and instruct all who cared to listen. It seems +unlikely that the influence of the queen and her good chaplain should +have been entirely without results, and it is quite possible that +Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began +to sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that +of St. Augustine, appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope +Gregory's mission, and his remains were eventually placed in a golden +chest in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, afterwards St. +Augustine's. + +The zeal and enthusiasm of the band of missionaries began to bring in +many converts. Ethelbert himself consented to be baptized on June 2 in +the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons soon began to embrace +the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the +Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury +became the headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position +it has held without interruption ever since--a period of over 1,300 +years. It took England nearly nine centuries to make up its mind to +rid itself of the stultifying authority of the Bishop of Rome and to +shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of idolatrous +worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; +but these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city +of Canterbury, hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, +continues to be the metropolis of the Established Church of England. +And the imminence of further change carries with it no danger of any +break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical +control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there +should cease to be a State Church in this land, the organization of +the churches holding to the Elizabethan form of worship will no doubt +continue to be centred and focussed at Canterbury. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST. +The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful +works of the Perpendicular period in existence.] + +As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian +worship St. Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of +the little building does not conclusively prove that it is even in +part the actual church of this fascinating period. Cautious +archæologists, represented by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, regard the +earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman +materials having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the +other hand, there are various careful antiquaries who are willing to +accept the oldest parts of the church as Roman, and claim that St. +Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman occupation. +Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until +then it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very +early Saxon building, very probably standing on the site of the +restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha worshipped before +Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts of +the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether +the building were older than the two early Christian churches of +North Cornwall, preserved through the ages by the drifting sand of +that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so many have done, +that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not +justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a +fourteenth century chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or +idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to pray and to sacrifice to +demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was purged +from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he +dedicated it to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about +halfway between St. Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in +1901, it was found to possess a nave about 47 feet long by 26 feet +wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and depth +separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John +Hope, of the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations +with Canon Routledge, has suggested that this may be the first church +built by Augustine out of Roman materials ready to hand, while the +larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to the west, +was slowly being constructed. It was not finished when, in 605, +Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the canonized +first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building +when it was finished. The other great figures of the period--Ethelbert +and his Queen, and her chaplain--were also laid to rest in the church. +A few years ago it was only possible to form an idea of this large +structure from the Norman north wall of the nave and part of the +north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the eastern end has +been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all +the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, +having been converted two years after his accession, built another +church east of that of Saints Peter and Paul, and this was joined on +to the abbey church when the east end was extended about the time of +the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the monastery +subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his +headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls +of the Saxon city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name +of the Holy Saviour," and thus arose the name Christ Church--the name +the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore +five Christian churches either restored or under construction, and +they were all roughly in a line running east and west. First there was +Christ Church and Augustine's residence--eventually the priory--within +the walls, then the embryo abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, with the +chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther still was the church +of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little hill, +St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of +St. Mildred near the castle, but this is much later than anything that +has been discovered on the other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he +claims as pre-Conquest work in St. Dunstan's outside the city, on the +Whitstable Road. + +Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various +attacks made by the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a +defence lasting nearly three weeks, fell into the hands of the +invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, the good old +archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they +burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included +the monks of Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 Saxons +perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the +cathedral. Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, +who at Greenwich gave way to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion +killed their prisoner. The body was brought from London, where it had +been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by Canute, the first +Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending +his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the +martyr's remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further +demonstrate his submission to the Church his people had devastated by +hanging up his crown in the cathedral which Alphege's successor, +Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having made a journey to Rome +in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would amend +his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon +cathedral was properly repaired and decorated. + +During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in +Canterbury, which, besides destroying many houses, reduced the +unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin once more. Three years +later, in 1070, when Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he +decided that the Saxon walls were worthless, and he swept away every +trace of the building, which may have been partially Roman, before +proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman style +familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, +left its mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by +Eadmer, the monkish historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church +being demolished. It was only a small affair, but it must have been +the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small oblong +building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an +undercroft beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says +Eadmer, "a certain crypt, which the Romans call a confessionary, had +to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of the +singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger cathedral, +constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps +one ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural +methods of rude Saxon times." + +Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, and in his lifetime he +also founded the great Benedictine priory of Christ Church, whose +considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings of +the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a +few years, during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep +the see vacant while the revenues were diverted into the royal +coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his predecessor's church was +finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and constructed in +its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels +standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished +by Prior Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which +became known as Conrad's Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop +de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement and omit to mention the +ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were Henry I. +and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of +dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the +historian found nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of +the Temple! + +This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman +master-builders and workmen, rising high above the domestic quarters +of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part of +the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of +low wooden houses, had now reached the stage in its development when +it was to be the scene of the murder which was to make Canterbury the +most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. This occurred forty years +later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken place in +that period. + +So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every +temptation to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, +and the headlong journey from Normandy to Canterbury made by those +four knights whose foul deed history has not ceased to condemn; but +for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean Stanley's +"Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the +same month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to +Canterbury after an absence of six years, and at the close of a decade +of continual struggle with the King. The Archbishop, having landed at +Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received with the +greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed their +delight in every possible manner. There were imposing banquets, and +hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; +but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, +the four murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day +on which all the great events of Becket's life had taken place; for +not only had he been born on a Tuesday, but on that day he had been +exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending martyrdom, and +on that day he had returned from exile. + +[Illustration: THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY. +The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the +lightness and delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.] + +While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample +detail Dean Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his +account of the first interview between Becket and the four knights, +for too often the memory recalls nearly every fact of the murder +except the indictment, if it may be so called. The four knights had +discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak and +gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on +their first appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect +was sinister without being immediately threatening. Becket had just +finished dinner, and was seated on his couch talking to his friends +when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly continued, his +conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was +leaning. + + They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting + exchanged in a whisper to the attendants who stood near the + door, and then marched straight to where the Archbishop sate, + and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among the + clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate + behind them, on the boards. Becket now turned round for the + first time, and gazed steadfastly on each in silence, which he + at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who + throughout took the lead, replied with a scornful expression, + "God help you!" Becket's face grew crimson, and he glanced + round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire from + Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a + message from the King over the water--tell us whether you will + hear it in private, or in the hearing of all." "As you wish," + said the Archbishop. "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Fitzurse. + "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but + the doorkeeper ran up and kept the door ajar, that they might + see from the outside what was going on. + + +Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, +Becket appears to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four +men, who afterwards admitted that they thought of killing him then and +there with the only weapon that was handy--a cross-staff that lay at +his feet. + + The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by + their presence, resumed his statement of the complaints of the + King. The complaints--which are given by the various + chroniclers in very different words--were three in number. + "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to + the King on this side of the water, instead of taking away his + crown." "Rather than take away his crown," replied Becket, "I + would give him three or four crowns." "You have excited + disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to + answer for them at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, + "shall the sea again come between me and my Church, unless I + am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated the + bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied + Becket, "but the Pope, and you must go to him for absolution." + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE + CATHEDRAL. +Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often +miscalled. The morning light in winter fills the spaces between the +massive Norman piers.] + +After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's +contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured +enough, but Becket, putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that +he should speak privately to the angry knights, began to complain of +the grievances and insults he had himself received during the preceding +week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they have cut off my +sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that were +the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least +aggressive of the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King +of these outrages? Why did you take upon yourself to punish them by +your own authority?" But Becket, turning sharply towards him, said: +"Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights of the +Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge +them. I will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to +God the things that are God's. It is my business, and I alone will see +to it." Taking up such an attitude in front of four men who had come +hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination to seek an +excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate. + + For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed + an attitude of defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once + through the bonds which had partially restrained it, and + displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures which + are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South + and East, but which seem to have been natural to all classes + of medieval Europe. Their eyes flashed fire, they sprang upon + their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed their teeth, + twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above + their heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us--you + threaten us! are you going to excommunicate us all?" + +Becket sprang up from his couch at this insulting demonstration, and +in the state of great excitement into which he could fall when roused, +he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England +could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to +fury by other passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to +arms!" They made their way with an excited throng to the great +gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to shut off the +monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to +have been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused +to take the smallest measure for his safety, opening with his own +hands the door from the cloisters into the north transept which some +of the monks had closed and barred immediately after they had dragged +the Archbishop into the nearly dark building. + +Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of +that service was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the +knights to try to drag the defenceless Archbishop out of the +Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, flinging one of the men +down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and killed him +with three or four sword strokes, the last of which, as he lay prone, +was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so tremendous was +the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was +severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement. + +Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the +murderers found escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed +seem to have been at the sacrilege rather than at the murder. + +It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of +Canterbury. Within a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having +fallen and the great church being closed and deserted, Osbert, the +Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in his hand, found his +master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, the +monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by +the name of Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity +to this enthusiastic anticipation of the canonization, officially +announced at Westminster in 1173, was the discovery that Becket had on +beneath his outer robes, and the many other garments he wore, the +black cowled cloak of the Benedictines, and next to his skin a +hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the body was being +prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for +the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the +marks of the stripes administered on the previous day being plainly +visible. Dean Stanley adds another fact not easy to be believed by +those who have never become intimate with the practices of medieval +monasticism: + + Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, + and the marvel was increased by the sight--to our notions so + revolting--of the innumerable vermin with which the hair-cloth + abounded--boiling over with them, as one account describes it, + like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double + ardour. They looked at one another in silent wonder, then + exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we knew it + not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, + between the sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of + having found such a saint. + +[Illustration; THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL. +It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing +the tomb of Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of +Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands.] + +Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a +martyr's blood made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's +body anxious to obtain a scrap of a blood-stained garment to soak in +water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short time many parts of the +clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; but as +soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood +these precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up +in value until the possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the +owner. Any relic of the body itself had still greater value, its +efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the pilgrims who began +to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the neighbouring +monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of +St. Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the +Martyrdom," the position of Abbot of their own abbey if he would +contrive to bring with him a portion of Becket's skull. Roger had been +specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed to the +temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, +and having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly +installed in the highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole +affair was public property at the time does not fully appear, but +those who recorded events at St. Augustine's did not hesitate to +glory in the success of their scheme! + +So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic +Archbishop who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime +was soon to become the most frequently invoked of all the calendar of +saints, and the King himself, finding that his submission to the Papal +legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not sufficient to +avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form +of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to +Canterbury in 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. +Landing at Southampton, he came by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, +and so entered the ancient city. At the church of St. Dunstan, outside +the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot through +the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but +being in the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to +keep off the rain could not have been the cause of very great physical +discomfort apart from the cutting of his feet by stones on the road. +At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the man whose death he +had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and +lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by +Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights +and property of the Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a +hair-shirt with a woollen one above it, placed his head and shoulders +in one of the openings in the tomb and there received five strokes +with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots present, and +afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was +now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare +feet still muddy and in the same penitential garb. + +[Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + OF THE CATHEDRAL. +Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this +portion of the Cathedral has been re-constructed.] + +Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a +dangerous fever, but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in +Yorkshire that the Scots had been defeated and driven north, he +recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the manner of his age, +that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone on +the day before the battle. + +And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe +penance of a king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to +resound all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims +commenced to traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to +the little Norman city. Not by that way only did the vast crowds reach +Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road that at some period of the +year did not send its contribution to the throng which jostled through +the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. +Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims +went away lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them +the little leaden bottle in which the infinitely diluted blood of the +martyr mixed with water was distributed. + +Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the +Cathedral caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and +rage, found themselves unable to stay the progress of the flames until +nearly everything that could burn had vanished. The nave suffered less +than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less ruined portion of the +building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it might +have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it +appeared during the stirring events just recounted; for, +notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would +have probably been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as +possible as it appeared in Becket's time. The fire came, however, and +the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, but fortunately the chapels +were only slightly affected. + +After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens +as architect for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this +clever Norman craftsman lives to-day in the eastern portion of the +cathedral church. He set to work soon after the fire; but, after four +years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the scaffolding +that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his +native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of +completing the work. + +Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own +ideas, he finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand +to-day in the year 1184. To one or both of these architects is due the +unusual device of narrowing the choir to avoid altering the site of +the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the reconstruction of +Conrad's Norman choir began, the Gothic style was just beginning to +appear--an incipient tendency towards a pointed arch here and there +which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; and to this +style--in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its +accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early +English, distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars +decorating the triforium and clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and +capitals--the choir belongs. + +When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly +two centuries elapsed before any further change took place beyond the +beginning of the chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, +however, one of Canterbury's most magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical +pomp occurred in connection with the remains of Becket. The summer of +1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the +translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the +most astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as +being without a parallel in the history of England, the crowds +including people from many foreign countries. Money was spent so +lavishly on the entertainment of the innumerable persons of +distinction who were present or took part in the great ceremony that +for several years the finances of the see were unpleasantly +reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he +was not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest +containing the poor remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence +of nearly every ecclesiastical dignitary in the land the remains were +placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow with jewels set in gold +and silver. + +Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, +the little walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly +stream of pilgrims of every grade of society, and the huge doles of +food and drink given away by the two great monasteries and the lesser +houses of the city must have brought together an unwholesome concourse +of the needy. + +Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the +great shrine there was a special festival on July 7, when the people +of the archiepiscopal city would find their resources strained to the +very uttermost in feeding and housing the great assemblage. The +martyrdom took place on December 29, but owing to the time of the +year this festival did not draw so many as the summer one. All through +the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of falling off in +numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not +reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of +frequent occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, +Canterbury would appear to have entertained more distinguished +personages than any other. + +Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman +nave and transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in +the Perpendicular style, then prevailing. When this work was finished +and the south-western tower had been completed, in 1481, there was not +much left of the Norman priory church built by Lanfranc. The +north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's +church, was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular +neighbour and the central tower--the external masterpiece of the +cathedral--commenced by Prior Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior +Selling in the closing years of the century. The piers supporting this +tower are Norman with a later casing, and the foundations of the nave +walls belong to the same period. + +Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and +the dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of +Becket's shrine must have been to the city, on a much larger scale, +what the sweeping away of all the Shakespearean landmarks and relics +from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. Nevertheless the city +could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with £30 in a scented purse +when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained +the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church +prevented the city from decaying. And even if this dignity had not +remained the position of the town in relation to the comings and +goings between England and France would have saved it from any sudden +fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution. + +To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not +possible here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven +into a connected narrative by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be +procured by all who may, by reading this little sketch, feel some of +the glamour which the old city has for the writer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CATHEDRAL + + +From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant +glimpses of the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light +that is the joy of a summer's morning in Kent, are so hauntingly +beautiful that it is hard to believe that no disillusionment need be +anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great church seen +at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are +agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is +entirely needless. From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped +himself to a shirt and cloak on entering as a penitent, the road is +lined with houses whose quietly picturesque frontages improve as the +city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing perspective +stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing +through the archway, one is at once in the narrow, jostling +familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at +the arms of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming +increasingly rich in overhanging storeys and curious sixteenth and +seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances rapidly from side to +side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a +peep--such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen--of the +Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone +gateway framed by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another +in the neighbourly fashion of old cronies. It might be that the modern +pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by the vision he sees in this +cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention of going +straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to +the east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of +that narrow way belonging altogether to the world of romance. He +stands for a moment transfixed, and then plunges into the opening, +forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality before him. He +walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless +pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts through the weather-worn +gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between 1507 and 1517. + +From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, +nearly the whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite +are the two western towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the +further rebuilt seventy years ago. The heavily buttressed nave, in the +same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the transept, where the +eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered +pinnacles of the _campanilis Angeli_--the Angel Tower, as Prior +Molashe by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature +he added to his priory church. Beyond the south-west transept appears +the plain Norman work of the larger and more massive transept to the +east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into the inner angle, a +part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of the +Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks +eastwards--the other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace--St. +Anselm's Tower and Trinity Chapel with its corona, or semicircular +extension, successively appear. Armed even with such brief information +as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on these weathered +cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the +Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder +which brought so much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its +present form is due to little else. To wipe out Becket's name +completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish the whole church. + +[Illustration: THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE + CLOISTERS. +It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers +on that fatal afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was +deepening.] + +The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the +monks as a lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the +south-east shaded by old elms was their own burial-ground. All the +monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual custom, on the north, +for having only a narrow space between the south side of their church +and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they +naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to +the city wall to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, +therefore, one finds under its ample shadow the remains of many of the +domestic offices of the great priory. The great hall, with its kitchen +and offices, is now part of the house of one of the prebendaries, and +is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the interesting +ruins of the infirmary. This was a long building with aisles, having +a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the sick brethren +while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south +arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an +ivy-grown clerestory, is still standing, and there are also some +arches of the south side of the hall still showing the orange-pink +colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, when +Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the +infirmary hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful +Transitional-Norman treasury built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to +the right through a passage called the Dark Entry, one has the site of +the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the infirmary +cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This +passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, +a wide grassy space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed +between the spreading branches appears one of the most perfect +groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up roofs of the library, +chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to the vast +tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect on the mind, scarcely +equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave when one first +enters--but the interior must wait for a little, while the remaining +portions of the precincts are seen. + +Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the +Deanery. It was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times +as a guest-house for the reception of strangers, but has been much +altered since that time. At the north-west corner of the court is a +very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern buildings of +the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, +which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other +destruction was in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a +staircase of this early period is the most remarkable feature of the +monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate stood the almonry and a +granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's Palace, so +ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street +is practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite +modern. Coming back to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque +little circular Lavatory Tower standing on late Norman open arches is +noticeable in its shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir +chapels. This is generally known as the Baptistery, but the name only +began to be used when the font Bishop Warner presented to the +Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the +Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a +century ago when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is +the library, standing on part of the site of the great dormitory, and +opening on to the cloisters is the chapter house, commenced in 1304 by +Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior Chillenden. The windows at +the east and west ends are the largest in the Cathedral. + +The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present +appearance to Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful +Perpendicular work with a splendid roof of lierne vaulting. Part of +the south walk, with the doorway into the north transept--the +successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his +death--is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing page 43. If +one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be +in the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to +be all about one, notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of +the actual scene, but the historic entrance is by the south porch +facing the great gate of the priory, and as it is still the usual +place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at that +point. + +[Illustration: THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY. +This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in +1220, stands on a branch of the Stour near Stour Street.] + +The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior +Chillenden, and, with its double row of canopied niches containing +statues, is a beautiful feature, even with the central space which +contained a representation of the martyrdom of Becket still vacant +since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a vast +Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered +beauty. It may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and +without order that an achievement of such magnitude representing years +of labour and concentrated thought in steadily following out a +preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast to the +smallness and pettiness of the majority--a contrast so great that it +is mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new +possibilities attainable when once the feverish clinging to the ideals +of the totem post is abandoned. This vast nave, reminiscent in many +ways of Winchester, but far more satisfying, is generally bathed in a +cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a magnificent vestibule to +the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of emptiness +existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze +upon while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for +before the Reformation and the complete sweeping away of the +enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof and walls were brilliant +with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of medieval +glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars +twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the +aisles. All this barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this +splendour of a ritual that appealed to an age capable of stilling the +voice of conscience with an absolution obtainable for a few pence has +passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of the reality of +endeavour of one side of monastic life. + +[Illustration: THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY + WEAVERS. +The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which +joins the High Street to St. Peter's Street.] + +Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the +supporting arch inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already +stated, built the Angel Steeple above the roof-line where it had been +left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a disfigurement, and as +it was not originally intended such an opinion may be justifiable, and +yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill +which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it +is scarcely possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying +arch appears the splendid western screen, approached by the flight of +steps necessitated by the crypt or undercroft, for, being on perfectly +level ground, there would have been no need for this unique feature. +Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south include the +memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and +William Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at +the King's School. In the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. +Hales showing his burial at sea is curious and picturesque, and other +memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando Gibbons, and to the +Archbishops Boyes and Sumner. + +The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are +ascended, is the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the +traditional spot where he fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead +down to the undercroft, and also up to the south choir aisle--the way +the pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from +the south-west transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as +it is now popularly called. In the illustration facing p. 30, the tomb +of Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of +Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, is shown occupying the centre +of the chapel, but it just misses a more interesting, if much less +beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous Archbishop +who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The +plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for +when it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much +to the east that it became necessary either to move Langton's tomb or +else to make an arch in the wall, and the latter course was taken, +with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing contrast to +the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of +Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform +Bill in 1831 so raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they +greeted his next arrival in the city with showers of stones and rotten +eggs. In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage +slowly struggled to the Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman +who was convinced that the Reform Bill was "mischievous in its +tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the constitution." +Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people +think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally +unfounded order. + +Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the +whole of the elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as +they were reconstructed by William of Sens and his English successor. +The arcades of alternately circular and octagonal pillars have richly +carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in form and a +profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic +style--indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is +the present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in +comparison. In its great length this choir is unique, and in the +lowness of its vaulted roof is also unusual, but this is accounted for +by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the choir the remarkable +inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination not +to alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so hallowed by the memory of +the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent it helps to +give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with +the chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their +apsidal chapels almost as they were built by Conrad. + +Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, +where his eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels +and precious metals, merely look between the pillars upon an empty +space. A vacant spot, however, can be eloquent enough, and to those +who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late Mr. Snowden +Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the +study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was +European is able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by +the wayworn folk of the Middle Ages. + +By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears +marking the exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by +the endless stream of pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the +object their eyes had longed to feast upon. To the west is a fine +thirteenth-century mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's +Chapel at Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare +this chapel, for if it is not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a +King--Henry IV.--and a king's eldest son--the Black Prince--on either +side, and after Westminster Abbey there was scarcely a more sacred +spot in the kingdom than this. + +It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken +a considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and +had been liberal in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his +second wife, Joan of Navarre, are believed to be faithful +representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if space +permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work +apart from the historical interest that attaches to the soldier +Prince, whose two great victories at Crécy and Poitiers have thrilled +every English schoolboy during all the subsequent centuries. The +strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the bronze or latten +effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of +gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the +days of chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by +the Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French +inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a +flat canopy of wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a +much decayed painting of the Trinity, if one may call it such when the +Dove is not represented. On the beam from which the canopy is +suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass gauntlets, +and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, +one for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as +the Prince had ordered in his will. + +The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name +tradition associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion +of St. Thomas's skull. One window contains old glass, and in the +centre of the floor is placed the chair of Purbeck marble in which the +Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered as old as the +days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as +a figure of speech. + +By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in +Trinity Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of +St. Thomas, have come down to the present time almost unharmed, and +this magnificent range of thirteenth-century glass is finer than +anything else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to +1220, and without it there would have been no representation of the +first shrine at all. The colour in these windows is all subservient to +the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, but in the +north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period +where the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at +Chartres. For any description of the tombs of the archbishops there +is, unfortunately, no space here. In the splendid crypt, besides the +interest of the various periods of Norman and Transitional work, there +is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our Lady of the +Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's +Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to +the French Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up +their looms in this hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr +was laid until his translation in 1220 and where Henry II. had passed +the night after his severe penance. This very short description of +such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the study +of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely +possible. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CITY + + +A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of +romance for which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town +that has long ago discarded its old tower-studded girdle. And among +the half-dozen or more English towns still possessed of their old +mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within its walls +there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of +twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the +atmosphere of Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The +wall itself does not stand out with the splendid completeness of York +or Conway, and on the western side it has vanished altogether, while +of the seven or eight gates, one only--the West Gate--has been saved; +yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it is difficult +to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last +century all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments +were destroyed by the city until one only was left, and even that +would have been wantonly sacrificed to facilitate the entry of some +circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie visited the city! +This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to +demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his +procession through the low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is +infinitely more difficult to understand the aboriginal minds of some +of the members of the Corporation when the records unblushingly reveal +that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a proposer +and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, +and it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the +city its noble entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into +dazzling clearness the almost entire lack of appreciation for its +historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the city must make +one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that +is old and picturesque to survive. + +[Illustration: WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN. +This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediæval +walls of the city.] + +From the East Station there extends as far as the site of the old +Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall with semicircular +towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. +Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of +the wall, with a tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval +foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. In Pound Lane the wall continues +in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it ends at the West +Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications of +a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which +Queen Bertha was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. +Martin's Church. This, however, presupposes that the portion of the +wall immediately surrounding this particular point is Roman or very +Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the same +position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of +the twelfth century. + +Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry +the wall just as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle +towards the south side of the Cathedral. Following the direction Queen +Bertha would have taken brings one to the great gateway of St. +Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery founded by Augustine on +the land given for that purpose by Ethelbert. It was at first +dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original buildings were +finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of +Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of +Christ Church, until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried +within the claustral confines of his own priory. At the Dissolution +Henry converted the stately buildings into a palace, so that the royal +visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the days of +monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed +through the hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and +Charles II. paid visits on various occasions. + +A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead +centuries when Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to +its lowest, the Abbey had sunk to inconceivably debased uses. The +monastic kitchen had been converted into a public-house, and the great +gateway--the finest structural relic of the Abbey--had become the +entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in the state +bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, +had become a dancing-hall, and the ground, unoccupied by buildings, +soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated +with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils +of pagan ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The +popular mind had seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place +they were desecrating with fireworks and variety shows. + +At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed +remnants of the abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present +missionary college was founded, and the buildings restored or +reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have been suggested +than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of +Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into +the dark places of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by +Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the +guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the chief portions of +the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround three +sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of +the huge walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are +the extensive excavations of the east end of the crypt and other +fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an +earlier chapter (p. 17). + +Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in +a few minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to +which Queen Bertha directed her steps. It is, however, a +disappointingly familiar type of Early English village church to the +casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font have been +examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archæology it +is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of +the structure. To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly +Roman, work in the fabric, and to know the reasons for considering the +font a relic of Saxon times, it is scarcely possible to find a better +instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book is all one can +desire. + +When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been +visited, it is too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all +her treasures, but this is an amazingly mistaken idea. There still +remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old inns, the many +interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of +the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of +interesting churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the +great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been +allowed to remain because the walls were found to be too hard to +easily destroy; but up to the time of writing the Corporation has not +purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains a storage place +for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings +of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who +belonged to the rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the +Stour, and are marked in nearly every plan of the town. The hospitals +include that of St. John the Baptist in North Gate Street, Eastbridge +Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital near +Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old +Hospital of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately +housed. + +Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is +merely space to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All +Saints' in High Street. At St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More +is preserved in a vault, but it is never possible to see it, and one +must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the Roper house +in St. Dunstan's Street. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE. + +KEY TO NUMBERS. + 1. Door to Cloisters. + 2. Door In Cloisters. + 3. Dean's (or Lady) Chapel. + 4. St. Michael's Chapel. + 5. Baptistery. + 6. Library (Howleian). + 7. Treasury. + 8. Chapel of King Henry IV. + 9. Arundel Tower (N.W.). + 10. Dunstan Tower (S.W.). + 11. Entrance to French Church. + 12. Archbishop Benson. + 13. Bishop Parry. + 14. Archbishop Sumner. + 15. Sir T. Hales. + 16. Colonel Stuart. + 17. Dr. Beaney. + 18. Dean Fotherbye. + 19. Archbishop Chicheley. + 20. Archbishop Bourchier. + 21. Archbishop Kemp. + 22. Archbishop Sudbury. + 23. St. Dunstan (site). + 24. Archbishop Tait. + 25. King Henry IV. + 26. Edward, the Black Prince. + 27. Becket's Shrine (site). + 28. Cardinal Pole. + 29. Unknown. + 30. Archbishop Mepham. + 31. Archbishop Winchelsey. + 32. Henry de Estria. + 33. Stephen Langton. + 34. Archbishop's ancient Chair. + 35. Memorial to Dean Farrar. + 36. Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide. + 37. Archbishop Boyes. + 38. Tomb of Dean Farrar. + 39. Tomb of Archbishop Temple. + 40. Two columns from Reculver.] + + + + +INDEX + +Alphege, Archbishop, 19, 20 +Angel Steeple, 42, 44, 48 +Anglo-Saxon invasions, 12 +Archbishop's Palace, 42, 45 +Augustine, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 54, 59 + +Becket, Thomas à, 5, 6, 23-28, 43, 47, 49, 52, 54 +Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), 13, 14, 16, 58, 61 +Black Prince, 53, 54, 55 +Boyes, Archbishop, 49 +Bret, Richard le, 29 +Broughton, Bishop, 49 + +Cæsar, Julius, 10 +Canute, 20 +Castle, the, 62 +Cathedral, the, 40-55 +Charles I., 59 +Charles II., 59 +Chartres, windows at, 55 +Chillenden, Prior, 38, 46, 47, 48 +Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, 50 +Conrad's choir, 34 +Conrad, Prior, 22, 51, 52 +Corbeuil, Archbishop de, 22 +Cuthbert, Archbishop, 59 + +Dane John, the, 10 +Danes, the, 19, 20 +David I. of Scotland, 22 +Dover, 11 + +Eadbald, 18 +Eadmer, 21 +Elizabeth, Queen, 39, 59 +Ernulph, Prior, 22 +Estria, Prior, 46 +Ethelbert, 13, 14, 17, 18, 59 + +Farrar, Dean, 49 +Fitzurse, Reginald, 25, 26 +Foliot, Gilbert, 33 +Fyndon, Abbot, 60 + +Gates of Canterbury, the, 56-58 +Gibbons, Orlando, 49 +Goldstone II., Prior, 48 + +Hales, Sir T., tomb of, 49 +Harbledown, 8, 32, 62 +Hengist and Horsa, 13 +Henry I., 22 +Henry II., 23, 34, 40, 55 +Henry III., 37 +Henry IV., tomb of, 53 +Henry VIII., 5, 43, 47, 59 +Holland, Lady Margaret, 50 +Hospitals, medieval, 62 +Howley, Archbishop, 50 +Huguenot Chapel, 55 + +Joan of Navarre, 53 +John, King, 50 + +King's school, the, 45, 49 + +Lady Wootton's Green, 58 +Lanfranc, Archbishop, 21, 22, 38, 43 +Langton, Stephen, 50 +Living, Archbishop, 20 +Luidhard, Bishop, 13 +Lymne, 11 + +Magna Charta, 50 +Mercery Lane, 41 +Molashe, Prior, 38, 42 +More, Sir Thomas, 62 +Moreville, Hugh de, 27 + +Norman staircase, 45 + +Pilgrims' Way, the, 6, 32, 34 +Prior's Gate, 44, 45 + +Reculver, 2, 46 +Reform Bill, the, 50, 51 +Religious houses, 62 +Richborough, 11 +Roman Canterbury, 10-12, 16, 58, 61 + +St. Augustine's Abbey, 11, 14, 19, 31, 58-60 +St. Dunstan, Church of, 19, 32, 40, 62 + +St. Martin, Church of, 14, 16, 17, 19, 41, 58 +St. Mildred, Church of, 19 +St. Pancras, Church of, 17, 19 +Salisbury, John of, 26 +Sandwich, 23 +Selling, Prior, 38 +Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, 50 +Stanley, Dean, 23, 24, 30 +Sumner, Archbishop, 49 + +Thorn, William, 17 +Tracy, William de, 25 + +Walls of the city, 56-59 +Warrior's Chapel, the, 50 +West gate, the, 56-57 +William of Sens, 35, 51 +William Rufus, 22 +William the Englishman, 35 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 13890-8.txt or 13890-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13890-h/13890-h.htm b/old/13890-h/13890-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c80302 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/13890-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1782 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home</title> + <style type="text/css" id="internalstyle"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 50%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.short {width: 25%;} + + ol { list-style-type: decimal; + } + body{margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + } + .signature{margin-left: 50%;} + .ctr {text-align: center;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em; + font-style: italic; + font-size: small; } /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Beautiful Britain</p> +<p>Author: Gordon Home</p> +<p>Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13890]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN***</p> +<h4><br /><br />E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Victoria Woosley,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (www.pgdp.net)<br /><br /></h4> + <hr class="full" /> + <p> </p> + <h1>Beautiful Britain</h1> + <h2>Gordon Home</h2> + <p class="ctr"><a name="COVER" id="COVER"></a> <img src="./images/cover.jpg" + alt="THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL" /></p> + <h1>Canterbury</h1> + <hr /> + <hr /> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_1" id="PLATE_1"></a> <img src="./images/plate-1.jpg" + alt="THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL" /> <a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <p class="ctr"><img src="./images/title.png" alt="TITLE ILLUSTRATION" /></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <p class="poem"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> "When that Aprillé with his + showerés soote [= sweet]<br /> + The drought of March hath piercéd to the roote,<br /> + </p> + <hr class="short" /> + <p class="poem">Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages,<br /> + And palmers for to seeken strangé strands,<br /> + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [= known] in sundry lands<br /> + And specially from every shirés end<br /> + Of Engéland, to Canterbury they wend,<br /> + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek<br /> + That them hath holpen when that they were sick."</p> + <p class="signature">CHAUCER: <i>Canterbury Tales</i>.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + <div class="ctr"> + <table summary="toc" border="0" cellpadding="5"> + <colgroup> + <col span="2" align="left" /> + <col align="right" /> + </colgroup> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">CHAPTER</th> + <th>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>I.</td> + <td>THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_I'>5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II.</td> + <td>THE STORY OF CANTERBURY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_II'>9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III.</td> + <td>THE CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_III'>40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV.</td> + <td>THE CITY</td> + <td><a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td>INDEX</td> + <td><a href='#INDEX'></a></td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + <h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + <table summary="toc" border="0" cellpadding="2"> + <colgroup> + <col span="2" align="left" /> + <col align="right" /> + </colgroup> + <tr> + <th colspan="2">PLATE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>1.</td> + <td>THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <th colspan="2" align="right">FACING PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>2.</td> + <td>CHRIST CHURCH GATE</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_2">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>3.</td> + <td>THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_3">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4.</td> + <td>THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_4">25</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>5.</td> + <td>THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_5">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>6.</td> + <td>THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_6">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7.</td> + <td>THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_7">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>8.</td> + <td>THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_8">43</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>9.</td> + <td>THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_9">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>10.</td> + <td>THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_10">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>11.</td> + <td>WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN</td> + <td><a href="#PLATE_11">56</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>12.</td> + <td>THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL</td> + <td><a href="#COVER"><i>On the cover</i></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>13.</td> + <td>PLAN OF CANTERBURY.</td> + <td><a href="#PLAN_1">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>14.</td> + <td>PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE.</td> + <td><a href="#PLAN_2">63</a></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr /> + <p class="ctr"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><a name="PLAN_1" id="PLAN_1"></a> <a + href="./images/plan-1.png"><img src="./images/plan-1_th.jpg" width="640" height="447" + alt="PLAN OF CANTERBURY" /></a><br /> + PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h1><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>CANTERBURY</h1> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + <h3>THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY</h3> + <p>It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the name of + Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of Canterbury"-—who + had then been dead for 368 years—-to appear within thirty days to answer to a + charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion against his sovereign lord, King Henry + II. But the days passed, and no spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the + wonder-working saint, on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was + decreed that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous shrine + overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be forfeited to the Crown. + Further than this went the sentence, for Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no <a + name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>longer, and his name and memory were to be wiped out. + The remains were not burned, but throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and + window to the said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from + every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that the year 1538 + saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the Martyr.</p> + <p>A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of iconoclasm, and the + shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. + It might have been truly thought, if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a + century ago, when Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, + that the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to Canterbury + had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly untrue would that + impression have been in the light of the new enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A + considerable literature on the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, + and this little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as evidence + of the journey he has made, provided <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>he cares to + write inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words "at + Canterbury."</p> + <p>Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century pilgrims are + not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and instead of approaching the + object of their journey by the old-time way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and + Kent, they use the iron road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the + saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the motley throng of + the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds properly attuned, and who is prepared + to say that because the majority of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the + convenience of the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, + serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on horseback—the most + convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of travel then available?</p> + <p>There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use the railway, + in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city set in the midst of + soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the first stage of the gradual unfolding + <a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>of the tragic story. The lukewarm pilgrim should + therefore remember that he will add vastly to the richness of his impressions if he + deserts his train at Selling or Chartham and walks the rest of the way over + Harbledown, where he will see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its + ancient wall and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the + cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century after century + feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_2" id="PLATE_2"></a><img src="./images/plate-2.jpg" + alt="CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY" /><br /> + CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY.<br /> + This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between 1507 and 1517. + The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly. <a name="Page_9" + id="Page_9"></a></p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + <h3>THE STORY OF CANTERBURY</h3> + <p>It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody deed + perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times that Canterbury + occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English history, for the city was ancient + before the days of Thomas of Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's + endeavour to indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of the + former Kentish capital.</p> + <p>The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near Canterbury + belong to the Palæolithic Age; but as it is not known whether this remote + prehistoric population occupied the actual site, or even whether the valley may not + have then been a salt-water creek, it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over + these primitive people and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were + possibly their successors, <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>and come to the surer + ground of history. This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius + Cæsar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found on a + higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described them as being little + different in their manner of living from the Gauls, whose houses were built of planks + and willow-branches, roofed with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he + adds:</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a bluish colour, and + so makes them very dreadful in battle. They have long hair, and shave all the body + except the head and upper lip.</p> + </div> + <p>These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps or villages + defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman expeditions which invaded + Britain in the opening years of the Christian Era, and there is evidence for + believing that there was a British settlement of considerable importance on the site + of Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known as the Dane + John—another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans called it Durovernum, a + name perhaps derived from the British Derwhern, and although <a name="Page_11" + id="Page_11"></a>their historians are curiously silent in regard to the place there + cannot be any doubt that the town rose to great importance in the later years of the + four centuries of the Roman occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman + roads in Kent shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the coast + towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus Ritupis (Richborough, + near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also the Isle of Thanet, and from this + important centre the Watling Street ran straight to Londinium. These roads all + converge upon the spot where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was + fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to Gaul would + therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of the size of the town is + found in the five Roman burial-places discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything + else were needed it is only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey + and many other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of Roman + material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place in the heart of the + present city, the foundations of Roman buildings with tesselated pavements <a + name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>and quantities of pottery, small objects of domestic + use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are all far beneath the + present surface, a most significant fact in relation to the transition period between + Roman and Saxon Canterbury.</p> + <p>The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth century, the + invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent form, and the Jutes gained + possession of the south-eastern corner of England. During the period of struggle + between the rival groups of invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by + the Britons, and the conquerors having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, appear + to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that when, after a lapse of + perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, no attempt was made to dig down to the + former surface. The new buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet + above the original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap between + the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually grew up that men had had + time to forget the old name, and, finding it necessary to invent one, called it<a + name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a> Cantwarabyrig, which meant the city of the men of + Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new settlers had by this time fixed their + limits in Kent, and that they had found this site at the junction of all the Roman + roads the most convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had + begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place in Kent, and at + that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the town walls. Ethelbert, it should + be mentioned, had extended his power so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had + authority as far north as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, + which was the metropolis of all his dominions."</p> + <p>Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all south-eastern England, + was completely heathen, saving only the King's Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop + Luidhard, who had come over as her chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage + with the heathen Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark + in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed—if Bede may be + trusted for a topographical detail of this character—on the island of + Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found <a name="Page_14" + id="Page_14"></a>a haven for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, + called Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous and + broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, while expressing + himself as content with the gods of his forefathers (these included Thor, Woden, + Freya, and the rest), yet would place no obstacles in the way of these missionaries + of new and strange ideas. He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in + the old church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in the + habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks began to preach and + instruct all who cared to listen. It seems unlikely that the influence of the queen + and her good chaplain should have been entirely without results, and it is quite + possible that Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began to + sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that of St. Augustine, + appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope Gregory's mission, and his + remains were eventually placed in a golden chest in the church of Saints Peter and + Paul, afterwards St. Augustine's.</p> + <p>The zeal and enthusiasm of the band o <a name="Page_15" + id="Page_15"></a>missionaries began to bring in many converts. Ethelbert himself + consented to be baptized on June 2 in the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons + soon began to embrace the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the + Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury became the + headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position it has held without + interruption ever since—a period of over 1,300 years. It took England nearly + nine centuries to make up its mind to rid itself of the stultifying authority of the + Bishop of Rome and to shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of + idolatrous worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; but + these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city of Canterbury, + hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, continues to be the metropolis of + the Established Church of England. And the imminence of further change carries with + it no danger of any break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical + control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there should cease to be a + State Church in this land, the organization of the churches holding to the + Elizabethan form of worship will no <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>doubt continue + to be centred and focussed at Canterbury.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_3" id="PLATE_3"></a><img src="./images/plate-3.jpg" + alt="CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST." /><br /> + CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST.<br /> + The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful works of the + Perpendicular period in existence.<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a></p> + <p>As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian worship St. + Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of the little building does + not conclusively prove that it is even in part the actual church of this fascinating + period. Cautious archæologists, represented by Mr. J.T. Micklethwaite, regard + the earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman materials + having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the other hand, there are + various careful antiquaries who are willing to accept the oldest parts of the church + as Roman, and claim that St. Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman + occupation. Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until then + it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very early Saxon building, + very probably standing on the site of the restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha + worshipped before Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts + of the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether the building + were older than the two early Christian churches of North Cornwall, preserved through + the ages by the drifting sand of that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so + many have done, that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not + justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a fourteenth century + chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to + pray and to sacrifice to demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was + purged from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he dedicated it + to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about halfway between St. + Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in 1901, it was found to possess a nave + about 47 feet long by 26 feet wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and + depth separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John Hope, of + the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations with Canon Routledge, has + suggested that this may be the first church built by Augustine out of Roman materials + ready to hand, while the larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to + the west, was slowly <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>being constructed. It was not + finished when, in 605, Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the + canonized first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building when + it was finished. The other great figures of the period—Ethelbert and his Queen, + and her chaplain—were also laid to rest in the church. A few years ago it was + only possible to form an idea of this large structure from the Norman north wall of + the nave and part of the north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the + eastern end has been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all + the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, having been + converted two years after his accession, built another church east of that of Saints + Peter and Paul, and this was joined on to the abbey church when the east end was + extended about the time of the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the + monastery subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his + headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls of the Saxon + city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name of the Holy Saviour," and + thus arose <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>the name Christ Church—the name + the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore five Christian + churches either restored or under construction, and they were all roughly in a line + running east and west. First there was Christ Church and Augustine's + residence—eventually the priory—within the walls, then the embryo abbey + of Saints Peter and Paul, with the chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther + still was the church of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little + hill, St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of St. Mildred + near the castle, but this is much later than anything that has been discovered on the + other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he claims as pre-Conquest work in St. + Dunstan's outside the city, on the Whitstable Road.</p> + <p>Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various attacks made by + the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a defence lasting nearly three + weeks, fell into the hands of the invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, + the good old archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they + burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included the monks of<a + name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a> Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 + Saxons perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the cathedral. + Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, who at Greenwich gave way + to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion killed their prisoner. The body was + brought from London, where it had been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by + Canute, the first Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending + his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the martyr's + remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further demonstrate his + submission to the Church his people had devastated by hanging up his crown in the + cathedral which Alphege's successor, Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having + made a journey to Rome in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would + amend his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon cathedral + was properly repaired and decorated.</p> + <p>During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in Canterbury, which, + besides destroying many houses, reduced the unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin + once more. Three <a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>years later, in 1070, when + Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he decided that the Saxon walls were + worthless, and he swept away every trace of the building, which may have been + partially Roman, before proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman + style familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, left its + mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by Eadmer, the monkish + historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church being demolished. It was only a small + affair, but it must have been the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small + oblong building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an undercroft + beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says Eadmer, "a certain crypt, + which the Romans call a confessionary, had to be ascended by means of several steps + from the choir of the singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger + cathedral, constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps one + ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural methods of rude + Saxon times."</p> + <p>Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, <a name="Page_22" + id="Page_22"></a>and in his lifetime he also founded the great Benedictine priory of + Christ Church, whose considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings + of the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a few years, + during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep the see vacant while the + revenues were diverted into the royal coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his + predecessor's church was finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and + constructed in its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels + standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished by Prior + Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which became known as Conrad's + Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement + and omit to mention the ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were + Henry I. and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of + dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the historian found + nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of the Temple!</p> + <p>This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman + master-builders and <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>workmen, rising high above the + domestic quarters of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part + of the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of low wooden + houses, had now reached the stage in its development when it was to be the scene of + the murder which was to make Canterbury the most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. + This occurred forty years later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken + place in that period.</p> + <p>So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every temptation + to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, and the headlong journey + from Normandy to Canterbury made by those four knights whose foul deed history has + not ceased to condemn; but for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean + Stanley's "Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the same + month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to Canterbury after an absence + of six years, and at the close of a decade of continual struggle with the King. The + Archbishop, having landed at Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received + with the greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed <a name="Page_24" + id="Page_24"></a>their delight in every possible manner. There were imposing + banquets, and hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; + but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, the four + murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day on which all the great + events of Becket's life had taken place; for not only had he been born on a Tuesday, + but on that day he had been exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending + martyrdom, and on that day he had returned from exile.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_4" id="PLATE_4"></a> <img src="./images/plate-4.jpg" + alt="THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY." /><br /> + THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY.<br /> + The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the lightness and + delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></p> + <p>While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample detail Dean + Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his account of the first + interview between Becket and the four knights, for too often the memory recalls + nearly every fact of the murder except the indictment, if it may be so called. The + four knights had discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak + and gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on their first + appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect was sinister without being + immediately threatening. Becket had just finished dinner, and was seated on his couch + talking to his friends when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly + continued, his conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was + leaning.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting exchanged in a + whisper to the attendants who stood near the door, and then marched straight to + where the Archbishop sate, and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among + the clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate behind them, on the + boards. Becket now turned round for the first time, and gazed steadfastly on each + in silence, which he at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who throughout took the + lead, replied with a scornful expression, "God help you!" Becket's face grew + crimson, and he glanced round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire + from Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a message from the + King over the water—tell us whether you will hear it in private, or in the + hearing of all." "As you wish," said the Archbishop. "Nay, as <i>you</i> wish," + said Fitzurse. "Nay, as <i>you</i> wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but the doorkeeper ran up + and kept the door ajar, that they might see from the outside what was going on.</p> + </div> + <p>Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, Becket appears + to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four men, who afterwards admitted that + they thought of killing him then and there with the only <a name="Page_26" + id="Page_26"></a>weapon that was handy—a cross-staff that lay at his feet.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by their presence, + resumed his statement of the complaints of the King. The complaints—which are + given by the various chroniclers in very different words—were three in + number. "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to the King on + this side of the water, instead of taking away his crown." "Rather than take away + his crown," replied Becket, "I would give him three or four crowns." "You have + excited disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to answer for them + at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, "shall the sea again come between me + and my Church, unless I am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated + the bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied Becket, "but the + Pope, and you must go to him for absolution."</p> + </div> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_5" id="PLATE_5"></a> <img src="./images/plate-5.jpg" + alt="THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL." /><br /> + THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL.<br /> + Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often miscalled. The + morning light in winter fills the spaces between the massive Norman piers.<a + name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a></p> + <p>After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's + contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured enough, but Becket, + putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that he should speak privately to the + angry knights, began to complain of the grievances and insults he had himself + received during the preceding week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they + have cut off my sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that + were the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least aggressive of + the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King of these outrages? Why did + you take upon yourself to punish them by your own authority?" But Becket, turning + sharply towards him, said: "Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights + of the Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge them. I + will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to God the things that are + God's. It is my business, and I alone will see to it." Taking up such an attitude in + front of four men who had come hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination + to seek an excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate.</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed an attitude of + defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once through the bonds which had + partially restrained it, and displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures + which are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South and East, but + which seem to have been natural to all classes of medieval Europe. Their eyes + flashed fire, they sprang upon their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed + their teeth, twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above their + heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us—you threaten us! are you going to + excommunicate us all?"</p> + </div> + <p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a> Becket sprang up from his couch at this + insulting demonstration, and in the state of great excitement into which he could + fall when roused, he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England + could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to fury by other + passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to arms!" They made their way with an + excited throng to the great gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to + shut off the monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to have + been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused to take the smallest + measure for his safety, opening with his own hands the door from the cloisters into + the north transept which some of the monks had closed and barred immediately after + they had dragged the Archbishop into the nearly dark building.</p> + <p>Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of that service + was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the knights to try to drag the + defenceless Archbishop out of the Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, + flinging one of the men down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and <a + name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>killed him with three or four sword strokes, the last + of which, as he lay prone, was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so + tremendous was the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was + severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement.</p> + <p>Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the murderers found + escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed seem to have been at the + sacrilege rather than at the murder.</p> + <p>It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of Canterbury. Within + a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having fallen and the great church being + closed and deserted, Osbert, the Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in + his hand,found his master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, + the monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by the name of + Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity to this enthusiastic + anticipation of the canonization, officially announced at Westminster in 1173, was + the discovery that Becket had on beneath his outer robes, and the <a name="Page_30" + id="Page_30"></a>many other garments he wore, the black cowled cloak of the + Benedictines, and next to his skin a hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the + body was being prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for + the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the marks of the + stripes administered on the previous day being plainly visible. Dean Stanley adds + another fact not easy to be believed by those who have never become intimate with the + practices of medieval monasticism:</p> + <div class='blkquot'> + <p>Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, and the marvel was + increased by the sight—to our notions so revolting—of the innumerable + vermin with which the hair-cloth abounded—boiling over with them, as one + account describes it, like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double ardour. They looked at one + another in silent wonder, then exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we + knew it not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, between the + sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of having found such a saint.</p> + </div> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_6" id="PLATE_6"></a> <img src="./images/plate-6.jpg" + alt="THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL." /><br /> + THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL.<br /> + It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing the tomb of + Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of Lady Margaret Holland and + her two husbands.<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a></p> + <p>Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a martyr's blood + made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's body anxious to obtain a scrap + of a blood-stained garment to soak in water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short + time many parts of the clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; + but as soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood these + precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up in value until the + possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the owner. Any relic of the body itself + had still greater value, its efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the + pilgrims who began to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the + neighbouring monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of St. + Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the Martyrdom," the position + of Abbot of their own abbey if he would contrive to bring with him a portion of + Becket's skull. Roger had been specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed + to the temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, and + having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly installed in the + highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole affair was public property at + the time does not fully appear, but those who recorded events at St. Augustine's <a + name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>did not hesitate to glory in the success of their + scheme!</p> + <p>So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic Archbishop + who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime was soon to become the most + frequently invoked of all the calendar of saints, and the King himself, finding that + his submission to the Papal legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not + sufficient to avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form + of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to Canterbury in + 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. Landing at Southampton, he came + by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, and so entered the ancient city. At the church of + St. Dunstan, outside the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot + through the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but being in + the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to keep off the rain could + not have been the cause of very great physical discomfort apart from the cutting of + his feet by stones on the road. At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the + man whose death he had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and + lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by Gilbert + Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights and property of the + Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a hair-shirt with a woollen one above + it, placed his head and shoulders in one of the openings in the tomb and there + received five strokes with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots + present, and afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was + now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare feet still + muddy and in the same penitential garb.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_7" id="PLATE_7"></a> <img src="./images/plate-7.jpg" + alt="THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT OF THE CATHEDRAL." /><br /> + THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT OF THE CATHEDRAL.<br /> + Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this portion of + the Cathedral has been re-constructed. <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></p> + <p>Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a dangerous fever, + but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in Yorkshire that the Scots had been + defeated and driven north, he recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the + manner of his age, that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone + on the day before the battle.</p> + <p>And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe penance of a + king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to resound <a name="Page_34" + id="Page_34"></a>all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims commenced to + traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to the little Norman city. Not + by that way only did the vast crowds reach Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road + that at some period of the year did not send its contribution to the throng which + jostled through the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. + Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims went away + lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them the little leaden bottle + in which the infinitely diluted blood of the martyr mixed with water was + distributed.</p> + <p>Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the Cathedral + caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and rage, found themselves + unable to stay the progress of the flames until nearly everything that could burn had + vanished. The nave suffered less than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less + ruined portion of the building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it + might have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it appeared + during the stirring events just <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>recounted; for, + notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would have probably + been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as possible as it appeared in + Becket's time. The fire came, however, and the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, + but fortunately the chapels were only slightly affected.</p> + <p>After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens as architect + for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this clever Norman craftsman lives + to-day in the eastern portion of the cathedral church. He set to work soon after the + fire; but, after four years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the + scaffolding that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his + native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of completing the + work.</p> + <p>Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own ideas, he + finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand to-day in the year 1184. To + one or both of these architects is due the unusual device of narrowing the choir to + avoid altering the site of the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the + reconstruction <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>of Conrad's Norman choir began, the + Gothic style was just beginning to appear—an incipient tendency towards a + pointed arch here and there which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; + and to this style—in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its + accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early English, + distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars decorating the triforium and + clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and capitals—the choir belongs.</p> + <p>When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly two centuries + elapsed before any further change took place beyond the beginning of the + chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, however, one of Canterbury's most + magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical pomp occurred in connection with the remains of + Becket. The summer of 1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the + translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the most + astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as being without a + parallel in the history of England, the crowds including people from many foreign + countries. Money was spent so lavishly <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>on the + entertainment of the innumerable persons of distinction who were present or took part + in the great ceremony that for several years the finances of the see were + unpleasantly reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he was + not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest containing the poor + remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence of nearly every ecclesiastical + dignitary in the land the remains were placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow + with jewels set in gold and silver.</p> + <p>Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, the little + walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly stream of pilgrims of + every grade of society, and the huge doles of food and drink given away by the two + great monasteries and the lesser houses of the city must have brought together an + unwholesome concourse of the needy.</p> + <p>Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the great shrine + there was a special festival on July 7, when the people of the archiepiscopal city + would find their resources strained to the very uttermost in feeding and housing the + great assemblage. The martyrdom took place <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>on + December 29, but owing to the time of the year this festival did not draw so many as + the summer one. All through the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of + falling off in numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not + reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of frequent + occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, Canterbury would appear + to have entertained more distinguished personages than any other.</p> + <p>Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman nave and + transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in the Perpendicular style, + then prevailing. When this work was finished and the south-western tower had been + completed, in 1481, there was not much left of the Norman priory church built by + Lanfranc. The north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's church, + was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular neighbour and the central + tower—the external masterpiece of the cathedral—commenced by Prior + Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior Selling in the closing years of the century. + The piers supporting this tower are Norman with <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>a + later casing, and the foundations of the nave walls belong to the same period.</p> + <p>Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and the + dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of Becket's shrine must + have been to the city, on a much larger scale, what the sweeping away of all the + Shakespearean landmarks and relics from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. + Nevertheless the city could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with £30 in a + scented purse when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained + the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church prevented the city + from decaying. And even if this dignity had not remained the position of the town in + relation to the comings and goings between England and France would have saved it + from any sudden fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution.</p> + <p>To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not possible + here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven into a connected narrative + by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be procured by all who may, by reading this + little sketch, feel some of the glamour which the old city has for the writer.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a><a id="CHAPTER_III" + name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + <h3>THE CATHEDRAL</h3> + <p>From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant glimpses of + the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light that is the joy of a summer's + morning in Kent, are so hauntingly beautiful that it is hard to believe that no + disillusionment need be anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great + church seen at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are + agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is entirely needless. + From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped himself to a shirt and cloak on + entering as a penitent, the road is lined with houses whose quietly picturesque + frontages improve as the city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing + perspective stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing + through the archway, one is at <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>once in the narrow, + jostling familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at the arms + of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming increasingly rich in overhanging + storeys and curious sixteenth and seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances + rapidly from side to side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a + peep—such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen—of the + Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone gateway framed + by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another in the neighbourly fashion of + old cronies. It might be that the modern pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by + the vision he sees in this cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention + of going straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to the + east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of that narrow way + belonging altogether to the world of romance. He stands for a moment transfixed, and + then plunges into the opening, forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality + before him. He walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless + pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts <a name="Page_42" + id="Page_42"></a>through the weather-worn gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between + 1507 and 1517.</p> + <p>From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, nearly the + whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite are the two western + towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the further rebuilt seventy years ago. + The heavily buttressed nave, in the same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the + transept, where the eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered + pinnacles of the <i>campanilis Angeli</i>—- the Angel Tower, as Prior Molashe + by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature he added to his priory + church. Beyond the south-west transept appears the plain Norman work of the larger + and more massive transept to the east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into + the inner angle, a part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of + the Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks eastwards—the + other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace—St. Anselm's Tower and Trinity + Chapel with its corona, or semicircular extension, successively appear. Armed even + with such brief information as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on + these weathered cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the + Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder which brought so + much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its present form is due to little + else. To wipe out Becket's name completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish + the whole church.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_8" id="PLATE_8"></a> <img src="./images/plate-8.jpg" + alt="THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE CLOISTERS." /><br /> + THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE CLOISTERS.<br /> + It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers on that fatal + afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was deepening.<a name="Page_43" + id="Page_43"></a></p> + <p>The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the monks as a + lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the south-east shaded by old elms was + their own burial-ground. All the monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual + custom, on the north, for having only a narrow space between the south side of their + church and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they + naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to the city wall + to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, therefore, one finds under its + ample shadow the remains of many of the domestic offices of the great priory. The + great hall, with its kitchen and offices, is now part of the house of one of the + prebendaries, and is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the + interesting ruins of the infirmary. This <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>was a + long building with aisles, having a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the + sick brethren while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south + arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an ivy-grown clerestory, + is still standing, and there are also some arches of the south side of the hall still + showing the orange-pink colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, + when Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the infirmary + hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful Transitional-Norman treasury + built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to the right through a passage called the Dark + Entry, one has the site of the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the + infirmary cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This + passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, a wide grassy + space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed between the spreading branches + appears one of the most perfect groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up + roofs of the library, chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to + the vast tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect <a name="Page_45" + id="Page_45"></a>on the mind, scarcely equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave + when one first enters—but the interior must wait for a little, while the + remaining portions of the precincts are seen.</p> + <p>Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the Deanery. It + was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times as a guest-house for the + reception of strangers, but has been much altered since that time. At the north-west + corner of the court is a very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern + buildings of the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, + which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other destruction was + in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a staircase of this early period is + the most remarkable feature of the monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate + stood the almonry and a granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's + Palace, so ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street is + practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite modern. Coming back + to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque little circular Lavatory Tower standing + on late Norman open arches is <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>noticeable in its + shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir chapels. This is generally known + as the Baptistery, but the name only began to be used when the font Bishop Warner + presented to the Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the + Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a century ago + when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is the library, standing on + part of the site of the great dormitory, and opening on to the cloisters is the + chapter house, commenced in 1304 by Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior + Chillenden. The windows at the east and west ends are the largest in the + Cathedral.</p> + <p>The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present appearance to + Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful Perpendicular work with a splendid + roof of lierne vaulting. Part of the south walk, with the doorway into the north + transept—the successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his + death—is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing <a href="#Page_43">page + 43</a>. If one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be in + the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to be all about one, + notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of the actual scene, but the + historic entrance is by the south porch facing the great gate of the priory, and as + it is still the usual place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at + that point.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_9" id="PLATE_9"></a> <img src="./images/plate-9.jpg" + alt="THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY." /><br /> + THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY.<br /> + This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in 1220, stands on a + branch of the Stour near Stour Street. <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a></p> + <p>The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior Chillenden, and, + with its double row of canopied niches containing statues, is a beautiful feature, + even with the central space which contained a representation of the martyrdom of + Becket still vacant since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a + vast Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered beauty. It + may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and without order that an + achievement of such magnitude representing years of labour and concentrated thought + in steadily following out a preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast + to the smallness and pettiness of the majority—a contrast so great that it is + mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new possibilities attainable when + once the feverish clinging to the ideals of the totem post is abandoned. This vast <a + name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>nave, reminiscent in many ways of Winchester, but far + more satisfying, is generally bathed in a cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a + magnificent vestibule to the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of + emptiness existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze upon + while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for before the Reformation + and the complete sweeping away of the enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof + and walls were brilliant with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of + medieval glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars + twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the aisles. All this + barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this splendour of a ritual that + appealed to an age capable of stilling the voice of conscience with an absolution + obtainable for a few pence has passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of + the reality of endeavour of one side of monastic life.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_10" id="PLATE_10"></a> <img src="./images/plate-10.jpg" + alt="THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS." /><br /> + THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS.<br /> + The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which joins the High + Street to St. Peter's Street.<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a></p> + <p>Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the supporting arch + inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already stated, built the Angel Steeple + above the roof-line where it had been left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a + disfigurement, and as it was not originally intended such an opinion may be + justifiable, and yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill + which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it is scarcely + possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying arch appears the splendid + western screen, approached by the flight of steps necessitated by the crypt or + undercroft, for, being on perfectly level ground, there would have been no need for + this unique feature. Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south + include the memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and William + Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at the King's School. In + the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. Hales showing his burial at sea is + curious and picturesque, and other memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando + Gibbons, and to the Archbishops Boyes and Sumner.</p> + <p>The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are ascended, is + the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the traditional spot where he + fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead down to the undercroft, and <a + name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>also up to the south choir aisle—the way the + pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from the south-west + transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as it is now popularly called. In + the illustration facing <a href="#Page_30">p. 30</a>, the tomb of Lady Margaret + Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of + Clarence, is shown occupying the centre of the chapel, but it just misses a more + interesting, if much less beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous + Archbishop who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The + plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for when it was + rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much to the east that it became + necessary either to move Langton's tomb or else to make an arch in the wall, and the + latter course was taken, with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing + contrast to the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of + Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform Bill in 1831 so + raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they greeted his next arrival in + the city with showers of stones and rotten eggs.<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> + In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage slowly struggled to the + Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman who was convinced that the Reform Bill + was "mischievous in its tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the + constitution." Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people + think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally unfounded + order.</p> + <p>Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the whole of the + elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as they were reconstructed by + William of Sens and his English successor. The arcades of alternately circular and + octagonal pillars have richly carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in + form and a profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic + style—indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is the + present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in comparison. In its + great length this choir is unique, and in the lowness of its vaulted roof is also + unusual, but this is accounted for by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the + choir the remarkable inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination + not to <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so + hallowed by the memory of the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent + it helps to give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with the + chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their apsidal chapels + almost as they were built by Conrad.</p> + <p>Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, where his + eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels and precious metals, + merely look between the pillars upon an empty space. A vacant spot, however, can be + eloquent enough, and to those who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late + Mr. Snowden Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the + study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was European is + able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by the wayworn folk of the + Middle Ages.</p> + <p>By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears marking the + exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by the endless stream of + pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the object their eyes had longed to feast + upon. To the west is a fine thirteenth-century <a name="Page_53" + id="Page_53"></a>mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's Chapel at + Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare this chapel, for if it is + not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a King—Henry IV.—and a king's + eldest son—the Black Prince—on either side, and after Westminster Abbey + there was scarcely a more sacred spot in the kingdom than this.</p> + <p>It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken a + considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and had been liberal + in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his second wife, Joan of Navarre, are + believed to be faithful representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if + space permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work apart from + the historical interest that attaches to the soldier Prince, whose two great + victories at Crécy and Poitiers have thrilled every English schoolboy during + all the subsequent centuries. The strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the + bronze or latten effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of + gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the days of + chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by the<a name="Page_54" + id="Page_54"></a> Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French + inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a flat canopy of + wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a much decayed painting of the + Trinity, if one may call it such when the Dove is not represented. On the beam from + which the canopy is suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass + gauntlets, and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, one + for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as the Prince had + ordered in his will.</p> + <p>The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name tradition + associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion of St. Thomas's skull. + One window contains old glass, and in the centre of the floor is placed the chair of + Purbeck marble in which the Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered + as old as the days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as a + figure of speech.</p> + <p>By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in Trinity + Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of St. Thomas, have come + down to the present time almost unharmed, and this magnificent range <a + name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>of thirteenth-century glass is finer than anything + else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to 1220, and without it there + would have been no representation of the first shrine at all. The colour in these + windows is all subservient to the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, + but in the north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period where + the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at Chartres. For any + description of the tombs of the archbishops there is, unfortunately, no space here. + In the splendid crypt, besides the interest of the various periods of Norman and + Transitional work, there is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our + Lady of the Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's + Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to the French + Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up their looms in this + hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr was laid until his translation in + 1220 and where Henry II. had passed the night after his severe penance. This very + short description of such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the + study of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely + possible.</p> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a><a id="CHAPTER_IV" + name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + <h3>THE CITY</h3> + <p>A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of romance for + which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town that has long ago discarded + its old tower-studded girdle. And among the half-dozen or more English towns still + possessed of their old mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within + its walls there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of + twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the atmosphere of + Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The wall itself does not stand + out with the splendid completeness of York or Conway, and on the western side it has + vanished altogether, while of the seven or eight gates, one only—the West + Gate—has been saved; yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it + is difficult to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last century + all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments were destroyed by the + city until one only was left, and even that would have been wantonly sacrificed to + facilitate the entry of some circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie + visited the city! This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to + demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his procession through the + low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is infinitely more difficult to understand + the aboriginal minds of some of the members of the Corporation when the records + unblushingly reveal that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a + proposer and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, and + it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the city its noble + entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into dazzling clearness the almost entire + lack of appreciation for its historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the + city must make one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that + is old and picturesque to survive.</p> + <p class="ctr"><a name="PLATE_11" id="PLATE_11"></a> <img src="./images/plate-11.jpg" + alt="WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN." /><br /> + WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN.<br /> + This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediæval walls of the + city.]<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p> + <p>From the East Station there extends as far as <a name="Page_58" + id="Page_58"></a>the site of the old Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall + with semicircular towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. + Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of the wall, with a + tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. + In Pound Lane the wall continues in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it + ends at the West Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications + of a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which Queen Bertha + was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. Martin's Church. This, however, + presupposes that the portion of the wall immediately surrounding this particular + point is Roman or very Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the + same position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of the + twelfth century.</p> + <p>Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry the wall just + as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle towards the south side of the + Cathedral. Following the direction Queen Bertha would have taken brings one to the + great gateway of St. Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery <a name="Page_59" + id="Page_59"></a>founded by Augustine on the land given for that purpose by + Ethelbert. It was at first dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original + buildings were finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of + Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of Christ Church, + until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried within the claustral confines of + his own priory. At the Dissolution Henry converted the stately buildings into a + palace, so that the royal visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the + days of monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed through the + hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and Charles II. paid visits on + various occasions.</p> + <p>A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead centuries when + Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to its lowest, the Abbey had sunk + to inconceivably debased uses. The monastic kitchen had been converted into a + public-house, and the great gateway—the finest structural relic of the + Abbey—had become the entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in + the state bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, had + become a dancing-hall, and the <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>ground, unoccupied + by buildings, soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated + with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils of pagan + ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The popular mind had + seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place they were desecrating with + fireworks and variety shows.</p> + <p>At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed remnants of the + abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present missionary college was founded, + and the buildings restored or reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have + been suggested than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of + Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into the dark places + of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of + the fourteenth century, the guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the + chief portions of the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround + three sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of the huge + walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are the extensive excavations + of the east end of <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>the crypt and other + fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an earlier chapter + (<a href="#Page_17">p. 17</a>).</p> + <p>Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in a few + minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to which Queen Bertha + directed her steps. It is, however, a disappointingly familiar type of Early English + village church to the casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font + have been examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archæology + it is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of the structure. + To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly Roman, work in the fabric, + and to know the reasons for considering the font a relic of Saxon times, it is + scarcely possible to find a better instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book + is all one can desire.</p> + <p>When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been visited, it is + too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all her treasures, but this is an + amazingly mistaken idea. There still remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old + inns, the many interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of + the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of interesting <a + name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the + great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been allowed to remain + because the walls were found to be too hard to easily destroy; but up to the time of + writing the Corporation has not purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains + a storage place for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings + of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who belonged to the + rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the Stour, and are marked in nearly + every plan of the town. The hospitals include that of St. John the Baptist in North + Gate Street, Eastbridge Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital + near Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old Hospital + of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately housed.</p> + <p>Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is merely space + to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All Saints' in High Street. At + St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More is preserved in a vault, but it is never + possible to see it, and one must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the + Roper house in St. Dunstan's Street.<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a></p> + <table summary="Plan 2"> + <tr> + <th>KEY TO NUMBERS.</th> + <th>PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <ol> + <li>Door to Cloisters.</li> + <li>Door In Cloisters.</li> + <li>Dean's (or Lady) Chapel.</li> + <li>St. Michael's Chapel.</li> + <li>Baptistery.</li> + <li>Library (Howleian).</li> + <li>Treasury.</li> + <li>Chapel of King Henry IV.</li> + <li>Arundel Tower (N.W.).</li> + <li>Dunstan Tower (S.W.).</li> + <li>Entrance to French Church.</li> + <li>Archbishop Benson.</li> + <li>Bishop Parry.</li> + <li>Archbishop Sumner.</li> + <li>Sir T. Hales.</li> + <li>Colonel Stuart.</li> + <li>Dr. Beaney.</li> + <li>Dean Fotherbye.</li> + <li>Archbishop Chicheley.</li> + <li>Archbishop Bourchier.</li> + <li>Archbishop Kemp.</li> + <li>Archbishop Sudbury.</li> + <li>St. Dunstan (site).</li> + <li>Archbishop Tait.</li> + <li>King Henry IV.</li> + <li>Edward, the Black Prince.</li> + <li>Becket's Shrine (site).</li> + <li>Cardinal Pole.</li> + <li>Unknown.</li> + <li>Archbishop Mepham.</li> + <li>Archbishop Winchelsey.</li> + <li>Henry de Estria.</li> + <li>Stephen Langton.</li> + <li>Archbishop's ancient Chair.</li> + <li>Memorial to Dean Farrar.</li> + <li>Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide.</li> + <li>Archbishop Boyes.</li> + <li>Tomb of Dean Farrar.</li> + <li>Tomb of Archbishop Temple.</li> + <li>Two columns from Reculver.</li> + </ol> + </td> + <td><a name="PLAN_2" id="PLAN_2"></a><a href="./images/plan-2.png"><img + src="./images/plan-2_th.jpg" alt="PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE." /></a></td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr class="full" /> + <h2><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a><a id="INDEX" name='INDEX'></a>INDEX</h2> + <p>Alphege, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Angel Steeple, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a + href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + Anglo-Saxon invasions, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br /> + Archbishop's Palace, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + Augustine, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a + href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Becket, Thomas à, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a + href="#Page_23">23-28</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a + href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> + Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> + Black Prince, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a + href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Boyes, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Bret, Richard le, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> + Broughton, Bishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Cæsar, Julius, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> + Canute, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Castle, the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Cathedral, the, <a href="#Page_40">40-55</a><br /> + Charles I., <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Charles II., <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Chartres, windows at, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Chillenden, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a + href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Conrad's choir, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> + Conrad, Prior, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a + href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> + Corbeuil, Archbishop de, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Cuthbert, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Dane John, the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> + Danes, the, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + David I. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Dover, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + <br /> + Eadbald, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br /> + Eadmer, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> + Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Ernulph, Prior, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Estria, Prior, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> + Ethelbert, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + <br /> + Farrar, Dean, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Fitzurse, Reginald, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> + Foliot, Gilbert, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> + Fyndon, Abbot, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> + <br /> + Gates of Canterbury, the, <a href="#Page_56">56-58</a><br /> + Gibbons, Orlando, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Goldstone II., Prior, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /> + <br /> + Hales, Sir T., tomb of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + Harbledown, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Hengist and Horsa, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> + Henry I., <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + Henry II., <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a + href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + Henry III., <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br /> + Henry IV., tomb of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> + Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a + href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> + Holland, Lady Margaret, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Hospitals, medieval, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Howley, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Huguenot Chapel, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br /> + <br /> + Joan of Navarre, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> + John, King, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + <br /> + King's school, the, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Lady Wootton's Green, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> + Lanfranc, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a + href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> + Langton, Stephen, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Living, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> + Luidhard, Bishop, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> + Lymne, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + <br /> + Magna Charta, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Mercery Lane, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br /> + Molashe, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br /> + More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Moreville, Hugh de, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> + <br /> + Norman staircase, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + <br /> + Pilgrims' Way, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> + Prior's Gate, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> + <br /> + Reculver, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> + Reform Bill, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> + Religious houses, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + Richborough, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> + Roman Canterbury, <a href="#Page_10">10-12</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a + href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /> + <br /> + St. Augustine's Abbey, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a + href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58-60</a><br /> + St. Dunstan, Church of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a + href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> + <br /> + St. Martin, Church of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a + href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a + href="#Page_58">58</a><br /> + St. Mildred, Church of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> + St. Pancras, Church of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> + Salisbury, John of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> + Sandwich, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> + Selling, Prior, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> + Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + Stanley, Dean, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a + href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> + Sumner, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> + <br /> + Thorn, William, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> + Tracy, William de, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> + <br /> + Walls of the city, <a href="#Page_56">56-59</a><br /> + Warrior's Chapel, the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> + West gate, the, <a href="#Page_56">56-57</a><br /> + William of Sens, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a><br /> + William Rufus, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> + William the Englishman, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br /> + </p> + <p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 13890-h.txt or 13890-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/8/9/13890</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3217ed --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plan-1.png b/old/13890-h/images/plan-1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..45af8f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plan-1.png diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67b3859 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plan-1_th.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plan-2.png b/old/13890-h/images/plan-2.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62376ef --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plan-2.png diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..688caf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plan-2_th.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c07b4d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-1.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5092119 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-10.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d2153a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-11.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f7d79d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-2.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c92a0b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-3.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c53306 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-4.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..16fb9ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-5.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d8f830 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-6.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8067f67 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-7.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b3bc12 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-8.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg b/old/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..309df15 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/plate-9.jpg diff --git a/old/13890-h/images/title.png b/old/13890-h/images/title.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d08f891 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13890-h/images/title.png diff --git a/old/old/13890-8.txt b/old/old/13890-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5438033 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13890-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Beautiful Britain + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13890] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Victoria Woosley, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 13890-h.htm or 13890-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h/13890-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h.zip) + + + + + +BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN + +Canterbury + +by + +GORDON HOME + +MCMXI + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration] + + + + "When that Aprillé with his showerés soote [= sweet] + The drought of March hath piercéd to the roote, + + * * * * * + + "Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages, + And palmers for to seeken strangé strands, + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [=known] in sundry lands + And specially from every shirés end + Of Engéland, to Canterbury they wend, + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek + That them hath holpen when that they were sick." + + CHAUCER: _Canterbury Tales_. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + II. THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + III. THE CATHEDRAL + IV. THE CITY + INDEX + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATE + + 1. THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL (Frontispiece) + 2. CHRIST CHURCH GATE + 3. THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST + 4. THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL + 5. THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL + 6. THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL + 7. THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + 8. THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM + 9. THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY + 10. THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS + 11. WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN + 12. THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL (On the cover) + + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE + MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS. +REFERENCE + A. Mercery Lane. + B. St. Peter's Church. + C. All Saints' Church. + D. St. Margaret's Church. + E. Poor Priests' Hospital. + F. St. Margarets Street. + G. Green Court. + H. Archbishops' Palace. + J. Norman Staircase. + K. St. George's Church. + L. Site Of Roman Gate. + M. Greyfriars. + N. Christ Church Gate. + O. St. Alphege's Church. + P. St. Mary Bredin Church] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + + +It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the +name of Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of +Canterbury"--who had then been dead for 368 years--"to appear within +thirty days to answer to a charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion +against his sovereign lord, King Henry II." But the days passed, and no +spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the wonder-working saint, +on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was decreed +that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous +shrine overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be +forfeited to the Crown. Further than this went the sentence, for +Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no longer, and his name and +memory were to be wiped out. The remains were not burned, but +throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and window to the +said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from +every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that +the year 1538 saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the +Martyr. + +A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of +iconoclasm, and the shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first +phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. It might have been truly thought, +if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a century ago, when +Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, that +the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to +Canterbury had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly +untrue would that impression have been in the light of the new +enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A considerable literature on +the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, and this +little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as +evidence of the journey he has made, provided he cares to write +inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words +"at Canterbury." + +Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century +pilgrims are not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and +instead of approaching the object of their journey by the old-time +way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and Kent, they use the iron +road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the +saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the +motley throng of the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds +properly attuned, and who is prepared to say that because the majority +of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the convenience of +the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, +serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on +horseback--the most convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of +travel then available? + +There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use +the railway, in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city +set in the midst of soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the +first stage of the gradual unfolding of the tragic story. The +lukewarm pilgrim should therefore remember that he will add vastly to +the richness of his impressions if he deserts his train at Selling or +Chartham and walks the rest of the way over Harbledown, where he will +see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its ancient wall +and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the +cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century +after century feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot. + +[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY. +This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between +1507 and 1517. The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + + +It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody +deed perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times +that Canterbury occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English +history, for the city was ancient before the days of Thomas of +Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's endeavour to +indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of +the former Kentish capital. + +The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near +Canterbury belong to the Palæolithic Age; but as it is not known +whether this remote prehistoric population occupied the actual site, +or even whether the valley may not have then been a salt-water creek, +it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over these primitive people +and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were +possibly their successors, and come to the surer ground of history. +This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius +Cæsar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found +on a higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described +them as being little different in their manner of living from the +Gauls, whose houses were built of planks and willow-branches, roofed +with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he adds: + + All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a + bluish colour, and so makes them very dreadful in battle. They + have long hair, and shave all the body except the head and + upper lip. + +These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps +or villages defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman +expeditions which invaded Britain in the opening years of the +Christian Era, and there is evidence for believing that there was a +British settlement of considerable importance on the site of +Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known +as the Dane John--another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans +called it Durovernum, a name perhaps derived from the British +Derwhern, and although their historians are curiously silent in +regard to the place there cannot be any doubt that the town rose to +great importance in the later years of the four centuries of the Roman +occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman roads in Kent +shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the +coast towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus +Ritupis (Richborough, near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also +the Isle of Thanet, and from this important centre the Watling Street +ran straight to Londinium. These roads all converge upon the spot +where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was +fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to +Gaul would therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of +the size of the town is found in the five Roman burial-places +discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything else were needed it is +only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey and many +other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of +Roman material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place +in the heart of the present city, the foundations of Roman buildings +with tesselated pavements and quantities of pottery, small objects of +domestic use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are +all far beneath the present surface, a most significant fact in +relation to the transition period between Roman and Saxon Canterbury. + +The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth +century, the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent +form, and the Jutes gained possession of the south-eastern corner of +England. During the period of struggle between the rival groups of +invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by the Britons, +and the conquerors, having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, +appear to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that +when, after a lapse of perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, +no attempt was made to dig down to the former surface. The new +buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet above the +original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap +between the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually +grew up that men had had time to forget the old name, and, finding it +necessary to invent one, called it Cantwarabyrig, which meant the +city of the men of Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new +settlers had by this time fixed their limits in Kent, and that they +had found this site at the junction of all the Roman roads the most +convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had +begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place +in Kent, and at that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the +town walls. Ethelbert, it should be mentioned, had extended his power +so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had authority as far north +as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, which was +the metropolis of all his dominions." + +Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all +south-eastern England, was completely heathen, saving only the King's +Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop Luidhard, who had come over as her +chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage with the heathen +Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark +in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed--if Bede may +be trusted for a topographical detail of this character--on the island +of Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found a haven +for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, called +Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous +and broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, +while expressing himself as content with the gods of his forefathers +(these included Thor, Woden, Freya, and the rest), yet would place no +obstacles in the way of these missionaries of new and strange ideas. +He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in the old +church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in +the habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks +began to preach and instruct all who cared to listen. It seems +unlikely that the influence of the queen and her good chaplain should +have been entirely without results, and it is quite possible that +Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began +to sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that +of St. Augustine, appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope +Gregory's mission, and his remains were eventually placed in a golden +chest in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, afterwards St. +Augustine's. + +The zeal and enthusiasm of the band of missionaries began to bring in +many converts. Ethelbert himself consented to be baptized on June 2 in +the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons soon began to embrace +the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the +Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury +became the headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position +it has held without interruption ever since--a period of over 1,300 +years. It took England nearly nine centuries to make up its mind to +rid itself of the stultifying authority of the Bishop of Rome and to +shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of idolatrous +worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; +but these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city +of Canterbury, hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, +continues to be the metropolis of the Established Church of England. +And the imminence of further change carries with it no danger of any +break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical +control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there +should cease to be a State Church in this land, the organization of +the churches holding to the Elizabethan form of worship will no doubt +continue to be centred and focussed at Canterbury. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST. +The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful +works of the Perpendicular period in existence.] + +As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian +worship St. Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of +the little building does not conclusively prove that it is even in +part the actual church of this fascinating period. Cautious +archæologists, represented by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, regard the +earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman +materials having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the +other hand, there are various careful antiquaries who are willing to +accept the oldest parts of the church as Roman, and claim that St. +Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman occupation. +Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until +then it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very +early Saxon building, very probably standing on the site of the +restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha worshipped before +Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts of +the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether +the building were older than the two early Christian churches of +North Cornwall, preserved through the ages by the drifting sand of +that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so many have done, +that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not +justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a +fourteenth century chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or +idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to pray and to sacrifice to +demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was purged +from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he +dedicated it to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about +halfway between St. Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in +1901, it was found to possess a nave about 47 feet long by 26 feet +wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and depth +separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John +Hope, of the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations +with Canon Routledge, has suggested that this may be the first church +built by Augustine out of Roman materials ready to hand, while the +larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to the west, +was slowly being constructed. It was not finished when, in 605, +Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the canonized +first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building +when it was finished. The other great figures of the period--Ethelbert +and his Queen, and her chaplain--were also laid to rest in the church. +A few years ago it was only possible to form an idea of this large +structure from the Norman north wall of the nave and part of the +north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the eastern end has +been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all +the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, +having been converted two years after his accession, built another +church east of that of Saints Peter and Paul, and this was joined on +to the abbey church when the east end was extended about the time of +the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the monastery +subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his +headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls +of the Saxon city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name +of the Holy Saviour," and thus arose the name Christ Church--the name +the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore +five Christian churches either restored or under construction, and +they were all roughly in a line running east and west. First there was +Christ Church and Augustine's residence--eventually the priory--within +the walls, then the embryo abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, with the +chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther still was the church +of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little hill, +St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of +St. Mildred near the castle, but this is much later than anything that +has been discovered on the other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he +claims as pre-Conquest work in St. Dunstan's outside the city, on the +Whitstable Road. + +Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various +attacks made by the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a +defence lasting nearly three weeks, fell into the hands of the +invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, the good old +archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they +burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included +the monks of Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 Saxons +perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the +cathedral. Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, +who at Greenwich gave way to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion +killed their prisoner. The body was brought from London, where it had +been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by Canute, the first +Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending +his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the +martyr's remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further +demonstrate his submission to the Church his people had devastated by +hanging up his crown in the cathedral which Alphege's successor, +Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having made a journey to Rome +in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would amend +his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon +cathedral was properly repaired and decorated. + +During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in +Canterbury, which, besides destroying many houses, reduced the +unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin once more. Three years +later, in 1070, when Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he +decided that the Saxon walls were worthless, and he swept away every +trace of the building, which may have been partially Roman, before +proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman style +familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, +left its mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by +Eadmer, the monkish historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church +being demolished. It was only a small affair, but it must have been +the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small oblong +building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an +undercroft beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says +Eadmer, "a certain crypt, which the Romans call a confessionary, had +to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of the +singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger cathedral, +constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps +one ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural +methods of rude Saxon times." + +Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, and in his lifetime he +also founded the great Benedictine priory of Christ Church, whose +considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings of +the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a +few years, during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep +the see vacant while the revenues were diverted into the royal +coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his predecessor's church was +finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and constructed in +its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels +standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished +by Prior Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which +became known as Conrad's Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop +de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement and omit to mention the +ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were Henry I. +and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of +dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the +historian found nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of +the Temple! + +This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman +master-builders and workmen, rising high above the domestic quarters +of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part of +the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of +low wooden houses, had now reached the stage in its development when +it was to be the scene of the murder which was to make Canterbury the +most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. This occurred forty years +later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken place in +that period. + +So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every +temptation to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, +and the headlong journey from Normandy to Canterbury made by those +four knights whose foul deed history has not ceased to condemn; but +for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean Stanley's +"Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the +same month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to +Canterbury after an absence of six years, and at the close of a decade +of continual struggle with the King. The Archbishop, having landed at +Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received with the +greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed their +delight in every possible manner. There were imposing banquets, and +hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; +but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, +the four murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day +on which all the great events of Becket's life had taken place; for +not only had he been born on a Tuesday, but on that day he had been +exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending martyrdom, and +on that day he had returned from exile. + +[Illustration: THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY. +The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the +lightness and delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.] + +While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample +detail Dean Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his +account of the first interview between Becket and the four knights, +for too often the memory recalls nearly every fact of the murder +except the indictment, if it may be so called. The four knights had +discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak and +gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on +their first appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect +was sinister without being immediately threatening. Becket had just +finished dinner, and was seated on his couch talking to his friends +when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly continued, his +conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was +leaning. + + They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting + exchanged in a whisper to the attendants who stood near the + door, and then marched straight to where the Archbishop sate, + and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among the + clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate + behind them, on the boards. Becket now turned round for the + first time, and gazed steadfastly on each in silence, which he + at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who + throughout took the lead, replied with a scornful expression, + "God help you!" Becket's face grew crimson, and he glanced + round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire from + Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a + message from the King over the water--tell us whether you will + hear it in private, or in the hearing of all." "As you wish," + said the Archbishop. "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Fitzurse. + "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but + the doorkeeper ran up and kept the door ajar, that they might + see from the outside what was going on. + + +Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, +Becket appears to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four +men, who afterwards admitted that they thought of killing him then and +there with the only weapon that was handy--a cross-staff that lay at +his feet. + + The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by + their presence, resumed his statement of the complaints of the + King. The complaints--which are given by the various + chroniclers in very different words--were three in number. + "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to + the King on this side of the water, instead of taking away his + crown." "Rather than take away his crown," replied Becket, "I + would give him three or four crowns." "You have excited + disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to + answer for them at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, + "shall the sea again come between me and my Church, unless I + am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated the + bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied + Becket, "but the Pope, and you must go to him for absolution." + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE + CATHEDRAL. +Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often +miscalled. The morning light in winter fills the spaces between the +massive Norman piers.] + +After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's +contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured +enough, but Becket, putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that +he should speak privately to the angry knights, began to complain of +the grievances and insults he had himself received during the preceding +week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they have cut off my +sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that were +the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least +aggressive of the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King +of these outrages? Why did you take upon yourself to punish them by +your own authority?" But Becket, turning sharply towards him, said: +"Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights of the +Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge +them. I will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to +God the things that are God's. It is my business, and I alone will see +to it." Taking up such an attitude in front of four men who had come +hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination to seek an +excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate. + + For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed + an attitude of defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once + through the bonds which had partially restrained it, and + displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures which + are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South + and East, but which seem to have been natural to all classes + of medieval Europe. Their eyes flashed fire, they sprang upon + their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed their teeth, + twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above + their heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us--you + threaten us! are you going to excommunicate us all?" + +Becket sprang up from his couch at this insulting demonstration, and +in the state of great excitement into which he could fall when roused, +he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England +could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to +fury by other passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to +arms!" They made their way with an excited throng to the great +gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to shut off the +monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to +have been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused +to take the smallest measure for his safety, opening with his own +hands the door from the cloisters into the north transept which some +of the monks had closed and barred immediately after they had dragged +the Archbishop into the nearly dark building. + +Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of +that service was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the +knights to try to drag the defenceless Archbishop out of the +Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, flinging one of the men +down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and killed him +with three or four sword strokes, the last of which, as he lay prone, +was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so tremendous was +the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was +severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement. + +Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the +murderers found escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed +seem to have been at the sacrilege rather than at the murder. + +It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of +Canterbury. Within a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having +fallen and the great church being closed and deserted, Osbert, the +Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in his hand, found his +master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, the +monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by +the name of Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity +to this enthusiastic anticipation of the canonization, officially +announced at Westminster in 1173, was the discovery that Becket had on +beneath his outer robes, and the many other garments he wore, the +black cowled cloak of the Benedictines, and next to his skin a +hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the body was being +prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for +the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the +marks of the stripes administered on the previous day being plainly +visible. Dean Stanley adds another fact not easy to be believed by +those who have never become intimate with the practices of medieval +monasticism: + + Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, + and the marvel was increased by the sight--to our notions so + revolting--of the innumerable vermin with which the hair-cloth + abounded--boiling over with them, as one account describes it, + like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double + ardour. They looked at one another in silent wonder, then + exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we knew it + not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, + between the sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of + having found such a saint. + +[Illustration; THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL. +It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing +the tomb of Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of +Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands.] + +Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a +martyr's blood made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's +body anxious to obtain a scrap of a blood-stained garment to soak in +water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short time many parts of the +clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; but as +soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood +these precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up +in value until the possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the +owner. Any relic of the body itself had still greater value, its +efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the pilgrims who began +to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the neighbouring +monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of +St. Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the +Martyrdom," the position of Abbot of their own abbey if he would +contrive to bring with him a portion of Becket's skull. Roger had been +specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed to the +temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, +and having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly +installed in the highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole +affair was public property at the time does not fully appear, but +those who recorded events at St. Augustine's did not hesitate to +glory in the success of their scheme! + +So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic +Archbishop who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime +was soon to become the most frequently invoked of all the calendar of +saints, and the King himself, finding that his submission to the Papal +legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not sufficient to +avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form +of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to +Canterbury in 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. +Landing at Southampton, he came by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, +and so entered the ancient city. At the church of St. Dunstan, outside +the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot through +the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but +being in the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to +keep off the rain could not have been the cause of very great physical +discomfort apart from the cutting of his feet by stones on the road. +At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the man whose death he +had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and +lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by +Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights +and property of the Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a +hair-shirt with a woollen one above it, placed his head and shoulders +in one of the openings in the tomb and there received five strokes +with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots present, and +afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was +now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare +feet still muddy and in the same penitential garb. + +[Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + OF THE CATHEDRAL. +Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this +portion of the Cathedral has been re-constructed.] + +Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a +dangerous fever, but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in +Yorkshire that the Scots had been defeated and driven north, he +recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the manner of his age, +that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone on +the day before the battle. + +And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe +penance of a king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to +resound all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims +commenced to traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to +the little Norman city. Not by that way only did the vast crowds reach +Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road that at some period of the +year did not send its contribution to the throng which jostled through +the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. +Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims +went away lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them +the little leaden bottle in which the infinitely diluted blood of the +martyr mixed with water was distributed. + +Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the +Cathedral caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and +rage, found themselves unable to stay the progress of the flames until +nearly everything that could burn had vanished. The nave suffered less +than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less ruined portion of the +building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it might +have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it +appeared during the stirring events just recounted; for, +notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would +have probably been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as +possible as it appeared in Becket's time. The fire came, however, and +the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, but fortunately the chapels +were only slightly affected. + +After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens +as architect for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this +clever Norman craftsman lives to-day in the eastern portion of the +cathedral church. He set to work soon after the fire; but, after four +years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the scaffolding +that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his +native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of +completing the work. + +Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own +ideas, he finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand +to-day in the year 1184. To one or both of these architects is due the +unusual device of narrowing the choir to avoid altering the site of +the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the reconstruction of +Conrad's Norman choir began, the Gothic style was just beginning to +appear--an incipient tendency towards a pointed arch here and there +which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; and to this +style--in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its +accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early +English, distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars +decorating the triforium and clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and +capitals--the choir belongs. + +When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly +two centuries elapsed before any further change took place beyond the +beginning of the chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, +however, one of Canterbury's most magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical +pomp occurred in connection with the remains of Becket. The summer of +1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the +translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the +most astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as +being without a parallel in the history of England, the crowds +including people from many foreign countries. Money was spent so +lavishly on the entertainment of the innumerable persons of +distinction who were present or took part in the great ceremony that +for several years the finances of the see were unpleasantly +reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he +was not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest +containing the poor remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence +of nearly every ecclesiastical dignitary in the land the remains were +placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow with jewels set in gold +and silver. + +Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, +the little walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly +stream of pilgrims of every grade of society, and the huge doles of +food and drink given away by the two great monasteries and the lesser +houses of the city must have brought together an unwholesome concourse +of the needy. + +Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the +great shrine there was a special festival on July 7, when the people +of the archiepiscopal city would find their resources strained to the +very uttermost in feeding and housing the great assemblage. The +martyrdom took place on December 29, but owing to the time of the +year this festival did not draw so many as the summer one. All through +the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of falling off in +numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not +reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of +frequent occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, +Canterbury would appear to have entertained more distinguished +personages than any other. + +Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman +nave and transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in +the Perpendicular style, then prevailing. When this work was finished +and the south-western tower had been completed, in 1481, there was not +much left of the Norman priory church built by Lanfranc. The +north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's +church, was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular +neighbour and the central tower--the external masterpiece of the +cathedral--commenced by Prior Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior +Selling in the closing years of the century. The piers supporting this +tower are Norman with a later casing, and the foundations of the nave +walls belong to the same period. + +Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and +the dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of +Becket's shrine must have been to the city, on a much larger scale, +what the sweeping away of all the Shakespearean landmarks and relics +from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. Nevertheless the city +could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with £30 in a scented purse +when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained +the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church +prevented the city from decaying. And even if this dignity had not +remained the position of the town in relation to the comings and +goings between England and France would have saved it from any sudden +fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution. + +To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not +possible here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven +into a connected narrative by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be +procured by all who may, by reading this little sketch, feel some of +the glamour which the old city has for the writer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CATHEDRAL + + +From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant +glimpses of the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light +that is the joy of a summer's morning in Kent, are so hauntingly +beautiful that it is hard to believe that no disillusionment need be +anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great church seen +at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are +agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is +entirely needless. From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped +himself to a shirt and cloak on entering as a penitent, the road is +lined with houses whose quietly picturesque frontages improve as the +city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing perspective +stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing +through the archway, one is at once in the narrow, jostling +familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at +the arms of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming +increasingly rich in overhanging storeys and curious sixteenth and +seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances rapidly from side to +side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a +peep--such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen--of the +Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone +gateway framed by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another +in the neighbourly fashion of old cronies. It might be that the modern +pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by the vision he sees in this +cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention of going +straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to +the east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of +that narrow way belonging altogether to the world of romance. He +stands for a moment transfixed, and then plunges into the opening, +forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality before him. He +walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless +pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts through the weather-worn +gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between 1507 and 1517. + +From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, +nearly the whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite +are the two western towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the +further rebuilt seventy years ago. The heavily buttressed nave, in the +same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the transept, where the +eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered +pinnacles of the _campanilis Angeli_--the Angel Tower, as Prior +Molashe by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature +he added to his priory church. Beyond the south-west transept appears +the plain Norman work of the larger and more massive transept to the +east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into the inner angle, a +part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of the +Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks +eastwards--the other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace--St. +Anselm's Tower and Trinity Chapel with its corona, or semicircular +extension, successively appear. Armed even with such brief information +as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on these weathered +cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the +Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder +which brought so much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its +present form is due to little else. To wipe out Becket's name +completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish the whole church. + +[Illustration: THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE + CLOISTERS. +It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers +on that fatal afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was +deepening.] + +The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the +monks as a lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the +south-east shaded by old elms was their own burial-ground. All the +monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual custom, on the north, +for having only a narrow space between the south side of their church +and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they +naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to +the city wall to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, +therefore, one finds under its ample shadow the remains of many of the +domestic offices of the great priory. The great hall, with its kitchen +and offices, is now part of the house of one of the prebendaries, and +is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the interesting +ruins of the infirmary. This was a long building with aisles, having +a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the sick brethren +while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south +arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an +ivy-grown clerestory, is still standing, and there are also some +arches of the south side of the hall still showing the orange-pink +colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, when +Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the +infirmary hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful +Transitional-Norman treasury built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to +the right through a passage called the Dark Entry, one has the site of +the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the infirmary +cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This +passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, +a wide grassy space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed +between the spreading branches appears one of the most perfect +groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up roofs of the library, +chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to the vast +tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect on the mind, scarcely +equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave when one first +enters--but the interior must wait for a little, while the remaining +portions of the precincts are seen. + +Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the +Deanery. It was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times +as a guest-house for the reception of strangers, but has been much +altered since that time. At the north-west corner of the court is a +very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern buildings of +the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, +which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other +destruction was in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a +staircase of this early period is the most remarkable feature of the +monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate stood the almonry and a +granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's Palace, so +ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street +is practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite +modern. Coming back to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque +little circular Lavatory Tower standing on late Norman open arches is +noticeable in its shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir +chapels. This is generally known as the Baptistery, but the name only +began to be used when the font Bishop Warner presented to the +Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the +Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a +century ago when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is +the library, standing on part of the site of the great dormitory, and +opening on to the cloisters is the chapter house, commenced in 1304 by +Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior Chillenden. The windows at +the east and west ends are the largest in the Cathedral. + +The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present +appearance to Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful +Perpendicular work with a splendid roof of lierne vaulting. Part of +the south walk, with the doorway into the north transept--the +successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his +death--is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing page 43. If +one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be +in the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to +be all about one, notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of +the actual scene, but the historic entrance is by the south porch +facing the great gate of the priory, and as it is still the usual +place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at that +point. + +[Illustration: THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY. +This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in +1220, stands on a branch of the Stour near Stour Street.] + +The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior +Chillenden, and, with its double row of canopied niches containing +statues, is a beautiful feature, even with the central space which +contained a representation of the martyrdom of Becket still vacant +since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a vast +Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered +beauty. It may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and +without order that an achievement of such magnitude representing years +of labour and concentrated thought in steadily following out a +preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast to the +smallness and pettiness of the majority--a contrast so great that it +is mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new +possibilities attainable when once the feverish clinging to the ideals +of the totem post is abandoned. This vast nave, reminiscent in many +ways of Winchester, but far more satisfying, is generally bathed in a +cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a magnificent vestibule to +the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of emptiness +existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze +upon while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for +before the Reformation and the complete sweeping away of the +enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof and walls were brilliant +with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of medieval +glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars +twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the +aisles. All this barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this +splendour of a ritual that appealed to an age capable of stilling the +voice of conscience with an absolution obtainable for a few pence has +passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of the reality of +endeavour of one side of monastic life. + +[Illustration: THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY + WEAVERS. +The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which +joins the High Street to St. Peter's Street.] + +Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the +supporting arch inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already +stated, built the Angel Steeple above the roof-line where it had been +left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a disfigurement, and as +it was not originally intended such an opinion may be justifiable, and +yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill +which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it +is scarcely possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying +arch appears the splendid western screen, approached by the flight of +steps necessitated by the crypt or undercroft, for, being on perfectly +level ground, there would have been no need for this unique feature. +Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south include the +memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and +William Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at +the King's School. In the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. +Hales showing his burial at sea is curious and picturesque, and other +memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando Gibbons, and to the +Archbishops Boyes and Sumner. + +The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are +ascended, is the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the +traditional spot where he fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead +down to the undercroft, and also up to the south choir aisle--the way +the pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from +the south-west transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as +it is now popularly called. In the illustration facing p. 30, the tomb +of Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of +Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, is shown occupying the centre +of the chapel, but it just misses a more interesting, if much less +beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous Archbishop +who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The +plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for +when it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much +to the east that it became necessary either to move Langton's tomb or +else to make an arch in the wall, and the latter course was taken, +with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing contrast to +the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of +Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform +Bill in 1831 so raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they +greeted his next arrival in the city with showers of stones and rotten +eggs. In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage +slowly struggled to the Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman +who was convinced that the Reform Bill was "mischievous in its +tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the constitution." +Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people +think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally +unfounded order. + +Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the +whole of the elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as +they were reconstructed by William of Sens and his English successor. +The arcades of alternately circular and octagonal pillars have richly +carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in form and a +profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic +style--indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is +the present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in +comparison. In its great length this choir is unique, and in the +lowness of its vaulted roof is also unusual, but this is accounted for +by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the choir the remarkable +inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination not +to alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so hallowed by the memory of +the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent it helps to +give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with +the chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their +apsidal chapels almost as they were built by Conrad. + +Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, +where his eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels +and precious metals, merely look between the pillars upon an empty +space. A vacant spot, however, can be eloquent enough, and to those +who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late Mr. Snowden +Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the +study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was +European is able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by +the wayworn folk of the Middle Ages. + +By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears +marking the exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by +the endless stream of pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the +object their eyes had longed to feast upon. To the west is a fine +thirteenth-century mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's +Chapel at Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare +this chapel, for if it is not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a +King--Henry IV.--and a king's eldest son--the Black Prince--on either +side, and after Westminster Abbey there was scarcely a more sacred +spot in the kingdom than this. + +It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken +a considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and +had been liberal in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his +second wife, Joan of Navarre, are believed to be faithful +representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if space +permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work +apart from the historical interest that attaches to the soldier +Prince, whose two great victories at Crécy and Poitiers have thrilled +every English schoolboy during all the subsequent centuries. The +strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the bronze or latten +effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of +gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the +days of chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by +the Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French +inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a +flat canopy of wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a +much decayed painting of the Trinity, if one may call it such when the +Dove is not represented. On the beam from which the canopy is +suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass gauntlets, +and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, +one for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as +the Prince had ordered in his will. + +The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name +tradition associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion +of St. Thomas's skull. One window contains old glass, and in the +centre of the floor is placed the chair of Purbeck marble in which the +Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered as old as the +days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as +a figure of speech. + +By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in +Trinity Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of +St. Thomas, have come down to the present time almost unharmed, and +this magnificent range of thirteenth-century glass is finer than +anything else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to +1220, and without it there would have been no representation of the +first shrine at all. The colour in these windows is all subservient to +the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, but in the +north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period +where the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at +Chartres. For any description of the tombs of the archbishops there +is, unfortunately, no space here. In the splendid crypt, besides the +interest of the various periods of Norman and Transitional work, there +is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our Lady of the +Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's +Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to +the French Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up +their looms in this hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr +was laid until his translation in 1220 and where Henry II. had passed +the night after his severe penance. This very short description of +such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the study +of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely +possible. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CITY + + +A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of +romance for which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town +that has long ago discarded its old tower-studded girdle. And among +the half-dozen or more English towns still possessed of their old +mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within its walls +there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of +twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the +atmosphere of Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The +wall itself does not stand out with the splendid completeness of York +or Conway, and on the western side it has vanished altogether, while +of the seven or eight gates, one only--the West Gate--has been saved; +yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it is difficult +to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last +century all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments +were destroyed by the city until one only was left, and even that +would have been wantonly sacrificed to facilitate the entry of some +circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie visited the city! +This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to +demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his +procession through the low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is +infinitely more difficult to understand the aboriginal minds of some +of the members of the Corporation when the records unblushingly reveal +that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a proposer +and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, +and it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the +city its noble entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into +dazzling clearness the almost entire lack of appreciation for its +historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the city must make +one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that +is old and picturesque to survive. + +[Illustration: WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN. +This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediæval +walls of the city.] + +From the East Station there extends as far as the site of the old +Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall with semicircular +towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. +Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of +the wall, with a tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval +foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. In Pound Lane the wall continues +in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it ends at the West +Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications of +a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which +Queen Bertha was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. +Martin's Church. This, however, presupposes that the portion of the +wall immediately surrounding this particular point is Roman or very +Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the same +position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of +the twelfth century. + +Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry +the wall just as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle +towards the south side of the Cathedral. Following the direction Queen +Bertha would have taken brings one to the great gateway of St. +Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery founded by Augustine on +the land given for that purpose by Ethelbert. It was at first +dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original buildings were +finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of +Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of +Christ Church, until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried +within the claustral confines of his own priory. At the Dissolution +Henry converted the stately buildings into a palace, so that the royal +visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the days of +monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed +through the hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and +Charles II. paid visits on various occasions. + +A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead +centuries when Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to +its lowest, the Abbey had sunk to inconceivably debased uses. The +monastic kitchen had been converted into a public-house, and the great +gateway--the finest structural relic of the Abbey--had become the +entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in the state +bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, +had become a dancing-hall, and the ground, unoccupied by buildings, +soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated +with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils +of pagan ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The +popular mind had seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place +they were desecrating with fireworks and variety shows. + +At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed +remnants of the abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present +missionary college was founded, and the buildings restored or +reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have been suggested +than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of +Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into +the dark places of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by +Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the +guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the chief portions of +the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround three +sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of +the huge walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are +the extensive excavations of the east end of the crypt and other +fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an +earlier chapter (p. 17). + +Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in +a few minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to +which Queen Bertha directed her steps. It is, however, a +disappointingly familiar type of Early English village church to the +casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font have been +examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archæology it +is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of +the structure. To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly +Roman, work in the fabric, and to know the reasons for considering the +font a relic of Saxon times, it is scarcely possible to find a better +instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book is all one can +desire. + +When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been +visited, it is too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all +her treasures, but this is an amazingly mistaken idea. There still +remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old inns, the many +interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of +the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of +interesting churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the +great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been +allowed to remain because the walls were found to be too hard to +easily destroy; but up to the time of writing the Corporation has not +purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains a storage place +for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings +of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who +belonged to the rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the +Stour, and are marked in nearly every plan of the town. The hospitals +include that of St. John the Baptist in North Gate Street, Eastbridge +Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital near +Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old +Hospital of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately +housed. + +Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is +merely space to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All +Saints' in High Street. At St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More +is preserved in a vault, but it is never possible to see it, and one +must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the Roper house +in St. Dunstan's Street. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE. + +KEY TO NUMBERS. + 1. Door to Cloisters. + 2. Door In Cloisters. + 3. Dean's (or Lady) Chapel. + 4. St. Michael's Chapel. + 5. Baptistery. + 6. Library (Howleian). + 7. Treasury. + 8. Chapel of King Henry IV. + 9. Arundel Tower (N.W.). + 10. Dunstan Tower (S.W.). + 11. Entrance to French Church. + 12. Archbishop Benson. + 13. Bishop Parry. + 14. Archbishop Sumner. + 15. Sir T. Hales. + 16. Colonel Stuart. + 17. Dr. Beaney. + 18. Dean Fotherbye. + 19. Archbishop Chicheley. + 20. Archbishop Bourchier. + 21. Archbishop Kemp. + 22. Archbishop Sudbury. + 23. St. Dunstan (site). + 24. Archbishop Tait. + 25. King Henry IV. + 26. Edward, the Black Prince. + 27. Becket's Shrine (site). + 28. Cardinal Pole. + 29. Unknown. + 30. Archbishop Mepham. + 31. Archbishop Winchelsey. + 32. Henry de Estria. + 33. Stephen Langton. + 34. Archbishop's ancient Chair. + 35. Memorial to Dean Farrar. + 36. Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide. + 37. Archbishop Boyes. + 38. Tomb of Dean Farrar. + 39. Tomb of Archbishop Temple. + 40. Two columns from Reculver.] + + + + +INDEX + +Alphege, Archbishop, 19, 20 +Angel Steeple, 42, 44, 48 +Anglo-Saxon invasions, 12 +Archbishop's Palace, 42, 45 +Augustine, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 54, 59 + +Becket, Thomas à, 5, 6, 23-28, 43, 47, 49, 52, 54 +Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), 13, 14, 16, 58, 61 +Black Prince, 53, 54, 55 +Boyes, Archbishop, 49 +Bret, Richard le, 29 +Broughton, Bishop, 49 + +Cæsar, Julius, 10 +Canute, 20 +Castle, the, 62 +Cathedral, the, 40-55 +Charles I., 59 +Charles II., 59 +Chartres, windows at, 55 +Chillenden, Prior, 38, 46, 47, 48 +Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, 50 +Conrad's choir, 34 +Conrad, Prior, 22, 51, 52 +Corbeuil, Archbishop de, 22 +Cuthbert, Archbishop, 59 + +Dane John, the, 10 +Danes, the, 19, 20 +David I. of Scotland, 22 +Dover, 11 + +Eadbald, 18 +Eadmer, 21 +Elizabeth, Queen, 39, 59 +Ernulph, Prior, 22 +Estria, Prior, 46 +Ethelbert, 13, 14, 17, 18, 59 + +Farrar, Dean, 49 +Fitzurse, Reginald, 25, 26 +Foliot, Gilbert, 33 +Fyndon, Abbot, 60 + +Gates of Canterbury, the, 56-58 +Gibbons, Orlando, 49 +Goldstone II., Prior, 48 + +Hales, Sir T., tomb of, 49 +Harbledown, 8, 32, 62 +Hengist and Horsa, 13 +Henry I., 22 +Henry II., 23, 34, 40, 55 +Henry III., 37 +Henry IV., tomb of, 53 +Henry VIII., 5, 43, 47, 59 +Holland, Lady Margaret, 50 +Hospitals, medieval, 62 +Howley, Archbishop, 50 +Huguenot Chapel, 55 + +Joan of Navarre, 53 +John, King, 50 + +King's school, the, 45, 49 + +Lady Wootton's Green, 58 +Lanfranc, Archbishop, 21, 22, 38, 43 +Langton, Stephen, 50 +Living, Archbishop, 20 +Luidhard, Bishop, 13 +Lymne, 11 + +Magna Charta, 50 +Mercery Lane, 41 +Molashe, Prior, 38, 42 +More, Sir Thomas, 62 +Moreville, Hugh de, 27 + +Norman staircase, 45 + +Pilgrims' Way, the, 6, 32, 34 +Prior's Gate, 44, 45 + +Reculver, 2, 46 +Reform Bill, the, 50, 51 +Religious houses, 62 +Richborough, 11 +Roman Canterbury, 10-12, 16, 58, 61 + +St. Augustine's Abbey, 11, 14, 19, 31, 58-60 +St. Dunstan, Church of, 19, 32, 40, 62 + +St. Martin, Church of, 14, 16, 17, 19, 41, 58 +St. Mildred, Church of, 19 +St. Pancras, Church of, 17, 19 +Salisbury, John of, 26 +Sandwich, 23 +Selling, Prior, 38 +Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, 50 +Stanley, Dean, 23, 24, 30 +Sumner, Archbishop, 49 + +Thorn, William, 17 +Tracy, William de, 25 + +Walls of the city, 56-59 +Warrior's Chapel, the, 50 +West gate, the, 56-57 +William of Sens, 35, 51 +William Rufus, 22 +William the Englishman, 35 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 13890-8.txt or 13890-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/old/13890-8.zip b/old/old/13890-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..15f4656 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13890-8.zip diff --git a/old/old/13890-h.zip b/old/old/13890-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dcfe80 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13890-h.zip diff --git a/old/old/13890.txt b/old/old/13890.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bee5bae --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13890.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1848 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beautiful Britain, by Gordon Home + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Beautiful Britain + +Author: Gordon Home + +Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13890] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Victoria Woosley, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 13890-h.htm or 13890-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h/13890-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890/13890-h.zip) + + + + + +BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN + +Canterbury + +by + +GORDON HOME + +MCMXI + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration] + + + + "When that Aprille with his showeres soote [= sweet] + The drought of March hath pierced to the roote, + + * * * * * + + "Then longen folk to go on pilgrimages, + And palmers for to seeken strange strands, + To ferme [=ancient] halwes [=shrines] knowthe [=known] in sundry lands + And specially from every shires end + Of Engeland, to Canterbury they wend, + The holy, blissful martyr for to seek + That them hath holpen when that they were sick." + + CHAUCER: _Canterbury Tales_. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER + I. THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + II. THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + III. THE CATHEDRAL + IV. THE CITY + INDEX + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATE + + 1. THE NAVE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL (Frontispiece) + 2. CHRIST CHURCH GATE + 3. THE CATHEDRAL FROM NORTH-WEST + 4. THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE LAVATORY TOWER OF THE + CATHEDRAL + 5. THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE CATHEDRAL + 6. THE WARRIOR'S CHAPEL + 7. THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + 8. THE DOORWAY FROM THE CLOISTERS TO THE MARTYRDOM + 9. THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY + 10. THE HOUSE OF THE CANTERBURY WEAVERS + 11. WESTGATE CANTERBURY FROM WITHIN + 12. THE NORMAN STAIRCASE TO THE KING'S SCHOOL (On the cover) + + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY, SHOWING THE CHIEF STREETS AND THE + MOST INTERESTING BUILDINGS. +REFERENCE + A. Mercery Lane. + B. St. Peter's Church. + C. All Saints' Church. + D. St. Margaret's Church. + E. Poor Priests' Hospital. + F. St. Margarets Street. + G. Green Court. + H. Archbishops' Palace. + J. Norman Staircase. + K. St. George's Church. + L. Site Of Roman Gate. + M. Greyfriars. + N. Christ Church Gate. + O. St. Alphege's Church. + P. St. Mary Bredin Church] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE PILGRIM'S APPROACH TO THE CITY + + +It was on April 24, 1538, that a writ of summons was sent forth in the +name of Henry VIII., "To thee, Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of +Canterbury"--who had then been dead for 368 years--"to appear within +thirty days to answer to a charge of treason, contumacy, and rebellion +against his sovereign lord, King Henry II." But the days passed, and no +spirit having stirred the venerated bones of the wonder-working saint, +on June 10 judgment was given in favour of Henry, and it was decreed +that the Archbishop's bones were to be burnt, and his world-famous +shrine overlaid with gold and sparkling with jewels was to be +forfeited to the Crown. Further than this went the sentence, for +Thomas of Canterbury was to be a saint no longer, and his name and +memory were to be wiped out. The remains were not burned, but +throughout the land every statue, wall-painting, and window to the +said Thomas Becket was rigorously searched out and destroyed, and from +every record his name was carefully erased. And so it came about that +the year 1538 saw the last pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the +Martyr. + +A growing incredulity had prepared the way for this wave of +iconoclasm, and the shrine once destroyed ended for ever this first +phase of the Canterbury pilgrimages. It might have been truly thought, +if anyone ever gave a moment to such speculations a century ago, when +Englishmen cared little for the landmarks of their island story, that +the last pilgrim who would ever wend his way along the old road to +Canterbury had died in the sixteenth century, and yet how profoundly +untrue would that impression have been in the light of the new +enthusiasm for the site of the shrine! A considerable literature on +the Pilgrims' Way from Winchester has already sprung up, and this +little book is itself a souvenir for the pilgrim to carry away as +evidence of the journey he has made, provided he cares to write +inside the cover his name, the date of his visit, and the two words +"at Canterbury." + +Now, I do not disguise the fact that many of the twentieth-century +pilgrims are not possessed of the true spirit of the devotee, and +instead of approaching the object of their journey by the old-time +way, along the beautiful hills of Surrey and Kent, they use the iron +road which rushes them all unprepared into the city of the +saint-martyr. But who will maintain that all those who formed the +motley throng of the medieval pilgrimages came with their minds +properly attuned, and who is prepared to say that because the majority +of modern pilgrims consummate their aim by using the convenience of +the railway they are less devout than Chaucer's merchant, +serjeant-at-law, doctor of physic, and the rest who rode on +horseback--the most convenient, rapid, and comfortable method of +travel then available? + +There is, however, a material disadvantage suffered by those who use +the railway, in that they miss the first view of the Cathedral city +set in the midst of soft-swelling eocene hills, which comes as the +first stage of the gradual unfolding of the tragic story. The +lukewarm pilgrim should therefore remember that he will add vastly to +the richness of his impressions if he deserts his train at Selling or +Chartham and walks the rest of the way over Harbledown, where he will +see the little city of the Middle Ages encircled with its ancient wall +and crowned by the towers of its cathedral very much as did the +cosmopolitan groups of travel-soiled men and women who for century +after century feasted their eyes from the selfsame spot. + +[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY, CANTERBURY. +This beautiful entrance to the Cathedral precincts was built between +1507 and 1517. The richly sculptured stone has weathered exceedingly.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE STORY OF CANTERBURY + + +It would be a mistake to imagine that it solely was due to that bloody +deed perpetrated on a certain December afternoon back in Norman times +that Canterbury occupies a place of such pre-eminence in English +history, for the city was ancient before the days of Thomas of +Canterbury; and in this short chapter it is the writer's endeavour to +indicate the position of that tragic occurrence in the chronology of +the former Kentish capital. + +The earliest people who have left evidence of their existence near +Canterbury belong to the Palaeolithic Age; but as it is not known +whether this remote prehistoric population occupied the actual site, +or even whether the valley may not have then been a salt-water creek, +it is wiser in this brief sketch to pass over these primitive people +and the lake-dwellers who, after a considerable interval, were +possibly their successors, and come to the surer ground of history. +This brings us to the early Roman invasions of Britain and Julius +CA|sar's description of the people of Kent, whose civilization he found +on a higher level than in the other parts he penetrated. He described +them as being little different in their manner of living from the +Gauls, whose houses were built of planks and willow-branches, roofed +with thatch, and were large and circular in form, but he adds: + + All the Britons dye themselves with woad, which gives them a + bluish colour, and so makes them very dreadful in battle. They + have long hair, and shave all the body except the head and + upper lip. + +These people, owning allegiance to various chiefs and living in camps +or villages defended by earthen ramparts, were attacked by the Roman +expeditions which invaded Britain in the opening years of the +Christian Era, and there is evidence for believing that there was a +British settlement of considerable importance on the site of +Canterbury. Of this there remains a lofty artificial mound, now known +as the Dane John--another form of the familiar donjon. The Romans +called it Durovernum, a name perhaps derived from the British +Derwhern, and although their historians are curiously silent in +regard to the place there cannot be any doubt that the town rose to +great importance in the later years of the four centuries of the Roman +occupation of Britain. A glance at a map of the Roman roads in Kent +shows Durovernum as a centre for five great ways leading from the +coast towns of Portus Lemanis (Lymne), Portus Dubris (Dover), Portus +Ritupis (Richborough, near Sandwich), Regulbium (Reculver), and also +the Isle of Thanet, and from this important centre the Watling Street +ran straight to Londinium. These roads all converge upon the spot +where the River Stour became a tidal estuary and where it was +fordable, and all who arrived or departed from the ports nearest to +Gaul would therefore of necessity pass that way. Another indication of +the size of the town is found in the five Roman burial-places +discovered close to Canterbury, and if anything else were needed it is +only necessary to look at the walls of St. Augustine's Abbey and many +other buildings of the Middle Ages to see the large quantities of +Roman material then available. Wherever any excavation has taken place +in the heart of the present city, the foundations of Roman buildings +with tesselated pavements and quantities of pottery, small objects of +domestic use, and coins have been brought to light. These remains are +all far beneath the present surface, a most significant fact in +relation to the transition period between Roman and Saxon Canterbury. + +The Romans having finally abandoned Britain early in the fifth +century, the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons began to take a permanent +form, and the Jutes gained possession of the south-eastern corner of +England. During the period of struggle between the rival groups of +invaders Durovernum must have been entirely abandoned by the Britons, +and the conquerors, having reduced the city to a shapeless ruin, +appear to have allowed it to become over-grown to such an extent that +when, after a lapse of perhaps a whole century, the town was rebuilt, +no attempt was made to dig down to the former surface. The new +buildings therefore arose with their foundations some feet above the +original level of the Romano-British city. So complete was the gap +between the destroyed Durovernum and the Saxon town which eventually +grew up that men had had time to forget the old name, and, finding it +necessary to invent one, called it Cantwarabyrig, which meant the +city of the men of Kent. This title reveals the fact that the new +settlers had by this time fixed their limits in Kent, and that they +had found this site at the junction of all the Roman roads the most +convenient for their capital. It was probably not until Ethelbert had +begun to reign in 561 that Canterbury became the most important place +in Kent, and at that time the site of the Cathedral was outside the +town walls. Ethelbert, it should be mentioned, had extended his power +so far beyond the confines of Kent that he had authority as far north +as the Humber, and Bede writes of "the city of Canterbury, which was +the metropolis of all his dominions." + +Up to the year 597 this Saxon capital, of practically all +south-eastern England, was completely heathen, saving only the King's +Frankish wife Bertha and Bishop Luidhard, who had come over as her +chaplain about the year 575, when the marriage with the heathen +Ethelbert had taken place. But in the year 597, that famous landmark +in the Christianizing of Saxon England, Augustine, landed--if Bede may +be trusted for a topographical detail of this character--on the island +of Ebbsfleet, where Hengist and Horsa had previously found a haven +for their vessels. This is now part of the corner of Kent, called +Thanet, and is an island no longer. There Ethelbert, in that generous +and broad-minded speech, familiar to all students of English history, +while expressing himself as content with the gods of his forefathers +(these included Thor, Woden, Freya, and the rest), yet would place no +obstacles in the way of these missionaries of new and strange ideas. +He even provided them with quarters in Canterbury, and in the old +church of St. Martin outside the city, where Queen Bertha had been in +the habit of worshipping with her chaplain, Augustine and his monks +began to preach and instruct all who cared to listen. It seems +unlikely that the influence of the queen and her good chaplain should +have been entirely without results, and it is quite possible that +Augustine found the ground prepared for the seed he diligently began +to sow. Bishop Luidhard, whose name should always be linked with that +of St. Augustine, appears to have died soon after the arrival of Pope +Gregory's mission, and his remains were eventually placed in a golden +chest in the church of Saints Peter and Paul, afterwards St. +Augustine's. + +The zeal and enthusiasm of the band of missionaries began to bring in +many converts. Ethelbert himself consented to be baptized on June 2 in +the year of Augustine's landing, and the Saxons soon began to embrace +the new faith in thousands, so that in a very few years the +Christianizing of England had made such progress that Canterbury +became the headquarters of the Christian Church in England, a position +it has held without interruption ever since--a period of over 1,300 +years. It took England nearly nine centuries to make up its mind to +rid itself of the stultifying authority of the Bishop of Rome and to +shake itself free from monasticism and the various forms of idolatrous +worship which grew up in the sultry atmosphere of the Papal Church; +but these great changes have been evolved, and still the ancient city +of Canterbury, hallowed with so many memories of saintly lives, +continues to be the metropolis of the Established Church of England. +And the imminence of further change carries with it no danger of any +break in this long association of Canterbury with ecclesiastical +control, for if in the slow grinding of the wheels of Time there +should cease to be a State Church in this land, the organization of +the churches holding to the Elizabethan form of worship will no doubt +continue to be centred and focussed at Canterbury. + +[Illustration: CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH WEST. +The state central or "Bell Harry" Tower is one of the most beautiful +works of the Perpendicular period in existence.] + +As the first church mentioned in history associated with Christian +worship St. Martin's occupies a unique position, and yet the fabric of +the little building does not conclusively prove that it is even in +part the actual church of this fascinating period. Cautious +archaeologists, represented by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, regard the +earliest work in St. Martin's as belonging to the Saxon period, Roman +materials having merely been worked up by the later builders. On the +other hand, there are various careful antiquaries who are willing to +accept the oldest parts of the church as Roman, and claim that St. +Martin's is a Christian church put up during the Roman occupation. +Perhaps the problem will be solved by further discoveries, but until +then it seems wiser to regard St. Martin's as being in part a very +early Saxon building, very probably standing on the site of the +restored Roman church in which Queen Bertha worshipped before +Augustine's arrival. Even if it were possible to state that parts of +the walls were Roman, it would not be an easy matter to say whether +the building were older than the two early Christian churches of +North Cornwall, preserved through the ages by the drifting sand of +that exposed coastline; therefore, to write, as so many have done, +that St. Martin's is the oldest Christian church in England, is not +justified by the facts. Besides St. Martin's, William Thorne, a +fourteenth century chronicler, makes mention of "a temple or +idol-place where Ethelbert had been wont to pray and to sacrifice to +demons," and this building, instead of being destroyed, was purged +from its defilements and idols and hallowed by Augustine when he +dedicated it to St. Pancras the Roman boy-martyr. When the site, about +halfway between St. Martin's and St. Augustine's, was excavated in +1901, it was found to possess a nave about 47 feet long by 26 feet +wide, with an apsidal chancel nearly the same width and depth +separated from the nave by four Roman columns, and Mr. W.H. St. John +Hope, of the Society of Antiquaries, who carried out the operations +with Canon Routledge, has suggested that this may be the first church +built by Augustine out of Roman materials ready to hand, while the +larger one, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a little to the west, +was slowly being constructed. It was not finished when, in 605, +Augustine died, and eventually the dedication included the canonized +first archbishop of the English Church, who was buried in the building +when it was finished. The other great figures of the period--Ethelbert +and his Queen, and her chaplain--were also laid to rest in the church. +A few years ago it was only possible to form an idea of this large +structure from the Norman north wall of the nave and part of the +north-west tower, but now that nearly the whole of the eastern end has +been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all +the east end and part of the north transept. Ethelbert's son, Eadbald, +having been converted two years after his accession, built another +church east of that of Saints Peter and Paul, and this was joined on +to the abbey church when the east end was extended about the time of +the Norman Conquest. At the same time as he began the monastery +subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his +headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls +of the Saxon city. This, according to Bede, was hallowed "in the name +of the Holy Saviour," and thus arose the name Christ Church--the name +the cathedral now bears. In these early times there were therefore +five Christian churches either restored or under construction, and +they were all roughly in a line running east and west. First there was +Christ Church and Augustine's residence--eventually the priory--within +the walls, then the embryo abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, with the +chapel of St. Mary a little to the east. Farther still was the church +of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little hill, +St. Martin's. There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of +St. Mildred near the castle, but this is much later than anything that +has been discovered on the other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he +claims as pre-Conquest work in St. Dunstan's outside the city, on the +Whitstable Road. + +Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various +attacks made by the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a +defence lasting nearly three weeks, fell into the hands of the +invaders through treachery from within. Alphege, the good old +archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they +burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included +the monks of Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 Saxons +perished. Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the +cathedral. Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, +who at Greenwich gave way to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion +killed their prisoner. The body was brought from London, where it had +been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by Canute, the first +Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending +his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the +martyr's remains. Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further +demonstrate his submission to the Church his people had devastated by +hanging up his crown in the cathedral which Alphege's successor, +Archbishop Living, had reroofed. Canute, having made a journey to Rome +in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would amend +his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon +cathedral was properly repaired and decorated. + +During the year following the Norman Conquest a fire began in +Canterbury, which, besides destroying many houses, reduced the +unfortunate cathedral to a roofless ruin once more. Three years +later, in 1070, when Lanfranc was made the first Norman archbishop, he +decided that the Saxon walls were worthless, and he swept away every +trace of the building, which may have been partially Roman, before +proceeding to erect a larger and grander pile in the Norman style +familiar to him. One feature of the original church has, nevertheless, +left its mark on the Norman cathedral. This was a crypt described by +Eadmer, the monkish historian, who, as a boy, saw the Saxon church +being demolished. It was only a small affair, but it must have been +the most remarkable feature of the comparatively small oblong +building, for it was not, properly speaking, a crypt at all, but an +undercroft beneath the eastern altars. "To reach these altars," says +Eadmer, "a certain crypt, which the Romans call a confessionary, had +to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of the +singers. Thus the Norman archbishop, in planning a larger cathedral, +constructed a crypt under the choir of his new building, and the steps +one ascends to-day are there as the direct outcome of the structural +methods of rude Saxon times." + +Lanfranc completed his new cathedral in 1077, and in his lifetime he +also founded the great Benedictine priory of Christ Church, whose +considerable remains add so much medievalism to the surroundings of +the vast cathedral. Anselm succeeded Lanfranc after an interval of a +few years, during which Rufus found it exceedingly desirable to keep +the see vacant while the revenues were diverted into the royal +coffers, and scarcely twenty years after his predecessor's church was +finished, Prior Ernulph pulled down the east end and constructed in +its place the magnificent Norman choir, with its transepts and chapels +standing with various alterations to-day. This great work was finished +by Prior Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph, and the noble work, which +became known as Conrad's Choir, was consecrated in 1130 by Archbishop +de Corbeuil. To make this bald statement and omit to mention the +ceremony attending it would be misleading; for not only were Henry I. +and David of Scotland present, but Canterbury saw such a gathering of +dignitaries of Church and State with their splendid retinues that the +historian found nothing to compare with it but Solomon's dedication of +the Temple! + +This splendid church, representing the finest achievement of Norman +master-builders and workmen, rising high above the domestic quarters +of the monastery and standing forth conspicuously from every part of +the little walled city, then consisting, to a considerable extent, of +low wooden houses, had now reached the stage in its development when +it was to be the scene of the murder which was to make Canterbury the +most famous resort of pilgrims in Europe. This occurred forty years +later; but no change in the great Norman church had taken place in +that period. + +So thrilling is the whole story of Becket's murder that there is every +temptation to tell again the tale of Henry II.'s hasty exclamation, +and the headlong journey from Normandy to Canterbury made by those +four knights whose foul deed history has not ceased to condemn; but +for a full account the reader is advised to turn to Dean Stanley's +"Historical Memorials of Canterbury." It was in the same year and the +same month as his death that Becket had returned from exile to +Canterbury after an absence of six years, and at the close of a decade +of continual struggle with the King. The Archbishop, having landed at +Sandwich on his arrival from France, had been received with the +greatest enthusiasm, and the people of Canterbury showed their +delight in every possible manner. There were imposing banquets, and +hangings of silk were put up in the cathedral for the great occasion; +but at the end of this December, on the gloomy afternoon of the 29th, +the four murderers arrived in the city. The day was a Tuesday, the day +on which all the great events of Becket's life had taken place; for +not only had he been born on a Tuesday, but on that day he had been +exiled, on that day he had been warned of his impending martyrdom, and +on that day he had returned from exile. + +[Illustration: THE "ANGEL" OR "BELL HARRY" TOWER AND THE BAPTISTERY. +The massive Norman work is seen here in strong contrast with the +lightness and delicacy of the Perpendicular tower.] + +While leaving the long story to be told with the amazingly ample +detail Dean Stanley was able to employ, one is tempted to quote his +account of the first interview between Becket and the four knights, +for too often the memory recalls nearly every fact of the murder +except the indictment, if it may be so called. The four knights had +discarded their weapons and concealed their armour under the cloak and +gown of ordinary life on entering the cathedral precincts, so that on +their first appearance in the Archbishop's private room their aspect +was sinister without being immediately threatening. Becket had just +finished dinner, and was seated on his couch talking to his friends +when the four knights were announced, and he pointedly continued, his +conversation with the monk who sat by him and on whose shoulder he was +leaning. + + They on their part entered without a word, beyond a greeting + exchanged in a whisper to the attendants who stood near the + door, and then marched straight to where the Archbishop sate, + and placed themselves on the floor at his feet, among the + clergy who were reclining around. Radulf the archer sate + behind them, on the boards. Becket now turned round for the + first time, and gazed steadfastly on each in silence, which he + at last broke by saluting Tracy by name. The conspirators + continued to look mutely at each other, till Fitzurse, who + throughout took the lead, replied with a scornful expression, + "God help you!" Becket's face grew crimson, and he glanced + round at their countenances, which seemed to gather fire from + Fitzurse's speech. Fitzurse again broke forth: "We have a + message from the King over the water--tell us whether you will + hear it in private, or in the hearing of all." "As you wish," + said the Archbishop. "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Fitzurse. + "Nay, as _you_ wish," said Becket. The monks, at the + Archbishop's intimation, withdrew into an adjoining room; but + the doorkeeper ran up and kept the door ajar, that they might + see from the outside what was going on. + + +Before the knights began the recital of their complaints, however, +Becket appears to have become alarmed at the demeanour of the four +men, who afterwards admitted that they thought of killing him then and +there with the only weapon that was handy--a cross-staff that lay at +his feet. + + The monks hurried back, and Fitzurse, apparently calmed by + their presence, resumed his statement of the complaints of the + King. The complaints--which are given by the various + chroniclers in very different words--were three in number. + "The King over the water commands you to perform your duty to + the King on this side of the water, instead of taking away his + crown." "Rather than take away his crown," replied Becket, "I + would give him three or four crowns." "You have excited + disturbances in the kingdom, and the King requires you to + answer for them at his court." "Never," said the Archbishop, + "shall the sea again come between me and my Church, unless I + am dragged thence by the feet." "You have excommunicated the + bishops, and you must absolve them." "It was not I," replied + Becket, "but the Pope, and you must go to him for absolution." + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL OF "OUR LADY" IN THE UNDERCROFT OF THE + CATHEDRAL. +Being entirely above the ground this is not a crypt as it is so often +miscalled. The morning light in winter fills the spaces between the +massive Norman piers.] + +After some more stormy words the knights became irritated by Becket's +contradictions, and swore "by God's wounds" that they had endured +enough, but Becket, putting aside John of Salisbury's suggestion that +he should speak privately to the angry knights, began to complain of +the grievances and insults he had himself received during the preceding +week: "They have attacked my servants," he said; "they have cut off my +sumpter-mule's tail; they have carried off the casks of wine that were +the King's own gift." To this Hugh de Moreville, who was the least +aggressive of the four, replied: "Why did you not complain to the King +of these outrages? Why did you take upon yourself to punish them by +your own authority?" But Becket, turning sharply towards him, said: +"Hugh! how proudly you lift up your head! When the rights of the +Church are violated, I shall wait for no man's permission to avenge +them. I will give to the King the things that are the King's, but to +God the things that are God's. It is my business, and I alone will see +to it." Taking up such an attitude in front of four men who had come +hot-foot to Canterbury with the express determination to seek an +excuse for killing him, Becket was sealing his own fate. + + For the first time in the interview the Archbishop had assumed + an attitude of defiance; the fury of the knights broke at once + through the bonds which had partially restrained it, and + displayed itself openly in those impassioned gestures which + are now confined to the half-civilized nations of the South + and East, but which seem to have been natural to all classes + of medieval Europe. Their eyes flashed fire, they sprang upon + their feet, and, rushing close up to him, gnashed their teeth, + twisting their long gloves, and wildly threw their arms above + their heads. Fitzurse exclaimed: "You threaten us--you + threaten us! are you going to excommunicate us all?" + +Becket sprang up from his couch at this insulting demonstration, and +in the state of great excitement into which he could fall when roused, +he flung down his defiant challenge that all the swords in England +could not shake his obedience to the Pope. The four knights, goaded to +fury by other passionate words, left him, shouting, "To arms! to +arms!" They made their way with an excited throng to the great +gateway, where they armed, while the doors were closed to shut off the +monastery from communication with the town. The Archbishop seems to +have been fully alive to his danger, and yet he persistently refused +to take the smallest measure for his safety, opening with his own +hands the door from the cloisters into the north transept which some +of the monks had closed and barred immediately after they had dragged +the Archbishop into the nearly dark building. + +Vespers had just begun when the murderers entered, but the singing of +that service was never completed. The fear of sacrilege induced the +knights to try to drag the defenceless Archbishop out of the +Cathedral, but he struggled with such vigour, flinging one of the men +down on the stone floor, that they gave up the attempt and killed him +with three or four sword strokes, the last of which, as he lay prone, +was delivered by Richard le Bret, or the Breton, and so tremendous was +the force with which it was delivered that the crown of the head was +severed from the skull and the sword broke in two on the pavement. + +Canterbury being much divided in its attachment to Becket, the +murderers found escape easy, and the general regrets most expressed +seem to have been at the sacrilege rather than at the murder. + +It is almost incredible how rapidly Becket became St. Thomas of +Canterbury. Within a few hours of the tragic scene, when, night having +fallen and the great church being closed and deserted, Osbert, the +Archbishop's chamberlain, entering with a light in his hand, found his +master's body lying on its face, with the frightful wound exposed, the +monks had kissed the hands and feet of the corpse and called him by +the name of Saint Thomas. What appears to have raised the fraternity +to this enthusiastic anticipation of the canonization, officially +announced at Westminster in 1173, was the discovery that Becket had on +beneath his outer robes, and the many other garments he wore, the +black cowled cloak of the Benedictines, and next to his skin a +hair-cloth shirt of unusual roughness. When the body was being +prepared for the tomb this shirt was found to be easily removable for +the daily scourging Becket had been in the habit of enduring, the +marks of the stripes administered on the previous day being plainly +visible. Dean Stanley adds another fact not easy to be believed by +those who have never become intimate with the practices of medieval +monasticism: + + Such austerity had hitherto been unknown to English saints, + and the marvel was increased by the sight--to our notions so + revolting--of the innumerable vermin with which the hair-cloth + abounded--boiling over with them, as one account describes it, + like water in a simmering cauldron. At the dreadful sight all + the enthusiasm of the previous night revived with double + ardour. They looked at one another in silent wonder, then + exclaimed, "See, see what a true monk he was, and we knew it + not!" and burst into alternate fits of weeping and laughter, + between the sorrow at having lost such a head and the joy of + having found such a saint. + +[Illustration; THE CHAPEL OF ST. MICHAEL OR THE WARRIORS' CHAPEL. +It is one of the most interesting Chapels in the Cathedral, containing +the tomb of Stephen Langton and in the centre of the drawing that of +Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands.] + +Almost immediately the superstitious belief in the efficacy of a +martyr's blood made everyone who was permitted to approach Becket's +body anxious to obtain a scrap of a blood-stained garment to soak in +water with which to anoint the eyes! In a short time many parts of the +clothes had been given away to the poor folk of Canterbury; but as +soon as the miracle-working properties came to be properly understood +these precious shreds of the Archbishop's voluminous garments ran up +in value until the possession of such a fragment meant wealth to the +owner. Any relic of the body itself had still greater value, its +efficacy in curing the multifarious ailments of the pilgrims who began +to flock to Canterbury being immeasurable. And when the neighbouring +monastery of St. Augustine burned with desire to possess a relic of +St. Thomas they offered Roger, the keeper of the "Altars of the +Martyrdom," the position of Abbot of their own abbey if he would +contrive to bring with him a portion of Becket's skull. Roger had been +specially chosen to guard this relic, but he succumbed to the +temptation offered by the rival establishment outside the city walls, +and having purloined the coveted fragment of the martyr, was duly +installed in the highest office of St. Augustine's. Whether the whole +affair was public property at the time does not fully appear, but +those who recorded events at St. Augustine's did not hesitate to +glory in the success of their scheme! + +So great was the popular execration of the murder that the autocratic +Archbishop who had not inspired universal admiration in his lifetime +was soon to become the most frequently invoked of all the calendar of +saints, and the King himself, finding that his submission to the Papal +legate at Avranches, two years after the crime, was not sufficient to +avert the wrath of Heaven, which seemed to be visiting him in the form +of rebellions and disasters in every part of his dominions, came to +Canterbury in 1174 and went through a penance of extreme severity. +Landing at Southampton, he came by the Pilgrims' Way to Harbledown, +and so entered the ancient city. At the church of St. Dunstan, outside +the walls, he took off his ordinary dress and walked barefoot through +the streets to the monastery of Christ Church. It was a wet day, but +being in the month of July the wearing of a shirt only with a cloak to +keep off the rain could not have been the cause of very great physical +discomfort apart from the cutting of his feet by stones on the road. +At the Cathedral they took Henry to the tomb of the man whose death he +had caused, and there he knelt and shed bitter tears, groaning and +lamenting. After again regretting his rash words in an address read by +Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, and promising to restore the rights +and property of the Church, the King, kneeling at the tomb, wearing a +hair-shirt with a woollen one above it, placed his head and shoulders +in one of the openings in the tomb and there received five strokes +with a monastic rod from each of the bishops and abbots present, and +afterwards the eighty monks each administered three strokes. Henry was +now quite absolved, but he remained for the whole night with his bare +feet still muddy and in the same penitential garb. + +[Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE MARTYRDOM IN THE NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT + OF THE CATHEDRAL. +Since the tragic death of Becket in 1170 practically everything in this +portion of the Cathedral has been re-constructed.] + +Arriving in London, the King took to his bed, suffering from a +dangerous fever, but a few days later, hearing from Richmond in +Yorkshire that the Scots had been defeated and driven north, he +recovered rapidly, believing implicitly, after the manner of his age, +that this success was attributable to the penance he had undergone on +the day before the battle. + +And so, through the savage murder of an archbishop and the severe +penance of a king the archiepiscopal capital of England began to +resound all over Europe, and the annual procession of pilgrims +commenced to traverse the hills along the old road from Winchester to +the little Norman city. Not by that way only did the vast crowds reach +Canterbury, for there was scarcely a road that at some period of the +year did not send its contribution to the throng which jostled through +the gates into the narrow streets leading to the monastery gateway. +Year after year wealth poured into the Cathedral coffers, and pilgrims +went away lighter in spirits and in purse, but each carrying with them +the little leaden bottle in which the infinitely diluted blood of the +martyr mixed with water was distributed. + +Scarcely two months after Henry's penance the splendid choir of the +Cathedral caught fire, and the townsfolk, in a state between grief and +rage, found themselves unable to stay the progress of the flames until +nearly everything that could burn had vanished. The nave suffered less +than Conrad's splendid choir, and in that less ruined portion of the +building a temporary altar was erected. But for this fire it might +have been possible for the modern pilgrim to see the building as it +appeared during the stirring events just recounted; for, +notwithstanding the wealth of the monastery of Christ Church, it would +have probably been thought desirable to retain the fabric as much as +possible as it appeared in Becket's time. The fire came, however, and +the choir was to a great extent rebuilt, but fortunately the chapels +were only slightly affected. + +After careful inquiry the monastery decided to employ William of Sens +as architect for the reconstruction, and the excellent work of this +clever Norman craftsman lives to-day in the eastern portion of the +cathedral church. He set to work soon after the fire; but, after four +years of labour, was so much injured by a fall from the scaffolding +that he was obliged to abandon his unfinished work and return to his +native Normandy. Upon an Englishman named William devolved the task of +completing the work. + +Either following the Frenchman's plans or adapting them to his own +ideas, he finished the eastern parts of the church as they stand +to-day in the year 1184. To one or both of these architects is due the +unusual device of narrowing the choir to avoid altering the site of +the Trinity Chapel of Becket's time. When the reconstruction of +Conrad's Norman choir began, the Gothic style was just beginning to +appear--an incipient tendency towards a pointed arch here and there +which grew into what is called the Transitional Period; and to this +style--in between the Romanesque semicircular arch, with its +accompanying massiveness, and the first style of Gothic known as Early +English, distinguished by the pointed arch, detached pillars +decorating the triforium and clerestory, and elaborate mouldings and +capitals--the choir belongs. + +When the whole of the east end of the cathedral was finished, nearly +two centuries elapsed before any further change took place beyond the +beginning of the chapter-house. At the commencement of that period, +however, one of Canterbury's most magnificent scenes of ecclesiastical +pomp occurred in connection with the remains of Becket. The summer of +1220 saw the completion of the new shrine, and on July 7, the +translation of the saint's remains was accomplished amid scenes of the +most astonishing splendour, described by those who were present as +being without a parallel in the history of England, the crowds +including people from many foreign countries. Money was spent so +lavishly on the entertainment of the innumerable persons of +distinction who were present or took part in the great ceremony that +for several years the finances of the see were unpleasantly +reminiscent of the vast expenditure. Henry III. was present, but he +was not old enough to be a bearer of the great iron-bound chest +containing the poor remnants of Becket's human guise. In the presence +of nearly every ecclesiastical dignitary in the land the remains were +placed in the newly finished shrine all aglow with jewels set in gold +and silver. + +Throughout the centuries succeeding this crowning glory of Canterbury, +the little walled city saw many great functions apart from the yearly +stream of pilgrims of every grade of society, and the huge doles of +food and drink given away by the two great monasteries and the lesser +houses of the city must have brought together an unwholesome concourse +of the needy. + +Every fifty years after the translation of Becket's remains to the +great shrine there was a special festival on July 7, when the people +of the archiepiscopal city would find their resources strained to the +very uttermost in feeding and housing the great assemblage. The +martyrdom took place on December 29, but owing to the time of the +year this festival did not draw so many as the summer one. All through +the year the pilgrims came and went, and instead of falling off in +numbers as the martyrdom receded, the popularity of the saint did not +reach its zenith until the fifteenth century. Royal visits were of +frequent occurrence, and of all the cities of England, after London, +Canterbury would appear to have entertained more distinguished +personages than any other. + +Between 1378 and 1411 Prior Chillenden pulled down Lanfranc's Norman +nave and transept, which had survived the fire, and rebuilt them in +the Perpendicular style, then prevailing. When this work was finished +and the south-western tower had been completed, in 1481, there was not +much left of the Norman priory church built by Lanfranc. The +north-western or Arundel Tower, the last survival of Lanfranc's +church, was rebuilt in 1840 and made to match its Perpendicular +neighbour and the central tower--the external masterpiece of the +cathedral--commenced by Prior Molashe in 1433, and completed by Prior +Selling in the closing years of the century. The piers supporting this +tower are Norman with a later casing, and the foundations of the nave +walls belong to the same period. + +Having reached its greatest glories, Canterbury began to decline, and +the dissolution of the two great monasteries and the demolishing of +Becket's shrine must have been to the city, on a much larger scale, +what the sweeping away of all the Shakespearean landmarks and relics +from Stratford-on-Avon of to-day would imply. Nevertheless the city +could afford to present Queen Elizabeth with l. 30 in a scented purse +when she came thither in 1564, and the fact that Canterbury remained +the chief centre of the authority and state of the English Church +prevented the city from decaying. And even if this dignity had not +remained the position of the town in relation to the comings and +goings between England and France would have saved it from any sudden +fall from its opulence and greatness before the dissolution. + +To touch even lightly on the subsequent history of Canterbury is not +possible here, but its remarkably interesting story has been woven +into a connected narrative by Dr. Cox, whose admirable book should be +procured by all who may, by reading this little sketch, feel some of +the glamour which the old city has for the writer. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CATHEDRAL + + +From the swelling green hills that look over Canterbury the distant +glimpses of the Cathedral towers gleaming in that opalescent light +that is the joy of a summer's morning in Kent, are so hauntingly +beautiful that it is hard to believe that no disillusionment need be +anticipated when the ancient city is entered and the great church seen +at close quarters in the midst of a little city whose busy streets are +agog with twentieth-century interests; and yet apprehension is +entirely needless. From St. Dunstan's Church, where Henry II. stripped +himself to a shirt and cloak on entering as a penitent, the road is +lined with houses whose quietly picturesque frontages improve as the +city proper is neared, and at the end of a most pleasing perspective +stands the West Gate, a great stone gateway with round towers. Passing +through the archway, one is at once in the narrow, jostling +familiarity of the medieval St. Peter's Street. This crosses one at +the arms of the Stour, and continues as High Street, becoming +increasingly rich in overhanging storeys and curious sixteenth and +seventeenth century fronts. One's eye glances rapidly from side to +side, until, on the left, an exceedingly narrow turning gives a +peep--such a peep as no other city can give unless it be Rouen--of the +Cathedral's western towers rising above a sumptuously enriched stone +gateway framed by tall, timbered houses, which nod towards one another +in the neighbourly fashion of old cronies. It might be that the modern +pilgrim, whose course is thus arrested by the vision he sees in this +cleft called Mercery Lane, might have had some intention of going +straight through the city to St. Martin's Church outside the walls to +the east; but, if so, he is a strong man who resists the appeal of +that narrow way belonging altogether to the world of romance. He +stands for a moment transfixed, and then plunges into the opening, +forgetful of his original purpose in the vivid reality before him. He +walks down the lane trodden century after century by countless +pilgrims and enters the Cathedral precincts through the weather-worn +gateway, Prior Goldstone II. built between 1507 and 1517. + +From the archway the first near vision of the vast pile is unfolded, +nearly the whole of the south side being visible. Immediately opposite +are the two western towers, the nearer one finished in 1451 and the +further rebuilt seventy years ago. The heavily buttressed nave, in the +same Perpendicular style, stretches away to the transept, where the +eye mounts up higher and higher until it rests on the clustered +pinnacles of the _campanilis Angeli_--the Angel Tower, as Prior +Molashe by some happy inspiration chose to call the imposing feature +he added to his priory church. Beyond the south-west transept appears +the plain Norman work of the larger and more massive transept to the +east, with its beautiful staircase tower built into the inner angle, a +part of Conrad's "glorious" choir. The remaining eastern parts of the +Cathedral are not visible from this point, but as one walks +eastwards--the other way is closed by the Archbishop's Palace--St. +Anselm's Tower and Trinity Chapel with its corona, or semicircular +extension, successively appear. Armed even with such brief information +as that given in the preceding chapter, one gazes on these weathered +cliffs of wrought stone with quickened breath, reading into the +Transitional Norman work the strange story of the historic murder +which brought so much wealth to this spot that the Cathedral in its +present form is due to little else. To wipe out Becket's name +completely Henry VIII. would have needed to demolish the whole church. + +[Illustration: THE DOORWAY INTO THE TRANSEPT OF MARTYRDOM FROM THE + CLOISTERS. +It was through this doorway that Becket was followed by his murderers +on that fatal afternoon in 1170 when the winter twilight was +deepening.] + +The smooth turf along the south side of the Cathedral was used by the +monks as a lay cemetery, and the fairly extensive space to the +south-east shaded by old elms was their own burial-ground. All the +monastic buildings were, contrary to the usual custom, on the north, +for having only a narrow space between the south side of their church +and the wall which Lanfranc built to secure the whole monastery, they +naturally built on their extensive piece of ground running right up to +the city wall to the north. Rounding the east end of the Cathedral, +therefore, one finds under its ample shadow the remains of many of the +domestic offices of the great priory. The great hall, with its kitchen +and offices, is now part of the house of one of the prebendaries, and +is not accessible to the public, but to the west are the interesting +ruins of the infirmary. This was a long building with aisles, having +a chapel opening out of it to the east, so that the sick brethren +while lying in their beds could listen to the services. The south +arcade of this chapel, consisting of four Norman arches with an +ivy-grown clerestory, is still standing, and there are also some +arches of the south side of the hall still showing the orange-pink +colour produced on the stone by the disastrous fire in 1174, when +Conrad's choir was reduced to a ruin. Adjoining the western end of the +infirmary hall, and now a part of the Cathedral, is the beautiful +Transitional-Norman treasury built on to St. Andrew's Chapel. Going to +the right through a passage called the Dark Entry, one has the site of +the prior's lodging on the right and on the left the infirmary +cloister, and north of it the smaller dormitories of the monks. This +passage-way leads through the vaulted Prior's Gate to the Green Court, +a wide grassy space shaded by great limes and other trees. Framed +between the spreading branches appears one of the most perfect +groupings of the Angel Steeple with the piled-up roofs of the library, +chapter house, and north-west transept as steps leading up to the vast +tower, whose presence has an uplifting effect on the mind, scarcely +equalled by the solemn immensity of the nave when one first +enters--but the interior must wait for a little, while the remaining +portions of the precincts are seen. + +Adjoining the Prior's Gate to the east is the building now used as the +Deanery. It was built by Prior Goldstone in late Perpendicular times +as a guest-house for the reception of strangers, but has been much +altered since that time. At the north-west corner of the court is a +very fine Norman gateway, now surrounded by the modern buildings of +the King's School, and a little to the right is a Norman staircase, +which by the goodness of Providence was allowed to remain when other +destruction was in progress. This beautiful and unique example of a +staircase of this early period is the most remarkable feature of the +monastic remains. Beyond the Green Court Gate stood the almonry and a +granary, and south of these buildings was the Archbishop's Palace, so +ruined in Puritan times that the remains of a gateway in Palace Street +is practically all that can now be seen. The present palace is quite +modern. Coming back to the Cathedral, the remarkably picturesque +little circular Lavatory Tower standing on late Norman open arches is +noticeable in its shadowy seclusion among the lofty walls of the choir +chapels. This is generally known as the Baptistery, but the name only +began to be used when the font Bishop Warner presented to the +Cathedral was placed there. In the little garden in front of the +Lavatory Tower are two Roman columns brought from Reculver more than a +century ago when the church there became a ruin. West of this tower is +the library, standing on part of the site of the great dormitory, and +opening on to the cloisters is the chapter house, commenced in 1304 by +Prior Estria and finished in 1378 by Prior Chillenden. The windows at +the east and west ends are the largest in the Cathedral. + +The great cloister, like the chapter house, largely owes its present +appearance to Prior Chillenden, and is of exceedingly beautiful +Perpendicular work with a splendid roof of lierne vaulting. Part of +the south walk, with the doorway into the north transept--the +successor to the Norman one through which Becket passed to his +death--is shown in Mr. Biscombe Gardner's drawing facing page 43. If +one enters the Cathedral from this point, especially if it should be +in the twilight of a gloomy day, the atmosphere of the murder seems to +be all about one, notwithstanding the rebuilding at a later period of +the actual scene, but the historic entrance is by the south porch +facing the great gate of the priory, and as it is still the usual +place of entry this short account of the interior will begin at that +point. + +[Illustration: THE GREYFRIARS' HOUSE IN CANTERBURY. +This picturesque house of the Franciscans, who came to the town in +1220, stands on a branch of the Stour near Stour Street.] + +The porch belongs to the great period of rebuilding under Prior +Chillenden, and, with its double row of canopied niches containing +statues, is a beautiful feature, even with the central space which +contained a representation of the martyrdom of Becket still vacant +since the days of Henry VIII. There is in the first view of a vast +Cathedral nave something almost overpowering in its sense of ordered +beauty. It may be that average lives are so planless, so haphazard and +without order that an achievement of such magnitude representing years +of labour and concentrated thought in steadily following out a +preconceived plan cannot fail to be a tremendous contrast to the +smallness and pettiness of the majority--a contrast so great that it +is mentally and spiritually a glimpse of the world of new +possibilities attainable when once the feverish clinging to the ideals +of the totem post is abandoned. This vast nave, reminiscent in many +ways of Winchester, but far more satisfying, is generally bathed in a +cool, greenish light, and is, in reality, a magnificent vestibule to +the crowded interest beyond the transept. The effect of emptiness +existing to-day is vastly different to what the pilgrims used to gaze +upon while waiting their turn to be sprinkled with holy water, for +before the Reformation and the complete sweeping away of the +enrichments of Roman Catholic times the roof and walls were brilliant +with paintings, the windows glowed with the warm colour of medieval +glass, sumptuous hangings were suspended in many places and the altars +twinkling with lighted candles added much gilding and colour to the +aisles. All this barbarous crowding of colour and ornament, all this +splendour of a ritual that appealed to an age capable of stilling the +voice of conscience with an absolution obtainable for a few pence has +passed away, but the vast building remains to tell of the reality of +endeavour of one side of monastic life. + +[Illustration: THE PICTURESQUE GABLED HOUSES OF THE CANTERBURY + WEAVERS. +The houses are reflected in the Stour just by King's Bridge, which +joins the High Street to St. Peter's Street.] + +Across the great arch opening into the base of the tower is the +supporting arch inserted by Prior Goldstone II., who, as already +stated, built the Angel Steeple above the roof-line where it had been +left by Chillenden. The arch has been called a disfigurement, and as +it was not originally intended such an opinion may be justifiable, and +yet the beauty of the reticulated stonework and the consummate skill +which conceived the bold simplicity of design is so satisfying that it +is scarcely possible to wish that it were absent. Beneath this flying +arch appears the splendid western screen, approached by the flight of +steps necessitated by the crypt or undercroft, for, being on perfectly +level ground, there would have been no need for this unique feature. +Among the monuments in the nave aisles those on the south include the +memorial to Dean Farrar, who is buried in the great cloister, and +William Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide, who was a scholar at +the King's School. In the north aisle the Tudor monument to Sir T. +Hales showing his burial at sea is curious and picturesque, and other +memorials are to Charles I.'s organist, Orlando Gibbons, and to the +Archbishops Boyes and Sumner. + +The north-west transept, on the left as the steps to the choir are +ascended, is the scene of Becket's martyrdom, and the vergers show the +traditional spot where he fell. From the opposite transept, steps lead +down to the undercroft, and also up to the south choir aisle--the way +the pilgrims approached the shrine of St. Thomas. Also opening from +the south-west transept is St. Michael's or the Warrior's Chapel, as +it is now popularly called. In the illustration facing p. 30, the tomb +of Lady Margaret Holland and her two husbands, John Beaufort, Earl of +Somerset, and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, is shown occupying the centre +of the chapel, but it just misses a more interesting, if much less +beautiful, tomb, that of Stephen Langton, the courageous Archbishop +who took such a leading part in forcing John to sign Magna Charta. The +plain sarcophagus is partly within and partly outside the chapel, for +when it was rebuilt in the fourteenth century it was extended so much +to the east that it became necessary either to move Langton's tomb or +else to make an arch in the wall, and the latter course was taken, +with the curious result still to be seen. An astonishing contrast to +the clear-sighted action of this Norman Archbishop was the attitude of +Archbishop Howley (1828-1848) whose bitter hostility to the Reform +Bill in 1831 so raised the anger of the people of Canterbury that they +greeted his next arrival in the city with showers of stones and rotten +eggs. In the midst of a howling mob the archiepiscopal carriage +slowly struggled to the Deanery, bearing in it the amiable Churchman +who was convinced that the Reform Bill was "mischievous in its +tendency, and extremely dangerous to the fabric of the constitution." +Such words are deeply interesting at the present day, when many people +think they see, in progress on the same lines, dangers of an equally +unfounded order. + +Passing along the south aisle of the choir, one gradually sees the +whole of the elaborately devised eastern parts of the Cathedral as +they were reconstructed by William of Sens and his English successor. +The arcades of alternately circular and octagonal pillars have richly +carved foliated capitals, and there is a lightness in form and a +profusion of carving that tells of the coming of the Gothic +style--indeed, so far in advance of the plain Norman work of Conrad is +the present choir that the change to pure Early English is slight in +comparison. In its great length this choir is unique, and in the +lowness of its vaulted roof is also unusual, but this is accounted for +by the undercroft beneath. From the centre of the choir the remarkable +inward bend of the walls, necessitated through the determination not +to alter the plan of the Trinity Chapel so hallowed by the memory of +the Blessed St. Thomas, is very noticeable: to some extent it helps to +give one an impression of the great length of the whole choir, with +the chapel beyond. The eastern transepts and chapels still have their +apsidal chapels almost as they were built by Conrad. + +Ascending some more steps, the modern pilgrim reaches Trinity Chapel, +where his eyes, instead of falling upon a shrine encrusted with jewels +and precious metals, merely look between the pillars upon an empty +space. A vacant spot, however, can be eloquent enough, and to those +who have read Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" or the late Mr. Snowden +Ward's "Canterbury Pilgrimages," if they have gone no farther in the +study of this fascinating cult, the site of the shrine whose fame was +European is able to give almost as deep a thrill as any experienced by +the wayworn folk of the Middle Ages. + +By going closer and examining the pavement, a shallow groove appears +marking the exact position of the base of the shrine. This was worn by +the endless stream of pilgrims as they knelt in ecstasy before the +object their eyes had longed to feast upon. To the west is a fine +thirteenth-century mosaic pavement similar to that in the Confessor's +Chapel at Westminster Abbey, to which it is very fitting to compare +this chapel, for if it is not quite a "Chapel of the Kings" it has a +King--Henry IV.--and a king's eldest son--the Black Prince--on either +side, and after Westminster Abbey there was scarcely a more sacred +spot in the kingdom than this. + +It was fitting that Henry IV. should be buried here, for he had taken +a considerable amount of interest in the rebuilding of the nave, and +had been liberal in his financial aid. The effigies of Henry and his +second wife, Joan of Navarre, are believed to be faithful +representations. Of the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, if space +permitted, much could be said, for it is a magnificent piece of work +apart from the historical interest that attaches to the soldier +Prince, whose two great victories at Crecy and Poitiers have thrilled +every English schoolboy during all the subsequent centuries. The +strong iron railing has prevented any damage to the bronze or latten +effigy, and except for the tarnishing and general deterioration of +gilding and paint, one looks on the monument as it was erected in the +days of chivalry. All the details of this tomb had been arranged by +the Black Prince himself, and it was he who chose the Norman-French +inscription all can plainly read to-day. Above the tomb is suspended a +flat canopy of wood with an embattled moulding, and on the underside a +much decayed painting of the Trinity, if one may call it such when the +Dove is not represented. On the beam from which the canopy is +suspended are hung the shield, helmet, velvet coat, brass gauntlets, +and empty sword sheath which are the survivals of two complete suits, +one for peace, and one for war, which were carried at the funeral as +the Prince had ordered in his will. + +The eastern extension of the chapel is called Becket's Crown, a name +tradition associates with the preservation in this chapel of a portion +of St. Thomas's skull. One window contains old glass, and in the +centre of the floor is placed the chair of Purbeck marble in which the +Archbishops are enthroned. As it is no longer considered as old as the +days of Augustine the title St. Augustine's Chair must be regarded as +a figure of speech. + +By the most marvellous good fortune the wonderful series of windows in +Trinity Chapel, illustrating the many cures wrought at the Shrine of +St. Thomas, have come down to the present time almost unharmed, and +this magnificent range of thirteenth-century glass is finer than +anything else of its period in England. This glass is all prior to +1220, and without it there would have been no representation of the +first shrine at all. The colour in these windows is all subservient to +the careful drawing of the pictures in the medallions, but in the +north choir aisle there are some windows almost of the same period +where the colour is as splendid as in any of the early windows at +Chartres. For any description of the tombs of the archbishops there +is, unfortunately, no space here. In the splendid crypt, besides the +interest of the various periods of Norman and Transitional work, there +is the rich Perpendicular screenwork of the Chapel of Our Lady of the +Undercroft, and the Huguenot Chapel in what was the Black Prince's +Chantry. In Tudor times the whole of the undercroft was given up to +the French Protestant refugees, who, besides worshipping there, set up +their looms in this hallowed portion of the Cathedral where the martyr +was laid until his translation in 1220 and where Henry II. had passed +the night after his severe penance. This very short description of +such a building must be regarded as a mere introduction to the study +of a vast subject, for in the space available nothing more is remotely +possible. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CITY + + +A walled city generally holds more easily that elusive quality of +romance for which the intelligent mind so often hungers than a town +that has long ago discarded its old tower-studded girdle. And among +the half-dozen or more English towns still possessed of their old +mural defences Canterbury holds a high place, because within its walls +there are still, in spite of railways and motors and the horrors of +twentieth-century advertising, a hundred byways and nooks where the +atmosphere of Elizabethan and pre-Reformation England still lurks. The +wall itself does not stand out with the splendid completeness of York +or Conway, and on the western side it has vanished altogether, while +of the seven or eight gates, one only--the West Gate--has been saved; +yet, while walking in the narrow, picturesque streets, it is difficult +to forget that Canterbury is a walled city. Until well into last +century all the gates were standing; but one by one these ornaments +were destroyed by the city until one only was left, and even that +would have been wantonly sacrificed to facilitate the entry of some +circus caravans when, in 1850, Wombwell's menagerie visited the city! +This vandal showman actually dared to request the Corporation to +demolish the gate on account of the difficulty of getting his +procession through the low arch. This is hard to believe, but it is +infinitely more difficult to understand the aboriginal minds of some +of the members of the Corporation when the records unblushingly reveal +that the showman's preposterous request not only found both a proposer +and a seconder, but that the votes were equally divided on the matter, +and it was only the Mayor's casting vote which has preserved for the +city its noble entry. Such a searchlight as this, throwing into +dazzling clearness the almost entire lack of appreciation for its +historic buildings possessed by the controllers of the city must make +one grateful for the happy chances which have permitted so much that +is old and picturesque to survive. + +[Illustration: WESTGATE, CANTERBURY, FROM WITHIN. +This is the only survivor of the gates which studded the mediaeval +walls of the city.] + +From the East Station there extends as far as the site of the old +Riding Gate a well-preserved length of the wall with semicircular +towers at intervals, and from opposite Lady Wootton's Green to St. +Mary's Church, standing close to the site of North Gate, lengths of +the wall, with a tower at intervals, form thrillingly medieval +foregrounds for the Cathedral towers. In Pound Lane the wall continues +in a furtive and rather desultory fashion until it ends at the West +Gate. Opposite Lady Wootton's Green there still remain indications of +a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which +Queen Bertha was wont to pass on her way to her devotions at St. +Martin's Church. This, however, presupposes that the portion of the +wall immediately surrounding this particular point is Roman or very +Early Saxon, and also that the walls of the city occupied the same +position, at least as far as this point, as those built at the end of +the twelfth century. + +Mr. T. Godfrey Faussett's plan of Roman Canterbury appears to carry +the wall just as far as this point, and then turns at an acute angle +towards the south side of the Cathedral. Following the direction Queen +Bertha would have taken brings one to the great gateway of St. +Augustine's Abbey, the Benedictine monastery founded by Augustine on +the land given for that purpose by Ethelbert. It was at first +dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and the original buildings were +finished in 613. Having become the place of burial for the Kings of +Kent and the Archbishops, the Abbey quite overshadowed the Priory of +Christ Church, until in 758 Archbishop Cuthbert was secretly buried +within the claustral confines of his own priory. At the Dissolution +Henry converted the stately buildings into a palace, so that the royal +visits, which had been of no infrequent occurrence in the days of +monastic hospitality, continued; and while the lordly pile passed +through the hands of various owners, Elizabeth, Charles I., and +Charles II. paid visits on various occasions. + +A century ago, when appreciation of the architecture of the dead +centuries when Englishmen built with superlative skill had ebbed to +its lowest, the Abbey had sunk to inconceivably debased uses. The +monastic kitchen had been converted into a public-house, and the great +gateway--the finest structural relic of the Abbey--had become the +entrance to a brewery, while cock-fighting took place in the state +bedroom above. The pilgrims' guest hall, now the college dining-hall, +had become a dancing-hall, and the ground, unoccupied by buildings, +soil hallowed by the memories of so many saintly lives and associated +with the momentous days when England was being released from the toils +of pagan ignorance became known as "the Old Palace Tea-gardens." The +popular mind had seemingly forgotten the original uses of the place +they were desecrating with fireworks and variety shows. + +At last, in 1844, Mr. Beresford Hope rescued the half-destroyed +remnants of the abbey-palace, and through his generosity the present +missionary college was founded, and the buildings restored or +reconstructed. A more happy idea could scarcely have been suggested +than that of associating the abbey founded by the first missionary of +Christianity to England with modern efforts to carry the light into +the dark places of the earth. The much-restored gateway, built by +Abbot Fyndon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the +guest-hall, and part of the memorial chapel, are the chief portions of +the old structures incorporated into the buildings that surround three +sides of the college quadrangle. Standing apart to the south is one of +the huge walls of the nave of the abbey church, and to the east are +the extensive excavations of the east end of the crypt and other +fascinatingly early remains of the historic churches mentioned in an +earlier chapter (p. 17). + +Leaving the Abbey grounds, and continuing to the east, one reaches in +a few minutes the little church of St. Martin set on the knoll to +which Queen Bertha directed her steps. It is, however, a +disappointingly familiar type of Early English village church to the +casual glance, and until the fabric and the remarkable font have been +examined and discussed in the light of modern scientific archaeology it +is difficult to appreciate the hoary antiquity of at least parts of +the structure. To understand the indications of the Saxon, or possibly +Roman, work in the fabric, and to know the reasons for considering the +font a relic of Saxon times, it is scarcely possible to find a better +instructor than Canon Routledge, whose little book is all one can +desire. + +When the Cathedral, the Abbey, and St. Martin's Church have been +visited, it is too often thought that Canterbury has yielded up all +her treasures, but this is an amazingly mistaken idea. There still +remain to be seen the Castle, the walls, the old inns, the many +interesting examples of early domestic architecture, the remains of +the lesser religious houses and hospitals, a wonderful array of +interesting churches, and the excellent museum. Of the Castle the +great Norman keep, completed about 1125, still stands, having been +allowed to remain because the walls were found to be too hard to +easily destroy; but up to the time of writing the Corporation has not +purchased the immense shell, and it therefore remains a storage place +for the coal of the adjoining gasworks. The remains of the buildings +of the Black, or Preaching, Friars, and those of the Grey Friars, who +belonged to the rule of St. Francis, are on islands formed by the +Stour, and are marked in nearly every plan of the town. The hospitals +include that of St. John the Baptist in North Gate Street, Eastbridge +Hospital in St. Peter Street, and the Poor Priests' Hospital near +Stour Street. Outside the city, at Harbledown, is the interesting old +Hospital of St. Nicholas, a home for lepers, who were separately +housed. + +Of the churches it would be easy to write a great deal, but there is +merely space to point out that the only one lacking in interest is All +Saints' in High Street. At St. Dunstan's the head of Sir Thomas More +is preserved in a vault, but it is never possible to see it, and one +must be content with the picturesque brick gateway of the Roper house +in St. Dunstan's Street. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CANTERBURY CASTLE. + +KEY TO NUMBERS. + 1. Door to Cloisters. + 2. Door In Cloisters. + 3. Dean's (or Lady) Chapel. + 4. St. Michael's Chapel. + 5. Baptistery. + 6. Library (Howleian). + 7. Treasury. + 8. Chapel of King Henry IV. + 9. Arundel Tower (N.W.). + 10. Dunstan Tower (S.W.). + 11. Entrance to French Church. + 12. Archbishop Benson. + 13. Bishop Parry. + 14. Archbishop Sumner. + 15. Sir T. Hales. + 16. Colonel Stuart. + 17. Dr. Beaney. + 18. Dean Fotherbye. + 19. Archbishop Chicheley. + 20. Archbishop Bourchier. + 21. Archbishop Kemp. + 22. Archbishop Sudbury. + 23. St. Dunstan (site). + 24. Archbishop Tait. + 25. King Henry IV. + 26. Edward, the Black Prince. + 27. Becket's Shrine (site). + 28. Cardinal Pole. + 29. Unknown. + 30. Archbishop Mepham. + 31. Archbishop Winchelsey. + 32. Henry de Estria. + 33. Stephen Langton. + 34. Archbishop's ancient Chair. + 35. Memorial to Dean Farrar. + 36. Wm. Broughton, Bishop of Sydney and Adelaide. + 37. Archbishop Boyes. + 38. Tomb of Dean Farrar. + 39. Tomb of Archbishop Temple. + 40. Two columns from Reculver.] + + + + +INDEX + +Alphege, Archbishop, 19, 20 +Angel Steeple, 42, 44, 48 +Anglo-Saxon invasions, 12 +Archbishop's Palace, 42, 45 +Augustine, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 54, 59 + +Becket, Thomas A , 5, 6, 23-28, 43, 47, 49, 52, 54 +Bertha (Ethelbert's Queen), 13, 14, 16, 58, 61 +Black Prince, 53, 54, 55 +Boyes, Archbishop, 49 +Bret, Richard le, 29 +Broughton, Bishop, 49 + +CA|sar, Julius, 10 +Canute, 20 +Castle, the, 62 +Cathedral, the, 40-55 +Charles I., 59 +Charles II., 59 +Chartres, windows at, 55 +Chillenden, Prior, 38, 46, 47, 48 +Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, 50 +Conrad's choir, 34 +Conrad, Prior, 22, 51, 52 +Corbeuil, Archbishop de, 22 +Cuthbert, Archbishop, 59 + +Dane John, the, 10 +Danes, the, 19, 20 +David I. of Scotland, 22 +Dover, 11 + +Eadbald, 18 +Eadmer, 21 +Elizabeth, Queen, 39, 59 +Ernulph, Prior, 22 +Estria, Prior, 46 +Ethelbert, 13, 14, 17, 18, 59 + +Farrar, Dean, 49 +Fitzurse, Reginald, 25, 26 +Foliot, Gilbert, 33 +Fyndon, Abbot, 60 + +Gates of Canterbury, the, 56-58 +Gibbons, Orlando, 49 +Goldstone II., Prior, 48 + +Hales, Sir T., tomb of, 49 +Harbledown, 8, 32, 62 +Hengist and Horsa, 13 +Henry I., 22 +Henry II., 23, 34, 40, 55 +Henry III., 37 +Henry IV., tomb of, 53 +Henry VIII., 5, 43, 47, 59 +Holland, Lady Margaret, 50 +Hospitals, medieval, 62 +Howley, Archbishop, 50 +Huguenot Chapel, 55 + +Joan of Navarre, 53 +John, King, 50 + +King's school, the, 45, 49 + +Lady Wootton's Green, 58 +Lanfranc, Archbishop, 21, 22, 38, 43 +Langton, Stephen, 50 +Living, Archbishop, 20 +Luidhard, Bishop, 13 +Lymne, 11 + +Magna Charta, 50 +Mercery Lane, 41 +Molashe, Prior, 38, 42 +More, Sir Thomas, 62 +Moreville, Hugh de, 27 + +Norman staircase, 45 + +Pilgrims' Way, the, 6, 32, 34 +Prior's Gate, 44, 45 + +Reculver, 2, 46 +Reform Bill, the, 50, 51 +Religious houses, 62 +Richborough, 11 +Roman Canterbury, 10-12, 16, 58, 61 + +St. Augustine's Abbey, 11, 14, 19, 31, 58-60 +St. Dunstan, Church of, 19, 32, 40, 62 + +St. Martin, Church of, 14, 16, 17, 19, 41, 58 +St. Mildred, Church of, 19 +St. Pancras, Church of, 17, 19 +Salisbury, John of, 26 +Sandwich, 23 +Selling, Prior, 38 +Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of, 50 +Stanley, Dean, 23, 24, 30 +Sumner, Archbishop, 49 + +Thorn, William, 17 +Tracy, William de, 25 + +Walls of the city, 56-59 +Warrior's Chapel, the, 50 +West gate, the, 56-57 +William of Sens, 35, 51 +William Rufus, 22 +William the Englishman, 35 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEAUTIFUL BRITAIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 13890.txt or 13890.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/9/13890 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/old/13890.zip b/old/old/13890.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eac227c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13890.zip |
