diff options
Diffstat (limited to '13890-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 13890-0.txt | 1458 |
1 files changed, 1458 insertions, 0 deletions
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 *** |