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MEMORIALS OF 
 CANTERBURY 
 CATHEDRAL 
 
MEMORIALS OF 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL &> PRIORY OF CHRIST 
 
 IN CANTERBURY 
 
 BY C. EVELEIGH WOODRUFF, m.a. 
 
 SIX-PREACHER OF CANTER^RY CATHEDRAL AND 
 HONORARY LIBRARIAN TO THE DEAN AND CHAPTER 
 
 AND WILLIAM DANKS, m.a. 
 
 CANON RESIDENTIARY 
 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 LOUIS WEIRTER, 
 
 R.B.A. 
 
 LONDON 
 CHAPMAN & HALL LTD. 
 
 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN 
 1912 
 
 E.V. 
 

 '^?/ 
 
 Si.jnoS n 
 
 Printed by 
 
 BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD 
 
 AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS 
 
 Tavistock Street Covent Garden 
 
 London 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Although much has been written about Canterbury 
 Cathedral, the interest attaching to the metropoHtical 
 church is so great that the appearance of another 
 book scarcely calls for justification. 
 
 The plan and scope of the present work will be 
 indicated best hy a few introductory words on the 
 chief printed authorities. Apart from picture-books 
 and guide-books, of which there are scores, good, bad, 
 or indifferent, the bibUography of the Cathedral is 
 not really extensive, Somner's Antiquities oj Canter- 
 bury, first published iii 1640, and re-edited and 
 enlarged by Battely in 1703, is a vast storehouse of 
 materials from which almost all subsequent writers 
 have drawn ; but the book is hard to come by, and 
 does not yield up its stores readily to any but skilled 
 workers. Gostling, whose Walk in and about the 
 City oj Canterbury was written in the second half of 
 the eighteenth century, gives an excellent description 
 of the Cathedral and its contents as they were in his 
 days ; but owing to the advance in the study of 
 architecture, he cannot now be taken as a trustworthy 
 guide. 
 
 Willis, on the other hand, in his Architectural 
 History oj the Cathedral, published in 1845, and in 
 his History oj the Conventual Buildings oj the Priory oj 
 Christ Church, contributed to the Journal of the Kent 
 Archaeological Society in 1868, has said almost the last 
 word on matters structural, and the present writers 
 gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to his 
 masterly treatises, which, however, are somewhat 
 
PREFACE 
 
 too technical for the ordinary reader. Moreover, 
 historical matter, except when it elucidates an 
 architectural problem, is purposely excluded. 
 
 The Chronological History oj Canterbury Cathedral, by 
 George Smith, published in 1883, makes a praiseworthy 
 attempt to combine the historical with the archi- 
 tectural, but is a somewhat dull book, inadequately 
 illustrated and occasionally inaccurate. Stanley, in his 
 Historical Memorials oj Canterbury, selected a few of 
 the most striking episodes, and described them with 
 much grace and force ; but his book is not a history of 
 the Cathedral. 
 
 The aim of the authors of the present book is to 
 give a trustworthy, readable, and compendious account 
 of the Cathedral from the earliest times to the present 
 day. To do this within the compass of a single octavo 
 volume it has been necessary to confine the range of 
 view strictly to the church and its custodians. Thus, 
 since the book does not claim to be a history of the 
 See of Canterbury, little is said about the Archbishops 
 except when they came into contact with the de jacto 
 governing body — ^prior and convent before, and dean 
 and chapter after, the Reformation. To write a 
 history of the great Benedictine priory of Christ 
 Church would require a separate volume ; but its 
 fortunes and internal economy are sketched in the 
 following pages with some fulness of detail, and this 
 we believe to be a distinctive feature of the present 
 book. Throughout an honest attempt has been made 
 to go to first-hand sources of information, and the 
 recent rearrangement of the Cathedral archives has 
 opened out some which have not hitherto been avail- 
 able. Full advantage has been taken of this oppor- 
 tunity, with the result that the authors have been 
 able to incorporate in their book some fresh matter, 
 and much more which, if not absolutely new, has 
 hitherto been known only to a few. 
 
 For the privilege of making use of the Cathedral 
 vi 
 
PREFACE 
 
 records, and for permission to photograph some of 
 the seals and drawings in the Hbrary, the authors 
 express their deep sense of gratitude to the Dean and 
 Chapter. 
 
 Their thanks are also due to Dr. Fremantle, Dean 
 of Ripon, for the loan of MS. notes made hy him 
 some years ago, when a Canon of Canterbury, with a 
 view to publishing a book on the Cathedral ; to 
 Mr. Arthur Hussey for a like courtesy with regard to 
 his notes on the Priors of Christ Church ; to Mr. 
 S. F. Parry, C.B., for leave (on behalf of the 
 executors of his aunt. Miss Williams) to make use of 
 the blocks prepared for that lady's Notes on the Stained 
 Glass of the Cathedral ; and to the Warden of St. 
 Augustine's College for permission to make extracts 
 from the Reminiscences of the late Prebendary 
 Gilbert, preserved in the College library. 
 
 vn 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 Christianity in Britain before the Diocletian persecution : Canterbury 
 the Roman Durovernum : A Christian Church there in the second 
 half of the fourth century : Destruction of Durovernum by the 
 Jutes : The Gregorian Mission : King Ethelbert's baptism : The 
 Roman Church " recovered " and dedicated by Augustine : Ground 
 plan : Cuthbert's baptistery : The Cathedral enlarged by Odo : 
 Origin of the Confessio : The Church sacked by the Danes : Murder 
 of Archbishop Alphege and massacre of the monks : The Church 
 burnt 1067 : Representation of the pre-Norman Cathedral on the 
 earliest seal of the Priory : The clerical staff of the Cathedral in 
 Saxon times : Saxon archbishops buried in their Cathedral Church : 
 
 pp. 1-19 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Eadmer's description of the Roman Saxon Church : Pre-Norman deans 
 
 pp. 19-22 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 LANFRANC'S NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 The monastic buildings and Cathedral Church rebuilt : Christ Church, 
 Canterbury, compared with St. Stephen's at Caen : Ground plan : 
 The Angel steeple : John of Salisbury's verses on : The Western 
 towers : Dedication : The Accord of Winchester : Lanfranc's 
 reforms : The Archiepiscopal Palace rebuilt : Death of Archbishop 
 Lanfranc : His benefactions to the Cathedral pp. 23-35 
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 Anselm's election and consecration : The Pallium : The choir lengthened : 
 Funds raised : Prior Erndf : Description of ErnuH's work : Death 
 of Anselm : His shrine : The choir finished by Prior Conrad : 
 
 is 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Dedicated by Archbishop William : Gervase's description of the 
 choir : King Stephen crowned in Canterbury Cathedral by Arch- 
 bishop Theobald : Financial depression of the Priory : Theobald's 
 economic reforms : Carvings added to the capitals of the pillars in 
 the crypt : Mural paintings : The Treasury built : Prior Wibert's 
 additions to the monastic buildings : His hydraulic system for 
 supplying the Priory with water : Canterbury a studium 
 generate pp. 36-56 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 Early training : Character and appearance : Election to the primacy : 
 Quarrel with King : The murder : Gervase's description of the 
 martyrdom transept : The King's penance : The translation of the 
 Saint's rehcs : The shrine : Pilgrims : Miracles : Secret of his 
 influence pp. 57-88 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE REBUILDING OF THE CHOIR AFTER THE GREAT 
 FIRE, BY GUILLAUME DE SENS, AND WILLIAM THE 
 ENGLISHMAN 
 Gervase's account of the fire : Guillaume de Sens begins the recon- 
 struction of the choir : Progress made during the first three years : 
 Accident to the architect : retirement of GuiUaume, and appoint- 
 ment of WiUiam the Englishman : The Retro-Choir : Chapel of 
 St. Thomas : Monks enter the new choir, 1180 : The work of the 
 two Williams compared : The corona : Ground plans of the old 
 and new choir pp. 89-102 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 GROWTH OF THE POWER OF THE MONKS OF CHRIST 
 
 CHURCH AND THEIR STRUGGLE WITH ARCHBISHOPS 
 
 BALDWIN AND HUBERT WALTER 
 
 Claims put forward by the Prior and Chapter of Christ Church : Resis- 
 tance of the monks of Rochester : Election of Archbishop Baldwin : 
 His character : Quarrel with the monks concerning the Archbishop's 
 proposed foundation of a collegiate Church at Hackington : Tlie 
 Prior appeals to Rome : King offers to arbitrate : Baldvcin excom- 
 municates the monks : Papal mandate for the destruction of the 
 college : Prior Honorius dies in Italy : Death of King Henry II : 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Roger Norreys intruded into the priorate by Archbishop Baldwin : 
 King Richard I comes to Canterbury : Archbishop of Rouen to 
 act as arbitrator : Baldwin leaves England for the Holy Land : 
 Hubert Walter elected to the primacy : the Archbishop wishes to 
 found a collegiate Church at Lambeth : Opposition of the monks : 
 The work inhibited by the Pope : Bishop Stubbs's summary of the 
 contest and his criticism of the action of the monks pp. 103-116 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 FROM THE GREAT EXILE TO THE DEATH OF PRIOR 
 HENRY OF EASTRY 
 
 Gervase's account of the death of Archbishop Hubert : Opening of his 
 tomb in 1890 : Contents of the tomb : King John seizes the Chapel 
 of the late Archbishop : Monks refuse to elect the King's nominee : 
 Exile of the monks : Their return in 1 21 3 : Offerings at the shrine 
 of St. Thomas during the exile : Translation of the relics of St. 
 Thomas, 1220 : New conventual seal : Landing of the Friars in 
 England : Stained glass windows in St. Thomas's Chapel : The 
 Frater House rebuilt : Cloisters remodelled : Quarrel between the 
 monks and Archbishop Edmund : A charter tampered wdth : 
 The Archbishop refuses to sanction the election of Roger de 
 la Lee to the priorate : Death of Archbishop Edmund at 
 Pontigny : Building work carried out by Priors Roger Lee, 
 and Roger of St. Alphege : The Prior's Chapel : Election of Arch- 
 bishop Boniface : He attempts to reform the discipHne of the 
 Priory : Resistance of the monks : Appeal to Rome : Prior Adam 
 Chillenden chosen primate : His election opposed by Prince 
 Edward : Set aside by the Pope in favour of Robert KUwardby : 
 Visitations of the Prior and Chapter sede vacante : Feud between 
 the monks and citizens : Prior Thomas Ringmere : His abortive 
 attempts to introduce reforms : Charges made against him by the 
 monks : Resignation of the Prior : Hfenry of Eastry elected prior : 
 His capacity for business : His building operations : The Audit 
 House : Choir-stalls : Doors and screens in the choir : The Chapter- 
 House repaired : A reliquary for St. Thomas's head : New spire on 
 the N.W. tower : Brewery : Cheker : Almonry Chapel : Tabula 
 of the high altar : Notes from Eastry's correspondence : Arch- 
 bishop Winchelsey's shrine : Prior Eastry's relations vnth Arch- 
 bishop Reynolds : Reynolds' tomb : His benefactions to the Church : 
 Visits of royal persons : Marriage of King Edward I to Margaret of 
 France : King Edward II comes to Canterbury : Queen Isabella 
 leaves her hounds in the charge of the Prior : Death of Prior 
 Eastry pp. 11 7- 1 44 
 
 XI 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 FROM THE DEATH OF PRIOR HENRY OF EASTRY TO 
 THE ELECTION OF PRIOR THOMAS OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 Prior Richard Oxenden : Visit of King Edward III : Gifts from the Prior 
 and Convent : A new window erected in St. Anselm's Chapel : Prior 
 Robert Hathbrand : The Black Death : A new Frater House built 
 in the Infirmary : The Chancel of the Infirmary Chapel remodelled : 
 The monastic kitchen rebuilt : The " Black Prince's " Chantry : 
 Work done to the Chapel of St. Mary in the Cr^t : Funds raised 
 for rebuilding the Nave : Funeral of the " Black Prince " : His 
 tomb : Achievements : Bequests to the Church : The Norman Nave 
 pulled down by Archbishop Simon of Sudbury : Murder of the 
 Archbishop : His tomb : The rebuilding of the Nave continued by 
 Prior Finch : The New Guest Chambers called " Paradise " and 
 " Heaven " : Fall of the Campanile : Death of Prior Finch : His 
 character pp. 145-166 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PRIORATE OF THOMAS CHILLENDEN, 1 391-141 1 
 
 Building operations : The Nave : Comparison between the Naves of 
 Canterbury and Winchester : Internal arrangements of the Nave : 
 New Altar-piece : The Choir whitewashed : Repavement of the 
 North Aisle of the Choir and South-East transept : New lodgings 
 for the Sub-Sacrists : Reconstruction of the Chapter House : the 
 Great Dormitory new roofed : Upper story erected over the 
 Water-tower : New Cloisters : Chamber over the Green Court 
 Gate : The Pentise : Rebuilding of the city wall between North 
 Gate and Queningate : Canterbury CoUege in Oxford, rebuilt : 
 And the Cheker of the Hope in Mercury Lane : Ornaments and 
 vestments acquired during Chillenden's priorate : Bishop Bucking- 
 ham's Chantry : Lady Mohun's Chantry : Chillenden's embassage 
 to Pisa : His death : Tomb pp. 167-186 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 FROM THE DEATH OF THOMAS CHILLENDEN TO 
 THE SUPPRESSION OF THE PRIORY 
 Prior John Wodensburgh : His economic reforms : The Great Cloister 
 finished : Burial of King Henry IV : His tomb : Opening of the 
 xii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 tomb in 1832 : Death of Archbishop Arundel : His Chantry : 
 King Henry V comes to Canterbury : Archbishop Chicheley : His 
 tomb : Lollardy repressed ; Prior William Molash : Rebuilding of 
 the South-West tower : The great central tower commenced, 
 1433 : Richard Beek, Master Mason : Cardinal Beaufort admitted 
 into confraternity : Tomb o£ Lady Holland and her two husbands 
 in St. Michael's Chapel : Chamber over the Chapel : The Brenchley 
 Chantry : New Lady Chapel erected by Prior Goldston I : Jack 
 Cade's rebellion : King Henry VI at Canterbury : Archbishop 
 Bourchier orders a thanksgiving service in the Cathedral for the 
 capture of Henry VI : King Edward IV presents the great window 
 of the 'North- West transept : Prior WiUiam SeUinge : His building 
 operations : City wall between Burgate and Queningate : Great 
 Central tower : John WasteU, Master Mason : New drainage 
 system : The Christ Church Gate erected, 1517 : Prior Thomas 
 Goldston II : His gifts to the Church : The scrutiny of the shrine 
 of St. Dunstan : Archbishop Warham's Chantry : Prior Thomas 
 GoldweU : The affair of Elizabeth Barton : Dr. Layton comes to 
 Canterbury : Fire at the Prior's lodgings : Destruction of the 
 shrine of St. Thomas, 1538 : Surrender of the Priory: Goldwell 
 hopes to be the iirst Dean : On the appointment of Nicholas 
 Wotton, GoldweU retires with a pension pp. 187-221 
 
 CHAPTER XI '"^'"''M 
 
 THE INTERIOR LIFE OF THE MONASTERY ' S^ 
 
 The Benedictine system : Lanfranc's reforms : The Priors of Christ 
 Church : Election : Jurisdiction sede vacante : Reluctance to attend 
 general Chapters of their order : Privileges : Lodgings : Servants : 
 The Precentor : The Sacrist : Revenue : The Cellarer : His lodg- 
 ings : Guest-HaU : " Meister Omers " : Gifts to officials at Easter 
 and Christmas : The Chamberlain : His duties : The Dormitory : 
 Deportum : The Penitentiary : Discipline : The Scrutatores : The 
 Treasurers : Loans from the Archbishop : Fluctuations of income : 
 Offerings to the shrine of St. Thomas : The Almoner : The Maundy : 
 Almoner's School : Novices : The Archbishop's School : Canterbury 
 CoUege in Oxford : The Infirmarer : Infirmary buildings : 
 Stationarii : Fees to Surgeons : Dead monks placed on a stone in 
 the Infirmary Chapel : Rules for the Infirmary : The monastic 
 kitchen : Servants and their wages : Hours of Divine Service, and 
 of meals : Study : Carrels in the Cloister : Recreations : Offerings 
 of the brethren at Easter : Fees paid for sermons : A Hst of the 
 Priors of Christ Church pp. 222-271 
 
 Xlll 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH ON THE EVE OF THE 
 REFORMATION 
 
 The visit of Erasmus in 1513 : Description of the Nave : The Martyr- 
 dom : The Crypt : Reliquary Cupboard : The High Altar : Orna- 
 ments and vestments : St. Thomas's Chapel : The Corona : 
 Arrangement of the Choir fittings : Arras hangings : The Lenten 
 Veil : The High Altar : Patriarchal Chair : ReUcs near the Side 
 Altars : The Measure of Our Lady : Relics, and Altars pp. 272-286 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FROM THE NEW FOUNDATION TO THE PRIMACY 
 
 OF LAUD 
 
 The Incorporation Charter : Constitution of the CoUegiate Church : 
 Cranmer's modified scheme : His provision for the sons of poor men 
 in the Cathedral School : OutHne of the history of the King's 
 School : Dean Wotton : The Prebendaries conspire against Cran- 
 mer : Richard Thornden, Bishop of Dover : Church goods alienated: 
 A turbulent Canon : Stained glass windovsfs destroyed : Fire at the 
 Palace : Destruction of the monastic buildings : The Chapter House 
 fitted up for sermons : The Marian reaction : Ornaments replaced : 
 Married Prebendaries deprived of their stalls : Death of Queen 
 Mary and of Cardinal Pole : Five Prebendaries refuse to take the 
 Oath of Supremacy and are deprived : The Archiepiscopal Palace 
 rebuilt by Parker : Ritual in the days of Queen Elizabeth : Visit of 
 the Queen to Canterbury : Chapter orders relating to sermons : 
 Want of proper supervision of the fabric : The Walloon and French 
 Protestant congregation in the Crypt : Names of the first members 
 of the New Foundation pp. 287-314 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 FROM LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 Character of Archbishop Laud : Preparations made by the Dean and 
 Chapter for the Archbishop's first visitation : New Altar and 
 ornaments : Growth of Puritanism in Kent : The Archbishop's 
 visitation articles : The Revised Statutes : Bowing towards the 
 Altar : A new font presented by Dr. Warner : The pre-Ref ormation 
 Fonts : Laud's attempt to enforce conformity upon the French 
 congregation : Fall of a pinnacle of the Great Central tower : 
 Sermons to be preached in the Choi;: instead of in the Sermon- 
 
 xiv 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 House : Violent protest by the Puritans : Outbreak of the Civil 
 War : The Cathedral looted by Colonel Sandys' troopers : Dean 
 Bargrave imprisoned in the Fleet : Church plate sold by the Dean 
 and Chapter : The Parliament issue an order for the protection of 
 the Cathedral : Destruction of stained glass windows by Richard 
 Culmer and others : The Cathedral estates sequestrated : Thomas 
 Monins appointed Receiver -General : Survey made in 1650 : 
 Buildings scheduled for destruction : Church plate lent to the 
 Independents : The Cathedral services reduced to a single sermon 
 on Sundays pp. 315-333 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE CLOSE OF THE 
 
 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 King Charles II at Canterbury : Petitions to the Dean and Chapter 
 from oiEcials of the Church : John Peirce, Six-Preacher, asks for 
 his fee for a sermon preached before the rebellion : The Dean and 
 Chapter recount their losses : The Christ Church Gates restored : 
 Refitting of the Choir : New Altar Screen : Communion Plate : 
 Money spent on repair between 1660-1670 : Money raised for the 
 redemption of captives : The Choir wainscoted : Picture of King 
 Charles I : A new Altar-cloth presented by Queen Mary : Hours 
 of Divine Service : John Boy's description of the Cathedral in 
 1675 : Removal of the spire from the Arundel steeple in 1704 : 
 The Choir re-pewed : Archbishop Tenison's archiepiscopal throne : 
 New Audit-house : New Altar-piece erected by James Burrough 
 in 1733 : Work done to the Corona in 1748 : Rebuilding of the 
 gable of the South-East transept : Dean Home's destructive 
 " restorations " : The Nave repaved : Correspondence between 
 Archbishop Herring and the Dean and Chapter relative to the 
 relics of St. Anselm pp. 334-353 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 THE CATHEDRAL IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Church patronage : Pluralities and nepotism : Gilbert's reminiscences 
 of the Canons of Canterbury : Dean Percy's " restorations " : New 
 Altar-screen : Rebuilding of the Arundel steeple : Repair of the 
 Cloister : Removal of the Cemetery Gate : A new Archiepiscopal 
 throne erected from the designs of George Austin : Enthronement 
 of Archbishop Sumner : The Ecclesiastical Commission : Canonries 
 reduced from twelve to six : Annual income of the Dean and 
 Chapter : Houses of suppressed Canonries pulled down : Dean 
 AKord's reforms : Grant by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to 
 
 b XV 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 the fabric fund : The roof of the Choir, and the Oxford steeple 
 repaired : Statuary placed in the niches of the South porch : 
 Cathedral gasworks : New buildings erected for the King's School : 
 The wooden staircase leading to the South-East transept replaced 
 by a stone one : The Choir reseated in 1879 : The fire of 1872 : 
 The Dean and Chapter decline the offer of the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners to administer their estates : Work done to the 
 fabric by Dean Farrar : By Dean Wace : Repair of the Central 
 tower : The Archiepiscopal Palace rebuilt by Archbishop Temple : 
 Gifts of ornaments, and vestments : Pulpit erected in the Nave 
 from the designs of Mr. Bodley : Revival of Church life in the 
 nineteenth century pp. 354-3/6 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 Founded by Archbishop Theodore : Its extent in Anglo-Saxon times : 
 Reconstituted by Lanfranc : His rules for monastic reading : 
 Fragment of a twelfth-century catalogue of the books in the library : 
 The catalogue compiled in the days of Prior Henry of Eastry : 
 Evidence that Christ Church possessed a Bihliotheca at an early 
 date : Where situated : Inspection of the books temp Prior Oxen- 
 den : A new library built by Archbishop Chicheley : Decorated by 
 Prior Sellinge : Review of the books by William Ingram in 1508 : 
 Reconstruction of the arrangement of the mediaeval library : 
 Estates given for the upkeep of the Hbrary : The Scriftorium : Car- 
 rels : Celebrated books produced at Canterbury : Early employment 
 of professional scribes, and illuminators : Cost of production : 
 Damage done to the books by a fire on the eve of the dissolution of 
 the Priory : Alienation of volumes by Archbishops Parker and Whit- 
 gift, and by Dean Nevill : Books acquired in 1547 : Efforts made 
 in l6z8 to replenish the shelves : Archbishop Abbot's benefaction : 
 The books sent to London by the Trustees of the lands of Deans 
 and Chapters : Returned to Canterbury at the Restoration of the 
 Monarchy : Benefactions by Archbishop Juxon and Bishop 
 Warner : A new library built on the site of the Priors' Chapel : 
 Purchase of books and Somner's MSS. : Sancroft's gift of duplicates 
 in the Lambeth Library : Additions made in the eighteenth 
 century : The Combe Collection of early printed Bibles : A new 
 library built in 1867 : The Howley-Harrison bequest : The Muni- 
 ments : Not part of the library : Precautions taken by Dean Wotton 
 for their preservation : Discovery of hidden MSS. : A Register 
 book in private hands : Recovery of the Muniments at the time of 
 the Restoration : Damage done by a fire in the Audit-house, 1670 : 
 The Great Catalogue compiled by Cyprian Bunce in 1806 : Dr. 
 J. Brigstock Sheppard's Report on the records to the Historical 
 xvi 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 MSS. Commission : Rearrangement of the Collection in recent 
 years : A description of the various classes of documents : The 
 Monastic Registers : Registers of the Dean and Chapter : A list 
 of the books which were once part of the Conventual Library and 
 are still preserved in the hbrary of the Dean and Chapter 
 
 pp. 377-404 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS AND MURAL 
 
 PAINTINGS 
 
 The Clerestory windows : The Theological windows in the Choir : 
 The Triforium windows : Rose-window in the South-East tran- 
 sept : Windows of the Trinity (St. Thomas's) Chapel : Modern 
 windows : Wall paintings : St. Christopher in the Corona : St. 
 Eustace in the South Choir-aisle : St. Paul at Mehta in St. 
 Anselm's Chapel : Frescoes in St. Gabriel's Chapel in the Crypt : 
 Scott Robertson's description of the subjects pp. 405-444 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE CHOIR AND THE ORGAN 
 
 Provision made for the Choir by the Statutes of Henry VIII : Paid 
 singers in pre-Reformation days : Men's voices continued to be 
 used for the Choir offices after the dissolution of the Priory : 
 Plain-song gradually superseded by harmonised compositions : 
 Instrumentahsts introduced to support the treble part : The 
 Sackbutters and Corneteers : The organ : Its position in monastic 
 days : In the roof -loft at the time of the dissolution : Rebuilt in 
 1564 in the North Choir-aisle : WiUiam Selby the first organist 
 of the New Foundation : The statutable stipends of Minor Canons, 
 Lay Clerks, and Chorister Boys : Poverty of Lay Clerks in the 
 seventeenth century : Their petition to Archbishop Laud : Atten- 
 dance at three daily services compulsory in 1583 : Sufferings of the 
 Lay Clerks at the time of the Great Rebellion : The organ in the 
 Chapter House sold by the Sequestrators : Petition of Thomas 
 Jones, Lay Clerk at the time of the Restoration : Improvement of 
 the stipends of the Choirmen : A new organ built by Lancelot 
 Pease of Cambridge in 1662 : By Bernard Smith in 1683 : The 
 organ rebuilt by Richard Bridge in 1752 : Rebuilt and removed to 
 the Rood-loft by Maurice Greene in 1784 : Removed to the gallery 
 of the South Triforium in 1827 by Longhurst, senior : A new 
 instrument built by Henry WiUis in 1886 : General history of the 
 Choir : Litany chanted by Lay Clerks until 1704 : The substitutes 
 abolished in 1724 : "Precum days," meaning of : The Chorister 
 
 xvii 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 boys : Liberal provision for by the Statutes : Liable to be impressed 
 for service in the Royal Chapels : A Gramnaar Master appointed in 
 1845 : The Precentor : His statutable duties : The Canterbury 
 repertory of anthems and services an extensive one : List of the 
 organists : Speciiications of the organs built by Lancelot Pease, 
 Bernard Smith, Richard Bridge, Maurice Greene, and Henry 
 Willis pp. 445-470 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE BELLS 
 
 Bells acquired by Priors Ernulf, Conrad, Wibert Eastry, Hathbrand, 
 ChiUenden : Archbishop Arundel presents the ring called by his 
 name : Bells sold at the time of the suppression of the Priory : 
 " Bell Harry " : Antiquity of the beU : Perhaps named after Prior 
 Henry of Eastry : The bells in the Oxford steeple : The Clock : 
 " Bell Dunstan " : The Arundel ring rehung by Thomas Crust in 
 1634 • Taken down and recast by Samuel Knight in 1726, and 
 rehung in the Oxford steeple : Dimensions of the present ring 
 of ten and the inscriptions on the bells : Rehung in 1897 : The 
 clock chimes pp. 471-476 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A list of the Deans and Canons, supplementary to that printed in 
 Le Neve's " Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae " pp. 476-478 
 
 Index pp. 479-490 
 
 XVIU 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Cathedral at Twilight Frontispece 
 
 St. Augustine's Chair ^ I 
 
 Pillars from the Saxon Church of Reculver 7 
 
 Conjectural Plan of the Roman-Saxon Church Facing f. lo 
 
 Church and Baptistery of S. AppoUinare at Ravenna 12 
 
 The EarUest Seal of the Prior and Convent 16 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 23 
 
 Passage from the Cloister to the Infirmary 27 
 
 Plan of Lanfranc's Church (1070-1077) Facing f. 30 
 
 The North-West Tower ; and ruins of the Palace in 1816 „ 32 
 
 Signatures to the Accord of Winchester, 1072 „ 33 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 36 
 
 Plan of St. Anselm's Church before the Fire of 1 174 Facing f. 40 
 
 Ernulf's Crypt „ 41 
 
 ErnuM's Crypt (South Aisle) 43 
 
 Seals of the Prior and Convent of Christ Church Facing p. 45 
 
 The Treasury „ 5° 
 The Norman drawing of the Cathedral and Conventual Buildings, 
 
 c. 1164 Facing ^.52 
 
 The Green-Court Gateway S3 
 
 Substructure of Water Tower Facing f. 54 
 
 Transept Tower S^ 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 57 
 
 The Martyrdom of St. Thomas Facing f. 68 
 
 The Tomb of St. Thomas of Canterbury 7' 
 King Henry II receiving his Discipline at the Hands of the 
 
 Monks Facing p. 74 
 
 Site of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury 84 
 
 Capital of Martyrdom Door 88 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 89 
 
 Substructure of Trinity Chapel (St. Thomas's) 95 
 
 Ground Plan . Facing p. loi 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 1 I03 
 
 Capital in the Crypt ^ '' 116 
 
 Third Seal of the Prior and Convent, c. 1221 Facing p. 123 
 
 Seal of the Dean and Chapter, 1540 „ 123 
 
 The Cloister Doorway, leading to the Martyrdom Transept 125 
 
 xix 
 
Z7ST OF ILLUSTRJTION S 
 
 PACE 
 
 Western doorway of the Prior's Chapel, c, 1254 129 
 
 Chapter-House Door Facing p. 138 
 
 The Round Water-Tower and the Cheker Building „ 139 
 
 Checker Tower i39 
 
 Seal of Archdeacon Simon Langton, 1245 Facing p. 144 
 
 Seal of Prior Henry of Eastry „ 144 
 
 Boss in " Black Prince's " Chantry Chapel 14S 
 
 The Table-Hall of the Infirmary, c. 1342 149 
 
 Ruins of the Chancel of the Infirmary Chapel 153 
 
 North Window of the Infirmary Chapel ISS 
 
 Boss of Joan Plantagenet f 1 57 
 
 The Black Prince's Tomb Facing p. 160 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 166 
 
 The Nave 168 
 
 The Water-Tower Facing p. 176 
 
 Doorway from the Cloister to the Infirmary 177 
 
 The Pentise 179 
 
 Prior's Doorway in Dark Entry 183 
 
 Waterspout of the South Porch 1 87 
 
 The Cloister (North Side) 189 
 
 Plan of the Floor of the Nave, c. 1786 Facing p. 195 
 
 The Central Tower from the Cloister „ 208 
 
 The Michaelmas Fair in the Precincts „ 209 
 
 Christ Church Gate „ 213 
 
 Ruins of the Frater-House 231 
 
 The Cellarer's Door in the Cloister, and the Aperture in which 
 
 the Turn-table was placed 235 
 
 Ruins of Cellarer's HaU 239 
 
 Ruins of the HaU of the Infirmary 253 
 
 Substructure of the Cellarer's Gate House 263 
 
 Altar of the Sword Point 273 
 
 Interior of the Christ Church Gate 289 
 
 The Chained Bible 294 
 
 The Deanery Facing p. 300 
 
 The French Church in the " Black Prince's " Chantry Chapel 309 
 
 The Font, 1639 Facing p. 320 
 The Christ Church Gate with the arms of Archbishop Juion, 1661 339 
 
 Panelling in the Choir Facing p. 342 
 
 The Choir, 1816 ,,348 
 
 The Christ Church Gate after the removal of the Turrets 351 
 
 The Choir Facing p. 354 
 
 The Nave 357 
 
 The Cathedral from the " Oaks " Facing p. 363 
 
 The Archbishop's Throne „ 363 
 
 The " Old Palace " 372 
 
 Archbishop Juxon's Gates (Inner Face) 373 
 XX 
 
LIST OF I LLU ST RJ T I ON S 
 
 PASE 
 
 The Cathedral from the Stour Valley Facing p. 384 
 
 Methusaleh from a Window in the Clerestory 407 
 
 Enoch from a Window in the Clerestory 41 1 
 
 The Rich Men of this World. Window II 20 413 
 
 The Parable of the Sower. Window II 21 414 
 
 The Destruction of Sodom. Window II 20 415 
 
 The Three Wise Men Riding. Window II 2 416 
 
 Plan of Window II 418 
 
 Plan of Window III 419 
 
 1. The Earth falls on WiUiam of Gloucester. Window I 13, 
 
 Trinity Chapel, South Side 426 
 
 2. Two Men bring News that he is Dead 427 
 
 3. A Dismal Groan is heard 428 
 
 4. Holy and Humble Men of Heart come with Spades and Country 
 
 Tools 429 
 
 5. WiUiam is brought out 430 
 A Lady offering a coil at St. Thomas's Altar. Window VI 21 
 
 (South Side of Trinity Chapel) 43 1 
 
 Nave of St. Gabriel's Chapel 441 
 
 The Choir School (formerly the Monastic Brewery) 459 
 
 XXI 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ 
 in Canterbury, though not the largest English cathe- 
 dral — ^York, Lincoln, Winchester, and EI7 all exceed 
 Canterbury in mere area, 
 and the two first named 
 perhaps in grandeur of 
 design as well — appeals to 
 the affections and histori- 
 cal instincts of the English 
 people with peculiar 
 directness and force. It 
 surpasses even West- 
 minster Abbey in the 
 closeness of its connexion 
 with the ecclesiastical 
 history of the English 
 race. " What the Abbey 
 is for the history of the 
 English nation," said 
 Dean Farrar, " that the 
 Cathedral is for the 
 history of the English Church." It occupies a site 
 perhaps hallowed for Christian worship more than 
 fifteen hundred years ago, certainly for upwards of 
 thirteen centuries the centre of the ecclesiastical 
 system and a focus for the religious aspirations and 
 inspirations of Englishmen. Nor is the Mother- 
 Church of Canterbury less interesting when viewed as 
 an architectural document, since it would be difficult 
 
 St. Augustine' s Chair 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 to name any building which can afford an equally com- 
 plete illustration of the evolution and development of 
 Gothic architecture in this country. Although the 
 statement will require some explanation, it is true to 
 say that during the last fifteen hundred years the site 
 of the present fabric has been occupied by two, and 
 by only two, churches, viz. the Roman-Saxon church, 
 built probably in the fourth century when Britain 
 was still a part of the Western Empire, and restored by 
 St. Augustine to Christian uses at the beginning of the 
 seventh century; and the Norman church, erected 
 by Archbishop Lanfranc in the days of William the 
 Conqueror. With the latter church the present fabric 
 may claim continuity, since there has never been a 
 complete and simultaneous rebuilding of all its com- 
 ponent parts, and considerable portions of Lanfranc's 
 work still remain in its walls. 
 
 The Roman-Saxon church first claims our attention. 
 It will not be necessary for our present purpose to 
 retell the story of the Gregorian Mission. Even 
 Somner in his " Antiquities of Canterbury " — ^pub- 
 lished as long ago as 1640 — excused himself for not 
 entering into details concerning the coming of Augustine 
 and his fellow monks on the ground that the story was 
 already somewhat " trite and vulgar." Whatever truth 
 there may have been in that statement two hundred 
 and seventy years ago, there can be little doubt that 
 the pioneer work of the Apostle of the English has 
 been made sufficiently familiar to most people, es- 
 pecially in the picturesque pages of Stanley's " Memo- 
 rials of Canterbury." For the moment, at any rate, 
 we are concerned only with Bede's remarkable state- 
 ment that when in the year 602 — ^five years after the 
 Italian missionaries landed in Thanet — ^Augustine felt 
 that the time had come for him to set up his cathedra 
 in. the Kentish kingdom, it was not necessary for him 
 to build a new church, but merely to re-hallow for 
 Christian worship a church which already existed. 
 2 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 When [writes the Venerable Bede] an episcopal see had been given to 
 Augustine in the King's own city, he regained possession (recupravii), 
 with the King's support, of a church there, which he was informed had 
 been built in the city long before by Roman believers. This he conse- 
 crated in the name of the Holy Saviour Jesus Christ our Lord and God, 
 and fixed there a home for himself and all his successors.* 
 
 That the Gospel of Christ followed in the wake of 
 the Roman legions, and even penetrated to districts 
 not subjected to their arms, there can be little doubt. 
 But while there may have been churches in Britain 
 even in the second century of the Christian era, it is 
 unlikely that any survived the debacle brought about 
 by the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian. 
 
 With the abdication of Diocletian, however, in the 
 year 305 the danger passed away, and the Christians 
 were again able to meet for public worship and to 
 rebuild their ruined sanctuaries. 
 
 When the storm of persecution had ceased [says Bede], the faithful 
 Christians, who during the time of danger had hidden themselves in 
 woods and deserts and secret caves, appearing again in public, rebuilt 
 the churches which had been levelled to the ground ; founded, erected, 
 and finished the temples of the holy martyrs ; and, as it were, displayed 
 their conquering ensigns in all places, celebrated festivals, and performed 
 sacred rites with clean hearts.^ 
 
 Nowhere in Britain would the revival have been 
 likely to find earlier expression than in that south- 
 eastern corner of the island which was occupied 
 by the Cantii. Kent, owing to the short sea passage 
 across the Strait of Dover, has always been very 
 favourably placed for receiving at an early date the 
 civilisation of Europe. Pioneers have ever come this 
 way, from the day when Caesar's galleys struck Deal 
 beach to that on which M. Bleriot's monoplane 
 swooped down on Dover Cliffs. And it is reasonable to 
 assume that the earliest Christian missionaries (who- 
 
 1 "The Mission of Augustine," A. J. Mason, Cambridge, 1897. 
 Dr. Mason also prints the original Latin from Bede's Hist. EccL, 
 I. xiviii. 
 
 2 Bede, Hist. Ecd, lib. L C, 8, 
 
 3 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 ever they may have been) followed the line of least 
 resistance and landed on the Kentish coast. If they 
 did so, it is practically certain that they would have 
 chosen for their landing-place one of the three great 
 ports which guarded the coast of Kent. But whether 
 Richborough (Rutupice), Dover (Dubris), or Lymne 
 (Partus Lemanis) was the place of their disembarkation, 
 the military road from either of these three stations 
 would have led them direct to the Roman town 
 Durovernum, which commanded the ford over the 
 river Stour. 
 
 Durovernum is mentioned in the Itinerary of Anto- 
 ninus as occupying the last stage on the Roman road 
 from Londinium towards each of the three above- 
 named ports, and its site can with certainty be iden- 
 tified as that of the later city of Canterbury. The area 
 of the Roman town was, however, less than that of the 
 later city, and did not extend beyond the east bank 
 of the river. Its southern and eastern boundaries 
 seem to have been those marked out by the mediaeval 
 walls ; but whereas the latter are continued northwards 
 in a semicircle until they meet the river near Abbot's 
 MiU, the Roman wall seems to have formed a right- 
 angle near the bastion tower in the garden of the first 
 prebendary (now the residence of Canon Danks), 
 and to have passed through what is now the pre- 
 cincts very near to the south side of the present 
 church. 
 
 From a military point of view Durovernum was not 
 a place of great importance, for the situation was lo^, 
 and the town did not command the lowest ford on 
 the river ; but its position at the junction of the three 
 great military roads from the ports marked it out as a 
 convenient trading-centre, and its inhabitants no doubt 
 at a very early date enjoyed considerable material 
 prosperity and a well-ordered social life. The condi- 
 tions were thus peculiarly favourable for the reception 
 of Christianity, and it is probable that in Durovernum 
 4 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 there was an organised Christian community, and 
 possibly a Christian church, before the close of the 
 third century ; but it is in the highest degree unlikely 
 that any such church could have survived the Diocle- 
 tian persecution. When, then, was the Roman church 
 which St. Augustine recovered and made his cathedral 
 erected ? Now Eadmer, a Christ Church monk who 
 lived in the twelfth century, has preserved for us a 
 description of the Roman-Saxon church, and it is 
 remarkable that he compares some of its arrangements 
 with those of the great basilican church of St. Peter at 
 Rome. He had been to Rome in the company of Arch- 
 bishop Anselm, and was therefore competent to insti- 
 tute a comparison between the two buildings. There 
 were, of course, very considerable divergences in the 
 plan of the two churches, to which reference will be 
 made later, and enormous disparity in their area, but 
 the resemblance was sufficient to cause Eadmer to say 
 that the Roman-Saxon church of Augustine and his 
 successors " was planned to a certain extent in imita- 
 tion of that church of the blessed Peter, the prince 
 of the Apostles." ^ 
 
 But the great basilica on the Vatican was not com- 
 pleted until about a.d. 330 ; it is therefore evident 
 that the Roman church in Durovernum could scarcely 
 have been built prior to the commencement of the 
 second half of the fourth century. 
 
 If this be accepted, its existence as a Christian 
 church could not have been of long duration, for early 
 in the succeeding century, on the withdrawal of the 
 Roman legions, the south-eastern corner of the island 
 was overrun by devastating hordes of pagan Jutes, 
 before whose onslaught the Christian population ran 
 " as men fly from fire." Durovernum, as occupying a 
 central position in East Kent, was much too important 
 
 ' Opuscula Eadmeri Cantoris, Parker MSS., Corpus Christi Coll., 
 Cambs. ; and quoted by Willis in his " Architectural History of 
 Canterbury Cathedral," London, 1845. 
 
CANIERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 a place to escape the ravages of the invaders, by whom, 
 no doubt, the town was plundered and burnt. For a 
 considerable period it would seem that the site lay 
 desolate without inhabitant, for when the conquerors — ■ 
 discovering at length its geographical and strategic 
 advantages — again inhabited it, the streets of the 
 Saxon town did not in all cases follow the line of their 
 Roman predecessors.^ Moreover, the very name of the 
 place appears to have been forgotten, so that when 
 the curtain is again raised Durovernum has become 
 Cant-wara-byrig — 'the capital or fortress of the men of 
 Kent. The Saxon town was still confined to the eastern 
 bank of the river, but its area had been extended 
 towards the north by continuing the wall from the 
 neighbourhood of the Burgate to the Northgate so as to 
 enclose what is now the northern portion of the pre- 
 cincts of the church. This, of course, brought the 
 Roman church within the walls, and it was here that 
 the Kentish king had his palace. It is probable that 
 it was the attraction offered by the solidly built walls 
 of the church and its adjacent buildings — ^which, 
 unlike the more flimsily constructed private houses, 
 had escaped destruction by fire — ^which led Ethelbert 
 to select this quarter of the town for his residence. 
 
 He had been king for nearly forty years when the 
 Italian Mission landed in Thanet, and although towards 
 the west expansion had been checked by the growing 
 power of Wessex, he ruled over a well-consolidated 
 kingdom and exercised a suzerainty over the whole 
 district between the Thames and the Humber. For 
 many years his throne had been shared by Queen Bertha, 
 the daughter of the Christian King of Paris, whose 
 chaplain. Bishop Luithard, was permitted to celebrate 
 the mysteries of the Christian faith in the little church 
 of St. Martin outside the city walls. All these were 
 favourable, predisposing circumstances which, although 
 
 1 " Canterbury till Domesday," by T. Godfrey Faussett, in the Journal 
 of Arch. Institute, vol. liii. 
 
 6 
 
*':'>■• "f.-' 
 
 iiM|(i|ic'ii!iiiii,ri 
 
 Pillars from the Saxon Church of Reculvef 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 insufficient in themselves to account for the rapidity 
 and permanence of St. Augustine's work, no doubt 
 contributed towards both. In Kent the Gospel seed 
 germinated quickly, and was less subjected to the 
 blighting influences which elsewhere often destroyed 
 the crop before maturity was attained. There were 
 fewer relapses to heathendom in Kent than elsewhere ; 
 had it been otherwise the metropolitical see would, 
 in accordance with Pope Gregory's injunctions, have 
 been established in London and not in Canterbury. 
 
 Ethelbert's baptism, on Whit-Sunday 597, was 
 followed by the conversion of many of his subjects; 
 but it was not until five years later that Augustine felt 
 that sufficient progress had been made in the evan- 
 gelistic side of his work to warrant the establishment of 
 his episcopal see. Canterbury, as the capital of the 
 Kentish kingdom and the seat of royalty, was obviously 
 the proper place for the cathedral church. It is not 
 unlikely that Augustine at once recognised the 
 original purpose of one of the principal buildings 
 attached to the palace, and he may well have suggested 
 to his royal convert the surrender of what had 
 been once church property as a suitable act of repa- 
 ration. If we may trust the anonymous author of the 
 " Life of St. Augustine," Ethelbert, in the fervour 
 of his early piety, not only consented to restore the 
 desecrated church but handed over the whole of 
 the royal demesne to the archbishop, and retired to 
 Reculver. It has been generally assumed that the 
 Roman church was in a ruinous condition, and that it 
 was either rebuilt by Augustine or very considerably 
 enlarged by him. But it is unlikely that Ethelbert 
 would have permitted a dilapidated building to en- 
 cumber the precincts of his palace, of which it formed 
 probably an integral part. Moreover, Augustine's 
 life was only prolonged for three years after the con- 
 secration of Christ's Church, during which period his 
 attention must have been chiefly directed to the 
 
 9 
 
CANIERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 church of SS. Peter and Paul, which was in course of 
 erection outside the city walls. 
 
 But although there is no evidence that the Roman 
 church was rebuilt or enlarged by Augustine, there are 
 reasons for believing that the description which 
 Eadmer gives does not represent the church as Augus- 
 tine found it. In order to recover the original plan of 
 the church it will be necessary to examine critically 
 Eadmer's account of it/ It is quite clear from Eadmer's 
 description that the church was basilican in form — that 
 is to say, it was an oblong parallelogram having an 
 aisle on either side of the central hall or nave. In 
 Eadmer's days it had an apse, or semicircular termina- 
 tion, at both its eastern and western ends. The eastern 
 apse was occupied by the presbytery, which extended 
 westwards beyond the chord of the apse and was built 
 over a lofty crypt, or confessio. Against the waU of the 
 eastern apse was the high altar, and in front of it, 
 set on the chord of the apse, was the matutinal altar. 
 
 The western apse was occupied by the altar of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, behind which, against the wall 
 in the centre of the curve, was the archbishop's 
 cathedra, or throne. About half-way down the north 
 and south sides of the church and projecting beyond 
 the aisles were two towers, the southern forming a 
 porch, or side chapel, which was also used as a law 
 court ; the northern, which formed part of the cloisters, 
 serving as a school for novices. Now the double apse — 
 though found in the cathedral churches of Treves and 
 Mayence in Germany and of Nevers and Besan^on in 
 France, as well as in the great monastic church of St. 
 Gall — did not form part of the plan of the ancient 
 St. Peter's on the Vatican or of some forty other of 
 the earliest churches in Rome. In these churches of 
 primitive type, the narthex, or principal entrance, was 
 at the east end, the apse and the high altar at the 
 
 ^ A translation of Eadmer's description of the Roman-Saxon church 
 is given in the appendix to the present chapter. 
 lO 
 
CONJECTURAL PLAN OF THE 
 ROMAN- SAXON CHURCH 
 
 The unshaded parts show the extensions made in Saxon 
 TIMES. From George G. Scott's Essay on " English 
 Church Architecture " 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 west-end, so that the celebrant, while he faced the 
 people, faced also towards the east. It has been con- 
 jectured, with much probabiHty, that the double apse 
 was a later development of the primitive single western 
 one, and that it had its origin in the growth of the 
 monastic system. 
 
 As the community increased in numbers the choirs 
 of the basilicas (which were, of course, placed in the 
 nave) were found to afford insufficient accommodation 
 and privacy. The difficulty was met by leaving the 
 original altar at the west end to serve as the people's 
 altar, and by adding at the east end a new altar for 
 the use of the religious.^ Probably then the original 
 Romano-British church at Canterbury was a short- 
 aisled basilica with a western apse ; and that in Saxon 
 times it was extended eastwards so as to provide 
 an altar for the monks and a more convenient 
 choir. This lengthening of the church eastwards 
 would, of course, bring the flanking towers — .which 
 probably were connected originally with the portico 
 of the eastern entrance — into the position they occu- 
 pied in Eadmer's day, viz. about half-way between 
 the eastern and western extremities of the church. 
 
 The earliest recorded addition to the fabric was 
 made one hundred and thirty years after the death of 
 St. Augustine, when Archbishop Cuthbert erected 
 a smaller church in close proximity to the eastern end 
 of the larger one. Eadmer tells us that the new church 
 was designed to serve as a baptistery, a law court, and 
 a mausoleum for the Archbishop and his successors." 
 From the fact that it was dedicated under the invoca- 
 tion of St. John the Baptist we may infer that the 
 principal purpose of the new church was to accommo- 
 date the crowds of catechumens which at the seasons 
 of Epiphany, Easter and Whitsuntide would throng 
 
 1 See George Gilbert Scott's " Essay on Church Architecture," 
 London, 1881. 
 
 ^ Eadmer's Vita S. Bregwini in Anglia Sacra, p. 186. 
 
 II 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 to the cathedral church for Holy Baptism. And 
 Eadmer's statement that the baptistery was placed 
 near the eastern end of the larger church seems to 
 suggest that the principal entrance to that church 
 was still at the eastern end, since baptisteries, like 
 fonts, in later times, were almost invariably placed 
 near to the church-doors. 
 
 No description of the building has been preserved, 
 but from examples which are still extant in Italy and 
 elsewhere of early baptisteries it may be_ conjectured 
 that it was either circular or octagonal in plan, and 
 possibly resembled in general outhne the baptistery 
 
 Church and Baptistery of S. Afollinare at Ravenna 
 
 formerly attached to the church of S. ApoUinare 
 Nuovo at Ravenna.^ 
 
 Very considerable building operations were in pro- 
 gress at Canterbury during the archiepiscopate of 
 Wulfred (805-832), but the Archbishop's charter, 
 which makes mention of " rebuilding and restoring," 
 seems to refer rather to the conventual buildings than 
 to the church itself.^ 
 
 In the tenth century an extensive restoration of the 
 fabric of the church was carried out by Archbishop 
 Odo (940-960). It is true that Eadmer does not mention 
 
 ^ See Professor Baldwin Brown's " From Schola to Cathedral," 
 
 P-7S- 
 
 2 By liis charter dated 813 Wulfred granted certain privileges to the 
 monks of Christ Church, " renouando et restaurando pro honore et 
 amore Dei sanctum monasterium Dorovornensis ecclesiae reaedificando 
 refici auxiliantibus ejusdem ecclesiae presbyteriis ac diaconibus cunctoque 
 clero Deo servientium simul." Cartularium Saxomcum, W. de Gray 
 Bircli, 1880. 
 12 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 any alteration of the ground plan, but merely records 
 that the church was re-roofed by Odo and that he also 
 raised the walls " to give it a more aspiring altitude." ^ 
 But it is significant that not many years previously 
 several very notable relics had been acquired, which may 
 have caused a demand for more shrine room. Thus 
 less than fifty years earlier Archbishop Plegmund had 
 brought from Rome " the blessed martyr Blasius," ^ 
 and Odo himself had recently brought from Ripon a 
 portion of the body of St. Wilfrid.' A third acquisi- 
 tion of a similar kind was the relics of St. Audoen 
 (St. Owen), sometime Archbishop of Rouen, whose 
 wonder-working properties had been carefully tested 
 before they were deposited at Canterbury. It is there- 
 fore not unlikely that the lofty crypt, or confessionary, 
 at the eastern end of the church, of which Eadmer 
 makes particular mention, may have been constructed 
 by Odo to accommodate these newly acquired 
 treasures, and that the eastern extension of the church 
 was the necessary outcome of this alteration. The 
 crypt at Canterbury has always been such a prominent 
 feature of the cathedral church that it may be well to 
 say something here as to the origin and evolution of 
 the confessionary generally. In the Early Church it 
 was the custom to erect a cell outside the city 
 walls over the tomb of a martyr, to which the faith- 
 ful might resort for prayer. At a later date visits 
 to the actual burial-places fell into disuse, and the 
 Christian community, instead of going out to honour 
 their martyrs, brought their relics within the city 
 walls, where, instead of building places of worship 
 above their tombs, they dug tombs under the churches, 
 in which the precious relics were deposited. This was 
 the origin of the conjessio of the basilicas, and at a 
 later period of the crypts, which answered the same 
 
 1 Vita Odonis in Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 83. 
 
 2 Gervase's Acta Pontificum in Decern Scriptores, p. 1644. 
 
 3 Eadmer's filq §. Wtlfridi, Ma^iJlon, vol. iij, p. ZZJ. 
 
 13 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 purpose.^ Their original purpose as a repository for the 
 body of a martyr or confessor was, however, entirely 
 lost sight of when the custom was introduced of raising 
 the bodies of saints above instead of placing them 
 below the sanctuary floor, and setting them in lofty 
 shrines instead of within a narrow crypt. It has also 
 been pointed out that those great mediaeval churches 
 which have crypts, as York and Canterbury, represent 
 in so far the Latin tradition ; those which are without 
 this feature — as St. Albans, Salisbury, and West- 
 minster — follow in this respect the traditions of Glas- 
 tonbury and of the early British Church.^ 
 
 During the fifty years that followed the death of 
 Odo there is no record of any change in the fabric 
 of the cathedra] church. But in loii, when Alphege 
 was Archbishop, the city fell into the hands of the 
 Danes, and the Archbishop and monks, in order to 
 escape the massacre which was going on in the streets, 
 sought sanctuary within the church, the doors of which 
 were barricaded against the foe. Thereupon the 
 Vikings placed empty barrels against the walls of the 
 building and set fire to the pile, by which means they 
 managed to ignite the rafters of the wooden roof. 
 This had the desired effect, for when the melted lead 
 began to pour down inside the church the monks were 
 perforce driven out. With the exception of four who 
 made good their escape, the brethren were put to the 
 sword, and the Archbishop, after suffering many in- 
 dignities at the hands of his captors, was cruelly done 
 to death at Greenwich seven months later. The 
 surrender of the Archbishop, however, saved the 
 church, for Eadmer tells us that, though grievously 
 damaged, the church was not entirely destroyed by 
 the fire, which seems to have gone out after consuming 
 the roof.' 
 
 1 Baldwin Brown, op. cil. chapter ii. 
 
 2 G. G. Scott, ut supra, p. 71. 
 
 ^ Eadmer, Efist. de corf ore S. Dunstani, AngUa Sacra, vol. ii. p. 225, 
 
 14 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 The body of the murdered Archbishop was ran- 
 somed by the Londoners and deposited with all reve- 
 rence in their church of St. Paul. But eleven years 
 later his relics were translated to Canterbury, where 
 they were enshrined on the north side of the high 
 altar, in the presence of King Canute and his royal 
 consort, Queen Emma. As an expiatory act for the 
 misdeeds of his fellow countrymen, the King laid upon 
 the high altar his crown of gold and the Queen pre- 
 sented to the church a chalice of the same precious 
 metal. In later times the crown was suspended from 
 the beam which carried the great Rood. 
 
 But although the ancient church survived the inten- 
 tional] incendiarism of the Danes, an accidental fire 
 which broke out in the city and spread to the cathe- 
 dral brought its career to a close less than sixty years 
 later. Indeed,it may be said to have perished with the 
 Saxon dynasty, for the conflagration occurred in the 
 year after the Norman Conquest (1067), though in no 
 way connected with that great national event. So 
 complete was the disaster that Eadmer tells us that 
 the flames 
 
 consumed nearly all that was then preserved most precious, whether in 
 ornaments of gold, of silver, or of other materials, or in sacred and pro- 
 fane books. Amongst which were the muniments, the bulls of Popes, 
 and the charters of kings carefully sealed and collected together — all 
 for ever reduced to ashes. 
 
 For three years the blackened ruins of the church were 
 left standing, but with the advent of the new Norman 
 Archbishop all vestiges of the Roman-Saxon church 
 were swept away. The materials of which it was 
 composed were doubtless re-used, for this was the usual 
 practice when a church was destroyed, but probably 
 chiefly to form the cores of the massive Norman piers 
 and walls of the new sanctuary. According to Eadmer 
 the very foundations of the old church were eradicated 
 by Lanfranc ; but whether this was actually the case 
 or not, they are not likely to be recovered, since they 
 
 15 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 must lie within the area of the present church. A 
 few fragments of Roman tile are to be seen here and 
 there built into the walls of those portions of the 
 conventual buildings which have survived from early- 
 Norman times, but these are the sole memorials of 
 the Roman-Saxon church. It is, however, possible 
 that an illustration of the pre-Norman church is 
 still preserved in the impression of the earliest con- 
 ventual seal. Although attached to a document of 
 
 The Earliest Seal of the Prior and Convent 
 
 the twelfth century, the impression seems to show a 
 church having a double apse and an entrance through 
 a low tower, or lofty porch, about midway between 
 its eastern and western extremities, which may repre- 
 sent the " Suthdore " described by Eadmer. It is 
 true that Camden and others assert that seals were not 
 used in pre-Norman time^, but it seems inconceivable 
 that the cathedral and metropolitical church of Can- 
 terbury did not possess a seal at an earlier date, and if 
 so the old matrix may very well have remained in use 
 for many years after the church represented thereon 
 had passed away. 
 
 Before we discuss the architectural history of Lan- 
 franc's church, it may be convenient to give here some 
 i6 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 brief description of the fersonnel attached to it 
 predecessor. 
 
 It has been asserted that the substitution of secular 
 canons for Benedictine monks by Henry VIII merely 
 reversed the reform carried out by Archbishop Lan- 
 franc, who replaced the secular clergy by regulars. 
 But such a statement requires considerable modification 
 to bring it into line with actual fact. Christ Church, 
 Canterbury, was monastic in its origin, and, with the 
 exception of a short interval when a pestilence well- 
 nigh exterminated the monks, it continued to be 
 served by monks during the whole of .the Saxon period. 
 It is true that its monastic character was, in a sense, 
 accidental. A missionary biahop, himself a monk, 
 accompanied by a staff of monks, settled in Canter- 
 bury, and the latter became the clergy of the bishop's 
 church. The church itself was called a monastery, 
 and the charters which conveyed to the community 
 lands or privileges were addressed to the " family " 
 (familiis) serving God in the Church of our Saviour. 
 But the essential character of its inmates was priestly, 
 not monastic. In course of time, as the country became 
 more generally Christianised, a settled clergy unbound 
 by monastic rules took charge of the outlying districts, 
 and no doubt from time to time these secular clerks 
 formed part of the entourage of the Archbishop, who, 
 however, during the whole of the Saxon period shared 
 in the common life of the monastery. Their presence 
 would naturally tend to a relaxation of the Benedic- 
 tine rule — ^never a very strict one — ^until no great 
 diflEerence could be distinguished between those who 
 were under vows and those who were not. Bishop 
 Stubbs goes as far as to say that by 942 it is doubtful 
 whether there were any real Benedictines in England, 
 since Odo, and probably Dunstan, when desirous of 
 restoring the true discipline, sought the knowledge 
 of it, not in England, but at Fleury in France.^ 
 
 '^ Introduction to Efistola Cantuar, R.S., vol. xxxviii. 
 
 B 17 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Dunstan's predilection for monasticism is well known, 
 but it is remarkable that the reforms which he 
 inaugurated with so much zeal elsewhere do not 
 seem to have extended to his own cathedral church. 
 The work of restoring the monastic character of the 
 staff of Christ Church was left to Archbishop jElfric, 
 who succeeded to the See of Canterbury in 995. 
 
 The Saxon Chronicle relates that when ^Ifric came 
 to Canterbury " he was received by those men in 
 orders who of all were most distasteful to him, namely, 
 by clerks." The Archbishop at once summoned an 
 inquest of the oldest and wisest men, both ecclesias- 
 tical and lay, to inquire into the right and title of 
 these officiating clerks. After due deliberation the 
 jury found that according to the Pope's directions to 
 St. Augustine the " inhabitants " of Christ Church 
 should always be of the same order as those first sent 
 to effect the conversion of the people ; and that this 
 had been so until the days of Archbishop Ceolnoth 
 (833), when, after a great mortality had carried off 
 all the monks except five, the Archbishop had been 
 constrained to allow his church to be served by secular 
 priests.^ Mlixic at once determined upon the ejection 
 of the intruders, and, having obtained the Pope's 
 sanction to the reform, when he visited Rome for his 
 pall, it was duly carried out on his return to Canter- 
 bury, Thereafter monks alone formed the cathedral 
 staff, though it is uncertain how far they conformed to 
 the standard set by St. Benedict. As Lanfranc's estab- 
 lishment of one hundred and fifty monks is said to 
 have tripled the number formerly attached to Christ 
 Church, the original number was fifty. Although in 
 Saxon times the head of the monastery was called 
 dean instead of prior, the title indicated no difference 
 in the extent of authority exercised, and was in use 
 at the same period in /the| convents of Worcester, 
 Hyde, Glastonbury, and St. Edmundsbury, as well as 
 
 ^ A.S. Chron., Thorpe, ii.'p. 108. 
 18 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 at Canterbury. Henry, the last dean, became the 
 first prior of Lanfranc's new foundation. 
 
 Nineteen Saxon archbishops were buried within the 
 walls of their cathedral church. Augustine had, in 
 accordance with Roman custom, provided a place of 
 interment for himself and his successors outside the 
 city walls, and he and the next nine archbishops were 
 laid to rest in the church, or cemetery, of SS. Peter 
 and Paul (St. Augustine's). Cuthbert, the eleventh 
 archbishop, obtained the Papal sanction for inter- 
 ments in the cathedral church, and by a subterfuge 
 the monks of Christ Church laid his remains there 
 in spite of the remonstrances of the inmates of the 
 rival house. With the exception of Jaenbert, who had 
 been Abbot of St. Augustine's and was on that account 
 allowed to find a resting-place there ; Robert, who for 
 a like reason was buried at Jumieges ; and the deposed 
 Stigand, who died and was buried at Winchester; the 
 rest of the archbishops of Anglo-Saxon times were 
 interred in their own cathedral church. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I 
 
 EADMER'S DESCRIPTION OF THE ROMAN-SAXON 
 CATHEDRAL-^- 
 
 " This was that very church which had been built by 
 Romans, as Bede witnesses in his history, and which was 
 duly arranged in some -parts in imitation of the Church 
 of the blessed Prince of the Apostles, Peter, in which his 
 holy relics are exalted by the veneration of the whole 
 world. The venerable Odo had translated the body of 
 the blessed Wilfrid, Archbishop of York, from Ripon to 
 
 1 De reliquiis S. Auioeni, &c., MS. Corpus Christi Coll., Cambs. 
 p. 441, and Gervase, De Combustions ; the translation is from Willis's 
 " Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral." 
 
 19 
 
C J NTE RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Canterbury, and had worthily placed it in a more lofty 
 receptacle, to use his own words — that is to say, in the 
 great altar which was constructed oj rough stones and 
 mortar, close to the wall at the eastern part oj the presby- 
 tery. Afterwards another altar was placed at a conve- 
 nient distance before the aforesaid altar, and dedicated 
 in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, at which altar the 
 divine mysteries were daily celebrated. In this altar the 
 blessed Elphege had solemnly deposited the head of 
 St. Swithin, which he had brought with him when he 
 was translated from Winchester to Canterbury, and also 
 many relics of other saints. To reach these altars, a 
 certain crypt which the Romans call a confessionary had 
 to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of 
 singers. This crypt was fabricated beneath in the likeness 
 of the Confessionary of St. Peter, the vault of which was 
 raised so high that the part above could only be reached 
 by many steps. Within, this crypt had at the east an 
 altar, in which was enclosed the head of the blessed 
 Furseus, as of old it was asserted. Moreover, the single 
 passage {of entrance), which ran westward from the curved 
 part of the crypt, reached from thence up to the resting- 
 place of the blessed Dunstan, which was separated from 
 the crypt itself by a strong wall ; for that holy father was 
 interred before the aforesaid steps at a great depth in the 
 ground, and at the head of the saint stood the matutinal 
 altar. Thence the choir of singers was extended westward 
 into the body (aula) of the church, and shut out from the 
 multitude by a decent enclosure. 
 
 " In the next place, beyond the middle of the length of 
 the body, there were two towers which projected beyond 
 the aisles of the church. The south tower had an altar 
 in the midst of it, which was dedicated to the blessed 
 Pope Gregory. At the side was the principal door of the 
 church, which of old by the English and even now is called 
 the Suthdure, and is often mentioned by this name in the 
 law-books of the ancient kings. For all disputes from 
 the whole kingdom, which cannot legally be referred to the 
 
 20 
 
THE ROMAN-SAXON CHURCH 
 
 King's Court or to the hundreds or counties, do in this 
 place receive judgment. Opposite to this tower and on 
 the north, there was another tower in honour of the 
 blessed Martin, and had about it cloisters for the use of 
 the monks. And as the first tower was devoted to legal 
 contentions and judgments of this world, so in the second 
 the younger brethren were instructed in the knowledge 
 of the offices of the church, for the different seasons and 
 hours of the day and night. 
 
 " The extremity of the church was adorned by the 
 oratory of Mary, the blessed Mother of God, which was 
 so constructed that access could only be had to it by steps. 
 At its eastern part there was an altar consecrated to the 
 worship of that Lady, which had within it the head of 
 the blessed virgin Austroberta. When the priest per- 
 formed the divine mysteries at this altar he had his face 
 turned to the east, towards the people who stood below. 
 Behind him to the west was the pontifical chair, con- 
 structed with handsome workmanship and of large stones 
 and cement, and far removed from the Lord's table, being 
 contiguous to the wall of the church which embraced the 
 entire area of the building. And this was the plan of the 
 church of Canterbury." 
 
 P RE-NORMAN DEANS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 The following list was compiled by Mr. W. G. Searle 
 and printed in his edition of " Stone's Chronicle " for 
 the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1902 : 
 
 C. 798. Cuba. 
 
 C. 805. Beornheard. 
 
 C. 813. Heahfrith. 
 
 C. 830. Ceolnoth (Archbishop 833-70). 
 
 C. 860. ^thelwine. 
 
 C. 871. Eadmund, 
 
 C. 1015. -^thelnoth (Archbishop 1020-38). 
 
 21 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 C. 1020. Godric. 
 
 C. 1055. ^thelric (bishop of Selsey 1058-70). 
 
 C. 1070. Henry. 
 
 The following names have no date assigned to them : 
 
 Mlhic. ^Ifwine II. 
 
 ^Ifsige. Kynsige. 
 
 .^Ifwine I. Maurice. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 
 
 LANFRANC'S NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 The condition of the metropolitical church and its 
 surroundings when Lanfranc first set foot in Canter- 
 bury was by no means inspiriting. The new Arch- 
 bishop found his ecclesia a 
 mere mass of blackened 
 ruins and its staflE of clergy 
 represented by a few monks 
 of lax life, who, moreover, 
 for the moment were almost 
 without a lodging. The 
 difficulties of his position at 
 first filled Lanfranc with 
 despair, but he quickly shook 
 off his feelings of depression, 
 and in spite of his years — ^he was sixty-five when he 
 succeeded to the Primacy — set himself resolutely to 
 a task which might well have daunted a much 
 younger man. His first care was to provide accommo- 
 dation for the burnt-out monks. With the exception 
 of the refectorium ox frater-h.o\x?,e, the dormitory and 
 that part of the cloister alley which lay between them, 
 none of the conventual buildings were deemed worthy 
 of preservation, and they were forthwith demolished. 
 The o\6ifrater-h.ovi%e, which had escaped the ravages of 
 the fire, was temporarily fitted up for divine service 
 during the rebuilding of the cathedral ; but since 
 Lanfranc intended to treble the number of monks, 
 an entire set of new buildings was rendered necessary, 
 and when this was done the whole of the monastic 
 
 23 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 precinct was enclosed within a substantially built 
 stone wall.^ 
 
 When this had been accomplished the Archbishop 
 turned his attention to the church itself. The fabric 
 seems to have been patched up sufficiently to allow 
 the Archbishop's consecration to take place within its 
 tottering walls on August 29, 1070, but a survey of its 
 condition convinced him that age and the fire com- 
 bined had rendered the old church " completely un- 
 serviceable." He therefore, in the words of Eadmer, 
 " destroyed it utterly " and " set about to erect a 
 more noble one, and in the space of seven years he 
 raised this church from the foundations, and rendered 
 it nearly perfect." * The work was commenced (as 
 was customary in the Middle Ages) at the east end, 
 since Eadmer tells us that Lanfranc, before the work 
 was begun, caused the bodies of the saints to be 
 removed from their shrines near the high altar to the 
 western end of the church, " where the oratory of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary stood." This would seem to show 
 that the western part of the church, at any rate, was 
 not quite in such a ruinous condition as Eadmer 
 implies, and it is a matter for regret that the western 
 apse, " that venerable relic of a Christianity older 
 than St. Augustine," was not incorporated in the new 
 design. Mediaeval builders, however, were seldom 
 influenced by any antiquarian sentiment in favour of 
 the work of their predecessors ; and of course there 
 was this difficulty about preserving the ancient apse, 
 that Lanfranc wished to give his new church consider- 
 able extension towards the west while retaining (in 
 accordance with custom) the high altar in its original 
 position. Hence as the work proceeded westwards the 
 old church was gradually demolished. 
 
 Lanfranc was not without experience in church 
 building, since six years before he came to Canterbury 
 
 1 William of Malmsbiuy, Gesta Pontificum, R.S., p. 69. 
 s Eadmer, Hist. Nov., i. p. 7. 
 24 
 
LAN FRANCS NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 he had set out the ground plan of the great monastic 
 church of St. Stephen at Caen, in Normandy, of which 
 he had been appointed by Duke William the first 
 abbot. Possibly be may have been personally respon- 
 sible for the whole design of that church. However 
 that may have been, the plan and dimensions of 
 St. Stephen's were reproduced with remarkable exacti- 
 tude at Christ Church. The choirs of both churches 
 were rebuilt in the twelfth century, but the nave of 
 St. Stephen's at Caen remains to-day much as the 
 Norman masons left it. It has eight bays (the same 
 number that Canterbury possesses to-day) with a 
 western facade and flanking towers ; north and south 
 transepts of two unequal bays with apsidal chapels in 
 their eastern walls, and a gallery in each across the outer 
 bay supported by a massive pillar ; and a low lantern 
 tower at the crossing. It is quite clear, from Eadmer's 
 description, that aU these features were reproduced by 
 Lanfranc at Canterbury. Moreover, the architectural 
 style of both churches was the same ; in both the 
 rounded arch and massive pier conspicuous in the 
 romanesque buildings of the Archbishop's native 
 Lombardy reappeared in that modified form which 
 had recently been adopted by the people of his northern 
 home, Nor was it only for the design of his new cathe- 
 dral church that Lanfranc was indebted to Normandy, 
 but also for much of the material of which it was 
 constructed. The quarries in the neighbourhood of 
 Caen produced an excellent freestone for the ashlar 
 work. Water carriage was cheap, and the Archbishop's 
 barges could discharge their freights at the convent's 
 quay at Fordwich, within two miles of Canterbury. 
 From the eleventh century to the nineteenth Caen 
 stone retained its popularity at Canterbury, and was 
 used in all the successive rebuildings and repairings of 
 the cathedral until quite recent times. Lately, how- 
 ever, it has been thought that under the atmospheric 
 conditions of to-day the stone shows a tendency to 
 
 25 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 rapid disintegration, and renewals have been made 
 with Doulting stone from the Somersetshire quarries. 
 For the crowns of the vaults, and for inside work 
 intended to be covered with plaster, Lanfranc made 
 much use of a light calcareous stone called tufa, which 
 is still to be found in mid-Kent and elsewhere, but 
 which went out of fashion as a building stone early in 
 the twelfth century, so that its presence may be taken 
 as evidence of early Norman work. Much tufa occurs 
 at Canterbury in the vaults beneath the monastic 
 necessarium and in the remains of the great dormitpry. 
 
 In spite of the impression of immense strength given 
 by the massive piers and walls of a Norman church, 
 there is an element of instability in their construction 
 owing to the fact that their cores are formed of rubble, 
 which, if not carefully grouted in, is apt to shift its 
 position. When this occurs the ashlar casing, owing 
 to the inequality of the pressure, becomes cracked, 
 and the stability of the building is impaired. There 
 was probably some defect of this kind at Can- 
 terbury, which may well have been due to the haste 
 with which the church was built. Christ Church, 
 which was finished in seven years, was in a ruinous 
 condition in less than three hundred, and had to be 
 rebuilt, while St. Stephen's, erected about the same 
 time but in a much more leisurely manner, stands 
 firm after the lapse of eight centuries. 
 
 The ground plan of Lanfranc's nave and transepts 
 was conterminous with that of the present church. 
 This is clear from the fact that neither the central 
 tower nor the two western ones were removed when 
 the nave was rebuilt towards the end of the fourteenth 
 century. Willis was of opinion that the plinth of the 
 Norman nave still existed, but a careful examination 
 of the stones fails to confirm this. On the other 
 hand, the professor's conjecture that the Norman piers 
 of the great central tower were merely fased over 
 by the fourteenth-century masons was verified in a 
 26 
 
Passage from the Cloister to the Infirmary 
 
LJNFRANC'S NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 remarkable manner quite recently, when, after holes 
 
 had been cut in the ashlar casing of the western piers 
 
 for the purpose of forcing liquid cement into their 
 
 cores, one of the original Norman shafts with its 
 
 cushion capital was brought to light. The nave piers, 
 
 like those of the almost contemporary abbey-church 
 
 of St. Alban, in Hertfordshire, were doubtless oblong 
 
 masses of masonry with small shafts set at their angles. 
 
 At Caen the shafts on the side facing the central alley 
 
 of the nave are alternately single and triple, and run 
 
 up to the roof, which was not vaulted, but constructed 
 
 of timber and painted on its inner side ; a similar 
 
 arrangement was probably adopted at Canterbury. 
 
 The triforium (if the fashion set by St. Stephen's was 
 
 followed) was a repetition on a smaller scale of the 
 
 rounded arches of the main arcade beneath, either 
 
 open to the plain barrel-vaulted roof above or provided 
 
 with a floor of timber.^ 
 
 Willis, on the analogy of St. Stephen's, has laid 
 down the plan of Christ Church with three western 
 entrances only,* but it is more probable that the 
 Suthdore of the Saxon church was represented in its 
 Norman successor, and that the south-west doorway 
 has been from that day to this the usual place for 
 entry. 
 
 Another feature of the Saxon church which was 
 allowed to influence the new design was the lofty 
 conjessio or crypt beneath the eastern portion of the 
 church ; it is one that does not occur in St. Stephen's 
 at Caen, but has always reappeared in Christ Church 
 during successive rebuildings. 
 
 The eastward extension of Lanfranc's choir was a 
 matter of some uncertainty until excavations in the 
 crypt, about seventeen years ago, cleared up the doubt 
 which had previously existed. Gervase, who was an 
 inmate of the monastery at the time of the great fire 
 which occurred in 1174, has left us a description of 
 
 1 Scott's " Essay," ut supra. ^ Willis, ut sufra, p. 38. 
 
 29 
 
CJNTJSRBURr.CATHEDRJL 
 
 the western portion of the church, but says nothing ol 
 the choir, which, indeed, was pulled down seventy 
 years or more before his time. Willis, from the analogy 
 of other churches in Normandy and from the fact that 
 Lanfranc's choir was so soon enlarged, conjectured 
 that it extended no further than two bays eastward 
 of- the tower arch, and this was confirmed by the 
 discovery of the apsidal foundations of the three 
 eastern chapels when the crypt was restored in recent 
 years. The exact position of the wall of the apse of the 
 northern chapel has been marked by a curved line 
 set in the new concrete floor, and although the 
 apses of the other chapels are not indicated in a 
 similar way, their discovery is vouched for by the 
 senior verger, who was present at the time the excava- 
 tions were made. A choir of only two bays could 
 scarcely have accommodated the one hundred and 
 fifty monks of Lanfranc's new foundation, nor was it 
 intended to do so, for the brethren doubtless continued 
 to occupy the eastern bays of the nave. Indeed (as 
 has been pointed out by the late George Scott), the 
 typical division of a church prior to the twelfth 
 century was not nave and choir, or nave, choir, and 
 sanctuary, but nave and sanctuary. The ritual choir, 
 then, of Lanfranc's church probably occupied the 
 three eastern bays of the nave and was separated by a 
 screen at its western end from the church of the lay- 
 folk, who would worship at the Altar of the Holy 
 Cross beneath the great Rood. That the monks were 
 still placed in the nave receives further confirmation 
 from Gervase's statement that the organ formerly 
 (apparently not in his day) stood in the gallery of the 
 southern transept, a position which would scarcely 
 have been chosen unless the singers were placed in the 
 nave. 
 
 From Gervase's account it would seem that the 
 altar of the monks (known as the matutinal altar) 
 was set upon a platform beneath the central tower 
 3° 
 
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LAN FRANC'S NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 space, whence a flight of steps led up through 
 the eastern tower arch to the presbytery, beyond 
 which and approached by more steps was the high 
 altar with the patriarchal seat set within the chord of 
 the central apse. 
 
 As to the external appearance of the church, Ger- 
 vase tells us that the central tower had a spire (pinna) 
 which was surmounted by the gilded figure of a 
 seraph. It would seem, however, that the winged 
 figure which seemed to hover over the church was 
 really intended to typify the protecting presence of 
 the Saviour, in whose Name the church was hallowed, 
 for John of Salisbury calls it the " Angel Steeple," 
 the symbol of the " Angel of the Great Counsel," 
 under whoie protecting wings the metropolitical 
 church reposed : 
 
 Far seen with gilded seraph crowned, 
 
 This shrine is Britain's holiest ground. 
 
 Yet if, for love of all things fair, 
 
 Strangers shall to this spot repair, 
 
 " What be these walls," they ask, " and why 
 
 Yon seraph pointing to the sky f " 
 
 This mother-shrine was first to sing 
 
 The praises of the Heavenly King : 
 
 By her the sacred lore was taught ; 
 
 By her a nation's creed was wrought. 
 
 To her our thankful hearts we raise 
 
 In honour, duty, love, and praise. 
 
 And if the Seraph's name ye crave, 
 
 Ask who the Heavenly Counsel gave : 
 
 Poised on his outspread wings he spies 
 
 The precinct of his Paradise : 
 
 At watch and ward lest foeman dare 
 
 To claim a right of conquest there. 
 
 Haste to the Church of Christ and enter in : 
 
 So shall ye find a shriving for your sin.i 
 
 The two western towers, which Gervase describes 
 as " lofty," were also crowned with little gilded spires 
 
 1 For this English version of the Latin verses which John of 
 Salisbury prefixed to his Policraticus we are indebted to the Rev. 
 Leonard Evans, second master of the King's School, Canterbury. 
 
 31 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 (j)innacula). The northern one, which was still stand- 
 ing within the memory of some of the present in- 
 habitants of the city, is well figured in Woolnoth's 
 " Illustrations of Canterbury Cathedral." Built in 
 five stories, the four upper ones were decorated with 
 arcade work, and it would seem that the topmost 
 srory was either added or subjected to alteration at a 
 later date, for here the arcading over the windows 
 assumes a pointed form. 
 
 No record of the dedication of Lanfranc's church is 
 extant, but the date may perhaps be fixed "by a note 
 in the " Black Book " of the Archdeacon of Canter- 
 bury, which places Dedicatio Ecclesie against the 
 fourth day of October — a day which does not tally 
 with subsequent dedications recorded by Gervase and 
 others. If, then, Eadmer's statement that the work 
 was begun in 1070 and occupied seven years be 
 accepted, the dedication ceremony took place October 
 4, 1077. With the exception of the Confessor's Abbey 
 at Westminster, Lanfranc's cathedral church was the 
 first Norman church erected in this country. In size 
 it vastly excelled its venerable predecessor, and thus 
 typified the forward movement and extended outlook 
 which the ecclesiastical policy of the new Primate 
 was about to inaugurate. 
 
 The primacy of Canterbury, in Saxon times a 
 shadowy thing, became under Lanfranc a substantial 
 reality. It was in vain that Thomas of York protested, 
 since Lanfranc possessed the ear of the Conqueror 
 and was able to point out to him that the supremacy 
 of Canterbury would tend towards the consolidation 
 of the kingdom. The matter was definitely settled 
 at a council held at Winchester and afterwards ad- 
 journed to Windsor. The original document bearing 
 witness to the accord stiU remains amongst the 
 Chapter archives, and is an instrument of the highest 
 importance and of peculiar interest, since all the 
 signatures of the attesting parties appear to be in 
 32 
 
THE NORTH-WEST TOWER, AND 
 RUINS OF THE PALACE IN 1816 
 
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LAN FRAN CS NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 autograph.'- Even the bold cross of the King and 
 the more delicate one of the Queen seem to have been 
 traced by the royal hands, the pen of Lanfranc being 
 employed to verify them by the words " signum uuilelmi 
 regis" and "signum Mathiliis regine" respectively. 
 The other witnesses were Hubert, the papal legate ; 
 Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury ; Walielin, 
 bishop of Winchester ; Thomas, archbishop of York ; 
 Remigius, bishop of Dorchester ; Erfastus, bishop of 
 Thetford ; and Wulstan, bishop of Worcester. 
 
 It should also be noticed that whereas the other 
 attesting bishops wrote after their names " suhscripsi" 
 Thomas of York added to his a reluctant " concedo." ^ 
 
 The accord of Winchester must also have affected 
 favourably the prestige of the metropolitical church, 
 and Lanfranc's reform of the monastery doubtless 
 tended in the same direction. It is true that Lan- 
 franc's " Constitutions " were addressed to the whole 
 of the Benedictine Order in England, but their applica- 
 tion to the monks of Christ Church was primary, and 
 the need of reform was here especially urgent. 
 
 The monks of Canterbury [says William of Malmsbury], save that 
 they had some scruples about breaking their vow of chastity, were 
 accustomed to indulge in hunting, hawking, dicing, and deep potations, 
 while from-the number of servants maintained their household resembled 
 the establishment of some great officer of state rather than that of a 
 monastery.* 
 
 To restore discipline without unduly offending the 
 susceptibilities of the brethren was no easy task, 
 
 ^ " There is so much variety of character in these signatures," (says 
 Dr. Sheppard, "Hist. MSS. Commission," Appendix to 5th Report, 
 p. 452), " that it is impossible to resist the conclusion that each of 
 them is the work of the person whose name it expresses except that of 
 Erfastus, whose tremulous hand was only able to delineate his cross. An 
 examination of the bold square, upstanding autograph of the Bishop of 
 Worcester tempts one to believe that as his certainly expresses the 
 transparent and firm character of the writer, so the other witnesses may 
 have furnished in their signatures some materials for estimating their 
 moral qualities. * The document is in the Chapter archives. 
 
 ' Gesta Pontificum, R.S., p. 70. 
 
 c 33 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 especially to a foreigner, but so tactfully did the Arch- 
 bishop introduce his reforms that in a short time a 
 life more in accordance with the rule of their founder 
 was cheerfully embraced. One change made by Lan- 
 franc in the domestic economy of the monastery, 
 however, was perhaps not altogether an improvement. 
 In Saxon times the archbishops had shared the common 
 life of the convent. This was now altered by the 
 erection of a separate residence for the archbishop 
 outside the monastic precinct, and by the allotment 
 of certain estates of the church for his special main- 
 tenance. 
 
 The withdrawal of the archbishop from the cloister 
 was perhaps in part responsible for those mutual 
 jealousies and suspicions which later on so seriously 
 disturbed the harmony of the relationship between 
 the monks and their titular head, and which, in the 
 second half of the twelfth century, culminated in 
 open hostility. 
 
 Thus as time went on the Primates generally pre- 
 ferred their more distant manor-houses to a residence 
 in close proximity to the cantankerous Chapter of their 
 own cathedral church. 
 
 The history of the archiepiscopal palace does not 
 come within the scope of the present work, so a very 
 brief outline must here suffice. Added to and altered 
 by Stephen Langton in the first quarter of the thir- 
 teenth century and by Boniface about fifty years 
 later, the palace was burnt in the time of Cranmer and 
 rebuilt by Parker in 1564-65. It then became the 
 occasional residence of that prelate and his successors 
 until the days of Laud ; but during the Common- 
 wealth the palace was scheduled for destruction by the 
 commissioners of the lands of cathedral establishments, 
 and the greater part of it was actually pulled down. 
 Such portions as were left standing were let out in 
 tenements, and soon after the restoration of the 
 monarchy a part was leased to those members of the 
 
 34 
 
LAN FRAN CS NORMAN CHURCH 
 
 French, Protestant Church who conformed to the 
 liturgy of the Church of England. At length, in the 
 closing years of the last century, Archbishop Temple 
 determined to end the strange anomaly that com- 
 pelled archbishops of Canterbury to depend upon 
 the hospitality of the Deanery whenever they visited 
 their cathedral city; and a commodious house was 
 erected on the site of the old palace, some fragments 
 of which were incorporated in the new work. But it 
 is doubtful whether the new house can claim to contain 
 any portions which date back to the days of Lanfranc. 
 
 Lanfranc died on May 24, 1089. Gervase says that 
 (in Ernulf's church) his tomb was in the Trinity 
 Chapel, but, as far as we know, this chapel did not 
 exist at the time of the Archbishop's burial. After the 
 fire of 1 1 74 his body was temporarily removed to the 
 nave, and was afterwards deposited near the altar of 
 St. Martin in the north-western transept, where his 
 name, rudely scratched upon the wall of the apse, 
 may still be seen. 
 
 The inventories of church goods mention several 
 valuable vestments which were presented to the 
 church by Lanfranc, amongst which were three magni- 
 ficent black chasubles enriched with gems and pearls 
 and embroidered with cloth of gold, and four splendid 
 copes, the first two of which were black in colour 
 and adorned with gems and gold, each having round 
 its edge fifty-one silver-gilt bells. It is remarkable 
 that these vestments remained in use for nearly three 
 hundred years, and when at length they were worn 
 out it was deemed worth while to reduce them to 
 ashes in order to recover the precious metal with 
 which they were so heavily embroidered.^ 
 
 1 " De una cappa vererabilis Lanfranci cremata et de diversis jocalibus 
 fusisvendidisjcxvy'-vj'viij'^" (" Treasurer's Accounts," 1371-72). And 
 " De duabus casulis venerabilis Lanfranci crematis cum aliis diversis 
 jocalibus fusis vendidis, cxxxviij^- xij°" ("Treasurer's Accounts," 
 1372-73). See also Messrs. Legg and Hope's " Inventories of Christ 
 Church," p. 13. 
 
 35 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 After Lanfranc's death (May 24, 1089) the See of 
 Canterbury remained vacant for more than four years. 
 Meanwhile the rapacious Red King not only diverted 
 the church's revenue to his own uses, but for the 
 
 purpose of exacting the utter- 
 most farthing from the un- 
 fortunate monks sent his 
 emissaries to Christ Church, 
 where they infested the very 
 cloisters. Their conduct was 
 indeed so insufferable that 
 many of the brethren aban- 
 doned their vows altogether, 
 while others sought an 
 asylum in religious houses 
 Capital in the Crypt elsewhere. 
 
 At length, believing that he was stricken with 
 mortal sickness, the King consented to make a nomina- 
 tion, and the crosier was thrust into the reluctant 
 hands of Anselm, Abbot of Bee, who happened to be 
 in England at the time, and to whom popular feeling 
 seemed to turn instinctively. 
 
 Anselm received consecration in Canterbury Cathe- 
 dral on December 4, 1093, at the hands of the Arch- 
 bishop of York, assisted hj no less than nine bishops of 
 the southern province. The chief consecrator was that 
 same Thomas of York who twenty-one years earlier 
 had been constrained, sorely against his will, to acknow- 
 ledge the primacy of Canterbury. That he was still 
 36 
 
JNSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 highly sensitive to anything which might seem deroga- 
 tory to the privileges of the northern See is shown 
 by the following incident : When Walkelin, Bishop 
 of Winchester — ^who was deputed to read the Act of 
 election — described the church of Canterbury as the 
 Metropolitical Church of all Britain, Thomas at once 
 stopped the proceedings. Such a phrase, he pro- 
 tested, implied that the church of York was not a 
 metropolitical church. The objection was allowed, 
 and after the term " Primate of all Britain " had been 
 substituted for " metropolitan " the ceremony was 
 suffered to proceed, and Anselm was duly con- 
 secrated as Primate of all Britain.^ But although 
 consecrated and enthroned (the enthronement had 
 preceded the consecration by several months), the 
 Archbishop had not yet received from Rome the 
 f allium, which, if it did not actually confer spiritual 
 jurisdiction, was regarded as the indispensable badge 
 of its possession. This symbolical vestment — the form 
 of which is familiar from the representation of it 
 upon the arms of the See of Canterbury, viz. a circlet 
 of cloth made to rest upon the shoulders with pendants 
 before and behind — ^was bestowed by the Pope upon 
 metropolitans as a mark of his peculiar favour. Anselm 
 was not the man to value lightly such a gift, especially 
 as the vestment derived its sanctity from having been 
 placed, in contact with the relics of St. Peter, and in its 
 absence he felt himself incapacitated from exercising 
 his archiepiscopal functions. The difficulty was that 
 at this juncture two claimants to the chair of St. Peter 
 were in the field, and while Anselm had already pro- 
 fessed obedience to one of them the King favoured 
 the pretensions of the other. Without entering into 
 the protracted controversy which ensued, it will be 
 sufficient to state here that the matter was at length 
 settled by a compromise, whereby the King consented 
 to recognise the Pope to whom the Archbishop had 
 
 1 Eadmer, Hist. Nov., R.S., p. 42. 
 
 37 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 made his profession, and to permit the pall to be laid 
 upon the high altar of the cathedral church, whence 
 Anselm consented to take it. 
 
 Accordingly, the Cardinal Legate, Walter, Bishop 
 of Albano, arrived in Canterbury on May 27, 1095, 
 bringing with him the sacred vestment enclosed in a 
 silver case. At the Burgate he was met by the Arch- 
 bishop and the monks of Christ Church and St. Augus- 
 tine's, vested in albes and copes, but with bare — that is, 
 sandalless — feet, and was escorted by the brethren to the 
 cathedral church. As the procession entered the great 
 western doors the choir commenced to sing an anthem, 
 during which a station was made before the great Rood 
 in the nave. The procession then moved up the steps 
 leading to the presbytery, and the pall was taken from 
 its case and placed upon the altar. The Archbishop 
 then blessed the people and, taking up the paU, held 
 it folded in his hands during the singing of the Te 
 Deum, the brethren meanwhile coming forward one 
 by one and devoutly kissing it. When this had been 
 done by all, from the Prior to the youngest novice, 
 the Archbishop retired to the chapter-house to put 
 on his mass vestments, the pall being placed upon 
 his shoulders by the legate, who accompanied the act 
 with the following words : " Receive this pall, a sign 
 of the high priesthood of thy Lord God, by 
 which, defended and fortified on every side, thou 
 mayest overcome every onslaught of the enemy 
 and, strengthened by this divine armour, rid thyself 
 from all the snares of the evil one. The Lord God 
 being thine aid, who liveth for ever and ever. 
 Amen." ^ 
 
 The ceremony was witnessed by an enormous 
 congregation of both clergy and laity.^ And possibly 
 
 1 Eadmer, Hist. Nov., R.S., p. 72, and a memorandum amongst the 
 Chapter archives. 
 
 2 " Cum numerosa clericorum, necne immensa laicorum diversi sexus 
 et aetatis multitudine." Eadmer, ut supra. 
 
 38 
 
JNSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 it was on this occasion that the inadequacy of the 
 accommodation afforded by Lanfranc's church for the 
 due celebration of a stately ceremonial first became 
 apparent. Anselm himself may have noticed some 
 unseemly crowding amongst the distinguished occu- 
 pants of the exiguous area which constituted the 
 presbytery, and may have recognised the necessity of 
 an eastward extension. 
 
 However this may have been, it is certain the 
 enlargement of the eastern limb of the church was not 
 long delayed. Although the Archbishop was unable 
 to take any personal share in the work, since the 
 greater part of his primacy was spent in exile, it was 
 commenced under his auspices, and chiefly by his 
 efforts the necessary funds were raised. Thus the 
 moiety of offerings made at the high altar to which, 
 by an ordinance of Lanfranc, the Archbishop was 
 entitled was handed over by Anselm to the Prior 
 and Chapter for the new choir. To the same purpose 
 he devoted the rents and profits of the rich manor of 
 Peckham. This, however, had rather the nature of a 
 mortgage than a gift, since the transaction was entered 
 into in return for a loan of ;£ioo which the Archbishop 
 had borrowed in order to meet the King's demand 
 for a loan to finance Duke Robert's expedition to the 
 Holy Land. The bargain, at any rate, proved a very 
 good one for the monks, who set aside the profits for 
 the new work. Further, Eadmer informs us that 
 Anselm (doubtless conscious of his limitations as a 
 man of business) wisely refrained from all interference 
 in the management of the conventual estates, a 
 course which, according to the same authority, 
 greatly strengthened the financial position of the 
 monastery. 
 
 The convent was fortunate at this juncture in 
 possessing in their Prior a man who could supply the 
 practical qualities which the Archbishop lacked. 
 Ernulf, who succeeded to the priorate in 1096, had 
 
 39 
 
CANTERBURTCJTHEDRJL 
 
 entered the religious life as a monk of St. Lucien in 
 Beauvais ; later he had become a pupil of Lanfranc 
 at Bee, and when the latter was elected to the primacy 
 of the English Church he was invited by his master to 
 accompany him to England, where he became an 
 inmate of the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 It is not unlikely that Ernulf's ability as an architect 
 was known to Lanfranc, whose invitation may have 
 been prompted by the desire to employ him on his 
 new cathedral church. If so, his previous experience 
 would at once suggest his name in connection with 
 the superintendence of the new choir. That Ernulf 
 was the actual designer and not merely the supervisor 
 of the work is abundantly clear from a comparison 
 of Canterbury work with that of other buildings 
 attributed to him elsewhere. He became Abbot of 
 Peterborough in 1 107 and Bishop of Rochester seven 
 years later, and at both places certain well-defined 
 characteristics are found which point to the conclusion 
 that the buildings were the product of one and the 
 same mind. 
 
 The new choir was laid out by Ernulf on a scale 
 calculated practically to double the area of the church. 
 Instead of the two bays which comprised the eastward 
 extension of Lanfranc's church, the new work was 
 carried forward five bays to a secondary or eastern 
 transept, the entrances to which, however (in this 
 the earliest instance of the introduction of this feature), 
 were masked by the main arcade being carried across 
 them, so that the transepts formed separate chapels. 
 
 Beyond the eastern wall of the secondary transept 
 the main arcade extended for two bays further in a 
 straight line and then was carried by six more piers 
 round the ambulatory of the apse. Radiating from the 
 outer wall of the eastern apse, Ernulf built two towers 
 having apsidal terminations towards the east and 
 stair-turrets at the western ends, doubtless a reminis- 
 cence of the flanking towers of the Roman-Saxon 
 40 
 

 o 
 o 
 
 w 
 X 
 H 
 
 w 
 O 
 w 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
Ermdf's Crypt 
 
ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 church ; that on the north was dedicated in honour 
 of St. Andrew and that on the south of SS. Peter 
 and Paul. At the extreme eastern end a rectangular 
 chapel dedicated to the H0I7 Trinity was erected, the 
 entrance to which was through an arch in the apse. 
 This was a prodigious extension, the entire length from 
 the eastern tower piers being about one hundred and 
 ninety-eight feet. At the same time the choir was 
 widened by setting back the alignment of the central 
 alley on either side four feet, so that the arches were 
 now made to spring, not from the centre of the great 
 tower piers, but from a short wall built against the 
 outer edges of the said piers. In order to preserve 
 the width of the, aisles their outer walls were set back 
 a corresponding distance, with the exception that a 
 short length of Lanfranc's work was retained at the 
 western end of the aisles in order to preserve the 
 staircases leading to the chapels in the galleries of 
 the great western transept. 
 
 The whole of the superstructure was raised upon a 
 lofty crypt, which in its western portion remains to-day 
 much as Ernulf left it, though in the choir above little 
 of his handiwork remains. The crypt of Canterbury — 
 which is remarkable for its vast size, the bold span of 
 its vaults, and the grotesque carvings of its pier 
 capitals — must (with the exception of the latter orna- 
 mentation, which was added probably some fifty or 
 sixty years later) have been finished by the end of the 
 eleventh century, if we give credit to the statement 
 of William of Malmsbury that Ernulf had roofed in 
 the choir and adorned it with paintings before he was 
 preferred to the Abbacy of Peterborough in 1107.^ 
 But the great choir was by no means complete even 
 at the latter date, for much remained to be done in 
 the way of internal decoration, and another twenty- 
 three years elapsed before it was adjudged to be ready 
 for dedication. 
 
 1 Gesta Pontificum, R.S., p. 234. 
 
 41 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 The same year which witnessed Ernulf's departure 
 from Canterbury brought back Anselm, whose feud 
 with the. King was at length healed. But the Arch- 
 bishop was now a dying man. For two years he attended 
 the daily celebration of the divine mysteries in the 
 nave of his cathedral church, the choir being still 
 unfinished, and doubtless watched with interest the 
 progress of the new work inaugurated by himself 
 eleven or twelve years earlier. At length, on the 
 Tuesday of Holy Week in the year 1 109, he 
 was on his death-bed. Eadmer's pathetic descrip- 
 tion of the last hours of the saintly prelate is of 
 exquisite simplicity, and is worth quoting here at 
 length : 
 
 The brethren [he tells us] were already chanting matins in the great 
 church. One of those who watched our father took the book of the 
 Gospels and read aloud the history of the Passion which was to be read 
 that day at Mass. When he came to the Lord's words, " I appoint tmto 
 you a Kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that ye may 
 eat and drink at My table," he began to breathe more slowly, and we 
 saw that he was passing ; so he was lifted from his bed and laid upon 
 sackcloth sprinkled with ashes. And the whole family of his children 
 being gathered round him, he slept in peace. 
 
 Thus passed away the greatest bishop of his age, one 
 of the profoundest mediseval thinkers and theologians, 
 who was also one of the most saintly of the long line of 
 archbishops of Canterbury.^ 
 
 Anselm's body was laid by the remains of his friend 
 and master Lanfranc before the great Rood in the nave 
 until the new choir was finished, when his body was 
 translated to the neighbourhood of the altar of 
 SS. Peter and Paul in the tower on the south side of 
 the church, which has since been called by his name. 
 By men of his own day and by later generations his 
 name became the object of increasing veneration, and 
 Dante in his vision of Paradise saw him among the 
 spirits of light in the sphere of the sun. Yet, strange 
 
 1 Eadmer, R.S., ut supra, p. 417 ; and Dr. Spence, " The Church 
 of England," vol. ii. p. i68. 
 
 42 , 
 
.■§ 
 
 g 
 
 
SEALS OF THE PRIOR AND 
 CONVENT OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 (i) The Earliest Seal 
 
 Legend — Sigillum : Ecclesie : Christi 
 
 (2) The Second Seal (c. 1130) 
 
 Legend — Sigillum : Ecclie : Xpi Cantuarie : 
 
 i'RIME SeDIS BrITANNIE 
 
JNSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 to say, his formal canonisation by Rome was long 
 delayed, and by the strange irony of fate was at length 
 granted towards the close of the fifteenth century by 
 Roderic Borgia, the flagrantly wicked Pope known as 
 Alexander VI. 
 
 Of St. Anselm's tomb, or shrine, no vestige now 
 remains, but entries in the sacrist's accounts show that 
 during the Middle Ages pilgrimages and offerings were 
 occasionally made at it.^ And for this reason it 
 doubtless shared the fate of the shrine of St. Thomas, 
 though no record of its destruction appears to be 
 extant. 
 
 After the departure of Prior Ernulf for Peterborough 
 the decoration of the interior of the choir was con- 
 tinued by his successor. Prior Conrad, who not only 
 covered its walls with frescoes and filled its windows 
 with stained glass, but provided several notable orna- 
 ments and vestments for the church and its ministers. 
 Of these perhaps the most noteworthy were a great 
 seven-branched candelabrum of brass and a very valuable 
 cope of cloth of gold, richly jewelled, with a fringe 
 round its lower edge of no less than one hundred and 
 forty little bells of silver-gilt : both, by the way, 
 remarkable examples of the Judaising tendencies of 
 the Western Church at this period. 
 
 According to Matthew Paris, some service of dedica- 
 tion took place in Canterbury Cathedral in the year 
 1 1 14. Possibly the crypt may have been consecrated 
 at this time, but Paris is the sole authority for the 
 statement, and Gervase says clearly that the new 
 choir was not dedicated imtil May 4, 1 1 30. 
 
 The ceremony was performed by Archbishop William 
 Corboil in the presence of King Henry I. of England, 
 
 ^ E.g. in 1425 the Crown Prince of Portugal made an offering " ad 
 altare Anselmi per serenissimum principem filium regis Portugaliae iij»." 
 In a list of the relics of the church dravm up by Prior Ejstry in 1 31 5 
 the reliquice of St. Anselm are entered sixth in a list of the twelve greater 
 relics. 
 
 45 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 David King of Scotland, eight bishops of the 
 southern province, three of foreign sees, and a vast 
 assemblage of clerks and lay-folk.^ " So famous a 
 dedication," says Gervase, " has never been heard 
 of on earth since the dedication of the temple of 
 Solomon." 
 
 The choir which had been so long in building 
 and at length was dedicated with so much pomp was 
 to have but a brief life. Thirty-four years after the 
 dedication ceremony it was destroyed by fire. But 
 although little remains of Anselm's choir to-day, 
 Gervase, who was an inmate of the priory at the time 
 of the disaster, has left us a particular description of 
 it, and indeed of the whole church. From this source 
 we learn that the great Rood had now been moved 
 from the position it had occupied in Lanfranc's time 
 near the centre of the nave, and placed over a screen 
 betweeil the western piers of the central tower. This 
 screen, which was placed upon the platform beneath 
 the tower, was approached from the nave by an ascent 
 of several steps. In the centre of its western side, 
 beneath the Rood, was the people's altar, on either side 
 of which was a doorway. From the platform a further 
 ascent of steps led up to a second screen under the 
 eastern piers of the tower, through which the choir 
 was entered by a central doorway. At the time of its 
 erection this central entrance appears to have been 
 without a door, since by one of Archbishop Win- 
 chelsey's statutes (issued in 1298) it was ordered that 
 for greater security a strong wooden doorway of good 
 design, ostium fulchre et forte ligneum, should be 
 constructed at the western entrance of the choir, 
 which door was to be kept locked to prevent approach 
 to the upper part of the church except at stated 
 times." 
 
 The ritual choir, in the midst of which hung a 
 
 1 Chron. FloT. Wigorn., Eng. Hist. Society, vol. ii. p. 91. 
 
 ^ The door was guarded by an official known as the Ostiarius Chori. 
 
 46 
 
ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 gilded corona carrying four-and-twenty wax lights, 
 was separated from the aisles by a low wall " built of 
 marble slabs, against which were placed the stalls of 
 the monks, arranged in a double row on either side 
 and extending as far as the western side of the eastern 
 transept, at which line there was an ascent of three 
 steps to the presbytery. From the pavement of the 
 presbytery a further rise of three steps led up to the 
 high altar dedicated in the name of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, and to the altars and shrines 
 of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan, placed respectively 
 north and south of the high altar. Behind the high 
 altar, and resting upon the capitals of the two pillars 
 from which the curve of the apse commenced and upon 
 two wooden columns " gracefully ornamented with 
 gold and silver," was a great gilded beam which sus- 
 tained " a representation of our Lord in Majesty " 
 and images of St. Dunstan and St. Alphege, together 
 with seven shrines covered with gold and silver and 
 filled with the relics of divers saints. Beneath this 
 beam, and between the wooden columns already 
 mentioned, stood a gilded cross placed within a circle 
 of sixty transparent crystals. 
 
 A few paces eastward a further flight of steps led 
 up to the patriarchal throne, " formed out of a single 
 stone." It is worthy of remark that throughout all the 
 alterations to which every other piece of furniture 
 in the church was subjected during the next seven 
 hundred years, the patriarchal seat retained its primi- 
 tive position ; and it is a matter for profound regret 
 that a tradition which had been handed down from 
 the times of the Christian basilica was broken in the 
 first quarter of the nineteenth century, when the 
 chair was removed to the south-east transept. It has 
 since been placed in the corona. 
 
 The thirty years which followed the dedication of 
 the choir were troublous times for the monks of Christ 
 Church as well as for the people of England generally, 
 
 47 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 for during the weak rule of King Stephen the country 
 was practically in a state of anarchy. Hence the period 
 was unfavourable for building operations, and we 
 read of no further additions to the metropolitical 
 church or to the conventual buildings for some time. 
 Archbishop Theobald, who succeeded to the primacy 
 on the death of William Corboil in 1139, was in the 
 earlier years of his archiepiscopate a supporter of the 
 cause of King Stephen, whom he crowned together 
 with Queen Matilda in Canterbury Cathedral on 
 Christmas Day in the year 1142. A curious incident 
 in the ceremony is mentioned by Gervase, which is 
 worth mentioning as evidence of the great jealousy 
 which existed between the secular clergy and the 
 monks. The two parties seem to have formed two 
 separate choirs of singers on this occasion. And Gervase 
 relates that the clerks during the singing of the hymn 
 Christus Vincit quickened the time in order that 
 they might end before the monks, and thus receive 
 the archiepiscopal blessing while the latter were still 
 singing. But, adds the chronicler, 
 
 they received a curse instead of a blessing, for they were excommuni- 
 cated by the Archbishop. Nor would they have received absolution if 
 the King had not interceded for them after Mass was over. Whereas 
 the monks who sang devoutly and with measured cadence iinorose) 
 received God's favour, the Archbishop's blessing, and the King's praise.i 
 
 At a later period Theobald — owing to the encroach- 
 ments made by Henry of Blois, the King's brother and 
 Papal legate, on the prerogatives of the church of 
 Canterbury — ^went over to the Angevin side, and was 
 in consequence banished from the country. When at 
 length he was able to return to his see the Archbishop 
 found the finances of the priory at a low ebb and 
 discipline much relaxed. He dealt with the latter 
 point in a summary and successful fashion, but the 
 struggle which ensued is of importance as marking the 
 beginning of those strained relationships between 
 
 1 Gervase, O^. Kist., R.S., vol. i. p. 527. 
 48 
 
JNSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 the monks and the archbishops which, with but few 
 intermissions, lasted for the next hundred and fifty 
 years. 
 
 The financial depression was no doubt partly due 
 to the troublous times through which the convent had 
 recently passed, but it was also caused by a too lavish 
 expenditure upon hospitality, and on the monastic 
 table. By the year I152 matters had become so bad 
 that the Prior and Chapter offered to hand over to the 
 Archbishop the management of their estates. He was 
 by no means anxious to undertake the responsibility, 
 but at length consented to do so. Theobald's economic 
 reforms, however, were not received with favour. 
 The monks complained that his retrenchments were 
 on such a drastic scale that their house was in danger 
 of losing its world-famed reputation for hospitality, 
 and that the fare served out in the frater was so 
 meagre that they were half-starved. If we may take 
 the description given by Gerald de Barri (which, how- 
 ever, was written some years later) as a fair sample of 
 the monastic menu, there was considerable room for 
 reform in this direction before the starvation-point 
 would be reached. For the gossiping Welshman 
 relates that when he dined at Christ Church no less 
 than sixteen dishes of highly spiced meats were served 
 up at the Prior's table. The occasion, however, was 
 a special one, and the fare, of course, cannot be taken 
 ' as a fair specimen of the monastic dietary. Still, even 
 in the. frater there was room probably for the exercise 
 of greater economy; at any rate, Theobald seems to 
 have thought so, for he paid no regard to the com- 
 plaints which assailed him. At length the monks 
 became so incensed with what they regarded as his 
 penurious conduct that they lodged an appeal against 
 him in the Roman Curia. But Theobald was not the 
 man to be coerced ; he disregarded the appeal 
 altogether and clapped the ringleaders of the move- 
 ment into prison. Walter Parvus, the Prior, was 
 
 D 49 
 
CANrERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 removed from his office and sent ofi to Gloucester 
 Abbey, to be kept in durance during the Archbishop's 
 pleasure. Theobald was thus left free to carry out 
 his reforms, and so well did he succeed that before 
 long money was again available for the fabric of the 
 church. During the next fourteen years, which com- 
 prise the priorate of Wibert, who succeeded the 
 deposed Walter Parvus in 1151, many important 
 additions were made both to the church and to the 
 monastic buildings. To this period belongs the orna- 
 mentation of the shafts and capitals of the pillars in 
 the crypt. The carving is applied alternately to shaft 
 and capital, a plain shaft being adorned with a carved 
 capital and vice versa. In their character and groupings 
 the grotesque figures on the capitals resemble those in 
 illuminated manuscripts of the second half of the 
 twelfth century, and exhibit a wonderful fertility of 
 imagination on the part of the sculptor. The mural 
 paintings in the apse of the chapel of St. Gabriel 
 beneath the tower now known as St. Anselm's, and the 
 very remarkable figure of St. Paul in the chapel above, 
 were executed probably a little later. 
 
 A more important addition to the church was the 
 erection of the Vestiarium, since called the Treasury, 
 a finely proportioned room abutting upon the north 
 wall of the tower or chapel of St. Andrew. The 
 chamber, which is 20 ft. high and measures 24 ft. from 
 east to west and 22 ft. from north to south, stands 
 upon a substructure supported by round Norman 
 arches of late character ; from the piers (the capitals 
 of which are all carved) spring the ribbed groynes of 
 the vaults, of which feature this is the earliest instance 
 at Canterbury. The external walls of the chamber 
 above are ornamented with a belt of arcading, which 
 at first sight closely resembles that which is carried 
 round the walls of Ernulf's choir, but is distin- 
 guishable from the earlier work by the employment of 
 small compound piers formed of a pilaster, with a small 
 
 50 
 
THE TREASURY 
 
ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 shaft and capital on each side instead of a single shaft 
 as in the Ernulfian work.^ The internal roof is a high 
 domical vault supported by diagonal ribbed groyning. 
 The chamber over the treasury was not added until 
 about one hundred and thirty years later. The grooves 
 of the original high-pitched roof may still be seen in 
 the north wall of St. Andrew's Chapel. 
 
 The primary purpose of the Vestiarium was, of 
 course, to serve as a place of safe depository for the 
 precious vestments, jewels, and ornaments, of which 
 the church possessed an ever-increasing store. Hence 
 the windows are protected with strong iron bars. 
 Here, too, in presses and aumbries, were kept the 
 muniments of the church, and in an iron-bound coffer 
 (which still remains) a sum of ready money sufficient 
 to meet any sudden emergency.^ 
 
 Wibert's additions to the monastic buildings were 
 so numerous that they can only be briefly enumerated 
 here, though the remains of them which are still 
 extant will be described more particularly on a later 
 page. They comprised the infirmary chapel ; the 
 inner gate of the cemetery ; the pentise gate (now 
 incorporated in the house of the Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury) ; the Green Court gateway ; and the 
 great North Hall contiguous to it, of which almost 
 the sole memorial is the beautiful and unique Norman 
 staircase, which projected from its eastern side and 
 fortunately has escaped destruction. But chief amongst 
 the good works of Prior Wibert must be reckoned the 
 elaborate hydraulic system, whereby the convent was 
 supplied with pure water from springs issuing from 
 the rising ground to the north-east of the cathedral.^ 
 
 1 Willis, ut supra, p. 75. 
 
 2 In post-Reformation times the chest in the treasury was always 
 supposed to contain ;^300 in gold. No money is kept in the treasury 
 at the present time. 
 
 * (1167), " obiit bonae memoriae Wibertus Prior. Hie inter multa 
 bona opera quae fecit isti ecclesiae aqueductum cum stagnis et lavatoriis 
 et piscinis suis fieri fecit, quam aquam fere milario ab urbe intra curiam, 
 
 51 
 
CANTERBVRT CATHEDRAL 
 
 The original grant hj Archbishop Theobald to 
 the Prior and Chapter of one acre of land at a place 
 called Horsfelde — ubi fontes erupuerunt et defluerun- 
 usque ad stagna — \% still preserved amongst the cathe- 
 dral archives.^ It is undated, but from the names of 
 the witnesses it was probably made about the year 
 IT 60. But a far more important piece of contemporary 
 evidence of the water-supply inaugurated by Prior 
 Wibert is contained in two Norman drawings inserted in 
 a great Psalter preserved in the library of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. The book, which was apparently written 
 in the scriptorium of Christ Church, Canterbury, 
 contains within its covers two most remarkable draw- 
 ings, which in the opinion of the late Professor Willis 
 were executed by Wibert or his assistants to record his 
 system of water distribution and drainage.^ 
 
 Willis has reproduced these drawings in his history 
 of the conventual buildings, where he gives also a 
 detailed account of the whole system. From springs 
 situated in the " North Holmes " the water was first 
 conveyed by a pipe to a circular conduit-house and 
 then to the city wall, passing in succession through 
 five settling-tanks. In its course the aqueduct was 
 carried across an orchard belonging to the Black 
 Canons of St. Gregory's Priory, whose inmates were 
 allowed the use of a cock or branch from the Christ 
 Church main. In return for this convenience the 
 Canons were wont every year, in the month of Sep- 
 tember, to send their gardener with a basket of their 
 best apples as a present to the monks of Christ Church. 
 
 The pipe entered the precincts near the north- 
 eastern corner of the court — being carried across the 
 city moat by a bridge — and then proceeded under- 
 
 et sic per omnes ipsius curiae ofRcinas, mirabiliter transduxit." Registrum 
 sive martyrologium Xfi Cantuariae, Arundel MSS. fol. 41a, quoted by 
 Somner in Ms " Antiquities of Canterbury." 
 
 1 Ch. Ch. Cant. MS., W. 224. 
 
 2 " The Conventual Buildings of the Monastery of Christ Church; 
 Canterbury," of cit. p. 175. 
 
 52 
 
THE NORMAN DRAWING OF THE 
 CATHEDRAL AND CONVENTUAL 
 BUILDINGS {c. 1 164) 
 
 Showing Prior Wibert's Waterworks 
 
ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 ground, beneath, the prior's gateway and the infirmary 
 kitchen to a circular water-tower built against the 
 
 The Green-Court Gateway 
 
 south alley of the infirmary cloister. This tower, which 
 still remains, is of two stories. The lower one retains 
 
 53 
 
CJ NTE RBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 its Norman arches and early rib-vaulting, which 
 springs from a large hollow central pillar through which 
 the water was conveyed to a cistern or laver in the 
 chamber above, at which the monks could perform 
 their ablutions on their way from the dormitory to the 
 choir. The upper story of this water-tower was rebuilt 
 when Thomas Chillenden was prior (1391-1411), and 
 from the fact that the font was placed here in 1786 
 the tower was for many years known as the " Baptis- 
 tery," but late in the last century the font was removed 
 to the nave. 
 
 From the cistern in the tower the water was con- 
 veyed to another laver in the great cloister, where the 
 Norman drawing shows an octofoil basin opposite 
 the doorway of the frater. When the cloister was 
 rebuilt by Chillenden this octofoil basin gave place 
 to two oblong troughs, occupying two bays of the 
 outer arcade. The position of these lavers is at 
 once fixed by the absence of any muUions in 
 the two bays which once contained them. The dis- 
 tribution of the water from this central position 
 need not here be described in detail ; suffice it to 
 say that the system extended to all the conventual 
 buildings on the north side of the church, as well as 
 to a conduit on the south side, for the convenience of 
 the lay-folk, the waste ultimately finding an outlet 
 in a fish-pond in the convent garden (now the 
 " Oaks "). Nor was Wibert content with thus intro- 
 ducing an excellent supply of pure water into the 
 monastic precincts, for at the same time he constructed 
 an elaborate system of sewers by means of which the 
 rain-water from the roof of the great church was 
 utilised for flushing the main drain before finding its 
 exit into the city ditch. The sanitary value of this 
 hydraulic system cannot be overstated, since to its 
 adoption may be ascribed the general good health 
 of the monks of Christ Church, even during those 
 periods of epidemic sickness which during the Middle 
 
 54 
 
Substructure of Water Tower 
 
ANSELM'S CHOIR 
 
 Ages repeatedly decimated the inmates of other 
 religious houses. 
 
 In the fifteenth century certain alterations and 
 improvements were made in the drainage system, but 
 Wibert's work was never superseded, and in part 
 exists even at the present day. A change, however, in 
 the source from which the water was drawn was made 
 soon after the dissolution of the monastery, for the 
 following reason. The old springs at Horsfelde lay 
 within the King's park, and it was found that the 
 water was fouled by the deer. In order, therefore, to 
 give the Dean and Canons of his new foundation a pure 
 supply, Henry VIII, by his charter of 1546, granted 
 to Christ Church the watercourse or aqueduct which 
 had previously supplied the dissolved monastery of 
 St. Austin.^ From this latter source the houses in the 
 precincts have been supplied with water until quite 
 recent times, and although most of them are now 
 connected with the city waterworks, the ancient supply 
 is still available in times of emergency. 
 
 Whilst Prior Wibert was carrying out these practical 
 sanitary reforms, Archbishop Theobald was engaged 
 in reviving the schools of general learning founded 
 more than five centuries earlier by Archbishop Theo- 
 dore. In the second half of the twelfth century 
 Canterbury again became recognised as a place of 
 higher education, or studium generate, to which scholars 
 were attracted from all parts of England. Amongst 
 them was John of Salisbury, reckoned the most learned 
 man of his day, and Vacarius, who was invited to 
 England by Theobald to deliver lectures in Roman 
 law. But the most interesting figure amongst the 
 scholars of the archbishop's school is that of Thomas 
 
 ^ This forms one of the clauses of the Exchange Charter of the 37th 
 Henry VIII. The old watercourse is said to be " now of late, by occa- 
 sion of the deer coming and soiling in and near the same water, so 
 corrupted that persons of the said cathedral cannot without danger of 
 sickness continue and keep hospitality within the site of the said cathe- 
 dral and metropolitical church." 
 
 55 
 
CANIERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Becket, the young Archdeacon of Canterbury, whose 
 handsome face, commanding stature, and winning 
 personality were already giving him an influence over 
 all sorts and conditions of men : a persona grata to 
 King and monk alike, but as yet giving no indication 
 of special sanctity of life or of that unflinching Church- 
 manship which he was destined to vindicate with bis 
 death. But for Becket and that great tragedy which 
 made him the foremost saint in England for nearly 
 three centuries a special chapter must be reserved. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 Transept Tower 
 
 56 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 "Of few characters in all history," says Archdeacon 
 
 Hutton in his " Life of Becket," " is the life-story 
 
 better known. At least ten contemporary biographies 
 
 are extant, and it would be 
 
 easy to increase that number [ 
 
 if we counted the fragments 
 
 of original information in 
 
 other writings of the age. 
 
 Besides this we have an almost 
 
 unique collection of letters 
 
 relating to Becket, written 
 
 by himself, his friends, and 
 
 his enemies." 
 
 Our use of this copious 
 
 material must be brief and 
 
 slight, and the reader may _, . . _ 
 
 rn • ^v i: ^1 Capital m the Crybt 
 
 nil m our outline from the ^ -"^ 
 
 pages of Archdeacon Hutton, Stanley's " Memorials," 
 and Tennyson's drama. The preceding chapters have 
 shown that Canterbury Cathedral had its annals before 
 Becket, as England had its annals before William the 
 Conqueror. But in each case the man so turned the 
 stream of history that he must be reckoned with by 
 any one who would trace and understand the sub- 
 sequent course of events. 
 
 Thomas Becket was born in Cheapside, London, 
 about the year 1118, and always described himself 
 as Thomas of London. His parents were Normans 
 who had settled in that city : the father a successful 
 
 57 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 merchant, and the mother a lady said to have been 
 both good and beautiful, and not without dreams 
 that her son should in some special way be dedicated 
 to the service of God. 
 
 We have already'noticed that as a young man he was 
 sent for training to Canterbury, where Archbishop 
 Theobald loved to gather round him men of learning, 
 wit, and character, whether as scholars or as teachers. 
 " It was a school not only of literature and ecclesias- 
 tical learning but also of politics, where the interests 
 of Henry of Anjou and of the Angevin succession were 
 always kept in mind, and where by Thomas himself, it 
 is said, the plan of Stephen to crown Eustace, his son, 
 in 1 152 was foiled by the refusal of Theobald." ^ 
 
 The Primate quickly discerned in his pupil both 
 power and promise, sent him to study in the famous 
 law-schools of France and Italy, made him Archdeacon 
 of Canterbury, and recommended him to the young 
 King Henry II as one of his secretaries. Henry, like 
 Theobald, fell under the spell of his attraction, for 
 there was undoubtedly something winning as well as 
 able about Becket, adopted him as a close personal 
 friend, and in no long time made him his Chancellor, 
 an office second only to that of Justiciar. Theobald 
 died in April 1161, and on June 3, 1162, at the King's 
 wish, but not without hesitation, misgiving, and pre- 
 monition of trouble,^ Becket was consecrated as 
 Primate. It may be said that on that day began the 
 rift which ended in such dire tragedy. For there was 
 in the character of the new Archbishop a singular, 
 perhaps a morbid, strain of thoroughness and loyalty ; 
 he was a born partisan. While he was the " King's 
 man " he served the King with all his heart ; when he 
 became " the Church's man " or " the Pope's man " 
 his duty to the King took the second place. 
 
 It would be a grave mistake to regard Becket as a 
 mere monkish pietist, or ascetic person, though he was 
 
 1 Hutton's " Becket," p. 10. 2 Robertson's " Becket," p. 38. 
 
 58 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURT 
 
 capable of mortifying the flesh to almost any degree. 
 He never formally took the cowl, and remained in 
 deacon's orders till his appointment to the See of 
 Canterbury. He loved sport and fine raiment and 
 splendid surroundings. In the service of the King 
 he was not only a considerable statesman but a daring, 
 relentless, and efficient soldier, the hero of many ex- 
 ploits in the French wars, overthrowing with his own 
 hand a knight renowned in arms. He is described as 
 of great height and bodily strength, with a long but 
 handsome face of the aquiline type, a high, narrow 
 forehead, and observant, penetrating eyes. Impetuous, 
 headstrong, when roused not incapable of fury and of 
 the violent language less uncommon in high places then 
 than now, yet often able by force of will to attain 
 severe self-restraint ; habitually courteous and of free 
 and sympathetic talk ; inspiring great attachments and 
 bitter hatreds ; generous and obstinate ; a fighter 
 rather than a diplomatist ; of a deeply religious nature, 
 which smouldered in him as Chancellor and leapt into 
 flame in him as Archbishop — such was the complex 
 personality of the hero of our Canterbury tale. 
 
 In a monastic cathedral the bishop was the titular 
 abbot, and the monks contended that the head of a 
 monastery should be himself a monk. There was at 
 least one bishop — FoUiot of Hereford, learned, able, 
 austere, somewhat bitter, neither an eater of meat nor 
 a drinker of wine — ^who denounced the Chancellor as 
 of worldly mind, no friend of the Church. It is 
 curious to note that FoUiot, though himself a 
 " regular " or one of the monastic clergy, ranged 
 himself against Becket throughout the ensuing struggle, 
 and was to the end one of his most dangerous enemies ; 
 while Becket from the first foresaw in the very strict- 
 ness of his conception of the Church's rights the 
 probable wreck of his friendship with the King. In 
 the end, however, the choice was unanimous and 
 accepted ; the consecration took place on the octave of 
 
 59 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Whit-Sunday, June 3, 1162, and the new Archbishop 
 immediately afterwards said his first mass in the chapel 
 of the Blessed Trinity, which henceforth became his 
 favourite resort for prayer and meditation whenever he 
 was at Canterbury. This chapel must, of course, not 
 be confused with the present Trinity Chapel, built 
 after the fire. It was an oblong projection from the 
 extreme east of the apse of Ernulf's choir, above the 
 spot where for fifty years (l 1 70-1 220) Becket's body 
 lay in the crypt. Though the chapel has vanished, the 
 famous Mass of 1162 has left a permanent memory in 
 the calendar of the Church ; for Thomas himself 
 instituted the festival of the Holy Trinity to be observed 
 on the anniversary, and the octave of Whit-Sunday has 
 now become Trinity Sunday throughout the whole 
 Western Church, 
 
 Gilbert FoUiot became afterwards, by Becket's 
 generous persuasion, Bishop of London, but he never 
 lost the spirit of his sardonic comment on the new 
 Primate's consecration. He said, more truly than he 
 knew, that " the King had worked a miracle in having 
 that day turned a layman into an archbishop, and a 
 soldier into a saint." Whatever inconsistencies may 
 be laid to his charge, there is no doubt of the sincerity 
 of Becket's devotion to his new office, of his care for 
 the seemly performance of all sacred duties, of the 
 disinterestedness of his aims, nor of the purity and 
 severity of his life. The first cause of difference with 
 the King was his resolve to resign the Chancellorship 
 as a worldly hindrance to higher work. If he was not 
 a monk in name, he forthwith became a monk in 
 asceticism, and after death it was found that he wore 
 the monastic habit beneath his episcopal robes. 
 
 It is not for us to follow, except very briefly, the 
 phases of the growing quarrel. On November 2, 1 164, 
 he fled into an exile which was to be unbroken for six 
 years, when he returned to his country and his doom 
 on December i, 11 70. It had been for him a bitter 
 60 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURT 
 
 time of " eating bread and salt and going up and down 
 other people's stairs." He never ceased to govern his 
 diocese and province and to admonish his monastery, 
 though six out of the eight and a half years of his 
 primacy were spent in banishment. 
 
 It is perhaps due to the reader that some 
 sketch should be given of the causes which led to the 
 estrangement between Thomas of Canterbury and 
 Henry II. 
 
 The Conqueror had made considerable changes in 
 the condition of the clergy. He established the clerical 
 courts as separate from the ordinary jurisdiction, but 
 he maintained for himself a supremacy over the whole 
 Church system as complete as that afterwards asserted 
 by Henry VIII, and refused to do fealty to Pope 
 Gregory VII. In this independence Lanfranc shared. 
 But in the next generation the conflict began between 
 the royal and the clerical authority, and culminated 
 in the dispute in which Becket fell, yet triumphed. 
 The dispute, in the days of Anselm, with William Rufus 
 and Henry I was on the subj ect of the investitures ; from 
 whom should the Archbishop receive the pall, the ring, 
 the pastoral staff ? It was compromised by Anselm 
 himself taking the pall which had been laid upon the 
 altar, and by his receiving the pastoral staff from the 
 Pope, while he swore allegiance to the King. The 
 strife of Becket with Henry II was on the far greater 
 matter of the immunity of the clergy from the King's 
 jurisdiction. The extreme clerical contention was 
 derived largely from the False Decretals, which, having 
 sprung up in the ninth century, had been incorporated 
 into the great body of the Canon Law called the 
 Decretum oi Gratian. Of this Becket had been a 
 diligent student at Bologna, and afterwards during his 
 banishment at Pontigny it was constantly in his hand. 
 It gave the most extreme power to the Pope as against 
 kings ; and since the Decretals were supposed to have 
 
 6i 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the sanction of apostles and fathers of the Church, 
 Becket, as a conscientious Churchman, felt bound to 
 assert the rights which they gave. The clergy were a 
 separate race ; they must not be subject to the law of 
 common men ; if they committed crimes, they must 
 be judged by their own law in their own courts ; and 
 any one who was attached, even as a servant of a con- 
 vent, to the sacred order must be similarly entitled to 
 the " benefit of clergy." 
 
 The King, on the other hand, was equally strong in 
 the conviction that he was placed at the head of the 
 nation to enforce order and justice, and that he held 
 the divine sanction for this ; while the Pope's authority 
 was an invention of men. In arguing for the power 
 which he claimed over Battle Abbey against the Bishop 
 of Chichester, who asserted the jurisdiction of the 
 Pope, he used these remarkable words : " You, on 
 behalf of the Pope's authority which is given him by 
 men, fancy that you can strive with your clever subtle- 
 ness against the authority of the royal power which has 
 been given me by God." 
 
 Becket, though he assented to the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon, which determined what causes should be 
 tried in the bishops' and what in the King's courts, and 
 were of the nature of a compromise, yet recalled his 
 assent at the Council of Northampton, and left the 
 country without the King's leave. 
 
 The bishops and clergy of England were divided in 
 their sympathies. As Englishmen they held with the 
 King ; but the separate interests of their order were 
 strong, while the language of the Decretals and the 
 power of the Pope were against the King. The people 
 were on Becket's side, since they felt the harshness of 
 the King's rule, and hated the cruel fines and brutal 
 mutilations of the secular courts. This accounts 
 largely for the widespread and passionate devotion to 
 Becket's memory. He was regarded as a champion 
 against royal and feudal oppression. 
 62 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 Peace was made at last at Fretteville, in Normandy. 
 The King and Primate agreed, so it seemed, to forgive 
 and forget ; the King held the Archbishop's bridle 
 and stirrup as he mounted his horse, and received his 
 blessing, and Becket returned to England. Alas ! 
 another cause of quarrel had already arisen which 
 concerned the dignity of his see and involved a matter 
 of discipline. 
 
 The King had resolved that, on account of his 
 frequent absences abroad, his eldest son Henry should 
 be made king, to assist him during his lifetime ; and 
 Becket being an exile, Roger, Archbishop of York, was 
 called in to officiate at the coronation, assisted by 
 FoUiot, Bishop of London, and Jocelyn, Bishop of 
 Salisbury. This was a violation of the privileges of 
 the See of Canterbury, the occupant of which had 
 always ofl&ciated. 
 
 The question had been tried at the coronation of 
 Henry I, when the Archbishop of York's claim had 
 been disallowed and his cross-bearer turned out of the 
 chapel. Becket was deeply incensed, and, perhaps 
 characteristically, took immediate and extreme measures 
 to redress the breach of discipline. He procured from 
 the Pope a suspension of the Archbishop of York and 
 an excommunication of the two other bishops, but 
 reserved to his own discretion the moment at which 
 these documents should be promulgated. 
 
 The moment he chose was unfortunate for himself 
 and for the peace of the Church. He had the excom- 
 munication with him at his interview with the King, 
 and obtained from him a general assent to the exercise 
 of discipline ; but nothing was known of the matter 
 until Becket's landing in England early in December. 
 Then he immediately sent the documents to the three 
 prelates, who were at Dover, and the whole quarrel 
 was again ablaze. They went straight to the King at 
 the castle of Bur, near Bayeux, and their news threw 
 him into one of those paroxysms of rage to which he 
 
 63 
 
CANTERBU RY CATHEDRAL 
 
 and others of his race were subject, and which were 
 not quite unreasonably looked upon as temporary pos- 
 session by a devil. He foamed at the mouth, and in 
 his frenzy cursed his court for a nest of cowards, not 
 one of whom would rid him of this low-born priest. 
 
 On this, the four knights, Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de 
 Moreville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton, 
 determined to enforce what they believed to be the 
 King's will. They moved so quickly that messengers 
 sent to stay their hands were too late. They arrived 
 by different roads at Saltwood Castle, which, though 
 belonging to the Archbishop, had during his exile been 
 given to his mortal enemy, Randolph de Broc. This 
 man had done everything to thwart and insult the 
 Archbishop, and with others had destroyed a cargo of 
 wine on its way, and had cut off the tails of his horse 
 and sumpter-mule. The knights held a conference in 
 the darkness, and early in the morning of December 29, 
 1 1 70, rode with a few retainers along Stone Street, the 
 old Roman road from Lymne to Canterbury. 
 
 The Archbishop, to whom we rhust now return, 
 was not unaware of his danger ; but he was daring, 
 and full of faith in his cause. At Canterbury 
 he met with a more than royal welcome. He "was 
 received in solemn procession. The church re- 
 sounded with hymns and music, the haU with 
 rejoicing, the city everywhere with fullness of joy."^ 
 He went through the streets barefoot to the cathedral. 
 In the choir he gave every monk the kiss of peace. He 
 preached in the chapter-house on " Here we have no 
 continuing city, but we seek one to come." As of old, 
 he attended the religious offices and sat in his court 
 as judge. Come what might, he would nevermore 
 be parted from his church. ,At midnight on Christmas 
 Eve he celebrated high mass, and again on Christmas 
 morning, when he preached on the words rendered 
 
 "■ William Fitzstephen, "Materials," iii. 119. 
 64 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 (perhaps rightly) by the Vulgate, " On earth peace to 
 men of good will." To men of evil will, he said, there 
 is no peace. He denounced and, in certain cases, ex- 
 communicated violators of the Church's property, 
 rights, or discipline, and fomenters of discord between 
 himself and the King. He referred to the insults and 
 injuries he had suffered at the hands of de Broc, and, 
 ilinging the candle on the pavement below, cried out, 
 " So let them perish ! May Christ curse all who sow 
 dissension between me and the King ! " On the day 
 of his death, at the banquet in the hall of his palace, 
 when it was observed that he drank more wine than 
 usual, he replied, " He that has much blood to shed 
 must needs drink much wine." 
 
 This was the beginning of the end. He had retired 
 to his chamber after dinner, and was sitting on his bed 
 talking to his friends, when the knights, after an inter- 
 view with the abbot of St. Augustine's, who was 
 estranged from Becket, were admitted to his presence, 
 and demanded the withdrawal of the excommunication 
 of the bishops. After an angry altercation the Arch- 
 bishop declared, " Were all the swords in England 
 hanging over my head, you could not terrify me from 
 my obedience to God and my Lord the Pope." 
 
 The knights left in furious anger to recover their 
 swords, which had been laid down outside under a 
 wide-branching sycamore, and, throwing off their 
 cloaks, returned in their coats of mail, to find the 
 entrance barred. Guided by de Broc, they entered 
 the palace from the back, and, ascending a staircase 
 where some carpenters had been at work, took their 
 axes to break through any intervening doors ; but the 
 Archbishop was already gone. Very unwillingly he 
 had been persuaded to retire into the cathedral, and 
 in order to avoid the armed men by whom the place 
 was now beset, he went by a private way through or 
 under the cellarer's lodgings to the north-west door 
 of the cloister. It was fastened, but so quickly did 
 
 E 65 
 
CANtERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 two cellarmen, roused by the tumult, fly through the 
 monastic buildings into the cloister to open it from the 
 other side that it was afterwards believed to have 
 opened miraculously of its own accord, like the iron 
 gate to St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 He forbade the refastening of it, and urged, pushed, 
 half carried by his friends, breaking loose from them 
 and halting for a moment in the chapter-house, he at 
 last reached the door from the cloister into the transept 
 which has ever since been called the Martyrdom, 
 This door also he refused to have closed behind him — 
 " the church must not be turned into a castle " — and 
 when his orders were disobeyed he unbarred it with 
 his own hands to admit some terrified monks, driven 
 before the mailed knights advancing along the western 
 and southern alleys of the cloister shortly after the 
 Archbishop and his party had traversed the northern 
 and eastern alleys. The admission of the flying monks 
 was, of course, the admission also of the pursuing 
 knights. 
 
 In spite of the entreaties of those who desired to 
 save him, it does not appear that Becket ever enter- 
 tained the intention of escape by hiding in the secret 
 places of the cathedral. His hesitations were rather 
 as to the fitting spot for an archbishop to meet his 
 enemies and his death. He reproved the timidity of 
 the monks, and when they rushed past him into the 
 choir, he was mounting the steps which then (as still in 
 the corresponding southern transept) led thither from 
 the south-east corner of the Martyrdom. He was 
 perhaps making for the high altar, or St. Augustine's 
 chair. 
 
 In order to picture clearly to ourselves what followed 
 we must bear in mind certain structural changes. In 
 1 1 70 the Lady Chapel (which is now called the Dean's 
 Chapel) did not exist. In place of its entrance-screen 
 was an apse, divided into two stories by a vaulted roof 
 covering a part or the whole of the transept area, and 
 66 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 supported by arches springing from a column which 
 
 bisected the southern or inner side of this area. The 
 
 ground floor was the chapel of St. Benedict, the upper 
 
 floor that of St. Blaise, each with its altar in the apse. 
 
 It was five o'clock on the midwinter evening of 
 
 December 29, 11 70, and the darkness was unrelieved 
 
 except by the dim light at the altar of St. Benedict, 
 
 when there came the clash of armour and a voice, 
 
 " Where is Thomas Becket, traitor to the King ?" 
 
 " Here am I ; no traitor, but Archbishop and priest of 
 
 God." The tall figure halted and turned on the 
 
 stairway, then descended to confront the attack. 
 
 " Absolve the bishops." " I cannot do other than I 
 
 have done." Fitzurse planted an axe against his 
 
 breast, another struck him on the shoulders with the 
 
 flat of a sword. " Fly, you are a dead man ! " "I am 
 
 ready to die for God and the Church ; but I warn 
 
 you, I curse you in the name of God Almighty if you 
 
 do not let my men escape." 
 
 In the Middle Ages the horror of sacrilege was 
 greater than that of murder, and the first attempt was 
 to carry him out of the cathedral. The Archbishop 
 set his back against the pillar supporting the chapel of 
 St. Blaise, and when they tried to hoist him on the 
 back of Tracy, caught up the knight in his coat of 
 mail and flung him on the pavement. Amid the 
 furious words on both sides the Archbishop hurled at 
 Fitzurse two bitter but probably not undeserved 
 epithets : " You detestable fellow," " You pander " 
 or " profligate wretch." ^ Then in a different key, 
 characteristic of the double temperament of the man, 
 as a sword swept the covering from his head, " I com- 
 mend my cause and the cause of the Church to St. 
 Denys the Martyr of France, to St. Alphege, and to 
 the saints of the Church." 
 
 With cries of " Ferez ! Ferez ! " (Strike ! Strike !) 
 came the final onset. The faithful and devoted friend 
 
 ^ Vir abominabilis. Lenonem afpellans. 
 
 6j 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Grim, the Cambridge clerk, who up to this had stood 
 by his master in his extremity, was severely wounded 
 in the arm, uplifted to ward off a sword-stroke of 
 Tracy's which drew blood from Becket's scalp and 
 shoulder. Then quickly followed a stunning blow on 
 the bleeding head with the flat of the sword. The 
 Archbishop bade poor Grim resist no longer, and fell 
 on his knees. " Lord, into Thy hands I commend my 
 spirit," A third blow from Tracy laid him prostrate 
 on the floor, murmuring, " For the name of Jesus and 
 the defence of the Church I am willing to die." Then, 
 as he lay helpless, came the violent stroke of Richard 
 le Breton which severed the crown of the head from 
 the skull and shivered the blade in pieces against the 
 stones. A degraded clerk, Hugh of Horsea, who had 
 hitherto taken no active part, strewed the exposed 
 brain on the pavement with the point of his weapon, 
 saying, " Let us go. The traitor is dead. He will 
 rise no more." 
 
 The dreadful deed was accomplished, and the Arch- 
 bishop was dead. The knights rushed out of the 
 cathedral with the war-cry of the English kings, 
 " Reaux ! Reaux ! " (King's men), plundered the 
 palace of both valuables and documents, and in a storm 
 of lightning and rain rode off with their spoil on horses 
 stolen from the palace stables. They were well 
 mounted, for Becket loved a good horse. 
 
 That night the body was carried up into the choir 
 and laid before the High Altar. The next day it was 
 removed to the crypt beneath the Trinity Chapel 
 where the living man had loved to pray, and enclosed 
 in a new marble sarcophagus, so constructed or adapted, 
 with two oval windows or openings on each side, that 
 devotees could touch or kiss the coffin within.^ 
 
 1 This tallies with. Gervase and the representation of the tumha in the 
 thirteenth-century windows. Other authorities seem to state that the 
 windows or openings were in a protecting waE built round the sarco- 
 phagus and gave access only to its exterior. 
 
 68 
 
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. THOMAS 
 
 From a Picture on a Panel at the Head of 
 THE Tomb of King Henry IV 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CJNTE RBU RT 
 
 Gervase the chronicler, who was a monk of Canter- 
 bury at that time, states that he had both seen and 
 touched the garments within. Many representations 
 of this " tomb " (tumba) are to be seen in the thirteenth- 
 century " miracle " windows of the existing Trinity 
 Chapel, and are not to be confounded with the more 
 gorgeous " shrine " (jeretrum) to which the Translation 
 was made fifty years later. 
 
 When the monks, watching and weeping by their 
 master's body, discovered beneath the many and heavy 
 outer garments — for it was midwinter, and the twelfth 
 century had neither coal nor appliance for heating 
 large buildings — all the signs of an extreme austerity — 
 the monastic habit, the hair-shirt, the marks of the 
 scourge, the toleration of tormenting vermin — they 
 with tears hailed him not only as true monk but as 
 true saint. Three years later this canonisation was 
 officially ratified by the Pope, and Thomas Becket 
 became St. Thomas of Canterbury ; but almost 
 immediately began the extraordinary series of visions, 
 miracles, and pilgrimages. A great wave of emotion 
 passed over the land, transmitting mystic influence 
 beyond the Channel and the North Sea. Healing virtue 
 dwelt in everything which the saint had worn or used, 
 and the least drop or tincture of his blood, mixed with 
 water from the well near his tomb and distributed in 
 small leaden vials or amfullce, became the most prized 
 and potent of charms. " As the palm was a sign of 
 a pilgrimage to Jerusalem," says Dean Stanley, " and a 
 scallop-shell of a pilgrimage to Compostella, so a leaden 
 vial or bottle suspended from the neck became the 
 mark of a pilgrimage to Canterbury. . . . The Canter- 
 bury pilgrim had his hat thick-set with ' a hundred 
 ampuUes ' or with leaden brooches representing the 
 mitred head of the saint, with the inscription Caput 
 Thoma. Many of these are said to have been found 
 in the beds of the Stour and the Thames, dropped as 
 
 69 
 
C ANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the vast concourse departed from Canterbury or 
 reached London." 
 
 For a year the desecrated church lay silent and 
 desolate ; the pictures and hangings were taken down, 
 the bells were not rung, the altar was veiled, there was 
 no music, the services were held in the chapter -house. 
 On December 21, 1171, the church was " reconciled " 
 by the sprinkling of holy water by order of Pope 
 Alexander III, who ruled that, " as was customary at 
 St. Peter's, Rome, the sacrament of dedication should 
 not be repeated." ^ 
 
 It is not difHcult to identify the spot where Becket 
 fell. Dean Stanley thought it precisely marked by the 
 square piece of stone let into the pavement in place 
 of a portion said to have been taken out and sent to 
 Rome.^ In any case, the early narratives point to a 
 spot " in front of the corner wall of the chapel," 
 i.e. the wall-space to which is now attached the 
 monument of Archdeacon Chapman. Beneath the 
 easternmost of the arches springing from the pillar 
 which upheld the chapel of St. Blaise, the Archbishop 
 fell " towards the north," so that his head lay towards 
 the altar of St. Benedict in the apse. 
 
 Here, " in front of the corner wall," probably when 
 the church was " reconciled " in 1171, was erected the 
 simple but famous altar of the Martyrdom or of the 
 Sword's Point {ad Punctum Ensis), of which a rude 
 representation in stone is still to be seen over the south- 
 west porch. It was on a platform of two wooden steps ; 
 above it was a canopied image of the martyr, with 
 three tapers burning in a candelabrum at its feet ; upon 
 or over the altar was the Cus-pis Gladii or point of 
 le Breton's shattered sword, in a case with costly 
 
 1 Efist. St. Thorn. Cantuar., lib. v. Ep. xcv., Lupus, p. 882. 
 
 2 Mention is made by the late Canon G. C. Pearson, in a letter to 
 the Kentish Gazette of August 15, 1885, of a small piece of stone, in the 
 Sacristy at Siena, pierced by a hole through which is drawn a slip of 
 parchment inscribed in twelfth-century characters : " De lapide super 
 quern sanguis beati Thomae__Cantuariensis eifusus est." 
 
 70 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBU RT 
 
 coverings, which were withdrawn for the gaze of 
 wondering worshippers. A fragment of the martyr's 
 brain under a piece of rock-crystal surmounted the 
 case ; his gold ring set with sapphires was also shown, 
 and, a century later, was added a similar ring of St. 
 Edmund the Archbishop. Both these rings were " of 
 great and wonderful virtue for relieving the eyes of 
 sick persons." For a better view of this altar, Gervase 
 tells us, the pillar against which Becket set his back 
 in the struggle, and with it the arches and the chapel 
 of St. Blaise which they supported, were taken down ; 
 the steps also, which he was ascending towards the 
 choir, were removed to make a more seemly space. 
 The western stairway from the transept was (and is) 
 protected by a low wall, which, as pilgrims multiplied, 
 was extended to the north, making a passage or lobby 
 by which monks and officials could pass from the 
 cloister into the nave without mixing with the crowd 
 in the Martyrdom. There was indeed a door in this 
 wall known as the Red Door Qe red dur), but it was 
 usually locked and the key in safe keeping. On either 
 leaf of this double door was one of the following lines, 
 still partly legible in Somner's day and quoted by him 
 
 Est sacer intra locus venerabilis atque beatus 
 Prsesul ubi sanctus Thomas est martyrizatus. 
 
 The wall appears to have been rebuilt in 1381, but 
 becoming unsafe, owing to the digging of a grave, 
 was finally removed in 1734. The altar of St. Benedict 
 and the apse in which it stood remained till c. 1460, 
 when the Lady Chapel was erected together with its 
 entrance-screen by the first Prior Goldstone, and 
 involved their removal. So much reconstruction of 
 the transept has taken place that only the outer walls 
 belong to Lanfranc's work, and therefore to the very 
 fabric in which the murder was done. There is even 
 a story that Prior Benedict, when he became Abbot 
 of Peterborough, took with him " the stones on which 
 
 73 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the blood of the martyr was sprinkled." But except- 
 ing for the removal of the eastern stairway and of the 
 pillar supporting St. Blaise's Chapel, the ground plan 
 is unaltered. 
 
 The most notable and impressive of all Canterbury 
 pilgrimages was that of the King himself, whose 
 penance resounded through Europe, and has taken its 
 place in history as one of the deepest recorded humilia- 
 tions of great princes. There is no reason to doubt 
 the sincerity of Henry's grief and remorse. For five 
 weeks after he heard the news he shut himself off from 
 both sport and public affairs, lamenting continually, 
 " Alas ! alas ! that it ever happened." His very 
 liability to paroxysms of rage shows that he was capable 
 of being deeply moved. Henry saw at once the danger 
 that the Pope might excommunicate him and lay an 
 interdict on his kingdom. The frightful calamities 
 following an interdict were fully exemplified later in 
 the reign of his son John. To avoid these he wrote 
 to the Pope disowning complicity in the murder, and 
 at last after repeated solicitation received absolution 
 from the Papal Legate at Avranche. The inscribed 
 stone on which he knelt to receive it is the last vestige 
 left of a great cathedral and gives the date as May 21, 
 1 172. During the next two years, however, dangers 
 of another kind grew darker in England. His penitence 
 was not believed in ; there were insurrections in York- 
 shire, Norfolk, and the midland counties ; the Scots 
 had crossed the border ; his sons were in rebellion, 
 and Prince Henry actually meditated an invasion from 
 Flanders. The King took a great resolve, landed at 
 Southampton as a penitent pilgrim, and rode straight 
 to Canterbury. At St, Dunstan's Church he stripped 
 off his ordinary dress, and with a cloak thrown over 
 a woollen shirt he walked barefoot to the cathedral. 
 He knelt in the porch, went to the Martyrdom, and 
 again kneeling kissed the sacred stone where the Arch- 
 74 
 
KING HENRY II. RECEIVING HIS 
 DISCIPLINE AT THE HANDS 
 OF THE MONKS 
 
 From Stained Glass in the Bodleian Library at Oxford 
 Reproduced from Carter'' s specimens oj Jncient Architecture and Glas. 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBU RT 
 
 bishop had fallen, laid aside his cloak in the crypt, and, 
 kneeling yet again, placed his head in one of the aper- 
 tures of the tomb. There he received five strokes 
 with a rod from each bishop and abbot present, and 
 three strokes from each of the eighty monks. He 
 spent the whole night fasting in the crypt, and on the 
 day following rode off fully absolved and carrying with 
 him the pilgrim's usual phial of water mixed with the 
 martyr's blood. Exhaustion of body and mortification 
 of spirit threw him into a fever, but within a week 
 William the Lion of Scotland was taken prisoner at 
 Richmond in Yorkshire, the Flanders fleet was driven 
 back, and the pacified saint seemed to have lightened 
 the horizon for him on every side. 
 
 Henry's penance was on July 12, 11 74. On Septem- 
 ber 5 came the great fire as related in the next chapter, 
 followed by the building of the existing choir. Trinity 
 Chapel, and corona. This is important to our present 
 purpose chiefiy as leading up to the next great phase 
 in the history of Becket's relics, their translation from 
 the tomb in the crypt to the shrine in the retro-choir. 
 Before that event many pilgrims had come and gone, 
 some of them royal and famous — or infamous ; among 
 them Lewis VH of France, Richard Coeur de Lion, John, 
 and William the Lion of Scotland, who, by his defeat, was 
 so impressed with the saint's power that he built in his 
 honour the abbey of Aberbrothock. But the martyr's 
 bones did not attain their highest glory till 1220, fifty 
 years after his death, the jubilee, as it were, of his 
 entrance into Paradise. The day was July 7, and took 
 its place in the Church's calendar as the " Feast of the 
 Translation of St. Thomas." Archbishop Stephen 
 Langton made the occasion so magnificent, and the 
 crowds entertained by him were so vast, that the debts 
 incurred were a burden to his next four successors in 
 the see, although the offerings of the pilgrims were 
 equivalent to nearly ^30,000 of our money. At the 
 Martyrdom or Altar of the Sword's Point was taken 
 
 75 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 ^93 OS. 2d., at the tomb in the crypt ^£279 9s., at the 
 shrine £702 4s. ; in all ^^1074 13s. 2d., at a time when 
 money was worth nearly thirty times its present value. 
 
 The jubilee of the Translation was held every fifty 
 years from 1220 to 1520, and came to be known as the 
 Great Pardon, from the Pope's accordance of plenary 
 indulgence to all pilgrims ; but the offerings of 1220 
 were never equalled. In 1420, the time of Henry V 
 and Archbishop Chicheley, it is said that the Great 
 Pardon assembled 100,000 pilgrims ; but the offerings 
 were only ;^S70 — ^at the shrine £360, at the corona 
 ^150, at the " Sword's Point " ^37, at the tomb in the 
 crypt ^23. Assuming a decline in value during the 
 two centuries to about twenty times that of our money, 
 this would work out at ^11,480. It is doubtful 
 whether the Great Pardon of 1520 ever took place. 
 The Pope, hard pressed by the outlay on the building 
 of St. Peter's at Rome, refused the grant of plenary 
 indulgence unless half the offerings were made over to 
 him for that purpose. Dr. Grig, proctor at the court 
 of Rome for the Prior and Chapter, gives an instructive 
 account of the negotiations. After many questions by 
 his Holiness (Leo X), the proctor had affirmed that 
 since the death and passion of St. Peter there never had 
 been a man who had done more for the liberties of the 
 Church than St. Thomas of Canterbury. He [Dr. Grig] 
 recommends that a gold cup be sent to his Holiness at once, 
 and that the old men of Canterbury be examined by a 
 notary and their evidence sent to Rome. He augurs 
 well from the fact that he is in high favour with the 
 Pope's sister, but has finally to admit that after inter- 
 viewing the Pope every second day for ten days he can 
 make no better terms than the surrender of half the 
 oblations to the building fund of St. Peter's. 
 
 The great event of 1220, in honour of which all 
 financial considerations were disregarded, was, of course, 
 the Translation itself. " A long procession, which 
 included twenty- four bishops and nearly all the abbots 
 76 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 in England, headed by the young King Henry III, 
 
 entered the crypt. The [iron] chest containing the 
 
 remains of the saint was placed on the shoulders of 
 
 Archbishop Langton, the Archbishop of Rheims, 
 
 Hubert de Burgh, Grand Justiciar of England, and 
 
 Pandulph, the Papal Legate," and borne along aisle 
 
 and stairway to the gilded and pillared ark in the chapel 
 
 which had been built specially for its reception, and 
 
 where for three centuries afterwards it was enshrined. 
 
 Not the least interested and interesting members of 
 
 that brilliant assembly were the two " incomparable 
 
 craftsmen " to whose genius were due the design and 
 
 the workmanship of the shrine, and who prepared 
 
 and set in order the pageant of the Translation. 
 
 Their names are preserved to us by Matthew Paris ^ — 
 
 Walter of Colchester, sacrist of St. Albans, and Elias 
 
 of Dereham, canon of Salisbury. The latter was 
 
 doubtless the Elias of Dereham who is mentioned in 
 
 a charter five years later (1225) as prior of St. 
 
 Gregory's, Canterbury. 
 
 Only one contemporary representation of the shrine 
 is known to be extant ; it is in the highest group of 
 medallions in the central of the three thirteenth- 
 century windows on the north side of the chapel, and 
 as it was within sight from the shrine itself can scarcely 
 have been other than a faithful, though perhaps a 
 conventionalised, representation. A reproduction of 
 it will be found in Stanley's " Memorials " (Note I). 
 " Becket is here shown issuing from his shrine in full 
 pontificals to go to the altar as if to celebrate Mass. 
 The monk to whom the vision appears is lying in the 
 foreground on a couch," and is doubtless intended for 
 Benedict, a contemporary of the martyrdom who 
 relates the vision as having been seen by him. Below 
 are the words Prodire jeretro — as we should say, 
 " Issuing from the shrine." 
 
 Amongst the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum 
 1 Hist, Angl., R.S., ii. p. 242. 
 
 77 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 there is a drawing of later date which cannot easily be 
 reconciled with the representation in the window. 
 Stanley reproduces this also, and endeavours to explain 
 it as showing the stone base surmounted by the wooden 
 case or covering which usually protected the shrine. 
 The base shows, not pillars, but arched apertures in 
 the masonry ; and the gilded metal finials which 
 belonged to the inner ark are shown on the top of the 
 wooden case. 
 
 The shrine stood lengthways eastward and westward 
 in the centre of the lofty chapel, and cannot be better 
 described than in Stanley's words : 
 
 " Above its eastern extremity was fixed in the roof 
 a gilded crescent, still remaining. It has been con- 
 jectured with some reason that it may have been 
 brought by some crusading pilgrim from the dome of 
 an Oriental mosque, and that round it a group of 
 Turkish flags and horse-tails hung from the roof over 
 the shrine beneath — like the banners of St. George's 
 Chapel, Windsor. At its western extremity, separating 
 it from the Patriarchal Chair, which stood where the 
 Communion Table is now placed, extended the broad 
 pavement of mosaic, with its border of circular stones, 
 ornamented with fantastic devices, chiefly of the signs 
 of the zodia.c, similar to that which surrounds the 
 contemporary tombs of Edward the Confessor and 
 Henry III at Westminster. Immediately in front of 
 this mosaic was placed ' the altar of St. Thomas ' at 
 the head of the shrine, and before this the pilgrims 
 knelt, where the long furrow in the purple pavement 
 still marks the exact limit to which they advanced. 
 Before them rose the shrine, secure with its strong iron 
 rails, of which the stains and perhaps the fixings can 
 be traced in the broken pavement around. For those 
 who were allowed to approach still closer there were 
 iron gates which opened. The lower part of the 
 shrine was of stone, supported on arches ; and between 
 these arches the sick and lame pilgrims were allowed 
 78 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBU RT 
 
 to ensconce themselves, rubbing their rheumatic backs 
 or diseased legs and arms against the marble which 
 brought them into the nearest contact with the 
 wonder-working body within. The shrine properly 
 so called rested on these arches, and was at first 
 invisible. It was concealed by a wooden canopy, 
 probably painted outside with sacred pictures, sus- 
 pended from the roof. At a given signal this canopy 
 was drawn up by ropes, and the shrine then appeared 
 blazing with gold and jewels ; the wooden sides were 
 plated with gold and damasked with gold wire ; 
 cramped together on this gold ground were innumer- 
 able jewels, pearls, sapphires, balassas, diamonds, 
 rubies, and emeralds, and also, ' in the midst of the 
 gold,' rings or cameos of sculptured agates, cornelians, 
 and onyx stones. 
 
 " As soon as this magnificent sight was disclosed every 
 one dropped on his knees, and probably the tinkling of 
 the silver bells attached to the canopy would indicate 
 the moment to all the hundreds of pilgrims in what- 
 ever part of the cathedral they might be. Whilst 
 the votaries knelt around, the shrine-keeper, or on 
 special occasions the Prior, came forward and with a 
 white wand touched the several jewels, naming the 
 giver of each." Erasmus, who saw the treasures of 
 the cathedral in 15 13, calls this official with a touch 
 of characteristic mockery the ' Mystagogus.' Each of 
 the holy places had its own custodian, its own store 
 of relics, its own narratives of miraculous cure ; to 
 say nothing of what Erasmus saw in the sacristy, 
 St. Thomas' pastoral staff, rough cloak, and bloody 
 handkerchief, nor of the vast store of general relics, 
 in ivory, gilt, or silver coffers, in the choir. The pil- 
 grims were led from the nave, through the dark passage 
 under the ascent to the choir, for their homage at 
 the Altar of the Sword's Point ; thence to the tomb 
 or sarcophagus, holy still though empty, in the crypt ; 
 then back into the south transept and up the stairway 
 
 79 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 into the choir aisle to the Caput Beati Thames (" Saint 
 Thomas' Hed ") in the round chapel at the extreme 
 east of the church. Here was a golden or silver-gilt 
 bust or head of the martyr which was believed to 
 contain a fragment of his crown or scalp. Whether 
 this was itself the corona and gave its name to the 
 chapel, or whether corona is an architectural term, is 
 not quite certain, and according to our view on that 
 point we shall interpret the statement that in 13 14 
 Prior Henry of Eastry spent ^^^5 ^^^^ 4'^- (nearly 
 ;^30oo) in adorning " the crown of St. Thomas " with 
 gold, silver, and precious stones. From " Saint 
 Thomas' Hed " the company were led into the chapel 
 of St. Thomas (now called the Trinity Chapel) to the 
 shrine, and returned down the south choir aisle, where 
 still remain the marks of the iron grille which divided 
 the streams of ascending and descending votaries. 
 There is also a worn step where they may have knelt 
 to receive the leaden bottles or " ampuUas " of water 
 mixed with blood. 
 
 The account by Erasmus in his Peregrinatio 
 Religionis ergo of his visit to Canterbury in 15 13 is 
 interesting not only as a description by a shrewd 
 observer and accurate reporter ; it is full of quiet 
 humour, as when he sees in the cathedral porch the 
 statues of the three armoured knights, "enjoying the 
 same kind of fame as Judas, Pilate, and Caiaphas " ; it 
 is first-hand evidence of the immense value of the 
 accumulated treasures — " one would call Midas and 
 Croesus beggars in view of the power of gold and silver 
 there to be seen " ; " the most worthless thing there 
 [in the shrine] was the gold, every part glowed, 
 sparkled, and flashed with rare and large gems." 
 Finally it gives us the attitude of a learned and 
 tolerant man, who never separated from Rome, 
 towards the degraded and degrading relic-worship of 
 the time — " a parcel of ragged handkerchiefs with 
 marks upon them of having been used " ; and pre- 
 80 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBU RT 
 
 pares us for Cranmer's belief in 1538 that the " blood " 
 supplied to pilgrims consisted of red ochre.^ 
 
 The last recorded pilgrim to the shrine was Madame 
 de Montreuil, on her way to the Scottish Court on 
 August 31, 1538. Her visit is thus related by William 
 Penison, who was in waiting on her by order of the 
 Lord Privy Seal : " By ten of the cloc she, her gentil- 
 women and the Ambassadour of France went to the 
 Church, where I shewed her St. Thomas' Shryne and 
 all other such things worthy of sight, at which she was 
 not a little marveilled of the great riches thereof, 
 saing to be innumerable ; and that if she had not 
 seen it, aU the men in the wourlde would never 
 a made her belyve it. Thus ever looking and viewing 
 more than an oure, as well the Shryne as Saint Thomas' 
 Hed, being at both sett cousshens to knyle, and the 
 Pryour openyng Saint Thomas' Hed saing to her 3 
 times, ' This is Sainct Thomas' Hed,' and offered her 
 to kysse it, but she nother knyled nor would kysse it, 
 but still viewing the riches thereof. So she departed."^ 
 The lady's indifference to the Prior's permission to 
 kiss the " Hed " was a sign of the time. For more than 
 a century the decline of belief in the virtue of the relics 
 had been marked by a corresponding decline in the 
 offerings of pilgrims. When William Selling was 
 Prior in 1473-74 only ^7 was received from the warden 
 of the corona, nothing from the keepers of the shrine 
 and of the tomb, and nothing from the altars of the 
 Sword's Point and of St. Mary in the crypt. In 1467, 
 when John Oxney was Prior, the whole year's offerings 
 amounted to only 23s. from the corona.' The 
 " miracles " had long ago degenerated from the com- 
 paratively reasonable category of faith-healing into 
 
 1 " I have in great suspecte that St. Thomas of Canterbury his 
 blodde in Christes Church in Canterburie is but a fayned thing, and 
 made of some redde okar." " State Papers, Henry VIII," 580. 
 
 2 " State Papers, Henry VIII," i. 583. 
 ^ " Priors' Accounts." sub annis. 
 
 F 81 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 that of mere credulity and superstition — ^the recovery 
 of strayed falcons and of lost coins and rings ; dead 
 bodies revivified ; the starling taught an invocation 
 of St. Thomas and striking dead therewith the hawk 
 which had pounced on him. The mockery of Erasmus 
 was the voice of a new age. 
 
 The visit of Madame de Montreuil was in August 
 1538. In September, by authority of Henry VIII, who 
 in 1 5 17 with the Emperor Charles V had in great state 
 paid his own devotions and offerings at the shrine, 
 came the Commission for its total destruction. Accord- 
 ing to Stow's Annals, " These bones (by command of 
 the Lord Cromwell) were then and there brent. . . . 
 The spoile of which shrine in golde and pretious stones 
 filled two great chests such as six or seaven strong men 
 could doe no more than convey one of them out of 
 the church." The " French Regale," the great jewel 
 presented in 1179 ^Y Lewis VII, had leapt miraculously 
 from the ring on his hand, according to legend, and 
 attached itself to the shrine. Now by an agency less 
 miraculous, but equally efficacious, it leapt from the 
 shrine and attached itself to the ring on Henry VIII's 
 portentous thumb, and afterwards formed part of a 
 jewelled " collar " of his daughter Queen Mary, who 
 never attempted to undo her father's ruthless spoiling 
 of St. Thomas, This is in itself an evidence that his 
 bones were actually and finally destroyed. A rude 
 stone sarcophagus has of recent years been found under 
 the pavement of the crypt, containing the bones of a 
 tall man with a cleft skull ; and it has been argued 
 that, as in the case of Dante at Ravenna and of 
 Cuthbert at Durham, the remains of Becket were 
 removed and hidden by the monks, who substituted 
 others to undergo the sacrilegious violence of the 
 King. Till this conjecture is supported by further 
 evidence we prefer to accept the statement that the 
 saint's bones were burnt or obscurely buried. 
 
 Among the current but unattested stories of the 
 82 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBU RT 
 
 time is one that the cause of Henry II versus Thomas 
 Becket was formally pleaded in the law courts. A 
 pursuivant solemnly read by the shrine a citation 
 that its inmate should appear to answer charges of 
 treason, contumacy, and rebellion; when after thirty 
 days no voice or presence made reply, the case was 
 argued at Westminster and sentence was jironounced 
 against the Archbishop. What we know is that by 
 Royal Proclamation he was declared to be neither 
 saint nor martyr, his images and pictures were ejected 
 from all churches and public buildings, his name struck 
 out of the calendar and erased from all office books and 
 forms of prayer. The place in the crypt where 
 twelfth-century pilgrims had knelt at the tomb was 
 by Order in Council annexed to one of the canons' 
 houses as a cellar for wine and faggots. 
 
 So ended the strife of nearly four centuries, and so 
 died relic-worship in Canterbury Cathedral. 
 
 This chapter would be incomplete without some 
 brief summary of the import and result of Becket's life 
 and death. 
 
 The cathedral fabric owes much of its magnificence 
 to its having become one of the most famous of 
 European places of pilgrimage. The great disaster of 
 1 1 74, the burning of the choir of Conrad, was turned, 
 under the spell of Becket's memory, into the occasion 
 for building the far more splendid and spacious struc- 
 ture which still remains the glory of Canterbury. 
 The existing Trinity Chapel was planned as a resting- 
 place for the saint's relics ; the lofty level of its floor 
 suggested the imposing ascent from the nave as to 
 a throne-room, and incidentally made possible the 
 remarkable height and dignity of the eastern part of 
 the crypt. The offerings of countless pilgrims pro- 
 vided part of the means, and veneration for the 
 martyr's bones most of the zeal, which through 
 centuries of turmoil and through many interruptions 
 
 83 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 and calamities carried forward the building of the 
 great church. The custody of the shrine brought to 
 the Christ Church monks both importance and wealth, 
 and with these brought also heavy liabilities and 
 charges, such as forced loans to the State, and the 
 entertainment of innumerable guests and pilgrims, 
 some of whom were of the highest rank and pro- 
 portionately burdensome and expensive. Nor was it 
 only the monastery and the church that were aflFected 
 so vitally by the power in a dead man's bones, but also 
 the city and the archbishops who took their title from 
 it. TiU the year 1170 Canterbury had been a small 
 and comparatively obscure place. It was the seat of 
 the archbishopric, but as the Primate came to be 
 called away more and more for national purposes — 
 the danger became very obvious before the end of the 
 twelfth century — ^he would have lived less and less 
 at the metropolitical city, which might have remained 
 as unimportant as the little city in Thrace to which 
 Constantinople once bore a nominal allegiance in 
 affairs ecclesiastical. But Canterbury grown rich and 
 renowned as a great centre of European pilgrimage, 
 Canterbury one of the chief holy places of Christen- 
 dom, could justly claim that its Primates should no 
 longer spend their years in foreign lands, whether on 
 the King's business or the Pope's. 
 
 If Becket, in his death, left an ineflFaceable mark on 
 the structure of his cathedral, and on the history of 
 his monastery, his city, and his office, he left likewise a 
 mark far more momentous and significant on the life 
 of Christendom and on the history of his country. 
 " There is no more reason to doubt that Becket caused 
 a religious revival than that Wesley and Whitefield 
 did." ^ Only Becket's revival, unlike theirs, was felt 
 in France, Italy, the Low Countries, Denmark, and 
 Norway. Germany, bound up with the cause of the 
 antipope, had little sympathy with the champion, 
 
 1 Abbott's " St, Thomas of Canterbury," ii. p. 301. 
 84 
 
Site of the Martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canierbtiry 
 
ST. THOMAS OF CANTERBURY 
 
 suppliant, and ultimately canonised saint of Pope 
 Alexander III ; and there is no record of pilgrims 
 from Spain. On the other hand, among the myriads 
 who knelt at the tomb of " the holy blissful martyr " 
 were figures as strange as a Bishop of Tarsus and the 
 Icelandic chief who brought an offering of walrus- 
 teeth. The " miracles," which Dr. Abbott passes 
 under review with his usual acuteness and thorough- 
 ness, and many of which are depicted in the ancient 
 glass of the Trinity Chapel, are remarkably attested by 
 contemporary evidence, and at least as credible as 
 those of Lourdes or of the Christian Scientists of our 
 own day. Though now we may reasonably describe 
 them as instances of " mind-cure " or faith-healing, 
 they are none the less proofs of an extraordinary 
 impression left upon the thought and feeling of the 
 time. " We are not atheists," says Archdeacon 
 Hutton,-'- " because we see no reason to believe that 
 God has specially distinguished the waters of Lourdes 
 or the last fifty years of our era. Nor do we cease to 
 be historical students because we deal with the 
 miracles of St. Thomas as illustrations of the deep 
 infiuence of his life and death, his character and 
 principles." " We must admit at once," says Dr. 
 Abbott,^ " that Becket dying an ordinary death would 
 probably not have cured a single spasm of rheumatism. 
 But it by no means follows that he is so far to be 
 separated from his death that it is to be called an 
 accident instead of an act. The two chroniclers of 
 miracles agree in asserting that the miracles brought 
 with them an uprising of moral and religious fervour, 
 and indirectly prove it by multitudinous details 
 recorded without controversial purpose." Though 
 Becket was a stranger to democratic theories, and 
 probably to democratic sympathies, he was instinc- 
 tively accepted as the champion of popular rights 
 
 ^ Abbott's " St. Thomas of Canterbury," ii. p. 271. 
 * Ibid. -p. 301. 
 
 87 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 against feudal oppression, and this gave his memory 
 power to secure ior nearly four hundred years what he 
 really cared for — the Church's independence of the 
 State. 
 
 In the political sphere the result of his martyrdom 
 upon the minds of Englishmen was a reaction so 
 great as to suspend the Constitutions of Clarendon 
 (now an integral part of British law) and to prolong 
 the sway of tJie ecclesiastical power until the reign of 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 To this day the prevalence of the Christian name 
 of Thomas is not due to a special regard for the 
 apostle of that name, but to the devotion of the people 
 through many generations to their great saint and 
 martyr, the first man of English birth after the 
 Norman Conquest who became Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 i : Mm 
 
 Capital of Martyrdom Door 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE REBUILDING OF THE CHOIR AFTER THE 
 
 GREAT FIRE OF 1174 BY GUILLAUME DE SENS 
 
 AND WILLIAM THE ENGLISHMAN 
 
 The monks of Christ Church had scarcely recovered 
 from the shock of the terrible tragedy which had been 
 enacted in their midst, when they were again pros- 
 trated by an overwhelming 
 disaster. On September 5, 
 1 1 74 — ^less than two months 
 after King Henry H had 
 made his tardy reparation 
 for Becket's murder by re- 
 ceiving his " discipline " at 
 the martyr's tomb in the 
 crypt — the great choir, which 
 had been dedicated only 
 thirty-four years previously, 
 was consumed by fire. ^'^^'''"^ *'" ^^' ^''yf^ 
 
 The conflagration broke out between the hours of 
 three and four in the afternoon, and had its origin 
 in sparks carried by a high southerly wind from the 
 burning thatch of three cottages in Burgate Street to 
 the roof of the choir, where they effected a lodgment 
 in the joints of the leaden roof, and, fanned by the 
 wind, set fire to the rafters. The danger was, how- 
 ever, unobserved until, through the melting of the 
 leaden roof, the flames began to show themselves, and 
 a cry arose in the churchyard, " See ! See ! The 
 church is on fire ! " An attempt was made to reach 
 the roof, but the fire had now obtained so strong a 
 
 89 
 
CANT EIR BURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 hold that the flames and smoke speedily drove back the 
 willing helpers, who were then unable to do anything 
 to avert the danger. 
 
 Anselm's choir was not groined in stone, and it soon 
 became evident that the fall of the wooden ceiling 
 could not be long delayed. In order therefore to 
 save some of the fittings of the choir before the roof 
 came down, the monks, assisted by the citizens, began 
 to tear down the tapestry hangings and to remove to 
 a place of safety the reliquary chests, service books, 
 vestments, and other ornaments. This had scarcely 
 been effected, when the burning roof came crashing 
 down, and, gathering fresh fuel from the woodwork of 
 the choir below, the flames shot up to a height of five- 
 and-twenty feet, " grievously injuring the walls and 
 columns of the church." Fortunately the interven- 
 tion of the great central tower and the direction of 
 the wind (which was probably more south-west than 
 south) saved the nave and transepts of the church 
 from destruction. But the flames swept over the 
 choir roof in a north-easterly direction and ignited 
 the infirmary buildings.^ 
 
 " In this manner," says Gervase, who was an inmate 
 of the convent at the time and an eye-witness of all 
 that occurred, " the house of God, hitherto delightful 
 as a paradise of pleasures, was now made a despicable 
 heap of ashes, reduced to a dreary wilderness and laid 
 open to all the injuries of the weather." ^ 
 
 But although the monks marvelled at this inscrutable 
 dispensation of God which had bereft them of a build- 
 ing of which they were so justly proud, they at once 
 decided that the daily and nightly offices of their order 
 must suffer no interruption. An altar was therefore 
 ^ Traces of the fire may still be seen on the piers of the infirmary 
 hall, but as it was not necessary to rebuild them the damage here was 
 apparently less than in the choir. 
 
 2 Gervase, Tractatus de Combustione, in Opera Historica, R.S. vol. i. 
 p. 4. A translation of the whole tract is given in Willis's "Archi- 
 tectural History of Canterbury Cathedral." 
 90 
 
REBUILDING 1HE CHOIR 
 
 erected in the nave, and a space about it was enclosed 
 within a low wall where the brethren might perform 
 their devotions in some sort of privacy. At the same 
 time the relics of the saints were removed from their 
 desecrated shrines and temporarily reinterred in the 
 nave. This preliminary work was doubtless hastened on 
 in view of the approaching enthronement of Becket's 
 successor. Archbishop Richard, like his predecessor 
 Lanfranc, found his cathedral church in ruins when 
 he first saw it. Nevertheless the ceremony of his 
 enthronement was duly carried out on October 5, just 
 one month after the outbreak of the fire. 
 
 It now remained for the monks to decide how they 
 would deal with the eastern limb of the church. 
 Although roofless, the walls and piers were still stand- 
 ing, and the question arose as to whether a restoration 
 might not be effected which would not involve the 
 destruction of what was left. 
 
 The convent at this juncture contained no second 
 Ernulf to whose skill in architectural matters the 
 solution of the problem might be safely entrusted, 
 and it was deemed necessary to call in expert assistance 
 from outside. Amongst a number of English and 
 French artificers who in response to the invitation of 
 the Prior and Chapter came to Canterbury for the 
 purpose of making a survey of the ruins, and issuing a 
 report thereon, was one Guillaume de Sens, whom 
 Gervase describes as " a man active and ready, and as 
 a workman most skilful both in wood and stone." 
 Whether Guillaume had had anything to do with the 
 building of the cathedral church of his native city is 
 not certain, but since that church was finished in 
 1 168 it is very probable that he had been employed 
 in this connection, and that the circumstance had much 
 to do with his selection as the most fitting candidate 
 for undertaking the supervision of the new work at 
 Canterbury. However this may have been, " the 
 lively genius and good reputation " of the Frenchman 
 
 91 
 
CANTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 made such a favourable impression upon the Prior and 
 Chapter of Christ Church that they appointed him as 
 their surveyor and dismissed his rivals. Guillaume 
 began by making a careful examination of the ruins, 
 and soon convinced himself that their condition was 
 such as to necessitate a practical rebuilding of the 
 whole. But knowing the aflEection which the monks 
 retained for Anselm's choir, he prudently kept his 
 opinion to himself until the brethren had somewhat 
 recovered from the first shock of the calamity. He 
 then told the monks distinctly that if they wished to 
 have a safe and beautiful house of God, the damaged 
 columns and all that they supported must be taken 
 down. 
 
 The monks, however, still hesitated to give per- 
 mission for the destruction of their much-loved choir, 
 and Guillaume, confident of the ultimate issue, con- 
 tented himself with quietly making preparations to 
 begin the work whenever he should receive permission 
 to proceed. 
 
 At length a reluctant consent was given, and the 
 remainder of the year was spent in clearing the ruins 
 of debris and in the preparation of the necessary plant 
 and material. 
 
 In the following year — ^that is, in 1175 — Guillaume 
 began the work at the western end, and before the 
 year was out had erected the first pair of pier arches 
 on either side of the choir. Thenceforward the work 
 proceeded eastwards during the next three years until 
 the month of September 1178, when an accident 
 occurred which deprived the convent of the services 
 of their architect. Guillaume by this date having 
 reached the apse, had carried up its piers to the 
 level of the clerestory, and was personally super- 
 intending the fixing of the " centres " for turning the 
 great vault over the eastern crossing, when the planks 
 of the scaflEolding upon which he was standing gave way, 
 and he was precipitated to the floor some fifty feet 
 92 
 
REBUILDING THE CHOIR 
 
 below, amidst a shower of stones and timber. That 
 his injuries were severe is by no means surprising ; 
 indeed, it is a marvel that he escaped with his life. 
 But for a time the master continued from his sick-bed 
 to direct the operations, the actual supervision of the 
 workmen being entrusted to one of the junior monks. 
 The latter arrangement, however, did not work well, 
 and Guillaume, finding that his health made little or 
 no improvement, was constrained to resign his office, 
 and at the approach of winter he left Canterbury for 
 his native land. 
 
 The work of Guillaume de Sens was French in its 
 setting out and in the leading lines of its construction ; 
 French, too, of the Isle de France in the details of the 
 carved capitals of the choir, which the master may 
 have worked himself.^ But although the design came 
 from France, it was for the most part carried out by 
 English masons, who possessed traditions of their own 
 which found expression in spite of the controlling 
 influence under which they worked. ' > 
 
 It was to one of these English craftsmen that the 
 convent turned when bereft of the services of the 
 Frenchman. William the Englishman, as he is called 
 by Gervase to distinguish him from his predecessor, is 
 described by the chronicler as " small in body, but in 
 workmanship of many kinds acute and honest." That 
 he had before him the plans of the Frenchman is 
 practically certain, since much of the work for which 
 the Englishman was responsible bears a closer resem- 
 blance to that of the choir of Sens than the work 
 which we know was carried out by Guillaume himself. 
 But whenever he had a free hand the Englishman 
 gave free scope to his originality, and introduced 
 new features. 
 
 Thus, although the coupled columns with their 
 carved capitals and square abacuses of the retro-choir 
 at Canterbury are clearly an imitation of those in a 
 1 E. G. Prior, " Cathedral Builders," chap. ii. 
 
 93 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 similar position in the cathedral church of Sens, those 
 of the substructure exhibit in their round abacuses an 
 entirely new feature. It is probable that this was 
 due to a change of plan as to the level of the floor 
 of the retro-choir after William the Englishman took 
 over the work. The prior and chapter may have 
 expressed a desire that the new chapel of St. Thomas, 
 which was to be erected behind the Patriarchal Seat, 
 should be placed at a somewhat higher level than was 
 at first intended. Hence William in the construc- 
 tion of the lofty crypt which supported the chapel 
 was untrammelled by the plans of his predecessor, 
 and accordingly introduced here features that were 
 altogether new. That some alteration of plan was 
 made seems certain from the fact that the lower part 
 of the shafts and bases, and in some cases even the 
 capitals, of the ornamental arcade lining the walls on 
 either side of the steps leading to the retro-choir are 
 concealed by the masonry which forms these steps. 
 
 The foundations of the crypt of St. Thomas's Chapel 
 were laid by William in the year 1 179. The excava- 
 tions for this purpose involved a disturbance of the 
 monks' graveyard at the east end of the church, but 
 the bones were collected carefully and reburied in a 
 trench dug for their reception between the chapel and 
 the infirmary hall. 
 
 The outer walls of the chapel of St. Thomas were 
 built round those of the old Trinity Chapel so as not 
 to disturb the tomb of the martyr, which, when at 
 length the demolition of the Trinity Chapel became a 
 necessity, was enclosed within a temporary wooden 
 chapel in order that the visits of pilgrims to the wonder- 
 working saint might suffer no interruption. How 
 lucrative these visits might be is illustrated by the fact 
 that when in that very year (1179) King Lewis VH 
 (the first French king who ever visited England) paid 
 his devotions to the martyr's tomb, he offered a cup 
 of gold and the splendid jewel known as the Regale of 
 
 94 
 
Substructure of Trinity Chapel {St. Thomas' 
 
REBUILDING THE CHOIR 
 
 France, and in addition made to the convent a grant 
 in perpetuity of one hundred Parisian muys of wine 
 per annum.^ 
 
 At the beginning of the following year, although the 
 eastern part of the church was incomplete, the monks 
 expressed a wish that the ritual choir should be pre- 
 pared for their reception by the following Easter. In 
 order to make the choir habitable by the appointed 
 time, William now erected a wooden partition shutting 
 off the unfinished work at the eastern end of the church, 
 and built a wall or screen between the piers of the 
 choir and presbytery on either side. He also recon- 
 structed the high altar, and replaced the altars of 
 SS. Alphege and Dunstan in their former positions. 
 The translation of the relics of the saints now alone 
 remained to be effected, and Prior Alan, knowing that 
 the ordinary ceremonial of Easter Eve was somewhat 
 lengthy, determined to carry out the translation 
 privately on an earlier day. Accordingly, on Maundy 
 Thursday at dead of night, the relics of the saints were 
 removed to their new shrines in the presence of the 
 Prior and obedientiaries only. When, however, on 
 the morrow the news leaked out the whole convent 
 was in an uproar. The monks protested that an 
 insult had been offered to the brethren, and a most 
 unwarrantable slight cast upon the venerable relics. 
 They urged that the Prior and Chapter should be 
 cited before the Archbishop and requested to resign 
 their offices forthwith. It was with difficulty that 
 Archbishop Richard managed to restore harmony, 
 and only after a humble apology had been made by 
 the Prior for his indiscreet act. 
 
 " Early on the morning of Easter Eve " (April 19, 
 1 1 80), says Gervase, "the Archbishop in cope and 
 mitre, and the monks in albes, according to the 
 custom of the Church, went in procession to witness 
 the making of the new fire in the cloister." When this 
 
 ' The Paris muy was equivalent to sixteen gallons. 
 
 G 97 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 had been accomplished, a taper kindled at the newly- 
 consecrated fire was placed on the end of a long staff 
 {hasta) and carried in procession to the choir for the 
 purpose of lighting the great Paschal candle which 
 was to continue burning until Ascension Day. 
 
 " At the door of the church," quoting again the 
 words of Gervase, " which opens to the martyrium of 
 St. Thomas, the Archbishop reverently received from 
 a monk the pyx with the Eucharist, which was usually- 
 suspended over the great altar. This he carried to 
 the altar of the new choir. Thus our Lord went before 
 us into Galilee — ^that is, in our transmigration to the 
 new church. The remainder of the offices that apper- 
 tain to the day- were devoutly- celebrated ; and then 
 the pontiff, standing at the altar vested in the chasuble 
 (infuld), began the Te Deum laudamus, and, the bells 
 ringing, the monks took up the song with great joy, 
 and shedding sweet tears they praised God with one 
 voice for all His benefits." ^ 
 
 The monks being thus safely housed in their new 
 choir, William was able to proceed with the new 
 chapel of St. Thomas and with the round chapel or 
 corona beyond it. Before pulling down the old 
 Trinity Chapel it was necessary to remove to other 
 parts of the church the bodies of those saints and 
 archbishops who had been buried there. For SS. Odo 
 and Wilfrid temporary resting-places were found in 
 the shrines of SS. Dunstan and Alphege near the High 
 Altar; Lanfranc was reinterred at the altar of St. 
 Martin in the northern apse of the north-east transept ; 
 and Theobald in the chapel of St. Mary in the nave. 
 Moreover, the altar of the Trinity Chapel, to which a 
 special interest was attached from the fact that it was 
 here that St. Thomas had celebrated his first Mass, 
 was taken down and carefully reconstructed in the 
 northernmost apse of the south-east transept, where 
 it was re-dedicated in honour of St. John the Evangelist. 
 
 ^ Gervase, R.S., vol. i. pp. 23, 24. 
 98 
 
REBUILDING THE CHOIR 
 
 The old chapel was then destroyed, and in its place 
 William erected the present beautiful structure, con- 
 sisting of two unequal straight bays, and five which 
 form the eastern apse, the whole being surrounded by 
 side aisles and an ambulatory. It was in these side 
 aisles and in the corona, says Professor Willis, that 
 " our English William appears to have freed himself 
 almost as completely from the shackles of imitation 
 as was possible. In the side aisles the mouldings of 
 the ribs still remain the same, but their management 
 in connection with the side walls, and the combination 
 of slender shafts with those of the twin lancet windows, 
 here introduced for the first time, is very happy. 
 Slender shafts of marble are employed in profusion by 
 William of Sens. But here we find them either 
 detached from the piers or combined with them in 
 such a manner as to give a much greater lightness and 
 elegance of effect than in the work of the previous 
 architect. The lightness of style is carried still further 
 in the corona, where the slender shafts are carried 
 round the walls and made principal supports of the 
 pier arches, over which are placed a light triforium and 
 clerestory ; and it must be remarked that all the 
 arches in this part of the building are of a single order 
 of mouldings, instead of two orders, as in the pier 
 arches and triforium of the choir." ^ 
 
 The piers of St. Thomas' Chapel are composed 
 each of two columns, set one behind the other. The 
 innermost column of the second pair on either side 
 is of pink Sicilian marble ; these stood nearest to the 
 shrine of St. Thomas, and there is a tradition that 
 they were sent to Canterbury by Pope Innocent III, 
 but of this there is no documentary evidence what- 
 soever. 
 
 Gervase's account of the building operations breaks 
 off somewhat suddenly at the end of the tenth year 
 from the commencement (1184). And although he 
 1 Willis, " Architectural History," op. cit. p. 95. 
 
 99 
 
CJNfERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 distinctly states that the round tower or corona at the 
 extreme eastern end of the church was roofed in by 
 the above date, it is not quite certain whether in its 
 upper story it was ever actually completed. Accord- 
 ing to tradition, the monks intended to finish it in 
 the early part of the sixteenth century, and it is 
 clear that some work was done to it at about that 
 date ; but it was discontinued when the monastery was 
 suppressed by King Henry VIII, with the result that 
 the topmost story was left in an unfinished and ragged 
 condition. Nor was the appearance of the corona 
 improved by an attempt to mend matters in the 
 eighteenth century. About fifty years ago further 
 projects for completing it were set on foot. Willis, in 
 a letter to the dean and chapter dated November 24, 
 i860, suggested that " a conical roof should be placed 
 on the corona, with a suitable parapet, and that the 
 stair turrets should be carried up to the same height as 
 the Norman turrets of the eastern transepts." At the 
 same time other plans were submitted by Sir Gilbert 
 Scott and Mr. Austin, the cathedral surveyor. The 
 design of the last-named gentleman, which comprised 
 three spires, seems to have found favour with certain 
 members of the governing body, and much of the 
 stone necessary for carrying it into effect was actually 
 prepared. Ultimately, however, wiser counsels pre- 
 vailed and the scheme was abandoned.^ 
 
 The various points in which the new choir differed 
 from its predecessor are enumerated by Gervase, to 
 whose tract Willis has added an admirable com- 
 mentary ; but it will only be possible here to indicate 
 in the briefest outline the more salient features which 
 distinguished the two buildings. 
 
 In altitude the new choir much excelled the old one. 
 Its walls were about fourteen feet higher than Ernulf's 
 walls. Hence the apex of the roof of the old choir 
 
 ^ The wrought stone is still stored in the passage leading from the 
 cloister to the infirmary. 
 100 
 
%?: 
 
 PM 
 
REBUILDING THE CHOIR 
 
 would not have risen much above the wall plate of the 
 new one. All Ernulf's mouldings were sculptured 
 with an axe, while those of the two Williams were 
 carved with a chisel ; and whereas the former were 
 monotonous repetitions of the same design, the 
 latter exhibit an immense variety of form, and in the 
 case of the capitals of the main piers are of unsur- 
 passed beauty and faultless in execution. Instead of 
 the invariable round-headed arch of the older building, 
 we now find round and pointed arches intermingled. 
 Thus while the principal arches and those of the 
 clerestory are all pointed, those of the triforium exhibit 
 the two orders combined. A further novelty was the 
 introduction of Purbeck or Petworth marble shafts, 
 of which both the Frenchman and his English successor 
 made lavish use. The fashion had its origin in 
 Flanders, where architects had already discovered the 
 excellent eflEect of black Belgian marble pillars set in 
 the angles of white stone. " The turned shafts of 
 marble," says Mr. Prior, " induced the round-planned 
 abacus and the moulded capital, and these led to 
 changes in the arch mouldings. The multiplied 
 mouldings of the English arches, their labels, their 
 dog-tooth enrichments, their use of arcadings, all 
 grew from the fact that the masons of Kent and Sussex 
 had, by reason of the lack of native stone on the spot, 
 to get their material from over the sea from two 
 quarters — ^that is, from Normandy and Flanders — the 
 result being that there gradually grew up two distinct 
 classes of masons — ^the marblers and the white stone- 
 cutters." ^ 
 
 With regard to the ground plan of the new choir, 
 the additions made by the two Williams will at once 
 become apparent when the plans of the old and new 
 choirs are compared. And it will also be noticed that 
 the contraction of the later choir in the neighbour- 
 hood of the presbytery, and the expansion of the retro- 
 ^ " Cathedral Builders," ut supra, p. 46. 
 
 lOI 
 
CANIERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 choir which forms such a beautiful and unique feature, 
 are due to the retention of Ernulf's towers, which in 
 the old church flanked the curve of the apse. These 
 towers, as will be seen by reference to the Norman 
 drawing at p. 22, were originally equal in height 
 to the western towers. At what time they were cut 
 down to their present height is unknown. But it is 
 not unlikely that this was done when the corona was 
 built, and that the two large stair turrets of the corona 
 were intended to take the place of the earlier towers, 
 since there are indications that they were designed to 
 be carried up at least one story beyond their present 
 altitude. 
 
 Archbishop Richard lived just long enough to see 
 the completion of the new choir. He died at Hailing, 
 near Rochester, on February 16, 11 84, and was buried 
 with great pomp in the chapel of St. Mary in the 
 north aisle of the nave of his cathedral church. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 102 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 GROWTH OF THE POWER OF THE MONKS OF 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH, AND THEIR STRUGGLE WITH 
 
 ARCHBISHOPS BALDWIN AND HUBERT WALTER 
 
 During the one hundred and twenty years which 
 elapsed between Lanfranc's reconstitution of the 
 convent of Christ Church and the election of Baldwin 
 to the Primacy the power _, 
 and influence of the monks 
 had been making continual 
 growth. For this there 
 were several contributory 
 causes. The conventual es- 
 tates were augmented yearly 
 by the piety of Churchmen, 
 whose liberality was as yet 
 unchecked by any Statute 
 of Mortmain ; while in 
 their administration the 
 ordinance of Anselm had given the monks a prac- 
 tical autonomy. Becket's great charter of privileges 
 had done much for the prestige of the metropolitical 
 church by limiting to its walls the consecration of 
 all bishops of the province ; and the possession of 
 the wonder-working rehcs of St. Thomas had, of 
 course, added enormously to the sense of self-importance 
 with which the monks of Christ Church were beginning 
 to regard themselves. Hence by the end of the twelfth 
 century we find the prior and convent putting forth 
 the claim that they were the permanent governing 
 body of the church of Canterbury, to which body 
 
 103 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 even the archbishop owed his election and professed 
 obedience. These pretensions were first resisted by 
 the monks of Rochester. From the circumstances of 
 its foundation, the See of Rochester had always been 
 regarded as peculiarly dependent upon Canterbury. 
 As a mark of this dependence it jvas the custom for 
 the monks of the priory of St. Andrew, on the death of 
 a bishop of Rochester, to take the pastoral staff of the 
 deceased prelate to Christ Church, Canterbury, where 
 it was laid upon the high altar, whence the newly 
 elected bishop took it after his consecration. The 
 Rochester monks did not object to the custom in 
 itself, but took exception to the claim made by the 
 prior of Christ Church that the staff must be delivered 
 to him as representing the church of Canterbury. In 
 order to escape the humiliating ceremony after the 
 death of Bishop Gualeran in 1 185 they buried the staff 
 in the bishop's grave. But the monks of Christ Church 
 were at once up in arms. The rights of the mother- 
 church, they insisted, must be maintained and the 
 staff duly delivered to their prior. 
 
 The controversy, which is only mentioned as illus- 
 trative of the attitude the monks of Christ Church were 
 beginning to assume, was at length settled by a 
 compromise, whereby it was arranged that the arch- 
 bishop should receive the staff and deliver it to the 
 prior, by whom it should be placed on the high altar. 
 
 The claim put forward to the exclusive control of 
 archiepiscopal elections was a far more important 
 matter, but it was founded on the same preposterous 
 argument that the privileges of the church of Canter- 
 bury resided in the monks of Christ Church, and in 
 their body alone. Thus on the death of Archbishop 
 Richard (February 16, 11 84), without inviting any 
 co-operation on the part of the bishops of the province, 
 the convent proceeded to an election. Their choice 
 fell upon Odo, abbot of Battle, who had been Prior of 
 Canterbury at the time of Becket's murder. To 
 104 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 King Henry Odo's name recalled unpleasant reminis- 
 cences, and he not only refused point-blank to sanction 
 the appointment, but in conversation with the Count 
 of Flanders had some hard things to say about the 
 Prior of Christ Church, whom he designated as a proud 
 fellow who thought he could make archbishops at his 
 will, and aimed at being a sort of second Pope in 
 England.^ 
 
 • When at length it became evident that the election of 
 their candidate could not be carried through, the monks 
 reluctantly allowed Prior Alan to submit three other 
 names to the bishops. The suffragans chose Baldwin, 
 bishop of Worcester, and at once proceeded to celebrate 
 their election without waiting to hear how their choice 
 was received by the monks, who accordingly repudiated 
 it altogether. It was in vain that the King sent his 
 sons Geoffrey and John to persuade the convent to 
 ratify the election. The monks remained obdurate, 
 and Henry was himself constrained to visit Canter- 
 bury. To the brethren assembled in their Chapter- 
 house the King protested that his action in the matter 
 was dictated solely by his regard for the honour of 
 their church and the peace of his realm. The proud 
 monarch ended his speech on his knees, and with tears 
 in his eyes besought the brethren to adopt a more 
 reasonable attitude. In response to this passionate 
 appeal the convent at length consented to ratify the 
 election, and the King returned to London. But 
 no sooner had he done so than news was brought to 
 Canterbury that the King after all intended to regard 
 the election as the work of the bishops alone. Prior 
 Alan thereupon hurriedly set off to London, where 
 during his interview with the King an incident occurred 
 which brings out in a remarkable manner the nervous- 
 ness which even such a monarch as Henry II could 
 display when dealing with the monks of Canterbury. 
 In reply to the Prior, who pleaded that Baldwin's 
 ^ Gervase, ut sufra, R.S., p. 313. 
 
 105 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 election had been unduly made, the King declared 
 that he could not now humiliate the bishops by- 
 repudiating it. Whereupon the Prior fainted away, 
 and the King, thinking that he was about to give up 
 the ghost, hastily called those about him to witness 
 that he was in no way responsible for what had 
 happened. He then called for water, and, dashing it 
 in the Prior's face, addressed him thus, " Take heart, 
 take heart, my lord prior, I spoke in jest. I will do 
 all you say and more if you will only take heart and 
 cheer up " {conjortare tantum et esto jucjinius)} 
 
 To the intense relief of the King, who doubtless 
 feared that if the fit should have a fatal termination 
 there would be a second Becket business upon his 
 hands, the Prior speedily recovered his senses, and was 
 able to resume his seat. But the day was won, and the 
 King forthwith declared the election was irregular. 
 
 At length, on Baldwin notifying that he could on 
 no account accept the see without the concurrence 
 of the monks of Christ Church, Prior Alan had the 
 grace to declare that their choice fell upon the 
 bishop of Worcester, and Baldwin's election was cele- 
 brated by the singing of the Te Deum in the Abbey 
 of Westminster. 
 
 The new Primate was a distinguished scholar and 
 a man of singular sanctity, courage, and honesty, but, 
 like Laud in after days, was sadly deficient in tact. 
 Moreover, as a member of the Cistercian Order he 
 had no very high opinion of the whole body of un- 
 reformed Benedictines, and regarded with peculiar 
 disfavour the worldly temper and independent spirit 
 displayed by the monks of his own cathedral church. 
 Hence trouble speedily broke out between the convent 
 and its titular head. On the anniversary of his 
 election the Archbishop gave the first example of his 
 want of tact by interfering in matters concerning the 
 domestic economy of the house. It had been the 
 
 1 Gervase, op. cit. p. 324. 
 106 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 custom for the tenants of the Christ Church manors 
 to send presents to the monastery at the feasts of 
 Christmas and Easter. These gifts, which were made 
 in kind, comprised such things as game, fish, eggs, 
 capons, and peahens, and were doubtless very welcome 
 additions to the monastic fare at the festal seasons. 
 To the ascetic mind of Baldwin these luxuries were 
 abhorrent, and he gave orders that such things must 
 no longer be brought into the monastery. A little 
 later he still further offended the susceptibilities of the 
 monks by taking into his own hands the profits of the 
 rectories of Monkton, Eastry, Mepham, and Eynsford, 
 which the monks alleged were appropriated to their 
 almonry. This was more than they could stand, 
 and they promptly appealed to Rome. The only 
 reply the Archbishop made was to seize the monastic 
 estates. Such a high-handed proceeding, however, 
 gave rise to so much dissatisfaction, not only in the 
 convent but throughout the country generally, that 
 the Archbishop perceived that he had gone too far. 
 The manors were therefore restored to the monks, 
 who on their part withdrew their appeal. But Baldwin 
 was only waiting for a more favourable opportunity. 
 He had already sent his envoys to Rome, and the 
 convent was astounded by the news that he had 
 obtained from the Pope (Lucius III) a licence to 
 found a new collegiate church at Hackington, a village 
 situated only about half a mile from the cathedral 
 church. 
 
 Although the Archbishop declared that he had no 
 sinister design against the privileges of the monks, 
 since his intention was merely to endow a college out 
 of his own estates to be tenanted by men of learning, 
 usefulness, and distinction, the monks at once suspected 
 that the new foundation was meant to serve as an 
 electoral college which would usurp the rights of 
 their house in matters relating to archiepiscopal 
 elections. Nor is it possible after examining the 
 
 107 
 
CJNTERBURTCJTHEDRJL 
 
 nature of the proposed foundation to resist the con- 
 clusion that it was intended to serve some such 
 purpose. Thus the new church, which was to be 
 dedicated in honour of St. Stephen and St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, was to be served by sixty or seventy 
 canons. A stall was to be allotted to the King, and 
 one to each bishop of the province, who were to 
 appoint each his prebendary and vicar. The rest of 
 the canons were to be chosen from those priests who 
 held benefices in the gift of the archbishop or of the 
 prior and convent of Christ Church. 
 
 The quarrel which now broke out was maintained 
 with the utmost acrimony on both sides for the next 
 six years, and excited both in England and upon the 
 continent of Europe an interest which now seems 
 quite disproportionate to the issues involved. In 
 England the King and the bishops supported the 
 Archbishop, while abroad Philip of France and 
 Philip of Flanders sided with the monks. At Rome 
 the College of Cardinals were divided in opinion, 
 and as there were several changes in the occupancy 
 of the Chair of St. Peter during the period, the 
 policy of one Pope was frequently reversed by his 
 successor. 
 
 The first appeal to the Curia was prompted by 
 St. Thomas himself, who appeared in a vision to a 
 monk named Andrew John, to whom he revealed the 
 machinations of the Archbishop, declaring that it was 
 his intention to remove the Patriarchal Seat to 
 Hackington and utterly annihilate the privileges of 
 the church of Canterbury. The gleaming sword 
 which the saint held in his hand was inscribed 
 Gladius heati Petri afostoli, and when on the 
 morrow the monk told his dream it was not unnaturally 
 interpreted to mean that the most effective weapon 
 the convent could take would be the sword of St. Peter, 
 or, in other words, an appeal to Rome. To Rome, then, 
 Prior Honorius was sent, with the result that the 
 io8 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 licence to build at Hackington was revoked by 
 Urban III. But the Archbishop merely selected a 
 new site opposite to St. Dunstan's Church, beyond the 
 west gate of the city, and there recommenced to erect 
 his college. On Ash Wednesday 1187, the King him- 
 self came to Canterbury for the purpose of acting as 
 arbitrator. He was accompanied by the Archbishop, 
 the bishops of London, Norwich, Durham, and 
 Worcester, the abbots of Westminster, St. Edmunds 
 (Bury), and Peterborough, and a large number of earls 
 and barons. The King, with the Archbishop and 
 Hubert Walter, bishop of Norwich, and Peter of 
 Blois, bishop of Durham (described by Gervase as the 
 impudent fomenter of all the trouble), entered the 
 chapter-house ; but the monks, with the exception , 
 of the sub-Prior and five of the brethren, were ex- 
 cluded by order of the King. 
 
 " The little band," says Gervase, " took their seats 
 and with bent heads but brave hearts waited like sheep 
 appointed to the slaughter, while the Archbishop and 
 the bishops stood opposite to them. A vast con- 
 course of people were assembled, and those five monks 
 were a spectacle to God, angels, and men. In the 
 meantime the convent went to their prayers in the 
 church. In the Old Testament the people fought 
 while Moses prayed. But here, on the contrary, the 
 sub-Prior conducted the struggle while the convent 
 engaged in prayer." ^ 
 
 " The little band," however, did not adopt a 
 particularly meek attitude in the controversy which 
 ensued ; on the contrary, they showed a very bold 
 front, so that in spite of the efforts of the King to 
 establish some compromise, the conference broke up 
 without effecting anything. 
 
 At this juncture the archbishop still further 
 increased his unpopularity in the convent by ap- 
 pointing a partisan of his own, and — if we may 
 1 Gervase, ut supra, p. 354. 
 
 109 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 trust Gervase — a man of worthless character to the 
 office of cellarer.^ • 
 
 Meanwhile Prior Honorius had at length induced 
 the Pope to issue a mandate for the destruction of 
 the obnoxious college, but before it could be served 
 upon the Archbishop Pope Urban died, and with the 
 election of his successor came a change of policy, with 
 the result that the monks seemed as far off as ever 
 from obtaining the powers they desired. 
 
 A further source of trouble was the demand which 
 the King now made that the treasure of their church 
 should be enrolled, and that the conventual seal should 
 be put into closer custody. The sub-prior replied that 
 as to treasure the chief part consisted of the relics of 
 saints, books, charters, and the sacred vessels and vest- 
 ments, and that such things could not be publicly 
 displayed. As for the convent seal, it was already 
 under four keys. Matters now took a very serious 
 turn for the monks. Certain partisans of the Arch- 
 bishop, headed by William FitzNigel (who had been 
 an accessory in the murder of St. Thomas), broke 
 a passage through the precinct wall, and thus managed 
 to occupy all the offices in the court. Amongst the 
 people the report was spread abroad that the Arch- 
 bishop intended to disperse the convent by taking 
 six or ten monks off at a time in waggons and dropping 
 them at various places. The celebration of divine 
 service was suspended, and the convent practically 
 placed in a state of siege. Roger Norreys, the 
 intruded cellarer, realising that things might now be 
 pleasanter outside than inside the walls, escaped from 
 the convent through the great main drain, which 
 discharged into the city ditch — a way out which 
 Gervase hints was well suited to his character. 
 Norreys at once sought out the Archbishop, whom he 
 
 ^ Gervase calls him a proud, crafty fellow, of pompous speech, an 
 associate of women, a lover of horses, and altogether a person of incor- 
 rigible behaviour. Gervase, ut supra, p. 382. 
 
 no 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 found at Otford, and revealed to him all the capitular 
 secrets.^ 
 
 The siege of the monastery was now so strictly 
 maintained that the wretched monks would have 
 perished of hunger had it not been for the sympathy 
 of the citizens, who for eighty-four weeks managed 
 to smuggle into the precincts a supply of provisions 
 just sufficient to keep them alive. Even the Jews 
 of Canterbury contributed something, and prayed 
 for the imprisoned monks in their synagogues every 
 Sabbath day. 
 
 So important a place did the struggle at Canterbury 
 fill in the minds of both king and people, that even 
 at the great Council of Geddington, which met on 
 February ii, 1188, for the purpose of making arrange- 
 ments for a fresh crusade, the matter was brought 
 forward. Baldwin strongly urged" the king to effect 
 the arrest of the sub-prior of Christ Church, who 
 lay under sentence of excommunication, but Henry, 
 apprehensive that such a course might lead to violence, 
 and dreading above all things that further blood should 
 be shed in the Cathedral church, in his name, was all 
 for caution. 
 
 Meanwhile there had been another change in the 
 papacy, and the new Pope (Clement III), reversing 
 the policy of his predecessor, confirmed the letters 
 apostolic of Urban III, and addressed his mandate to 
 the Abbot of Faversham and Master Feramin, who 
 had been a member of Becket's household and was 
 now Master of St. James's Hospital at Canterbury, 
 bidding them fulminate sentence of excommunication 
 against the invaders of the monastic estates. This at 
 once removed the pressure, and the monks of Christ 
 Church prepared to resume divine service, which had 
 been discontinued while the convent was in a state of 
 siege. Accordingly the church was redressed with the 
 hangings and ornaments which for some months had 
 
 1 Gervase, p. 404. 
 
 Ill 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 been hidden away ; and on Easter Sunday the usual 
 services were held — the only sign of mourning being 
 the silence of the organ, which, as Gervase tells us, 
 was not used, to mark the fact that excommunicated 
 persons were still in possession of the conventual 
 estates. 
 
 The papal mandate, however, was disregarded alike 
 by king, archbishop, secular clergy and people. And 
 the death of Prior Honorius, who was carried off by 
 the plague together with several members of the 
 sacred college favourable to his cause, still further 
 depressed the cause of the convent at Rome. 
 
 But the pertinacity of the brethren was invincible. 
 Notwithstanding the fact that the king was in France, 
 engaged in a war with Philip, the monks continued 
 to follow him about, and at the most inconvenient 
 moments appeared with their tale of the Archbishop's 
 misdoings. Thus, it was extremely trying to a 
 monarch of Henry's temper to find a deputation of 
 Christ Church monks waiting for him at Azay imme- 
 diately after, he had been compelled to submit to the 
 terms of the French king. Henry was in no mood to 
 listen to their complaints, and the inoffensive remark 
 that the convent " came to greet him as their lord " 
 was sufficient to make him break out into one of his 
 fits of ungovernable passion. " I have been your 
 lord, I am, and I wiU be, ye wicked traitors ! " he 
 cried. " Get you hence with all speed, I will hold 
 converse with my faithful subjects." These were 
 the last words he addressed to the monks of Christ 
 Church, from whom, it must be confessed, he had 
 suffered much provocation. A few days later he died 
 at Chinon (July 6, 1 189). 
 
 After the death of the king the quarrel between 
 Baldwin and the monks was patched up for a few 
 weeks ; but in the autumn of the same year it broke 
 out again with renewed violence owing to the extra- 
 ordinary lack of tact which the Archbishop displayed 
 112 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 in appointing the obnoxious Roger Norreys to the 
 
 priorate of Christ Church. It now occurred to the 
 
 convent that a little judicious bribery might induce 
 
 King Richard to take a favourable view of their case, 
 
 and to this end they made him a present of 500 marks. 
 
 This was so far successful that the king consented to 
 
 investigate the matter. Arbitrators were appointed, 
 
 and it seemed that at length some modus vivendi might 
 
 be reached. But negotiations were again interrupted 
 
 owing to the tergiversations of the monks, who, after 
 
 accepting the proposed terms, refused to ratify them 
 
 until they had been submitted to the whole convent. 
 
 At this unexpected reverse the king was very angry, 
 
 and exclaimed with an oath, " Not a single foot of 
 
 your property shall be left." The monastery was 
 
 again placed in a state of siege, and not only were all 
 
 food-supplies stopped, but gross insults were offered 
 
 to pilgrims seeking the shrine of St. Thomas. 
 
 An unfortunate monk who was caught in the church- 
 yard was mounted upon a horse and, with his legs 
 tied beneath the belly of the steed, was taken off to 
 prison, where, chained to common malefactors, he 
 nearly perished of cold and hunger. Indeed, it was 
 reported that the Archbishop contemplated ejecting 
 the monks altogether and instituting secular clerks 
 in their place. The consideration that this might be 
 their fate at length induced the monks to adopt a 
 more conciliatory attitude, and on the arrival of the 
 royal officers they expressed themselves willing to 
 submit their cause to arbitration. 
 
 On November 27 King Richard himself came to 
 Canterbury, and was received by the bishops of 
 England and the monks of Christ Church. In the 
 Cathedral a solemn service was performed, which, 
 Gervase tells us, was accompanied by organ-playing 
 and the singing of anthems. The scene was a notable 
 one even in a place which has witnessed many a 
 stately pageant, both before and since, for within the 
 
 H 113 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 walls of the church were assembled not only the King 
 of England, but the King of Scotland with his brother 
 David, and " a vast number of nobles, both spiritual 
 and lay." So great was the concourse of all sorts and 
 conditions of men that the chronicler states that the 
 strain upon the hospitality of the convent was so 
 great that some of the " royal pavilions " had to be 
 erected in the monastic cloister.^ On the next day 
 the King deputed the Archbishop of Rouen to act 
 as mediator between the contending parties. 
 
 But the task of effecting a reconciliation was stiU 
 difficult, since the monks would listen to no terms 
 which did not include the demolition of the Hacking- 
 ton College and the deposition of Prior Norreys. 
 At length the Archbishop yielded on both the above 
 points, the monks on their part undertaking that on 
 all others they would submit themselves to their 
 titular head. For Norreys Baldwin found prefer- 
 ment as Abbot of Evesham, where (according to the 
 Canterbury chronicler) he lived a life of shameless 
 profligacy, which fully justified the opinion which the 
 Canterbury monks seem to have formed of his character. 
 
 Baldwin now retired to Lambeth, where by an 
 exchange of lands with the Bishop of Rochester he 
 had already acquired an estate, and to the consterna- 
 tion of the monks began to cart the materials of the 
 deserted college at Hackington to the new site. Fore- 
 seeing that the convent would at once renew their 
 appeal to Rome, the Archbishop forestalled them by 
 taking that course himself ; and after publishing his 
 appeal in his Cathedral church, he took from its altar 
 the staff and wallet of a pilgrim and set off to join the 
 king in the Holy Land, where he died in the following 
 November, " overwhelmed with grief and despair," 
 and was buried at Acre. 
 
 * "Tanta itaque convenit multitudo conditionis diversje, quanta 
 nunquam retroactis temporibus visa est adeo ut in claustro monachonim 
 regis tentoria ponerentur." (Gervase, op^ cit. p. 474.) 
 114 
 
POWER OF THE MONKS 
 
 It would be wearisome to relate with the same fulness 
 of detail the manner in which the struggle was main- 
 tained by Hubert Walter, who (after the brief primacy 
 of Reginald Fitzjocelyn) succeeded to the chair of 
 St. Augustine. Suffice it to say that the old trouble 
 was revived by the determination of Hubert to com- 
 plete the church at Lambeth which Baldwin had 
 commenced. It was in vain that the Archbishop 
 offered ample security that his new foundation would 
 in no way prejudice the rights and privileges of the 
 mother church. In order to reassure the monks on 
 this point he was ready to guarantee that every new 
 canon of Lambeth should take oath upon the altar of 
 the Cathedral church that he would do nothing to 
 injure her rights nor be a party to any scheme for 
 the translation of the bishop's see or of the relics of 
 St. Thomas to any other church. Moreover, in order 
 that peace and brotherly love might be more firmly 
 established between the members of the two founda- 
 tions, he proposed that the first stall at Lambeth in 
 choir and chapter -house should be reserved for the 
 prior of Canterbury, who might take part in all 
 deliberations of the canons and wear their habit as 
 long as he was resident among them. These con- 
 cessions, however, by no means allayed the suspicions 
 of the monks of Christ Church, who persisted in 
 regarding the scheme as a menace to their privileges. 
 It was in vain that the king took the new church 
 under his protection and seized the conventual estates. 
 The long arm of Rome was again stretched out and 
 both king and archbishop went down before it. The 
 mandate of the Pope, which reached England on 
 November 20, 1 198, was a document of portentous 
 length, but its meaning was perfectly clear : the 
 scheme must be abandoned definitely and the Lambeth 
 College rased to the ground. And to this sentence 
 Hubert was compelled to bow. 
 
 " The foundations of Hackington and Lambeth," 
 
 IIS 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 says Bishop Stubbs, " may be looked upon as the last 
 attempt to utilise the properties of the monasteries 
 before the Reformation. It failed signally, and the 
 need at the moment was satisfied within a few years by 
 the introduction of the mendicant orders who under- 
 took the religious revival of the people . . . The 
 monastic body had sacrificed the opportunity of doing 
 good work to the triumph of a moment. The great 
 prize of their ambition fell from their hands. The 
 position henceforth occupied by the monks of Canter- 
 bury — and their state and weight may be taken as a 
 fair criterion of the whole system — ^was void of all 
 political importance, their action in the election of 
 the primate was merely nominal ; in spite of many 
 attempts to elect men of their own order, only once 
 more did a monk fill the throne of Augustine. With 
 the exception of Simon Langham, whose merits were 
 by no means those of a monastic saint, Baldwin was 
 the last monk that governed the Church of England." ^ 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 ^ Introduction to " Epistolae Cantuarienses," R. S. vol. ixjcviii. 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 
 
 ii6 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 FROM THE GREAT EXILE TO THE DEATH OF 
 PRIOR HENRY OF EASTRY 
 
 1207— 1331 
 
 Archbishop Hubert, during the remaining years of 
 his pontificate,, refrained from engaging in any further 
 passages of arms with the prior and convent of Christ 
 Church, who grew to regard him with reverence and 
 affection. 
 
 Gervase tells us that on June 29, 1205, he celebrated 
 high mass in his Cathedral church ; and on July 6 
 he affectionately addressed the monks in the chapter- 
 house. Alluding to the possibility of his own death, 
 he asked and bestowed forgiveness for any offences. 
 The members of the convent wept at his departure 
 for Teynham manor house. There on July 1 1 he was 
 seized with fatal illness. Having summoned Gilbert 
 de Glanville, Bishop of Rochester, and Geoffrey, Prior 
 of Christ Church, he made his will, bequeathing to 
 the convent of Christ Church much valuable plate 
 and many rich vestments. He died on July 13, and 
 on the following day was buried by the monks with 
 many tears and lamentations in his church at Canter- 
 bury. The position of his grave is not mentioned by 
 Gervase, but a MS. in the library of Corpus Christi 
 College, Cambridge, which once belonged to Arch- 
 bishop Parker, states that Hubert Walter was buried 
 " near the shrine of St. Thomas, under a window on 
 the south side." Only one tomb in the Cathedral is 
 in this position — ^namely, that with a roof-like top, on 
 which are sculptured four human heads in high relief. 
 
 117 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 In the last century, and earlier, tradition associated 
 this tomb with the body of Archbishop Theobald, 
 although its architectural details are clearly of a later 
 date. In order to set matters at rest, this tomb was 
 opened in 1890, and the name of Hubert was found 
 upon a leaden tablet within. When the lid of the 
 stone coffin was removed the desiccated body of the 
 Archbishop, arrayed in full pontificals, was disclosed. 
 All that had been made of linen or wool had perished, 
 but the silken vestments, which are exquisite specimens 
 of the art of the weavers and embroiderers of the 
 twelfth century, were well preserved. The coffin also 
 contained the Archbishop's ring, set with a gnostic 
 gem engraved with a serpent and the name of the 
 god Knufhis ; the pastoral staff of cedar wood, in 
 the knop of which were three carved gems ( a fourth 
 had fallen out) ; and a chalice and paten, both of 
 silver, parcel gilt, the latter engraved with the Agnus 
 Dei and inscribed on its outer rim with the elegiac 
 couplet : 
 
 Ava crucis, tumulique csXjz. lapidisque patena 
 Stridonis officium Candida bissus habet. 
 
 Which has been Englished thus by the late Canon 
 Francis Holland : 
 
 The altar duly to our eyes, brings the cross of sacrifice 
 So the chalice' fruitful womb, is the emblem of the Tomb, 
 And the Paten thereupon, shows the sealed sepulchral stone, 
 Whilst the Corporal o'er the Bread, is the napkin at the Head. 
 
 The vestments have been placed in a glass case in the 
 chapter library, and the other relics are preserved in 
 the little chantry chapel on the north side of the 
 retro-choir. It was thought at the time that the 
 artistic value of the various objects the coffin contained 
 might condone for the rifling of the tomb. But it is 
 perhaps a matter for regret that they were not 
 reverently replaced after photographs had been taken, 
 especially since the artistic value of the various objects 
 118 
 
THE GREAT EXILE 
 
 is illustrated quite adequately in the magnificent 
 facsimiles published by the Society of Antiquaries in 
 their Vetusta Monumenta. 
 
 The death of Archbishop Hubert, who during the 
 latter years of his life had acted as Chancellor of 
 England, removed the one restraining influence over 
 King John, and it was not long before the monks of 
 Christ Church had a foretaste of what they might 
 now expect from his predatory instincts. For no 
 sooner did the king hear of the death of the Primate 
 than he hastened to Canterbury. It was not his first 
 visit by any means ; indeed, he had been crowned by 
 Hubert, together with his Queen Consort, in the 
 metropolitical church four years earlier. If the prior 
 and convent thought that his present purpose was 
 merely to condole with them for the loss they had 
 sustained, they were speedily undeceived, for the king 
 soon managed to turn the conversation towards the 
 effects of the late Primate. " His cha-pel, for instance " 
 (that is, the sacred vessels and vestments which the 
 Archbishop had been in the habit of taking about the 
 diocese with him), " had not its ornaments cost three 
 hundred marks or more ? " The prior said that this 
 was so. " Might he be permitted to see them ? " 
 The prior could not very well refuse, and the 
 king, after admiring the treasures displayed, calmly 
 ordered them to be packed up, and took them off to 
 Winchester. 
 
 This was a bad beginning, but the monks of Christ 
 Church were shortly to experience much worse things 
 at the hands of King John. It is, however, impossible 
 to overlook the fact that the fate that overtook them 
 was not a little due to their own conduct in the 
 matter of the election of a successor to Hubert, which 
 might well have exasperated a better-tempered 
 monarch than John Lackland. 
 
 Thus, even before the body of the late Archbishop 
 was buried, the junior monks held a secret meeting 
 
 119 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 in the chapter-house by night ; elected Reginald, the 
 sub- prior to the vacant see ; and, conscious that their 
 action was irregular, at once despatched him to Rome 
 for confirmation. On his arrival, however, the sub- 
 prior found himself confronted with an envoy from 
 the suffragans, who of course opposed his candidature. 
 Moreover, the monks of Christ Church, learning that 
 Reginald had violated the vow of secrecy to which he 
 had been bound, by publicly proclaiming himself as 
 the elect of Canterbury, withdrew their support. 
 
 A fresh election, in which the monks acted con- 
 jointly with the bishops of the province, resulted in 
 the choice of the king's nominee, John de Gray, 
 bishop of Norwich, who was forthwith enthroned in 
 the presence of the king. 
 
 John was so much pleased with this compliancy on 
 the part of the monks that he not only paid the 
 travelling expenses of six of the brethren who were to 
 go to Rome for the purpose of getting the election 
 confirmed, but in order to expedite matters in the 
 Curia, handed to the envoys the enormous sum of 
 eleven thousand marks. It is therefore scarcely sur- 
 prising to learn that when the king heard that the 
 Pope, without any reference to himself, had set aside 
 his candidate in favour of Stephen Langton, and that 
 the monks of Christ Church had acquiesced in this 
 arrangement, his rage was great. In an ungovernable 
 fit of passion John declared that the monks were guilty 
 of treason ; that they had received money from his 
 treasury under false pretences, but it should be the 
 last time, for he would turn them out of their house 
 neck and crop — ^nay, if they did not move quickly he 
 would burn them out. In terror and confusion, the 
 monks withdrew before the armed bands of the sheriff. 
 " Barefoot, amid the tears and sobs of the bystanders, 
 seventy Benedictines and one hundred lay brothers 
 took leave of their church and cloister and passed the 
 sea into Flanders ; thirteen from age and sickness were 
 
 120 
 
THE GREAT EXILE 
 
 unable to accompany them. . . . No sooner had they 
 set foot on shore than they were met by the pious 
 Count of Gisnes, who brought them to his castle, set 
 food before them, served them with his own hands, 
 and provided beasts and waggons to carry them to 
 St. Omers . . . where the whole body found enter- 
 tainment and consolation for twelve days with the 
 brethren of St. Bertins. The prior with sixteen of 
 his monks remained there a whole year ; the rest were 
 quartered in the religious houses of the neighbour- 
 hood." ^ 
 
 Meanwhile, since public opinion demanded that the 
 daily offices should not wholly cease, the king trans- 
 ferred to the deserted cloister a few monks from the 
 neighbouring Benedictine monastery of St. Augustine. 
 But the services of these imported brethren could not 
 have been required for long, since all spiritual acts 
 were shortly afterwards suspended by an interdict. 
 
 The memorable struggle between King John and 
 Pope Innocent III. forms a familiar chapter of English 
 history, but need not here detain us since we are 
 concerned only with its effect upon the monks of 
 Christ Church. In the end John was compelled, 
 under the pressure brought to bear by Pandulph, the 
 papal legate, to promise that he would allow to the 
 church of Canterbury the right of free election, and 
 that he would indemnify the exiled monks for all 
 losses incurred through his tyrannous conduct. But 
 since the king's promises were notoriously worthless, 
 their performance was guaranteed by twelve of the 
 most powerful barons of the kingdom, who further 
 embodied their intention in an instrument to which 
 each set his seal. The document was then sent to 
 the banished monks, who, fortified by its possession, 
 now ventured to return. They recrossed the straits 
 of Dover on June 15, 1213, but the sea passage was too 
 
 ^ Stephen Langton, in Newman's " Lives of the English Saints," 
 p. 26, London, 1844. 
 
 121 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 much for the aged prior, who died when in sight of 
 the white cliffs of his native land. The rest, after an 
 absence of six years, found themselves once more safely- 
 housed under the shadow of the great church. The 
 guarantee of the barons was, of course, carefully pre- 
 served, and may still be seen amongst the Cathedral 
 archives with its appendant seals. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that during the greater 
 part of the exile England had been under the interdict, 
 pilgrimages to the tomb of St. Thomas had not wholly 
 ceased, for the prior of St. Martin's, Dover, who 
 appears to have been entrusted with the custody of 
 the offerings while the rightful guardians of the tomb 
 were on the Continent, was now able to hand over to 
 them ;£245 los., which sum represented the offerings 
 made during six years. This shows that during that 
 period pilgrimages to Canterbury had been compara- 
 tively infrequent. Nor did the receipts from this source 
 show any material increase during the remaining years 
 of the disastrous reign of King John. The part played 
 by the patriotic Langton in the great political crisis 
 which ended at Runnymede is well known, but upon 
 the quiet life of the monks in the Cathedral cloister the 
 only mark of those troublous times is to be found in 
 the scanty offerings made at the tomb of St. Thomas.^ 
 
 The accession of Henry III in 1216 brought 
 more settled times, and the offerings speedily rose 
 to their normal figure. Four years later the monks 
 resolved to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 
 death of St. Thomas by the translation of his relics 
 to a magnificent new shrine in the retro-choir; but 
 of the shrine and the remarkable ceremony which 
 accompanied the translation we have already given a 
 description. 
 
 The enormous impetus given to the cult of St. 
 Thomas by the translation of his relics in 1220 pro- 
 
 ^ In 1216, when Jolm's mercenaries were ravaging the county of 
 Kent, only ^41 was received at the tomb in the crypt. 
 122 
 
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THE GREAT EXILE 
 
 duced in the monks an overwhelming sense of gratitude 
 towards the saint whose merits were such a valuable 
 financial asset to their house. Hence they now 
 decided that the time had come for their ancient 
 conventual seal to be superseded by another on which 
 should appear a representation of the " Martyrdom." 
 Accordingly on the new seal which was now made this 
 scene took the place of the seated figure of our Saviour, 
 and for the old legend on the reverse, " ego sum via 
 VERITAS ET VITA," the following words were substituted : 
 
 " EST HUIC VITA MORI PRO QUA DUM VIXIT AMORI. MORS 
 ERAT ET MEMORI PER MORTEM VIVIT HONORI." From the 
 
 treasurer's accounts we learn that in 1221 the convent 
 paid 3s. id. " for setting up a little house in which the 
 goldsmith might fashion the new seal."^ A new matrix 
 seems also to have been made twelve years later, since 
 in 1233 ^7 6s. 8d. was paid for making a new seal.^ 
 
 It was at this period that the Franciscan friars first 
 entered England. The pioneers of the order landed 
 at Dover in the month of September 1224, and at 
 once made their way to Canterbury, where they 
 knocked at the great gate of the priory of Christ 
 Church and claimed alms and hospitality of the 
 monks. Being armed with letters of recommendation 
 from Pope Honorius, the little party (which consisted 
 of four clerks and five lay brothers) was at once admitted 
 and for two days the strangers were hospitably but 
 somewhat contemptuously entertained. But the friars 
 had come to stay, since in less than fifty years a 
 Franciscan was appointed to read a divinity lecture 
 in Canterbury Cathedral, and before the end of the 
 said century a member of the order (John Peckham) 
 had attained to the primacy itself. 
 
 The financial position of the priory was now so 
 strong that the monks were able to spend much money 
 
 '^ " Pro quadam domtmcula paranda ad opus suum aurifabri ad 
 faciendum novum sigillimi iii= i"*." 
 2 " In opere novi sigilli vij" vi' viii*." 
 
 123 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 upon their church and convent. To the former the 
 most notable addition was the magnificent stained 
 glass which was now placed in the windows surrounding 
 the shrine and in the corona. These windows illus- 
 trate scenes in the life of St. Thomas and the miracles 
 connected with his cult. Happily, much of the glass 
 still remains in situ, and some description of these 
 windows will be given later. In the court the building 
 operations included a new rejectorium or Frater House, 
 and very extensive alterations to the cloister. 
 
 The work to the Frater was begun in the year 1226, 
 when, as the treasurer's accounts show, more than 
 ^100 was spent upon it ; and the work went forward 
 during the next ten years, under the supervision of 
 brother John Pikenot. Of the Frater, which (as is 
 usual in Benedictine houses) was upon the north side 
 of the cloister, little now remains. But a portion of 
 its eastern wall (in the garden of the prebendal house 
 now occupied by the Bishop of Dover) stiU shows the 
 Early English ashlar work of Pikenot's masons. Far 
 more important examples of their skill, however, are 
 afforded by the three doorways in the cloister which 
 were inserted at this period. Of the two finely moulded 
 doorways in the north alley, that towards the west 
 opened into the vestibule of the refectorium ; while 
 that to the east (now blocked up) led through the vaults 
 beneath that building into the kitchen court. The 
 third doorway is that placed at the angle of the south 
 and east alleys of the cloister, and opens into the 
 transept of the martyrdom. It was through this 
 entry that Becket entered the church on the fateful 
 December 29, 11 70, and doubtless the memory of 
 that fact stirred the craftsmen to put forth here their 
 highest efforts. Unfortunately, when the cloister was 
 rebuilt in the fifteenth century, this splendid doorway 
 was ruthlessly cut about and overlaid with later work ; 
 but even in its present mutilated condition it is a 
 thing of surpassing beauty. 
 124 
 
The Cloister Doorway, leading to the " Martyrdom " transept 
 
THE GREAT EXILE 
 
 The amount of money spent upon the cloister shows 
 that the work here must have been of an extensive 
 nature, and was not confined to the northern alley, 
 which alone has retained the trefoiled arcading of the 
 thirteenth century on its inner wall. From the large 
 sums spent on timber and carpenters' wages it would 
 seem that at this time the cloister also received a new 
 roof. The work was apparently finished in 1236, since 
 from an entry in the treasurer's accounts we learn that 
 27s. id. was paid in this year for whitewashing the 
 cloister. Perhaps against the visit of King Henry III, 
 who came to Canterbury in the above year, and was 
 crowned in the Cathedral church by Archbishop 
 Edmond. 
 
 With the latter prelate, in spite of his saintly 
 character, the monks of Christ Church were soon 
 embroiled. The first occasion of discord was a dispute 
 as to their respective rights, jurisdictions and customs. 
 In order to bolster up their case some of the monks even 
 went the length of tampering with the records in their 
 muniment chest. The matter was deemed so serious 
 that an inquiry was held by a papal legate, with the 
 result that brother Bartholomew of Sandwich con- 
 fessed that he had burned a charter — ^presumably one 
 that supported the claims of the Archbishop. Another 
 of the monks, one Simon of Hartlip, admitted that he 
 had accidentally destroyed a charter of St. Thomas, 
 and further alleged that the prior (John de Chatham) 
 had rewritten it word for word, and that brother 
 Ralph of Orpington had then afiixed the old seal to 
 the new charter ! 
 
 In consequence of these revelations brother 
 Bartholomew was sent off to the monastery of St. Peter 
 at Westminster ; brother Simon was allowed to return 
 to Christ Church, but at his own request was shortly 
 afterwards transferred to another house ; and Prior 
 John resigned his office and joined the Carthusians. 
 Over the election of his successor there was more 
 
 127 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 trouble. The choice of the convent fell upon Roger 
 de la Lee, but the Archbishop refused to sanction the 
 appointment, and upon the monks assuming a con- 
 tumacious attitude he solemnly excommunicated them. 
 The struggle need not be followed in detail. It will 
 be enough to say that the monks paid little or no 
 regard to the ban of the Archbishop, who, seeing that 
 he could get no support either from the king or the 
 Pope, retired to the monastery of Pontigny, where he 
 died on November i6, 1240. Six years later he was 
 canonised as St. Edmund of Canterbury, and an altar in 
 the crypt of his Cathedral church was dedicated to him, 
 at which King Edward I made an offering in the year 
 1297, but its exact position has not been ascertained. 
 
 Roger de la Lee, to whose election to the priorate 
 Archbishop Edmund took exception, resigned his 
 office before the latter's death. But an example of 
 work carried out under his auspices is still preserved 
 in the substructure of what is now the Howley- 
 Harrison library, but which until the middle of the 
 seventeenth century supported the prior's private 
 chapel. The vaulted roof of this ambulatory and the 
 four central pillars from which the groining shafts 
 sprang have long since been destroyed, and Roger 
 de la Lee's work, which must have been executed 
 before his resignation of the priorate in 1244, is now 
 represented only by the outer walls with their un- 
 glazed window-like openings. 
 
 The chapel above was not erected until at least 
 twenty years later, when Roger of St. Alphege was 
 prior. An entry in the treasurer's accounts shows 
 that it was in process of construction in the year 
 1254. It was dedicated to Our Lady and served by 
 two chaplains, and at a later date at any rate possessed 
 an organ and a choir of surpliced choristers. After 
 the suppression of the monastery the chapel was 
 allotted to the dean, but was demolished by order of 
 the sequestrators during the Commonwealth period. 
 128 
 
THE GREJT EXILE 
 
 So that all that now remains of the work of Prior 
 Roger of St. Alphege is the finely moulded western 
 
 Western Doorway of the Prior's Chapel, c. 1254 
 
 doorway, which now forms the entrance to the 
 Howley-Harrison library. 
 
 I 129 
 
CANT ERBU RY CATHEDRAL 
 
 On the death of Archbishop Edmund, the. Pope 
 appointed to the primacy Boniface of Savoy, uncle to 
 Queen Eleanor, The monks of Christ Church offered 
 no opposition to his election ; perhaps they imagined 
 that a prelate so highly connected, and a foreigner to 
 boot, would consider the affairs of the monastery 
 beneath his notice and would allow them a free hand. 
 Boniface, however, soon showed that he did not intend 
 to rule as King Log. Being in want of money to pay 
 oflf the debts incurred by his predecessors, he hit upon 
 the expedient of holding visitations, at which he 
 exacted heavy fines for all irregularities of conduct. 
 The monks of his own Cathedral church did not 
 escape, and so heavily did he mulct them for breaches 
 of their rule that the convent was compelled 
 to mortgage six of its best manors to pay their 
 debts. 
 
 At length matters were brought to a crisis by 
 Boniface citing to his manor-house at Tenham two 
 monks who had been guilty of flagrant misconduct. 
 The Prior replied that all offenders against the rule 
 should be dealt with and corrected in the Chapter- 
 house at Canterbury and not elsewhere ; and when 
 the Archbishop remained obdurate, appealed to 
 Rome. 
 
 The whole process is set forth on a parchment roll 
 of prodigious length, which is still preserved amongst 
 the cathedral archives. This document (which has 
 never been published) contains so many curious 
 particulars that we are tempted to give here a short 
 summary of its contents. It begins with a copy of a 
 letter from Boniface to Prior Roger peremptorily 
 summoning him to appear at Tenham to answer for 
 his neglect to carry out his instructions (delivered at 
 a recent visitation) that brother Hugh de Cretinge, 
 who, super lapsu carnis, had broken bounds and 
 associated with undesirable characters outside the 
 convent, should be strictly confined to the cloister. 
 130 
 
BONIFACE AND THE MONKS 
 
 The certificate of William, rector of St. Martin's and 
 dean (rural) of Canterbury, follows, describing the 
 efforts he made to serve the above summons. He 
 went to the convent early in the morning, but found 
 that the Prior had gone off to Seasalter for the 
 day ; the monks on his approach hid in corners and 
 dodged behind the pillars of the church, so that he 
 could not get near them, and in the end had to 
 be content with reading the citation in the Prior's 
 lodging, and again before the high altar of the church. 
 Then comes a statement of the case of the monks, set 
 forth at great length, for the use of the proctors who 
 were to plead their cause in the Roman Curia. But 
 the surprising thing is that the convent chose as 
 their proctor the monk who had caused all the 
 trouble ! 
 
 The document next describes the manner in 
 which notice of the appeal was served upon the 
 Archbishop. Boniface, who was at his manor-house 
 at Tenham, on hearing that two Christ Church monks 
 wanted to see him, retired to an inner apartment and 
 refused either to come out or admit the monks, who 
 in consequence had to content themselves with reading 
 the appeal at the top of their voices in the hope that 
 in this way its tenor might reach the ears of the Arch- 
 bishop. At length Boniface did come out, and met 
 the proctors in the hall, but by an unfortunate slip of 
 the tongue their spokesman at once ruffled his temper 
 by saying, " The Lord preserve the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury," instead of the usual formula, " The Lord 
 preserve our lord archbishop." It was in vain that 
 the proctors pleaded that no disrespect was meant, 
 and that the mistake was a mere slip due to the un- 
 familiarity of a simple monk with the usages of his 
 Grace's court. Boniface merely snarled, " Yes, simple 
 fellows you are, but clever enough in mischief," and 
 brusquely bade them begone. 
 
 The roll then goes on to relate how on the next day 
 
 131 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the Archbishop came to Canterbury and asked to be 
 allowed to say a few words in the Chapter -house, assur- 
 ing the monks that it was not his intention to allude 
 in any way to domestic affairs. The brethren, how- 
 ever, were suspicious, remembering that Archbishop 
 Edmund had under a like pretence obtained access to 
 the Chapter -house and had thereupon removed from 
 his office their sub-prior. They therefore respect- 
 fully declined to give the requisite permission, on the 
 ground that it would be improper for the Archbishop to 
 enter the Chapter -house while their suit was pending. 
 Greatly enraged, Boniface exclaimed, " To-morrow I 
 will enter the Chapter-house and whenever I please, 
 and I give you warning that I wUl excommunicate the 
 first man who tries to hinder me ! " On the morrow, 
 however, he left Canterbury without attempting to 
 carry his threat into execution. 
 
 Instructions for the use of the proctors follow. The 
 most curious are those relating to the way in which 
 they should distribute the money which the convent 
 provided for prosecuting their suit in the Curia. 
 Thus they are warned not to fritter it away in bribes 
 to the cardinals indiscriminately, but to give the 
 greater part to the Pope himself, and the remainder 
 to those members of the Sacred College who were 
 known to be well affected towards their cause. More- 
 over, an expression of regret is added that the sum 
 available for this purpose was not larger, supple- 
 mented by the pious hope that the success of their 
 suit may not thereby be prejudiced. From other 
 sources we learn that the matter was ended by a 
 composition, less favourable to the monastic party 
 than some previous ones had been. So that perhaps 
 the result was to some extent influenced by the lack 
 of adequate " refreshers." The Barons' War, how- 
 ever, soon distracted the attention of both parties 
 from these petty jealousies ; and Boniface before his 
 death had so far forgotten the contumacious conduct 
 132 
 
BONIFACE AND THE MONKS 
 
 of the Prior and convent that he bequeathed to them 
 a suit of vestments and one hundred marks. 
 
 Over the election of his successor there was more 
 trouble. The monks chose their Prior, Adam Chillen- 
 den, but his candidature was opposed hy Prince 
 Edward on the ground that Chillenden in the civil 
 war had sided with the barons. Whether this was so 
 or not we do not know, but the charge was repudiated 
 by the monks, who, in a petition to the College of 
 Cardinals (the Papal chair being vacant), asserted 
 that their Prior had done much for the royal cause 
 by lending money to the Queen, and that after 
 the defeat of the King at Lewes Prince Edward 
 had himself found shelter and entertainment 
 within the walls of their house. The candidature of 
 Chillenden, however, as well as that of Robert 
 Burnell, the King's nominee, was set aside by Pope 
 Gregory X in favour of Robert Kilwardby, a 
 Dominican friar, who was consecrated on February 
 26, 1273. 
 
 During the two and a half years which elapsed 
 between the death of Boniface and the consecration 
 of Kilwardby the Prior and convent of Christ Church 
 (as guardians of the spiritualities) held visitations and 
 heard appeals from the rulings of the ecclesiastical 
 courts throughout the whole southern province. The 
 latter prerogative was, of course, peculiarly irritating 
 to the suffragan bishops, whose judgments were some- 
 times set aside by a court of whose constitution and 
 impartiality they had no high 'opinion. To Grosse- 
 teste, the independent-spirited bishop of Lincoln, 
 the interposition of a body of monks between himself 
 and his diocese was intolerable, and he soon showed 
 that he would have none of it. For when the court 
 of the Prior and convent ventured to reverse one of 
 his judgments he refused to rehear the case ; and 
 when a summons was served upon him to appear in 
 the Prior's court to purge his contempt, he trod the 
 
 133 
 
CANTERBURTCAJHEDRAL 
 
 obnoxious document under his feet, although (as the 
 awestruck Canterbury chronicler relates with bated 
 breath) its seal actually bore a representation of the 
 martyrdom of St. Thomas ! 
 
 It was during Kilwardby's archiepiscopate that a 
 very serious feud broke out between the citizens of 
 Canterbury and the Christ Church monks, through 
 the refusal of the latter to bear their proportion of an 
 assessment laid upon the city by the King for his 
 Welsh campaign. The citizens were furious at being 
 left to bear the burden alone, and passed a series of 
 bellicose resolutions threatening the monks with the 
 direst penalties unless they paid their quota. No 
 citizen would occupy any house owned by the con- 
 vent ; no supplies of provisions should enter the 
 precincts ; to prevent all ingress or egress, a 
 deep trench should be dug before the great gate of 
 the monastery. There was even a thinly disguised 
 threat that they would loot the shrine of St. Thomas 
 himself, since the document in which the above 
 resolutions are recorded ends with these ominous 
 words : " That every one of these commons shall 
 wear on his finger a ring of gold that belonged to 
 St. Thomas." Fortunately the danger was averted 
 by the tactful mediation of the Archbishop, and an 
 amicable relationship between the city and convent 
 was once more established. 
 
 Thomas Ringmere, who was Prior at the time of 
 the above incident, was probably not a little to blame 
 for the unpatriotic attitude of the monks, for he 
 was a singularly impracticable person. Although a 
 man of learning and sanctity, he lacked those 
 qualities which even in a monastery are essential 
 for successful rule. Soon after his election he 
 attempted to improve the discipline of the house, 
 which he found in a lax condition, but he only 
 succeeded in incurring the odium of the brethren 
 without effecting the amendment of their manners. 
 
PRIORJTE OF HENRT OF EJSTRT 
 
 At length he became the object of so much aversion 
 that the monks trumped up a number of charges 
 against him for the purpose of forcing him to resign 
 his office. To these charges Ringmere returned 
 dignified answers. Thus to the objection that he was 
 too guileless a person to have the rule of so important 
 a house, he replied, " Would God it were true ! for 
 He ever resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the 
 simple." To the more serious charge that he had 
 converted to his own use the moneys of the convent, 
 he answered that he had indeed given twenty pounds 
 to the King, but that for this he had the consent of 
 the brethren, as the conventual books would show. 
 But although he had no difficulty in proving that the 
 specific charges made against him were without founda- 
 tion, Ringmere felt that it would be well for him to lay 
 down a thankless office for which he felt himself to be 
 by temperament unfitted. He therefore resigned the 
 priorate and, leaving Canterbury, became an inmate 
 of the Cistercian abbey at Beaulieu in Hampshire. 
 Later he became a hermit in Windsor Forest, and at 
 length, his mind being now quite unhinged, he became 
 dependent upon the bounty of Archbishop Winchelsey. 
 A curious letter is extant amongst the cathedral 
 archives in which Winchelsey suggests to Ringmere's 
 , successor at Christ Church that the convent should do 
 something to relieve the destitution of the ex-Prior, 
 and hints that it was hardly seemly that the poor man 
 should be neglected by one who owed his preferment 
 to the latter's abdication. The hint was taken, and 
 for the rest of his life Ringmere received from 
 Christ Church a pension of ten pounds a year. 
 
 Henry of Eastry, to whom the above letter was 
 addressed, was elected to the priorate on the feast of 
 the Translation of St. Thomas (July 7), 1284. He 
 continued to preside over the house for more than 
 forty-six years, and during his long term of office 
 the fortunes of the convent probably attained to 
 
 135 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 high-water mark. Endowed with an infinite capacity 
 of taking pains, Prior Eastry left his mark upon every 
 department of monastic administration. His talent 
 for finance must have been immense, for although he 
 found the church burdened with a debt of nearly five 
 thousand pounds, he was able (thirty-seven years later, 
 when at the age of eighty-two he believed himself to 
 be near his end and was anxious to give an account 
 of his stewardship) to draw up a financial statement 
 in which he showed that, although the expenditure 
 during those thirty-seven years had exceeded the sum 
 of ^21,000 — equivalent to more than ^400,000 at the 
 present day — the church was entirely free from debt. 
 A long list of Eastry's good works is inscribed in the 
 monastic registers,^ and has been printed by WiUis.^ 
 Those which relate to additions to the fabric of the 
 church and monastery may be summed up briefly as 
 follows : 
 
 (i) 1292. ** A new great clock," which cost ^30, 
 was placed in the church. Its position is not stated, 
 but from the fact that in Leland's time there was a 
 " stately Horologe, in the south crossed Isle of the 
 Chirche," it would seem likely that Eastry's clock was 
 placed in the south-west transept, and was perhaps 
 supported by the stone bracket which formerly stood 
 over the arch of St. Michael's Chapel.* 
 
 (2) A new room beyond the treasury (ultra Thesaur- 
 ariuni). This was probably the narrow oblong apart- 
 ment which abutted on the west wall of the treasury, 
 and of the chapel of St. Andrew, known in post- 
 Reformation times as the old audit-house. It was 
 pulled down in the first quarter of the eighteenth 
 
 ^ Register I, f. 212, &c. 
 
 2 " History of the Conventual Buildings," op. cit. p. 185, &c. 
 
 ^ Leland says that, according to tradition, the clock was given to the 
 chvirch by Cardinal Langton ; but it is unlikely that there viras any 
 clock in England at so early a date. In Dart's view of the nave, pub- 
 lished in 1726, a clock is showm over the western entrance to the choir. 
 It was removed in 1760. 
 136 
 
PRIORJTE OF HENRT OF EJSTRT 
 
 century, but some portions of its sub-vaults still 
 remain. 
 
 (3) 1298. New stalls for the monks in the choir. 
 There was a double row of thirty-five stalls on either 
 side of the choir. The easternmost stall on the south 
 side formed the throne of the Archbishop, while the 
 opposite stall on the north side was occupied by the 
 Prior ; hence the stalls on the Archbishop's side were 
 called at Canterbury the stalls of the superior choir, 
 and those upon the Prior's side the stalls of the inferior 
 choir. It is doubtful whether at this period there were 
 any return stalls, facing east, at Canterbury.^ From 
 the absence of any entries in the treasurer's accounts 
 relating to the erection of stalls at a later date, it would 
 seem that Eastry's stalls survived until the opening 
 years of the eighteenth century, when the double row 
 of ancient stalls was replaced by wainscot pewing. 
 From a picture of the choir painted before the above 
 alteration was made, the stalls appear to have been 
 plain elbow-seats without canopies.^ 
 
 (4) 1304. "The repair of the whole choir, with 
 three new doors, and a new screen (pulpitum)." 
 
 Eastry's work in the choir comprised the delicate 
 and elaborately worked tracery which surmounts the 
 solid stone screen behind the stalls and which is con- 
 tinued beyond the crossing so as to form lateral screens 
 for the presbytery and sanctuary. Where it flanked 
 the high altar and the shrines of St. Dunstan and St. 
 Alphege, the wall below the tracery is ornamented 
 with a quatrefoil diapering, which is a distinctive mark 
 of Eastry's work. 
 
 The three new doors led respectively into the nave 
 
 ' The treasurer's accounts for the year 1298-99 show that in this year 
 the Prior and convent spent £iy l8s. 3d. in setting up the stalls of the 
 inferior choir (inferioris chori), and that in the same year one Reginald 
 Noldekyn gave ^20 " pro novis stallis faciendis in choro." 
 
 ^ See a picture of the choir by Thomas Johnson painted soon after 
 the restoration, novy the'property of W. D. Caroe, Esq., F.S.A., and 
 reproduced in Archieologia, 191 1. 
 
CJNTERBURrCJTHEDRJL 
 
 and the south and north transepts. Of these doors, 
 the archway of that leading into the nave still remains 
 within the wfestern choir screen ; the second, viz. that 
 leading into the north transept, remains to-day much 
 as Eastry left it ; but the third, which opened into the 
 south transept, has been replaced by one of later date. 
 Perhaps it was removed to make way for Cardinal 
 Kemp's tomb in 1454. 
 
 Eastry's fulpitum or western choir screen was re- 
 modelled by Prior Chillenden nearly a hundred years 
 later, but beneath the seventeenth-century panelling 
 which now covers its eastern face the pierced tracery 
 of Eastry's fourteenth-century screen still remains. 
 
 (5) The repair of the Chapter-house, which was in 
 progress at the same time as the work in the choir, 
 comprised the rebuilding of the gables, the lining of 
 the lateral walls beneath the windows, with an arcade 
 of trefoiled arches supported by pilasters of Sussex 
 marble and surmounted by a cornice. 
 
 (6) 1 3 14. A new gold crest or finial, costing ^7 los., 
 was added to the shrine of St. Thomas, and some 
 portion of the saint's skull was enclosed in a reliquary 
 which was fashioned out of gold and silver in the form 
 of a human head, and adorned with jewels, at a cost of 
 
 £115 I2S.1 
 
 (7) 1 3 17. A spire of timber covered with lead was 
 erected upon the north-western tower at a cost of 
 ^151 17s. 5d. The spire, which is shown in Hollar's 
 view for Dugdale's Monasticon, was taken down in 
 1703. 
 
 To the conventual buildings Eastry made many 
 important additions, which, with one exception, are 
 all duly recorded in the catalogue of his benefactions. 
 
 (8) The monastic brewery on the north side of the 
 court, part of which now serves as a school for the 
 chorister boys. 
 
 ' " Pro corona sancti Thome auro et argento et lapidibus preciosis 
 ornando 115" 12'." " Treasurer's Accounts," sub anno. 
 138 
 

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PRIORJTE OF HENRT OF EASTRT 
 
 (9) The cheker building or monastic counting- 
 house, over the eastern alley of the infirmary cloister. 
 The cheker, which had two stories of chambers above 
 the ambulatory, was pulled down in 1868, but the 
 circular stair turret by which the upper floors were 
 reached was happily 
 spared, and forms a 
 very picturesque ob- 
 ject when seen from ^ 
 the deanery garden. 
 
 A work of some im- " 
 portance carried out 
 by Prior Eastry, of 
 which, however, the 
 list of his good works 
 makes no mention, 
 was the erection of 
 a new chapel in the 
 almonry outside the 
 court gate. The 
 chapel was dedicated 
 to St. Thomas of 
 Canterbury, and was 
 served by six secular 
 priests (the senior of 
 whom was styled the 
 dean), who lodged in 
 chambers at the west 
 end of the chapel and 
 
 dined at a common table. The chapel was commenced 
 in the year 1324, and must have been finished in 1328, 
 since in the latter year the Bishop of St. Davids granted 
 an indulgence to all persons who would visit the 
 prior's new chapel and contribute to its furnishing.^ 
 On the suppression of the priory, the almonry remained 
 in the King's hands until the reign of Queen Mary, 
 • by whom it was granted to her cousin, Cardinal Pole, 
 1 Canterbury MS. C. 182. 
 
 Cheker Tower 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 and the latter bequeathed it by will to the dean 
 and chapter for the purpose of serving as premises 
 for the cathedral school. In 1859, when new build- 
 ings for the school were erected on the northern 
 side of the Mint Yard, the almonry buildings were 
 demolished. 
 
 In addition to the above building operations, Eastry 
 laid out enormous sums on vestments and ornaments 
 for the church. These acquisitions are set forth in 
 full in the great inventory of 13 15, now preserved 
 amongst the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum 
 (Galba E. iv.).^ An important addition, of which the 
 inventory of 1315 makes only casual mention, was the 
 erection of a new altar-piece (tabula) for the high 
 altar. From a letter preserved amongst the " Eastry 
 Correspondence " it would appear that the new altar- 
 piece consisted, in part at any rate, of a picture upon 
 panels. The letter in question was addressed to Prior 
 Eastry by Archbishop Walter Reynolds (1324), who 
 indignantly contradicts a report spread abroad by the 
 craftsman employed on the tabula — one Jordan, the 
 fainter — that he (the Archbishop) disapproved of the 
 design, and offers to subscribe ^20 towards the work 
 if the Prior can get Jordan to fulfil his contract, the 
 latter (as appears from another letter on the same 
 subject) being desirous of selling his work to better 
 advantage elsewhere.^ 
 
 From the "Correspondence of Prior Eastry" we 
 occasionally get some gossiping details concerning the 
 occupants of the archiepiscopal see which are not to 
 be found elsewhere. Thus a correspondent writing 
 to the Prior shortly before the death of Archbishop 
 Peckham says that the Archbishop has grown very 
 morose and is quite unapproachable. Moreover, a 
 
 ^ The inventory has been printed by Messrs. Legg and Hope in 
 " Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury," in which work the 
 list fills four closely printed pages. 
 
 2 " Eastry Correspondence," Canterbury Archives, iv. R. 27 and RR. 
 400 (8). 
 140 
 
PRIORJTE OF HENRT OF EJSTRT 
 
 report is abroad that he hopes to be made a cardinal. 
 Peckham, however, never became a member of the 
 Sacred College. His death occurred on December 6, 
 1292, and he was buried in the transept of the 
 Martyrdom, where his fine canopied tomb with its 
 effigy in bog-oak still remains against the northern 
 wall. Of his successor, the saintly Robert Winchelsey, 
 it is curious to learn from one of Eastry's correspond- 
 ents that in later life, in spite of his asceticism and 
 the many hardships he had endured during his long 
 struggle with King Edward I, the Archbishop grew 
 inordinately stout (valde fonderosus). Winchelsey's 
 boundless charity and the report of certain miraculous 
 circumstances connected with his body after death at 
 once raised him to saintship in popular estimation, and 
 pilgrims made offerings at his tomb. In 13 19 these 
 amounted to no less than ^90. Winchelsey's popu- 
 larity, however, soon waned, and the offerings had 
 entirely ceased long before the suppression of the 
 monastery. Nevertheless, the fact that his tomb had 
 once been the object of popular veneration doubtless 
 led to its destruction when Henry VHI issued his 
 edict for the demolition of all tombs and shrines which 
 had been " abused by pilgrimages and offerings." 
 
 Towards Walter Reynolds (the third archbishop 
 enthroned by the aged Prior) Eastry acted as a sort 
 of mentor, for whenever the Archbishop in his capacity 
 as statesman found himself in a difficulty he had 
 recourse to his friend the Prior, whose advice, if it did 
 not betray any altruistic principle, was probably sound 
 under the circumstances, and at least natural to one 
 who had witnessed many political crises, and had, so 
 to speak, seen the English Constitution grow up under 
 his eyes. Thus in the troublous times which occurred 
 towards the end of the reign of Edward H, when 
 Reynolds, whose character was weak and vacillating, 
 hoped to get a lead from the old Prior as to the attitude 
 he should adopt in the civil strife, the latter with 
 
 141 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 characteristic caution advised him not to commit 
 himself definitely to either party — advice which 
 Reynolds doubtless found quite congenial to his 
 temperament. But the barbarous murder of the King, 
 who had been his pupil and friend, filled the Arch- 
 bishop with remorse, and is said to have hastened his 
 own end, for his death occurred on November i6 in 
 the same year (1327). 
 
 There has been some uncertainty as to the position 
 of Reynolds' tomb. The recumbent effigy beneath 
 the westernmost window of the south aisle of the choir 
 is generally believed to represent him ; but in his will 
 he gave instructions for his burial " before the altars 
 of the blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist, 
 next the tomb of my predecessor R(obert Winchelsey), 
 beneath the pavement {in -plana terra), either at the 
 foot or head of the said tomb according as the said 
 prior may direct." Winchelsey's tomb, according to 
 Leland, was placed against " the butt ende," or south 
 wall, of the south-east transept ; and Reynolds' tomb 
 may have been destroyed when the shrine of the 
 former prelate was swept away in the time of 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 Amongst the benefactions left to the cathedral 
 church by Archbishop Reynolds was his great pontifical 
 ring, set with rubies and a large oblong emerald 
 between twelve smaller gems, also six other rings set 
 with emeralds, all of which he desired might be 
 attached to the apex of the shrine of St. Thomas. 
 But a benefaction far better calculated to keep his 
 memory green amongst the monks of Christ Church 
 was the gift of the manor of Caldecote, situated on 
 rising ground in the parish of St. Martin for the express 
 purpose that it might serve as a sanatorium to which 
 the brethren might retire during convalescence, or 
 where they might enjoy a short recess after those 
 periodical blood-lettings which all through the middle 
 ages were considered indispensable to good health. 
 142 
 
PRI0RA1E OF HENRT OF EJSTRr 
 
 During Henry of Eastry's long priorate the convent, 
 of Christ Church was frequently honoured by the 
 visits of royalty. On May 2, 1299, King Edward I was 
 married to his second consort, Margaret of France, at 
 the cloister door opening into the " martyrdom " tran- 
 sept, the royal pair subsequently hearing Mass in the 
 chapel of St. Thomas. The monastic register in which 
 the account of the marriage is enrolled contains also a 
 curious account of a dispute which ensued as to the 
 ownership of the canopy which during the ceremony 
 was held over the heads of the King and Queen. This 
 is worthy of a passing notice for the light it throws 
 upon the claim constantly put forward by the prior 
 and convent of Christ Church that the cathedral 
 church was no mere appendage of the archbishopric. 
 Thus to the Archbishop's contention that the cloth 
 belonged to him by right of his office the Prior replied 
 that he could claim nothing on this account in the 
 mother-church of Canterbury, because the church of 
 Canterbury " is not a chapel of the archbishop, but 
 the mother of all other churches in the province of 
 Canterbury." Claims were also put in by the Arch- 
 bishop's cross-bearer and by the king's chaplain, and 
 the upshot of the matter was that the king gave 
 orders that the cloth should be delivered to the earl 
 of Lincoln until the rights of the disputants could be 
 determined. 
 
 Edward II came to Canterbury in 13 14 for the 
 enthronement of his old tutor and friend, Walter 
 Reynolds, from whom, however, he received but 
 scant support in the dark days when his Queen and 
 people turned against him. Possibly the loyalty of 
 the Archbishop was weakened by reports which 
 reached him through the Prior of Christ Church of 
 the mad freaks of some of the royal favourites ; 
 for more than one letter in the " Eastry Correspon- 
 dence" refers (in somewhat enigmatical terms) to 
 the extraordinary conduct of the younger De Spenser. 
 
 H3 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Queen Isabella, when she deserted her husband, did 
 the Prior the doubtful honour of leaving her pack of 
 hounds on his hands. After maintaining them for 
 more than two years, Eastry began to grow restive 
 under the burden, and wrote to the Archbishop to 
 know how he could rid himself of it. The Archbishop's 
 reply is not extant, but as the Prior was eighty-four 
 years of age at the time he can hardly have advised 
 him to carry the horn himself. When nearly ninety 
 Eastry felt that the time had come when he could no 
 longer undertake the frequent journeys which the 
 business of the convent demanded, and he obtained 
 from Edward III, who was in Canterbury from June 14 
 to 20, 1329, permission to appoint two general 
 proctors who might represent him in the king's courts 
 and elsewhere. Less than two years after this — ^viz. 
 on April 3, 1331 — at the age of ninety- two, he passed 
 away, having ruled the house with much prudence and 
 success for nearly forty-seven years. It is remarkable 
 that the sepulchre of such a distinguished prior cannot 
 be located. In one of the Christ Church obituaries 
 Eastry is said to have been buried " between the 
 pictures of St. Osyth and St. Apollonia," but this we 
 fear is ignotum fer ignotius. Whatever doubt there 
 may be about Eastry's monument, there is none about 
 the compass and completeness of his achievement ; 
 and this is his imperishable memorial for all who read 
 the story of the monks of Canterbury. He seems to 
 have been one of those rare figures of men provided 
 with a great and honourable task, and perfectly 
 equipped to fulfil it. He was happy in being gifted 
 with strength of body, capacity of mind, persistence 
 of purpose, singleness of aim, and length of life. He 
 was also jelix opportunitate mortis ; for we are told 
 that " when was done his long day's work " " he died 
 at the time of high mass." 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 144 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF PRIOR HENRY OF EASTRY TO 
 THE ELECTION OF PRIOR THOMAS OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 1331-1391 
 
 After the death of the patriarch Eastry the monks 
 of Christ Church — ^perhaps influenced hy the law of 
 contrasts — chose for their prior Richard Oxenden, who, 
 as he only made his 
 
 profession some eleven 
 years earlier, can 
 scarcely have been more 
 than thirty years of age 
 at the time of his 
 election. His rapid 
 preferment may have 
 been due to the fact 
 that he was a mem- 
 ber of an influential 
 East Kent family,^ but 
 he justified the choice 
 of the brethren by his 
 capacity for business, 
 since the affairs of the convent prospered greatly under 
 his rule. 
 
 Although he only presided over the house for nine 
 years, several of Oxenden's letters have been pre- 
 served, and a perusal of them leaves the impression 
 that the young Prior was a somewhat grandiloquent 
 person. Thus, when in some petty affray a monk's 
 
 1 He was the second son of Solomon de Oxenden of Nonington, an 
 ancestor of the Oxendens of Brpme in Barham. 
 
 K 145 
 
 Boss in 
 
 Black Prince's " Chantry 
 
CAN7 ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 nose was broken in the churchyard, Oxenden solemnly 
 informed Archbishop Stratford that " the face of his 
 spouse the Church has been besmirched," and suggests 
 that the " befouled precinct " must be reconciled 
 with due ceremonial. The Archbishop replied that 
 if the circumstances should prove on inquiry to be 
 such that a formal reconciliation was necessary, the 
 Bishop of Rochester would come to Canterbury as his 
 representative, but took the opportunity of administer- 
 ing a snub to the Prior for writing at such length on 
 so trivial a matter (non cum debita hrevitate sed inutili 
 verbositate). 
 
 In 1333 the Prior and convent were honoured by 
 a visit from King Edward III, who came to Canterbury 
 with Queen Philippa, Prince Edward, and a numerous 
 suite. On such an occasion it was, of course, necessary 
 to make presents to King, Queen, courtiers, and 
 retinue. And in order to show what a heavy tax 
 these royal visits were upon the resources of the 
 convent we give below a list (taken from Prior 
 Oxenden's day-book) of the gifts bestowed by the 
 monks upon their distinguished guests : 
 
 To King Edward, two silver bowls, enamelled in the 
 bottom, valued at ^9 3s. ; two silver ewers for water, 
 53s. 6d. ; one silver-gilt cup with shields in enamel, 
 which had once belonged to Hamo de Chikwell, citizen 
 of London, and which had been given by him to 
 Prior Richard, lOos. ; a silver flask for wine, which 
 formerly belonged to Prior Henry, 535. ; a palfrey, 
 valued at ;^20. 
 
 To Queen Philippa, two silver bowls, enamelled in 
 the bottom, worth ^7 los. iid., with two buckles 
 placed inside them, 70s. ; two silver wine flasks, 
 107s. 4d. ; one pony [farvum equum), the value of 
 which is not stated. 
 
 To the young Prince Edward of Woodstock (after- 
 wards known as the Black Prince), then only three 
 years old, an alabaster cup, worth 6s. 
 146 
 
FROM EASTRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 To Henry of Lancaster and the Earl of Arundel 
 each a silver cup and buckles. To the ladies of the 
 Queen's suite, jewels, silk, and gloves. The total 
 value reached the enormous sum of ;^I09 i6s., equiva- 
 lent to more than ;^2000 at the present day. Of 
 course, in addition to all this there was the expense of 
 entertainment ; so that the King's offering of ^lo and 
 the Queen's of five marks at the shrine of St. Thomas 
 did not greatly enrich the coffers of the monastery. 
 
 The only addition to the fabric of the cathedral 
 church that is connected with the name of Prior 
 Oxenden is the large decorated window of five lights 
 which was inserted in the south wall of St. Anselm's 
 Chapel in 1336. It would appear that the window 
 was a memorial to Archbishop Meopham, who had 
 been buried at the entrance of the chapel two 
 years previously, since part of the cost was defrayed 
 by his friends and the balance by Prior Oxenden 
 himself. This fine decorated window — ^the only one, 
 by the way, which Canterbury Cathedral can boast — 
 was very badly treated by the " restorers " of the first 
 half of the nineteenth century, who pared down its 
 tracery to the glass and inserted Portland-stone 
 monials, so that when Professor Willis saw it the 
 window " had a most ungenuine air." More recently, 
 however, it has been subjected to a second and more 
 judicious restoration, whereby it has recovered much 
 of its original beauty. 
 
 Prior Oxenden died on August 4, 1338, and was 
 buried in St. Michael's Chapel, but no memorial of 
 him is now extant. 
 
 His successor, Robert Hathbrand, ruled the house 
 for nearly thirty-two years, and was a man of con- 
 siderable mark. His personal piety was great, for it 
 is recorded in his obituary that he never celebrated 
 Mass without shedding tears ; but he was also a 
 man of affairs, and an influential person at Court.^ 
 
 1 " Tunc venit ille famosissimus dominus et duorum filiorum Regis 
 
 H7 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 So highly was he esteemed hj King Edward III that 
 two of the young princes were entrusted to his care. 
 Their names are not recorded, but possibly Edward 
 of Woodstock may have been one of them ; and if so, 
 the desire of the " Black Prince " to be buried within 
 the walls of the metropolitical church may possibly 
 have been due partly to his early connection with 
 Christ Church and its prior. 
 
 Hathbrand's lot was cast in troublous times, for 
 not only was the country struggling under the 
 burden of the great French war, in support of which 
 the convent was continually paying subsidies and 
 tenths, but the period was also coincident with the 
 most virulent outbreaks of the Black Death, that 
 terrible scourge from which throughout the middle 
 ages England was seldom quite free. In 1348 Arch- 
 bishop Stratford died at his manor-house at Mayfield 
 in Sussex, perhaps not of plague. But the fell disease 
 carried off the next two Primates in quick succession 
 — John de Ufford on May 20 in the following year, 
 before he could be enthroned, and his successor, the 
 learned Thomas Bradwardine, a few months later. In 
 some parts of the country the insanitary condition 
 and overcrowded state of the monasteries were so 
 favourable to the spread of the epidemic that their 
 inmates were practically exterminated. It is there- 
 fore a high testimony to the excellence of the drainage 
 system and water-supply provided by Prior Wibert to 
 learn that the monks of Christ Church enjoyed a 
 comparative immunity, since only four deaths from 
 plague occurred in the cloister in the year when the 
 scourge was at its worst. The tenants and villeins on 
 the monastic estates, however, suflPered severely, and 
 the scarcity of labour which followed the outbreak 
 
 alumpnus, Regi et proceribus regni acceptissimus dominus Robertus 
 Hadbrand." "Monastic Chronicle of Christ Church, Canterbury," 
 ed. by C. Eveleigh Woodruff, Archieologia Cantiana, vol. xxix. 
 p. 10. 
 
 148 
 
<Ihe Table-Hall of the Infimary. c 1342 
 
FROM EASfRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 produced economic changes which had a very far- 
 reaching effect upon the finances of the priory. But 
 the offerings at the shrine of St. Thomas — that sheet- 
 anchor of Canterbury finance — saved the situation ; 
 for in the year 1350, when the danger of infection 
 must still have been very great, the pilgrims continued 
 to find their way to Canterbury, and in such numbers 
 that the offerings in that year amounted to more than 
 eight hundred pounds. Hence, in spite of a diminish- 
 ing rent-roll, the convent was able to undertake some 
 important building operations during Hathbrand's 
 priorate. The earliest of which we have any record was 
 the erection of a new refectorium, or frater-Yioviie., in 
 the infirmary. This apartment, which was called by the 
 monks Mensa Magistri, or the Table-Hall, has happily 
 escaped destruction and still forms part of the prebendal 
 house nearest to the deanery. It measures 37 ft. by 27 
 ft. internally, and retains its tiled roof of high pitch and 
 the original windows in the east and north walls, which 
 are built of squared flints. Somner, on the authority 
 of an entry in the treasurer's accounts (which, how- 
 ever, are no longer extant for this period), says that 
 the "Table-Hall was built in 1342-43. It was in- 
 tended to serve as the dining-room for monks who 
 were sufficiently convalescent to leave their chambers 
 in the infirmary. 
 
 Another piece of work, carried out probably about 
 the same time as the above, but of which no docu- 
 mentary evidence remains, was the remodelling of the 
 chancel of the infirmary chapel. Here Hathbrand's 
 work comprised the relining of the walls of the chancel, 
 the erection of a new chancel arch, and the insertion of 
 fourteenth-century windows. The great east window 
 was formerly of five lights, but its tracery has gone. 
 That in the northern wall of the chancel, however, still 
 retains its tracery, which shows a mixture of geometric 
 and flowing lines characteristic of the style prevalent 
 towards the middle of the fourteenth century, 
 
 151 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Of the great monastic kitchen rebuilt hy Prior 
 Hathbrand only a few fragments remain in the garden of 
 the house now occupied by the Bishop of Dover. But 
 these were sufficient to enable the keen eye of Professor 
 WiUis to recover the plan of the building. " It was," 
 he says, " built in the form of a square of forty-seven 
 feet, with arches cutting off the angles so as to sustain an 
 octagonal roof." In plan it resembled very closely the 
 monastic kitchen at Glastonbury, but was considerably 
 larger, since the latter is but thirty-five feet square. 
 
 Within the church itself a very beautiful and delicate 
 piece of work was carried out in the crypt in 1363. In 
 this year Prince Edward, being desirous of performing 
 some act of piety in return for the papal dispensation 
 which enabled him to marry his fair cousin, Joan 
 Plantagenet, obtained permission to found a chantry 
 chapel in that part of the undercroft which lies beneath 
 the south-eastern transept of the cathedral. From 
 the terms of the foundation charter ^ we learn that the 
 Prince was induced to found his chantry at Canterbury 
 because from his earliest years he had cherished a 
 peculiar affection for the metropolitical church — an 
 expression which may perhaps be taken as further 
 confirmation of the conjecture already hazarded that 
 in his early childhood he had been placed under the 
 tutelage of Prior Hathbrand. By the foundation deed 
 it was ordained that the chantry should contain two 
 altars, dedicated respectively to the Holy Trinity and 
 St. Mary the Virgin, to each of which a priest was 
 attached. In addition to the daily Mass which the 
 priests were to say each at his own altar, but not 
 simultaneously, the canonical hours were to be recited 
 by the two chaplains together at the altar of the 
 Holy Trinity. Further, they were to lodge and keep 
 " a common table " in a house provided for their 
 use in the parish of St. Alphege. It is sad to relate 
 that the latter arrangement did not work well, for 
 
 1 Register B. f. 2. It is printed in full in Stanley's " Memorials." 
 152 
 
Ruins of the Chancel of the Infirmary Chafel 
 
FROM EASTRT TO CHILLEN DEN 
 
 the monastic annals record that the priests quarrelled 
 so badly that the prior and chapter found it necessary 
 to bind them over " to restrain their tongues from 
 unclean language and from shameful words." It is 
 also somewhat curious to learn that, although the 
 Prince endowed his chantry with the profits of his 
 manor at Vauxhall, the 
 revenue at a later date 
 was insufficient for the 
 purposes of the trust. 
 Thus, in 1472, the Prior 
 and Chapter suggested 
 to Archbishop Bourchier 
 that the manor should be 
 made over to the chantry 
 priests " to find them- 
 selves therewith, we 
 being only bound to find 
 the said priests both wax 
 and bread and wine, 
 nothing reserving unto 
 us of the said manor." 
 It would appear, how- 
 ever, that the Arch- 
 bishop did not sanction 
 the relinquishment of the ^^^^^ Window of the Infirmary Chapel 
 trust, for the manor of 
 
 Vauxhall remained part of the possession of Christ 
 Church, and, till taken over by the Ecclesiastical 
 Commission in the nineteenth century, was one of its 
 most profitable estates. 
 
 What happened to the Prince's chantry at the 
 time of the suppression of the priory is best told in 
 the words of the poor chaplain who survived the 
 debacle. In reply to the Commissioners of King 
 Edward VI he deposed as follows : " As to the plate 
 and vestments, there were but two chalices to both 
 the altars, the value of which, I think, was not above 
 
 155 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 £6 ; the best of them was stolen before the dissolution 
 of the house, and the other was delivered to the con- 
 vent with the vestments and altar cloths and books 
 pertaining to the altar." He also said that, as far as 
 he knew, the land with which the chantry was endowed 
 came into the King's hands, but that the house in 
 St. Alphege, " now sore decayed," remained in the 
 hands of the chaplains until the last Parliament. 
 " This twenty-two years it hath been part of my 
 living. I trust his Grace will excuse my age and 
 impotency." ^ 
 
 But to revert to the architectural history of the 
 chantry. At the Prince's expense, the whole of the 
 pillars, walls, and vaulted roof were clothed with 
 masonry exquisitely wrought in the style of the period. 
 The central pillar is encircled with eight little round 
 shafts ; the vaulting arches are pointed and shafted ; 
 the Heme vault has numerous well-moulded transverse 
 ribs, and carved bosses, originally coloured and gilt, 
 adorn the points at which they intersect. That in the 
 centre of the western bay of the northern chantry 
 assumes the form of a lady's face with a nebule head- 
 dress, which popular tradition identifies as a repre- 
 sentation of the Fair Maid of Kent, though it must 
 be confessed that the features portrayed seem scarcely 
 to warrant such a supposition. 
 
 The central boss of the bay next eastwards bears the 
 armorial coat of the Prince, and on the large boss over 
 the place where the altar of the Holy Trinity stood 
 there is an admirably carved nude figure of Samson. 
 The hair of the head is carefully emphasised, and 
 beneath the right arm appears the long-eared head of 
 an ass — which was perhaps the only way in which 
 the sculptor could convey to the spectator's mind the 
 central fact of the scriptural incident that Samson 
 slew a thousand Philistines with the jaw-bone of an 
 ass. This figure has been taken as an allusion to the 
 
 1 Cart. Antiqtue, Christ Church, Canterbvuy, C. i6. 
 156 
 
FROM EJSTRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 battle of Poitiers, where the heaps of dead bodies in 
 the lane on the battlefield might well recall the words 
 of the scriptural story : " And Samson said, With the 
 jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw- 
 bone of an ass have I slain a thousand men." ^ The 
 chantry now forms the meeting-place of the French 
 Protestant congregation. 
 
 It would seem, however, that Prince Edward's 
 munificence was not 
 exhausted by the erec- 
 tion of these chantries, 
 but that it extended 
 to the transformation 
 of the little chapel of 
 St. Mary in the crypt, 
 where he desired to be 
 buried and to which 
 he made several very 
 valuable bequests. The 
 whole of the crypt was 
 originally dedicated to 
 the Blessed Virgin, but 
 in Ernulf's church her Boss of Joan Plantagena 
 
 chapel occupied the 
 
 three eastern bays of the central alley. The new chapel, 
 erected when Hathbrand was Prior, was much smaller, 
 but its lack of size was compensated by the extreme 
 richness of its ornamentation. The lateral screens of 
 pierced stonework, and the reredos with its tall central 
 niche for the image of the Virgin, and the pedestals 
 for the figures of attendant saints, though grievously 
 mutilated, are stiU of surpassing grace and beauty. 
 Abundant evidence still remains of the gilding and 
 colour which once adorned the stonework, and we 
 can well imagine that when the lighted tapers of 
 the silver candelabra and pendent lamps reflected 
 the rays of the burnished suns and stars with which 
 * W. A. Scott-Robertson in Anhcsologia Cantiana, vol. xiii. p. 543. 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 the blue vault of the roof was studded, this little 
 chapel was one of the show-places of the church. The 
 whole was enclosed within a strong grille of ironwork, 
 inside of which only specially favoured persons might 
 come. Erasmus, who had brought with him a letter 
 of introduction from Archbishop Warham, was' one 
 of the favoured few. " Here [in the crypt]," he 
 writes, " the Virgin hath an habitation, but some- 
 what dark, enclosed within a double sept, or rail of 
 iron, for fear of thieves ; for indeed I never saw a 
 thing more laden with riches. . . . Light being 
 brought, we saw a more than royal spectacle; in 
 beauty it far surpassed that of Walsingham." 
 
 The daily mass in the Chapel of " Our Lady of the 
 undercroft " was said in turn by those of the monks 
 who were in priest's orders, each receiving for his pains 
 a fee of twopence from the warden of the chapel, an 
 unfortunate officer who seems to have spent most of 
 his time in the gloom of the crypt, where an apartment 
 was fitted up for his use.^ 
 
 When the crypt was restored about twenty years 
 ago, a stratum of gravel and rubbish of sufficient 
 thickness to hide the bases of Ernulf's columns was 
 removed from the floor. It was then found that the 
 Lady Chapel was built, not upon the original floor, 
 but upon this subsequent deposit. So that this 
 raising of the level must have been carried out before 
 the last quarter of the fourteenth century. 
 
 It would seem that the condition of the nave of 
 the church was causing anxiety even in Hathbrand's 
 time, for in the last year of his life a subscription 
 list was opened for its rebuilding. The list is still 
 preserved amongst the Chapter archives, and contains 
 thirty-four names, headed by that of John Beke- 
 nore, who gave twenty pounds, the total amounting 
 
 1 " To the carpenter for work done in my chamber in the crypt, 
 3d." " For a painted cloth for my chamber in the crypt, 2od." "The 
 Accounts of Dom Thomas Anselm," warden of the chapel in 1509. 
 158 
 
FROM EJSTRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 to ^44 7s. I id. The death of the Prior, however, pre- 
 vented the furtherance of the work at the time, for 
 Hathbrand died July 16, 1370, and, like his prede- 
 cessor, was buried in the chapel of St. Michael. 
 
 No further additions to the fabric are recorded in 
 the days of the two next Priors, Richard Gillingham 
 (1370-76) and Stephen Mongeham (1376-77) ; but the 
 single year of office of the latter Prior was marked by 
 an event of great importance in the annals of > the 
 church of Canterbury — ^namely, the funeral of the 
 Black Prince. 
 
 In spite of the specific instructions contained in the 
 Prince's will that his body should be buried " in the 
 Chapel of Our Lady in the undercroft, at a distance of 
 ten feet from the altar," public opinion could not 
 allow the nation's darling to be hidden away in so 
 obscure a spot. Hence it came about that when 
 (nearly four months after his death) the body of Prince 
 Edward was at length brought to Canterbury for 
 interment, it was laid to rest in the most honourable 
 place the church could offer, viz. on the south side 
 of the shrine of St. Thomas. The funeral, which 
 must have been one of the most impressive pageants 
 ever witnessed even at Canterbury, took place on 
 Michaelmas Day 1376. During the requiem mass, 
 at which Archbishop Simon of Sudbury officiated, 
 assisted by William Courtenay, bishop of London, and 
 Prior Mongeham, the body of the hero was placed 
 upon a magnificent catafalque erected before the high 
 altar, whence it was carried to its last resting-place 
 in the retro-choir. 
 
 The Black Prince's tomb, though it has lost much of 
 the bright colouring and gilding which once adorned it, 
 has never been wantonly defaced, and is still one of the 
 most splendid monumental memorials in the kingdom. 
 
 The sides of the tomb are of Purbeck marble, 
 adorned with enamelled shields of arms, the ostrich 
 feathers (which the Prince derived from the family of 
 
 159 
 
CJNfERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 his mother, Philippa of Hainault), bearing labels 
 inscribed with the words Houmont and Ich diene, the 
 exact meaning of which we will not attempt to 
 determine. The top is surmounted by a latten table 
 carrying a life-sized effigy cast in the same metal. 
 The Prince is represented in full armour, in accordance 
 with the directions of his will ; and his face, which 
 exhibits the clear-cut features of the Plantagenets, is 
 doubtless a portrait. Around the edge of the 
 table is a long inscription in French, placed there in 
 accordance with the express instructions contained in 
 the Prince's will. The lines, which, according to 
 Stanley (who has given a copy of them in his 
 "Memorials "), are borrowed, with a few variations, 
 from the anonymous French translation of the 
 Clericalis Disci-plina of Petrus Alphonsus, com- 
 posed between the years 1106 and mo, have been 
 translated, or rather paraphrased, thus : 
 
 Wanderer, where this dust reclines. 
 
 Restored to kindred dust again, 
 Know that the tomb which bears these lines 
 
 Sanctions the monitory strain ; 
 Connected by an equal fate, 
 In mine behold thy funeral state. 
 
 Heedless of death I lived my hour, 
 
 As though this transient life could last ; 
 
 Revel'd in riches and in power, 
 In honour's high enrolment cast ; 
 
 The trappings of the princely great 
 
 Gave lustre to my earthly state. 
 
 Now, poor, beneath contempt I lie 
 And close concealed from every eye, 
 My beauty changed to loathsomeness, 
 My frame all shrunk to rottenness. 
 
 Narrow and mean my mansion now. 
 
 My tongue a silent lecture holds ; 
 Couldst thou explore what lies below 
 
 The poor remains the tomb enfolds. 
 Among the dust which feeds the worm 
 Thou'dst vainly seek the human form. 
 160 
 
The Black Prince's Tomh 
 
FROM EJSTRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 Then God implore, th' eternal King, 
 
 That mercy on my soul be shown ; 
 So may His grace on seraph wing 
 
 Descend and purify thy own. 
 When time is past then be it given 
 To thee to taste the joys of heaven.* 
 
 Above the tomb, extending from pillar to pillar, is 
 hung a flat wooden canopy or tester, on the under- 
 side of which is painted an anthropomorphic repre- 
 sentation of the H0I7 Trinity, now much defaced.^ 
 Upon the beam from which the canopy is suspended 
 are now placed the achievements of the Prince, but 
 from the view of the tomb given by Dart ^ it would 
 appear that these were formerly hung upon an iron 
 rod above the beam. The objects now displayed are 
 •the helm, crest, jupon or coat-of-arms, gauntlets, 
 «shield, sword-sheath, and part of a belt with a buckle, 
 <but the sword has disappeared together with the 
 dagger and target which once had a place here. 
 Tradition affirms that the sword was taken away by 
 Oliver Cromwell, but there is no evidence that the 
 great Protector was ever in Canterbury. It was 
 certainly in its place in 1580, since in that year i6d. 
 was paid to the sub-sacristan for cleaning it ; * but how 
 much longer it remained with the other relics we have 
 been unable to discover. Though of great value as 
 specimens of fourteenth-century work, competent 
 authorities are of opinion that none of these achieve- 
 ments were ever actually worn by the Prince in his 
 lifetime, but were specially made to figure in his 
 obsequies. A minute description of them from the 
 pen of Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, accompanied by a 
 
 1 Woolnoth's " Canterbury," p. 89. 
 
 2 A drawing of the picture is given in Stanley's " Memorials." 
 
 * " History and Antiquities of the Gathedral Church of Canterbury," 
 1726, p. 82. 
 
 * " Johanni Harte pro coruscacione gladii pendentis super tumulum 
 principis Edwardi tercii [sic] voc' the black prynce ivi''." Treasurer's 
 Accounts, 1580. 
 
 L 161 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 set of magnificent plates, was published by the Society 
 of Antiquaries of London in 1895.^ 
 
 Prince Edward's bequests to Christ Church 
 comprised : " A vestment [that is, complete suit] of 
 green velvet embroidered with gold ; two basons of 
 gold ; a chalice of gold with his arms on the foot, and 
 the paten thereto ; two cruets of gold ; an image of 
 the Holy Trinity, and his best cross of silver-gilt 
 enamelled." To the altar of Our Lady of the Under- 
 croft, before which he desired to be buried, he left 
 a whole white suit diapered with a blue vine ; a frontal 
 which had been given him by the Bishop of Exeter, 
 having the Assumption of Our Lady in the midst of 
 other imagery ; and a tabernacle of the same subject, 
 the gift of the said bishop ; also his two great twisted 
 candlesticks ; two basons with his arms ; a great gilt 
 and enamelled chalice with the arms of Warenne ; two 
 cruets wrought in the form of angels ; a set of tapestry 
 hangings, including two bankers or bench coverings of 
 ostrich feathers on black tapestry having a red border 
 and embroidered with swans with ladies' heads. The 
 dosser (or end piece) was to be cut up for making frontals 
 for the several altars of St. Thomas — ^viz. that at the 
 head of his shrine ; in the corona ; at the altar of the 
 Sword Point ; and, if sufficient remained, for hangings 
 round the saint's tomb in the crypt. The eight 
 costers (or side pieces) were to be hung on the side 
 screens of the choir above the stalls on all principal 
 feast-days and on the anniversary of the Prince's 
 death. Some of the banker pieces seem to have 
 survived until 1540, since the inventory taken in 
 that year mentions one old hanging of " vi peces 
 of ostriche fethers to laye on the ground on Palm 
 Sunday.* 
 
 But to revert to the general history of the fabric of 
 
 ' Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vii. Part I. 
 
 * " Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury," byMessrs. J. Wickham 
 Legg and W. H. St. John Hope, p. 96. Westminster, 1902. 
 162 
 
FROM EASTRT TO CHILLENDEN 
 
 the church. The rebuilding the nave which had been 
 contemplated by Prior Hathbrand was postponed after 
 his death for seven years. In 1377, when Simon 
 Sudbury was Archbishop and John Finch was Prior, 
 the financial position of the priory had so much 
 improved that the work was put in hand. It was 
 clear, however, that to demolish the old Norman 
 nave and erect a new one in its place would be a 
 stupendous task, and one which could not be carried 
 out by the unaided resources of the monks of Christ 
 Church. Accordingly the Archbishop issued a brief 
 inviting subscriptions to the building fund, and offered 
 an indulgence of forty days to all good people who 
 would contribute to the work. To what extent the 
 appeal was successful we do not know ; but whatever 
 sum was obtained in this way was supplemented by a 
 munificent donation of three thousand marks from 
 the Archbishop himself. The Norman nave, which 
 was in a ruinous condition, was now pulled down ; 
 but the towers were left standing, and the transepts, 
 in order to give stability to the central tower. That 
 the two western towers might receive immediate 
 support, the work of rebuilding was commenced 
 at the western end ; but before much pro- 
 gress had been made Sudbury's career was cut 
 short by the rebels on Tower Hill. The followers 
 of Wat Tyler had paid a visit to Canterbury 
 on June 10, 138];, and had broken open the 
 castle and plundered the palace of the Archbishop. 
 Sudbury (who was in London at the time), 
 knowing that as Chancellor he was held by the 
 insurgents to be responsible for the obnoxious poll- 
 tax, took refuge in the Tower. The rebels, however, 
 effected an entrance and beheaded the unfortunate 
 prelate. His headless body was brought to Canterbury 
 for interment, and received honourable sepulture 
 on the south side of the presbytery, where his fine 
 canopied tomb may still be seen. Thither the mayor 
 
 163 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 and aldermen of the city were wont to go in procession 
 every Christmas Day to pray for the soul of the 
 benefactor who had rebuilt the walls and the great 
 West-gate of their city. But although Sudbury's name 
 was inserted on the bede-roU of the monastery, and a 
 money-box for offerings was placed upon his tomb, the 
 monks of Christ Church — perhaps from the fact that 
 he had once had the temerity to cast doubt upon the 
 efficacy of pilgrimages to the shrine of Canterbury's 
 most famous saint — seem never to have cherished 
 his memory with much warmth. 
 
 Ten years elapsed between the death of Archbishop 
 Sudbury and that of Prior Finch, and there is some 
 evidence to show that during these years very con- 
 siderable progress was made in the work of rebuilding 
 the nave. Thus, when Archbishop Courtenay in 1390 
 entered into an agreement with the prior and convent 
 with regard to the perpetuation of his memory in 
 the services of the cathedral church, amongst his 
 good deeds meriting recognition special mention was 
 made of a gift of twenty pounds towards a new 
 window in the nave in honour of St. Alphege. The 
 same document records that the Archbishop had been 
 very active in collecting funds for the work, and had 
 been successful in raising one thousand marks " from 
 King Richard and other friends " {Ricardo illustrissimo 
 rege Anglie et aliis amicis). 
 
 The architectural style adopted in the new nave 
 was something entirely fresh in the south-east of 
 England. In the first half of the fourteenth century 
 Kent had evolved a very pleasing variety of the style 
 known as decorated, but the local guilds of craftsmen 
 had been broken up by the ravages of the Black Death, 
 and by the end of the century the traditions of their 
 art had been lost. On the other hand, in the larger 
 towns new associations were being formed, and a 
 new style was being evolved which from its cheap 
 effectiveness and its adaptability to all requirements 
 164 
 
FROM EAST RT 10 CHILLENDEN 
 
 was destined to become stereotyped in this country 
 for more than two centuries. 
 
 This style, which has been named the Early Perpen- 
 dicular, found its earliest expression in the south-east 
 of England in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral ; but 
 it had been adopted nearly fifty years earlier at 
 Gloucester, and there can be little doubt that the 
 architect who designed the Canterbury nave had been 
 trained in the Gloucester school of masons.^ 
 
 A notable addition to the conventual buildings 
 during Finch's priorate was the erection of a set of 
 new guest-chambers adjoining the gatehouse of the 
 cellarer's hall. The monks were so pleased with these 
 apartments that they called one of them Paradise and 
 another Heaven. They still form part of the prebendal 
 house in the south-western corner of the Green Court, 
 and are still known by their old names. 
 
 On the other hand, the convent suffered one con- 
 siderable loss during Finch's days, namely, the fall of 
 the camf anile or bell-tower, on the south side of the 
 cemetery of the lay folk. The destruction of the 
 campanile, which dated probably from the days of 
 Lanfranc, was caused by an earthquake which occurred 
 on May 21, 1382 — ^the very day on which the doctrines 
 of Wyclif were condemned by a Council held at the 
 Blackfriars in London, a coincidence which, of course, 
 admitted of and found more than one interpre- 
 tation. 
 
 Prior Finch died January 25, 1391, and was buried 
 in the Martyrdom, where his flat ledger-stone — ^from 
 which the effigy of brass has been stripped — may still 
 be seen. He appears to have been a man of saintly 
 life, but was perhaps not a good man of business, since 
 an anonymous Christ Church chronicler describes him 
 as a " man of clean hands and pure heart, who wisely 
 depended more on the power of prayer and the worldly 
 wisdom of his brother-monks, William Woghopc and 
 1 See Prior's " Cathedral Builders," p. 85. 
 
 ^65 
 
CANIERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Thomas Chillenden, the treasurers, than on any special 
 efforts of his own." Chillenden succeeded him as 
 prior, and brought to a successful issue the great work 
 of rebuilding the nave, and with Chillenden's name 
 the nave of Canterbury Cathedral has always been 
 connected ; but it is only fair to state that no incon- 
 siderable part of the work was done under the auspices 
 of Prior Finch. 
 
 Capital in the Crypt 
 
 i66 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PRIORATE OF THOMAS CHILLENDEN 
 
 1391-1411 
 
 Thomas Chillenden, who succeeded Finch in 1391, 
 left a broader mark upon the fabric of church and 
 convent than any prior before or after him. In 
 the words of John Leland, the antiquary, he was 
 " the greatest Builder of a Prior that ever was in 
 Christes Churche." 
 
 John Stone, who was almost a contemporary, calls 
 Chillenden the " Flower " of Christ Church Priors, and 
 one whose indefatigable labours could only meet with 
 their due reward in heaven (Thomas Anglorum Jlos 
 Chillendenne friorum, gloria coelorum cui detur ob acta 
 laborum)} 
 
 A complete list of the building operations under- 
 taken by Chillenden is recorded upon the back of the 
 general account roU of the monastery for the year in 
 which he died (141 1) ^ ; and further details are supplied 
 by an anonymous chronicler who was an inmate of the 
 house when the various works were being carried out.* 
 From these sources we can gain some idea of the restless 
 energy of Chillenden as a builder, and are led to the 
 conclusion that during the twenty years of his rule the 
 sound of axes and hammers must have reverberated 
 through the precincts without intermission. 
 
 1 MS. C.C.C. Cambridge, No. 417. 
 
 2 Roll C. 166, Chartce Antiques, Christ Church, Canterbury, printed 
 by Willis in Archieologia Cantiana, vol. vii. pp. 187-89. 
 
 ^ MS. C. 14, Canterbury Archives. Printed in Archteologia Cantiana, 
 vol. xxix. 
 
 167 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 The chief work was, of course, the rebuilding of the 
 nave, on which during the first four years of Chillen- 
 den's priorate an average sum of nearly five hundred 
 pounds was spent. In his fifth year, probably owing 
 to the fact that much decorative work was going on 
 in the choir, only two hundred and eighty pounds 
 could be spared for the new nave. In order to give 
 a fresh stimulus to the liberality of churchmen, the 
 convent now obtained from Pope Boniface IX a bull 
 granting to all persons who would visit the cathedral 
 church and give alms "for the repair and conserva- 
 tion of its fabric" an indulgence of seven years and 
 seven Lents (^quadragence)} A little later a further 
 augmentation of the building fund was obtained by 
 the gift of the rectories of Godmersham and Westwell 
 from Archbishop Arundel, who in the deed of 
 conveyance states that the "prior and convent had 
 laudably expended upwards of five thousand marks 
 out of their common property upon the construction 
 of the said nave and other necessary works about the 
 church, and that six thousand marks would be too 
 little to finish the work as begun, and others that must 
 be done about the prostrate cloister, and the Chapter- 
 house, which is thought to be in a dangerous state." ^ 
 Unfortunately, our chronicler does not record the 
 sums spent on the nave during the next three years. 
 But it would seem that in the year 1400-1 it was 
 approaching completion, for at that date the Prior 
 and convent received from Archbishop Arundel the 
 munificent donation of one thousand marks towards 
 " the building of the vault of the church." In all 
 probability, therefore, the nave was structurally com- 
 plete very early in the fifteenth century. 
 
 The architectural effect of Chillenden's nave suffers 
 from the narrowness of the structure in proportion to 
 
 ^ " Calendar of Papal Registers," R.S., vol. iv. p. 507. 
 
 * Somner, p. 89, and app. p. 24 ; and Willis's " Architectural 
 History," p. 118. 
 168 
 
The Nave 
 
PRIORAT E OF CHI LLENDEN 
 
 its height — a defect which is most apparent in the side 
 aisles, which at Canterbury are carried up much higher 
 than at Winchester, the nave of which cathedral was 
 undergoing transformation at the same period. More- 
 over, at Winchester the Norman piers were encased in 
 new ashlar work, which of course increased their 
 diameter and produced a bolder effect than the slender 
 columns of Canterbury. The roof of the latter 
 cathedral with its elaborate lierne vaulting is doubtless 
 a beautiful feature, but even there the numerous 
 shields of arms emblazoned on its bosses serve but to 
 remind us that the age of faith had given place to the 
 age of heraldry. " No reflection of religious zeal can 
 be discerned in the architectural expression of the 
 naves of Winchester and Canterbury," says Mr. E. G. 
 Prior ; " rather must we see in them the tomb of the 
 religious sentiment of art, as their ordered and scientific 
 panelling first overlaid and then wiped out of existence 
 the architecture of faith." ^ 
 
 With regard to the internal arrangement of the new 
 nave, the Lady Chapel, which in Lanfranc's church 
 occupied the two eastern bays of the north aisle, was 
 replaced by Chillenden in the same position. But 
 the casing of the Norman piers of the great central 
 tower with new ashlar work necessitated a rearrange- 
 ment of the flight of steps leading to the choir ; and 
 the screen with the great Rood over it, which, accord- 
 ing to Gervase's description, formerly stood between 
 the western piers of the tower, was now removed, and 
 in its place a lofty iron griUe with central gates was 
 erected. This grille, which extended right across the 
 church, is shown in the view of the nave published by 
 Dart in 1726, and it kept its place until 1743, when it 
 was removed ; and the iron gates were set up again 
 in the western and southern porches, where they still 
 remain. 
 
 Between the eastern piers Chillenden built a new 
 1 " Cathedral Builders in England," p. 86. 
 
 171 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 stone screen. Eastry's screen, however, was not 
 destroyed but was left to form the eastern face of the 
 new one. The increased width gave space for a com- 
 modious loft or fulpitum above, over which the Rood 
 was suspended. Chillenden's choir screen is a very- 
 beautiful and elaborate piece of work, which, although 
 it has been subjected to some restoration, remains to-day 
 substantially as he left it. Its most remarkable features 
 are the sculptured figures which adorn its western 
 front. These are arranged in two tiers. In the 
 upper one there is a central niche and twelve sub- 
 sidiary ones, which in modern times have been filled 
 respectively by figures of our Lord and the twelve 
 Apostles. But the six large figures of the lower tier — 
 three on either side of the central doorway — are ancient. 
 From the fact that all are crowned we may conclude that 
 they represent kings, but their identification has never 
 been established satisfactorily. There can be little 
 doubt, however, that the figure on the left-hand side of 
 the doorway, holding the model of a church, is intended 
 to represent King Ethelbert, the royal founder of 
 Christ Church. Possibly the next figure on the same 
 side, the features of which are of a feminine cast and in 
 which the drapery is arranged in a different manner 
 from the rest, may be intended for Queen Bertha. 
 The bearded figure on the right-hand side of the door- 
 way, with the right hand slightly raised, may perhaps 
 be King Edward the Confessor. The sword, however, 
 which has been placed in the left hand of this figure, 
 is a modern addition, for which no authority is known ; 
 it certainly was not there when Britton published his 
 drawing of the screen in 1836.^ The next figure on 
 the same side, from the resemblance of the features 
 to those of the effigy on Henry IV's tomb in the 
 retrochoir, has been considered to represent that mon- 
 arch ; while the next may be that of his unfortunate 
 
 ^ " The History and Antiquities of the Metropolitical Church of 
 Canterbury," by John Britton, London, 1836. 
 172 
 
PRIORJTE OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 predecessor, Richard 11, Both kings were liberal 
 contributors to the rebuilding of the nave, and were 
 therefore likely to be commemorated in this way. 
 
 Chillenden's archway over the central doorway is 
 considerably higher than that of Eastry's screen, which 
 still forms an inner arch beneath the newer work, and 
 the tympanum between the two arches is filled in with 
 panelled work. On the apex of the outer arch is a 
 niche, now filled by a silver-gilt figure of our Lord in 
 the attitude of blessing.^ In the soffits of the loftier 
 archway are twelve mitred niches which once con- 
 tained figures of the twelve Apostles, arranged in pairs. 
 These images were destroyed by the Puritans, but the 
 iron staples which once held them in their places 
 remain. 
 
 Although during Chillenden's priorate vast sums 
 of money were spent upon the nave, the choir was 
 by no means neglected. Chief among the decora- 
 tive work carried out here was the erection of 
 what would now be called a reredos for the; high 
 altar, but which appears in contemporary records 
 as a new tabula. Of this magnificent and costly 
 work, which occupied six years in the making (1394- 
 1400), several interesting particulars have been pre- 
 served. The tabula, which was of silver and weighed 
 903 lb. troy, was doubtless of tabernacle work, in 
 which were set images of the same precious metal ; 
 since we know that amongst the benefactions of Arch- 
 bishop Courtenay were an image of the Holy Trinity and 
 six others of the Apostles, all of silver-gilt and worth 
 ^340.^ Another notable ornament which is mentioned 
 in the list of Chillenden's good works in connection 
 with the new tabula is "an image of the Blessed 
 
 1 The gift of Mrs. Hughes D'Aeth, of Canterbury, in 1899. 
 
 2 " Item unam ymaginem Sancti Trinitatis preciosiorem cum sex 
 apostolis argenteis et nobiliter deauratis ad tabulam summi altaris . . . 
 que quidem ymagines ad valorem cccxl librarura appreciantur in 
 prcsenti." Register S, f. 23. 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Virgin, with four angels of silver and gilt, and with a 
 precious cup of gold with gems in the hand of the 
 Virgin for putting in the body of Christ ascending 
 and descending at pleasure." ^ Of this curious and 
 unusual arrangement for hanging the pyx, Mr. St. 
 John Hope quotes another instance from the will of 
 a parishioner of Walberswick, in Suffolk, where the 
 testator left ten pounds to his parish church in 1500 
 to be spent upon " a canope over the hygh awter welle 
 done with oure lady and iiij angelys and the Holy 
 Ghost going upp and doune with a cheyne." ^ 
 
 At the same time a screen of woodwork, elaborately 
 carved and adorned with colour and gilding, was set 
 up behind the altars of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan, 
 which stood respectively north and south of the high 
 altar.* 
 
 The dedication of this magnificent altar-piece, on 
 which the convent spent the astounding sum of 
 ^3428, was the first official act of Archbishop Arundel 
 after his return from exile in the year 1400. Its subse- 
 quent fate may be briefly recorded here. Although 
 it would appear that Henry VHI did not lay his 
 sacrilegious hands on the massive silver tabula, since 
 in an inventory made at the time of the suppression 
 of the priory it is mentioned amongst the goods 
 " left to remain in the church," it did not survive the 
 scrutiny of Edward VI 's commissioners, for in the first 
 year of his reign it was sent to London by order of the 
 Privy Council.* Part of the wooden screen-work, 
 
 * " Et una ymagine beatae virginis cum corona aurea et gemmis, cum 
 iiij Angelis argenteis et deauratis et cipho aureo precioso cum gemmis 
 in manu virginis pro corpore Xpi imponendo, ascendendo et descendendo 
 quum placet." Roll C, l66. 
 
 ^ " Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury," 1902, p. no, note. 
 
 * " Maius vero altare cum duobus altaribus sanctorum Dunstani et 
 Elphegi opere argenteo et aureo et ligneo subtiliter inciso decenter 
 ornavit." Obituary of Christ Church, Canterbury, Lambeth MS. 20, 
 f. ziob. See also " A Monastic Chronicle," edited by C. Eveleigh 
 Woodruff, in Archieologia Cantiana, vol. xxix. 
 
 * " Acts of the Privy Council of England," Nevsr Series, vol. ii. p. 529. 
 
PRIORJTE OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 however, though grievously defaced hy the Puritans 
 in the seventeenth century, seems to have been in situ 
 until the altar was removed from its ancient position 
 in 1825 and set back to the place it now occupies, for 
 Brayley in his " Beauties of England and Wales " 
 (published in 1808) says : " At the back of the present 
 screen stands the old screen, which was once splendidly 
 ornamented with blue and gold, and stiU displays 
 whole-length figures of the Apostles, &c." 
 
 After dwelling so long on the splendours of the new 
 altar-piece, it seems a sad bathos to proceed to describe 
 the whitewashing of the choir — a method of beautify- 
 ing churches which in many minds is connected 
 with the worst traditions of the last century. But 
 the practice was one which was by no means con- 
 fined to what has been called the " churchwarden 
 period," since all through the Middle Ages it was in 
 vogue, partly no doubt as a sanitary measure. Thus 
 the dealbacio chori obtains an honourable place in the 
 list of Chillenden's works, and was deemed such an 
 important matter that a special subscription list was 
 opened to defray the cost, to which all sorts and condi- 
 tions of men contributed, from the Prior, who gave 
 6s. 8d., to John Brown, citizen and plumber, who 
 contributed ids.'- 
 
 Another piece of work undertaken in the choir was 
 the repavement of the north aisle and adjoining 
 transept, where the neat marble blocks, laid in a set 
 design, still afford a striking contrast to the irregular 
 slabs of divers materials with which the south aisle is 
 paved. A further improvement carried out in the 
 same aisle was the removal of certain chambers used 
 as lodgings for the sub-sacrists. These apartments, 
 which our Christ Church chronicler says " obstructed 
 in a very unseemly manner the passage leading to the 
 shrine of St. Thomas," were probably little more than 
 wooden partitions. They were now cleared away, 
 
 1 Sacrist's Account Roll, 1392-93. 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 and new quarters provided for the sub-sacrists over 
 the chapel of St. Andrew, in which a new floor was 
 inserted so as to form a second story .^ This was a 
 convenient situation for the above-named officials, for 
 it placed them close to the vestiarium, where their 
 duties principally lay. 
 
 Of Chillenden's additions to the conventual build- 
 ings, the first in importance, though not in chrono- 
 logical order, was the reconstruction of the Chapter- 
 house, or at least of all that part of it which lay above 
 Prior Eastry's arcading. The new roof, which was 
 made in the form of a waggon vault, was covered with 
 a panel-Work of ribs decorated with gilding and colour 
 and carrying at their intersection heraldic shields. 
 This work was put in hand in the year 1405-6 and cost 
 about a thousand pounds. 
 
 The great dormitory also received a new roof and 
 windows, and the Norman passage leading thence to the 
 north-east transept of the church was raised in height ; 
 as also was the circular water tower or lavatory, near 
 the entrance to the prior's chapel. In the pyramidal 
 leaden roof of this tower the monks thought they 
 could trace some resemblance to a bell, and as its 
 diameter happened to coincide with that of a bell in 
 the central tower known as the " Jesus bell," the tower 
 acquired the curious name of the " Bell-Jesus." 
 
 The transformation of the great cloister, which 
 resulted in the substitution of an elaborately groined 
 and complex stone vault for the wooden lean-to roof 
 of the Norman cloister, was begun by Chillenden, but 
 was left incomplete at his death ; the roll says, adhuc 
 non comfletum. Indeed, it seems probable from the 
 large sum of money expended on the cloister by his 
 successor that here Chillenden's work did not extend 
 
 *■ The floor was removed about fifty years ago, but the blocked-up 
 doorway high up in the north wall of the chapel shows that the room 
 was approached by the staircase in the thickness of the wall which now 
 leads only to the room over the treasury. . 
 
 176 
 
Vi luu'ill 
 
 The Water-Tower 
 
PRIORJTE OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 beyond the southern alley, towards the rebuilding of 
 which Archbishop Courtenay contributed two hundred 
 pounds. The rebuilding of the nave must have 
 necessitated the demolition of this south alley, and it 
 is probable that after this was re-erected in the new 
 style its appearance gave so much satisfaction that it 
 was resolved for the 
 sake of uniformity to 
 give similar treatment 
 to the three remaining 
 sides of the quad- 
 rangle. A new school 
 for the novices was 
 built at the same time, 
 which, since it is men- 
 tioned in connection 
 with the cellarer's 
 lodging, was probably 
 at the southern end 
 of that building, and 
 was approached by 
 the little door on the 
 right - hand side of 
 the main entrance at 
 the western end of 
 the south alley of the 
 cloister. 
 
 To his own private 
 apartments Chillen- 
 den made many important improvements, but as the 
 Prior's lodgings are no longer in existence we need not 
 describe them particularly ; perhaps one of the most 
 remarkable was the addition of a bathroom (alia 
 camera injerius cum camino et halneo honesto) — surely 
 a rarity in any house in the fifteenth century ! 
 
 In the court of the priory a new chamber was built 
 over the Norman gate-house, the great semicircular 
 arch of which was strengthened by the insertion on its 
 
 M 177 
 
 Doorway from the Cloister 
 to the Infirmary 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 western side of two four-centred archways — a. greater 
 one for carts and a lesser one for pedestrians.'- From 
 the court gate to the portal of the cellarer's haU a 
 covered way or pentise was erected, part of which still 
 remains in the gardens of the Bishop of Dover and of 
 the Seneschal. This pentise, which is constructed of 
 timber and covered with a tiled roof, was put up in the 
 year 1 393-94, and cost ;^i 10. A work of much greater 
 magnitude was the rebuilding of the length of city 
 wall which lay between the North-gate and Quenin- 
 gate. The latter, which occupied a position a little 
 to the north of the present postern opposite to St. 
 Augustine's CoUege, is said to have derived its name 
 from the tradition that Queen Bertha, while her 
 husband. King Ethelbert, was stiU a pagan, was 
 accustomed to pass this way to her devotions in the 
 little church of St. Martin outside the city walls. 
 Between the two gates there had been a public right 
 of way, known as Queningate Lane, enclosed on one 
 side by the convent wall and on the other by that 
 of the city. The prior and chapter now acquired 
 from the city fathers this narrow strip of ground, 
 and in return undertook to rebuild this portion 
 of the wall and to keep it in repair. This was 
 now done by ChiUenden, and- his work is still to be 
 identified by the four square bastion towers (the rest 
 are semicircular) which project from the length of 
 the wall which lies between the points already in- 
 dicated. The above work was probably undertaken 
 early in his priorate, since Archbishop Courtenay, 
 whose death occurred in 1393, gave £,266 13s. 4d. 
 towards it. 
 
 Extensive repairs were carried out by ChiUenden 
 to house property in the city of Canterbury, in the 
 country, and in London. 
 
 He rebuilt Canterbury College in Oxford, of which 
 
 1- The corresponding arches on the eastern side of the gate were 
 inserted in the last century. 
 178 
 
The Ptntise 
 
PRIORATE OF CHILLFNDEN 
 
 we shall give some account in a later chapter; and 
 the great inn at the south-west corner of Mercery 
 Lane in Canterbury, known to Chaucer as the " Cheker 
 of the Hope." The latter was a very costly piece of 
 work, for in all ^^867 14s. 40!. was spent upon it. 
 Possibly the outlay was not a particularly good 
 investment, since pilgrimages to the shrine of " the 
 holy blissful martyr " declined rapidly towards the 
 end of the century ; and doubtless it was with an 
 eye to catering for the wants of the miscellaneous 
 assemblage of persons drawn to Canterbury by the 
 reputation of the wonder-working saint that the 
 convent spent such an enormous sum on the erection 
 of this hostel. 
 
 The various works enumerated above, though by no 
 means all that Chillenden undertook, are sufficient to 
 show his passion for building. Nor was his zeal in 
 providing for the adjuncts of divine service less con- 
 spicuous than that displayed upon the fabric of the 
 church, for the compotus roll above referred to gives 
 an amazing list of ornaments, jewels, and vestments 
 acquired during his priorate. The latter may be 
 summarised as follows : A set of thirty-nine copes of 
 cloth of gold ; a red suit with twenty-two albes ; and 
 "a great suit of copes of green colour, namely, ninety-six 
 copes, with five chasubles, six tunicles, two dalmatics, 
 seventy-six albes, stoles, and fanons, and all the gear of 
 the high altar and of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan."^ 
 Some of these vestments no doubt formed part of the 
 munificent gift of John Buckingham, sometime Bishop 
 of Lincoln, who resigned his see and retired to Canter- 
 bury, where he was taken into fraternity by the monks 
 of Christ Church, and after a sojourn of twenty- four 
 weeks ended his days in the house called " Master 
 Omers" on March 10, 1397/ leaving to the prior and 
 
 ' " Inventories of Christ Church," of. cit. p. 103. 
 * " In quodam manso vulgariter Meistr' Omers nuncupato." 
 Causton's Obituary. 
 
 181 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 convent his pastoral staff and many valuable vestments 
 and ornaments. 
 
 Bishop Buckingham had intended to found a chantry 
 in the cathedral church, but his death occurred before 
 this could be carried out. His wishes, however, were 
 fulfilled by his executors, who in 1399 paid over to 
 the prior and chapter the sum of twelve hundred 
 marks as the endowment of a chantry chapel to be 
 erected near the bishop's tomb in the nave, at which 
 prayers and masses might be said for the repose of 
 the souls of the founder, of his parents, " of King 
 Edward III, of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of 
 Warwick, and of Henry de Ferrars, lately lord of Groli." 
 The foundation deed provided that the chapel should 
 be served by two priests, who in addition to their 
 duties in the chantry, should assist in the almonry 
 chapel on Sundays and feast days ; and, further, that 
 both the chaplains were to dress alike, live together 
 in a house in the precincts, and receive from the 
 convent an annual stipend of ten marks each, an 
 allowance of "six yards of good cloth with a suffi- 
 cient trimmings of fur, a candle from Michaelmas to 
 Whitsuntide, and one load of firewood.^ 
 
 No traces df Buckingham's chantry are left. But 
 from a plan of the various monumental slabs made 
 previous to the repaving of the nave in the eighteenth 
 century, it appears that the bishop's tomb was oppo- . 
 site the seventh bay of the north aisle, nearly in a 
 line with the procession door from the cloister, and 
 we know from the foundation deed that the chapel 
 was near the tomb." It therefore seems likely that 
 the chapel was beneath the seventh arch of the north 
 aisle, and enclosed by screen-work perhaps similar to 
 that which still remains round Bishop Bubwith's 
 chantry in the nave of Wells Cathedral. 
 
 ' Register D, f. 313. 
 
 * " In quadam capella juxta tumbam ejusdem patris defuncti et ubi 
 corpus ejusdem jacet humatum." Cart. Antiq. C. 144. 
 182 
 
''''inn]^;>[,lil(nym^{\!''i}if«'^^^^ 
 
 ffl WW«». 'r ^VI»J. ' 
 
 Prior's Doorway in Dark Entry 
 
PRIORJTE OF CHILLENDEN 
 
 Another chantry founded in the church when 
 Chillenden was prior was that of Lady Mohun in the 
 chapel of St. Mary in the crypt. This lady, who was 
 the daughter of Bartholomew de Burghersh, Baron 
 Burghersh (or Burwash), and the widow of John de 
 Mohun, eighth Baron of Dunster in Somerset, deserved 
 well of the prior and convent of Christ Church 
 in that she had obtained from King Richard II a 
 munificent donation towards the rebuilding of the 
 nave. In return for these good offices, and a fee of 
 three hundred and fifty marks, a moiety of her 
 manor of Selgrave, and further gifts of ornaments 
 and vestments for the church, Lady Mohun was 
 allowed to found her chantry and erect her tomb with 
 recumbent effigy on the south side of the sanctuary 
 of the chapel of St. Mary in the undercroft. At the 
 altar of the said chapel requiem masses were said by 
 one of the monks, to whom a stipend of forty shillings 
 a year was allotted. This agreement was entered into 
 in 1395, and the tomb (which unfortunately involved 
 the destruction of the screen-work of the south- 
 eastern bay of the chapel) must have been finished by 
 1404, since in that year Lady Mohun made her will 
 and gave instructions for the burial of her body " in 
 the sepulchre or monument which I have caused to 
 be made, at my expense, near the image of St. Mary 
 in criptis of the church of Canterbury." * 
 
 Thomas Chillenden, as we have seen, effected an 
 almost complete transformation of the cathedral and 
 its surroundings, and it is solely as a builder that his 
 name is now remembered at Canterbury; but to his 
 contemporaries these were not the sole reasons for the 
 esteem and honour in which he was held. Even before 
 he became prior he had represented his house in the 
 Roman curia with so much success that he had 
 obtained a papal bull conferring important privileges 
 on the priors of Christ Church. During his priorate 
 
 1 Arundel's " Register," i. 2lSb. 
 
 18S 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 he was on several occasions summoned to the councils 
 of the nation ; indeed, he was present at the Parlia- 
 ment which compelled Richard II to sign a deed of 
 renunciation of the crown. He was, however, the 
 last prior of Christ Church to whom a writ was ad- 
 dressed. In almost the last year of his life he attended 
 the Council of Pisa as one of the representatives of the 
 King of England. The Council declared that both the 
 rival Popes were schismatics, perjurers, and heretics, 
 and by the election of the Cardinal of Milan, who 
 took the name of Alexander V, the great schism in the 
 Western Church was healed. This was on June 5, 
 1409, and on the 25th of August ChiUenden landed 
 at Sandwich, where he was received with the greatest 
 enthusiasm by a vast concourse of clergy and lay folk, 
 by whom he was escorted to Canterbury with every 
 demonstration of joy.^ 
 
 His death occurred on the feast of the Assumption 
 141 1, and although he can scarcely have been an old 
 man, since he had only made his profession some 
 thirty-five years earlier, his life had been so strenuous 
 that we are scarcely surprised to read in his obituary 
 " that his body had become so emaciated that the 
 skin scarcely covered the bones." ^ 
 
 He was buried at the upper end of the central alley 
 of the nave. His memorial stone, once inlaid with 
 his effigy in brass, was removed in 1787 when the nave 
 was repaved, and can no longer be identified ; but in 
 Canterbury Cathedral it may be said of Thomas 
 ChiUenden, as of Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's, 
 London : Si monumentum requiris circumspice. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 1 " Cum omni clero populique tripudio ad ecclesiam suam reversus." 
 Ch. Ch. Cant. MS. c. 14. 
 
 2 MS. D. 12, Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 
 186 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF THOMAS CHILLENDEN TO 
 THE DISSOLUTION OF THE PRIORY 
 
 1411-1540 
 
 The extraordinary expenditure upon bricks and mortar 
 which had marked the priorate of Thomas Chillenden 
 left the convent deeply in debt. There was an adverse 
 balance of more than a 
 thousand pounds when 
 John of Wodensburgh 
 was elected prior in 
 1411^— a burden which 
 was increased hy the [|f| 
 
 Waterspout of the South Porch 
 
 fact that many of the 
 
 buildings commenced 
 
 by his predecessor still 
 
 awaited completion, 
 
 one of which, viz. the 
 
 rebuilding of the great 
 
 cloister, would admit of 
 
 no delay. Fortunately 
 
 the new Prior was a man of excellent business capacity, 
 
 and so successfully did he grapple with the financial 
 
 problem • that in less than three years he not only 
 
 cleared off the liabilities bequeathed to him by his 
 
 predecessor, but could point to a substantial balance 
 
 of more than eight hundred pounds on the right side 
 
 of the monastic ledger.i The merit of this achieve- 
 
 1 For an account of Wodensburgh's economic reforms, see the 
 Anonymous Christ Church Chronicle (E. 14) printed in Archceologia 
 Cantiana, vol. xxix. 
 
 187 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 ment is greatly enhanced hj the fact that during the 
 same short period more than five hundred pounds 
 were spent upon the cloister, which seems to have 
 been finished in the year 1414. 
 
 The cloister of Canterbury Cathedral (though 
 greatly inferior to that of Gloucester, which in many 
 respects it closely resembles) is even in its present 
 dilapidated condition a very beautiful specimen of 
 the architecture of the early years of the fifteenth 
 century. Perhaps its most remarkable feature is the 
 extraordinarily diffuse display of heraldic coats which 
 decorate the elaborately groined roof. WiUement, 
 who counted more than eight hundred of these shields 
 and described them in his " Heraldic Notices of the 
 Cathedral," points out how excellent must have 
 been the effect when the colours and tinctures of the 
 various coats were fresh. 
 
 It is generally believed that the arms displayed are 
 those of contributors to the work. Conspicuous 
 amongst them are those of King Henry IV, who 
 certainly was a liberal donor towards the building 
 funds, for Leland records that " he helped to build 
 up a good part of the body of the church." 
 
 Henry IV, however, could scarcely have seen the 
 new cloister, for before it was finished his dead body 
 was brought to Canterbury for interment. 
 
 The event was unique in the annals of Christ 
 Church, for neither before nor since have the doors of 
 the metropolitical church been opened to receive the 
 remains of an English king. Possibly, as the founder 
 of a new dynasty, Henry may have desired to create a 
 precedent which might make the mother-church the 
 mausoleum of a long line of Lancastrian kings. But 
 if he entertained any such hope, it was doomed to 
 disappointment, for his example was never followed. 
 The King's body was brought by water to Faver- 
 sham, and thence by road to Canterbury, where on 
 Trinity Sunday in the year 141 3 the funeral obse- 
 188 
 
IIQC^ 
 
 ^ fe;. 
 
 i= G 
 
 -■:= bH 
 
CHI LLENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 quies were performed by Archbishop Arundel and 
 Prior Wodens burgh in the presence of King Henry V, 
 and all the great xiobility of the land. 
 
 The spot chosen for the interment of the royal 
 corpse was the most honourable that the church 
 could offer, namely, on the north side of the shrine of 
 St. Thomas and immediately opposite to the tomb of 
 Edward the Black Prince, whose son, the iU-fated 
 Richard II, Henry of Bolingbroke had ousted from 
 the throne. In his will the King left instructions 
 for the erection of a chantry chapel near to his tomb 
 in which " twey prestis " should sing and pray for 
 his soul ; but it would seem that neither the chapel 
 nor the fine alabaster tomb which now covers his 
 remains was erected until after the death of the Queen- 
 Consort, which did not occur until some four-and- 
 twenty years later. In the meantime, it is likely that 
 the royal coffin rested upon a herse or temporary 
 framework of timber draped with rich hangings and 
 surrounded by numerous wax tapers. It is clear 
 that the herse must have been a magnificent and 
 costly piece of furniture, since when it was no longer 
 required the prior and convent were able to sell it for 
 a sum of money equivalent to more than one thousand 
 pounds at the present time. This was after the death 
 of Queen Joan, who died at Havering in 1437, and 
 was brought to Canterbury for burial. 
 
 Two years later the Bishop of Ross hallowed an 
 altar in honour of King Edward the Confessor in the 
 little chantry chapel built between the buttresses of 
 the north aisle of St. Thomas's Chapel and in close 
 proximity to the royal tomb.^ The latter, in spite of 
 the mutilation of some of the details and the loss of 
 the colour and gilding which once adorned it, is still 
 a very fine example of the art of the monumental 
 mason of the period. 
 
 ^ " Stone's Chronicle," ed. M. R. James for the Cambridge Anti- 
 quarian Society, p. 26. 
 
 191 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 The tomb, which is placed beneath the second arch 
 of the chapel, is surmounted by a wooden canopy or 
 tester, supported at each end by a panel of the same 
 material. On the western panel was painted a repre- 
 sentation of the martyrdom of St. Thomas. This is 
 now almost entirely obliterated, but it was apparently 
 in better preservation when William Carter made a 
 drawing of it in 1760 for his " Specimens of Ancient 
 Paintings, Glass, Woodwork, &c,," from which source 
 the plate on p. 6j is taken. 
 
 On the opposite panel are faint traces of the figure 
 of an angel holding a shield emblazoned with arms. 
 On the underside of the canopy three shields are 
 portrayed, each surrounded with the letters " SS," 
 linked together ; in the centre are the arms of Evreux 
 impaling Navarre; at one end are the same arms 
 quartered, and at the other end those of France and 
 England quarterly. Across the ceiling in diagonal Hnes 
 are the words " Soveragne " and " a temperance," 
 alternately repeated, and the same words occur again 
 on the cornice. The groundwork of the ceiling appears 
 to have been painted twice over and in different 
 designs. The under one, which in many parts is very 
 perceptible, consisted of eagles and greyhounds, each 
 surrounded by the garter and placed in alternate 
 diagonal stripes. In the last painting the ground was 
 blue with sprigs and flowers of gold and green.^ 
 
 The King and Queen are represented with coronets 
 on their heads and arrayed in royal robes. Around 
 the Queen's neck is a collar of " SS," said to be one 
 of the earliest instances of this decoration ; and 
 beautifully executed representations of jewels and 
 embroidery adorn the coronet and dress. Concerning 
 the effigies, the late Edward Blore, in his " Monu- 
 mental remains of royal and illustrious Persons," says : 
 
 There can be litde doubt that they were the workmanship of one 
 of the ablest artists of the time ; and as the features have sustained 
 
 1- Willement, ut supra, pp. 51-53. 
 192 
 
CHI LLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 but little injury, and are marked with that decided character which 
 belongs to a portrait alone, we may conclude that the artist has 
 transmitted to us a faithful representation of the features of the 
 royal personages. 
 
 This conjecture was to some extent verified (at least 
 as far as the King is concerned) when the tomb was 
 opened in the last century. 
 
 A pretext for prying into the royal sepulchre was 
 found in the fact that a contemporary writer, one 
 Clement of Maidstone, retails some tittle-tattle which 
 was current in his day to the effect that the sailors, being 
 alarmed by a tempest when they were conveying 
 the royal corpse to Faversham, took it from its 
 coffin and threw it overboard.^ In order to ascertain 
 the truth or falsity of this tale, the tomb was opened 
 by order of the dean and chapter on August 21, 1832. 
 The following description of the proceedings is from 
 the pen of Dr. Spry, one of the canons, who was an 
 eye-witness of all that was done : ^ 
 
 On removing a portion of the marble pavement at the western end 
 of the monument ... we came to what appeared to be a wooden case 
 of very rude form and construction. ... It lay east and west, project- 
 ing beyond the monument towards the west for about one-third of 
 its length. Upon it, to the east and entirely within the monument, lay 
 a leaden coffin without any wooden case, of much smaller size and very 
 singular shape, being formed by bending one sheet of lead over another 
 and soldering them at the junctions. This coffin was supposed to 
 contain the remains, of Queen Joan, and was not disturbed. Not being 
 able to take off the lid of the large coffin, as a great portion of its length 
 was under the tomb, and being unwilling to move the alabaster monu- 
 ment for the purpose of getting at it, it was decided to saw through 
 the lid, about three feet from what was supposed to be the head of the 
 coffin. And this being done, the piece of wood was carefully removed, 
 and found to be of ebn, very coarsely worked, about one inch and a half 
 thick. Immediately under this elm board was a quantity of hay bands, 
 filling the coffin, and upon the surface of them lay a very rude small 
 
 ' " A History of the Martyrdom of Richard Scrope, Archbishop of 
 York," Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 372. 
 
 ' Some further justification of the action of the Chapter is furnished 
 by the recent furbishing up of Clement's gossip in a letter by a well- 
 known author to a London newspaper. 
 
 N 193 
 
CANI ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 eross, formed by merely tying two twigs together. This fell to pieces 
 on being moved. When the hay bands were removed we found a 
 leaden case or coffin, moulded in some degree to the shape of a human 
 figure, and it was at once evident that this had never been disturbed. 
 ... In order to ascertain what was contained in this leaden case it 
 became necessary to saw through a portion of it, and in this manner an 
 oval piece of the lead . . . was carefully removed. Under this we 
 found wrappers which seemed to be of leather, and afterwards proved 
 to have been folded five times round the body. . . . These wrappers 
 were cut through and lifted off, when to the astonishment of all present 
 the face of the deceased King was seen in complete preservation, the 
 nose elevated, the cartilage even remaining ; though on the admission 
 of the air it sunk rapidly away, and had entirely disappeared before the 
 examination was finished. The skin of the chin was entire ... the 
 beard thick and matted and of a deep russet colour. . . . Having thus 
 ascertained that the body of the King was actually deposited in the 
 tomb, and that it had never been disturbed, the wrappers were again 
 laid upon the face, the lead drawn back over them, the lid of the coffin 
 put on, the rubbish fiUed in, and the marble pavement replaced 
 immediately.* 
 
 Archbishop Arundel did not long survive his royal 
 master, for his death occurred on February 15 in the 
 following year. In accordance with the instructions 
 contained in his will his body was buried in the nave 
 of the cathedral, where he had made arrangements 
 during his litttime for the erection of a chantry chapel. ^ 
 The chapel was swept away soon after the suppression 
 of the monastery, and there has been some uncer- 
 tainty about its position. We think, however, that 
 there is sufficient evidence to show that it was 
 beneath the second arch (counting from the east 
 end) of the north arcade of the nave, its screens 
 doubtless projecting into the central alley. Thus, 
 Leland amongst the " High Tumbes of Bishops 
 that be in the body of the Chirch," ^ mentions 
 Arundel " under a piller on the north side." And 
 
 ^ Anhaologia Cantiana, vol. viii. pp. 294-99. 
 
 * " In monumento meo novo quod ad hoc licet indignissime construi 
 et fieri feci in navi sancte Cantuariensis ecclesie, infra Cantariam meam 
 perpetuam duorum capellanorum inibi ordininatam." Register S, 
 ff. 77. 
 
 * " Itinerary," ed. T. Hearne, vi. 4. 
 
 194 
 
„!■.; ■ • -'T^KT'^^ 
 
 ii^ 
 
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 5 
 
 
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 1 ':?TaT. 
 
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 1 
 
 
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 v.v; 
 
 
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 ;~:tj 
 
 
 |E M 
 
 
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 MS 
 
 ■* 4 
 
 
 
 I 5 ^ 
 
 0- - 
 
 
 1. Archbishop 
 
 Arundel 
 
 2. Prior Thos. 
 
 Chillenden 
 
 3 Prior John 
 
 Wodensburg 
 
 4 Prior John 
 
 Elham 
 
 5. Prior John 
 
 Salisbury 
 
 6. Archbishop 
 
 Simon Islip 
 
 7. Archbishop 
 
 William 
 
 WiTTLESEY 
 
 8. Sir William 
 
 Lovelace 
 
 9. Bishop John 
 
 Buckingham 
 
 10. Sir William 
 
 Septvans, 
 Senior ? 
 
 11. Sir William 
 
 Septvans, 
 Junior ? 
 
 12. Sir William 
 
 Brenchley ? 
 
 PLAN OF THE FLOOR 
 OF THE NAVE 
 
 Before the Removal of the Gravestones in 1787 
 
CHILLENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 Somner says much the same, adding : " but chantery 
 and monument both are gone, a bare gravestone 
 levelled with the floor, with the brass all shamefully 
 torn away, being only left ; whereas you may know 
 there sometime stood a Chapel . . . wherein both 
 the Archbishop lay fairly intombed, and his two 
 Chanterists did daily celebrate." * A reference to 
 the plan of the memorial stones on the floor of the 
 nave, made before its repavement in 1787, and now 
 preserved in the Chapter library, shows that the 
 only slab which at all corresponds to Somner's descrip- 
 tion is placed against the second pier of the north 
 arcade. That this stone marks the tomb of Arundel 
 receives further confirmation from the fact that a 
 little to the south of it is another slab, bearing the 
 matrix of an efiigy of an ecclesiastic, which we take to 
 be that of Thomas Chillenden, of whom Somner writes : 
 " He was a man well beloved of Archbishop Courtenay, 
 but more dear to his successor Arundel, and lies hard 
 beside him in the nave or body of the Church." ^ 
 
 Arundel's chantry, which was endowed out of the 
 rectory of Northflete, was served by two secular priests, 
 to each of whom was assigned a stipend of ten pounds 
 a year, and a house for their joint occupation was built 
 on the south side of the cathedral, probably on the 
 site now occupied by the organist's house. 
 
 One purpose for which this chantry was founded is 
 especially worthy of note, namely, that it might serve 
 as an oratory for the lay folk whenever the gates in 
 the iron grille, which extended across the upper end 
 of the nave, happened to be closed. The lack at the 
 present day of any side chapel in the nave for private 
 prayer is greatly to be regretted. 
 
 Henry Chicheley, who succeeded Arundel in the 
 primacy, was a personal friend of King Henry V, and 
 a warm supporter of that monarch's ambitious designs 
 
 * " Antiquities of Canterbury," ed. Battely, Part I. 136. 
 ^ Somner, ut supra, p. 147. 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 upon the French crown. The priors of Christ Church 
 as a rule were not notorious for their warlike pro- 
 clivities ; indeed, they too often seem to have been 
 anxious to shirk their responsibilities in the matter of 
 national defence ; but on the eve of Agincourt it 
 would seem that John Wodensburgh became infected 
 with the war fever which was raging in the country, for 
 he armed his retainers, " i6 spearmen and 24 Bowmen, 
 all well accoutred and furnished with complete arms." ^ 
 A few months later, after that famous victory which 
 dealt so hardly with the chivalry of France, the King 
 came to Canterbury and was received by Archbishop 
 and Prior in the cathedral church, where he paid his 
 devotions at the shrine of St. Thomas. Seven years 
 afterwards his dead body rested for a few hours within 
 the same walls on its way to Westminster. The King 
 died at Bois de Vincenneson August 31, 1422, and the 
 funeral train was met at Dover by the Archbishop 
 and fifteen of his suffragans. All that pomp and 
 pageantry could do to give honour to the great soldier 
 was enlisted on the occasion. 
 
 The funeral car was covered with scarlet silk embroidered with gold, 
 and was drawn by six richly caparisoned horses. Upon the car besides 
 the coffin was a v/axen effigy of the King in his royal robes. Before and 
 behind the car lamps were kept burning ; and in front on each side 
 marched heralds, bearing banners, followed by two hundred and fifty 
 men all clad in white surplices and carrying hghted torches. Then 
 followed the royal household in deep mourning, and several hundred 
 knights and esquires in black armour, with plumes in their helmets 
 and their lances reversed. Next came the princes of the blood and the 
 King of Scotland, who acted as chief mourner. To this grand proces- 
 sion the Archbishop and his suffragans were now added ; and in the 
 rear of all followed the youthful widow. When the mournful train 
 reached Canterbury a halt was made, and masses were sung from the 
 first dawn of morning till nine in the evening. The Archbishop 
 accompanied the remains of his royal master from Canterbury to West- 
 minster, and there consigned his body to the tomb.^ 
 
 1 Somner, ut supra, p. 148. 
 
 2 " Chronological History of Canterbury Cathedral," by G. S., 
 Canterbury, 1883. 
 196 
 
CH ILLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 The untimely death of his patron and friend had 
 a deep effect upon Chicheley. It is said that on his 
 death-bed he felt much remorse for the support he 
 had given to a policy which had resulted in so much 
 useless bloodshed. Perhaps some twinge of conscience 
 already began to assail him, for the King's death was 
 quickly followed by preparations for his own. To 
 this end he caused a magnificent tomb (mausoleum 
 sumftuosum) to be erected for his remains in his 
 cathedral church. In contemporary records Chiche- 
 ley's tomb is described as lying between the northern 
 entrance to the choir and the reliquary cupboard, which 
 at that time occupied the space now filled by the tomb 
 of Archbishop Bourchier. By a composition entered 
 into with the prior and convent, the latter agreed to 
 say masses for the repose of the Archbishop's soul at 
 the altar of St. Stephen in the adjoining transept ; and 
 for the maintenance of the tomb a rent-charge of seven 
 pounds a year was allotted out of the Archbishop's 
 newly founded college of All Souls in Oxford. Thus 
 the tomb has always been kept by the Warden and 
 Fellows of that college in its pristine condition, and is 
 still resplendent with colour and gilding. It must 
 have been finished as early as the year 1425, since a 
 letter from the Prior to the Archbishop dated in that 
 year gives a curious account of an unseemly disturbance 
 which took place near the Archbishop's new tomb 
 during divine service. A criminal, one Bernard the 
 goldsmith, had fled for refuge to the cathedral, and 
 had taken sanctuary within the iron railings of 
 Chicheley's tomb, whither he was pursued by the 
 citizens, who beat him with cudgels through the rails 
 and attempted to drag him out while high mass was 
 being sung. For this sacrilegious conduct the prior 
 asks for redress.^ 
 
 The eifigy upon Chicheley's tomb represents the 
 Archbishop in full pontificals upon a table supported 
 1 Register S, f. 93. 
 
 197 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 by three arches through which may be seen an 
 emaciated cadaver in striking contrast to the effigy 
 above. It is to be feared that the lesson which this 
 arrangement was intended to teach is not always read 
 aright by modern pilgrims ; for a lady from Margate 
 has been heard to protest loudly against the indignity 
 offered to the bishop's " poor wife " while her spouse 
 lies so gloriously arrayed above ! 
 
 Of Chicheley's activity as a represser of heresy — of 
 which there is abundant evidence elsewhere — the 
 archives of the church contain but a solitary instance, 
 viz. a letter from the Prior certifying the Archbishop 
 that two Lollards had abjured their errors, performed 
 their penance, and obtained absolution. The penance 
 consisted of walking in the processions of their respec- 
 tive parish churches clad only in shirt and breeches and 
 carrying a lighted taper of half a pound weight, and in 
 visiting the shrine of St. Thomas in similar attire. 
 
 Prior Wodensburgh, the author of the above letter, 
 could not have had much further opportunity for 
 hunting out Lollards, for his death occurred shortly 
 afterwards, viz. on February 28, 1428. He was buried 
 in the nave of the church at the feet of his predecessor. 
 
 The priorate of William Molash, who ruled the 
 house for ten years (1428-38), was marked by at 
 least one important addition to the fabric of the 
 church, namely the rebuilding of the south-western 
 tower. The work was, indeed, commenced by Wodens- 
 burgh, but the greater part was executed in Molash's 
 time, who, however, did not carry the tower up to its 
 present height. The fabric rolls relating to the build- 
 ing of this tower show that the ways and means 
 adopted for raising funds were singularly like those in 
 vogue at the present time (1912) for its repair. Thus, 
 although an annual grant was made from the corporate 
 funds of the Prior and Chapter, outside aid was largely 
 relied upon. Then, too, there were voluntary con- 
 tributions from the citizens of Canterbury, e.g. William 
 198 
 
CHI LLENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 Marsh gives 20s., William Lane promises 20 marks in 
 four years, and an anonymous friend (de quodam amico) 
 subscribes 6s. 8d. But the bulk of the money was 
 obtained in response to a brief issued by Archbishop 
 Chicheley for " the new work in the cathedral church 
 of Christ in Canterbury." From this source more 
 than £$60 was obtained. There is also a modern 
 touch in the fact that the architect was a layman, 
 one Thomas Mapylton, who did not reside in Can- 
 terbury, but paid periodical visits while the work 
 was in progress, just as the architect of the Dean 
 and Chapter does to-day ; and on each occasion he 
 received a fee {fro of ere disfonendd) and his travelling 
 expenses ; while Edward Durant acted as the resident 
 clerk of the works.^ Stone was brought in barges 
 from Caen in Normandy to the convent's quay at 
 Fordwich ; from the north of England {ab hominibus 
 borealibus) to Monkton, which at this period was 
 apparently accessible to the sea by the Wantsum 
 Channel ; and from Merstham in Surrey. The 
 Merstham stone was cheaper than the Caen stone, 
 costing 4s. per ton, against 6s. for the Caen stone, 
 but the land-carriage of the former brought the price 
 up to almost the same figure. 
 
 The work went on for eleven years (1423-34), but 
 was broken off before the topmost story was reached, 
 and the tower was left unfinished for another five-and- 
 twenty years. In the year 1459 the Bishop of Ross 
 blessed a great bell named Dunstan in navi ecdesie,^ 
 which doubtless refers to the lineal ancestor of the 
 bell which still hangs in the south-western tower and 
 is known by that name. So that we may assume that 
 at the above date the tower was finished. 
 
 The ceremony of blessing the bell took place when 
 Thomas Goldston I was Prior, in whose obituary 
 
 1 " Edwardo Durant pro stipendio suo pro supervisione exercendo 
 circa operarios." 
 2 " Stone's Chronicle," C. C. C. Camb. f . 63. 
 
 ^99 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 mention is made of his good work in completing the 
 tower. Nevertheless, the greater part of it, including 
 the porch, which is its most pleasing feature, was carried 
 out under the auspices of Prior Molash and Arch- 
 bishop Chicheley, and from the latter's connection 
 with Oxford as the founder of All Souls College the 
 tower has generally been called the " Oxford Steeple." 
 
 The more ambitious work of rebuilding the great 
 central tower seems also to have been contemplated by 
 Molash, and even put in hand, since John Stone records 
 that " the first stone of the new work of the Angel 
 steeple " was laid on August 4, 1433. This laying of 
 the foundation-stone must refer to the commence- 
 ment of an outer casing built round the Norman tower, 
 and not to any rebuilding from the foundations, since 
 the piers had already been strengthened by Chillenden, 
 and the bells continued for some years longer to hang 
 in the old tower ; moreover the spire was reshingled at 
 a considerably later date. 
 
 It was in connection with this work probably that 
 the prior and convent in 1435 engaged the services of 
 Richard Beck, master-mason. By the terms of the 
 agreement,^ Beck undertook " to do the governaunce, 
 disposicion, rewle and entendaunce of all werkes 
 of the Chirche " in return for a weekly wage of 4s. ; 
 " a convenient house," or 20s. in lieu of a house ; 
 IDS. for clothes, " if the prior give no livery " ; and 
 two pair of hose, as long as he could do his work, 
 or, as the original puts it, " so long as he may bestir 
 himself, see and walk." Should he, however, become 
 incapacitated, a pension of 2s. a day with the above 
 allowances was to be granted to him for life. From 
 the liberal scale on which he was remunerated it is 
 clear that Beck was at the top of his profession, and 
 this supposition receives further confirmation from 
 the fact that soon after he signed the above agreement 
 he was called away to London to give advice to the 
 
 1 Cant. MS. L. 169. 
 200 
 
CHILLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 mayor and aldermen about London Bridge. Perhaps 
 Beck did not have much opportunity of displaying his 
 talents at Canterbury, since within a very few years 
 after his engagement the Prior, owing to pestilence 
 and famine at home and disaster to the national arms 
 abroad, was compelled to stay further building opera- 
 tions and " put away his masons." Our authority for 
 this is a letter from a Christ Church monk to Cardinal 
 Beaufort, who appears to have been closely associated 
 with the convent of Christ Church at this time.^ In 
 1433 the monks, in return for "the great benefits he 
 had conferred upon their house," admitted him into 
 confraternity and allotted to him the house formerly 
 kno\yn as Master Omer's, which now became known 
 as " Le Cardinallys Place." ^ 
 
 The great cardinal's interest in Canterbury Cathedral 
 was doubtless stimulated by the fact that several of 
 his kinsfolk were buried within its walls. His half- 
 brother. King Henry IV, had found a resting-place 
 there in 141 3, his brother, John Earl of Somerset, in 
 1410, and his nephew, Thomas Duke of Clarence, in 
 1 42 1. Somerset and Clarence, who were the succes- 
 sive husbands of Margaret Holland, daughter of the 
 Earl of Kent, had both been buried in St. Thomas's 
 Chapel, at the spot now occupied by the monument to 
 Dean Wotton.* The twice-widowed duchess, how- 
 ever, was anxious to erect a stately memorial for 
 herself and her two husbands within the cathedral 
 church. The site selected was the chapel of St. 
 Michael, opening out of the south-west transept. 
 In order to give floor-space for a tomb of exceptional 
 size and magnificence, the Norman apsidal chapel was 
 taken down and rebuilt on a more extended scale, with 
 a rectangular east end, probably at the cost of the 
 duchess, whose arms with those of her two husbands 
 are sculptured on the vaulted roof of the chapel. 
 
 1 Cant. MS. Letters, Y. 143. 
 
 ^ Lttfrig Cantuarlemes, R.S., vol. i. Ixxxv. * Stone, ut supra, f. 24a. 
 
 201 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 This alteration necessitated the disturbance of the 
 tomb of Archbishop Stephen Langton, who had been 
 buried before the altar of the old chapel, and his coffin 
 was now placed under the altar of the new chapel, 
 above ground, where it still remains. In order, how- 
 ever, to allow the coffin to be placed east and west 
 without projecting inconveniently from the western 
 face of the altar it was necessary to thrust its foot 
 through the eastern wall — an arrangement which led 
 the late Professor Willis to imagine that Langton 
 had been buried originally in the churchyard, and 
 that when the new chapel was built the eastern wall 
 was made to stride over the coffin.^ 
 
 Here then the duchess was permitted to erect a 
 tomb of Purbeck marble with splendid alabaster 
 effigies of herself and her two husbands. The whole 
 work was apparently finished by December i8, 1439, 
 when William Wellys, Bishop of Rochester, hallowed the 
 altar. Eleven days later the Duchess of Clarence died at 
 the con it of Bermondsey, and almost immediately 
 after her decease the Prior received a royal mandate 
 bidding him to superintend the exhumation of the 
 bodies of Somerset and Clarence and their reinterment 
 beside that of the duchess in St. Michael's Chapel.* 
 
 Above the chapel is a well-lighted chamber, having 
 a vaulted roof on the keystones of which are three 
 carved heads with the remains of three inscrip- 
 tions. Gostling, in whose time they were more 
 legible than at present, says : " The eastern one has 
 
 Tho : frior ; the middle one seems to have 
 
 been John Wodensberg ; the western one, Willia'm 
 Molassch, discipulus." He fills up the blank with 
 Chillenden, and ascribes the entire chapel to him ; but 
 there is no mention of this work amongst the list of 
 Chillenden's good deeds ; and the architectural style 
 is of a somewhat later date. In order to find another 
 Prior Thomas we have to move on to 1448, when 
 
 » Willis, Of. cit. p. 129. 2 Register S, f. 135. 
 
 202 
 
C H I LLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 Thomas Goldston I became Prior. In his days there 
 was a John Wodensburg and a William Molash in 
 the Convent, so it seems probable that this room was 
 added by Prior Goldston I. 
 
 We may now pass on to the days of Goldston, 
 omitting the short priorates of John Salisbury and 
 John Elham, which were uneventful with relation 
 to the fabric of the church, with the exception 
 of the erection of a small chantry chapel, built in 
 1447 by Dame Joan Brenchley outside the south 
 wall of the nave, and entered by a door beneath 
 the fourth window (counting from the east). The 
 altar of this chapel was dedicated to St. John the 
 Baptist, and was served by a secular priest, to whom a 
 stipend of ten pounds a year was allotted and a house 
 in the parish of St. Alphege. By the ordination deed, 
 masses were to be said daily here for the good estate 
 of King Henry VI and of Queen Margaret, and for 
 the repose of the soul of the founder's husband, Sir 
 William Brenchley, sometime Chief Justice of the 
 Common Pleas. The chantry was suppressed with 
 similar foundations when the priory of Christ Church 
 was dissolved, and the chapel fell into a ruinous 
 condition until it was repaired by Dean Neville, 
 early in the seventeenth century, as a burial-place for 
 himself and members of his family. Hence it became 
 known as the " Neville Chapel." For some reason 
 which is not apparent the windows of the chapel were 
 waUed up in 1715.^ It afterwards became a receptacle 
 for rubbish, and was demolished in 1787 when the 
 nave was repaved. 
 
 A far more important piece of work was put in hand 
 in the first year of Goldston's priorate, viz. the building 
 of a new Lady Chapel. The old chapel had occupied 
 (as we have already said) the two eastern bays of the 
 north aisle of the nave. The site chosen for the new 
 
 1 " For making fitt to sett 60 ft. of stone to close up ye windows in 
 Nevill's Chapel, £1 los." Chapter Accounts Book, sub anno. 
 
 203 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 one was that of the old apsidal chapel of St. Benedict 
 opening out of the Martyrdom transept. The first 
 stone was laid on September 9, 1448, and by January 
 1450 the walls must have been carried up some distance, 
 for at that date Sir Henry Gray, Lord Powys, was buried 
 in the chapel.^ Before the end of 1455 the whole 
 was finished, and dedicated in honour of the Assump- 
 tion of Our Lady and St. Benedict. The old dedica- 
 tion, however, was soon forgotten, and henceforth the 
 chapel appears as that of Our Lady.^ 
 
 Mr. St. John Hope describes the Lady Chapel as 
 
 a handsome structure of two bays, with a rich fan vault. It is 
 entered from the transept by a lofty arch, which is closed by a stone 
 screen of beautiful design and workmanship, with heavily grated traceried 
 openings. The stalls occupied the western bay, and to accommodate 
 them and their canopies the richly ornamented jambs of the window 
 arches which come down to the floor have been ruthlessly cut away. On 
 the north side, near the east end, is a small doorway, now blocked, which 
 led into the narrow space between the chapel and the Chapter-house. 
 The eastern half of this formed the atrium or vestry.* 
 
 From the inventories of church goods taken in 1540 
 we learn that the chapel was furnished with a pair of 
 organs and one large desk for the chaunters, and that 
 all the hangings and vestments, as befitted a chapel of 
 Our Lady, were white. 
 
 Prior Goldston I was himself buried in the chapel 
 in 1468, where his memorial slab (bereft of its brass 
 effigy) ™^7 still be seen ; it is in the eastern bay, the 
 next slab but one to the north wall. 
 
 The twenty years of Goldston's priorate were full 
 of social and political unrest. In 1450 Jack Cade with 
 four thousand of the commons of Kent encamped in a 
 field between the churches of St. Michael Harbledown 
 and St. Dunstan outside the Westgate ; and although 
 the rebels moved off towards London without attacking 
 
 ' Stone, ut supra, f. 41. 
 
 2 " Inventories of Christ Church," Messrs. Legg and Hope, London, 
 1902, p. 163. 
 
 * Ibid. op. cit. 165-66. 
 204 
 
CHILL ENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 the city, the country manors of the priory suffered 
 greatly from their depredations. Rumours of dis- 
 loyalty penetrated even within the precinct of the 
 church. A poor wretch confined in the prior's prison 
 under the north hall confessed that he had heard 
 Thomas Gate of Birchington say " that the King is 
 not abyl to here the fflour de lys nor the schyp in 
 hys nobyl nor in hys armys," and that the Queen 
 " was not abil to be queen of Ingland, and were he a 
 pere or a lord of thys realm he would be one of them 
 that shudde help to putte her adown for because that 
 she berith no child and because that we have no 
 prins in this land." 
 
 Although in the struggle between York and Lan- 
 caster Kent suffered less severely than the Midland 
 counties, the civil war had a very disastrous effect 
 upon trade and agriculture generally, and upon the 
 finances of the priory of Christ Church in particular — 
 a circumstance which is especially mentioned in 
 Goldston's obituary. 
 
 We should have expected that the monks would 
 have inclined to the Lancastrian cause, for the pious 
 Henry VI was a familiar figure at Canterbury, whither 
 he would ofttimes come afoot and make his offering 
 at the shrine of St. Thomas in the humble garb of a 
 pilgrim. But we have no evidence of any predilec- 
 tions on the part of the monks of Christ Church. As 
 long as Henry was King they received him with all 
 honour, but they were quite ready to transfer their 
 allegiance to the Duke of York when by force of arms 
 he had won the crown. Thus, when Henry came to 
 Canterbury (for the last time as it proved) on August 2, 
 1460, he was received at the great gate of the priory by 
 Archbishop Bourchier, the Bishop of Ely, and the 
 Prior and convent vested in green copes. To the 
 strains of an anthem beginning Summcs Trinitati he 
 was ushered into the church, where Prior Goldston 
 celebrated high mass and (as our chronicler relates 
 
 205 
 
CJNTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 with evident pride) used his pastoral staff, although 
 the Archbishop was present.^ ,^ Bourchier's sympathies, 
 however, were with the Duke of York, on whose head 
 he placed the crown of England less than twelve 
 months afterwards. Four years later (July i8, 1465), 
 when news was brought to Canterbury that Henry 
 had been captured in Lancashire, King Edward IV and 
 his Queen both happened to be in the city at the time, 
 and Stone relates how the Archbishop at once arranged 
 for a thanksgiving service in the cathedral, at which 
 the 1e Deum was sung and a sermon preached by a 
 secular priest, who took for his text St. John vii. 23 : 
 " I have made a man whole on the Sabbath day." 
 Both King and Queen were present at the sermon and 
 took part in the procession to the shrine of St. Thomas 
 which followed it.^ It may have been on this occasion 
 that the King determined to give as a thank-offering 
 the great north window in the Martyrdom transept, 
 which still contains portraits of himself, his Queen, and 
 his children. But perhaps it is more likely that the 
 window was erected in connection with the jubilee of 
 1470, when it is recorded that multitudes of Yorkists 
 flocked to the shrine of St. Thomas to return thanks 
 for the help the saint had vouchsafed to their cause. 
 
 The cessation of the protracted civil war, and the 
 stimulus of the jubilee of 1470, which was attended 
 by an unparalleled number of pilgrims, brought a 
 return of prosperity to the convent of Christ Church. 
 So that when William Sellinge became Prior in 1472 
 the financial condition of the house had so far improved 
 that building operations could again be undertaken. 
 
 Sellinge deserves to be commemorated with Eastry 
 and Chillenden as one of the three great priors of 
 Christ Church. A native of the village of Sellinge, 
 near Hythe, where his parents bore the surname of 
 Tilley, he entered the religious life as a monk of 
 Christ Church in 1446, and in due course was sent to 
 
 >■ Stone, op. cit. f . 66b. ^ Ibid. op. cit. f. 76a. 
 
 206 
 
CHILLENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 Canterbury- College in Oxford. In 1464 he received 
 permission to continue his studies alsroad, and pro- 
 ceeded to the University of Bologna, where he obtained 
 the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He then vi^ent to 
 Venice, where he was brought into contact with the 
 pioneers of the New Learning, and studied Greek 
 in company with Thomas Linacre, also a native of 
 Kent, who afterwards became known as a celebrated 
 physician. 
 
 In 1470 Sellinge returned to Canterbury, bringing 
 with him a number of books, amongst which were 
 several MSS. of classical works, and notably a copy of 
 Cicero's De Refublica. Two years later he became 
 prior, and during his twenty-two years of office not 
 only proved himself to be a capable administrator of 
 the little world within the Canterbury cloister, but 
 on more than one occasion was able to show his 
 capacity in a wider field, when employed by King 
 Henry VII on diplomatic errands abroad. 
 
 Building operations seem to have been in progress 
 at Christ Church throughout Sellinge's priorate. Thus 
 in his obituary it is recorded that he rebuilt the city 
 wall between the churches of St. Michael Burgate and 
 St. Mary Queeningate — probably in 1492, when this 
 part of the wall was surrendered by the mayor and 
 commonalty to the Prior and convent ; that he glazed 
 the south aisle of the cloister, and fitted it up 
 with wainscot carrels or studies for the use of the 
 studious brethren ; that he " adorned the library over 
 the prior's chapel with very beautiful carved work " ; 
 and built the tower or prior's gateway in the Green 
 Court, with an apartment above the archway to serve 
 as a study for himself and his successors. 
 
 But of far more importance than the above was 
 the work carried out under Sellinge's auspices on 
 the great central tower. Exactly when this work was 
 recommenced is not recorded, but the tower must 
 have been approaching completion shortly before 
 
 207 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Sellinge's death, which occurred in 1494, since a letter 
 is extant in which he asks Archbishop Morton's advice 
 about the form of the pinnacles of the new tower. 
 This letter is so quaint and curious that it deserves to 
 be quoted at length : 
 
 Most Reverent father in God, and my most singler gode Lorde, after 
 all due recommendation and humble obediens please it the same to 
 understande that Master Surveyor and I have communed with John 
 Wastell your mason, berer hereof to perceyve of hym what forme and 
 shappe he vriU kepe in resyng of the pynacles of your new towre here : 
 He drew unto us ij patrons of hem. The one was with doble fineall 
 withowte crocketts, and the other was with croketts and single fineall. 
 Thys ij patrons please y' your gode Grace to commaunde the seyd 
 Jo WasteU to draw and shew hem unto you, and uppon the sycht, your 
 good Grace shew him your advise and pleasure whyche of them ij, or 
 of any other to be devised, shall contente your gode Lordshyp to be 
 appoynted. And furthermore if your gode Grace wolde require the 
 seyd Jo Wastell so to do, I think that he might provide that these 
 pynacles may be finished and accomplyshed this next somer folowing, 
 the whiche if it mytt be so then your toure outwarde shuld appere a 
 werke perfite. 
 
 John Wastell, the master-mason, who submitted 
 these alternative designs for the pinnacles, was also 
 employed a few years later upon the erection of King's 
 College Chapel in Cambridge. He was therefore doubt- 
 less a craftsman of no ordinary skill and reputation. 
 We should like to be able to say that the splendid 
 central tower of Canterbury Cathedral, which was 
 certainly erected under his supervision, was also the 
 product of his brain. But the fact that the tower 
 exhibits an architectural style considerably earlier than 
 the date at which it was erected makes it more prob- 
 able that Wastell worked upon plans and drawings 
 prepared when the work was first put in hand by 
 Prior Molash. 
 
 However this may have been, the result was 
 eminently satisfactory, for the tower has scarcely a 
 rival in England either for poetry of design or beauty 
 of proportion.^ Perhaps it may come as a shock to 
 
 ^ See Fergusson's " History of Architecture," vol. ii. p. 49. 
 208 
 
The Central Tozver from the Cloister 
 
CHILLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 some people to learn that the upper part of the tower 
 (viz. the forty-five feet above the floor of the " Wheel- 
 loft ") is constructed of brickwork, but such is the case,' 
 the outer skin alone being of ashlar stone from Caen 
 and Merstham. 
 
 From the account roll relating to the rebuilding of 
 the towers we learn that 480,000 " redde bryks " were 
 employed for the inside work, and that the convent 
 between Easter 1494 and Michaelmas 1496 spent 
 upon the tower no less than £^0^^ l6s. 3|d., a sum 
 equivalent to more than ^50,000 at the present day ; 
 and in addition provided out of their own stores lead, 
 nails, ironwork, and paid for the cartage of materials. 
 The turrets at the angles of the tower are solid, with 
 the exception of that at the south-western corner, 
 which contains a newel staircase leading to the leads. 
 Modern pilgrims who make the toilsome ascent to the 
 top are sometimes puzzled to account for the extra- 
 ordinary signs of wear which the steps show, and are 
 disposed to form the conclusion that the monks spent 
 much of their time in tramping up and down the 
 stairway. The real solution, however, is to be found 
 in the fact that for several centuries the ascent of the 
 tower formed one of the attractions of the great 
 Michaelmas fair held within the precincts. The porter 
 of the Christ Church gate reaped a rich harvest of fees 
 for " shewing Bell-Harry " to the country folk at fair 
 time, and it was by the constant tread of the hob- 
 nailed shoes of Giles and Joan that the stone steps 
 were worn away. At length the dean and chapter 
 resolved to abolish the practice, and at their St. 
 Katherine's Chapter in 1784 ordered that " the custom 
 be discontinued of admitting the rabble (sic) during 
 the fair and other holiday times to see Bell-Harry." 
 In lieu of his perquisites as showman the porter was now 
 granted an addition to his salary. But the fair con- 
 tinued to be held in the precincts until the year 1826. 
 Sellinge did not live to see the finishing touches 
 
 o 209 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 put upon the great work which had been in progress 
 throughout his priorate, for he died on the day of the 
 martyrdom of St. Thomas (December 29), 1494, and 
 was buried in the north-west transept near the spot 
 where the saint fell. 
 
 Prior Thomas Goldstone II, who, with the assistance 
 of Archbishop Morton, brought the work to a happy 
 conclusion, found it necessary to strengthen the tower 
 piers. This was done by inserting buttressing arches 
 surmounted by substantial bands of masonry pierced 
 with trefoils and surmounted by an embattled 
 cornice. Above the reticulated work of the arches 
 between the western piers is the inscription J[30n 
 
 nobis Domine non nobis set nomini tuo Da 
 
 jlOtiam, with the Prior's rebus — three gold-stones, 
 flanked by the letters C and 1^.^ 
 
 The space between the northern piers, however, 
 was left open, probably to avoid obscuring the view of 
 the great painted window in the north transept. But 
 the absence of support here has caused the north-west 
 pier to show signs of weakness. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great beauty and commanding 
 altitude of the new tower, it lacked one feature which 
 its humbler predecessor had possessed, viz. the winged 
 figure which had seemed to hover over the spire of 
 the Norman church and which so many generations 
 of pilgrims had hailed from afar as marking the goal of 
 their hopes. Perhaps it was at this time that the 
 image of St. Michael (pulled down by the Puritans in 
 the seventeenth century) was set over the gable of the 
 south-west transept, in order that the familiar figure 
 might not be altogether lacking. From old associa- 
 tion, the new tower for a time continued to be called 
 
 1 In the Christ Church obituary (Lambeth MS. 20) this work is 
 ascribed to Thomas Goldstone II, but it would appear that his pre- 
 decessor, Thomas Goldston I, did something towards strengthening 
 the tower piers, since there is an entry in the accounts of his priorate 
 relating to work of this kind : " opera nove trahis in ecclesia — 1452." 
 210 
 
CHI LLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 the " Angel steeple," and modern writers have advo- 
 cated a reversion to the name, under a mistaken notion 
 that "Bell-Harry" is of comparatively recent origin,and 
 connected with " the hateful associations " which cling 
 to the name of Henry VHI.^ The name, however, has 
 nothing to do with that arch-spoiler of churches, 
 but is derived from the bell which hangs on the 
 platform at the top of the tower. The present bell 
 was cast in the seventeenth century, but the sacrist's 
 accounts show that a bell named " Harry " had a place 
 in the central tower of the cathedral many years before 
 the Tudor dynasty ascended the throne. And it 
 is probable that the bell was the gift of Prior 
 Henry of Eastry, whose memory well deserves to be 
 perpetuated at Canterbury. 
 
 Besides his great work in connection with the com- 
 pletion of the central tower. Prior Thomas Goldstone H 
 constructed a new subterranean aqueduct for carrying 
 off the rain-water, which for want of proper channels 
 had often caused the crypt to be flooded in wet 
 weather. 
 
 The " new sewer," which still fulfils its original 
 purpose, was carried right round the church from the 
 neighbourhood of the south porch to the necessarium 
 in the Green Court, where it flushed the cloaca before 
 discharging itself into the city ditch. In this way the 
 crypt was rendered much drier, and it is probable that 
 at this date many of its Norman windows were re- 
 placed by larger ones having " perpendicular " tracery, 
 in order to make the crypt both lighter and airier. 
 At any rate, the doorway leading from the ambulatory 
 beneath the prior's chapel to the crypt beneath the 
 south-east transept was inserted at this time, for 
 Goldstone's arms are carved above the lintel. 
 
 The beautiful gateway in the south-western corner 
 of the precincts, now known as the " Christ Church 
 Gate," was also built inthedaysof Thomas Goldstone H. 
 J " Canterbury," by Dr. J. C. Cox, London, 1905, p. 192. 
 
 211 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 There had been a gate on this site as early as the 
 reign of Henry III, but the original gate (the vetus 
 porta of the Norman drawing) stood a little further 
 to the east — directly opposite to the south door of the 
 church/ 
 
 Goldstone's gateway is built of Caen stone, elabo- 
 rately panelled and carved upon its southern front, 
 the details of which have been compared with those used 
 in Henry VH's Chapel at Westminster — a contem- 
 porary work. This south front is now in a sadly 
 dilapidated state. Its condition is, however, not solely 
 due to the corroding hand of Time, since, in addition 
 to the iconoclastic zeal of the Puritans in the seven- 
 teenth century, the carved work was " savagely 
 mutilated " by the partisans of the consort of King 
 George IV because (as Felix Summerby relates) " it 
 was not illuminated in honour of a Queen, and was 
 illuminated in honour of a King." ^ 
 
 A few years earlier the appearance of the gate had 
 been in a measure spoilt by the removal of the tops 
 of the octagonal flanking turrets, which were carried 
 up originally above the embattled parapet. This was 
 done by order of the dean and chapter, and — according 
 to popular tradition — for no better reason than to 
 afford a view of the cathedral clock from the upper end 
 of Mercery Lane ! 
 
 The two stories of chambers over the archway 
 were allotted to one of the six-preachers as a residence 
 after the suppression of the monastery, but the rooms 
 are now used as a depository for the documents of 
 the diocesan registry. 
 
 ^ The exact position of the wtus porta is stated by Somner to be 
 " 5 rods eastward from the new gate." 
 
 In 1453 the sacrist exchanged a house in Burgate Street, which had 
 long been known as the old gate {ab antiquo n-uncufato vetus porta), for 
 another tenement in the parish of St. Mary Bredman. In Somner's 
 time portions of the old gate built into this house were still visible. 
 Christ Church MS. Y. A. 15. 
 
 2 " Handbook of Canterbury," 1833. 
 212 
 
CHRIST CHURCH GATE 
 
 From a Drawing by J. M. Turner, R.A. 
 
CHILLENDEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 The gateway was not quite finished during Gold- 
 stone's lifetime, for he left by will a sum of money for 
 its completion ; but inasmuch as Somner records that 
 in his day the following inscription was carved upon 
 the southern front, ijoc OpUS COnSttUCtUm tSt 
 
 anno ©omini milesimo tjumg:enti0Simo Decimo 
 
 SCptimO, it is clear that the work should be ascribed 
 to Goldstone's priorate. 
 
 Thomas Goldstone II died September i6, 15 17, and 
 was buried in the Martyrdom. Among his benefac- 
 tions the Christ Church obituary records that he gave 
 new service books of great value and beauty for use in 
 the choir ; an analogium or desk of brass, fashioned 
 like an eagle, which was probably used for the music 
 books of the Rulers oi the choir ; a set of arras hangings 
 with the story of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the 
 adornment of the south side of the choir on principal 
 feasts ; several richly embroidered vestments ; and 
 divers ornaments for use in the prior's chapel. From 
 the same source we learn that when St. Dunstan's 
 tomb was opened in 1508, Goldstone caused a silver 
 reliquary to be fashioned in the shape of a human head, 
 in which he placed a portion of the saint's skuU.^ 
 This "" scrutiny " of the shrine of St, Dunstan (as the 
 monks called the opening of the tomb) was the out- 
 come of a correspondence between Archbishop Warham 
 and the abbot of Glastonbury, in which the Arch- 
 bishop upheld the claim of the monks of Christ Church 
 against the Glastonbury tradition, which alleged that 
 the saint's relics had been removed to the West Country 
 house in ion, when Canterbury was sacked by the 
 Danes. In order to set the matter at rest the 
 saint's tomb was opened on April 22, 1508, and 
 within the leaden coffin the remains of a man were 
 found arrayed in full pontificals, and also a small leaden 
 
 1 St. Augustine's Abbey had a " head " of St. Augustine : " de 
 oblacionibus factis ad caput Sci Augustini, ^i." Accounts of the 
 Vestibulariiis, 1521. Christ Church MS. E. 23. 
 
 213 
 
C A N 7 E RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 plate bearing the inscription hic requiescit sanctus 
 DUNSTANUS ARCHiEPiscopus. As this appeared to be 
 conclusive evidence that St. Dunstan's body was still 
 at Canterbury, Warham politely notified the discovery 
 to the abbot, and at the same time expressed the hope 
 that no more would be heard about the pretensions of 
 Glastonbury. The abbot's reply is curious. He was 
 constrained to admit that proof had been given that 
 the church of Canterbury possessed the greater part 
 of the saint's relics, but he still maintained that a 
 fragment or two might well be preserved in the 
 Glastonbury shrine. At all events, he hoped that the 
 archbishop would not bruit the matter abroad, since 
 the West Country shrine was much venerated, and he 
 feared that if the cherished belief of the country folk 
 was rudely shattered a public commotion might 
 ensue.^ 
 
 A slight structural addition to the fabric of the 
 cathedral church made when Goldstone II was prior 
 was the chantry chapel which Archbishop Warham, 
 soon after his election to the primacy, caused to be 
 erected in connection with his tomb. By a formal 
 deed dated April 6, 1507, the prior and convent 
 granted to the archbishop a place of sepulture " near 
 the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the north 
 side . . . and close to the spot where the holy Thomas 
 suffered martyrdom . . . together with a certain 
 oratory or chapel," adjoining thereto.^ The chantry 
 chapel was built in the slype or passage between the 
 north wall of the Martyrdom transept and the south 
 wall of the Chapter-house, and was reached through a 
 door at the east end of the tomb, which was placed in 
 a recess in the north wall of the transept. This door- 
 way (blocked up) may be seen in Dart's view published 
 
 1 An account of the scrutiny is printed in Wharton's Anglia 
 Sacra, vol. ii. p. 227, &c. The full text is given in Christ Church, 
 Canterbury, MS. E. 27 and Register R, if. 183-88. 
 
 2 Register T, f. 586. 
 214 
 
CHILLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 in 1726, but early in the last century some meddlesome 
 " restorers " obliterated all traces of it, and removed 
 the Archbishop's monument to the centre of the 
 recess. 
 
 Warham's chantry must have been finished by Sep- 
 tember 4, 1507, for on that day its altar was hallowed 
 by Dr. John Thornton, prior of Dover and assistant 
 bishop to Archbishop Warham, in honour of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Margaret. The chapel, 
 which was served by secular priests, was swept away 
 together with similar foundations soon after the sup- 
 pression of the priory, but its exact dimensions can 
 be traced in the passage between the transept and the 
 Chapter-house. 
 
 Thomas Goldwell — his name bears a singular re- 
 semblance to that of his predecessor — was professed 
 in 1493, and became prior of Christ Church twenty 
 years later. He belonged to an old Kentish family 
 which had long been in possession of the manor of 
 Goldwell in the parish of Great Chart,^ and after 
 adopting the Benedictine habit he had spent some time 
 in studying at the Universities of Paris and Louvain. 
 When he became prior there was nothing in the 
 political atmosphere which foreshadowed the great 
 storm which was to remould society on an altered basis 
 and sweep the monastic system out of the land. 
 Nothing probably was further from his thoughts than 
 that he would be the last prior of Christ Church. 
 
 The first mutterings of the storm were heard seven 
 years later, when Cardinal Wolsey in 1524 obtained a 
 licence from Pope Clement VIII to suppress those 
 small religious houses which had less than seven 
 inmates and to devote their revenues to the purposes 
 
 1 For Warham's chantry, see " Inventories of Christ Church, Canter- 
 bury," of. cit. pp. 136-48. 
 
 2 John Goldwell, Bishop of Norwich 1472-99, was probably the 
 Prior's uncle ; and Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph in the reign 
 of Mary Tudor, may have been his nephew. 
 
CJNTERBURT CJTHEDRJL 
 
 of education. This was the first touch of the besom 
 of destruction, and the greater monasteries, although 
 they offered no protest on behalf of their weaker 
 brethren,were not unmindful of its possible significance, 
 " justly fearing that the King would fell the oaks when 
 the cardinal began to cut the underwood." Amongst 
 the tenants of the Christ Church estates there were 
 certainly some premonitions of what was coming, for 
 those of them who held leases for lives were now very 
 active in getting favourable terms of renewal. It was 
 an unfortunate circumstance for the prestige of their 
 house that at this juncture certain of the Christ Church 
 monks became mixed up in the affair of the " Holy 
 Maid of Kent." 
 
 Elizabeth Barton, a maid-servant in the household 
 of a Kentish yeoman living at the hamlet of Court-at- 
 Street, near Aldington, began about the year 1528 to 
 dream dreams and to see visions. Her alleged revela- 
 tions attracted the attention of the rector of the 
 parish and of Dr. Bocking, the warden of the Christ 
 Church manors, by whom the maid was brought to 
 Canterbury, where she was lodged in the nunnery of 
 Sepulchre. Here, unfortunately for herself and her 
 abettors, her vaticinations took the form of prophesy- 
 ings as to what would happen to the King if he pro- 
 ceeded with the divorce upon which he was now 
 expending all his energies. 
 
 Prior Goldstone seems to have been careful not to 
 commit himself in the matter, but Archbishop 
 Warham showed the maid some coLintenance, and 
 Dr. Bocking and Richard Dering, the cellarer of 
 Christ Church, were her constant associates. Warham 
 died before the attainder of the nun, but Bocking 
 and Dering were included in the bill, and ended 
 their lives on the scaffold. For the part taken by 
 some of its members in this unfortunate affair the con- 
 vent sought to appease the King by a gift of money 
 and through Archbishop Cranmer offered to pay " two 
 216 
 
CHILLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 or three hundred pounds " for a general pardon, though, 
 as Cranmer pointed out, the house was " not afore- 
 hand, but in debt except the church ornaments and 
 plate." ^ But neither this offer nor the ready com- 
 pliance with which the Prior and monks of Christ 
 Church signed the acknowledgment of the royal 
 supremacy '^ could avert their fate. In the following 
 year (1534) Dr. Layton, one of the Commissioners 
 appointed to inquire into the condition of religious 
 houses south of the Trent, arrived at Canterbury 
 where he quartered himself on the prior. What fol- 
 lowed may best be described in his own words. In a 
 letter addressed to Thomas Cromwell, Layton writes : 
 
 This Saturday night I came to Canterbury to Christ Church. At 
 one of the clock after midnight one of my servants called me up suddenly, 
 or else I had been burned in my bed. The great dining chamber called 
 the King's lodging, where we supped, and whereat the bishop of 
 Winchester lay the day before I came, was suddenly fired by some 
 firebrand or snuff of a candle that first set the rushes on fire. My 
 servants lying nigh the said lodging were almost choked in their beds, 
 and so called me. And anon, after I found a back door out, called up 
 the house, and sent into the town for help, and before ladders and water 
 could be got that great lodging was past recovery, and so was the 
 chamber where I lay. Three chambers only are burnt, called the new 
 lodging, or the King's lodging. The gable ends of the house, made of 
 strong brick, kept in the fire from the houses adjoining, with the help 
 of men, so that no harm was done but in that lodging. As soon as I 
 had set men to squench, and to labour, I went into the church and 
 there tarried continually, and set four monks with bandogs to keep the 
 shrine, and put the sexton in the revestry there to keep the jewels, and 
 walked continually in the church above, and set monks in every quarter 
 of the church with candles, and sent for the abbot of St. Augustine's 
 to be there with me in readiness to have taken down the shrine, and to 
 have sent all the jewels to St. Augustine's. 
 
 The treasures of the shrine of St. Thomas, however, 
 were not destined to go to St. Augustine's, but into 
 the King's coffers. Three years after Layton's 
 disastrous visit (1538) St. Thomas of Canterbury was 
 
 1 Calendar of State Papers, vi. 1519. 
 
 2 It was tendered to the monks of Christ Church in 1534, and signed 
 by the Prior and sixty-nine of the brethren apparently without demur. 
 
 217 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 declared a traitor, his name expunged from the 
 Church's calendar, his splendid shrine destroyed, and 
 the precious metal and jewels with which it was 
 adorned carried off to London. Dr. Gasquet has 
 given the following summarjc of the contents of the 
 roll upon which the things taken for the King's use 
 are recorded : 
 
 The gold was no less than 4994|- ounces ; the gilt plate weighed 
 4425 ; the parcel gilt 840 ; and the plain silver 5286. At a subsequent 
 date twenty-six ounces of gold with 4090 of silver-gilt or plain were 
 added to the spoils. Besides the above and the jewels of which there 
 is no record, there were carried away to London four precious mitres, 
 two of silver-gilt overworked with pearls and precious stones ; a wooden 
 throne covered at the parts called pommels with crimson velvet, and 
 the handles of silver-gilt ; and a crozier ornamented with silver, called 
 Thomas Becket's staff. Further, besides a number of fastenings for 
 copes of gold, and precious stones, nine pontifical rings, and a golden 
 shell adorned with divers precious stones, there were taken for the King 
 eleven copes of gold cloth, called " gold Bawdekin." Of these, ten 
 were white with the arms of John Morton, formerly Archbishop, and 
 the eleventh was ornamented with red roses. Also one covering for the 
 upper part of an altar of white and red velvet splendidly worked. These, 
 with other things, formed the plunder which Henry gathered into his 
 treasure-house " from the goods of the late monastery of Christ Church, 
 Canterbury." ^ 
 
 The actual deed of the surrender of the priory has 
 not come to light, but a commission dated March 20, 
 1540, was directed to Thomas Cranmer, the Arch- 
 bishop, Sir Richard Rich, Chancellor of the Court of 
 Augmentations, Sir Christopher Hales, Master of the 
 Rolls, and six other persons, empowering them to 
 receive the surrender of the Prior and convent of 
 Christ Church, Canterbury. Out of the fifty-three 
 monks who were inmates of the house at the time of 
 the suppression, twenty-eight became members of the 
 new collegiate foundation and twenty-three departed 
 the house with pensions. Amongst the latter was 
 Prior Goldwell. When the coming changes were first 
 reported at the monastery, Goldwell protested that 
 
 1 " Henry VIH and the English Monasteries," London, 1902, vol. ii. 
 p. 408, &c. 
 218 
 
CHI LLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 he would never forsake his habit. Thus, in a letter 
 addressed to Cromwell (August 20, 1538), two years 
 before the surrender, he wrote : 
 
 There is a common speaking here . . . that religious men shall hive 
 or forsake their habits, and go as secular priests do. . . . As concerning 
 this matter your lordship has been so good unto me that you have 
 sent me word before this time that I and my brethren should not be 
 constrained to do so. And as for my part, I will never desire to forsake 
 my habit as long as I live, for divers considerations that move me to 
 the same. One is because religious men have been and continued m 
 this our church these 900 years and more also. I made my profession 
 to serve God in a religious habit as much as lay in me so to do. Also 
 if we that be religious men do forsake our habits, and go about the world, 
 we shall have many more occasions to offend God and to commit sm 
 than we now have. For this and other considerations which your 
 lordship knoweth better than I, I beseech your lordship to continue 
 good lord to us, me and my brethren, that we may keep our habits of 
 religion still. ^ 
 
 But two years later, when it became clear that the 
 title of nine hundred years would not save his house 
 from sharing the fate of similar foundations, Gold- 
 well's heart failed him. It would be too much to 
 leave the great church, and the pleasant lodging he 
 had occupied for two-and-twenty years. Why should 
 he not stay on as the first dean of the new collegiate 
 church ? Cranmer, it was true, was not favourably 
 disposed towards him, but he would try what could 
 be done with Cromwell. And so to the all-powerful 
 Minister he wrote the following pathetic letter begging 
 him to remain his friend 
 
 specially now in the change of the religion of this cathedral church 
 from prior and convent into dean and canons. For I am informed [he 
 continues] that such as be, or shall be, assigned and appointed by the 
 King's Majesty to be Commissioners for the said change of the said 
 church of Canterbury, shall be at the same church vnthin a little time. 
 And of the which Commission my lord of Canterbury, as I hear, shall 
 be the chief (who is not so good a lord unto me as I would he were) 
 Wherefore, without your especial lordship, I suppose my lord of Canter- 
 bury will put me to as much hindrance as he can ; and also I have 
 
 > " Cromwell Correspondence," P.R.O. V. f. 96, quoted by Dr. 
 Gasquet in " Henry VIII and the English Monasteries," p. 472, &c. 
 
 219 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 heard of late that my brother the warden of the manors, Dr. Thornedenj 
 is called in my lord of Canterbury's house, " Dean of Christchurch iri 
 Canterbury." This office of dean by favour of your good lordship I 
 trusted to have had, and as yet trust to have. I have been prior of 
 the said church above 22 years, wherefore it would be much displeasure 
 to me in my age to be put from my chamber and lodging, which I 
 have had aU these 22 years. It hath also been shown unto me that my 
 lord of Canterbury at his coming to the said church will take from me 
 the keys of my chamber, and if he do I doubt whether I shall have 
 the same keys or chamber again or not. . . . And whereas it pleased 
 your good mind towards me to write unto me of late, by your letters, 
 that I should have my said chamber with all commodities of the same 
 as I have had in times past, the which your said writing to me was, and 
 is, much to my comfort. And with the favour of your lordship I 
 trust so to have for the term of my life, which term of my Hfe by course 
 of nature cannot be long, for I am above the age of 62 years." ^ 
 
 But Goldwell's hope of becoming the first dean of 
 Canterbury was doomed to disappointment, for Dr. 
 Nicholas Wotton was nominated to the office in the 
 incorporation charter of the new foundation. He 
 might have had a prebendal stall, but he doubtless felt 
 that he could not accept a subordinate position where 
 for twenty-two years he had ruled supreme. He 
 therefore preferred to take his pension and go. The 
 sum allotted to him, namely, eighty pounds per annum, 
 was quite adequate for his maintenance, for in pur- 
 chasing power it was equivalent to at least one thousand 
 pounds at the present day, and the ex-prior continued 
 to enjoy it until the day of his death, which occurred 
 in the second year of the reign of Queen Mary (1555), 
 fifteen years after his exile. 
 
 The faU of the great Benedictine house attached to 
 the cathedral and metropolitical Church of Christ in 
 Canterbury may be regarded as the final debacle of 
 monasticism in England. 
 
 The system [as a modem writer has well said] was not judged and 
 condemned on its fundamental principles, or on account of the faults 
 of its members, but because there was a wave of revolt against the 
 ancient system of government in Church and State ; because there 
 
 1 " Cromwell Correspondence," P.R.O., V. f . 96, i. 82. 
 220 
 
CHI LLEN DEN TO DISSOLUTION 
 
 was an outburst of mental and spiritual liberalism ; and because the 
 King lusted after tKe temporal possessions of the monasteries. . . . 
 The accusations against the moral character of the monks were made 
 in order that men might welcome the dissolution of the monasteries. 
 But the charges were for the most part baseless. The evidence of the 
 Visitors of Henry VIII breaks down when carefully examined. The 
 Visitors themselves were men of far from unblemished character. Their 
 testimony, such as it was, only applied to a very small proportion of 
 the houses accused. . . . No witnesses ever seem to have been pro- 
 duced, nor in any case do the' monks appear to have been allowed to 
 answer to the charges brought against them. ... A great wrong has 
 been done, knovdngly or unknowingly, to the memory of a multitude 
 of men, who, with rare exceptions, according to their lights, seem on 
 the whole to have done their duty well and faithfully. . . . Several 
 centuries have elapsed since the monk was first forcibly ejected from 
 his home, and until recent years he has found no defender chivalrous 
 enough to speak a word in his defence. ... It is only fair, now that 
 the real story is better known, that we should teach our children to 
 look on the large majority of these helpless men and women as victims 
 deserving our pity and respect, rather than as guilty culprits who met 
 with a righteous doom. , . . Nothing can ever obliterate or even dull 
 the memory of the splendour of the work done by the monastic orders.^ 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 ^ Quarterly Review, July 1895. 
 
 221 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE INTERIOR LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 As some beautiful broken seashell may stir us to 
 wonder of what unfamiliar life it was at once the 
 product and the home, so it is with the ruins of a 
 mediaeval monastery. We want a key to the meaning 
 of these grey deserted cloisters, these broken arches, 
 these roofless and half-fallen chambers. It is the 
 purpose of this chapter to provide such a key by 
 sketching the daily life and domestic economy of the 
 monks who dwelt around the cathedral and metro- 
 political church of Christ in Canterbury, and kept 
 up an unbroken strain of prayer and praise within its 
 walls for more than nine centuries. 
 
 Like the inmates of all other cathedral monasteries 
 in England, the monks of Christ Church traced their 
 parentage to St. Benedict (480-543), the true patriarch 
 or founder of the " Monks of the West." It was the 
 genius and practical wisdom of Benedict of Nursia 
 which first tempered the austerities of the East into 
 some relation to the requirements of human nature, 
 and added to prayer, meditation, and discipline the 
 duty of wholesome and useful work, so that the houses 
 under his Rule became not only refuges from the 
 world, but homes of learning, schools of agriculture, 
 nurseries of the arts and crafts. So rapid was the 
 rise of the Order that already at the end of the sixth 
 century a Benedictine Pope, Gregory the Great, 
 selected for the conversion of England Augustine, 
 prior of the Benedictine convent of St. Andrew at 
 Rome. Thus both the great monastic houses in 
 222 
 
LIFEOF THE MONASTERY 
 
 Canterbury — the priory of Christ Church and the 
 abbey of SS. Peter and Paul (afterwards called after 
 its founder, St. Augustine) — belonged to the Order 
 of the Black Monks of St. Benedict. We have already 
 shown how the high ideals of St. Benedict became 
 obscured and even obliterated at Canterbury during 
 the Saxon dynasty, and how the Order was revived 
 by the constructive genius of Archbishop Lanfranc, 
 under the fostering segis of the Conqueror, who thought 
 that the Benedictine communities might serve as centres 
 of Norman influence. All this has been dealt with in a 
 previous chapter, and it now remains to give a brief 
 sketch of the internal economy of Benedictine houses 
 in general and of the priory of Christ Church in 
 particular. 
 
 It will be convenient for our present purpose to 
 take in order the great officers or heads of departments 
 around whom monastic activity revolved. At Christ 
 Church, including the prior, these heads of departments 
 or obedientiaries, as they were called, were nine in 
 number. We wiU speak of them in the order of their 
 rank. First, the Prior. In a cathedral monastery the 
 bishop was always the titular abbot, though in all 
 matters of internal economy the prior had practically 
 a free hand. It is true that the prior of Christ Church 
 owed his election to the archbishop, but the brethren 
 had a very considerable voice in the matter. The 
 proceedings were as follows : The archbishop first 
 summoned the brethren to a solemn meeting in the 
 Chapter-house, received from them a roll containing 
 all their names, and took their votes. He then retired 
 for consultation with his clerks, and subsequently 
 announced the result to the assembled brethren. " In 
 the name of the Lord and of His most glorious Mother, 
 of the Holy Trinity and of all the saints, we nominate, 
 appoint, and give you as prior the religious man, 
 brother N, one of the monks of this church ; and we 
 enjoin you, in virtue of your holy rule, to give hiia 
 
 223 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 obedience in things both spiritual and temporal." 
 The archbishop then placed a ring on the prior's 
 right hand, and the whole company adjourned to 
 the choir and sang the Te Deum, while between 
 their double ranks he walked up to the High Altar 
 and, after prayer by the archbishop, was installed in 
 the seat nearest to the altar on the north side of 
 the choir immediately opposite to the archiepiscopal 
 throne. 
 
 The authority and jurisdiction of the prior were at 
 all times considerable ; during a vacancy of the arch- 
 bishopric {sede vacante) they included courts of visita- 
 tion and of probate throughout the province, and even 
 the administration of vacant sees. Thus we read that 
 after the death of Archbishop Peckham in 1292 the 
 Prior of Christ Church administered four distant 
 dioceses — LlandaflE, Bath and Wells, St. David's, and 
 St. Asaph. If we add to such responsibilities the 
 government of a great monastery and cathedral, the 
 management of great estates, and the entertainment of 
 innumerable guests and pilgrims, from royalty down- 
 wards, it is clear that the office was an onerous one, 
 and we are not surprised to learn that several of the 
 earlier priors were glad to lay down the burden and 
 return to the obscurity of the cloister. 
 
 Nor was it an uncommon thing in the pre-Becket 
 days for a prior of Christ Church to accept preferment 
 to an abbacy. Out of seventeen priors who ruled the 
 house between the days of Lanfranc and the expulsion 
 of the monks by King John no less than five priors of 
 Christ Church became abbots of other Benedictine 
 monasteries ; but when Canterbury had attained 
 European fame as the scene of the martyrdom of 
 St. Thomas, a prior of Christ Church seldom cared 
 to exchange his position for any other the Church 
 could offer. Indeed, he now felt it unbecoming to 
 his dignity to attend the general chapters of the Order, 
 where, since all abbots took precedence of all priors, he 
 224 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 would have to yield the fas to the head of some petty 
 house containing perhaps less than a score of inmates ; 
 or, worse still, might have to witness the exalted place 
 allotted to his rival the abbot of St. Augustine's. 
 Thus, in order to escape the humiliation which awaited 
 them at these general chapters, the priors of Christ 
 Church would plead ill-health or the infirmities of 
 age. In 1338 Prior Eastry excused himself on the 
 extraordinary ground that he had been ordered by the 
 King to repair to one of the convent's maritime manors 
 to resist with his retainers an invasion from the 
 Continent. At length the Pope was pleased to grant 
 a licence exempting the priors of Christ Church 
 from attendance. And other marks of distinction 
 came from Rome from time to time, thus : Alex- 
 ander III (1179-86) by an undated bull permits 
 the prior to wear the tunic and dalmatic at mass 
 on certain feasts; Innocent III (April 22, 1206) 
 grants the use of the " gloves, dalmatic, and mantle " 
 in mensa; Honorius III (January 17, 1220) grants 
 to the prior and his successors the use of the mitre 
 and ring in processions and on the chief feasts of 
 the Church — this was on the occasion of the famous 
 Translation of St. Thomas; Urban VI (1378) adds 
 to mitre, tunic, dalmatic, gloves, and ring the privilege 
 of using the crosier and sandals, and of giving the 
 blessing after mass, in the other divine offices, and at 
 table.^ The prior had his separate " lodging " or 
 establishment, at first on the west side of the passage 
 now known as the Dark Entry ; and afterwards, with 
 greater dignity, space, and comfort, in the Nova Camera 
 Prioris, on the east side. Two large guest-houses, the 
 " New Lodging " and " Master Omer's," were in a 
 sense extensions of his Camera for the entertainment 
 of distinguished visitors. He had his own chamberlain, 
 marshal and other esquires {alii armigeri), clerk, notary, 
 farrier, cook and his man, messenger, groom park- 
 1 All the bulls are enrolled in Register A, f . xxvi. 
 
 P 225 
 
C ANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 keeper, and underlings.^ A list of the prior's servants 
 in 1377 gives their number at twenty- two, at a total 
 wage of £<) with food and lodging. At a later date this 
 amount was doubled. He was attended by two chap- 
 lains, and in addition to his private chapel over the 
 southern alley of the infirmary cloister, he had also an 
 oratory, from which through four slits or squints in 
 the north wall of the south-eastern transept he could 
 command views of St. Martin's, St. Stephen's, and 
 the High Altar. 
 
 The obedientiaries, who together with the prior and 
 sub-prior constituted the Chapter, included the pre- 
 centor, the sacrist, the cellarer, the chamberlain, two 
 treasurers, and the penitentiary. A brief summary of 
 the duties of each of these officers will be sufl&cient to 
 give some insight into the magnitude and complexity 
 of conventual affairs. 
 
 The Precentor was, as his name implies, the master 
 of the music (though some of these duties were 
 delegated to the succentor). He was responsible for 
 the supply, condition, and use of the books, and of the 
 parchments, skins, and other materials used in copying 
 and illuminating ; he was, in fact, librarian, and will 
 come before us again in the chapter on the library. 
 As instructor of the novices he held a daily class in 
 the cloister, and a Latin class in a room approached 
 by the small doorway at the western end of the 
 southern cloister-walk. 
 
 The succentor, as choirmaster, taught the young 
 " religious " to sing their part in the offices, and to re- 
 peat by rote various psalms and prayers for chanting in 
 darkness or in processions ; the rest was done by the 
 novice-master ; and since many postulants were at 
 first very unlettered, not to say ignorant, and were 
 required to attain a reasonable standard of proficiency 
 before admission to the order, his task was sufficiently 
 laborious. His tuition comprised much more than 
 
 1 Register J, f . 508, temp. Prior Henry of Eastry. 
 226 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 " book-leatning," though that was essential, such as 
 the usages and discipline of monastic life, control of 
 the eyes and of the tongue, gravity and seemliness of 
 demeanour in every daily action, how to wear the 
 habit and to bow to or salute superiors according to 
 their dignity ; in short, the entire behaviour of the 
 trained and devout monk. Even recreation was a 
 part of the novice-master's care ; for, beyond insist- 
 ence on the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and 
 obedience, it was no part of the Benedictine Rule to 
 crush harmless natural impulse. The holes, squares, 
 and lines in the stone bench of the south cloister-walk at 
 Canterbury, Westminster, Gloucester, and elsewhere 
 bear witness to some mediaeval game which must have 
 been played with considerable assiduity by the novices 
 who sat there. Both indoor and outdoor recreations, 
 within bounds and under supervision, were encouraged. 
 Nor, it may be added, were these confined to novices, 
 as we shall see towards the end of this chapter when 
 we sketch the daily routine of convent life. Some 
 relief from the monotony and restriction was essential 
 to sanity. Archbishop Peckham, on his visitations in 
 the thirteenth century, found tame pets in religious 
 houses — dogs, monkeys, cranes, falcons, and, doubtless, 
 jackdaws, as in the " Ingoldsby Legend." In the 
 fifteenth century the prior of Christ Church kept a 
 pet fawn at the Barton Manor. The prior of Cokes- 
 ford, in Norfolk, played chess with the brethren, and 
 he was probably not singular. The name at Canter- 
 bury for the common or recreation room was defortum, 
 which Willis connects with the Latin deportare and 
 the French deforter, and translates as " hall of disport." 
 It was probably over the buttery to the west of the 
 Frater. Here the austerity of the Rule was relaxed 
 and the free flow of talk was permitted, coupled, how- 
 ever, with compulsory attendance at " all processions, 
 the third great solemn mass, and vespers." 
 
 It must be remembered that the heart and centre 
 
 227 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 of all monastic life was the Church, according to St. 
 Benedict's maxim that " nothing is to be preferred to 
 the opus Dei^'' the divine service, the perpetual offering 
 of prayers, intercessions, and v^orship in expiation of 
 sin without and within the convent walls, and in 
 aspiration to the secret jovs of an inward and spiritual 
 life. In the memorable phrase of the Rites oj Durham, 
 " The House was always watchinge to God.'''' The 
 cloister was the workshop, the study, the school, the 
 focus of the practical daily duties and tasks, and 
 commanded access to every part of the convent ; but 
 the church and its offices were the very ground of 
 its existence. We will therefore take as the obedientiary 
 next in importance the sacrist, who with his 
 four assistants had charge of the church fabric, its 
 repair, extension, or improvement, its lighting and 
 cleansing, its altars and shrines, its curtains and 
 hangings, its sacramental vessels, its ornaments and 
 vestments. He kept the floor carpeted with rushes 
 or sweet fresh hay, and the choir supplied with rush- 
 mats for the feet of the monks. He looked to the 
 grass, the walks, and the graves in the burial-ground of 
 the brethren, to the condition and ringing of the bells, 
 and to the punctual opening and closing of the church 
 doors. He or one of his staff was afoot before the 
 brethren to light up the dormitory as they rose at 
 midnight for matins. He provided and lit the great 
 cressets or bowls of tallow with wicks which dimly 
 illumined the cloister after dark and burned all night 
 in the nave, the choir, and the treasury. In or near 
 the last chamber a sub-sacrist would usually sleep 
 and another near the choir, as guardians of the 
 treasures and relics. There was (and is) also a 
 watching-chamber for unceasing outlook upon the 
 shrine of St. Thomas. Lead, glass, and workmen's 
 materials from the neighbouring fairs, wax, taUow, 
 hay, straw, and rushes from the farms, charcoal, wine, 
 and incense are mentioned in the sacrist's accounts. 
 228 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTE RT 
 
 Cressets and candles he seems to have furnished not 
 only to the church but to the entire monastery ; and 
 when one considers the difficulty of lighting these 
 great buildings without modern appliances, and the 
 high price of wax when there were no substitutes of 
 sperm or paraffin, the outlay must have been large. 
 In one of the old registers ^ there is a formidable 
 specification of the candles required for the church. 
 The Easter candle {cereus paschalis) was to contain 
 300 lb. of wax. On the seven-branched candelabrum 
 six candles were to weigh 7 lb., the middle one 8 lb. ; 
 portable candles on the feast of the Purification, 3 lb. ; 
 candles carried in processions and at masses, 2 lb. The 
 sizes and weights of smaller lights are legion : for the 
 various altars, for the nave, for the crypt, obit candles 
 for the anniversaries of the dead, for reading the 
 lessons in ihe choir, for the prior's lodgings, for going 
 round the dormitory between the fifteen psalms and 
 matins, for the deportum, for the infirmary, for going 
 round the choir during matins, for lanterns, for horse- 
 men, for waking the servants to ring the bells. In 
 an order of Chapter dated 1308 there is a direction for 
 the lighting at the Sanctus during Mass either at 
 the high or at the matutinal altar of two torches, 
 each eight feet long and containing twelve pounds of 
 wax. If any brother broke a torch he had to make it 
 good out of his bread and pottage in the Prater. 
 
 It is scarcely surprising after this to learn that wax 
 was the heaviest single item in the sacrist's accounts. 
 In 1496 he spent ^29 3s. 4d. (say ^^500) in the purchase 
 of 1256 lb. of wax. 
 
 To meet this great expenditure the sacrist was 
 allotted various manorial and other dues. In 1463 he 
 had the rents of twenty shops and nine gardens in the 
 precincts. Fairs were held by royal licence in the 
 churchyard for nine days four times a year, viz. at 
 Christmas, Easter, the Translation of St. Thomas 
 1 B, f. 423. ' 
 
 229 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 (July 7), and Michaelmas ; and the rents of the stalls 
 or standings were a part of the income of his office. 
 His total receipts for a year are recorded as ^133 os. 4d. 
 He had a house on the site now occupied by the 
 residence attached to the fifth canonry. A mound 
 in the garden was probably formed by the debris of 
 the Norman campanile, which was overthrown by 
 earthquake in the reign of Richard H, and in 
 which before its fall the sacrist held his court and 
 received his dues. 
 
 If the services of the precentor and the sacrist were 
 indispensable respectively to the intellectual and to 
 the spiritual life of the community, those of the 
 Cellarer were equally necessary to its bodily life. He 
 was chief of the commissariat and purveyor of all 
 food-supplies, not only for the monks but for guests, 
 pilgrims, and the many servants and dependents of the 
 house. The miller looked to him for corn, the baker 
 for flour, the brewer for malt, the kitchener for fish, 
 flesh, fowl, and vegetables. His affairs took him away 
 so often to the granges and farms, the markets and 
 fairs, that he had special permission of absence from 
 the ordinary religious offices on condition that he 
 should say them privately ; and he was occasionally 
 warned of the danger to his monastic profession of all 
 these worldly cares. He engaged and dismissed ser- 
 vants and presided at their table after the meals of 
 the brethren. He provided for the " pittances " or 
 little extra dishes which formed an addition on special 
 occasions to the plain monastic fare. Under this head 
 we find some curious entries in the accounts of the 
 year 1467 : wine, dates, cloves, mace, honey, fish, 
 saffron, " reyson coronts " (raisin currants ?), and our 
 old friend, so seldom absent from a balance-sheet, but 
 here disguised in the spelling, " sawndrez." Besides food 
 of all sorts, the cellarer ordered also the fuel and the 
 materials for the repair of the buildings. To the sub- 
 cellarer (for he had and needed assistants) he delegated 
 230 
 

 iJ«iw o/"**^ Fraier-House 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 the bread-store and the beer-cellar. There were 
 several kind^ of bread, from the coarse and plain to 
 the cake of fine flour, to be served as occasion demanded. 
 " Monks' bread," " smalpeis," " fetys," " plein-pain," 
 and kitchen bread were made daily. The temperature 
 and fermentation of the beer required careful watch- 
 ing. It was to be measured for use by the half-gallon 
 measure, known as the " Justa Lanfranci," which, like 
 all the vessels, utensils, and linen throughout the 
 priory, was kept scrupulously clean. 
 
 The brethren had one plain " square " meal a day, 
 and, excepting from All Saints' till Christmas, and 
 Epiphany till Easter, and on fast days, a few ounces of 
 bread and a little beer for breakfast, and a simple 
 supper of one dish and occasional pittance. No meal 
 was to consist of more than two courses, though it 
 might occasionally be supplemented by the " pittance," 
 which might be compared with our " savoury " or 
 dessert. Bread, pottage, fish and vegetables were 
 the staple. It was usual in the Frater to serve the 
 portions of two brethren in one dish, such a dish for 
 two being the equivalent (we are told) of four soles, 
 or two plaice, or eight herrings, or two mackerel, or 
 ten eggs. Whatever was left over, uncovered by 
 the monk's napkin, was collected by the almoner 
 for the poor. The wine must have been of the 
 thinnest, and the beer of the smallest, for the latter 
 especially was used as we use tea, coffee, and soda-water. 
 The quantity allowed (as shown in the monastic 
 registers) to a brother who had officiated at mass or 
 performed some laborious task is amazing to modern 
 ideas, and to understand it at all we must recall the 
 use of light beer by the German student and of vin 
 ordinaire by the French peasant. We read of allow- 
 ances of two gallons at a time, sometimes of wine, 
 sometimes of beer ; to the sub-prior, after celebrating, 
 of even " four gallons of wine without spices." It 
 is something of a mystery, explain it as we may, and 
 
 233 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 probably, though granted to the person chiefly con- 
 cerned, was meant to cover the requirements of several 
 assistants ; perhaps sometimes the requirements of 
 more than one day. Recorded breaches of discipline, 
 though they include far graver faults, and even crimes, 
 scarcely include a single case of drunkenness. 
 
 The cellarer's lodging was situated outside the west 
 wall of the great cloister. Nothing is now left of it 
 except the door by which it was approached from the 
 cloister and the circular opening in the wall for the 
 turntable by means of which a thirsty monk could 
 be supplied jvith a glass of beer without revealing his 
 identity to the tapster within. In the garden of the 
 house now occupied by the Bishop of Dover are the 
 remains of the Domus Hospitum or cellarer's hall for 
 the entertainment of guests. Portions of the vaults 
 beneath the great hall remain ; these were the cellars 
 proper or storehouses, above which was the hall itself. 
 Chillenden's chambers were an extension or " depend- 
 ance " of the Domus Hospitum, rendered necessary 
 by the increasing resort of visitors to the shrine of 
 St. Thomas, and were connected by a covered way 
 or " pentise " (still to be seen in the gardens of the 
 seneschal's house and of Chillenden's chambers) with 
 the Court gatehouse, on the north side of which was 
 the Aula Nova or north hall, of which little remains 
 but the beautiful Norman stairway and the arches of 
 the substructure. It was of great size, being figured 
 in the twelfth-century plan as extending to the north 
 wall of the precincts, fourteen feet from the city wall ; 
 and is believed to have been allotted, as both dormitory 
 and refectory, to the poorer pilgrims, who brought 
 their own bedding and cooking utensils. It is more 
 certainly known that the seneschal of the liberties held 
 his court there, and that part of the substructure was 
 used as a prison. 
 
 The presiding official (always under the cellarer) of 
 the Domus Hospitum and its adjuncts was the guest- 
 
 234 • 
 
The Cdlarn^s Door in the Cloister and the 
 Aperture in which the Turn-table was flaced 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 master or steward of the guest-hall, whose duty it was 
 not only to provide for the entertainment of visitors, 
 but to meet them at the gatehouse and ascertain their 
 name and quality, directing the better sort along the 
 pentise to their comfortable quarters, and the poorer 
 pilgrims to the Aula Nova. 
 
 Something should here be said of the hospitality for 
 which the cellarer had to make provision. Inns in 
 the Middle Ages were rough and, except in towns, 
 infrequent ; the hardships of travel would, but for 
 the network of religious houses, have been almost 
 intolerable. Every large monastery had a guest-house 
 and an open door for the traveller, who was welcomed 
 in the name of Christ — " I was a stranger and ye took 
 Me in." Two days and nights were the usual length 
 of his permitted stay ; if he wished to remain longer 
 he had to ask leave, and was perhaps expected to make 
 some offering in return for his free quarters, though 
 wealthy houses were often very generous and long- 
 suffering. 
 
 But Christ Church priory was no ordinary monastery. 
 The shrine of St. Thomas was a magnet for innumerable 
 pilgrims ; and as the seat both of the primate and of the 
 chapter which elected him the monastery was of the 
 utmost political and ecclesiastical importance, attract- 
 ing all the notabilities of the realm. The arrange- 
 ments therefore for hospitality were necessarily on an 
 exceptional scale, though privacy and comfort in our 
 sense of the words were then scarcely known. 
 
 Distinguished guests would probably be received 
 in the prior's Camera, which doubtless from an early 
 date afforded separate accommodation for meals and 
 sleeping purposes. The second and larger Camera of 
 the prior was supplemented by a range of chambers, 
 called the New Lodging, of which part is incorporated 
 with the southern side of the deanery. But of all the 
 buildings provided for the accommodation of visitors 
 the largest and most typical is that which now forms 
 
 237 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the prebendal house, due east from Becket's Crown. 
 This house, which after a former occupant, one 
 Master Omer, who in the middle of the thirteenth 
 century was official of the court of the prior and chapter, 
 is still called by his name, has a circular staircase 
 leading up to various rooms which were doubtless 
 occupied by guests. The western side had ground- 
 floor rooms then, as now, used for offices, above which 
 was the gallery, which could be used for music. The 
 whole of the eastern part of the building was, before 
 the suppression of the monastery, one great hall, which 
 could be used alike for meals and as a dormitory for 
 servants and retainers. It was in this house that 
 John Buckingham, sometime bishop of Lincoln and 
 afterwards a monk of Christ Church, died in 1396. 
 
 That all these houses in addition to the convent 
 were victualled from the cellarer's stores is some 
 indication of the extent of his responsibilities. We 
 will conclude our sketch of them by appending a 
 curious Table which throws light not only upon the 
 labours of the cellarer but upon prices, wages, convent 
 customs, and the number of servants employed : 
 
 Gifts or allowances of food, &c., made to conventual officers and 
 others at Easter and Christmas : 
 
 The archbishop — 381 fowls, at 3d. each ; fifteen porkers, called 
 " freshjmgs," at 2s. 6d. each ; 2700 eggs, at 6d. the 100 ; twenty lambs, 
 at 6d. each ; twenty cheeses, at 3d. each. Deducting from the total a 
 rent of ^8 due from the archbishop as rent of land at Reculver, there 
 remains a balance of 3d. due. 
 
 The infirmary — 100 fowls, four freshyngs, 1000 eggs, eight lambs, 
 eight cheeses, and eight " burrats," costing id. each. 
 
 The hospitals of Northgate and Harbledown — 200 fowls, five freshyngs, 
 2000 eggs, twenty lambs, twenty cheeses, and eight burrats. 
 
 The porter of the Monks' Court {Curia Monachorum) — ten fowls, one 
 freshyng, 200 eggs, two lambs, two cheeses, and two burrats. 
 
 The seneschal of the Monks' Court, the same. 
 
 The Custos Curia of the archbishop, the same. 
 
 The four serving-men of the church— sixteen fowls, one freshyng, 
 200 eggs, two lambs, two cheeses, and two burrats. 
 
 The porter and washerwoman of the church — each eight fowls, half 
 a freshyng, 200 eggs, two Iambs, two cheeses, and two burrats. 
 238 
 

 U"^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' ~^MM!^:^'-'MKW^ 
 
 i?M!«j- o/ Cellarer's Hall 
 
LIFE OF THE MONJSTERT 
 
 The servants of the infirmary, two valets {vallecti) of the bath and the 
 custos of the infirmary gate — twenty fowls, one freshyng, 250 eggs, two 
 lambs, two cheeses, and two burrats. 
 
 The servants of the clothing shop (saririna) — twenty fowls, one 
 freshyng, 2000 eggs, two lambs, two cheeses, and two burrats. 
 
 We are disposed at first to ask, almost with a gasp, how 
 the archbishop disposed of 381 fowls, fifteen porkers, 
 twenty lambs, and 2700 eggs, and how the latter were 
 kept fresh. No recent occupant of the see, even with 
 the aid of his entire staff, could have consumed such 
 quantities without inconvenience. The question would 
 apply equally to the porter of the monks' court with 
 his ten fowls, one freshyng, 200 eggs, and two lambs. 
 The archbishop, it is true, had obviously a large 
 retinue ; but both primate and porter must have 
 resorted to salt and other preservatives, and have made 
 store for leaner days. 
 
 The Camerarius or chamberlain had charge of the 
 clothing, sleeping accommodation, laundrywork, and 
 personal washing and shaving of the monks ; he also 
 provided the clothing of the servants. In 131 8 a 
 cloth merchant is asked to send the following goods : 
 two and a half pieces of well-dyed cloth for clerks, at 
 73s. 4d. per piece ; two pieces of coloured cloth and 
 two pieces with broad stripes of colour to match for 
 esquires, at 70s. ; four pieces with broad stripes of a 
 good parti-colour for keepers and knaves, at 53s. 4d.; 
 and four pieces of parti-colour for grooms, at 40s. ^ 
 There is also an order for 129 ells of black cloth, to 
 cost £16 13s., and 380 ells of linen cloth, to cost 
 £j 1 8s. 4d. The chamberlain reports that a habit 
 (roba) can be made for a monk out of two and a half 
 lengths (pannt) of cloth. The making and repairing of 
 garments for so great a number must have been a 
 considerable undertaking, and accordingly he had a 
 tailors' and outfitters' workshop, which may possibly 
 have been the building identified by Willis as the 
 
 1 Lit. Cant. vol. i. p. 40. 
 
 Q 241 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 second dormitory, for there is no documentary evidence 
 of the existence of more than one dormitory. The 
 staff of this workshop {sartrind) included the master- 
 tailor, second tailor, furrier or pelterer, master- 
 sempster and his man, the " saver," and three washer- 
 women. Like the cellarer, the chamberlain had to be 
 much at fairs and markets for the purchase of cloth, 
 linen, kersey, leather for sandals and boots, the skins 
 and furs needed for winter underclothing in the un- 
 warmed church and open cloister, sewing materials, 
 sleeping-mats, rugs, and toilet necessaries, and so was 
 in some degree exempted from the regular choir 
 offices. There was a chamber set apart for the shaving 
 of the monks, which was below the passage from the 
 dormitory to the church and close to the sub- 
 vaults of the lavatory tower. Its repair is mentioned 
 among the works of Chillenden — " Domum rasture 
 de novo fieri fecit." Besides the daily use of this 
 chamber, there was once in three weeks a shaving of 
 tonsures, one of the brethren acting as barber, while 
 others repeated psalms as they waited their turns. 
 From the mediaeval kinship between the arts of the 
 barber and of the surgeon, we may infer that here 
 took place the operation of bleeding which was con- 
 stantly practised both as preventive and as cure. The 
 brethren were bled by twos or threes at a time, care- 
 fully bandaged, and transferred to the infirmary for a 
 few days. On Saturday nights there was a general 
 washing of feet in the cloister, doubtless to the same 
 accompaniment of psalmody as the tonsure-shaving. 
 There were compulsory baths at Christmas and 
 optional ones at other times. For these and similar 
 occasions the chamberlain provided hot water, soap, 
 clean towels, and other accessories. Though no site or 
 building can be identified as the laundry, it is obvious 
 that there was a great deal of laundrywork, for washer- 
 women are freely mentioned in the lists of work- 
 people, and the monks' underclothing (shirts, drawers, 
 242 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 and socks) was washed every fortnight in summer and 
 once in three weeks in winter, besides the napery and 
 other fabrics in common use. It was for the chamber- 
 lain to organise and arrange all this, and to ensure 
 by a system of tallies the return of articles from the 
 wash. 
 
 The dormitory was an oblong hall due north of the 
 chapter-house and immediately adjoining it. The 
 cubicles were against the walls on either side, and down 
 the middle ran a dividing wall with low pillars and 
 arches. It was lighted at night by four great stone 
 cressets in the corners, and in the daytime by windows, 
 of which five, of the date of Lanfranc, may still be 
 seen above the cloister roof, four being incorporated 
 into the chapter library. That the sleeping accom- 
 modation of the seventy or eighty brethren in this 
 immense bedroom deyolved upon the chamberlain is 
 natural enough, and there is evidence that the furnish- 
 ing of other apartments, such as the Defortum 
 (recreation-room) and the calefactory (for warmth after 
 the cold church, or after being " blooded ") were also 
 part of his care. There is an entry in the year 1499 
 of the purchase of a long mat, containing eight yards, 
 extending from the dormitory door to the parlour 
 door.^ The chamberlain's yearly income, derived 
 partly from rents and partly from a grant from the 
 monastic treasury, amounted to about £liz. 
 
 In Abbot Gasquet's " English Monastic Life " there 
 is no mention of the penitentiary among monastic 
 officers. Doubtless organisation varied in different 
 communities ; but at Christ Church he was one of 
 the nine obedientiaries, and the prior's right-hand 
 man in maintaining and administering discipline. 
 Certain of the brethren were appointed scrutators or 
 circatores claustri, and bound to report all breaches of 
 the Rule, which were dealt with daily in the chapter- 
 
 1 "In Imgitudine ah hostio dormiterii usque ad hostium locutorie." 
 Sacrist's Accounts. 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 house after mass. The corporal part of the penance 
 usually consisted of scourging (done on the spot), or of 
 a scantier and severer diet. Sometimes it extended 
 to a kind of temporary boycott, or even to expul- 
 sion. In 1 31 3 Archbishop Reynolds wrote that all 
 monk's in priest's orders who did not celebrate mass 
 four times a week should in the week following 
 eat and drink only in the Frater. If this were a 
 fasting season, it would mean food of any kind only 
 once a day. 
 
 In 1323 there seems to have been something like a 
 mutiny or rebellion, of which Brother Robert de 
 Aledon was a ringleader. Six of the monks were 
 sequestrated and forbidden to shave their beards or 
 crowns till the following Easter. Among the accusa- 
 tions were neglect of the daily offices, absence from the 
 convent for improper purposes, perjury at the arch- 
 bishop's visitation, forgery in the name of the chapter, 
 the writing of scandalous letters, and theft of the 
 community's goods. A silver vase was missing from 
 the prior's lodgings, and Robert de Aledon was found 
 to be in possession of a lump of silver weighing 10 lb., 
 of which he could give no satisfactory account. He 
 had also taken silver vessels from the Frater and 
 valuable books from the library. The brethren were 
 for expulsion, and much correspondence took place 
 between the prior and the archbishop ; there was 
 even an appeal on behalf of the culprit to the King. 
 The upshot is not fully related, but in 1349 Aledon 
 seems to have still been at Christ Church and (from 
 a letter of Archbishop Islip's) to have been treated by 
 the prior with considerable rigour. After a scandal 
 such as the foregoing it is a light matter to read in 
 an old fragment of manuscript the names of brethren 
 who were never at compline, who broke the bounds of 
 seclusion by frequenting the lively purlieus of the 
 Green Court, and " would not be spoken to " by their 
 superiors. 
 244 
 
LIFE OF THE MON AST ERT 
 
 There was this year (1323) trouble also with the 
 scrutators, who, though they kept the Rule, refused to 
 demean themselves by reporting those who broke it. 
 These darker episodes were rare exceptions ; the short- 
 comings of the monks have been much exaggerated 
 by their enemies. Henry VIII, in the Act of 1536 
 suppressing the 376 smaller monasteries, testifies to 
 " divers great and solemn monasteries of this realm 
 wherein (thanks be to God) religion is right well kept 
 and observed." 
 
 There were two Treasurers, both of whom appear to 
 have been obedientiaries, and the importance of whose 
 office will be best indicated by some reference to the 
 financial affairs under their charge. 
 
 Before the Conquest the archbishops and the 
 monks held their estates in common, and indeed lived 
 under the same roof and formed a single corporation. 
 Lanfranc dissolved this partnership, and his successors 
 have ever since had a separate residence or " palace " 
 and a separate estate. According to the burdens, 
 exactions, or troubles which fell respectively upon the 
 see or the convent, one would borrow of the other, to 
 repay in better times. In the year 1273, for instance, 
 the monastery owed the archbishop no less than 
 ^2266 13s. 4d. (more than ^50,000 !), besides having 
 to repay the merchants of Florence £429 6s. 8d., and 
 to furnish the King with a loan of 300 marks (a mark 
 was 13s. 4d.). The total receipts of the monastery 
 that year were £1^17 los., and out of this the monks 
 had to live. This was clearly a problem requiring 
 at least two treasurers for its solution. 
 
 There were great fluctuations of income, owing 
 partly to variation in the amount of offerings at the 
 shrines, but far more to the accidents which beset 
 farming. In 1307 the losses by cattle plague were 
 207 oxen, valued at 15s. each ; 511 cows, valued at ids. 
 each ; and 4080 sheep, valued at 7s. 6d. each ; while 
 1 21 2 acres of the best marsh land of the brotherhood 
 
 24s 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 were inundated hj the sea. In 1321 the convent lost 
 more than 1000 head of cattle in a single year. 
 ^ Then there were also great fluctuations in expendi- 
 ture. The appointment of a new archbishop involved 
 heavy payments both in England and at the Court of 
 Rome ; and sometimes these appointments would 
 follow each other with disconcerting rapidity, as when 
 the see fell vacant three times in a year at the time of 
 the Black Death. There were forced contributions 
 and heavy loans, not always repaid, to the Crown for 
 military and other purposes. The visits of royalty 
 with its retinue were very costly ; and the visitors 
 sometimes left behind them retainers to be kept 
 indefinitely at the charges of the monks. It has been 
 already mentioned that at the Translation of St. 
 Thomas in 1220 the outlay over pageantry and the 
 entertainment of countless pilgrims embarrassed four 
 successive archbishops, and the monastery shared the 
 burden. Lawsuits, appeals to Rome, and great build- 
 ing operations would all, at irregular intervals, affect 
 the balance-sheet. 
 
 During the six years preceding the Translation 
 in 1220 the receipts from all sources averaged 
 ^1460 14s. ofd. For the five following years, owing 
 in great part to the increase of offerings, the average 
 rose to ;£2340 12s. A hundred years later', in 1326, 
 the outgoings are entered as ^2046 los. 8d., and in 
 1336 as ^^2317 IIS. 4Jd. In 1299 the receipts rose 
 to ^^4552 3s. lod., while the outgoings were only 
 ^2180 19s. yd. 
 
 The receipts both from offerings and from the 
 estates were variable, but, roughly speaking, the 
 offerings were about one-fifth of the whole. As an 
 illustration of the dire shifts to which the monks were 
 sometimes reduced for ready money, we may mention 
 that in the year 1 3 16 they pledged to the archbishop, 
 as security for a loan for payment of the royal tenths, 
 a gold cross, jewelled and containing a fragment of 
 246 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 the true Cross, valued at ^200, and two ewers {olid) 
 of gold, worth respectively ^58 and £50. At the 
 beginning of the fourteenth century the priory had 
 8434 acres under crops. There was a warden of the 
 manors, who visited the farms and outlying estates 
 reported on their condition, and ordered necessary 
 repairs and improvements, but the main responsibility 
 for the collection or remission of rents lay with the 
 treasurers. 
 
 One of the smaller complications of their work was 
 the dealing with foreign and obsolete coins — pilgrims'' 
 offerings, payments for wool or corn sent abroad, or 
 rent extracted from the old stocking of some remote 
 tenant. There is extant a letter dated August 13, 
 1335, from a London agent to the Prior " concerning 
 the sixty pounds' weight of odd coins " to be exchanged 
 for current money. Distinction is drawn between 
 " pure metal " worth 21s. in the ^i, " standard metal " 
 worth 19s. 6d., and still lower quality worth only i8s.^ 
 
 If the average income of the monastery in the 
 fourteenth century be very roughly estimated at 
 £2200, the treasurers would have to deal with an 
 annual sum of ^50,000 to ^60,000 of our money, and 
 an expenditure which sometimes left a balance in 
 hand, but in disastrous years required a loan from the 
 archbishop or the Florentine bankers to make ends meet. 
 
 Two conventual officers who were not obedientiaries, 
 but are far too important to be omitted from our 
 survey, are the almoner and the infirmarer. 
 
 The almonry, of which nothing remains, was out- 
 side the gate of the Curia or Green Court. In order 
 to understand the scale on which charity was adminis- 
 tered we must remember that in the Middle Ages 
 there was no Poor Law ; the religious houses were the 
 sole barrier between the destitute and absolute starva- 
 tion. We must further remember that the whole 
 monastic movement was a protest against violence and- 
 1 Lit. Cant. No. 585. 
 
 247 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 cruelty, the private wars and disregard of law which 
 both caused poverty and multiplied its sufferings. 
 The widow and the orphan, the sick and the lame, the 
 " broken man " and the needy household, were daily- 
 helped and advised as Christ's poor. Certain anniver- 
 saries and the great festivals were marked by wholesale 
 gifts. For instance, at Christ Church on May 28, 
 the day of Lanfranc's death, the almoner gave 700 
 loaves for the use of the house (his largesse was not 
 restricted entirely to those outside the gates) and 
 3400 loaves for distribution amongst the poor. The 
 bellringers were not forgotten, for thirty-two loaves 
 with cheese and beer went to the custodian of the 
 great tower (magnum campanile). Two bucks were 
 given to the infirmary at Michaelmas, and two does 
 at the Translation of St. Thomas. On Maundy 
 Thursday the sub-almoner, after the chapter meeting, 
 collected a number of poor folk corresponding to the 
 number of the brethren, led them through the cloister 
 to hear mass at the altar of St. John the Evangelist, and 
 took them back through the cloister to the hall, where 
 each received " a loaf of bread, called ' small peys,' 
 some salt, and three herrings, with as much drink 
 as they wished " (surely an evidence of its harm- 
 less quality). They then returned to the cloister for 
 the feet-washing, in which all the community from 
 the prior downward took their part. This was the 
 great maundy. There was a daily maundy at which 
 the brethren washed the feet of three or four poor 
 men, and the weekly maundy, when on Saturdays they 
 washed one another's feet. 
 
 Not the least useful or interesting work of the 
 almonry was its free school for poor boys, of whom the 
 ablest and most diligent were, if of a devout character, 
 encouraged to offer themselves as novices, and so to 
 recruit the ranks of the brethren. Many such almonry 
 scholars became learned and famous men. 
 
 Candidates for the novitiate took oath that they 
 248 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 were not previously pledged lo any other religious 
 body ; were not under a vow to visit the Holy Land 
 or the Roman Curia ; were not married or under 
 a contract to marry ; had not been guilty of homicide 
 or any other serious crime ; had not taken part in any 
 trial which had led to the effusion of blood ; had not 
 assaulted any clerk or religious person ; were not 
 under sentence of excommunication or suspension ; 
 were not in debt ; were of free condition and born in 
 wedlock ; had not in any way contracted irregularity ; 
 suffered from no incurable or contagious disease. 
 
 After being duly examined by the prior on these 
 particulars and approved, they were admitted to one 
 year's probation, and enjoined to attend the religious 
 offices ; to behave soberly and modestly ; to make 
 such disposal of their property as with the advice 
 of their friends they thought prudent and wise ; to 
 deposit in the convent library any books they might 
 possess ; and finally not to enter into a contract of 
 marriage or to take any other religious habit. 
 
 After a year's instruction by the precentor and his 
 deputy in Latin, English, singing, chanting, and reading, 
 in the Rule of the Order, in the psalms and prayers 
 to be learnt by rote, and in the duties and exercises 
 of the religious life, they were subjected to careful 
 examination by the prior before making their final 
 profession. 
 
 Amongst the novices and junior monks must have 
 been some real students and thinkers, for the pursuit 
 of learning and the training of men able to deal with 
 the theological, philosophical, and political problems 
 of the time were a part of the Benedictine ideal. To 
 a house so prominent in affairs both of church and 
 state as Christ Church a supply of such men was 
 especially necessary. At the close of the middle ages 
 the Humanists complained bitterly of monkish igno- 
 rance, as we may see in the writings of Erasmus ; but 
 the monasteries, until the time of their decay and 
 
 249 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 approaching fall, were generally the abodes of learning. 
 Throughout the middle ages Canterbury possessed 
 two schools which we should now term secondary. 
 The first was the school of the archbishop, which 
 dated from the seventh century and was revived 
 by Archbishop Theodore. This school, which was 
 situated in the parish of St. Alphege and had no 
 connection with the priory of Christ Church, lasted 
 till the Reformation, and was reconstituted by 
 Henry VIII as the King's School. It will be remem- 
 bered that Theodore came from Tarsus in Cilicia, 
 where the university founded by the later Stoics still 
 existed, and that he introduced into England the 
 study of Greek. The other was the almonry school 
 for poor boys, which had no such happy resurrection. 
 But the educational zeal of archbishops and priors 
 went much farther than this. It was felt that more 
 advanced learning could be attained only at a univer- 
 sity. In 133 1 a hall cum camera et deforto (with 
 dormitory and common room) was hired at St. Peter's- 
 in-the-East, Oxford, as a place of study, and the 
 monks who were sent thither were bidden to look out 
 for learned novices to fill vacancies at home.^ In 
 1354 Archbishop Islip regrets that Christ Church has 
 no young monks at Oxford, and asks the Prior to select 
 some for a university training.^ The great dearth of 
 learned clerks at this time was due to the ravages 
 of the Black Death, which depopulated colleges and 
 convents as well as parishes, and was one of the causes 
 which led Archbishop Islip, in the year 1362, to 
 found Canterbury College at Oxford.* Three of the 
 fellows were to be Christ Church monks, eight of them 
 secular students, and the warden was to be chosen by 
 the archbishop out of three names submitted by the 
 prior and chapter. Prior Chillenden (that volcano of 
 constructive energy) rebuilt the place in the reign 
 
 1 Register L, f. 10. 2 Ibid. p. 88. 
 
 * See " Fifth Report of the Historical MS. Commission," p. 450. 
 250 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 of Richard II, and its picturesque quadrangle of stona 
 below and timber and plaster above stood unchanged 
 for nearly four hundred years.^ It was dissolved 
 by Henry VIII, and its last remains carted away in 
 I775» but its name is perpetuated in the Canterbury 
 Quadrangle of Christ Church, Oxford. 
 
 The college went through many troubles due to 
 popes, kings, archbishops, and wardens ; here we will 
 find room for one which was due to none of these. 
 There were usually more rooms than Canterbury 
 students, and these were let to members of other 
 convents. Warden John Langdon writes to the prior 
 of Christ Church about some insubordinate monks from 
 the Abbey of Peterborough : 
 
 I have had trobyl (of) lat with some of the bruderyn that be suggemen 
 (sojourning) with us, specyally with them of Peterburgh, which ye 
 remember by their ungoodly demenyng in Dom Will Chichele ys 
 dayes went from us to Glowcetyr (Gloucester) College, and syth they 
 were taken agen to us in Dom Thomas Umfrey hys dayes. And now 
 they be as frowardly disposed or wurse than ever they were. The 
 seyd bruderen of Peterburgh be now home at ther monastery, and shall 
 be till Michaelmas, wherefore I pray your fadyrhode to write to ther 
 abbot desyring him to give them charge, if they shall come agen to us 
 that they be guyded as scholarys should be, for they be no studentys. 
 
 And what was worse, they set all the other students 
 against the authorities. 
 
 The treasurers' accounts show that Christ Church 
 was generous in maintaining the men sent to Oxford, 
 and there must have been some flow of intellectual 
 life from the college to its parent monastery. There 
 are also entries of money supplied to brethren in 
 order that they might take advantage of foreign uni- 
 versities. In 1304 Andrew de Hardres and Stephen 
 de Faversham were sent to Paris. Prior William 
 Selling when a young man (1464) had leave to travel 
 in search of university education. W. Hadleigh in 
 1466 was sent to Bologna. There is also a sad little 
 record in 1447 of a monk of mathematical genius dying 
 
 1 Lyte's " History of the University of Oxford," p. 180. 
 
 251 
 
C A N T E RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 in the infirmary at the early age of thirty. His name 
 was John Trendle. " Hie erat subtilis valde fuit et 
 eximius calculator, unde et magnum de ziij flanetis fecit 
 librum." 
 
 Poor John Trendle, whose death is obscurely 
 described in Latin as due to some kind of suffocation, 
 perhaps haemorrhage of the lungs, may serve as our 
 conductor to the infirmary, of which the massive round 
 columns with their rude capitals and ruined arches on 
 the north-east side of the cathedral form one of the 
 most picturesque features of the precincts. They were 
 built by Lanfranc, and still bear the red stain of the 
 great fire of 1174. The infirmary was in the form of 
 a large hall, and the columns now remaining separated 
 the centre from the southern aisle, afterwards made 
 into the sub-prior's lodging. A similar range of 
 columns stood on the north side of the hall, but were 
 taken down after the dissolution — a fate from which 
 those on the south side were saved by being built into 
 a prebendal house, now removed. The chapel of the 
 infirmary extends in a line with the hall eastward, and 
 seems from the more delicate workmanship to have been 
 built towards the close of the twelfth century. Several 
 arches remain on the south side, owing to their having 
 been (like those further west) built into a house. The 
 east end, though originally of Norman construction, 
 was restored in the Decorated style by Prior Hathbrand 
 about the middle of the fourteenth century. 
 
 An apartment running north at right angles to the 
 great hall, and now forming a chief part of a prebendal 
 house, was built in 1342 by Prior Hathbrand, and 
 known as the Mensa Magistri Injirmarii. It probably 
 served for the accommodation of that officer (as the 
 south aisle for that of the sub-prior), as well as for a 
 table-hall or refectory. 
 
 The infirmary had its own cloister, as a " pleasaunce " 
 for its inmates. This adjoined the western end or 
 front of the great hall, and its one remaining alley 
 252 
 
Ruins of the Hall of the Infirmary 
 
LIFE OF THE MONJSTERT 
 
 forms part of the Dark Entry. The shafts, alternately 
 plain and twisted, which support the low round arches, 
 closely resemble those in the cloister of St. John 
 Lateran in Rome. The cloister-garth is shown in the 
 early plans as an oblong, divided by a lattice-fence into 
 two enclosures, of which the western is marked Her- 
 barium a.nd dotted with, shrubs or plants, some of which 
 were no doubt of medicinal value. The infirmarer 
 was skilled in the use of simples, and not without 
 some knowledge of such surgery as the age afforded. 
 This officer was chosen by his brethren with great 
 care, not only for his medical aptitudes but for his 
 wise and gentle hand with the sick. No part of the 
 Rule of St. Benedict was more kindly, human, and 
 indeed profoundly Christian than his injunctions to 
 care tenderly for the ailing and infirm. 
 
 Persons unacquainted with monastic customs express 
 surprise at the great size of a Benedictine infirmary 
 relatively to the whole establishment. This at Christ 
 Church, for instance, seems large enough to contain 
 the entire community of seventy or eighty monks at 
 once. No doubt, in an age of epidemics, when sanita- 
 tion and disinfectants were scarcely known, the cases 
 of illness were not few. But many besides the down- 
 right sick found refuge in those vanished chambers 
 and beneath those ruined arches. Visiting or pilgrim 
 monks from other religious houses to whom it was 
 desired to show fraternal hospitality ; relays of the 
 brethren who had been " blooded " and required a 
 less austere diet and discipline for a time ; aged monks, 
 known at Canterbury as Stationarii, who had out- 
 lived their bodily activity were granted quarters in 
 the infirmary and waited on by their juniors — ^these 
 would constantly be found as inmates. The secular 
 clergy were sometimes admitted : Robert Asher, rector 
 of Chartham, died there in 1454 ; also in the same year 
 Nicholas Chilton, rector of All Saints', Lombard Street, 
 in the city of London. One of the rooms was called 
 
 255 
 
C ANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 St. Mary's, where died in 15 16 James Burton, who had 
 been prior of Folkestone. He had brought his own 
 furniture with him, for there is an inventory of it in a 
 MS. book* giving its value as -^4 i8s. 5d. These are 
 names which have survived out of many which have 
 perished. 
 
 The treasurers' accounts give the salary of a 
 physician, one Master Giles, as £z 13s. 4d., and of two 
 surgeons {sirugici) as 13s. 4d. each. Even allowing for 
 the difference in money values, this seems a very 
 modest emolument. On the other hand, London 
 consultants were abreast of their modern representa- 
 tives in fees, if not in skill, for in 1370 Master W. 
 Tankerville charged £6 13s. 4d. (or about ^^133) for 
 visiting the lord prior. 
 
 When a brother was dying, he was laid in the 
 infirmary chapel to breathe his last upon a stone on 
 which a cross had been marked in ashes. Great 
 sanctity or importance was apparently attached to 
 this stone, which may have formed part of the floor. 
 When for some unexplained cause it was removed and 
 destroyed at the beginning of the fifteenth century 
 the loss was deeply felt, for there are two entries in 
 Stone's " Chronicle " under the date 1403 mourn- 
 fully recording the use of a new stone. Hugh Aleyn 
 " hie non jacuit swpra fetram more antiquo quia locus 
 illi antiquus cincritius jam fer annum dimidium transac- 
 tum ablatus et deletus est." Nicholas Cantorbery " hie 
 ■primus omnium jaeuit supra petram novam ante imaginem 
 sancti crueis Capella infirmarie interiore ex quo lectus 
 ille preciosus cineritius sanctorum patrum ut permittitur 
 deletus et ablatus est anno m°cecc°iij°." 
 
 We learn from the statutes of Archbishop Winchelsey 
 (died 1 3 13) that the infirmarer ruled the deportum. 
 He " must every Sunday inform eight brethren, as 
 many of the lower as of the upper of each choir, in 
 the order of priority, that they may take their deportum, 
 
 1 Cant. MS., C. 1 1 , Ingram. 
 256 
 
LIFE OF THE MONJSTERT 
 
 if they will, in the next week. And if any one of the 
 eight decline to accept it, he must, notwithstanding, 
 be present every day of that week at the mass of 
 the Blessed Mary, and on every Tuesday at the mass 
 of the Blessed Thomas, together with those who did 
 accept the defortum, lest through his refusal the 
 solemnity of these masses be diminished." This is 
 Willis's translation, and he adds : " It thus appears 
 that as the insupportable tedium of the masses over- 
 balanced the delights of the defortum, the archbishop 
 hit upon the ingenious device of compelling the selected 
 monks to attend the masses, but left them free to 
 decline or accept the indulgences." 
 
 An official scarcely less important than the almoner 
 or the infirmarer was the kitchener, who presided (as 
 the name indicates) over the measurement, preparation, 
 and distribution of the " portions " at meals. The 
 kitchen was a lofty building, originally Norman, 
 but rebuilt by Prior Hathbrand in 1347. It ad- 
 joined the cellarer's hall and the Frater, and one 
 of its fireplace corners is incorporated in the south 
 side of Chillenden Chambers. It had a scullery with 
 two windows, one through which (according to the 
 Norman plan) " the trenchers were thrown out to be 
 washed," the other " through which the portions 
 were served out." There were also a larder and a 
 " chamber in which the fish were washed." In 1335 
 the number of servants throughout the cellarer's 
 department was found to be excessive, and the following 
 revised and reduced list of those allowed, to the 
 kitchener may perhaps be a measure of his responsibili- 
 ties : master-cook and his boy, second cook, hall cook 
 and his boy, the pottager and disher (disarms) and his 
 boy, the salter and his boy, the stoker (Jocarius) and his 
 boy, the porter who brought vegetables from the town. 
 Indeed, a full list of the servants would be no bad 
 indication of the magnitude and complexity of the 
 conventual organisation. No court or hall was with- 
 in 257 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 out its seneschal, no gate without its porter, no tower 
 without its custodian, no shrine without its keeper. 
 Some allowance in money or kind was made to all who 
 performed special services, and their duties were laid 
 down in writing with the utmost precision. Thus, 
 the seneschal of the Liberties was entitled (if a knight) 
 to ^lo for himself and his staff (Jamilia sua), two suits 
 of clothes, and meals in the cellarer's hall for himself, 
 his esquire, and three grooms (garcionibus). He and 
 his clerk were to have two justa (half-gallons) of the 
 monks' beer, four wax candles and three common 
 candles daily through the winter, and fodder for three 
 horses as often as he passed the night in the precincts. 
 If he were not a knight, the £io were to be ten marks 
 and other allowances in proportion.^ 
 
 At the bottom of the scale is the porter of the 
 convent gate, with a daily commons from the kitchen 
 and as much corn as he could hold in his hand from 
 the bin of every occupied stall in the precincts. His 
 duties were to hold his tongue and spread no reports 
 detrimental to the prior or convent ; to keep out 
 women and boys and all but honest persons ; to shut 
 the gate at curfew and take all keys to the cellarer ; to 
 keep a sub-porter at his own charges (fixed at six marks); 
 to go on journeys with the prior and cellarer ; to 
 accompany processions and keep back the crowd ; to 
 count the loads of wood carted to the kitchen, receiving 
 therefor id. per load ; to carry beer from the cellar 
 to the refectory for dinner and supper ; to announce 
 the arrival of guests to the cellarer and to take the 
 King's briefs to the seneschal of the Liberties. Then 
 follow various further allowances, in consideration of 
 these services, of bread, beer, and fodder, the last being 
 a single or double handful from everybody's stable — 
 prior's, sacrist's, chamberlain's, cellarer's — ^who could 
 be suspected of entertaining a mounted guest. 
 
 This complex organisation of a great monastery, 
 
 1 Register J, f . 508. 
 258 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 with its officers, estates, and woikshops, its granary 
 brewery, and bakehouse, its hospitaUty to travellers and 
 pilgrims, its apparatus for learning and teaching, for 
 copying and illuminating, its rights and duties in 
 relation to bishop and crown and pope, was but the 
 framework or setting for the opus Dei, the religious 
 life, the perpetual " watchinge to God." A brief 
 sketch, therefore, of the daily life of the monks may 
 fitly conclude this chapter. 
 
 The hours of prayer and meals would vary a little 
 according to the season of the year and of the Church's 
 calendar, but the following will be enough to indicate 
 the usual routine. 
 
 A little before midnight the sub-sacrist rang a bell 
 and lighted the cressets in the dormitory. The 
 brethren rose, crossing themselves, dressed, put on 
 their thick fur or list shoes (partly for warmth and 
 partly for the observation of the " greater silence " 
 which lasted till prime), and, preceded by the juniors 
 carrying lights, passed along the covered way between 
 dormitory and choir to matins. Part of this covered 
 way is the present communication between the library 
 and the north transept. 
 
 Matins was preceded by the recitation of the fifteen 
 " gradual " psalms, to which great importance was 
 attached, and with its elaborate observances and 
 devotional silences would last nearly an hour. At the 
 close, while the bells were ringing for lauds, there was 
 a brief interval during which the monks might pace 
 the cloister for exercise after the chill of the church. 
 Lauds were over by about half-past one, and the 
 brethren returned to bed till six in summer or seven 
 in winter, when they were summoned to the choir for 
 the office of prime. 
 
 The early mass which followed immediately after 
 prime was chiefly for the servants and workpeople, and 
 attendance by the monks, excepting those engaged in 
 celebrating, was voluntary. They occupied the time 
 
 259 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 in washing and completing their simple toilet for the 
 day, the juniors and novices being engaged in reading, 
 prayer, or instruction. Confessions were heard in the 
 chapter-house ; officials made preparation for their 
 daily duties ; study or writing went on in the cloister till 
 the mixtum or light breakfast in the Frater at about half- 
 past eight. This was taken standing, and consisted of a 
 few ounces of bread and a little wine or beer, and was 
 omitted on fast days and in Lent and Advent. The 
 brethren then assembled in the cloister and went in 
 procession to the morning mass, which was said at the 
 matutinal altar, and preceded or followed by the 
 office of tierce. Shortly after nine the bell rang for 
 the daily chapter, which of course was held in the 
 chapter-house. Breaches of discipline were reported and 
 dealt with on the spot. The convent seal was affixed to 
 deeds or charters. Novices were presented to the prior 
 before their profession and ordinands before their ordi- 
 nation. Decisions were made on important affairs of 
 business. Anniversaries of departed benefactors or 
 saints were announced and prayer offered for their 
 eternal rest. 
 
 Chapters, being daily, were usually short, and 
 afforded some interval before high mass. During 
 this interval conversation was permitted in the 
 cloister on matters connected with the welfare of the 
 convent, and became a means of forming and ascer- 
 taining the feeling and judgment of the community 
 on various courses of action or administration. 
 
 At about ten o'clock, or perhaps later in winter, 
 high mass was celebrated with great solemnity and 
 full ritual. There was a somewhat curious order of 
 Chapter in 1 305 that if the hebdomadary or priest for 
 the week did not possess a solemn voice {solemfnem 
 vocem non habeat), one of the brethren better endowed 
 in this respect should read the Gospel for him ; and 
 that in like manner a sub-deacon suitably gifted should 
 read the Epistle. 
 260 
 
LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 We are not told whether this regulation occasioned 
 any heartburnings ; but if it did not, considerable 
 credit is due to the less sonorous members of the 
 community. 
 
 The hour of sext seems to have usually followed 
 high mass, and at perhaps half-past eleven dinner was 
 ready in the Frater. It was the duty of the refectorian 
 to see that the meal was properly and punctually 
 served, that mats or rushes were supplied for the floor, 
 and " in summer to throw flowers, mint, or fennel into 
 the air to make a sweet odour." The napery was to 
 be clean and white, and there were strict rules as to 
 the courtesies of the table. There were two courses, 
 such as pottage and fish or eggs, and on special days 
 a " pittance " of fruit or nuts or cheese. One of the 
 monks was told off as reader of some edifying book 
 and bidden to be, clear and articulate; others took 
 their turns week by week as " servers " and waited on 
 their fellows. 
 
 After dinner nones were said in the choir, and in 
 summer, when the nightly allowance of sleep was 
 less, a rest or siesta of an hour in the dormitory 
 was enjoined, and from then till five o'clock was the 
 time for work and play. The studious took their books 
 into the carrels or httle wainscoted studies in the 
 cloister, the south alley of which still shows the grooves 
 where the mullions and tracery were glazed ; though 
 Canterbury cannot show, like Gloucester, the stone 
 framework of the carrels as a part of the structure of 
 the building. The writers and illuminators of manu- 
 script occupied the scriptorium ; and there was some 
 provision for readers and writers in the cubicles of the 
 dormitory. The monkish architects and students of 
 the arts and crafts pondered and wrought at their 
 designs. The officials, great and small, went about 
 such affairs of the house as required attention. Among 
 the latter, the granger looked to the supplies of wheat 
 flour, and the bartoner to the quality and quantity 
 
 261 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 of malt, the brewer to his casks _and measures and 
 fermenting beer ; while the cloth bought by the 
 chamberlain at the fairs or from the merchants was 
 measured out by his assistants for the master-tailor. 
 Grammar, singing, and other lessons were given to the 
 novices in the cloister. Recreation was by no means 
 forgotten. Under due regulation and with the 
 requisite permissions from the Prior, there were 
 hawking, hunting, and outdoor games such as bowls 
 and ball. There is mention in the treasurers' accounts 
 of " the huntsman and his man," " greyhounds," and 
 more frequently of " players " and " minstrels." The 
 plays were sometimes of a purely religious character, 
 the old miracle plays, as, for instance, in the year 
 1444 (Henry VI), " Given to the town-players for 
 their play on the day of our Lord's Crucifixion, 
 3s. 4d." But many were in lighter vein, as the follow- 
 ing will testify : " Given to the boys who played and 
 danced before the lord prior, 6s. 8d. To the players 
 who played before the lord prior on Ascension Day, 
 6s. 8d. (1444)." " To divers persons dancing {tripu- 
 diantes) on the night of the Translation of St. Thomas, 
 13s. 4d. (1446)." " To the boys who sang on the Feast 
 of the Epiphany, 3s. 4d. To the boys of Thomas Ware 
 playing before the prior, los. (1447)." 
 
 Of course the plays, minstrels, and dancers were only 
 occasional ; probably all amusements were more or 
 less exceptional, only to be indulged in as graver occupa- 
 tions permitted and as the need of relaxation was felt. 
 The monotony and austerity of monastic life and the 
 strain of incessant religious offices made rest and change 
 imperative. This was obviously in the mind of Arch- 
 bishop Walter Reynolds when he begged the Pope's 
 licence to convey to the priory the manor of Caldicote, 
 that the monks might breathe fresher air there after 
 being blooded or otherwise over-fatigued. 
 
 About five o'clock in winter or six in summer the 
 bell called the brethren to vespers in the choir ; after 
 262 
 
• LIFE OF THE MONASTERY 
 
 vespers supper, consisting of one dish and a pittance, 
 was served in the Frater. This meal, however, was not 
 allowed excepting on festivals from All Saints' Day- 
 till Christmas and from Epiphany till Easter. If any 
 
 Substructure of the Cellarer's Gate House 
 Now fart of the house of the Bishop of Dover 
 
 monk felt unable to go without food till the next day, 
 he was allowed a little bread and some kind of drink, 
 known as the fotum caritatis. Then came a reading 
 in the chapter -house ; a short interval during which 
 the brethren could walk in the cloister or warm them- 
 selves at the fire in the deportum or common recreation 
 room ; and compline, the last hour or office of the day. 
 
 263 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 At half-past seven in winter or half-past eight in 
 summer came the signal for rest, and they went 
 silently to the dormitory and to bed. 
 
 There were, of course, customs and regulations in 
 every monastery which, though deeply affecting the 
 daily life of the inmates, do not readily find a place in 
 any account of a typical day's routine. No monk, for 
 instance, was supposed to possess any personal pro- 
 perty ; it was therefore somewhat of a scandal when 
 after the death of Brother John Viel in 1444 the 
 sum of £4 1 6s, 8d. was discovered in his cubicle in 
 the dormitory. But small allowances of pocket-money 
 were often made on special occasions or in acknowledg- 
 ment of special services, such as riding abroad in 
 attendance on the prior, when the want of a few coins 
 might be embarrassing. On Maundy Thursday the 
 almoner distributed a number of " signa " (or tokens) 
 to the brethren and servants of the house for their 
 Easter offerings, giving three to the sub-prior and 
 cellarer, two to the precentor, sacrist, chamberlain, 
 and granger, four to the infirmarer and peniten- 
 tiary, and one each to the succentor, third chanter, 
 sub-chamberlain, hostler {hostelario), cook, and aU 
 who carried a staff in the infirmary. Sermons were 
 preached in the cathedral from time to time by 
 the more learned or eloquent of the brethren, and a 
 fee was paid to the preacher — 3s. 4d., or at most 
 6s. 8d., for a Latin sermon, and twice as much for 
 plain English to the common people. It is a curious 
 reflection that in our day it would be much easier to 
 earn the higher rate of remuneration. Sometimes 
 these sermons were preached by visiting friars, for in 
 1453 we have an entry, " to the friars who preached 
 in our church on divers occasions this year, 29s. 8d." 
 It would seem as though friars did not receive, or 
 would not accept, as much as the monks. 
 
 W. D. 
 C. E. W. 
 264 
 
PRIORS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 APPENDIX 
 PRIORS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 1080-96. Henry, became abbot of Battle, where he 
 died in 1102. 
 
 1096-1107. Ernulf, a pupil of Lanfranc at Bee, re- 
 built the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, was 
 elected abbot of Burgh (Peterborough) in 1 107 and 
 Bishop of Rochester in 11 14, where he built the 
 dormitory, frater, the prior's gate, and part of the 
 cloister. He died March 14, 1 1 24, aged eighty- four. 
 
 1108-26. Conrad, beautified the interior of the 
 choir built by his predecessor, recast the great 
 bell which Ernulf had given, and gave to the 
 church of Canterbury a number of valuable vest- 
 ments and ornaments. He became abbot of 
 St. Benedict's, Hulme, in 11 26, where he died in 
 the following year. 
 
 1126-28. Geoffrey, became abbot of Dunfermline 
 in 1 154, where he wrote a work called Historia 
 Afostolica. He died in 1154. 
 
 1129-37. Elmer, is described by Gervase "as a 
 man of great simplicity and very religious." It 
 was during his priorate that Anselm's choir was 
 dedicated by Archbishop Corbeil on May 4, 1130. 
 Died 1 137. 
 
 1137-43. Jeremiah, resigned under pressure brought 
 to bear upon him by Archbishop Theobald. He 
 then joined the monastery of St. Augustine, where 
 he died and was buried. 
 
 1143-49. Walter Durdent, described as "a most 
 religious man and learned in the Scriptures." In 
 1 149 he became Bishop of Chester. 
 
 1149-50. Walter the Little (Parvus), had been 
 chaplain to Archbishop Theobald, by whom he 
 was deposed from the priorate in 1150 and sent 
 to Gloucester Abbey. 
 
 265 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 1151-67. Wybert, of whom Gervase says "well 
 known in all good works," chief amongst which 
 was the introduction into the precincts of a good 
 water-supply. He died September 27, 1167, and 
 was buried in the chapter-house. (Somner's 
 " Antiquities of Canterbury," p. 141.) 
 
 1167-75. Odo, was Prior at the time of the murder 
 of Archbishop Becket ; in 1175 he was elected 
 abbot of Battle. 
 
 1175-77. Benedict, wrote a life of St. Thomas of 
 Canterbury. He became abbot of Peterborough in 
 1 177, and took with him some of the stones of the 
 pavement in the transept " on which the holy 
 martyr fell," and built two altars with them in 
 Peterborough Cathedral, the nave of which church 
 he completed; he also built the great abbey 
 gate. He died in 1193. 
 
 1177-79. Herlewin, had been a chaplain of Arch- 
 bishop Richard. He resigned on account of age 
 and failing sight. 
 
 1179-86. Alan, though an Englishman, spent some 
 years as a canon of Benevento, and entered the 
 priory of Christ Church in 11 74. During his 
 priorate the rebuilding of the choir was finished. 
 Gervase says that when Henry H came to Canter- 
 bury in 1 1 86, the archbishop persuaded the King 
 to appoint him to the abbacy of Tewkesbury, as 
 a punishment for his resistance to Baldwin's 
 college at Hackington. 
 
 1186-88. HoNORius, had been chaplain to Arch- 
 bishop Baldwin, but as Prior vigorously opposed 
 the Archbishop's scheme for founding a college 
 of canons at Hackington. For this purpose he 
 went to Rome to lay the appeal of the convent 
 before Pope Urban HI. He died of plague at 
 Velletri on October 21, 11 88, and was buried in 
 the cloister of the Lateran at Rome. 
 
 1 189 (From October 6 to November 30). Roger 
 
 266 
 
PRIORS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 NoRRis, a partisan of Baldwin, by whom he was 
 thrust into the priorate against the will of 
 the monks. In 1189 the archbishop was com- 
 pelled to depose him, and in the following year 
 he was appointed abbot of Evesham by King 
 Richard I. At Evesham he lived a scandalous 
 life, and was deposed by Archbishop Hubert 
 Walter in 1213. 
 
 1 190. OsBERT OF Bristol, intruded by Baldwin. His 
 death occurred a few weeks after his appointment. 
 
 1191-1213. Geoffrey H, as sub-prior had represented 
 the convent during the absence of Prior Honorius, 
 and had taken an active part in the struggle 
 with Archbishop Baldwin ; as prior he headed 
 the opposition to Archbishop Hubert. When the 
 monks of Christ Church were exiled by King 
 John, Geoffrey retired to the abbey of Pontigny. 
 He died at sea when returning to England in 
 1213. 
 
 1213-22. Walter HI, during whose priorate the trans- 
 lation of the relics of St. Thomas of Canterbury 
 was carried out (July 7, 1220). In the same year 
 Pope Honorius granted to the priors of Christ 
 Church the right to wear the ring and mitre. 
 
 1222-32. John of Sittingbourne, was elected by 
 the monks to succeed Archbishop Richard 
 (Wethershede) in 1232, but the election was set 
 aside by the Pope. Much work was done in the 
 cloister during his priorate. Died July 18, 1234. 
 
 1232-38. John of Chatham, continued the work 
 in the cloister. He resigned his office in con- 
 sequence of certain alleged tampering with the 
 monastic charters. 
 
 1239-44. Roger of Lee, elected January 7, 1239, 
 after a vacancy of nearly a year ; built the ambula- 
 tory under the prior's chapel. Resigned in 1244, 
 but continued an inmate of the convent until his 
 death, which occurred on August 24, 1258. 
 
 267 
 
CJNTERBURTCJTHEDRJL 
 
 1244-58. Nicholas of Sandwich, enthroned Arch- 
 bishop Boniface in the presence of King Henry III 
 and Queen Eleanor in 1249. Resigned in 1258, 
 and was appointed precentor in 1262, but, " being 
 inaudible," he was removed from that office, and 
 died in 1289. 
 
 1258-63. Roger of St. Alphege, built the prior's 
 chapel over the south alley of the infirmary 
 cloister. Died September 29, 1263, and was 
 buried on the north side of the chapel of St. 
 Thomas. 
 
 1264-74. Adam of Chillenden. He was elected 
 to the primacy on the death of Archbishop 
 Boniface by the monks, but placed his resignation 
 in the hands of the Pope on account of the violent 
 opposition of the King to his candidature. He 
 died September 13, 1274. 
 
 1274-84. Thomas RiNGMERE, had been chaplain to 
 Archbishop Kilwardby ; attempted to reform 
 the discipline of the monastery, but without 
 success. Resigned in 1284 and joined the Cis- 
 tercian abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, and later 
 became a hermit at Brookwood in Windsor Forest. 
 Died c. 131 1. 
 
 1284-1331. Henry of Eastry, ruled the monastery 
 for forty-seven years and was a great benefactor 
 to the house. A list of building works undertaken 
 by this Prior is in Register I, f. 212, and is printed 
 in Archceologia Cantiana, vol. vii. pp. 185-87. 
 He was buried in the cathedral " near the 
 image of St. Osyth," but the position of this 
 image is unknown. 
 
 1331-38. Richard Oxenden, the second son of 
 Solbman de Oxenden of Nonington. Died 
 August 4, 1338, and was buried in St. Michael's 
 Chapel. 
 
 1338-70. Robert Hathbrand, rebuilt the kitchen, 
 the hall of the infirmary known as the " Master's 
 
 268 
 
PRIORS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 Table," and remodelled the chancel of the 
 infirmary chapel. He acted as tutor to two of 
 the sons of King Edward III. During his 
 priorate Canterbury College in Oxford was 
 founded by Archbishop Islip (1363). He died 
 July 16, 1370, and was buried in St. Michael's 
 Chapel. 
 
 1370-76. Richard Gillingham, during his priorate 
 the convent paid ^^looo to King Edward HI to 
 release their church estates from the exactions of 
 the King's justices after the death of Archbishop 
 Whittlesey. He died August 31, 1376. 
 
 1376-77. Stephen Mongeham, assisted at the funeral 
 of Prince Edward (the Black Prince) in 1376. 
 
 1377-91. John Finch, obtained ffom the Pope the 
 privilege of wearing the pontifical sandals, of 
 carrying the pastoral staff, and of giving benedic- 
 tion in the absence of the archbishop. In his' 
 days the Norman nave of the cathedral was 
 pulled down and a new nave was commenced. 
 He died January 25, 1391, and was buried in the 
 chapel of the Martyrdom. 
 
 1391-1411. Thomas Chillenden, educated at Paris, 
 Bologna, and Oxford ; doctor of canon and civil 
 law ; called by Leland " the greatest builder of 
 a prior that ever was in Christes Church." 
 A list of his building operations and other good 
 works is inscribed on the account roll of the year 
 of his death, and the greater part has been printed 
 by Willis, ut supra, and by Dr. Sheppard in 
 Literce Cantuarienses, R.S., vol. iii. pp. 112-22. 
 He died August 15, 141 1, and was buried in the 
 nave of the cathedral next to the tomb of Arch- 
 bishop Arundel. 
 
 141 1-27. John Wodnesburgh, was a man of good 
 business habits, who paid off all the debts of 
 his predecessors and continued several of the 
 works left unfinished by Chillenden. He died 
 
 269 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 in his study called the " Gloriet " on February 28, 
 1427-28, and was buried in the nave at the head of 
 his predecessor. 
 
 1428-37. William Molash, " a man of great purity 
 and religion." He was warden of Canterbury 
 College in Oxford from 141 3 to 1426. During 
 his priorate the first stone of the great central 
 tower was laid on August 4, 1433. Molash died 
 February 19, 1437. The place of his burial is 
 not recorded, but it is not unlikely that the large 
 marble slab bearing the matrix for a brass effigy 
 of an ecclesiastic in the floor of the southern aisle 
 of the crypt marks his tomb. 
 
 1437-46. John Sarisbury, before his election as 
 Prior had been warden of Canterbury College. 
 He died January 19, 1446, and was buried at 
 the upper end of the nave. 
 
 1446-49. John Elham, died February 21, 1449, 
 and was buried in the nave at the head of Prior 
 Wodnesburgh. 
 
 1449-68. Thomas Goldston I, previously warden of 
 Canterbury College. Built the new Lady Chapel 
 opening out of the north transept, in which he 
 was buried. He died August 6, 1468. 
 
 1468-71. John Oxney. Died July 2, 1471. 
 
 1471-72. William Petham. Died August 19, 1472. 
 
 1472-94. William Sellinge. A native of Sellinge, 
 near Hythe, and probably a son of William 
 Tilley of the same place. Was a student of 
 Canterbury College, and afterwards in the Uni- 
 versity of Bologna, where he obtained the doc- 
 torate in divinity. Somner says of him that 
 " out of his affection to antiquities he gathered 
 together wherever he came in Italy all the ancient 
 authors, both Greek and Latin, and brought 
 them over into England and into Canterbury." 
 Amongst his building works were the erection of 
 a great part of the central tower and the room 
 
 270 
 
PRIORS OF CHRIST CHURCH 
 
 over the Prior's gateway. He died December 4, 
 1494, and was buried in the north-west transept. 
 
 1495-15 17. Thomas Goldston II, S.T.P., had been 
 warden of Canterbury College. He was a great 
 builder, and a list of his works and benefactions 
 is printed in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. i. 
 pp. i/\.6-/\rj. The latest was the erection of the 
 great gateway on the south side of the precincts. 
 He died September 15 17, and was buried beside 
 his predecessor. 
 
 1517-40. Thomas Goldwell. He was educated at 
 the Universities of Paris and Louvain. At the 
 suppression of the priory Goldwell retired with a 
 pension of ^80 a year. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 271 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH ON THE 
 EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 Before we pass on to Henry VIII's new foundation, 
 and to those changes of faith and ritual which swept 
 away so much that the mediaeval Church had highly 
 prized, it may be well to attempt a reconstruction of 
 the general aspect of the cathedral church — its altars, 
 shrines, relics, chantries, tombs, and ornaments — before 
 the destructive besom of the Reformers was applied. 
 
 In our task we shall have the assistance of Erasmus, 
 who paid a visit to Christ Church, Canterbury, in 
 1513 ; and we can supplement the account given in 
 his Perigrinatio Religionis ergo ^ by information drawn 
 from other sources. 
 
 Erasmus says : " The great church of St. Thomas 
 rears itself up to the sky so majestically that it strikes 
 us with religious awe even from a distance, eclipsing 
 the splendour of the older, and formerly more sacred, 
 place [St. Augustine's]. Two \sic\ immense towers 
 salute the visitor from afar, thrilling the air far and 
 wide with the clang of brazen bells. In the porch, 
 which is toward the south, stand three men — in 
 armour and carved in stone — ^who with their impious 
 hands murdered the most holy man, their names, 
 Tusci, Fusci, Berri, being subjoined." 
 
 By " in the porch " Erasmus doubtless means " on the 
 porch," and we may picture to ourselves the images of 
 the three knights, Tracy, Fitzurse, and Le Breton (why 
 Hugh de Moreville was omitted we cannot guess), 
 
 ' D. Erasmus, CoUoquia (Amsterdam, 1662), 374. 
 272 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 occupying the now empty panel over the outer door- 
 way. Erasmus does not mention the Uttle bas-relief 
 representation on the other panel of the altar of the 
 Sword Point, but it was there, and in a better state of 
 preservation than it 
 now is ; for in ad- 
 dition to the ravages 
 of the hand of Time, 
 it formed a target for 
 the bullets of the 
 Parliamentarysoldiers 
 during the Great Re- 
 bellion. 
 
 Erasmus's account 
 of the nave is dis- 
 appointing. He says 
 there was nothing to 
 be seen there except 
 certain books chained 
 to the pillars, amongst 
 which he noticed the 
 Gospel of Nicodemus 
 and the tomb " of 
 some one whose name 
 I do not know." 
 This is remarkable, 
 because the nave con- 
 tained the tombs of 
 two Archbishops, viz. 
 those of Simon Islip and William Whittlesey, whose 
 raised monuments with their effigies of brass were 
 conspicuous objects at the upper end of the central 
 alley — Islip on the north side and Whittlesey on the 
 south ; and he must also have seen a number of 
 memorials to fifteenth-century priors on the floor of 
 the church. 
 
 In addition to the books chained to the pillars there 
 was also a money-box for the offerings of pilgrims 
 
 s 273 
 
 Jltar of the Sword Point 
 
CJ NTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 " in the middle of the nave " {De Pixide in medio 
 navi ecclesie V^ oh. " Sacrist's Accounts," 1462). 
 
 We should have been glad to have some account of 
 the three chantry chapels, two of which — ^Bucking- 
 ham's, near the site of the present font, and Arundel's, 
 on the same side further east — ^Erasmus must have 
 seen, but he says nothing about them ; perhaps 
 because at the date he wrote such adjuncts were 
 common enough in most churches. Nor does he men- 
 tion the Consistory Court enclosed by screens beneath 
 the north-western tower. He has something to say 
 about the iron gates and grille which shut out the lay 
 people from the upper part of the church, but does 
 not notice the great Rood, which with its attendant 
 images was suspended between the eastern piers of 
 the tower over the loft or fulfitum which surmounted 
 the choir screen. Nor does he mention the altar of the 
 Holy Cross — ^the people's altar — ^which stood probably 
 upon the first platform in the flight of steps leading 
 to the choir, and where certain relics were kept " in 
 a wooden desk partly covered with silver-gilt, with 
 gems and a cross in the midst." ^ 
 
 There was, moreover, a second altar of the Holy 
 Cross, described in the monastic accounts as " on the 
 south side of the church," which perhaps stood 
 beneath a second Rood at the end of the south aisle. 
 
 Somewhere in the nave there was a small image of 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury, which was remarkable for 
 the fact that the saint was represented as holding four 
 swords in his hand,^ but Erasmus did not notice it. 
 
 Passing through the iron gates above referred to, 
 Erasmus and his friend Colet were conducted to the 
 scene of the martyrdom in the north-west transept, 
 which was reached by way of the tunnel-like passage 
 
 1 " Inventories of Christ Church," op. cit. p. 38. 
 
 ^ " In uno parvo ymagine in navi ecclesie in honorem sancti Thome 
 cum quatuor gladiis in manu sua v' iiij""." Stone's "Chronicle," ed- 
 M. R. James, op. cit. p. 18 
 274 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 beneath the steps leading to the choir. Here they 
 were shown the altar of the Sword Point, " erected 
 on the very place where the holy man fell." Erasmus 
 describes the altar as " a wooden one sacred to the 
 Holy Virgin, insignificant and not worth visiting save 
 as a monument of antiquity, putting to shame the 
 luxury of these times. There the holy man is said to 
 have uttered a last farewell to the Virgin when death 
 was nigh at hand. On the altar is the point of the 
 sword with which the head of the most excellent 
 prelate was cleft and his brain mixed together in order 
 that his death might be more speedy. The sacred 
 rust of this sword from love of the martyr we religiously 
 kissed." 
 
 The point of Richard the Breton's sword seems 
 usually to have stood upon or over the altar, and had 
 a special set of coverings, that were withdrawn on 
 such occasions as the relic was displayed. Amongst 
 other relics kept in the Martyrdom were two golden 
 rings, formerly belonging to or worn by St, Thomas 
 and St. Edmund the Archbishop, which are described 
 as " of great and wonderful virtue for relieving the 
 eyes of sick persons." ^ 
 
 From the Martyrdom Erasmus descended to the 
 crypt, where he was shown a head enclosed in silver 
 which he took to be a reliquary enclosing the pierced 
 skull of St. Thomas, but which was more probably 
 the new relic of St. Dunstan which had recently been 
 enclosed in a mitred bust of silver, since there is 
 no other record of any part of St. Thomas's head 
 being kept in the crypt. He was also shown the 
 coffin-plate of the martyr with the inscription "Thomas 
 of Acre," and in the gloom which surrounded the 
 saint's tomb he noticed " the hair shirt, the girdle, 
 and the drawers by means of which the saint sub- 
 dued the flesh " hanging from the pillars. From the 
 
 1 " Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury," Messrs. Legg and 
 Hope (London, 1902), pp. 125-37. 
 
 275 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 crypt he was conducted to the choir, where the 
 great almonry or relic cupboard on the north side 
 near the high altar ^ was unlocked and its con- 
 tents displayed. " It is wonderful to tell," says 
 Erasmus, " how many bones were brought out 
 thence — skulls, jawbones, teeth, hands, fingers, and 
 whole arms." " A most concise summary," says Mr. 
 St. John Hope, "of the contents of this cupboard, as 
 set forth in the inventory." The inventory in question 
 was drawn up when Henry of Eastry was prior, but it 
 probably represents pretty fairly what the cupboard 
 contained at a later date, and in order to give some 
 idea of the extraordinary nature and extent of the 
 collection we will quote here Mr. Hope's able analysis 
 of the said inventory : 
 
 First in order are three heads of St. Blaise, St. Furse, and St. Austro- 
 berta, each enclosed in silver-gilt. Neit come eleven arms of saints, 
 each encased in an arm-shaped rehquary of silver-gilt. Then follow 
 fifty-sii separate reliquaries of various kinds and shapes, containing 
 every conceivable class of relic. Seven of them vyere in the form of 
 crosses, of which four were double-barrelled as containing particles of 
 the true Cross ; a fifth was St. Andrew's cross, because it contained 
 rehcs of that saint ; and a sixth was a cross of St. Peter virith reversed 
 image, enclosing some of St. Peter's cross ; the other cross was a gold 
 one fuU of rehcs given by Stephen Langton. In a crystal tube was a 
 thorn of our Lord's crown. 
 
 The second group of rehcs, which was probably kept in one half of 
 the great double cupboard, begins with four single items, namely, 
 Aaron's rod, a " table " (probably a slab) from the tomb of the Blessed 
 Mary, the super-altar, and a chahce made of crystal, gold, and enamel, 
 with a paten de ferle that once belonged to St. Alphege. Next come 
 nineteen filactria or reHquaries that could be hung up by cords, made of 
 crystal, copper, silver or silver-gilt, and containing bones of various 
 saints. In two of them were reUcs of St. Thomas. The next on the 
 list are a small silver-gilt cup containing St. Thomas's pall, and a round 
 glass in which was some of the dust of his body. Among the seven 
 following items is an oblong crystalline stone set in silver-gilt, under 
 which was some of the saint's flesh and skin. But a much more impor- 
 
 1 The relic cupboard stood on a raised platform, as shown in HoUar's 
 plan published in Dugdale's Monasticon, i. 1 8, between the tombs of 
 Archbishops Chicheley and Bourchier. 
 
 276 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 tant lot of relics was preserved in the next reliquary, a great ivory coffer 
 guarded by a lock. This contained the simple white mitre in which 
 St. Thomas had been buried, another white mitre he was wont to use 
 on simple feasts, his gloves, his sandals of blue embroidered with gold 
 roses, besants, and crescents; his buskins of black samite, his famous 
 hair shirt, and some of his bed and girdle.* Two packets of other relics 
 of the saint, wrapped in white silk, were Hkewise enclosed in the coffer. 
 The next three items in the list were standing " tables " of silver-gilt 
 containing various rehcs. The remaining reliquaries, chiefly of ivory, 
 and copper boxes or caskets, need only be mentioned on account of the 
 miscellaneous curiosities preserved in some of them, such as : 
 
 Some of the stone upon which the Lord stood when He ascended into 
 Heaven. 
 
 Some of the Lord's table upon which He made the Supper. 
 
 Some of the prison whence the angel of the Lord snatched the blessed 
 Apostle Peter. 
 
 Some wool which Mary the Virgin had woven. 
 
 Some of the oak upon which Abraham [sic] climbed to see the Lord. 
 
 And some of the clay out of which God fashioned Adam. 
 
 Perhaps it was as well that these extraordinary 
 " curiosities " did not meet the eye of Erasmus, who 
 tells us that before the contents of the relic cupboard 
 were exhausted the enthusiasm of the showman was 
 so damped by the restiveness of Colet that he shut up 
 his wares and the pilgrims passed on to view the 
 glories of the high altar. After viewing the silver- 
 gilt tabula and other ornaments of the high altar, 
 the visitors proceeded " to the vaulted chamber 
 under the steps which led to the archbishop's 
 throne. This chamber is entered from the north 
 side of the presbytery immediately opposite the vestry. 
 It retains its ancient floor of encaustic tiles, and has 
 two grated windows looking into the crypt, but none 
 of its old fittings remain. From this treasury 
 Erasmus and his friends were led into the vestry 
 in the chapel of St. Andrew, and possibly into the 
 inner vestry or treasury beyond, where the muniments 
 and more precious jewels were kept. ' Good God ! ' 
 exclaims Erasmus, ' what pomp was there of silk 
 
 * The hair shirt and girdle had apparently been transferred to the 
 crypt in Erasmus's days. 
 
 277 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 vestments ! What wealth of gold candlesticks ! In 
 the same place we saw the staff of the blessed Thomas ! 
 It seemed to be a cane covered with silver plates ; it 
 was of little weight, no workmanship, nor any higher 
 than to the girdle.' He says he saw no cross, but was 
 shown the f allium, which he asserts was all of silk, 
 though of coarse thread and unornamented with gold 
 or gems ; also a handkerchief retaining manifest traces 
 of sweat wiped from the neck and of blood." ^ Perhaps 
 time did not allow the visitors to see the magnificent 
 vestments stored in the presses and cope chests, of 
 which the church had a wonderful store ; at any rate, 
 Erasmus says nothing about them. Of copes no 
 fewer than two hundred and sixty-two are enumerated 
 in an inventory which was taken at the time of the 
 suppression of the priory. This extraordinary pro- 
 fusion of copes is partly accounted for by the fact that 
 it was one of the privileges of the church of Canterbury 
 to receive from every suffragan bishop of the southern 
 province at his consecration " a decent cope " and a 
 profession of canonical obedience. The abbots of 
 religious houses situated in the diocese of Canterbury 
 also offered " profession copes " to the mother-church. 
 But the most magnificent specimens of the em- 
 broiderer's art were obtained by the gift of arch- 
 bishops, priors, and even of simple monks. Some 
 of them were actually the handiwork of the brethren ; 
 for Stone tells us that Brother Thomas Selmeston, who 
 died of the plague in 141 9, was the most highly 
 skilled embroiderer in the kingdom, and says that in 
 his day many examples of Selmeston's art remain in the 
 vestry of the church, " notably the golden chasuble of 
 Thomas Heme and the vestment of Richard Ruton." ^ 
 From the vestry Erasmus and his friend were 
 conducted to the " upper parts " of the church — 
 that is, to the retro-choir. Here he saw first, " in 
 
 '^ " Inventories of Christ Church," op. cit. p. 42. 
 ^ Stone's " Chronicle," ut sufra, p. 10. 
 278 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 a certain little chapel" (the circular chapel of the 
 Holy Trinity at the extreme east end of the church), 
 the relic called the " corona," which he describes 
 as " the whole face of the most holy man, gilt 
 and ornamented with many gems." This was the 
 mitred bust of St. Thomas which enclosed what at 
 Canterbury was always called Corona — i.e. St. Thomas's 
 crown — ^but was known to the world at large from its 
 shape as the Caput sancti Thome or St. Thomas's head. 
 Finally, after visiting the shrine of St. Thomas — of 
 which a sufficient description has been given in a 
 previous chapter — ^the visitors, before leaving the 
 church, returned to the crypt to see the chapel of the 
 Virgin, and paid a second visit to the vestry to inspect 
 some other relics of St. Thomas. 
 
 We will now part company from Erasmus and take 
 a brief survey of the church on our own account. 
 
 The arrangement of the choir will first occupy our 
 attention. At the western entrance we are met by 
 the usher of the choir door {pstiarius chori), who, as 
 we pass beneath the rood screen sprinkles us with holy 
 water with the silver-handled aspersorium, which hangs 
 by a chain against the inner jamb of the arch.^ On 
 entering the choir, our attention is at once drawn to 
 the arras hangings which are suspended from hooks 
 fixed in the pillars, above the traceried stonework of 
 Prior Eastry's lateral screens.^ Of these hangings the 
 church possessed several sets. If, however, our visit 
 should be on one of the greater festivals, then the 
 choir would be decked with the " faire new hanging 
 of rich tapestrie," which had been recently given 
 by Richard Dering, the cellarer, and Prior Thomas 
 
 1 " One holy water stock w* a sprynlceller o£ sylver, lxxv°'." 
 Inventory of 1540. The marks made by the fraying of the chain from 
 which the asferge was suspended are still visible on the left-hand side 
 of the western jamb of the outer archway of the choir screen. 
 
 2 The hooks are shovra in a picture of the choir painted by Thomas 
 Johnson, 1657, ^ reproduction of which was published by the Society 
 of Antiquaries in 191 1. 
 
 279 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Goldston II. This tapestry was in six pieces, three on 
 the north side and three on the south, and displayed 
 respectively scenes from the life of our Lord and of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary. All six pieces survived the 
 Reformation, and were in use when Somner pub- 
 lished his " Antiquities of Canterbury " in 1640, but 
 within the next decade they were cleared out by the 
 Puritans. After their alienation from Christ Church, 
 they appear to have been taken across the water and 
 sold in Paris to a canon of the cathedral of Aix in 
 Provence, where they are still preserved.^ 
 
 These hangings were suspended (as we have already 
 stated) above the double row of stalls north and south 
 of the choir. It is doubtful whether in the pre- 
 Reformation cathedral there were any return stalls at 
 the western end of the choir. It has generally been 
 supposed that the stall of the archbishop was upon 
 the right-hand side of the door in the rood screen, and 
 that of the prior on the left-hand side ; but the 
 records of the installation of archbishops give no 
 confirmatory evidence of this, since the procedure on 
 these occasions seems to have been to place the arch- 
 bishop (after his enthronisation in the patriarchal 
 chair) first in his stall or throne at the eastern end of 
 the monastic stalls upon the south side of the choir, 
 and afterwards in the prior's stall, which occupied a 
 corresponding position on the north side. It is true 
 that under the wainscot at the west end of the choir 
 there are some mutilated remains of canopies on 
 Eastry's screen-work which have been taken as indica- 
 tions that the western screen was provided with stalls ; 
 but we think that it is more probable that these 
 canopies surmounted niches for images.^ 
 
 ^ See a paper by Dr. M. R. James on " The Tapestries at Aix in 
 Provence," in the " Transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society," 
 vol. xi. 
 
 ^ Stone, op. cit. p. 18, mentions the following images in the choir : 
 St. Thomas, St. Edmund, St. Anselm, St. ^Ifric, St. Plegmund, and St. 
 Otho. He also says there were twelve others, but does not name them. 
 280 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 But to proceed with our survey. Advancing east- 
 wards, we reach the floor of the presbytery by an 
 ascent of two steps between the sixth piers of the main 
 arcade, noticing on our way the great desk for the 
 chanters or rulers of the choir, set in a socket cut in a 
 semicircular projection in the lower step.^ The 
 presbytery occupies the space between the transepts, 
 from the eastern piers of which and between the tombs 
 of Archbishops Kemp and Chicheley was suspended 
 the great curtain which during the season of Lent shut 
 off the view of the high altar. ^ By a further ascent of 
 three steps we reach a platform seven or eight feet 
 wide, on the north side of which is the reliquary cup- 
 board mentioned by Erasmus. On this platform it is 
 probable that the " grete paschall maste " for the 
 enormous candle which was kept burning from Easter 
 to Ascetisiontide was placed. Beyond this platform 
 six more steps lead up to the sacrarium, lying between 
 the tombs of Archbishops Bourchier (north) and 
 Sudbury (south). Midway between the ninth piers 
 is the high altar with the altars and shrines of St. 
 Dunstan and St. Alphege, placed respectively north 
 and south of it, and probably a little to the west.* 
 Whether there was any wall or continuous screen- 
 work behind the high altar is uncertain. In Conrad's 
 choir .the high altar was isolated, and it is not unlikely 
 that this arrangement was perpetuated in the recon- 
 struction after the great fire, since there would have 
 been a natural desire not to obstruct completely the 
 view of the patriarchal chair, which stood at the top 
 of the steps behind the altar. The splendid tabula or 
 
 ' See Gostling, ed. 1825, p. 307. 
 
 2 One of the hooks for the pulleys still remains in the pier next to 
 Archbishop Kemp's tomb. 
 
 * The position of the high altar is fixed by the grant of a place of 
 sepulture to Archbishop Bourchier " on the north side of the choir 
 between the two columns next to the altar of St. Alphege," on condition 
 that his monument should not screen the light of the north window from 
 the high altar. 
 
 281 
 
CJNTERBURT CJTHEDRJL 
 
 altar-piece of silver-gilt, with its golden image of the 
 Holy Trinity in the midst, flanked by silver figures of 
 apostles and surmounted by the magnificent pyx 
 which has been described in a former chapter, may 
 have been of the nature of a reredos, but need not 
 have extended much beyond the width of the altar. 
 
 On the festivals of St. Thomas of Canterbury, all 
 three altars were decked with " the frontals of crimson 
 velvet all richly embroidered with the story of Thomas 
 Becket in Venice gold," described in the inventory of 
 1540. 
 
 On the north side of the high altar we should 
 see probably the brazen eagle desk given by Prior 
 Goldston II for the use of the gospeller at high 
 mass ; and in front of it, suspended by chains from 
 the vault, three basins of silver plate, the gift of 
 Archbishop Arundel, and which doubtless served as 
 sanctuary lamps ; while a conspicuous object behind 
 the altar would be the silver-plated rood fixed to a 
 beam upon which also various reliquary chests were 
 placed, notably the shrine of St. Blaise, which con- 
 tained the earliest relic acquired by the church. 
 
 Eastward of the beam which supported the rood a 
 further flight of nine steps leads up to the patriarchal 
 chair of Petworth marble, made probably in 1220, and 
 in which the successors of St. Augustine have been 
 placed at their enthronisation ever since. Behind the 
 archbishop's seat are iron gates enclosing the chapel of 
 St. Thomas, beyond which we will not penetrate, as 
 the treasures of the saint's shrine have already been 
 sufficiently described in another place. 
 
 Something, however, must be said about the side 
 altars and the various relics deposited at or near them. 
 Thus, returning to the south-east transept, we notice 
 upon a beam placed over the altar of St. John the 
 Evangelist coffers containing the remains of Arch- 
 bishops Wulfhelm, ^thelgar, Siric, and Mlhic ; while 
 at the altar of St. Gregory further south are those of 
 282 
 
EVE OF THE REFORMATION 
 
 Archbishops Bregwyn and ^thelm. Here too is an 
 image of the Blessed Virgin ; before which a lamp is 
 perpetually burning. In the corresponding transept 
 on the north side of the choir the relics of Archbishops 
 Cuthbert and ^thelheard are preserved at the altar 
 of St. Stephen, and those of Archbishops Wulfred, 
 Living, and Lanfranc and of Queen Ediva at the 
 adjoining altar of St. Martin. Between these altars 
 we notice another image of St. Mary the Virgin,^ and 
 close by, perhaps painted on the shaft or pillar which 
 supported it, a representation of the height of our 
 Lady, called in the monastic accounts Mensura beate 
 Marie Virginis. The earliest reference to this curious 
 object occurs in the will of one Edmund Staplegate, 
 a citizen of Canterbury, who among other bequests 
 left " a taper of 28 lb. weight to burn before the 
 Measure of the blessed Mary in the Church of Christ 
 in Canterbury." Its position in the church seems to 
 be determined by the fact that in 1392 the sacrist paid 
 79s. 4d. for " the painting of the measure of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary, and the lover table at the 
 altar of St. Stephen, and the two little upper tables 
 at the altar of St. Martin." " Measures " of the height 
 of our Lord formerly existed in the church of St. Denis 
 in France and in the church of St. John Lateran at 
 Rome, but no other instance of a " measure " of the 
 blessed Virgin Mary has been noted.^ Whatever may 
 have been the precise character of the Christ Church 
 " measure," it was destroyed soon after the suppression 
 of the priory, for in the year 1541-42 the cathedral 
 carpenter was paid lod. " for whyttyng the place in 
 the chirche where the mete of our Lady was." 
 
 We cannot spare space to describe in detail the 
 extraordinary collection of relics possessed by the 
 church in the Middle Ages. A list of them compiled 
 in 1 3 15-16, when Henry of Eastry was Prior, has been 
 
 1 Stone's " Chronicle," p. 102. 
 
 2 See " Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury," op. cit. p. in. 
 
 283 
 
CAN<rERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 printed by Dr. Wickham Legg and Mr. St. John Hope 
 in their " Inventories of Christ Church," and we must 
 be content with the summary which Mr. Hope gives 
 of the marvellous collection, which he divides into the 
 following five classes : 
 
 (i) The greater relics of saints and archbishops 
 canonised at Rome, or in popular estimation, which 
 were placed in standing shrines or tombs. 
 
 (2) The lesser relics of saints and archbishops, con- 
 tained in portable or movable shrines. 
 
 (3) The relics of former archbishops and pious lay 
 folk buried or placed near altars. 
 
 (4) Miscellaneous objects enclosed in reliquaries. 
 
 (5) The tombs of certain archbishops who were the 
 objects of popular veneration and pilgrimage. 
 
 Of the greater relics placed in standing shrines or 
 tombs, that of St. Thomas, of course, heads the list, 
 and is followed by those of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan, 
 each in his shrine, the former on the north and the 
 latter on the south side of the high altar. The body 
 of St. Odo lay in a shrine on the south side of the 
 round chapel at the extreme eastern end of the 
 church, where the crown of St. Thomas was kept, and 
 that of St. Wilfrid was opposite to it on the north 
 side. 
 
 St. Anselm's body is described in the list as " in 
 the shrine of St. Peter " (the altar was dedicated to 
 SS. Peter and Paul) ; and the Archbishop's feretrum 
 was probably a raised tomb beside it or in front of it, 
 but no traces of it are left. The remaining six bodies 
 were lesser reHcs, consisting of mere boxes of bones 
 deposited at convenient places. 
 
 In the crypt Gervase records the position of nine 
 altars, viz., 
 
 (i) The altar of St. Mary the Virgin, beneath the 
 high altar. 
 
 (2) The altar of St. Nicholas, in the south apse of 
 the north-east transept. 
 284 
 
EVE OF THE REFORM AT ION 
 
 (3) The altar of St. Mary Magdalene, in the north 
 apse of the north-east transept. 
 
 (4) The altar of the H0I7 Innocents, beneath St. 
 Andrew's Tower. 
 
 (5) The altar of St. John the Baptist, beneath the 
 chapel of St. Thomas, on the north side. 
 
 (6) The altar of St. Augustine, beneath the chapel 
 of St. Thomas, on the south side. 
 
 (7) The altar of St. Audoen, in the south apse of 
 the south-east transept. 
 
 (8) The altar of St. Paulinus, in the north apse of 
 the south-east transept. 
 
 (9) The altar of St. Katherine, in the centre of the 
 south-east transept. 
 
 The three last-named saints must, however, have 
 found other depositories when the crypt beneath the 
 south-east transept was converted into a chantry chapel 
 by the Black Prince. St. Audoen, we know, was 
 transferred to a new shrine in the great relic cupboard 
 under the steps behind the high altar ; and St. 
 Katherine was made to share the altar of St. Mary 
 Magdalene in the north transept. What became of 
 St. Paulinus is not recorded. In addition to the altars 
 mentioned by Gervase, the monastic accounts show 
 that in the fifteenth century the crypt also contained 
 altars dedicated to St. Clement, St. Edmund 
 of Pontigny, St. Thomas the Apostle, and St. 
 Bartholomew. Of the last-named saint the church 
 possessed a notable relic — ^namely, his arm, given by 
 King Canute ; and somewhere in the crypt there 
 was a chapel of St. Bartholomew, but its position is 
 unknown. 
 
 The above brief description of the mother-church 
 on the eve of the great change which was to strip 
 her of her treasures and reduce to dust the chiefest 
 of them all may suffice to recall some of her 
 glories, though it by no means exhausts them. Of 
 Becket Battely writes that when by command of 
 
 285 
 
CJNTERBURT CJTHEDRJL 
 
 Henry VIII his body was burnt to ashes, " his heart 
 was found among those ashes unconsumed and even 
 entire. This," he adds, " was more of a miracle than 
 anything that was pretended to be done by St. Thomas 
 the Martyr." 
 
 It is an exceedingly improbable story, but perhaps 
 we may accept it as a symbol that the truly imperish- 
 able memorials of a church or a cause are to be found 
 in the hearts and lives, the courage and devotion of the 
 men who, with whatever faults and frailties, served and 
 loved it. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 286 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FROM THE NEW FOUNDATION TO THE 
 PRIMACY OF LAUD 
 
 1540-1633 
 
 The Royal Charter incorporating the new capitular 
 body was sealed on April 8, 1541, just over a year 
 after the dissolution of the convent.^ It recites 
 (i) the surrender to the King of the monastery and 
 all its possessions ; (2) the King's desire that the true 
 worship of God be not abolished therein, but restored 
 and reformed, and the establishment to that end of a 
 collegiate church consisting of a dean and twelve 
 canons ; (3) the confirmation of the cathedral and 
 metropolitical church and archiepiscopal see with all 
 its honours and distinctions {honoribus et insigniis) to 
 Cranmer and his successors ; (4) the perpetual gift 
 to them of the archiepiscopal palace ; (5) the grant to 
 the new cathedral body of all the precinct, site, and 
 buildings of the late monastery, with all the ancient 
 privileges, liberties, and free customs, saving the 
 palace reserved for the Archbishop and the cellarer's 
 hall and lodging retained for the King. 
 
 The full constitution of the cathedral body as set 
 forth in the statutes issued at about the same time 
 was as follows : a dean, twelve prebendaries, six 
 preachers, twelve minor canons, one deacon, one sub- 
 
 1 This document and its fellow containing the statutes disappeared 
 probably during the Parliamentary wars, since after the Restoration 
 the Chapter informed Archbishop Juxon that they had been " imbezled 
 away." The existing copies are undated, and not earlier than the 
 middle of the seventeenth century. 
 
 287 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 deacon, twelve lay clerks, one master of the choristers, 
 ten choristers, two teachers of the grammar school, 
 fifty scholars, twelve bedesmen, two sub-sacristans, 
 two vergers, two gate-porters (who were also to act 
 as barbers), one manciple, one butler, one under- 
 butler, one cook, one under-cook, four bellringers — 
 in all 134 persons. 
 
 Similar — ^indeed, practically identical — constitutions 
 were provided for all the cathedral churches of the 
 new foundation, the only peculiarity of that of 
 the metropolitical church being the provision for the 
 six preachers, which was not made elsewhere. At 
 Canterbury the preachers, in addition to preaching 
 in the cathedral on saints' days, were to deliver at 
 least twenty sermons in the neighbourhood, especially 
 in the churches of those parishes where the dean and 
 chapter possessed landed estates. Houses were allotted 
 to them in the precincts, and they were provided with 
 horses in order to enable them to fulfil their duties in 
 the country parishes. 
 
 The dean and prebendaries were the governing 
 body, and their names, which were written in the 
 charter, indicate the King's intention to hold the 
 balance equally between the old and the new learning.^ 
 Cranmer did not wholly approve the scheme. " The 
 sect of prebendaries," he wrote to Cromwell in a 
 curious letter quoted by Dr. Mason in his " Thomas 
 Cranmer," " spend their time in much idleness and 
 their substance in superfluous belly cheer." Instead 
 of twelve prebendaries at ^40 a year each, he advised 
 
 ' " The names of the first prebendaries were : 1st stall, Richard 
 Thornden, alias Lested, S.T.P. ; 2, Arthur Sentleger ; 3, Richard 
 Champion, S.T.P. ; 4, Richard Parkhurst ; 5, Nicholas Ridley, S.T.P. 
 6, John Mennys ; 7, Hugh Glasyer ; 8, William Hadleigh, alias Hunt 
 9, William Sandwich, aHas Gardiner ; 10, John Warham, alias MiUs 
 II, John Chittenden, alias Danyel ; 12, John Baptista de Casia, D.C.L. 
 The names of those printed in italics are those of former monks of the 
 priory." " History of the King's School, Canterbury," Woodruff and 
 Cape, p. 47. 
 288 
 
Interior of the " Christ Church Gate ' 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 '* twenty divines at ^^lo apiece, like as it is appointed 
 to be at Oxford and Cambridge ; and forty students 
 in the tongues and sciences and French to have ten 
 marks apiece." Cranmer's advice availed nothing at 
 the time, though it might perhaps have made Canter- 
 bury a great seat of learning ; but in the nineteenth 
 century it was partially, if unconsciously, followed when 
 the number of canons was cut down from twelve to 
 six and a more liberal provision was made for the 
 King's School. Another episode in connection with 
 the new foundation is greatly to Cranmer's honour. 
 When the Commissioners were electing the first fifty 
 King's scholars there was a disposition to admit only 
 those of gentle birth, to keep the children of poor 
 folk " low in the forehead that they might do low 
 work." The Archbishop would have none of it. 
 " Poor men's children are many times endued with 
 more singular gifts of nature, which are also the gifts 
 of God — as with eloquence, memory, apt pronuntia- 
 tion, sobriety, with such-like — ^and also more commonly 
 given to apply their study than is the gentleman's son 
 delicately educated. . . . To conclude, if the gentle- 
 man's son be apt to learning, let him be admitted ; if 
 not, let the poor man's child, apt, enter his room." ^ 
 The history of the King's School has been fully told 
 elsewhere,^ but a brief summary of its relation to the 
 new foundation may not be out of place here. 
 
 In monastic times the archbishop's school was 
 probably taught in a building, long since destroyed, 
 near the palace. The first schoolhouse after the 
 dissolution was the building, now used as stable, 
 coachhouse, and garage, on the south side of the 
 precincts and close to the east side of the mound 
 where stood the old campanile. This building was 
 
 1 Strype's "Memorials of the Archbishops" Cranmer, vol. i. p. 
 127, Oxf. ed. 
 
 2 " Historyfof the King's School, Canterbury," Woodruff and Cape, 
 London, 1909. 
 
 291 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 afterwards used as a " plumbery " and sometimes as a 
 bell-foundry, the great clock-bell " Dunstan " in the 
 south-west tower or Oxford steeple having been recast 
 here in 1762. The structure was partially destroyed 
 by fire during these rather dangerous operations, but 
 was restored on the old lines, and retains the old 
 stonework of the western wall abutting on the mound. 
 
 Now, in the year 1546 Henry VIII, by what he 
 euphemistically called an exchange, took back from 
 Christ Church eight manors outside the county of 
 Kent together with the almonry buildings in the 
 Mint Yard, giving in return the single manor of 
 Godmersham and a release from the obligation laid 
 upon the Chapter of providing ^£200 a year for the 
 maintenance of twenty-four scholars at the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge. The Mint Yard therefore 
 became by inheritance the property of Queen Mary, 
 who granted it to Cardinal Pole. Pole was a friend to 
 education, and bequeathed the site and buildings to 
 the Chapter for the use of the school. Accordingly in 
 the first year of Queen Elizabeth the King's scholars 
 were removed to the great North-hall, of which we 
 have already given a description in a former chapter. 
 
 After a brief interval came, in 1573, another migra- 
 tion. Along the south side of the Mint Yard stood 
 a range of buildings consisting of the old almonry 
 chapel and the lodgings of the seven chaplains who 
 had served it.^ Here the King's School found a home 
 till the middle of the nineteenth century witnessed 
 the beginning of those extensions and improvements 
 which issued in the present King's School quadrangle. 
 
 The statutes of Henry VIII illustrate for us various 
 features of interest in the life both of the school and 
 the cathedral. Each scholar was allotted a stipend of 
 ^i 8s. 4d., with allowances for a gown and for meals 
 at the common table, equivalent altogether to about 
 
 ^ An interesting print of these buildings is in Stockdale's etchings, and 
 is reproduced in Woodruff and Cape's " History of the King's School." 
 292 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 ^4, or ten times that sum of our money. The gown 
 was no mere badge, but a substantial article of dress, 
 the cloth for which was provided yeaily for all sub- 
 ordinate officials of the foundation, and still survives 
 in the gowns of the bedesmen. The arrangement for 
 " free meals " presents us with a curious picture of 
 contemporary customs. The long narrow building 
 known by the monks as the third dormitory, which 
 stretched from the Dark Entry to the great dormitory 
 and of which a fragment remains at the foot of the steps 
 leading up to the north door of the library, was fitted 
 up as " the Peticanons' " hall, and served by a manciple, 
 two butlers, and two cooks. Three tables were set 
 therein at which, according to their " quality," sat the 
 " commoners." At the first table were the precentor, 
 head master, and minor canons ; at the second the 
 lower master and the lay clerks ; at the third the fifty 
 King's scholars and ten chorister boys. The common 
 table was discontinued at the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century, to the loss of all its frequenters, and the 
 hall was destroyed in the time of the Commonwealth. 
 The enactment that the masters and boys should 
 attend the choir offices on Sundays, holy days, and 
 their eves, suitably dressed (in habitu comfetenti choro), 
 is to this day observed by the surpliced ranks of King's 
 scholars ; but the clause which made obligatory a 
 daily attendance at high mass must soon have become 
 obsolete. Nevertheless, the Latin mass kept its place 
 during the lifetime of Henry VIII, as indeed did many 
 other uses of the mediaeval church. Thus in the 
 receiver's accounts for 1541 we read of the purchase of 
 815 lb. of wax for the Paschal candle which burned 
 from Easter to Ascension and cost about ^200 of our 
 money.^ The Epistle and Gospel were, however, to 
 be said in English, and the royal injunctions of 1547 
 for the first time permit the choristers to discontinue 
 
 1 "Pro cera continent, 815 lb., 563. per cwt., £ig 19s. 6d. Pro 
 composicione eiusdem cerae, 33s. 2jd." 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the tonsure, " their heads, nevertheless, to be kept 
 short." By Easter in the following year the issue of 
 the ofEce for Holy Communion in English caused 
 the shadow of obsolescence to creep over Henry's 
 statutes, and the daily attendance of the King's 
 scholars at high mass was dispensed with. 
 
 The Chained Bible 
 
 But to 1 evert to the main current of our history. 
 Nicholas Wotton, the first dean of Canterbury, was a 
 politician of ability and a diplomatist of real distinction, 
 whose various embassies and errands of State are set 
 forth in the epitaph, written by himself, on his monu- 
 ment in the Trinity Chapel. The employment of the 
 clergy in public affairs was, of course, in those days no 
 unusual thing, and a successful embassy was often the 
 path to high ecclesiastical preferment ; it was doubt- 
 less (for the King) a convenient way of paying for 
 their services. What precisely were the religious 
 sympathies of Wotton it would be difficult to say, but 
 294 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 they were evidently qualified by the tact and flexibility 
 he had shown in worldly matters ; for the changes 
 which were so difficult or dangerous to others never 
 upset his balance or baffled his judgment. More and 
 Fisher and Cromwell might go to the block, Cranmer 
 and Ridley and Latimer to the stake ; Mass might be 
 said in Latin at the altar, or the Communion office in 
 Enghsh at a table in the body of the church ; Rome 
 and Geneva might desperately dispute, and each find 
 willing martyrs for her cause ; high treason or heresy 
 might and did steal upon men unawares, veiled in an 
 Oath of Supremacy or an argument about Transub- 
 stantiation ; but the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, 
 Mary, and Elizabeth all alike found Nicholas Wotton in 
 possession of his two great deaneries of Canterbury and 
 York and in the favour and employment of the Crown.^ 
 
 These easy and elastic views, however, were not 
 shared by the prebendaries and six-preachers, and 
 Cranmer was sometimes beset by those of the old 
 learning and sometimes by those of the new. About 
 1542 there was a formidable and most discreditable 
 plot by three prebendaries and two six-preachers to 
 indict the Archbishop for heresy and so procure his 
 downfall. Thornden, who occupied the first stall and 
 had received many favours from him, seems to have 
 been the ringleader and to have secured the complicity 
 of Dr. London, the notorious visitor of the monasteries, 
 whom Archbishop Parker afterwards described as " a 
 stout and filthy prebendary of Windsor," ^ whose 
 motive can only have been enmity to Cranmer. How 
 the King set his foot on the conspiracy is told by 
 Morice, the Archbishop's secretary. " The King, on 
 an evening, rowing on the Thames in his barge, came 
 
 ^ Another member of the cathedral body who weathered all the 
 storms of these troublous times was " Father Newbury," one of the 
 minor canons, who had been a monk in the priory and who continued 
 to hold his minor canonry until the year 1564. 
 
 2 Parker MSS. Corpus Christi Coll. Cambridge, No. cxiviii. p. 203, 
 as quoted by Strype. 
 
 29s 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 to Lambeth bridge and there received my Lord 
 Cranmer into his barge, saying unto him merrily, 
 ' Ah, my chaplain ! I have news for you.' And so 
 pulled out of his sleeve a paper, vs^herein was contained 
 his accusation, subscribed with the hands of certain 
 prebendaries and justices of the shire. Whereunto 
 my Lord Cranmer made answer and besought his 
 Highness to appoint such commissioners as would 
 effectually try out the truth of those articles. ' Marry,' 
 said the King, ' so will I do, for I have such affiance in 
 your fidelity that I will commit the examination hereof 
 wholly to you and such as you will appoint.' " ^ On 
 this incident Canon Scott Robertson in his mono- 
 graph on Thornden comments as follows : " The 
 wondrous and shameless plausibility of Thornden is 
 evinced by the fact that within six months after 
 this he obtained from Cranmer the rich benefice of 
 Bishopsbourne. ... So forgiving and generous was 
 the spirit of Cranmer, and so seductive were the arts 
 of Thornden, that upon the death of RichardYngworth, 
 bishop of Dover, in November 1544, '^^^ Archbishop 
 nominated Thornden (with one other) to the Govern- 
 ment as successor to his suffragan." We may add that 
 so disloyal and ungrateful was the suffragan that in 
 later years, on the accession of Queen Mary, he used 
 his office as vice- dean without Cranmer 's knowledge 
 to revive those mediaeval accompaniments of the mass 
 which the English Prayer-book had banished, thus 
 forcing the Archbishop by his disavowal of their 
 legality into the proceedings which led to his death. 
 
 While the cathedral clergy were thus taking part in 
 the history of their time, what of the cathedral itself 
 and its treasures of mediaeval art ? The process of 
 stripping and destruction, though intermittent, was 
 never long in abeyance throughout the reigns of 
 Henry VHI and Edward VL There were other 
 shrines to be demolished besides that of St. Thomas ; 
 
 1 "Narratives of the Reformation," p. 252. 
 296 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 those of SS. Alphege and Dunstan occupied their place 
 of honour in the choir, and the bones of sainted arch- 
 bishops lay in their chantries in choir and nave. 
 Monumental efHgies of rare workmanship in stone or 
 metal marked the resting-places of dead benefactors, 
 and in some cases still attracted the occasional pilgrim. 
 All these images and relics — " any shrine, covering of 
 shrine, table, monument of miracles or other pilgrim- 
 ages " — were by royal injunction swept away " so as 
 there remain no memory of it." Then came the turn 
 of the gold and silver plate and costly vestments. 
 
 OnApril lo, 1540, two years after thegreat spoiling of 
 Becket's shrine, when twenty-six cartloads of precious 
 things were taken from the church and convent, 
 an inventory by Cranmer and five other commissioners 
 showed that the church still possessed an enormous 
 store of plate and vestments. This was " to be saufely 
 kepte and ordered there untill the Kinge's highnes 
 plesure be further declared." What this " plesure " 
 was likely to be was indicated by the King's appropria- 
 tion of another instalment of plate within a month 
 of the inventory. In 1548, under Edward VI, much 
 more was taken, including the famous silver table of 
 Prior Chillenden " that stood upon their high aulter." 
 
 Besides all this authorised plundering there were 
 the depredations of common thieves, especially during 
 the interval between the suppression of the priory 
 and the incorporation of the new governing body. 
 Thus we read in the treasurer's accounts that one of 
 the first acts of the chapter was to send its servants to 
 London to make inquiries concerning " the chalices 
 and other silver vessels which have been stolen from 
 the church, and to give warning to the bedel of the 
 gild of goldsmiths of the said theft." ^ 
 
 A later inventory, at the visitation of Dr. Parker in 
 1563, and summarised by Dr. Cox,^ "shows that only 
 five out of the eight chalices left in 1540 remained. 
 
 ^ Treasurer's Accounts, 1541-42. 
 
 297 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Censers of silver and silver-gilt cruets were still 
 extant. Of the hundred white copes of 1540, fifteen 
 were left ; of the fifty green copes of the earlier date, 
 eight ; of the fifty red, seventeen ; and of the thirty- 
 seven blue copes, no fewer than twenty. Out of forty 
 vestments or chasubles inventoried in 1540 only eight 
 survived." The treasurer's accounts prove that, apart 
 from royal depredations and private pilferings, the 
 chuich's stores were also diminished by sales, some- 
 times, but nor always, for a specified purpose. Dean 
 Wotton died in 1567, and it was elicited in an inquiry 
 shortly afterwards that during his twenty-six years of 
 office nine-tenths of the " ornaments " of the church 
 had been disposed of for the benefit of the Chapter.^ 
 Two months after the installation of his successor, 
 Godwin, further sales of vestments, plate, and jewels 
 were made, owing to the impoverishment of the 
 revenue, in order to pay the usual stipends of the minor 
 officials of the cathedral. By an act of Chapter, 1569, 
 "it is agreed that the vestments and other vestry- 
 stuffs remayning in the vestry shall be viewed and 
 sold, reserving some of the copes ; and the money 
 that shall arryse of the same to be bestowed in byeing 
 of necessary armor." This was in response to a call 
 for the equipment of troops (six light horsemen) 
 against the rebellion headed by the Earls of North- 
 umberland and Westmoreland. It is expressly stated 
 that many of the articles sold are " now not lawful to 
 be used in or about the service." To this category 
 would belong the wakering or sanctus bell, which in 
 1585 was given, for more ordinary uses, to Eastbridge 
 hospital. 
 
 The discipline and conduct of the cathedral clergy 
 left much to be desired, owing partly perhaps to the 
 almost complete non-residence of Dean Wotton. It 
 is at this period that George Boleyn was a prebendary. 
 
 1 " Canterbury," London, 1905, p. 102. 
 * Cowper's " Lives of- the Deans of Canterbury," p. 33. 
 298 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 He is believed to have been the nephew of Queen 
 Anne Boleyn, and cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and was 
 installed in 1566. He assaulted a brother prebendary, 
 beat a lawyer in the Chapter-house, struck a six- 
 preacher with his dagger, and threatened to pin the 
 Dean to the wall with the same weapon. He was 
 rewarded for this spirited conduct (or for the accident 
 of his birth) with the deanery of Lichfield, which he 
 held together with his canonry till his death in 1604. 
 
 The record of the fabric during these times is 
 scarcely more cheerful reading than that of the 
 " ornaments " and clergy. So much stained glass was 
 broken in the attempt to suppress the memory of 
 Becket that the survival of the " miracle " windows in 
 the Trinity Chapel is surprising. There is an entry 
 in the receiver's accounts for the year 1541 which 
 runs as follows : " Pro reparacionibus ffenestrarum 
 ecclie et transmutacione historie Th. Bekett ciii* il*^." 
 On this the following in English may serve as an 
 illuminating comment : " Oct. 1544. For mending 
 the windowes and casements where the shryne was, 
 and in our Lady chapell iiii'." 
 
 In 1544 the palace of the Archbishop was destroyed 
 by fire during preparations for the entertainment of 
 the Viceroy of Sicily. Several persons perished, in- 
 cluding Cranmer's brother-in-law, and the place lay 
 in ruins till rebuilt by Archbishop Parker in 1565. 
 In 1569 part of the deanery was burnt, and restored 
 with stone taken from the monastic buildings — one of 
 the many instances in which the old monasteries both 
 of Christ Church and of St. Augustine's were used as 
 quarries. It will interest many who in our own day 
 share the hospitality of the deanery to read an Act of 
 Chapter dated 1585 : " That the Dean's great chamber 
 be wainscoted at the church's charge, because it is the 
 only place within this church [precincts] fit for the 
 entertainment of any noble personage that shall resort 
 thither for any purpose." 
 
 299 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 The chief building operation of the new foundation 
 (1541-47) compares miserably enough with the great 
 work of pre-Reformation days. It was the fashion- 
 ing out of the conventual buildings of houses for the 
 Dean, the twelve prebendaries, and the minor canons, 
 and was at least as much a work of destruction as of 
 construction. For a full account of this the reader 
 must consult the minute and lengthy Distribution . 
 Document printed by Willis in Archceologia Cantiana, 
 vol. vii. p. 192. But Somner's notes give informa- 
 tion, which must not here be omitted, as to the fate 
 of some of the monastic buildings. By Act of Chapter 
 (1547) much of the great dormitory was demolished 
 to provide materials for housing the minor canons, 
 the lead being distributed among the dean and pre- 
 bendaries ; the Frater and convent kitchen with 
 " other superfluous houses there " were pulled down to 
 erect dwellings for two prebendaries, one of whom 
 was to " convey and carry away the material of the 
 same Frater " ; the long hall of the infirmary was 
 ordered in 1545 " to be pulled down with speed," but 
 the southern arcade was spared to form part of a 
 minor canon's house, and the chapel was incorporated 
 with the house allotted to Dr. Thornden (of acquisitive 
 memory), who also obtained " ye vault called Bishop 
 Beckett's tombe under our Ladies chapell " to serve 
 as a wood cellar. This remarkable use of a portion 
 of the cathedral crypt lasted till nearly the middle of 
 the nineteenth century. In 1866 the houses were 
 cleared away and the arcade of the infirmary chapel 
 and haU were restored to view. 
 
 Stone relates that in the year 1468 Archbishop 
 Bourchier, having said mass in the choir, adjourned 
 to the chapter-house for the sermon, which was 
 preached by William Sellinge, afterwards Prior, on 
 Judges i.^ This occasional pre-Reformation custom 
 became a settled use so early in the new order 
 
 ^ Stone's "Chronicle," ed. M. R. James, ut supra, p. 105. 
 300 
 
The Deanery 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 of things that by 1544 the chapter-house had been 
 fitted up with a pulpit, pews, and galleries. There 
 was a gallery at the west end and another along the 
 north side ; at the eastern end of the latter {i.e. in 
 the north-eastern corner of the building) was an 
 enclosure, with latticed casements and bearing the 
 royal arms, for the accommodation of royalty. For 
 many years the congregation adjourned after prayers 
 in the choir to hear the preacher in the " Sermon- 
 house " ; but the confusion and inconvenience of 
 this migration caused Archbishop Laud to forbid the 
 practice, with what result we shall see later. A 
 covered way was built between a door in the south 
 wall of the Sermon-house and another in the north 
 wall of the Lady Chapel (deans' Chapel), which was 
 used as a vestry to which the preacher usually retired 
 for thought twenty minutes before his discourse. 
 Communication was also established between the 
 royal closet and a doorway still existing (but now 
 opening on a cupboard) in the passage from the library 
 to the south-east transept. 
 
 It has already been told how, on the accession of 
 Queen Mary, the wily Thornden, as vice-Dean, secured 
 his own safety and hastened the downfall of his patron 
 and benefactor by promptly celebrating mass with the 
 old rites in the cathedral. The tragedy of Cranmer's 
 last days does not belong to these pages, but the coming 
 of Cardinal Pole, the visits of Philip and of Mary, and 
 the stir of religious reaction are told so tersely and 
 eflfectively in the treasurer's accounts that we cannot 
 do better than quote a few items, and leave the rest 
 to the reader's imagination. The depleted ecclesiastical 
 stores were refurnished with vestments (chasubles), 
 tunicles, albes, altar-cloths, not less than three " paires 
 of organs," chalices, patens, a " paxe and a sacaryng 
 bell," " crewets," a holy-water " stopp " and a sprinkler 
 for the same, " antyphonars," " messalls " (missals), 
 " imnalls " (hymnals), processionals, pontificals, " cor- 
 
 301 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 poras cloths," " saltars " (psalters), '' legends," 
 " sonnges," the story of St. Thomas with music 
 newly " prycked," an " antem of our Ladye," and 
 many another accessory of the old forms of service. 
 There was much mending of books and of the " great 
 organ " with sheepskin and calfskin galore. The 
 following items should be quoted entire : 
 
 Paid to Thomas Byskop for making of the rood, with Mary and John 
 and the crosse, vil xiii^ iiij''. 
 
 To a turnar for turning of ye ring for ye iiij EvangeHsts for ye crosse. 
 
 To Wm. Johnson for painting and gilding of ye Roode, Mary and 
 John, and all ye furniture, viil liii' iiij*. 
 
 To Thos. Byskop for an image of our Ladye for our Ladye chappell, xv^. 
 
 To certaine laborers carying of the crosse uppe to ye crowne of ye 
 church to be gilded and painted, xii"*. 
 
 To xii laborers ij days abowt ye reringe of ye crosse w' aU ye furni- 
 ture and pulling at the wrensh at vi'' ye pece a day, xii^ 
 
 To a laborer ii dales making cleane of the vauts of the north syde of 
 the chapter house and carying away of the rubbish against my lord 
 CardinaU's cumyng, xii'*. 
 
 To another laborer ij days more carying of rubbish from ye skule 
 house dore, Mr. Deane's dore and Mr. SeUenger's against the King's 
 Maj'°^ cumyng, xii**. 
 
 To ij laborers for making cleane of the Lybrary and the tommes of 
 the king and black prince against the Quene's his Maj'" cumyng, xvi''. 
 
 Presents and expences extraordinary — Imprimis to the Quene's his 
 Maj'' at her cumyng to Cant'' for a present, x''. 
 
 For a purse of crymson velvett w' gold and lase and red sOk and 
 makyng of the same, xiii' vi''. 
 
 For iiij boxes of suckett and marmelad and iiij gallons of wine given 
 to the Dewk of Northfowk, the Erie of Arundel, the Erie of Westmore- 
 land and dyvers other lords, the iiijth day of March, cumyng w'' the 
 King's Maj'', xvi= vii''. 
 
 Given to the duches of Lorren and the duches of Parmye per capit 
 the xxiii March, 1557, xxiiij'. 
 
 For painting of the crusyfix and xii apostles in the CardinaU's chappell, 
 iii'' iiij''. 
 
 The foregoing list adumbrates briefly but perhaps 
 sufficiently the advent of the new Primate, the visits 
 of royalty and its expectation of " rewards," the 
 appreciation by the nobility of "suckett and marmelad," 
 and the expense of receiving persons of distinction. 
 The last item reminds us that Cardinal Pole fitted^up 
 302 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 and adorned the almonry chapel (known for some years 
 afterwards as the Cardinal's Chapel) for his private 
 use. The palace and its chapel were, it will be 
 remembered, in ruins. There is reason to believe that 
 Pole made many gifts to his church ; among them a 
 jewelled " mytre of silver and gylte," and "a Cam- 
 bricke cloth edged with golde to take the Mytre off 
 tharchbusshopp's heade." A few dark hints occur 
 in the accounts and registers of the intolerance which 
 disgraced Mary's reign, such as the expense of con- 
 veying hither or thither convicti — i.e. condemned 
 heretics. Between 1553 and 1558 ten men and three 
 women were expelled from St. Nicholas's Hospital, 
 Harbledown, and ten women from St. John's, North- 
 gate, apparently on account of their Protestantism. 
 On the other hand, the Queen wrote to the Dean and 
 Chapter in 1555 to secure the due payment of the 
 pensions of " the late religious persons, men and women 
 and chantry priests." Somner tells us that in 1553 
 six of the prebendaries were deprived on the charge of 
 being married priests. Three only consented to appear 
 before the Commission, one being Cranmer's brother, 
 the Archdeacon of Canterbury, These manfully main- 
 tained that their marriages were lawful, and that 
 they would not put away their wives. Dean Wotton, 
 fortunately for himself, had never taken to himself a 
 spouse. 
 
 The deaths of Queen Mary and Cardinal Pole 
 within a few hours of each other in the autumn of 
 1558 were a dramatic ending to the Roman reaction. 
 Pole\vas buried in his cathedral church under a plain 
 tomb placed against the north wall of the corona. On 
 the wall above was painted his armorial coat of many 
 quarterings, and a representation of St. Christopher. 
 Both have long since disappeared, but a few years 
 since the late Cardinal Vaughan received permission 
 from the Dean and Chapter to set up over the tomb a 
 panel emblazoned with the Pole arms. 
 
 303 
 
C ANT E RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 With the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne 
 and of Matthew Parker to the primacy there was an 
 instant reversion to the principles of the Reformation. 
 Five of the prebendaries refused to take the Oath of 
 Supremacy, even in the modified form in which it was 
 now tendered, and were deprived of their stalls ; and 
 the numerous adjuncts of divine worship acquired at 
 so much cost during the Marian reaction were speedily- 
 cleared away. The see of Canterbury had become so 
 much impoverished since the days of Warham that 
 Parker was compelled to apply to the Queen for a loan 
 in order to enable him to take possession. Elizabeth, 
 who was not renowned for liberality, seems on this 
 occasion to have acted generously, for she granted the 
 Archbishop a sum equal to ^12,000 of our money. 
 During the rebuilding of his ruined palace the Primate 
 lived in retirement in his modest manor-house at 
 Bekesbourne ; but though of quiet and simple habits, 
 Parker did not shrink from the state befitting his 
 position when occasion required. Thus, in 1563, 
 when he came to Canterbury for his metropolitical 
 visitation, he came with a retinue of forty horsemen. 
 One of the answers made by the Dean and Chapter to 
 Parker's articles of inquiry at this visitation is worth 
 quoting for the light it throws upon the usages of the 
 Church at a time when the " Elizabethan settlement " 
 was still in the making. The answer relates to the 
 way in which divine service was celebrated in the 
 cathedral, and is as follows : 
 
 The Common Prayer daily throughout the year, though there be no 
 Communion, is sung at the Communion Table standing north and south, 
 where the high Altar did stand ; the minister when there is no Com- 
 munion useth a surpUce only, standing on the east side of the Table 
 with his face to the people. The Holy Communion is ministered 
 ordinarily the first Sunday of every month throughout the year ; at 
 what time the Table is set east and west. The priest which ministereth, 
 the Pystoler, and Gospeler at that time wear copes." ^ 
 
 1 Corpus Christi Coll. Cambs. MS. cxjcii., quoted in Strype's " Parker," 
 i. 183. 
 
 30+ 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 Two years later, when the repairs to the palace were 
 completed and the revenues of the see had somewhat 
 righted themselves, Archbishop Parker gave a series 
 of splendid entertainments to the whole countryside. 
 The only event of this kind which need claim our 
 attention is the reception of the Queen in 1573, when 
 she stayed for a fortnight at St. Augustine's Abbey, 
 which Heiury VIII had appropriated as a royal resi- 
 dence. On September 3 she rode on horseback to 
 the west door of the cathedral, was received by the 
 Archbishop, two bishops, the Chapter and choir, all 
 kneeling, was escorted under a canopy to a chair in 
 the presbytery (curiously called " the traverse "), and 
 attended divine service, afterwards returning on foot 
 to St. Augustine's through the cheering crowds. On 
 September 7 — ^her fortieth birthday — at a banquet in 
 her honour in the great hall of the Archbishop's palace, 
 Elizabeth sat under a canopy of cloth of gold in an 
 ancient marble chair {in veteri quadam marmorea 
 cathedra) — which looks as though the ancient chair 
 of St. Augustine had been brought from the church. 
 In the profuse distribution of customary " gifts and 
 rewards " she graciously received from her host a 
 magnificent salt-cellar filled with gold pieces and bear- 
 ing her portrait and the royal arms cut in agate. 
 Unfortunately for the Primate, the Queen greatly 
 admired his favourite horse, which he accordingly 
 transferred to the royal stables. It is said that these 
 entertainments and "lewards" cost the Archbishop 
 j^2000, or at the present value of money nearly j/^20,coo. 
 The Chapter Act Books from the time of the new 
 foundation to the reign of Charles I are either 
 altogether missing or so badly damaged by fire that 
 only an imperfect record of this period is available. 
 Fragmentary notices, however, of the sale of plate and 
 " vestry stuff " suggest the change from Pole to Parker 
 in the law and use of the Church; while the pur- 
 chase of armour and the use of the chamber above 
 
 u 305 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 St. Michael's Chapel as an armoury remind us of an 
 age of threatened rebellion and invasions. 
 
 From the scanty information which can be gleaned 
 from the Act Books concerning the conduct of divine 
 worship during this period we gather that the one 
 statutable sermon on Sunday, and the readings in 
 divinity on Wednesday and Friday, were often lacking. 
 In 1620 the dean, canons, and preachers by a self- 
 denying ordinance undertook to keep up a Sunday 
 afternoon sermon among themselves, " except when 
 some able preacher could be found to take their 
 place." But this was apparently found too heavy a 
 burden, for six years later it was arranged that Mr. 
 Robert Procter, a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, 
 should preach a "catechetical!" sermon on Sunday 
 afternoons, and that the dean should give the said 
 preacher hospitality, each prebendary forty shillings, 
 and each preacher ten shillings towards his stipend. 
 
 It is curious to note that at this period the sub- 
 ordinate offices of gate porter and vesturer were 
 considered to be such desirable pieces of patronage 
 that Dean Godwin appointed his son to the 
 former office ; and the latter was enjoyed by two 
 sons of Dean Rogers. The duties were, of course, 
 handed over to deputies — often ill-paid — ^with the 
 result that they were ill performed. In order to 
 illustrate the inconvenience caused by a want of 
 proper supervision of the fabric by the subordinate 
 officers of the church we will quote the following 
 order of Chapter made in the early years of the 
 seventeenth century : 
 
 Whereas besides ye. many inconveniences which of long we have 
 suffered in ye Quire for want of attendance of officers, there being none 
 to keep out dogs, to still rude boys playing and running about in ye 
 tyme of divine service, and besydes the ordinary concourse of prentices 
 and other rude people in our courts, cloysters, and churchyard upon 
 Sundays and holy days very scandalous in many respects and much 
 prejudiciaU to our stately ciurch windows and ye like. There have 
 happened of late some extraordinary accidents, as the breaking up of a 
 306 
 
THE NEW FOUNDATION 
 
 cupboard and one of the petty-canons' gowns stolen out of it. The 
 cutting away of a carpet nayled on ye Table of ye Dean's chappell. 
 The blemishing of some of our Tombes by breaking off some parts. 
 The breaking off of iron bars from our grates, &c. Our will is that 
 henceforth all those who hold patents for the offices of subsacrists, 
 vergerers, porters, or beUringers do perform their duties in person, or 
 else allow a sufficient stipend to their substitutes. 
 
 The Elizabethan period, however, was not wholly 
 lacking in events which draw the annals of Christ 
 Church into the current of contemporary public life. 
 In 1568 Odet de Coligny, Cardinal Chatillon, who 
 shared the Huguenot sympathies of his brother the 
 admiral, fled to England, where he probably tried to 
 enlist the help of the Queen. At Canterbury he 
 received a warm welcome from the Dean and Chapter, 
 and was allotted quarters in the old guest-house, 
 known as Master Omer's. His death, which occurred 
 suddenly in 1571 (perhaps not at Canterbury, as 
 is sometimes stated, but at Nonsuch, in Surrey), 
 is said to have been due to poison, administered 
 by one of his servants in an apple. His body was 
 brought to Canterbury, but in expectation of its 
 subsequent removal to France the coffin was laid on 
 the floor of the Trinity Chapel, at the foot of 
 Courtenay's monument, and merely bricked over. The 
 religious wars on the Continent left no leisure to 
 celebrate the obsequies of friends dying in far-off 
 places ; hence the cardinal's bones have been left 
 without inscription in their rough brick mound to 
 this day. 
 
 It may be that the visit to Canterbury and the 
 sudden and sinister death in this country of the 
 brother of the great Coligny stimulated interest in 
 the cause he represented; for in 1575 we find the first 
 mention in the Chapter Act Book of the Protes- 
 tant refugees : " Yt ys agreed the Walloon strangers 
 shall be licensed as much as in us the dean and 
 chapter lyeth to have the use of their comen prayer 
 and sermons in the parish church of St. Elphies 
 
 307 
 
CJNTE RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 [St. Alphege's] in Canterbury, in such sort and in such 
 tyme as the parishioners there be not hyndered or 
 disturbed of their comen prayer." Perhaps this joint 
 use of St. Alphege's Church was not found practicable, 
 for at about this time the strangers effected a lodgment 
 in the crypt of the cathedral. There is a tradition 
 that this was granted to them by Queen Elizabeth in 
 1568 ; but no documentary evidence is forthcoming, 
 possibly because the Privy Council records from 1567 
 to 1570 are lost. Whether by royal grant or by 
 permission of the dean and chapter, French Protestants 
 have worshipped in the crypt from about 1575 ; the 
 privilege was confirmed to them by Order in Council 
 in 1662, and has not since been seriously questioned. 
 There was in Canterbury as early as 1548 a congrega- 
 tion of foreign Protestants, who found it advisable to 
 disperse at the accession of Queen Mary. About 
 1575 came a hundred families of Walloons, or French- 
 speaking inhabitants of the Netherlands, flying from 
 the cruelties of the Duke of Alva. They were accorded 
 the use of Ernulph's or the western part of the crypt, 
 and were never in possession of the lofty eastern crypt 
 of English William ; this, it will be remembered, was 
 walled off as the cellar of the first prebendary. There 
 is no foundation for the statement sometimes made 
 that part of the crypt was used by the Walloons as 
 a workshop, since the light would have been quite 
 insufficient for weaving or embroidery ; moreover, 
 no tools or utensils for any handicraft were found 
 in the thick layer of gravel and debris removed a 
 few years ago when the crypt was restored. But 
 the whole area of Ernulph's crypt would not 
 have been too great for the worship of a commu- 
 nity which in the seventeenth century numbered 
 from two to three thousand souls and furnished a 
 thousand communicants. During the latter part of 
 the seventeenth century the Walloons were joined 
 by many Huguenot refugees, who had fled from 
 308 
 
i:he new foundation 
 
 persecution in France, especially after the revocation 
 of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This skilful and 
 industrious community then reached its highest point in 
 numbers and prosperity, manufacturing woollen fabrics, 
 ribbons, laces, and the most costly figured and brocaded 
 silks. If their besetting vice, at any rate among the 
 Walloons, was drink, their redeeming virtue was their 
 sturdy faithfulness to their religion. Archbishop Laud 
 in vain tried to make them conform ; they persevered in 
 Presbyterian ways, though some of their ministers have 
 been episcopally ordained, and though from 1789 to 
 1876 they used a French version of the Prayer-book. 
 At about this latter date an inquiry by the Charity 
 Commissioners elicited from Archbishop Tait a defence 
 of the privileges of the Refugee Church on the ground 
 of its historical significance as a monument of the 
 Reformation* During the nineteenth century it shrank 
 so much in numbers that the " strangers " who once 
 employed two thousand looms are now represented by 
 a mere handful. In 1895 the congregation moved 
 into the Black Prince's chantry, where perhaps a 
 solitary worshipper may sometimes dream of the 
 Sundays of two hundred years ago when his forefathers 
 occupied seven bays of Ernulf's crypt. Many and sad 
 are the memories of ecclesiastical intolerance ; here 
 is at least one testimony that Christian sympathies 
 and friendly hearts have prevailed over differences in 
 doctrine and in race. 
 
 W. D. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Names of the members of the new foundation, with their 
 stipends, from the treasurers' accounts of 1542-3 : 
 
 To the Deane and Prebendaries 
 
 First Maister Deane, ccc" 
 To Mr. Doctor Thornden, xP 
 To Mr. Seynt leger,>l" 
 
 311 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 To Mr. Doctor Champyon, xxx" xP 
 To Mr. Goldsonne, x" 
 To Mr. Parkehurst, xP 
 To Mr, Doctor Rvdley, xF 
 To Mr. Menys, xP 
 To Mr. Glasyer, xP 
 To Mr. Hunte, xP 
 To Mr. Gardener, xP 
 To Mr. Myllys, xP 
 To Mr. Danyell, xP 
 To Mr. Baptist, xP 
 Sm*, vii° iiij" 
 
 To ye Preachers, viz. 
 
 To Mr. Searles, xxiiij'' ij^ ij"* 
 To Mr. Doctor Rydley, xxiij" ii' ij'* 
 Maister Drumme, xxiiij" ii^ ii*^ 
 Mr. Shether, xxiiij" ii= ii"^ 
 Mr. Scorye, xxiiij" ii° ii** 
 Mr. Broke, xxiiij" ii^ ii"* 
 Sma cxliiij'' 
 
 To the Pety-Canons, zriz. 
 
 Mr. Winchepe, x" 
 Mr. Newberry, x" 
 Mr. Elphye, vel vicem gerens, x" 
 Mr. Lychefeld, x" 
 Mr. Sarysbirye, x" 
 Mr. Charte, x" 
 Mr. Austen, x" 
 Mr. Ickeham, x^' 
 Mr. Otforde, x" 
 Mr. Boulser, x" 
 Mr. Anselme, x" 
 Mr. Awdoen, x" 
 Mr. Hawke, x" 
 
 Mr. Copton and leder {sic), x" 
 Sm* cxl' 
 312 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 To Mr. Selbye, M of the Choristers, xP 
 To him for the Choristers, xxxiij" vj' viij^ 
 Sm xliij" vij' viij^ 
 
 To ye Vycars, viz. 
 
 Thomas Wodd, viiij" 
 
 John Marden, viij" 
 
 Willyam Lee, viij" 
 
 Henry Turner, viij" 
 
 Wyllyam Swifte, viij" 
 
 John Jenks, viij" 
 
 Thomas Bredkyrke, viij" 
 
 Robert Colman, viij" 
 
 John Kydder, viij" 
 
 Thomas Bull, viij" 
 
 Rycharde Lewcome, viij" 
 
 John Tropham and James Cancellor, viij" 
 
 Sm* iiij xvi" 
 To Mr. Twyne, scholemaister, xx" 
 To Mr. Wells, usher, x" ' 
 
 Sm* xxx" 
 
 Then follozus a list of the fifty scholars who received 
 ^4 a-fiece, and lists of the scholars studying at the 
 churches charges at Oxford and Cambridge. Of these there 
 •were twelve at each University ; those at Oxford received 
 in gross ;£ioo, and those at Cambridge £y8. (These 
 lists are -printed in the History of the King's School, 
 Canterbury, ^y Woodru^ and Cafe, London, 1908.) 
 
 To the Cater, John Leysted, vi" xiij^ iiij** 
 To the Butlers Rychard Chammer 1 .-^ 
 
 William Stephens J 
 To the Sacristans — 
 
 Thomas Callowe 1 ---^ ^ •••d 
 
 Wyllyam Atwell | ^"J ^^ ^"^ 
 To the Cooks — 
 
 Roger Mantell 1 j^u 
 
 William Balsar J 
 
 313 
 
CJNTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 To the Belryngars — 
 
 Rauf Albryght, vi" 
 
 John Gierke, vi" 
 
 Robert Absolom, vi" 
 
 Eustace Coleman, vi" 
 
 John Burton, vi'* 
 
 Robert Danyell, vi" 
 To the Porters — 
 
 Maister Kyllygreuel ...y . 
 
 Thomas Johnson J 
 To the Horsekeepers — 
 
 William Foster, xP 
 
 George Maycote, xxvj" viij' 
 
 Thomas Calcote, xxvj" viij^ 
 
 John Corneford, v" 
 Sm* ciii" 
 Pro Decimis, &c. 
 
 Dno Regi, cccviij'' xv^ vij'' 
 
 Pro Elemosina eiusdem, c" 
 
 Senescallo ecclesie, x" 
 
 Receptori ecclesie, xx" 
 
 Auditori ecclesie, x" 
 
 M™ Ryche, senescallo in Essex, iij" vi' viij*^ 
 
 Subsenescallo ibidem, xP 
 
 Senescallo in Surreia, iij" xiij^ iiij"* 
 
 Procurac' Archidiacono Cant, xx" 
 To ij petycanons assigned by the Deane and chapter 
 to note the absentes in the queyre, xP 
 Penciones — 
 
 Eastry, v" vj' viij'' 
 
 Monketon, xii" xx** 
 
 Lytleborn \ 
 
 Preston iuxta Wyngham j-xx' 
 
 Sheldwide j 
 
 Sm* huius libri, mmcclxxiij" iij* xj'^ 
 
 3H 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 FROM LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 I 63 3- I 660 
 
 The translation of William Laud from London to 
 Canterbury is an important waymark in the history of 
 the Church of England ; it may also be taken as a 
 fresh starting-point in the history of the cathedral 
 church of Canterbury. When Laud succeeded to 
 the primacy in 1633 the Church generally and the 
 diocese of Canterbury in particular were suffering 
 from the effects of Abbot's apathetic and inefficient 
 rule. In the parish churches there was much 
 slovenliness and disorder, and even in the cathedral 
 a comely face of external worship was scarcely pre- 
 served. Archbishop Laud perceived perhaps more 
 clearly than any of his predecessors since the Reforma- 
 tion the need of a well-ordered and decent ceremonial 
 for a great historical church, and he came to Canter- 
 bury firmly resolved to restore to the Church of 
 England her heritage in this respect. He brought to 
 the task zeal, courage, and learning, but this excellent 
 equipment was more than counterbalanced by defects 
 of temper and the entire absence of tact. So that, to 
 quote the words of one of his most sympathetic 
 biographers, " there has seldom lived a man who 
 contrived that his good should be more virulently 
 spoken of." 
 
 With characteristic courage Laud determined to 
 begin his reforms at the top, and with this object he 
 gave notice almost immediately after his enthronisa- 
 tion of his intention to visit his cathedral church in 
 
 31S 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 the following spring. The Dean and Chapter lost no 
 time in setting their house in order ; indeed, they seem 
 to have done everything they could to anticipate the 
 wishes of their visitor. In the choir a new " Com- 
 munion table " was set up, which was apparently 
 mounted upon a wooden platform approached by 
 steps — ^an arrangement which gave especial oflEence to 
 the Puritans and actually formed one of the specific 
 charges made against Laud at his trial.^ A new 
 carpet or cloth of purple velvet edged with a deep 
 band of gold lace costing ^36 7s. was purchased for 
 the altar, behind which a rich hanging of needle- 
 work, called the " Glory Cloth," was suspended. 
 Richard Culmer, the iconoclastic Puritan, has given 
 us a particular description of this '" most idolatrous 
 costly Glory Cloth or Back Cloth," as he calls it. 
 " It was made," he says, " of very rich embroidery of 
 gold and silver, the name Jehovah on the top in gold 
 upon a cloth of silver, and below it a semicircle of 
 gold, and from thence glorious rays, and clouds, and 
 gleams, and points of rays direct and waved stream 
 downwards upon the altar." ^ 
 
 Further ornaments for the altar acquired at the 
 same time were a pair of candlesticks, a basin for the 
 ablutions of the priest (both doubtless ot silver, since 
 they cost ^73 6s.), and a Bible and Prayer-book, both 
 with sUver-gilt covers.' 
 
 Neale in his " History of the Puritans " * says that 
 the altar of Canterbury Cathedral " was furnished 
 according to Bishop Andrewes' model," and proceeds 
 to give a list of the vessels and ornaments used in the 
 
 1 " To George Lancelot, joyner, for a Communion table of degrees, 
 30'." Treasurer's Accounts. 
 
 * " Cathedrall Newes from Canterbury " (London, 1644), p. 292. 
 
 ^ " Pro duobus candelabris et malluvia pro tabula sacre Eucharistie, 
 baiii'i vi'. Pro duobus cerariis pro candelabris, ii^ vi*. Pro nova 
 biblia et libro communium precum pro Eucharistia, nxvi'. Pro 
 argento celato pro eisdem libris, x" iiij«." Treasurer's Accounts, 1633. 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. 223. 
 316 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 bishop's private chapel ; but the Canterbury inventory 
 of 1634 naakes no mention of several of the articles 
 mentioned by Neale, so that his account of what 
 was iu use at Canterbury seems to be untrustworthy. 
 The new ornaments were in use on Christmas Day 
 of the same year, and attracted some attention, for an 
 alderman of the city wrote on a flyleaf of his Bible the 
 following memorandum : " Christ-tide 1633 was the 
 first day of the high altar with candlesticks on it and 
 candles in them, and other dressings very brave in 
 Christ Church, Canterbury,"^ 
 
 Laud no doubt marked with satisfaction the " brave 
 dressings " of the altar when he came to Canterbury 
 in the following spring, but he seems to have had no 
 conception of the intensely Puritan spirit rampant 
 throughout his diocese, to which his ritual reforms 
 were as a red rag to a bull. 
 
 The growth of Puritanism in Kent was due partly 
 to the geographical position of the county. Popish 
 recusants had soon discovered that Kent was far too 
 much under the eye of a rigid and inquisitorial 
 Government to make it a desirable place of residence ; 
 while, on the other hand, there had been a constant 
 influx of foreign Protestants, bringing with them the 
 polity and theology of the Continental Reformers. 
 Hence it was in his own diocese and in his own cathedral 
 city that the Archbishop met the bitterest opposition. 
 
 The articles of inquiry issued by Laud for his 
 visitation, and the answers of the Dean and Chapter 
 (to which the Archbishop has in some cases added an 
 autograph note), are preserved amongst the cathedral 
 archives, and one or two are worth quoting for the 
 light they throw upon the usages of the times. Thus, 
 to the Archbishop's inquiry as to the number of 
 sermons preached in the cathedral the Dean and Chapter 
 replied that one sermon was preached in the cathedral 
 on every Sunday and holy day and two on the feasts 
 
 1- " Cathedrall Newes," ut supra. 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 of the Nativity, Easter, and Pentecost, " besides divers 
 extraordinaries as his sacred Majesties inauguration, 
 the Rogation, the Sessions, and the fifth of November." 
 To an inquiry as to the condition of the precincts, &c,, 
 the Dean and Chapter made answer : " The church- 
 yard (commonly so reputed) is profaned, as we con- 
 ceive, by four fairs yearly there kept time out of mind, 
 by sinks, by annoyance of a stable, by divers other 
 buildings in and about the same ; the fair and houses 
 being out at lease." In the margin Laud wrote: 
 " Let me have inquiry and satisfaction concerning 
 fairs, sinks, and stables." 
 
 A more serious irregularity which came to light in 
 an answer to a question relating to the State prayers 
 was the occasional omission of the prayer for the 
 Church Militant. The Chapter replied : " We have 
 been used to pray for the King's Majesty, the Queen, 
 the Prince and the Royal progeny . . . save only that 
 we have sometimes omitted to praise God for all those 
 who are departed out of this life in the faith of Christ, 
 which we shall take care hereafter to be observed." 
 To which Laud added tersely : " Let ye canon be 
 observed." 
 
 A question about the letting of prebendal houses 
 to laymen elicited the fact that this was a common 
 practice. Laud opposed it on the ground that the 
 presence of lay people within the precincts was detri- 
 mental to the secluded collegiate life for which the 
 Statutes made provision, and even went the length 
 of obtaining an Order in Council forbidding the 
 letting or lending of a prebendal house to any person 
 who was not a member of the church. 
 
 The Dean and Chapter, however, pointed out to the 
 Archbishop that they were very heavily burdened by 
 taxation, especially by the imposition of the obnoxious 
 " ship-money," and that it was a very convenient 
 thing to be able " to lay part of ye burdens upon such 
 of ye laity as dwell among us, who when they are 
 318 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 persons of quality bear a considerable part." They 
 also pleaded for consideration on the ground that they 
 had, in deference to the Archbishop's wishes, already 
 relinquished the custom of granting leases for lives, and 
 had further voluntarily given up the five pounds a 
 year which each prebendary had hitherto enjoyed 
 towards the repair of his house. Whether the order 
 was modified or not we do not know, but the practice 
 was at any rate revived after the Restoration, as also 
 was the more pernicious one of granting leases for 
 lives. 
 
 At the conclusion of his visitation the Archbishop 
 asked to be supplied with a copy of the statutes in 
 order that he might amend them. This appears to 
 have caused some apprehensions, for the Dean and 
 Chapter thought it prudent to offer his Grace the sum 
 of fifty pounds fro faterna benevolentia. Though 
 to modern eyes the gift looks suspiciously like a bribe, 
 it was quite in accordance with the practice of the 
 times, and Laud doubtless accepted it without any 
 qualms of conscience. 
 
 A copy of the revised statutes was received in 1637. 
 The alterations and additions for which Laud was 
 responsible, and for which he obtained the King's 
 licence, were neither many nor important. Several 
 related to the King's scholars and their masters ; 
 others sanctioned usages which had long been preva- 
 lent, but which hitherto had lacked statutable autho- 
 rity — e.g. the office of epistoler and gospeller had 
 long been obsolete, and the stipend allotted to these 
 officers by the statutes had for some years been paid 
 to four instrumentalists whose duty it was " to support 
 with cornets and sackbuts the melody in the choir." 
 Accordingly two corneteers and two sackbutters now 
 became statutable officers. 
 
 Into the chapter relating to the conduct of divine ser- 
 vice (No. 34) Laud introduced a clause which gave great 
 offence to the Puritan party, although as a matter of fact 
 
 319 
 
CJNTE RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 it merely confirmed a custom already in use. The clause 
 refers to bowing towards the altar on entering the 
 choir, and the full text is as follows : " Our will is 
 that each minister of whatever rank he may be on 
 entering the choir shall adore the Divine Majesty by 
 humbly bowing towards the altar, and then make 
 their due reverence to the Dean." This was after- 
 wards used as evidence of the Romish proclivities of 
 Laud. But in his defence Dr. Blechynden, one of 
 the prebendaries, deposed that the practice was in 
 vogue before the new statutes were received, and that 
 the custom had prevailed ever since his own installation, 
 which took place " above ten years ago."^ 
 
 A notable addition to the fittings of the church 
 was the handsome marble font, which still retains 
 its place in the nave. This was a gift from Dr. 
 John Warner, one of the prebendaries, and after- 
 wards Bishop of Rochester. Previous to its erection 
 the cathedral church seems to have had no fixed font, 
 the Elizabethan inventories merely mentioning " a 
 Bason of brasse for Christinynge with a foot of Iron." 
 In pre-Reformation times, however, the church cer- 
 tainly possessed a font, for John Stone mentions the 
 baptism in the nave of the son of John Frankleyn, the 
 prior's butler, in 1443.^ And three years later a 
 font with a silver bowl was purchased from a London 
 goldsmith at a cost of ^£14.^ It would seem that this 
 silver font was sent up to London for use at royal 
 baptisms. What happened to it after the suppression 
 of the monastery is not certainly known, but it was 
 probably one of the things upon which Henry VIII 
 laid his sacrilegious hands, for in a list of the King's 
 jewels the following item occurs : " A fonte chased 
 
 1 " Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology," vol. v. pt. ii. 
 
 ^ Stone's " Chronicle," ut supra, p. 31. 
 
 ' " Johi Orewell in plena solutione facture pelvis ffoatalis, xiiij''. 
 Expens', Johis Orewell venient' London pro pelve ffontal, x'." 
 Prior^s Day Book, 1447. 
 320 
 
'jc/faiter' 
 
 
 THE FONT, 1639 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 with men, beastes, and fowles, half gilte, with a cover 
 gilte, poiz together cciiij oz." Nevertheless, as late 
 as 1620 there was an opinion abroad that the silver 
 font was still at Canterbury, for in the above year 
 Archbishop Abbot wrote to his Chapter asking them 
 " to make search for a font of silver wherein the King's 
 children of ancient time have been christened, and 
 that if there be any such thing in your custody you 
 should with all speed send it up safely by messenger, 
 . . . and if you have no such thing, you are to certify 
 me speedily what you find in any records or register 
 hath been done therewithal or how your predecessors 
 parted with it." ^ The reply of the Chapter is not 
 extant, but from the absence of any such article from 
 the Elizabethan inventories it is clear that the silver 
 font was no longer in the possession of the dean and 
 chapter. 
 
 Less than ten years after its erection Dr. Warner's 
 font was demolished by the Puritans, but its component 
 parts were recovered by William Somner, who con- 
 cealed them until the restoration of the monarchy, 
 when the fragments were brought out of hiding and 
 re-erected in the cathedral, again at the cost of the 
 donor. It is pleasant to add that when all was 
 complete the first child to be baptized in the restored 
 font was the infant son of the man by whose loving 
 care its fragments had been preserved throughout the 
 troublous times.* 
 
 But to revert to the general history of the times. 
 A singularly ill-judged attempt by Laud to enforce 
 conformity upon the Walloon and French community, 
 which for a number of years had possessed prescriptive 
 rights of conducting a Presbyterian form of service 
 in the crypt of the cathedral, greatly intensified his 
 
 1 The letter is preserved amongst the cathedral archives. 
 
 * " 1663, August 16. Frances [sic], ye son of Mr. William Somner, 
 auditor of this church, and Barbary, his vdf e." " Registers of Canterbury 
 Cathedral." 
 
 X 321 
 
CANT ERBU RY CATHEDRAL 
 
 unpopularity at this juncture, and after exaspera- 
 ting public feeling he was eventually compelled to 
 relinquish the attempt. The fall of one of the pin- 
 nacles of the " Bell-Harry " tower (upon the metal 
 flag of which the Dean and Chapter had lately 
 caused the Archbishop's arms to be emblazoned) was 
 naturally looked upon by the Puritans as a portent of 
 the speedy downfall of the " proud prelate." Culmer, 
 who recites the circumstance with much glee, says that 
 the Dean and Chapter, elated by a report (which turned 
 out to be false) that the Scots had accepted the English 
 Prayer-book, expressed their satisfaction by setting 
 upon the four pinnacles of the tower " four great iron 
 fanes or flags, on which the coat-arms of the King, 
 Prince, and Church were severally gilded and painted." 
 On Holy Innocents' Day 1639 the pinnacle which bore 
 the Archbishop's arms was blown down, and in its 
 fall it demolished part of the cloister roof, opposite 
 to the door leading to the Martyrdom transept. So 
 violent was the impact that it burst through the lead, 
 planks, timbers, and stone arch of the cloister " as if 
 it had been done with cannon-shot." Upon the 
 groining of the roof where the pinnacle fell was a boss 
 bearing the arms of the see of Canterbury. " Thus," 
 says Culmer, " the arms of the present Archbishop 
 of Canterbury break down the armes of the Arch- 
 bishoprick or See of Canterbury." ^ In the following 
 year (1640) a very small change in the manner of 
 conducting the cathedral service was sufficient to 
 cause the pent-up storm of puritanical disaffection to 
 break out. For some years past it had been the 
 practice on sermon days for the congregation to 
 adjourn to the chapter-house after prayers in the choir 
 for the purpose of listening to the preacher. Laud 
 disliked the unseemly rush for good places which 
 
 I " Cathedrall Newes " ut supra. The extent of the damage may still 
 be traced by the absence of heraldic shields at the east end of the south 
 alley of the cloister. 
 322 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 occurred when the pulpit was to be occupied by an 
 eloquent divine, and in accordance with his wishes the 
 custom was discontinued. On the other hand, the 
 Puritan party favoured the " Sermon-house," on the 
 ground that it was both warmer and moire commodious 
 than the choir, where, moreover, the sermon was 
 " hedged in by the cathedral ceremonious altar ser- 
 vice," which they abominated. On the feast of the 
 Epiphany divine service was interrupted by "ye voice 
 of one crying audibly, 'This is idolatry,'" and on the 
 Sunday following when prayer should have been 
 concluded at the altar the canons were " mutinously 
 disturbed by a continuance of singing of psalms and 
 by words in the throng, ' Down with the altar ! Down 
 with the altar ! ' " The above words are quoted from 
 a memorandum preserved amongst the cathedral 
 archives to which seven of the canons set their names. 
 The memorandum records that the prebendaries 
 recognised that the cause of the disturbance was " the 
 discontent of the people at the removing of ye Sermon 
 from our Chapter -house to the Quire," and that they 
 therefore decided to revert to the former practice for 
 the sake of peace and quietness. Dean Bargrave was 
 absent from home at the time, but on hearing what 
 the chapter had done he wrote : " The times are too 
 much indisposed to give us any speedy remedy, where- 
 fore I very well approve of your removing the sermons 
 into the chapter -house." 
 
 But the country was now on the verge of civil war, 
 and it would appear that the cathedral authorities, 
 foreseeing the coming struggle between King and 
 Parliament, were actually prepared to turn the church 
 into a fortress ; for they purchased a barrel of gun- 
 powder, arms, and ammunition, all of which they laid 
 up in the cathedral itself. For this act of incredible 
 folly they had to pay dearly. In the month of August 
 1642 Colonel Sandys arrived in Canterbury with a 
 troop of horse, and demanded the keys of the church. 
 
 323 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 What followed will be best told in the words of 
 Dr. Paske, the vice-Dean, who in a letter " to an 
 Honourable Lord," dated August 30, 1642, writes as 
 follows : 
 
 Colonell Sandis, arriving here with his Troop on Friday night, caused 
 a strict watch and sentinels to be set both in the church and upon our 
 several houses, to the great affright of all inhabitants. This done, 
 Sergeant Cockaine came to me, and in the name of the Parliament 
 demanded to see the arms of the church and the store of powder of the 
 county, which I presently showed him. . . . The next morning we 
 were excluded from the church and might not be permitted to enter 
 for the performance of our divine exercises ; but about 8 of the clock 
 Sir Michael Livesey attended with many soldiers, came to our offices 
 and commanded them to deliver up the keys of the church to one of 
 their company, which we did, and thereupon he departed. When the 
 soldiers, entering the church and quire, giant-like began to fight against 
 God Himself, overthrew the Communion table, tore the velvet cloth 
 from before it, defaced the goodly screen of tabernacle work, violated 
 the monuments of the dead, spoiled the organs, brake down the ancient 
 rails and seats with the brazen eagle that did support the Bible, forced 
 open the cupboards of the singing-men, rent some of their surplices, 
 gowns, and Bibles, and carried away others, mangled all our service 
 books and books of Common Prayer, bestrowing the whole pavement 
 with leaves thereof — a miserable spectacle to all good eyes. But as if 
 all this had been too little to satisfy the fury of some indiscreet zealots 
 among them (for many did abhor what was done already), they further 
 expressed their mahce upon the arras hangings of the quire, representing 
 the whole story of our Saviour, wherein observing the figures of Christ 
 (I tremble to express their blasphemies), one said " Here is Christ," and 
 swore that he would stab Him, which they did accordingly so far as the 
 figures were capable thereof, besides many other villainies. And not 
 content therewith, finding another statue of Christ in the Frontispiece 
 of the South-gate they discharged against it forty shot at the least, 
 triumphing much when they did hit it in the head or face, as if they 
 were resolved to crucify Him again in His figure whom they could not 
 hurt in truth. The tumults appeased, they presently departed for 
 Dover.'^ 
 
 It may be noticed that the destruction does not 
 appear to have extended to the stained-glass windows ; 
 and it would seem that the Chapter took special mea- 
 sures for protecting them, since from an entry in 
 the treasurer's accounts we learn that the bellringers 
 
 ^ Printed in London September 9 in the same year. 
 324 
 
LAUD 10 THE RESTORATION 
 
 received fifteen shillings " to keep ye church windows 
 from defacing." 
 
 Dr. Bargrave was not at the deanery when the 
 cathedral was looted by the troopers, but he was 
 arrested at Gravesend shortly afterwards, probably on 
 account of his complicity in the concealment of arms 
 in the church, and for three months was confined in 
 the Fleet prison. Towards the end of the year he was 
 released, and returned to Canterbury, where about 
 Christmas he received the King and Queen.^ At the 
 same time great efforts were made to repair the damage 
 done in the choir. Culmer tells us that the Communion 
 table was set up again " altarwise that day the sermon 
 was preached there before the King," but that the 
 daily choral service was discontinued, and that only a 
 " plaine Service-book service " was read in the Sermon- 
 house. In order to pay their assessment to the levy for 
 the " speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels in His 
 Majesty's kingdom of Ireland," the Dean and Chapter 
 now determined to sell some of the church plate. The 
 order for the sale states that : 
 
 Whereas the bleeding estate of the Kingdom of Ireland together with 
 the lamentable condition of this Kingdome of England, do call for the 
 help and assistance of all his Majesty's loyaU and obedient subjects, 
 We the Dean and Chapter being wiUing to express ourselves therein 
 according to the utmost of our power, and finding that the Church i» 
 much indebted by reason of divers arreres of rent, and other great 
 expenses occasioned by severall accidents, do now order and decree in 
 this case of extremity that the great guilt bason and two faire guilt 
 candlesticks with one rich piece of imbroidered worke belonging unto 
 this Church shall be sold to the best advantage as shall be thought fit 
 by Mr. Deane and Dr. Jackson and the greater number of the preben- 
 daries at home. And that thirty pounds of the money receaved by them 
 for this plate and worke shalbe allowed in one grosse sum towards the 
 rehef of our distressed brethren in Ireland, when the same shalbe 
 lawfully demanded . . . and that the rest of the money receaved for 
 
 1 " To Goodman Grant for keeping ye postern gate when the King 
 was here, 7' 6. Given to the King's footmen, five pounds ; to his 
 coachman, 40' ; to some yeomen of the guard, 20' ; to Mr. Newton a 
 gross sum to be distributed to many, 20'' in all-— 28''." Treasurer's 
 Accounts. 
 
C ANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the said plate and embrodery work shalbe ordered and disposed of as 
 shall be thought convenient by the Deane and Chapter or greater part 
 of them within the precincts of the Church when any urgent occasion 
 shall require the disposal! thereof. 
 
 The order is signed by Dean Bargrave and six of the 
 prebendaries. It must have been almost the last 
 piece of capitular business in which the Dean took 
 part, for he died in the following January. His 
 successor, George Aglionby, was never installed, and 
 died within the same year. Dr. Turner, who suc- 
 ceeded him, survived to the Restoration, but he too 
 was unable to obtain installation until seventeen years 
 after his appointment. 
 
 In March 1643 the prospects of the capitular body 
 seemed somewhat brighter, for in that month a 
 special order was issued by the Parliament for the 
 protection " of the prebendaries of Christ Church 
 and of the famous and magnificent church of Canter- 
 bury." The order enacted that " ready obedience be 
 given to the prebendaries, and that neither any soldier 
 or townsman or other shall use any misdemeanour, 
 violence or restraint of liberty either to the preben- 
 daries now residing at Canterbury, nor to any the 
 inhabitants within the precincts of the church, nor 
 that any person or persons under any colour or pretext 
 whatsoever presume to use or offer any violence, either 
 by themselves or others, unto the gates, houses, or 
 walls within the precincts of the said church itself, or 
 windows thereunto belonging as they will answer the 
 contrary to the House at their perills," &c. But the 
 protection afforded by this order was of short duration, 
 for before the year was out the passing of an Act for 
 the abolition of deans and chapters deprived the 
 cathedral of its proper custodians and again laid the 
 fabric open to the sacrilegious violence of the Puritans. 
 It was now that the " more orderly and thorough 
 reformation," as Culmer calls the wanton destruction 
 of many priceless examples of ancient art, began. In 
 326 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 order to do full justice to the proceedings in which 
 this shameless iconoclast took a pronainent part we 
 must quote his own words : 
 
 When the Commissioners entred upon the eiecution of that 
 Ordinance in that Cathedral, they knew not where to begin, the images 
 and pictures were so numerous, as if that superstitious Cathedral had 
 been built for no other end but to stable IdoUs. At last they resolved 
 to begin with the window on the east of the high altar beyond the 
 Saynted-Traitor Archbishop Becket's shrine. . . . But the Commis- 
 sioners knew not what pictures were in that Eastmost window, and 
 coming to it the first picture they found there was of Austin the Monke, 
 who was the first Archbishop of Canterbury that ever was ; and so it 
 casually fell out that the image of this Arch-Prelate of Canterburie was 
 the first that was demolished in that Cathedrall. Many window-images 
 or pictures in glass were destroyed that day, and many idolls of stone, 
 thirteen representing Christ and His twelve Apostles standing over the 
 West door of the Quire, were aU hewed down and 12 more at the North 
 door of the Quire, and 12 Mytred Saints sate aloft over the West door 
 of the Quire, which were all cast down headlong, and some fell on their 
 heads and their myters brake their necks. . . . The Commissioners feU 
 presently to work on the great idolatrous window standing on the left 
 hand as you go up into the Quire : for which window (some affirm) 
 many thousand pounds have been offered by outlandish Papists. In 
 that vsrindow was now a picture of God the Father, and of Christ, besides 
 a large Crucifix, and the picture of the Holy Ghost, in the form of a 
 Dove, and of the 12 Apostles ; and in that vnndow were seven large 
 pictures of the Virgin Marie, in seven several glorious appearances, as 
 of the Angells lifting her into heaven, and the Sun, Moon, and stars under 
 her feet, and every picture had an inscription under it beginning with 
 Gaude Maria sfonsa Dei, that is rejoyce Mary thou Spouse of God. 
 There were in this wdndow many other pictures of Popish saints, as of 
 St. George, &c. But their prime Cathedrall saint — ^Archbishop Thomas 
 Becket — ^was most rarely pictured in that window, in fuU proportion, 
 with Cope, Rochet, Mitre, Crosier and all his Pontificalibus [sic]. And 
 in the foot of that huge window was a title intimating that the window 
 was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In laudem et honorem beatissime 
 Virginis Marie Matris Dei, &c. . . . Whilst judgment was executing 
 on the idolls in that window, the CathedraUists cryed out again for their 
 great Diana, hold your hands, holt, holt, &c. A minister being then 
 at the top of the citie ladder near 60 steps high, with a whole pike in his 
 hand rading down proud Becket's glassy bones (others then present 
 would not venter so high), to him it was said 'tis a shame for a minister 
 to be seen there ; the minister replyed. Sir, I count it no shame, but 
 an honour, my Master whipt the living buyers and sellers out of the 
 Temple ; these are dead IdoUs which defile the worship of God here, 
 being the fruits and occasions of Idolatry : Some wisht he might break 
 
 327 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 hi« neck, others said it should cost blood. But he finished the work 
 and came down well, and was in very good health when this was 
 written.^ Many other Images were defaced in other windows there, 
 severall pictures of God the Father, of Crucifixes, and men praying to 
 Crucifixes, and to the Virgin Mary ; and Images lay on the tombs, with 
 eyes and hands lifted up, and right over them was pictured God the Father, 
 embracing a Cruciiii, to which the Image seemed to pray.'' There was 
 a Cardinall's hat as red as blood, painted in the highest window in that 
 Cathedrall within Bell-Harry steeple, over the quire door, covering the 
 Archbishop's arms, which hat had not so much respect showed it as 
 Cardinal! Wolsey's hat had at Court, it was not bowed to but rattled 
 down . . . the last execution against the Idols in that Cathedrall was 
 done in the Cloysters, divers crucifixes and mitred saints were battered 
 in pieces there : St. Dunstan's image puUing the Devil by the nose 
 with a pair of tongs was pulled down, DeviU and all. When the 
 Cathedrall men heard that Ordinance of Parliament against Idolatrous 
 Monuments was to be put into execution, they covered a complete 
 Crucifix in the Sermon-house with thin boards, and painted them to 
 preserve their Crucifix, but their jugling was found out, and the 
 Crucifix demolisht.* 
 
 In the same year which witnessed this wholesale 
 destruction the chief instigator and participator was 
 made a six-preacher, the warrant for his appointment 
 describing him as " Mr. Richard Culmer, Master of 
 Arts, a godly and orthodox divine," whose fitness to 
 preach in the cathedral was certified " by the mayor 
 and other deputy lieutenants of the corporation of 
 the city of Canterbury " ! 
 
 The cathedral church and its revenues were now 
 placed in the hands of sequestrators, with Captain 
 Thomas Monins as treasurer-general. Hasted (quoting 
 from a MS. formerly in the possession of the Monins 
 
 ' The minister was Culmer himself. Although he " came down well," 
 ■ Gostling relates that he narrowly escaped a violent death ; for while 
 he was on the ladder " a townsman desired to know what he was doing. 
 ' I am doing the work of the Lord,' says he. ' Then,' replied the other, 
 ' if it please the Lord I will help you,' and threw a stone with so good 
 will that if the saint had not ducked, he might have laid his own 
 bones among the rubbish he was making." Gostling's " Walk," ed. 1 825, 
 p. 227. 
 
 " This doubtless refers to the anthropomorphic picture of the Holy 
 Trinity on the tester over the Black Prince's tomb. 
 
 ^ " Cathedrall Newes," ut supra. 
 328 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 family, but now believed to be no longer extant) states 
 that the deanery and prebendal houses were now let 
 to laymen, " the late members of the church, if not 
 delinquents, being allowed, in general, a third part of 
 their former income ; and if they had no allowance, 
 their wives were allowed a fifth part of it ; the lower 
 members and under officers were in general paid the 
 whole of their stipends ; and ;^ioo was allowed yearly 
 to be distributed to the poor." He also adds, from 
 the same source : " There appears during the whole 
 time to have been the .psalms read, lectures and 
 sermons preached in the cathedral and Sermon-house, 
 and the sacrament administered in the former ; the 
 preacher in the cathedral had ^^150 per annum, the 
 lecturer in the Sermon-house, ^loo. The charges for 
 the repair of the church and precincts were not 
 spared ; among other articles I find, in 1646, ' paid for 
 the repair of the roof of the church, ;^I09.' In 1647 
 a great repair was made to the arch over the body of 
 the church, with much expense of masonry, &c,, to 
 the amount of ^80. For repairing the upper windows 
 of the body, &c., £16.^' ^ This care for the fabric 
 seems to have been due to the good offices of the 
 treasurer-general, who after the Restoration petitioned 
 the King in regard to his .having ever favoured the 
 Royalists, alleging that he had preserved the cathedral 
 from ruin, that he had secreted the church muniments 
 and plate, and restored them at the Restoration. In 
 1649, however, Monins lost his office through the 
 passing of an ordinance for the sale of the lands and 
 tenements belonging to deans and chapters. 
 
 A survey of the houses within the precincts was now 
 made, and those that were held to be redundant were 
 scheduled for destruction. This document has been 
 preserved, and is worthy of some attention for the 
 light it throws upon the disposition of the houses and 
 the accommodation they severally afforded. The list 
 ^ Hasted's "History of Kent," 8vo ed. vol. xi. p. 349, note. 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 begins with the preachers' houses, and shows that each 
 of the six had a house within the precincts- One was 
 lodged in the gatehouse " leading from the church to 
 the market place." It could not have been a very- 
 commodious residence, for it contained no more than 
 " two rooms above stairs, arched and built of free- 
 stone and all covered with lead," the rent being eotimated 
 at fifty shillings. Two preachers occupied houses " on 
 the south-east side of the churchyard, which probably 
 had once been the lodgings of the chaplains of Arundel's 
 chantry." The house of the redoubtable Richard 
 Culmer is described as " in or near the dark-entry " 
 (doubtless the Cheker building). This was quite a 
 large house, with " a kitchen and buttery below 
 stairs, a parlour, and eight chambers with closets, 
 part whereof covered with lead." Another preacher 
 had a house " near unto the Court HaU," consist- 
 ing of a hall, a parlour, two chambers, and two 
 garrets ; together with " the use of the large stone 
 stairs leading to the said messuage." This house 
 evidently occupied part of the monastic " North HaU," 
 and was approached by the Norman staircase. Another 
 preacher occupied a little tenement on the " north 
 side of the Green Court adjoining unto the porter's 
 lodge of the north gate." It contained only a hall, 
 two chambers, and a closet. 
 
 A great part of the Dorter, or dormitory of the 
 monks, was still standing, since we learn that no less 
 than six families were lodged in it. 
 
 Only two houses allotted to minor canons are men- 
 tioned. Both stood on the south side of the Green 
 Court. Mr. Lambe's is described as "a very mean 
 house, consisting of a hall, a parlour, and one room 
 over them. " Mr. Jordan's had in addition to the above 
 meagre accommodation " a little study." 
 
 Of the prebendal houses, that allotted to the fourth 
 stall on the north side of the Green Court contained 
 a hall, a parlour, a kitchen, a buttery, a washhouse, a 
 330 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 cellar, six lodging-rooms, a matted garret chamber, two 
 other garrets, two wheat- lofts, a stable, and a hay-loft. 
 It also had " a little garden before the house, and a 
 walk upon the city wall with a place to dry clothes in.'* 
 The yearly value was reckoned at £6 13s. 4d. 
 
 Dr. Jackson's house is described as " near to the 
 convent garden, abutting upon the house of Sir John 
 Fotherby on the south, and upon the city wall east." 
 This must have been the house which formerly stood 
 in the south-east corner of the " Oaks." It was 
 pulled down about twenty years ago, when the present 
 modern house now occupied by the Rev. Canon Danks 
 was erected further north. This house contained a 
 hall, parlour, kitchen, study, washhouse, two butteries, 
 three lodging- chambers with a little closet, and four 
 garrets over them. It also had " a garden planted 
 with fruit trees, together with one fair orchard called 
 ye common orchard, and a little building upon the 
 city wall." Altogether it was estimated to be worth 
 j^i2 a year. 
 
 On the south side of the churchyard was a messuage 
 " commonly called the Archdeacon's house," con- 
 taining a hall, two parlours, a kitchen, two ground 
 chambers, with a little closet in one of them, and four 
 chambers, and one closet above stairs, a cellar, a 
 buttery, a large courtyard before the house, a back- 
 yard, one large garden planted with fruit trees, one 
 other garden planted with plum trees, wherein is a 
 great walnut tree ; a stable, a hay-loft, a straw-house, 
 and a little yard. The estimated rent was ^il 5s., 
 and the house was let on lease to Thomas Monins, the 
 late treasurer-general. 
 
 Many other houses in the precincts are included 
 in the schedule, but their position is not stated, 
 and the above description will be enough to 
 indicate the extent of the accommodation which 
 in the seventeenth century was considered sufficient 
 for the various officers of the church. The deanery is 
 
 331 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 not included in the list, doubtless for the reason that 
 it was considered too good a house to pull down. 
 
 Amongst the buildings more immediately attached 
 to the church itself which were scheduled for destruc- 
 tion was " the audit-house, consisting of two rooms 
 and a closet on the first floor and one room on the 
 second story ; the vestry [treasury], with a room over 
 that, adjoining the audit-house, with a staircase to the 
 same belonging, and all that fair staircase leading 
 from the cathedral to the library over the dean's 
 chapel, and likewise one passage leading from the 
 cathedral to the Sermon-house, and a round tower 
 called Bell-Jesus, as also the Cloysters lying on the 
 north side of the cathedral church. The materials of 
 all which buildings to be taken down (the same being 
 all covered with lead), we estimate the worth to be 
 X45iis.8d." 
 
 Happily, none of the buildings mentioned in the 
 last paragraph were destroyed, but curiously enough 
 the dean's chapel with the library over it, which are 
 not included in the schedule, were pulled down at this 
 time. 
 
 An inventory was also taken of the goods of the 
 church. By this time very few of its former fittings 
 and ornaments were left, but of the meagre array 
 which remained the committee took their toll. Even 
 the Bible and Prayer-book bought for Laud's visita- 
 tion in 1633 were carried off to London, and the 
 brass eagle " formerly used in the quire as a desk to 
 lay a Bible on " — doubtless Prior Goldston's ana- 
 logium — shared the same fate. The Communion plate, 
 consisting of two gilt flagons, two gilt cups with covers, 
 one gilt cup, two little plates, two large white plates, 
 were left in the vestry. 
 
 But Independency was now in the ascendant, and 
 the Burgmote Book of the city records that " on the 
 5th day of the 5th month " the Congregationalists 
 " did unanimously agree to break bread in theSermon- 
 332 
 
LAUD TO THE RESTORATION 
 
 house, and ordered that henceforth it should be there." 
 A fortnight later the Congregationalists accepted from 
 the Sequestrators a loan of the cathedral plate. 
 
 Henceforward until the Restoration the history of 
 the cathedral church is a blank. Sermons were 
 preached every Lord's Day in the chapter-house by 
 Mr. John Durant or Mr. Thomas Player, two Inde- 
 pendent divines, both of whom occupied houses in 
 the precincts ; but the daily voice of prayer and 
 praise in the choir was silent for ten years. " Bell- 
 Harry " no longer summoned the faithful to matins 
 and evensong. Once a week only was his familiar note 
 heard, and then merely for the mundane purpose of 
 reminding the citizens that the mayor was going to 
 open the market. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 333 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE CLOSE OF 
 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 King Charles II landed at Dover on May 25, 1660, 
 fully determined that come what might he would 
 never again go on his travels. Clarendon tells us that 
 after receiving the congratulations of General Monk 
 and a loyal welcome from the townsfolk, the King 
 " presently took coach, and came that night to Canter- 
 bury, where he stayed, the next day being Sunday, and 
 went to his devotions to the cathedral, which he found 
 much dilapidated and out of repair, yet the people 
 seemed glad to hear the Common Prayer again." ^ 
 One wonders who could have officiated at this service, 
 since neither dean nor prebendaries can at this date 
 have returned to their ruined houses in the precincts ; 
 indeed, of the latter only three survived to see the 
 restoration of Church and King. The vacant stalls 
 were, however, quickly filled up, and within little 
 more than three months after the King landed at 
 Dover the capitular body (after an interval of sixteen 
 or seventeen years) were able once more to meet for 
 business in their audit-house. The task which con- 
 fronted them was an almost overwhelming one. First 
 there was a deputation from the old lay clerks, 
 demanding the payment of their salaries now many 
 years in arrears ; and then a long procession of ten- 
 ants, clamorous for compensation for losses incurred 
 during the troublous times. One of the six-preachers 
 put in a claim to be paid for a sermon he had 
 
 ^ "History of the Rebellion," ed. 1819, vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 1021. 
 
 334 
 
CLOSE OFEIGHTEENTHCENTURr 
 
 preached in the cathedral pulpit on the eve of the 
 Rebellion, whichj as he alleged, had been the cause 
 of his incurring much personal suffering and some 
 pecuniary loss. 
 
 This letter is so curious and at the same time so 
 illustrative of the sufferings of the loyal clergy that 
 it is worth quoting in full : 
 
 Being about Canterbury in those days when the tide of vulgar 
 insolencies ran very high against the Church and Churchmen, I was 
 earnestly requested by Mr. Baker of worthy memory (upon whom the 
 burthen at that time lay very heavy) to ease him one part of a fast day 
 by preaching in the course of some one or other of the absent and dis- 
 possessed members of the metropolitan church, and taking occasion in a 
 former sermon (according to my duty) to inveigh something heartily 
 against the sacrilegious practices of seditious men, especially in order to 
 the deplorable ruins, and barbarous havocks and prophanations then 
 newly committed upon the Body, and other more sacred places of the 
 renowned Cathedral, I was for that cause (as hundreds of witnesses still 
 living can attest) inhumanly persecuted, and daily hunted after and 
 taken at last out of my bed in the night by armed men and cast into the 
 common jayle, where I lay more than a good while to my utter im- 
 poverishing, and was forced at last through the Puritans' implacable 
 malice (being resolved against the Scotch Covenant) for divers years 
 together to forsake ye county, the place of my birth, and the residence 
 of my mother, and other friends from whom in those sad times I had 
 my chief subsistence. So that God and the world knows that the 
 breach then made upon my poor fortunes is scarce made up unto this 
 day. Now the Revd. Dr. aforesaid, and afterwards some others of his 
 brethren now with God, besides the copy of their countenance, and 
 the usual salary of the church (yet unpaid), were pleased to encourage 
 me with large promises for the future. But nothing as the times were 
 having been ever performed, I am blushing bold to make this humble 
 address to your worships (though my friends amongst you be gone, and 
 old and suffering services forgotten) that you would vouchsafe to take 
 into consideration (because I am but a mean casuist myself) whether 
 in equity it vriU not a little concern this grave and learned assembly 
 at least to make good the engagement and just debt of your worthy 
 predecessors, as the salary of the church to this day, I say, unpaid 
 (though faithfully promised both before and after the sermon) will 
 amount unto. 
 
 Though payment for John Peirce's sermon could 
 have made no very serious inroads on the church's 
 treasury, it was otherwise with the demands of those 
 
 335 
 
CANTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 tenants who had either been dispossessed of their 
 holdings or had purchased them from the Parliamentary- 
 Committee. There were some hard cases. The 
 lessee of the manor of Birchington complained bitterly 
 of his hard lot in having to pay a fine of one hundred 
 pounds to renew his lease after (to quote his own 
 words) " having had all the plagues of Egypt on me, 
 sequestered, decimated, put in prison, my barns with 
 all the corn in them burnt." But the need of raising 
 money was paramount, and a like necessity has in 
 our own day been held to justify measures which 
 press hardly on individuals. Hence the Chapter took 
 their fines, and with the proceeds they were able 
 to set about the much-needed restoration of the 
 cathedral. 
 
 The lamentable condition of the great church and 
 its surroundings is graphically described in a memoran- 
 dum drawn up by the dean and chapter, which had 
 for its object the refutation of " the false aspersion and 
 calumny " that they had put these fines into their own 
 pockets. After indignantly denying this aspersion, the 
 memorandum proceeds as follows : 
 
 But first, as a necessary premonition, we shall here recount and repre- 
 sent the sad, forlorn, and languishing condition o£ our church at our 
 return, which (in short) was such as made it look more like some ruined 
 monastery than a church, so little had the late Reformers left remaining 
 of it but bare walls and roof, and these, partly through neglect and 
 partly by daily assaults and batteries of the disaffected, so shaken, 
 ruinated, and defaced as it was not more unserviceable in the way of a 
 Cathedral than justly scandalous to all who dehght to serve God in the 
 beauty of holiness. The windows (famous both for their strength and 
 beauty) so generally battered and broken down as it lay exposed to the 
 injury of aU weathers; the whole roof with that of the steeples, the 
 chapter house, and Cloyster extremely impaired and ruined, both in 
 the timber work and lead ; the water tables, pipes, and lead in almost 
 all places cut off, and with the leaden cistern of one of our conduits 
 purloyned ; the Quire stripped and robbed of her fair and goodly 
 hangings, her organ and organ-loft ; the Communion table of the best 
 and chiefest of her furniture and ornaments, with the rail before it and 
 the skreen of Tabernacle-work, richly overlaid with gold behind it; 
 many of the goodly monuments of the dead shamefully abused, defaced. 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 rifled, and plundered of their brasses, iron grates, and barres ; the 
 Common Dortor (affording good housing for many members of that 
 church), with the Dean's private chapel, and a fair and a good library 
 over it, quite demolished, the Books and other furniture of it sold 
 away ; our houses with those of our Six-Preachers and Peti-Canons 
 (many of them) much impaired, some by neglect of reparations, others 
 by mangling and parcelling them out into tenements ; . . . our stables 
 some of them puUed down, others suffered to fall down, the rest 
 ruinous ; our very Common Seal, our Registers and other books together 
 with our Records and evidences of all sorts, seized and distracted, many 
 of them irrecoverably lost, and the rest not retrieved without much 
 trouble and cost ; the goodly oaks in our common garden, of good value 
 in themselves and in their time very beneficial to our church by their 
 shelter, quite eradicated and set to sale ; ^ generally whatever was money- 
 worth made prize of and imbezilled ; and in fine a goodly brave 
 cathedral become no better (in respect of those who got and kept pos- 
 session of it) than a den of thieves, and plunderers, and to make the better 
 way for such invaders to abuse it, the churche's guardians, her fair and 
 strong Gates, betimes turned off their hooks and burned. 
 
 One of the first acts of restoration was to replace the 
 " churche's guardians," and so well was the work done 
 that the gates then set up have lasted to the present 
 day. Their outer face, which is decorated with some 
 very bold and vigorous carving, bears the arms of 
 Archbishop Juxon, impaling those of the see of Canter- 
 bury ; and the arms of Christ Church, The excel- 
 lence of the constructive work displayed on the inner 
 face of the gates is also worthy of attention. 
 
 Within the cathedral the work of restoration pro- 
 ceeded apace. But it would seem that even before 
 much could have been done in the way of fitting up the 
 choir the choral services were resumed with all the old 
 stately ceremonial, since in the very year that wit- 
 nessed the King's return minor canons, lay clerks, and 
 choristers were in their places, and in receipt of their 
 stipends. Moreover, silver maces were purchased for 
 
 ^ Somner, in an unpublished MS. in the Cathedral library, says : 
 " These oaks stood growing all on the right hand or south side of the 
 stone causey, at some reasonable distance from the church." The grass 
 plot in the south-eastern comer of the precincts is still called the " Oaks," 
 though the trees which surround it now are limes. 
 
 Y 337 
 
CJNTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 the vergers.^ But the provision of suitable ornaments 
 and fittings was not long delayed. Four pieces of 
 " fine landskip hangings of silk lined with canvas were 
 purchased at a cost of £^2 los. These were used 
 probably to line the walls on either side of the high 
 altar." ^ In 1664 a new screen of woodwork was set 
 up behind the high altar in which some portions of 
 the earlier mediaeval screen seem to have been in- 
 corporated. For in spite of the statements that the 
 latter was entirely destroyed by the Puritans, it is 
 clear that some part of it was preserved, since 
 Christopher Hartover of Deptford, the craftsman 
 employed upon the new work, undertook (in return 
 for a sum of £120) " to make and set up such addition 
 of joined and carved work to be wrought and done in 
 wainscot as are now in any parts wanting to the full 
 completing and perfecting of the screen now standing and 
 being on the ascent at the east end of the quire." He 
 further agreed to furnish the altar with a " front of 
 cloth to be put into a comely frame of wood and so 
 coloured and painted, as the same may suit with and 
 supply the want of the present altar cloth, or purple 
 front of velvet and crimson damask, now hanging and 
 used there." In Dart's view of the choir (published 
 in 1726) Hartover's screen appears as a handsome 
 erection, having a lofty canopy or tester over the altar 
 and a far more artistic production than that which 
 replaced it in 1732. 
 
 For use at the altar itself a handsome and costly 
 set of plate was purchased, comprising two flagons, 
 two alms-dishes, and a pair of pricket candlesticks, all 
 of silver-gilt. The candlesticks are still placed on the 
 re-table, and on the altar may still be seen the folio 
 
 1 " Magistro Smith aurifabro London' produabus virgis argenteis novis 
 ponder' 29 uncias, et valoris s'' per unciam, preter 3" pro fabricatione 
 ad opus ecclesie in toto x" v^." Treasurer's Accounts, 1 660. 
 
 2 GrtDstling mentions arras hangings in this position before the erection 
 of the panelling in the presbytery in 1732. 
 
The Christ Church Gate with the 
 Arms of Archbishof Juxon, 1661 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 Bible (resplendent in covers of silver-gUt) which was 
 given to the church at the same time by Dean Turner, 
 tradition says as " a thank-offering for deliverance from a 
 great danger." An entry in the treasurer's accounts 
 relating to the purchase of " two chaffing dishes and 
 frankincense " is at first sight somewhat startling. 
 But since there is no record of the ceremonial use of 
 incense in the services of the post-Reformation church 
 we may conclude that the vessels were used merely for 
 the purposes of fumigation. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe within reasonable 
 limits all the various repairs and acquisitions made 
 during the first decade after the Restoration. They 
 are, however, conveniently summarised for us in a 
 statement drawn up in 1670 for the information of 
 Archbishop Sheldon. From this source we learn that 
 by the above-mentioned date the Dean and Chapter 
 had spent £j^2i on " reparations, utensils, and orna- 
 ments of the church " ; £1000 on the repair of their 
 own houses ; ;^288o as a present to the King ; on 
 the augmentation of poor benefices in their gift, 
 j^2209 ; in increasing the stipends of the choir and 
 other inferior officers, ;^2500 ; towai ds the redemption 
 of captives, ^^340 ; and on charity (in addition to the 
 ^100 a year ordered by the statutes), £i6^S. Truly 
 a wonderful record, and one of which the capitular 
 body may have felt justly proud. 
 
 In connection with the money spent on the redemp- 
 tion of captives, we must not omit to notice the heroic 
 action of Dr. John Bargrave, one of the canons, who 
 not only collected the money, but took it out himself 
 to Algiers, where at great personal risk he bearded the 
 Bey in his own fortress, and brought back to England 
 many of his unfortunate fellow countrymen who had 
 been reduced to slavery. " I bought them," he tells 
 us in one of his letters, " slave by slave as one buyeth 
 horses at Smithfield, but it was a thousand to one that 
 I and my fellow commissioner had been made slaves." 
 
 341 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 By his own wish, one of the fetters removed from the 
 limbs of a slave was afterwards placed over Bargrave's 
 tomb in the cathedral, but this memorial of his brave 
 act has long since disappeared. 
 
 But we must revert to our description of work done 
 to the fabric of the cathedral. In 1675 it was decided 
 to line with wainscot Prior Eastry's lateral choir- 
 screens. The work was entrusted to Roger Davis, 
 joiner, of London, who was instructed to make the 
 design accord with that of the panelling " lately set 
 up in the haU of the Mercers' Company in London." 
 It extended for seventy feet from east to west, and was 
 twelve feet in height above the stalls. The design 
 was a handsome one, as will be seen by accompanying 
 plate, and the woodwork no doubt not only made the 
 choir warmer, but also improved its acoustic pro- 
 perties. It did not, however, meet the taste of the 
 Gothic purists of the early years of the nineteenth 
 century, who in consequence cleared it away.^ 
 
 The Dean and Chapter were so well pleased with 
 Davis's work that seven years later (1682) they employed 
 him again, this time to erect return stalls at the 
 western end of the choir. Happily this fine specimen 
 of Caroline carved woodwork has escaped the hand 
 of the " restorer," though it had a narrow escape when 
 the choir was reseated in 1879, Sir Gilbert Scott being 
 in favour of its removal. From the original specifica- 
 tion (which is preserved) we learn that Davis con- 
 tracted to place the arms of the dean and vice-dean 
 over their respective stalls ; but this was not done, for 
 the arms of Archbishop Sheldon are carved over the 
 former, and those of Christ Church over the latter 
 stall. The cost was ^^320. 
 
 It was at this time probably that a picture of King 
 Charles I in oil colours was placed over the central 
 doorway of the choir screen. This picture, which 
 represents the King in the attitude of prayer, with 
 
 * During Dean Percy's " restorations," c. 1 826. 
 
''£! 
 
 { 
 
 -^^ 
 
 M<^n4mA^'H.^^%i^-^ 
 
 tztzx 
 
 ~r 
 
 a 1F!^'#*^*^ 
 
 v^^ 
 
 :\ "^ 
 
 
 
 
 PANELLING IN THE CHOIR 
 
 Erected 1676 
 
CLOSE OFEIGHTEENTHCENTURT 
 
 the crown (of martyrdom ?) descending from the clouds 
 closely resembles the engraving in Gauden's Eikon 
 Basilike, and was perhaps the source from which the 
 latter was taken. The picture now hangs in the library. 
 A prospective visit from Queen Mary in 1693 caused 
 the Dean and Chapter to spend money upon refurbish- 
 ing the choir. And Widow More was paid sixpence 
 for " getting hearbes for the Queen's seat." But their 
 efforts to please her Majesty were not altogether 
 successful, for the Queen when she paid her visit to 
 the cathedral noticed that " the altar furniture was 
 dirty." Fortunately, however, Dean Hooper was 
 a persona grata at Court, and in order to show her 
 r gard for him the Queen, shortly after her departure, 
 sent down to Canterbury a page of the backstairs 
 with " a pane of figured velvet and a pane of gold 
 stuff flowered with silver." This must have made 
 a very handsome covering for the altar, for the material 
 cost no less than five hundred pounds. 
 
 Before describing the alterations made to the fabric 
 and fittings of the church in the eighteenth century 
 a few remarks may be made as to the manner in which 
 the church services were conducted at this period. 
 From the early years of the eighteenth century to 
 nearly its close there was a weekly celebration of the 
 Holy Communion in the cathedral. These were the 
 days of the Test Act, and the quantity of sacramental 
 wine consumed was prodigious. From the sacrist's 
 accounts we learn that the usual Sunday supply was 
 three quarts, but on the festivals of Christmas and 
 Easter no less than six quarts were provided. The 
 wine in general use was Muskeden, but occasionally 
 Allehent was purchased. About 1790 the weekly 
 celebration was given up and a monthly one substi- 
 tuted, a practice which continued during the first 
 quarter of the nineteenth century. Matins were 
 sung daily at ten o'clock until 1684, when the 
 Chapter, " after great and serious debate and 
 
 343 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 mature deliberation," ordered that henceforth " the 
 whole of the prayers and services on the morn- 
 ings of Sundays and holy days should be ferformed 
 together at nine of the clock." Evensong was at 
 three o'clock in the summer and at four o'clock in 
 the winter, as at present. Early prayers, which were 
 intended principally for the scholars of the King's 
 school, were said daily in the chapter-house by the 
 minor canon of the week, " without note," at six 
 o'clock in the summer and at seven in winter. Gostling 
 says that this dated from King James IPs time, " when 
 Judge Jefleries informed the Chapter that the Presby- 
 terians had a petition before the King and Council 
 representing this [the chapter-house] as a place of 
 little or no use, and desiring that they might have it 
 for their meeting-house. The person who was en- 
 trusted with this message, being a member of the choir, 
 proposed the making of it a chapel for early prayers. 
 . . . ' This wiU do,' says the Chancellor. ' Advise 
 your dean and prebendaries from me to have it put to 
 that use immediately ; for if the Presbyterians do not get 
 it, perhaps others will whom you may like worse.' " ^ 
 Sermons were still preached in the chapter-house. 
 A curious description in verse of the interior of the 
 cathedral (as it was in the last quarter of the seven- 
 teenth century) from the pen of John Boys, of Hode 
 Court,'* tells us this, and also how greatly women 
 preponderated in the congregation. After describing 
 the cloister. Boys goes on to say : 
 
 To the east quarter of the same I come 
 Where a fair folding door into a room 
 (A church indeed) doth me admittance lend, 
 Which shall I first, the roof or walls, commend ? 
 Or rather the whole symmetry f but these 
 Dead ornaments doe not so truly please 
 As doe the hving. What a crowd do I, 
 How close a throng of people here espie ? 
 
 1 Gostling's "Walk," ed. 1825, p. 219. 
 a Christ Church, Canterbury, MS. E. 32. 
 
 344 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 Men, women, children, gentry, tradesmen here. 
 
 All ages, sexes, and degrees appear. 
 
 But when so great and calm and silence I 
 
 See general stillness did descry, 
 
 Where of that talking sex so many were. 
 
 For to one man ten women did appear. 
 
 My wonder was (I must confess) increas'd. 
 
 Presently he noticed that the cause of their attention 
 was the fact that an eloquent preacher was in the 
 pulpit, and he goes on to describe the sermon. When 
 he enters the choir, Boys tells us that he first makes his 
 obeisance towards the altar, and then kneels down and 
 says a prayer. This done, he sits down and is " at 
 leisure for a while to view the people and survey the 
 pile." The following description, which must refer 
 to a Sunday morning congregation, is very quaint : 
 
 And first in their formalities are seen 
 The learned prebends and the reverend dean. 
 The magistrates I next observe, for here 
 The purple senate of the town appear. 
 Thrice blessed union when the Church and State 
 The Word and sword do thus concorporate. 
 On th' other side, and to them opposite,* 
 The gentry have their seats, below in white 
 The scholars clad fill their appointed place. 
 The multitude crowd in the middle space. 
 But shall we th' other sex exclude ? Noe, they 
 Their stations also have to talk and pray. 
 
 If Dean Tillotson were the preacher when John Boys 
 made his way to the chapter-house, we can understand 
 the spell his eloquence had over the " talkative sex," 
 for Tillotson was the greatest preacher of his age. The 
 " learned prebends " did not spend much time in their 
 prebendal houses, for they generally held two, and 
 sometimes three, benefices apiece. Since there were 
 twelve of them, their sermons in the cathedral did not 
 exceed four in the year, and these were not infrequently 
 preached by substitutes. Nor were their duties in the 
 choir very onerous during their " residence," for at 
 1 In the margin is written " north side." 
 
 345 
 
CJ NTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 this date the prayers were said by a minor canon, the 
 first lesson was read by a lay clerk, the second lesson 
 by a minor canon, and two lay clerks chanted the 
 Litany. A somewhat better state of things prevailed 
 in the opening years of the eighteenth century. 
 Indeed, there is just one instance on record when the 
 dean and all twelve prebendaries were present at a 
 service in the choir at the same time. The circum- 
 stance was held to be so extraordinary that the dean 
 and chapter caused the following minute to be entered 
 in their Act Book: "June 28, 1718. Mem"* that 
 this day Mr. Dean and all the prebendaries were 
 present at morning prayer in the Quire of this church. 
 Mr. Dean began the service ; Mr. Johnson, the minor 
 canon, in his course read the first lesson ; Dr. Sydall, 
 treasurer, the second lesson ; and Dr. Blomer, vice- 
 Dean, chanted the Litany." The feat of the last- 
 named gentleman must have been a particularly rare 
 one in the eighteenth century, and has not often been 
 attempted by any of his successors. 
 
 During the eighteenth century a good deal of money 
 was spent one way and another upon the fabric of the 
 church, but it must be confessed that much of the work 
 was rather destructive than constructive, and that too 
 often the alterations made were doubtful improvements. 
 
 In 1704 the wooden shaft or spire which since the 
 days of Prior Eastry had crowned the north-west 
 steeple was reported to be so much damaged by 
 the great storm which in the previous November 
 had wrought havoc throughout the country, that it 
 was taken down.^ In the same year the double row 
 of ancient stalls on either side of the choir was 
 replaced by pewing. The work was entrusted to 
 John Smallwell, joiner, of London, who, in return 
 for the sum of ;^300, agreed " to set up two ranges of 
 
 1 " Agreed with Thos. Bullock and Thos. Caister to take down the 
 spire steeple and lay up the materials, and to make the platform good 
 on which the spire now stands." Chapter acts. 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 pews of good right wainscott well matched, on either 
 side of the choir, leading from the deans and preben- 
 daries' stalls up to the archbishop's throne in the said 
 choir, with suitable benches before the outside pews 
 for the choristers and King's scholars . . . the said 
 benches to be finished aj well and in as good workman- 
 like manner as the pews and benches are in the 
 cathedral of St. Paul in London." 
 
 At the same time Archbishop Tenison gave a new 
 archiepiscopal throne of woodwork having a lofty 
 canopy supported by pillars of the Corinthian order. 
 Dr. Tenison's throne was removed about a himdred 
 and thirty years later to make way for the present 
 throne of bathstone, and was then hidden away in 
 some storehouse for fifty or sixty years. Within recent 
 memory the canopy has been brought out again and 
 has been set up in the south-east transept, where it 
 now forms the case of an organ. 
 
 In 171 8 the audit-house was reported to be both 
 incommodious and unsafe, and was accordingly taken 
 down and rebuilt in red brick. It was a matter of 
 some importance to the capitular body to have a 
 comfortable place in which to transact their business, 
 for at the Midsummer and St. Katherine's audits their 
 sessions — with short intervals — often lasted for several 
 weeks. The purchase of a coffee-pot, cups, and a 
 sugar-box for the audit-house leads us to conclude 
 that certain creature comforts were not altogether 
 denied to the dignitaries of the church during these 
 long sittings. 
 
 During the next fourteen years no work of any 
 importance was done in or about the church. But 
 in 1729 a legacy of ;^5oo from Dr. Grandorge, one 
 of the prebendaries, " for making improvements in 
 the church," became the starting-point of fresh 
 activity. It was decided that the money should be 
 spent on a new altar-piece and on a wainscot lining to 
 the presbytery. For the former a design was supplied 
 
 347 
 
CJNTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 hy James Burrough., a Fellow and afterwards Master 
 of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which met 
 with approval and was carried out in 1733. Burrough's 
 altar-piece kept its place until the alterations made at 
 the east end of the choir in Dean Percy's time (c. 1825). 
 As may be 'seen from the accompanying plate taken 
 from Wild's view of the choir published in 1816, the 
 design was of no particular merit, and one wonders 
 why the new screen was thought to be an improvement 
 on the old. The latter, however, was not destroyed, 
 but was set up again as a lining to the new screen.^ 
 
 Even in the eighteenth century there were some 
 people who liked the old screen better than the new, 
 for Gostling, writing in 1774, says, when describing, 
 the Trinity Chapel : " Opposite to the stone chair we 
 see the old altar-piece, now the lining of that to which 
 it gave place in the year 1730. It is handsomely 
 adorned with painting and gilding, and of a design- 
 which some think more suitable to a Gothic cathedral 
 than the new one." But although the design of the 
 latter was poor, the work was thorough and sound of its 
 kind, and cost a good deal of money. Thus the joiner, 
 whose work included the panelling of the presbytery, 
 was paid £602, the carver £2"/^^ and the gilder 
 j^l3 3s. Nor was this the whole of the outlay, for 
 very considerable sums were spent on the furniture 
 of the altar, so that the whole amount expended was 
 more than double that of Dr. Grandorge's legacy — 
 surely a testimony that the custodians of the metro- 
 political church were not altogether unmindful of their 
 responsibilities even in an age which is generally 
 associated with supineness and neglect in regard to 
 spiritual things." 
 
 1 " 1733. To the carpenter for work done to the frame to set the 
 old altar-piece on, and for putting up the old altar-piece, and for 
 47 yards of wainscott done at the old altar-piece at 2s. 6d. per yard, 
 ^5 17s. 6d." Treasurer's Accounts. 
 
 2 " Bought of John Thompson and Thomas Jenyngs 45 yards of 
 crimson Genoa velvet at 22s., £49 los. For 12 gold TopseUs at 173. 6d. 
 
THE CHOIR, 1816 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 In 1 748 an attempt was made to give a more finished 
 appearance to the parapet of the Corona by reducing 
 to a uniform height the unfinished work of the 
 fifteenth century. The idea was to make the openings 
 which were intended for the windows of a higher 
 story look like battlements. But a bad matter was 
 only made worse, as any one may see to-day/ 
 
 A better piece of work was carried out three years 
 later, when the gable of the south-east transept, which 
 had long been in a dilapidated condition, was rebuilt 
 under the direction of George Dance the elder. The 
 state of the gable previously may be judged by the 
 fact that for some years it had been faced with weather- 
 boarding. 
 
 A good deal of decorative work was done to the 
 interior of the cathedral in 1766 in anticipation of 
 Archbishop Sherlock's visitation. From the treasurer's 
 accounts of the year we learn that the dean and 
 chapter spent ^47 2s. 6d. on redecorating the font ; 
 ;^22 3s. on painting and gilding the rails of the monu- 
 ments ; ^12 13s. 6d. on a new velvet chair for the 
 archiepiscopal throne ; and £61 9s. gd. for the up- 
 holstery of the throne and pulpit. 
 
 Twenty years later, when Dr. Home was Dean, a 
 good many alterations were made, many of them, it 
 must be confessed, of a destructive character, though 
 undertaken with the best of motives and doubtless at 
 the time considered to be great improvements. Thus, 
 when in 1787 the nave was repaved with Portland 
 stone, the ancient raised tombs of Archbishops Islip 
 and Whittlesey were removed and never replaced. 
 At the same time the numerous ledger stones, many 
 of which bore the incised effigies of the priors of 
 
 each, ;^io los. For 13 yards of broad gold lace at 8s. 6d., and 10 yards 
 of narrow gold lace at 2s. 6d., ^^5 los. 6d. For a large carpet containing 
 51 pike great measure, at 5s. 6d., ^^14 os. 6d." Treasurer's Accounts. 
 
 * The money for this work was provided by a retired naval captain 
 named Humphrey Pudner. 
 
 349 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Christ Church, and other persons of distinction, were 
 removed to the chapter-house. Fortunately, before 
 their removal a map was made of the floor of the nave, 
 with the aid of which and Somner's description of the 
 gravestones in the nave the positions of many of these 
 memorials can be determined. 
 
 It would seem that although no use whatever was 
 made of the naVe, the one idea of the dean and chapter 
 was to make it as bare as possible ; for they relegated 
 Bishop Warner's font to the lavatory tower, cleared 
 away the screen work which enclosed the consistory 
 court beneath the north-west tower,^ and pulled down 
 the little chapel which Dame Joan Brenchly had 
 erected outside the south aisle. 
 
 Within the choir the work of " restoration " com- 
 prised the sawing off of the oval part of the steps 
 leading up to the altar, the removal of the brass eagle 
 to the library, and the daubing of the walls and roof 
 with whitewash. The general effect produced by 
 Home's " restorations " is well described by Horace 
 Walpole, who in a letter addressed to Miss Berry 
 in 1794 says : " I wish you had seen Canterbury 
 some years before they whitewashed it ; for it is 
 coarsely daubed, and so few tombs remain for so 
 vast a map that I was shocked at the nudity of the 
 whole." '^ 
 
 Perhaps when we consider how entirely void the 
 age was of sentiment, we have reason to be grateful 
 that the destruction of the memorials of the past was not 
 greater. As an illustration of the complete indifference 
 with which an eighteenth-century bishop could speak 
 of the remains of his saintliest predecessor we will 
 conclude this chapter by giving an abridged account 
 of certain correspondence between Archbishop Herring 
 and the Dean and Chapter relative to the relics of 
 St. Anselm. In 1753, hearing that the King of 
 
 1 The consistory court was now removed to the chapter-house. 
 
 2 Walpole's " Correspondence," vol. ix. p. 441. 
 
 35° 
 
^■jTof"-/^- 
 
 The " Christ Church Gate " after 
 the removal of the turrets 
 
CLOSE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURT 
 
 Sardinia was anxious to be possessed of the relics of 
 the saint, Dr. Herring wrote that he would be glad 
 to exchange "the rotten remains of a rebel to his King, 
 a slave to the Popedom, and an enemy to the married 
 clergy for ease and indulgence to one living Protestant." 
 Indeed, he went so far as to say that he " would make 
 a conscience of palming on the simpletons any old 
 bishop with the name of Anselm." In a subsequent 
 letter he informed the Chapter that the Spanish 
 ambassador, the Count Perron, had approached him 
 on the same subject, and had intimated that if any 
 removal of the relics should take place, the Count must 
 be an ocular witness of what was done. The vice-Dean 
 (Dr. Samuel Schuckford) in his reply says that he 
 believes St. Anselm's shrine, like that of Becket and 
 Dunstan and all the other shrines, was destroyed at the 
 time of the Reformation ; that he has examined his 
 chapel and " can find no appearance of any tomb or 
 monument that can be thought to concern him." 
 Moreover, the undercroft was in such a neglected 
 state " that it could not be desirable to have a 
 foreign personage of high character take the offence 
 at our manner of using it, which his coming to have 
 an ocular inspection and examination of it would 
 surely give to his communion." And he concludes 
 his letter with the following well-merited (though 
 somewhat carefully veiled) rebuke to the Archbishop : 
 " Whether the searching for to authenticate one who 
 was canonised, had his altar, and his day of service 
 might not be considered in a further view than that 
 of looking for the remains of an old Archbishop only 
 to be removed and deposited in his native country." ^ 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 1 Christ Church, Canterbury, MS. Y. 14., lyza. 
 
 353 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE CATHEDRAL IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 During the first quarter of the nineteenth century no 
 event of importance to this history is recorded ; neither 
 repair of the structure nor break in the routine of 
 cathedral affairs — ^the great awakening had not begun. 
 We may therefore pause on the threshold of a new age 
 to illustrate what was then permitted by public opinion 
 and the current standards of clerical responsibility. 
 
 Of Archbishop Manners-Sutton (1805-28) a recent 
 writer has said that he took an interest in the National 
 Society, and that " not less than sixteen rectories, 
 vicarages and chapelries, besides preacherships and 
 dignities in cathedrals, were shared among seven of 
 the Primate's family. Dean Percy, who had married 
 one of his Grace's daughters, was portioned off with 
 preferments to the value of ^10,000 a year. The Rev. 
 James Croft, who obtained the hand of another 
 daughter, was Archdeacon of Canterbury, and held 
 in commendam the rich livings of Cliffe-at-Hoo and 
 Saltwood, as well as the curacy of Hythe. Others of 
 the Chapter were pretty well provided for. Doctors 
 Russell, Spry, Dawson, and Manners-Sutton between 
 them held, in addition to their stalls, the livings of 
 Marylebone, Bishopsgate, Margate, Wilmington, 
 Chislehurst, Orpington, All Hallows London, Tunstall, 
 Great Chart and Hanbury." ^ 
 
 Of Dean Powys (1797-1809) the most characteristic 
 record is that " he spent Lent in Canterbury to hear 
 the minor canons preach." 
 
 ^ " Chronological History of Canterbury Cathedral," by G. S., p. 353. 
 
 354 
 
The Choir 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Some further insight into the state of aflEairs within 
 the precincts is afforded by the unpubHshed Reminis- 
 cences of the Rev. George Gilbert, a prebendary of 
 Lincoln, who in early life lived in the precincts at Can- 
 terbury. In his gossiping pages Mr. Gilbert tells us 
 that Dr. Welfitt was chaplain to the House of Commons, 
 and regarded this post as a claim for cathedral prefer- 
 ment. He made elaborate (and financial) arrange- 
 ments with the physician of a dying prebendary for 
 the earliest news of his demise. By some mishap the 
 tidings arrived three days late after all. He therefore 
 promptly saddled his horse and rode eighty miles 
 without halting, saw Lord North, and secured the 
 stall. " Do you not think," said he to Allen Fielding, 
 then vicar of St. Stephen's, " that after such a day's 
 labour I deserved a stall ? " "I am sure your horse 
 did," was the witty reply. Whatever his deserts, he 
 was prebendary for forty-seven years, resided nine 
 months in every year, and attended service twice 
 daily ; indeed, there was one year, shortly before his 
 death, in which he missed only one service. 
 
 Prebendary John Peel, the brother of the great 
 statesman, is rem'embered as an impressive and eloquent 
 preacher and a benefactor to the cathedral. In 1834 
 the cloister was much decayed, and by a generous gift 
 of a thousand pounds he enabled the Chapter to 
 execute the needful repairs. 
 
 Dr. Nelson, a brother of the naval hero, occupied 
 the fifth stall from 1803 to 1838, and is described as 
 " a rough man, fitted to be a country squire, rather 
 short and stout, who wore a long black frock coat 
 nearly to his ankles, Hessian boots, and a large 
 shovel hat." There is a scandalous tradition that he 
 occasionally took a newspaper into his stall at week- 
 day services, and being very deaf was unaware that 
 others could hear the folding or unfolding of it. " For 
 some days," says Mr. Gilbert, " before the battle 
 of Trafalgar he went regularly at eight o'clock to 
 
 355 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Bristow's reading-room in the Parade for the earliest 
 news of Lord Nelson and the fleet. When the sad, 
 glad news arrived, Bristow hastened to the cathedral 
 yard to meet Dr. Nelson, that he might be prevented 
 from learning in a public newsroom of his brother's 
 death. He was much affected, and returned to his 
 house shedding tears." Lady Emma Hamilton occa- 
 sionally visited Dr. and Mrs. Nelson in the Brickwalk ; 
 but it was not easy to get ladies to call upon or meet 
 her. Mrs. Bridges (the mother of Sir Egerton and 
 Sir John) had, however, no such scruples. " Lady 
 Emma and Mrs. Bridges sang an anthem in the choir 
 one day after service, a few persons being present. 
 The anthem was Kent's ' My song shall be of mercy 
 and judgment.' The singing was very fine, for the 
 compass of Lady Hamilton's voice was surprising. 
 Dean Powys was present near the entrance to the 
 presbytery, ' Shall I sing an anthem for the benefit 
 of the County Hospital ? ' shouted her ladyship. The 
 Dean, affecting deafness, returned no answer, and her 
 ladyship understood him." 
 
 Of Dr. Luxmore, another prebendary of Christ 
 Church, who became Dean of Gloucester and used to 
 send for " auld lang syne " a present of potted 
 lampreys for the audit dinners, Mr. Gilbert 
 writes : 
 
 I saw a letter from him to Dean Powys in which he earnestly deprecated 
 the removal of the two turrets from the great gate of the churchyard. 
 It was unavailing. The true story of their removal is this. My father 
 was one day in the bank of Simmons and Gipps at the comer of St. 
 Margaret Street ; Alderman Simmons and Jesse White (then cathedral 
 surveyor) were present. The exact time of day was asked by the 
 Alderman, who said, " If those turrets of the cathedral gate were away 
 we should see the church clock from the bank door. Can't you pull 
 them down, Jesse ? " " It shall be done," replied Jesse ; and it was 
 done. They were reported to be insecure and too heavy for the gate, 
 and down they came. Jesse White put up the wooden pinnacles to the 
 nave of the cathedral. The plea was economy, yet wood was then as 
 dear as stone. He was clever as a surveyor, and a man of substance in 
 body and in pocket. 
 
The Nave 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Gilbert tells us that in his early days 
 
 the dean and canons entered the choir, except when the archbishop 
 was present, by the west door. The dean led the way and entered his 
 stall first ; the canons on his side passed round to their seats by the 
 south entrance to the stalls. The canons on the vice-dean's side entered 
 juniores friores, the vice-dean and senior waiting for them. No canon 
 on leaving his stall passed the dean ; each went out to pulpit or altar 
 the other way. Not so on the vice-dean's side, whose seat rises on 
 hinges so that he may be passed. 
 
 The junior canon, unless preacher, usually took the ante-communion 
 office on Sundays, with a minor canon. But I observed that when we 
 had a new canon. Dr. Welfitt generally went to the altar. His object 
 was to show the newcomer that it was needful to turn and bow reverently 
 versus stallum decani, as the statutes say. Why is this done ? It is, as 
 it were, to ask the superior's permission and blessing, given by the return 
 bow, before proceeding to the office. 
 
 When the archbishop preached, the dean and vice-dean took the 
 office, and then conducted the archbishop to the pulpit. There was a 
 bad custom for the celebrants (sic) to leave the altar and go to their stalls 
 at the beginning of the Nicene Creed. At the visitation of Archbishop 
 Manners-Sutton the Dean and vice-Dean came dovsm and stood bowing 
 opposite the throne, ready to conduct his Grace to the pulpit. The 
 verger opened the door, but the Archbishop took no notice, keeping his 
 eyes fixed on his book. At the end of the Creed he looked up, acknow- 
 ledged their salute, and went with them to the pulpit. Dean Andrews 
 took the reproof nobly, and determined to make an end of a bad custom. 
 " For," said he, " I never felt a rebuke so keenly in my life. It was a 
 just rebuke and admirably administered. I was quite ashamed of myself 
 as I stood there before the congregation convicted of a great fault." 
 
 Dean Percy's tenure of office, from 1825 to 1827, 
 in spite of its brevity, brought changes of importance. 
 Of the four annual fairs held in the precincts during 
 the Middle Ages, the only one surviving was that at 
 Michaelmas. This was permitted for the last time in 
 1826, and by its removal to the Cattle Market lost 
 much of its mediccval aspect and association. 
 
 In the fabric itself perhaps the most important 
 change was that made in the position of the altar. 
 The heavy oak reredos which had been erected by 
 Burrough in 1732 was now taken down, and the 
 altar was moved back to the top of the flight of steps 
 leading to St. Augustine's chair. The patriarchal 
 
 359 
 
CJ NTS RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 seat, which had retained its primitive position through- 
 out all the changes and chances of at least seven 
 centuries and possibly much longer, was relegated to 
 the south-east transept. 
 
 Behind the altar a light stone screen with panels 
 of glass was set up, which Mr. Beresford Hope called 
 "the specimen in confectionary Perpendicular which 
 the late Mr. Austin inflicted on Canterbury." But 
 although the work was poor enough from the archi- 
 tectural point of view, the screen had this merit, that 
 it did not shut out the fine vista of the Trinity Chapel 
 behind it. 
 
 Ten years later, in 1836, the wainscot panelling 
 which concealed Eastry's lateral choir-screens was 
 removed and the latter repaired and glazed. This, 
 from some points of view, was a doubtful improve- 
 ment, for the seventeenth-century woodwork was 
 excellent in its way ; but happily the elaborately 
 carved return stalls at the west end of the choir were 
 spared, and much of the rest is still stored away in the 
 precincts. 
 
 The rebuilding of the north-western or Arundel 
 tower was also undertaken about this period. In 
 1824 the tower was thought to be in a dangerous 
 condition, and the Chapter called in Mr. Thomas 
 Hopper, a London architect, to report upon it. The 
 report is worth quoting at some length, not only 
 because it gives a specific account of the state of 
 Lanfranc's work after a lapse of eight centuries, but 
 also as showing that in the judgment of an expert it 
 was capable and worthy of preservation : 
 
 The foundations are sound, so also are the inner ashlar and pillars. 
 The external ashlar, excepting the part above the top water table, is 
 flawed in many places and the surface is nearly gone. The rubble work, 
 composing the core, is very defective, and spht in many parts. The 
 projecting angle of the tower is cracked in several places, and many of 
 the stones are crushed. The upper part of the Tower is split on each 
 of its four sides, and the angle next to the side aisle is not perpendicular. 
 The outer wall on the sides has several cracks and the columns and jambs 
 360 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 of the windows are crushed. Part of the staircase is broken by the 
 settlement in the outer wall. Many of the steps have fallen, and 
 several more are in a crippled state. . . . The wall on the west side has 
 been much injured by the iron tie-bar. . . . Much of the present 
 defective state of the tower is ovying to the manner in which it was 
 built. The core is composed of small stones mixed with bad lime and 
 rubbish, without binding stones or through courses. . . . Injury has 
 been done to the tower by the introduction of the pointed arches. 
 A sufficient substance of wall was not left at the angles to form a butment 
 to resist the pressure of the arches, and the effect of that deficiency has 
 been increased by the removal of the spire, the weight of which pressing 
 upon the angles of the tower acts as a butment for that purpose. . . . 
 
 The surveyor then mentions various repairs which 
 would in his opinion render the tower safe for many- 
 years, and concludes thus ; 
 
 Under all circumstances, the surveyors do not recommend the taking 
 down of the tower, which, notvnthstanding its defects, is an interesting 
 relic of the most ancient style of ecclesiastical architecture. 
 
 Mr. Hopper, in his respect for antiquity seems to 
 have been in advance of his time, and it must be a 
 matter for regret now that his advice was not followed. 
 Nothing, however, was done for some years, but in 
 1 83 1 the Dean and Chapter decided to pull down the 
 old tower and rebuild it from the foundations. For 
 this purpose an Act of Parliament was obtained, by 
 which the Dean and Chapter were empowered to raise 
 ^20,000 by mortgage on their estates, with power to 
 raise a further sum of ;^50oo if required ; the money 
 to be paid off by annual instalments in forty years. 
 It was found necessary to raise the extra ^5000, and 
 the total cost of the tower was j/^24,515, of which sum 
 the expenses of obtaining the Act of Parliament 
 amounted to £733, and the cost of pulling down the 
 old tower to £607. The new work was designed and 
 executed by George Austin, surveyor and architect 
 to the dean and chapter, and the foundations were so 
 well laid that it has never shown any sign of a settle- 
 ment ; but the Caen stone of which it is built has 
 become so much disintegrated, either because it was 
 
 361 
 
CJNTERBUR-r CATHEDRAL 
 
 imperfectly " weathered " after removal from the 
 quarry or through exposure to the fumes of the 
 Cathedral Gasworks, which for many years were placed 
 near the foot of the tower, that in little more than 
 seventy years it has been found necessary to give the 
 tower practically a new skin. 
 
 It is worthy of mention that " in excavating for the 
 foundations of the new tower the ground was found 
 to be boggy, and piles had to be driven in. Whilst the 
 men were digging they came across the skeletons of a 
 man and two oxen, all of which were in an upright 
 position. If we imagine that the man was an early 
 Briton driving the bullocks, and was swamped in 
 trying to cross the bog or to extricate the animals, we 
 shall probably be somewhere near the truth." ^ 
 
 While the rebuilding of the Arundel tower was in 
 progress and a new epoch in the administration of 
 cathedral revenues was at hand, events were hap- 
 pening which boded ill for the Church of England. 
 In 1832 Archbishop Howley was mobbed in the 
 streets of Canterbury on account of his opposition 
 in the House of Lords to the great Reform Bill ; 
 for the days of democratic bishops were not yet. The 
 crowd was numerous and violent and the Primate had 
 a narrow escape of being dragged from his carriage. 
 But thanks to the courage of a magistrate and the 
 adroitness of his Grace's coachman and footman, the 
 deanery was reached in safety. In 1833 the flight of 
 white veined marble steps and the black-and-white 
 marble pavement in the presbytery, which had been 
 given in 1732 by Dorothea Nixon and her nephew, 
 were superseded by the existing French black marble. 
 The repair of the cloister (with somewhat inferior 
 stone) was completed in 1834, and a mural tablet in 
 the north alley inscribed with a record of Dr. Peel's 
 generosity. In 1840 the cemetery gate, sometimes 
 
 '^ "Chronological History of Canterbury," by G. S., Canterbury 1883, 
 P- 351- 
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The Jrchbishop's Throne 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURT 
 
 called the sanctuary gate, together with the embattled 
 wall which stretched from the south-west corner of 
 St. Anselm's chapel to the old plumbery, and was 
 formerly the boundary between the burial-ground of 
 the monks (to the east) and that of the lay folk (to the 
 west), was taken down. The gateway was re-erected 
 in its present position as the entrance to the bowling 
 green.^ 
 
 In 1844 the throne given by Archbishop Tenison 
 in 1704 with its massive oaken columns and Renaissance 
 carvings was removed to the south-east transept and 
 replaced by Archbishop Howley's gift of stone taber- 
 nacle work designed by George Austin. The change 
 was in harmony with the prevalent notion that only 
 gothic design should be permitted in a gothic building ; 
 but whether it was an improvement is perhaps open to 
 debate. 
 
 In 1846 the present unpretentious stone pulpit in 
 the choir was erected from the plans of Mr. Butter- 
 field. 
 
 In 1848 Archbishop Howley died, and was buried 
 in Addington churchyard ; but a cenotaph with his 
 recumbent effigy was placed on the north side of the 
 presbytery between the tombs of Archbishops Chicheley 
 and Bourchier. Part of Prior Eastry's screen was 
 removed to make room for this monument, and in 
 1872 was re-erected at the entrance to St. Andrew's 
 Chapel. The new Primate, John Bird Sumner, was 
 the first Archbishop who had been enthroned, ex- 
 cepting by proxy, for a hundred and thirty- three years, 
 and for this reason the ceremony calls for special 
 notice. It was justly felt to be the beginning of a 
 new order of things, and though the day was cold and 
 wet the crowd of worshippers and spectators was too 
 
 1 In mediseval times the following parishes had a right to bury in 
 Christ Churchyard : St. Michael Burgate, St. Mary Queningate, St. 
 Mary Bredman, and St. Alphege also the inmates of St. Thomas's 
 Hospital at Eastbridge. 
 
 363 
 
C J NT E RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 great for even the great spaces of the cathedral. One 
 is tempted to compare it with the account of Arch- 
 bishop Manners-Sutton's enthronement as given by- 
 Prebendary Gilbert in his Reminiscences. " It took 
 place," he says, " in 1805. Dr. Wilson was proxy for 
 the Archbishop-elect, Dr. Wellfitt for Archdeacon 
 Radcliffe, and Dr. Walesby and Minor Canon Freeman 
 for the Dean and Chapter." It was an affair of proxies 
 altogether, and must have been a singularly unimpres- 
 sive ceremonial. Gilbert tells us that " the patri- 
 archal chair then stood in Becket's Crown. The 
 members of the choir proceeded by the north and 
 south aisles to the spot, from which the congregation 
 were excluded. Many rushed up to the altar and 
 gazed through the window in the screen {see Plate 
 on p. 348), and kept their places there (that is, 
 behind and about the holy table) when, the procession 
 having returned, the service was resumed." 
 
 We have ranged rapidly over the events great and 
 small of the first half of the century, and purposely 
 held in reserve what was in some respects the most 
 momentous of them aU. In 1836 there came into 
 being by Act of Parliament the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sion, which by its efficient administration of Church 
 revenues and its influence with the Legislature has 
 wrought such marvellous reforms. Prince-bishops, 
 " golden stalls," scandalous pluralities, wholesale 
 nepotism have fled before its face, and for three- 
 quarters of a century the poor and crowded parishes 
 have been nourished by resources which were formerly 
 shared among the friends of the politically or socially 
 great. At Canterbury the number of prebendaries 
 was reduced as vacancies occurred from twelve to six, 
 and large appropriations were made from the property 
 both of the Chapter and of the See towards the needs 
 of the Church elsewhere. The annual income of the 
 cathedral for all jpurposes, on an average for the three 
 years ending November 24, 1831, was returned to the 
 
 364 
 
NINETEEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Commissioners as ^21,551. It must occasionally have 
 been larger than this, for ^29,000 had been recently 
 expended in repairs, exclusive of provision for the 
 interest and repayment of the ^25,000 expended in 
 rebuilding the north-west tower. The Commis- 
 sioners in their final arrangement left to the Chapter 
 estates estimated to yield ^17,500 a year for the total 
 upkeep of the cathedral and staff, appropriating the 
 surplus to their general fund. Of this something will 
 be said hereafter. 
 
 The reduction in the number of prebendaries, or 
 canons as they are now usually termed, led to some 
 beneficial changes in the aspect of the precincts. 
 Where twelve residences had been required, only six 
 became necessary, and the least desirable of those 
 which had been constructed among and out of the 
 monastic buildings were demolished. Thus, the 
 houses near the east end of the cathedral, and 
 south of what was called the " Brick-walk," were 
 pulled down together with the boundary wall which 
 enclosed the corona, and the south arcade of the 
 infirmary and infirmary chapel exposed to view. When, 
 however, we delight in this line of picturesque 
 arches with their suggestions of the middle age and 
 grudge their long burial in commonplace masonry, 
 let us bear in mind that but for the mean use they 
 happened to serve they would almost certainly have 
 been destroyed as " superfluous buildings." 
 
 In Dean Lyall's time (1845-57) much work was 
 done on the exterior of the cathedral. Mention has 
 been made of Jesse White, who was surveyor in the 
 early part of the century, and who procured the 
 destruction of the turrets of the Christ Church gate. 
 If he had lived to the age of Methuselah, it is con- 
 ceivable that our descendants would have had a 
 wooden cathedral. He had already provided wooden 
 pinnacles to the nave, wooden frames for several of 
 the windows, and a wooden gable to the north-east 
 
 365 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 transept. All this rubbish was replaced by stone (not 
 always of the best quality) ; the cracked beUs in 
 the Oxford steeple, which for many years had been 
 silent for fear of danger to the adjoining old Norman 
 tower, were recast and rehung and a new clock fixed 
 in connection with them. 
 
 Dean Lyall died in 1857, and the advent of Dean 
 Alford was the signal for a series of changes not only 
 in the fabric and precincts, but also in the relation of 
 the cathedral to the religious needs of the city and of 
 the Church at large. Hitherto there had been only 
 one sermon on Sunday, and always in the morning. 
 The dean had preached three times in the year. 
 There was no evening service until it was instituted 
 many years later by Dean Payne Smith. Alford's 
 first reform was an afternoon sermon. Chapters are 
 proverbially conservative, and the innovation was so 
 strongly opposed that the Dean carried his point only 
 by undertaking to be the preacher — a promise faith- 
 fully performed, sometimes at the cost of inopportune 
 journeys and fatigues. The public responded with 
 great congregations, and thus began that improved 
 relationship between cathedral and city which since 
 those days has, we believe, become cordial. 
 
 In 1862 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted a 
 sum of ^20,000 towards the reparation of the fabric, 
 and associated their architect, Mr. Christian, with 
 Mr. H. G. Austin, the cathedral surveyor, in the 
 superintendence of the work. The Dean and his 
 architects set to work with much energy and the best 
 intentions on " the choir roof and the south-western 
 tower with a portion of the west front " ; but it is 
 to be feared that the mantle of the mediaeval builders 
 had not fallen even on this galaxy of virtue and ability. 
 Having enriched their restored tower with much third- 
 rate statuary by Theodore PfyflFers, a Belgian sculptor, 
 and having decided to light the cathedral with gas, 
 they planted their gasworks close under the west front, 
 366 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURT 
 
 providing in this way corrosive fumes to injure the 
 new work on both towers, while not omitting a con- 
 stant oifence to sight and smell. Happily, the gas- 
 works disappeared nearly thirty years ago, and the 
 decay of structure resulting from them and from the 
 use of a poor quality of stone is being carefully and, as 
 we hope, permanently remedied at the present time 
 under the superintendence of Mr. Caroe, F.S.A., 
 architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and to 
 the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. 
 
 Mention may be made of other works executed under 
 the indefatigable Dean Alford. The King's School 
 buildings in the Mint Yard,^ with a new gateway and 
 porter's lodge at the entrance from Northgate ; the 
 removal of the ceiling in St. Andrew's Chapel ; the 
 restoration of the south staircase turret ; the building 
 of a parapet (borrowed as to pattern from Lincoln 
 Cathedral) along the eaves of the choir roof, on the 
 south side ; the conversion of the old Brewhouse in 
 the Green Court into a choristers' school ; the sub- 
 stitution of the present stone stairway (copied from 
 the pulpit stairs in Chester Cathedral) for a wooden 
 one from the infirmary cloister to the north transept ; 
 and finally the new library, of which we give a descrip- 
 tion elsewhere. 
 
 One records not without regret that the Cheker 
 building, which in the later stages of its career had 
 served as a school for the choristers, was pulled down 
 in 1868 — one more fragment of the Middle Age lost 
 to us and to posterity ! 
 
 Although Alford did not always show artistic judg- 
 ment in dealing with the fabric, he was nevertheless a 
 great dean, of immense and beneficent activity as 
 writer, preacher, and man of affairs, zealous for the 
 spiritual influence of his great church, and full of 
 tolerance and kindliness. He died in 1871, and over 
 
 J For an account of the new buildings for the King's School see the 
 "History of the King's School," by Woodruff and Cape, London, 1908. 
 
 367 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 his grave in St. Martin's churchyard are these words 
 written] by himself: Diversorium viatoris Hierosoly- 
 man froficiscentis (The resting-place of a traveller on 
 his way to Jerusalem). 
 
 Robert Payne Smith was dean for twenty-four years 
 (1871-95) ; Frederic W. Farrar for eight (i 895-1 903) ; 
 and it is now nine since the accession of Dean Wace. 
 During this time an increasing zeal for the fabric and 
 services of the church has wrought great changes; 
 the momentum given by Alford has grown with the 
 years. 
 
 In 1879 ^^^ pews which dated from the days of 
 Queen Anne were removed from the choir to make 
 way for the existing stalls, which were designed by 
 Sir Gilbert Scott. The new stalls cost ^8000, and 
 although open to criticism, they are undoubtedly 
 an improvement on the old pewing. At the same 
 time, or a little later, a new altar was erected, 
 of dignified proportions. The panels of mosaic work 
 which decorate the front were made in Venice after 
 figures by Fra Angelico, and were the gift of the Rev. 
 George Pearson, an honorary canon. The ratable is 
 of stalagmite and alabaster, inlaid with rare marbles. 
 
 In 1883 an ancient folio Bible from the library was 
 placed upon the wooden desk in the north choir aisle. 
 The making of this desk in 1541 is recorded in the 
 cathedral archives. It was here that " Cranmer's 
 Bible," the Bible of " the largest volume," was placed 
 by royal injunction in the above year. It has been 
 conjectured that the recess in which the deik is placed 
 was intended to serve for the Easter sepulchre. But 
 as there is another such recess at the west end of the 
 same aisle, it seems more likely that both formerly 
 contained presses in which the service books were 
 kept in monastic times. 
 
 To Dean Payne Smith belongs the credit of having 
 established the Sunday evening service and sermon, 
 which have been much appreciated by the citizens. 
 368 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Twice, however, in his time the cathedral narrowly 
 
 escaped irretrievable disaster. In 1872 the upsetting 
 
 of a plumber's brasier of burning charcoal set fire to 
 
 the roof of the Trinity Chapel ; for an hour and a half 
 
 no water was available, and the entire roof east of the 
 
 chapels of St. Anselm and St. Andrew was destroyed. 
 
 Happily the stone vaulting stood firm, and though 
 
 molten lead rained through some of its crevices, the 
 
 interior took no great harm. At length by the aid of 
 
 eighty troopers from the barracks, the local volunteer 
 
 fire brigade under Captain W. G. Pidduck, and the 
 
 hose of the Phoenix Insurance Office, the fire was 
 
 subdued. Honourable mention should be made of 
 
 Mr. George Delasaux, who at great risk broke through 
 
 one of the clerestory windows and brought water 
 
 effectually to bear on the flames. His act was a fine 
 
 instance of the repayment by a descendant of French 
 
 refugees of the debt of his ancestors. 
 
 In 1876, when the clock in the Oxford steeple was 
 being cleaned, and the benzoline used for the purpose 
 was brought too near a lighted lamp, the adjacent 
 woodwork took fire. It was extinguished by the 
 presence of mind of one of the cathedral workmen, 
 who tore down the clock-case and so prevented the 
 spread of the flames ; but two lives were lost in this 
 unfortunate affair. 
 
 A mistake of judgment may occasionally do more 
 permanent harm than a great fire. It was during Dean 
 Payne Smith's tenure of office that the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners offered to take over all cathedral estates, 
 guaranteeing in return an annual income adequate to 
 the upkeep of the cathedrals and the payment of all 
 the officials. The Canterbury Chapter was on'e of 
 those which declined the proposal, and which there- 
 fore suffered severely by the subsequent fall in rents 
 and in the value of tithe. Since the stipends of minor 
 canons, lay clerks and lesser officials could not reason- 
 ably be reduced, the whole brunt of the loss therefore 
 
 2 A 369 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 fell on the members of the chapter, whose incomes at 
 one time decreased by nearly one half, and on the 
 provision for the upkeep of the fabric of the church. 
 The able and economical administration of cathedral 
 affairs initiated by the late seneschal. Colonel Dicken- 
 son, did much to retrieve the financial position ; but 
 for some tvsrenty years the dean and canons have 
 foregone a considerable part of their incomes in 
 order to provide for the maintenance of the buildings 
 and services. In addition to this, all fees for show- 
 ing the cathedral have, after payment of the neces- 
 sary guides, been allotted to the fabric fund; but 
 although the amount of money received from this 
 source is considerable, it would have been quite in- 
 sufficient for the general upkeep had not outside aid 
 been invoked from time to time. Thus Dean Farrar 
 raised by voluntary contributions nearly ^20,000 
 With Sir Arthur Blomfield as his architect he restored 
 the crypt and the chapter house, repaired the cloisters, 
 and, at a cost of £yoo, erected new altar-rails of early 
 Renaissance design in massive brasswork on a plinth of 
 black Belgian marble. The restored chapter house 
 was declared open on the morning of May 29, 1897, 
 by the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII ; 
 and in the afternoon of the same day Sir Henry Irving 
 read there to a crowded audience Tennyson's drama 
 Becket. 
 
 The national character of the response to Dean 
 Farrar's appeal is illustrated by the fact that Queen 
 Victoria, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and three 
 Premiers or ex-Premiers were among the contributors. 
 Since 1903 Dean Wace has added to the Reparation 
 Fund no less than ^27,000 from all parts of the country, 
 and has rendered to the fabric the most important and 
 judicious service it has received since the Reformation. 
 With Mr. Caroe as the successor of Sir Arthur Blom- 
 field, he has secured, we trust, for coming generations 
 the magnificent central tower. The north-western 
 370 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 tower has been treated in similar fashion, and the 
 Oxford steeple is now (191 2) undergoing repair. The 
 hard and durable Doulting stone has been used for 
 replacement where decay has made necessary the 
 removal of any of the old Caen blocks. About ^15,000 
 has been spent on Bell Harry and ^^9000 on the 
 Arundel tower. 
 
 The elevation of Dr. Temple to the primacy brought 
 about further changes. It had long been felt that it 
 was an anomalous thing that the archbishop should 
 have no place of residence in his cathedral city. 
 Archbishop Temple's first care on his accession in 1896 
 was to provide a home for himself and his successors 
 close to the cathedral and therefore at the centre of 
 diocesan organisation and activity. The sale of Adding - 
 ton Palace produced funds ; Mr. Caroe was the 
 architect. The house, in which every available scrap 
 of the previous ruin is incorporated, contains a chapel 
 and the great reception rooms for diocesan and other 
 gatherings. It occupies the site, though not the 
 whole site, of the former palace rebuilt by Archbishop 
 Parker, and communicates, as in Becket's days, with 
 the north-west corner of the cloister by the doorway 
 through which he went to his death. The " Old 
 Palace," as the new one is called, is an admirable 
 piece of work, excellently done, and perhaps we may 
 be allowed to add most hospitably used. 
 
 The architect and the mason during these busy 
 years were seconded by the goldsmith, the brass- 
 founder, the embroiderer and the decorator. As far 
 back as 1887 Canon Rawlinson had presented (at 
 the time anonymously) a silver-gilt altar cross elabo- 
 rately jewelled ; and a little later he gave the two 
 great brass candelabra which stand in front of the 
 holy table on either side. To these he added in 
 1898 a magnificent chalice and paten, the former set 
 with diamonds, opals and amethysts, and embossed 
 with symbolical figures. 
 
 371 
 
CJ NT E RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Cardinal Morton, towards the end of the fifteenth 
 century, gave to Christ Church a sumptuous herse- 
 
 The " Old Palace " 
 
 cloth or funeral pall, which disappeared in the sub- 
 sequent pillage. This was replaced in 1899 by one 
 scarcely less splendid, the gift of fifty-four ladies of 
 Kent, to whom Oxford University lent as pattern a 
 possibly unique example at least three hundred years 
 372 
 
Archbishofjuxoii's Gates (inner face) 
 
NINETEENTH CENTURT 
 
 old. A complete set of Eucharistic vestments exactly 
 copied from those at Sens, reputed to have belonged to 
 Becket, was an anonymous gift in the same year, of the 
 estimated value of ^^300. Among other freewill offer- 
 ings of what was once called " vestry stuff " are the 
 beautiful altar-frontals and super-frontals given by 
 Mrs. Rawlinson and a company of ladies. 
 
 In 1898 a very handsome pulpit of carved oak was 
 erected in the nave as a memorial to Dean Payne 
 Smith. The design, which was furnished by Mr. 
 Bodley, has met with general approval, and by some 
 competent judges the pulpit has been pronounced to 
 be the finest work of its kind executed since the 
 Reformation. Unfortunately, the acoustic properties 
 of the nave are not such as to encourage the preaching 
 of sermons there ; but at Canterbury there is less need 
 than elsewhere to utilise the nave for special services, 
 since the accommodation afforded in the choir is 
 exceptionally large. 
 
 The scope of our book does not allow us to give 
 more than a passing reference to the men who beyond 
 others have made the name of Canterbury once more 
 a household word throughout the English-speaking 
 world. It must suffice here to say that during the 
 last half-century the see has been filled by a succession 
 of great and devoted archbishops, and their influence 
 and leadership have been felt not only by the church 
 and nation at home but by the whole Anglican com- 
 munion. Tait lies in effigy in the north choir transept ; 
 the effigies of Benson and Temple are likewise in the 
 cathedral, though divided by the whole length of it, 
 and they both sleep in cathedral ground, one in the 
 nave and the other in the cloister garth.^ At their 
 
 ^ Until Dr. Benson was laid to rest beneath the north-western tower 
 in 1896 no Archbishop of Canterbury had been buried in his cathedral 
 church since Cardinal Pole was interred in the corona. Of the sixty- 
 seven pre-Reformation Archbishops, eleven were buried at St. Augus- 
 tine's, forty-six in Canterbury Cathedral, and one in each of the 
 following churches : Abingdon, Jumieges, Winchester, Bath and St. 
 
 375 
 
CJNTERBURT CA7HEDRAL 
 
 enthronement, if they did not come with troops of 
 mounted men, as in the great days of old, to be met 
 by the knights and esquires and city fathers three miles 
 from the city, at least it was not as in the eighteenth 
 century, a half-hearted affair of proxies. They were 
 welcomed and prayed for by thousands, and hearts 
 are better than horsemen. When they died they were 
 mourned as leaders and fathers of their flock. Their 
 lives are a part, and no inglorious part, of the history 
 of their country. The fifth Lambeth Conference in 
 1908, when two hundred bishops from all parts of 
 the world met for worship in Canterbury Cathedral, 
 is some measure of the progress of the church, of the 
 work of its primates, and of the feeling entertained 
 at home and overseas towards the ancient cathedral. 
 
 The nineteenth century at Canterbury was marked 
 by none of the violent changes and tragic episodes of 
 the sixteenth and seventeenth ; yet it may be doubted 
 whether these earher periods witnessed developments 
 more remarkable. From vandalism and destructive 
 ignorance to the loving care and study of all ancient 
 work ; from nepotism and scandalous pluralities to a 
 conscientious exercise of patronage ; from slack and 
 (it is to be feared) slovenly observance to the full tide 
 of ordered prayer and praise ; from neglect of the 
 fabric to a zealous if not always judicious regard 
 for both its outward and inward glories ; from an 
 official lethargy bordering on paralysis to the labour 
 and sacrifice which have made the cathedral a centre 
 of life not only for the city, the diocese and the country, 
 but for the whole Anglican communion — ^these are 
 indeed great changes, and they belong chiefiy to the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 W. D. 
 
 Gemma. One (Baldwin) died in the Holy Land, and one (Cranmer) 
 was burnt at*Oxford. 
 
 376 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 Canterbury in the Middle Ages possessed two collec- 
 tions of books which in extent and general importance 
 could scarcely be rivalled in any other English city. 
 These, of course, were housed respectively in the 
 cathedral library of Christ Church and in that attached 
 to the abbey of St. Augustine. Traditionally the 
 origin of both is associated with the name of Arch- 
 bishop Theodore ; ^ and there can be no doubt that 
 the learned Greek Archbishop brought books with 
 him into England. Archbishop Parker believed that he 
 was the happy possessor of certain works which Theo- 
 dore brought to Canterbury ; notably of a Homer 
 upon the first leaf of which the name Theodore 
 does actually occur in large gold letters. The book 
 is now preserved in the library of Corpus Christi 
 College, Cambridge, to which society Parker be- 
 queathed the volume (together with the rest of his 
 books), believing it to be one of the frimitics of the 
 cathedral library. Unfortunately this opinion can no 
 longer be maintained ; indeed, it is somewhat sur- 
 prising that it could ever have been current, since the 
 character of the script gives clear proof that the book 
 was written in the fifteenth instead of the seventh 
 century, and the name is therefore merely that of a 
 former possessor. 
 
 Of the extent of the library of Christ Church during 
 
 ^ Twyne in his tract entitled De rebus Alhianicis, published in 1590, 
 refers to the library of Christ Church as " ipsa celeberrima bibliotheca 
 a Theodoro instituta," p. 114. 
 
 377 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Anglo-Saxon times little is known. What notices 
 there are refer to the gifts of kings : thus, Athelstan 
 gives the Gospels of Mac-Durnan, and Canute a 
 splendid copy of the Gospels. These royal gifts were 
 service books ; but doubtless there were others, since 
 in the earliest extant lists the titles of a good many 
 books in the vernacular occur, some of which may have 
 been acquired before the Conquest. But whatever 
 may have been the extent of the library in Anglo- 
 Saxon times, much loss must have been suffered by 
 the disastrous fire of 1067, even if we accept with some 
 reserve Eadmer's statement that the devouring flames 
 made nearly a clean sweep of the books " whether 
 sacred or profane." Thus it would seem that the 
 mediaeval library, like so much else at Christ Church, 
 dates from the days of Lanfranc, who was not only a 
 donor of books, but also a framer of rules for their use. 
 These rules are contained in the Archbishop's Constitu- 
 tions, and are worth quoting at length : 
 
 " On monday before the first Sunday in Lent, before 
 the brethren come into the chapter house, the 
 librarian shall have a carpet laid down, and all books 
 got together upon it, except those which a year 
 previously had been assigned for reading. These the 
 brethren are to bring with them when they come to 
 the chapter house, each his book in his hand. . . . 
 Then the librarian shall read a statement as to the 
 manner in which the brethren have had books during the 
 past year. As each brother hears his name pronounced 
 he is to give back the book which has been en- 
 trusted to his reading, and he whose conscience accuses 
 him of not having read the book through which 
 he had received is to fall on his face, confess his 
 fault, and entreat forgiveness. . . . The librarian 
 shall then make a fresh distribution of the books, 
 namely, a different volume to each brother for his 
 reading." 
 
 The earliest extant list of books in the library of 
 
 378 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 Christ Church was discovered by Dr. Montagu 
 James in the University Library at Cambridge, at 
 the end of a twelfth-century copy of the Music and 
 Arithmetic of Boethius.^ This list contains 223 entries, 
 but is only a fragment, and Dr. James estimates that 
 there were from 600 to 700 volumes in the presses. 
 The earliest complete catalogue which has come down 
 to us is now preserved amongst the Cottonian MSS. 
 in the British Museum (Galba iv). It was compiled in 
 the time of Prior Henry of Eastry (1284-1331), and 
 enumerates 1831 volumes, containing 4157 treatises. 
 An examination of this list shows that although 
 theology and canon law are the strongest sections, the 
 library was strong in classics and respectably furnished 
 with books on science and history. 
 
 Out of the whole collection. Dr. James has been 
 able to identify 182 volumes as still existing in various 
 libraries. But, alas ! only six remain upon the shelves 
 at Canterbury. The question now arises, where was 
 this extensive collection of books housed ? The late 
 Mr. J. W. Clarke — a great authority on mediaeval 
 libraries — ^in an article contributed to the journal of 
 the Cambridge Antiquarian Society,^ says : " So far 
 as my researches have yet proceeded, I conceive that 
 presses in the cloister were found sufficiently large to 
 contain most monastic libraries until the end of the 
 fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth centuries." 
 But there is evidence that Christ Church possessed a 
 separate apartinent or Bibliotheca at a much earlier 
 date. This evidence is contained in a memorandum 
 in one of the monastic registers ^ made when Eastry 
 was prior, to the effect that an allowance of a loaf of 
 " monks' bread " and half a gallon of small beer should 
 be given to the sacrist's servant whenever he carried 
 books from the library {de libraria) to the chapter 
 
 ^ The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover, M. R. James, 
 Cambridge, 1903. 
 
 ^ Vol. viii. p. 360. 3 Register J. f. 514. 
 
 379 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 house for the^ annual inspection {ad monstrandum). 
 The position of this library is uncertain, but Mr. 
 St. John Hope has suggested that it may have been 
 situated at the east end of the slype or narrow passage 
 berween the church and the chapter house ; and he 
 points out that the two recesses in the wall of the 
 latter building — ^which have only been filled up in 
 modern times — ^may have contained presses for books.* 
 At Worcester, also a Benedictine foundation, there 
 are two similar recesses which have also been described 
 as armaria for storing books. ^ 
 
 In the circumstance that the duty of fetching the 
 books was entrusted to a servant of the sacrist we may 
 perhaps trace a survival from the time when the 
 monastery possessed few books besides those used in 
 the services of the church ; since service-books — 
 except those in daily use — would be kept in the sacrist's 
 house. 
 
 An account of one of the annual inspections 
 of books, taken in 1337, when Richard Oxenden 
 was prior, is to be found in Register I. f. 104. It 
 appears that the privilege of borrowing was not con- 
 fined to the monks but was extended to Canterbury 
 students at Oxford, and also to secular persons. Thus, 
 among the defaulters in 1337 is the name of the 
 unfortunate monarch Edward II, who had been dead 
 for ten years. He had borrowed from Christ Church 
 the Miracles of St. Thomas, his Life and that of 
 St. Anselm, and the books, apparently, were never 
 returned. 
 
 Wherever the old library may have been situated, a 
 new one was built by Archbishop Chicheley in the 
 fifteenth century over the prior's chapel. It must 
 have been nearly finished in 1444, since in that year 
 one Richard Salkyer, a London glazier, was paid 
 
 1 Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury. 
 
 ^ " Mediaeval Libraries," T. W. Williams. Bristol Antiquarian Society's 
 Transactions, vol. ixii. p. 209, p. 144. 
 380 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 76s. 8d. for glazing the windows.^ About 1475 
 Prior Sellinge added an ornamental ceiling and furni- 
 ture. Thirty-three years later (1508) brother William 
 Ingram made a careful review of the books in order to 
 ascertain their condition. He has left a detailed record 
 of his proceedings, from which source we learn that he 
 went round the room shelf by shelf noting the volumes 
 which required new " bynding," " bordyng," or 
 " chenyng." From the fact that the titles of the 
 defective volumes {libri debiles) fill fifteen columns of 
 his notebook some idea may be formed of the extent 
 of the whole collection.^ From the particulars con- 
 tained in this memorandum Mr. J. W. Clarke was 
 able to reconstruct the general arrangement of the 
 presses, shelves and benches. There were, he tells us, 
 two rows of eight presses, each having two shelves, 
 placed at right angles to the walls, with their accom- 
 panying benches and desks for readers. This arrange- 
 ment still exists in the ancient library of Merton 
 College, Oxford, which was fitted up by William Read, 
 bishop of Chichester, in the second half of the 
 fourteenth century. 
 
 It must be remembered that the prior's chapel over 
 which Chicheley's library was built occupied precisely 
 the same site as the room which at the present day 
 contains the Howley-Harrison collection of books, and 
 that therefore the library above it had exactly the 
 same floor space as that apartment. Access to the 
 library was obtained by means of a narrow staircase in 
 a gallery outside the passage leading from the lavatory 
 tower to the transept of the church. This staircase, 
 which ascended northwards to a door in the south- 
 west corner of the library, has long since been pulled 
 down, but is plainly shown in the plan drawn for 
 Dugdale's Monasticon. 
 
 For the upkeep of the library the prior and convent 
 held estates in land and tithe. Thus the rectory of 
 
 1 Treasurers' Accounts, sub anno, s Christ Church MSS. C. xi. (3). 
 
 381 
 
CANTERBURY CJTHEDRJL 
 
 Halstow, near Sittingbourne, was granted to the monks 
 of Christ Church by Archbishop Hubert Walter in 
 order that the profits of the benefice might be devoted 
 " to the emendation and repair of the books of their 
 library, reserving to the vicar of the parish an 
 annual stipend of five marks." A further endowment 
 was a small estate called Crumbesfield, which was 
 conveyed to the priory by Alfred de Gare in 1230.^ 
 In Benedictine foundations the care of the books 
 was part of the duties of the precentor. This 
 officer does not come very prominently into view in 
 the archives of Christ Church, but from the custumal 
 of St. Augustine's Abbey we learn that he and his 
 deputy, the succentor, were to have each his desk in 
 the cloister near the book presses, and that they were 
 to be ready at all times to give assistance to readers. 
 
 Whether the Scriptorium or writing-room where 
 books were copied and ornamented at Christ Church 
 was in the cloister or elsewhere is uncertain, since the 
 records say nothing about the matter. If this highly 
 skilled work were done in the cloister, the western alley 
 would have been the most eligible, since the southern 
 one appears to have been frequented by the novices 
 whose marks and diagrams cut upon the stone bench 
 for their games with marbles may still be seen ; and 
 the eastern and western alleys were much used as 
 thoroughfares. Whenever the Scriptorium was in the 
 cloister the arrangement was as follows : at each end 
 of the alley a screen was placed for greater privacy. 
 Along the inner wall were fixed oak cupboards with 
 strong locks and hinges to receive the books ; and on 
 the outer side was a row of little wooden box-like 
 rooms, called carrels, each of which was devoted to the 
 use of one scribe. Two of these carrels probably went to 
 each bay or compartment of the cloister. They were 
 commonly made of wainscot oak, about six feet by 
 eight feet in plan, or even less — ^just big enough to 
 
 ^ CharUE Antiques, Christ Church, Canterbury, H, 91 and C. 1262. 
 382 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 hold the seated scribe and his large desk on which 
 rested the manuscript he was copying and the one he 
 was writing, with some extra shelf-space for his black 
 and red ink horns, his colours and other implements. 
 In the twelfth century and earlier the monastic 
 Scriptorium of Christ Church wai> famous, and its 
 productions rivalled those of Winchester and St. 
 Albans. Eadwin's English copy of the Utrecht 
 Psalter preserved in the library of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge, and Herbert of Bosham's commentary on 
 the Psalms, in the Bodleian, are both splendid speci- 
 mens of the skill of the Canterbury scribes. But it is 
 doubtful whether any of the volumes which are still 
 on the shelves of the cathedral library were actually 
 written in the Canterbury Scriptorium, though about a 
 score certainly once belonged to Christ Church monks. 
 Amongst the treasures once possessed but not 
 produced by the Monks of Christ Church, we may 
 mention the so-called Psalter of St. Augustine, 
 now amongst the Cottonian MSS. in the British 
 Museum (Vespasian A.i), which for many centuries 
 belonged to Christ Church, Canterbury. It was 
 written in the eighth century, and the ornamentation 
 is apparently by two hands, the figures being painted 
 by an Italian illuminator, and the borders by an English 
 or Irish monk. Another magnificent book which was 
 once in the library of Christ Church is the Codex 
 Aureus, now preserved in the Royal Library at Stock- 
 holm. This is a book of the Gospels, written on 
 alternate leaves of purple vellum, the text on which is 
 of golden letters. It was written in the eighth century, 
 and both in general style and in the splendour of its 
 ornaments it closely resembles the Lindisfarne Gospels 
 of St. Cuthbert.^ A note on the margin of the first 
 page of St. Matthew's Gospel records that the book 
 was stolen by Norse pirates, and that Alfred, an 
 
 1 Illuminated MSS. T. W. Middleton, Cambridge 1892. 
 
 2 Middleton, op. cit. 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 English ealdorman, purchased it about the year 850, 
 in order to rescue it from pagan hands, and that he 
 then presented it to the cathedral church of Canter- 
 bury, The Gospels of MacDurna, now in the archi- 
 episcopal library at Lambeth, is another, celebrated 
 book which was for many centuries in the cathedral 
 library at Canterbury, though not a product of the 
 Christ Church Scriptorium. 
 
 It would seem that the Canterbury school of scribes 
 and illuminators declined at a comparatively early 
 date, since very few books written later than the 
 second half of the thirteenth century bear the marks 
 which palaeographers have associated with the work 
 of Canterbury scribes. Probably the wealth of the 
 convent and the fact that a large number of books were 
 required led to the employment of those professional 
 artists who in the early years of the thirteenth century 
 were already beginning to form themselves into guilds 
 and to ply for custom at the doors of the various 
 religious houses. By the rules of these guilds a high 
 standard of technical skill was exacted from the 
 members, but from professional scribes and illumi- 
 nators the same perfection of treatment could not be 
 expected as from men who, labouring for the glory 
 of God or the reputation of their monastery, could 
 devote years of patient toil to one book, and found 
 in their work the chief joy and relaxation of their 
 lives, ^ 
 
 Unfortunately, the Canterbury archives do not 
 throw any light upon the Scriptorium until towards 
 the end of the fifteenth century, when we do get a 
 few particulars relating to the production of books. 
 Thus, when Thomas Goldston II, was prior (1494- 
 15 17) the convent paid no less than ^^60 6s. 8d, for the 
 transcription of a book called Rationale Divinorum. 
 This was done by a professional scribe ; but at about 
 the same date the ornamentation of a large choir book, 
 
 1 Middleton, op. cit. p. 141. 
 384 
 
THE LI BRART 
 
 called a Lyggare, was entrusted to an old monk 
 (stationarius), who received for his pains eight 
 pounds in money and a new cloak (nova toga), valued 
 at ten shillings. The copying, however, was done in 
 London, and cost £6 8s. A new ordinal for use in the 
 prior's chapel appears to have been produced entirely 
 by outside labour, the text being written by one 
 Richard Thyrlwall, a secular priest, who was paid at 
 the rate of I2d. per folio, and in addition received 
 occasional " tips " or " refreshers," which are entered 
 under the title of " pro regardo " ; while the illumina- 
 tion was entrusted to two laymen who divided the 
 work between them. The book contained for.ty-five 
 folios of uterine vellum, for which ^i i6s. 4d. was 
 paid, and the binding cost ten shillings. 
 
 But to revert to the general history of the library. 
 Two years before the suppression of the priory, a fire 
 broke out in the prior's lodgings which spread to the 
 adjoining library. The disaster occurred when the 
 notorious Dr. Layton, one of Cromwell's inquisitors, 
 was quartered on the prior, and, according to Leland, 
 was caused by the Commissioners' drunken servants. 
 The damage done to the books was limited to those 
 contained on the shelves at the upper end of the 
 library, so that Twyne's statement that " many 
 thousands " of books were burnt must be an exaggera- 
 tion.^ Still, a good many were destroyed, and 
 amongst them those which Prior Sellinge had brought 
 from Italy, a loss which is the more to be deplored if 
 Twyne's statement . be correct that amongst them 
 was a copy of Cicero's De Refublica. 
 
 Of the fate of the monastic library at the time of the 
 dissolution no record remains. Probably, with the 
 exception of a few volumes which from their splendour 
 or historical association may have awakened the 
 cupidity of the King or his courtiers, the bulk of the 
 collection was left upon the shelves. When, however, 
 
 1 De rthus Albionicis, pp. 113, 114. 
 
 2B 385 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 it became clear that the Reformation had come 
 to stay, many of the books were doubtless regarded 
 by the new governing body as merely papistical 
 trash which might well be handed over to such 
 amateurs as would appreciate its antiquarian value. 
 Archbishop Parker was an enthusiastic collector of 
 ancient books, and in order to gratify his pro- 
 pensity in this direction he procured an order from 
 the Privy Council giving him a sort of roving com- 
 mission to inspect and examine " such ancient 
 Records and Monuments ... as were heretofore 
 preserved and recorded ... in divers abbies." 
 Armed with these powers, Parker or his agents 
 obtained access to the libraries of many cathedrals 
 of the new foundation, and probably in many 
 cases was readily permitted to take away volumes 
 which filled up space on the shelves and were useless 
 and unintelligible to their owners. From his own 
 cathedral church he seems to have gleaned exten- 
 sively, since in his collections at Corpus Christi College 
 in Cambridge several of the choicest treasures of 
 Christ Church are to be found. It would, however, 
 be unfair to conclude that in all cases the books were 
 taken direct from the shelves of the library ; some, 
 we know, were recovered from the hands of private 
 persons, who may have obtained them in all kinds of 
 questionable ways at the break-up of the religious 
 houses. Thus, in the " Theodore " Homer at Corpus 
 there is a note stating that Parker bought the volume 
 from a baker in Canterbury. StiU, the fact remains 
 that out of 482 manuscripts which Parker gave to the 
 College forty-seven were once in the conventual 
 library of Christ Church. Archbishop Whitgift (1583- 
 1604) seems to have carried off a good many more, for 
 amongst his books at Trinity College, Cambridge, are 
 fifty MSS. which figure in Eastry's catalogue ; while 
 thirty more in the same library which also have 
 Canterbury press marks came thither through the 
 386 
 
THE LI BRART 
 
 bequest of Dr. Nevill, who was Dean of Canterbury 
 from 1597 to 1615. In all Dr. James has identified 
 130 Christ Church books in the various libraries of 
 Cambridge University. 
 
 The Reformers, however, were not altogether un- 
 mindful of the advantages of cathedral libraries, and 
 were indeed anxious that these repositories should 
 contain an adequate supply of sound patristic litera- 
 ture. Thus we find the Royal Injunctions for Cathe- 
 drals issued in 1547 directing deans and chapters to 
 " make a library in some convenient place within their 
 church and to lay in the same St. Augustine, Basil, 
 Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, Ambrose, Chrysostom, 
 Cyprian, Theophylact, Erasmus and other good 
 writers' works." ^ At Canterbury at any rate an 
 attempt was made to obey these injunctions, for from a 
 memorandum preserved amongst the Chapter Archives 
 dated 155 1 we learn that the following books had been 
 placed upon the library shelves : " Basilius Magnus, 
 Ambrosii opera 2 vol., Chrisostom opera 4 vol., Theo- 
 phylact, Tertullianus, Cirilla opera 2 vol., Hilarius 
 Athanasius, Augustini opera 6 vol., Ciprianus, Lactan- 
 tius, Bernardi opera, Epiphanius latine, Historia 
 ecclesiastica Eusehii, Greg' Nazian', Bihlia Roberti 
 Stephani, Josephus de Antiquitibus, Griphionis Biblia 
 Anglic e." 
 
 Nevertheless, by the third decade of the seventeenth 
 century the shelves had become sadly depleted, for 
 Somner, writing about 1640, says that though the 
 church's library was by the founder " and others once 
 well stored with books," it had been " in man's 
 memory shamefully robbed and spoiled of them all — 
 an act much prejudiciall and very injurious both 
 to posterity and the commonwealth of letters." ^ 
 Although there was no doubt abundant justification 
 
 * See Freer's Visitation Articles, Alcuin Club Collections, vol, iii. 
 p. 136. 
 2 The Antiquities of Canterbury, p. 174. 
 
 387 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 for Somner's strictures, his statement cannot really 
 mean that every volume w^hich had once formed part 
 of the monastic library had been alienated, since an 
 inventory made in 1634 shows that twenty-five books 
 which are enumerated in the pre-Reformation lists 
 were still on the shelves, and they are there to this 
 day.^ As a matter of fact, the dean and chapter had 
 already waked to a sense of responsibility in the matter, 
 for at their chapter meeting of June 23, 1628, the 
 following resolution was passed : " That every man 
 should do his endeavour to refurnish the ancient 
 library of the said church. And that a book of velume 
 should be provided wherein the names of the Bene- 
 factors should be registered, and that the two upper- 
 most deskes should be instantly fitted for the receipt 
 of such books as shall be first given to the encourage- 
 ment of so good a work." ^ The " booke of velume " 
 is still extant, and contains the names of thirty-one 
 donors and the titles of 298 works. Archbishop Abbot, 
 who died in 1633, was the chief benefactor ; he is 
 credited with forty-six volumes, duplicates probably 
 from the Lambeth library. 
 
 As a further means of replenishing their shelves the 
 chapter hit upon the expedient of demanding a book 
 for the library from their tenants when leases were 
 renewed ; and they also set aside a part of the money 
 accruing from fines to the same purpose. By these 
 means good progress was being made in the collection 
 of books, when further development was checked by 
 the great Rebellion. In the year 1650 the trustees for 
 the lands of deans and chapters issued the following 
 order : " That Captain Sherman doe make a catalogue 
 of all the Bookes in the liberarie of Canterburie, and 
 that he take care for the speedie sending them up to 
 Surrey (?) howse in the ould Jewrie." The dean's 
 
 * The list is printed in Messrs. Legg and Hope's Inventories of Christ 
 Church, Canterbury, London, 1903. 
 ^ Acta Cafituli, sub anno, f . 304&. 
 
 388 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 chapel and the library over it were certainly pulled 
 down about this time, but it is doubtful whether the 
 books were sent to London. If they were, it would 
 seem that the collection was recovered en bloc at the 
 Restoration, for all the books mentioned in an Inven- 
 tory of 1634 ^^'^ ^"^ the Gift Book purchased in 1628 
 are still in the library. 
 
 When the Restoration had again put the dean and 
 chapter in possession of their church and estates. Arch- 
 bishop Juxon came forward with a munificent donation 
 of five hundred pounds " for the building, repairing 
 or fitting up of the place formerly called the Dean's 
 Chapel " in order that it might serve as a repository 
 of the books. With this benefaction the red-brick 
 building in which the Howley-Harrison collection of 
 books is now preserved was erected, and a note in the 
 above-mentioned "Gift Book" records that Dr. Warner, 
 bishop of Rochester and a canon of Canterbury, gave 
 another five hundred pounds " to make the classis 
 {shelves) and furnish books." Nor was this all, for by 
 his will (proved January 7, 1667) he bequeathed to the 
 dean and chapter a further sum of six hundred pounds, 
 " to be bestowed on books for ye late erected 
 Library." 
 
 The Bishop's bequest enabled the dean and chapter 
 to spend very considerable sums in the purchase of 
 books, as the following extracts from the treasurers' 
 accounts will show. In 1668 a bookseller named 
 Cornelius Bee ^ was paid£i5i 6s. 6d., and John Crooke, 
 a member of the same fraternity, received ^91 17s. 
 " for books for the chapter library." In the following 
 year the MS. collections of William Somner were 
 purchased from the antiquary's widow, who gives a 
 receipt for ;^ioo 8s. " for certain books and a case of 
 
 1 Somner, in his Preface to his Saxon Dictionary, says of Bee, " that 
 he was a man who had deserved very well of the republic of letters, by 
 publishing at his own care and cost many books of better note, wherein 
 he was so industrious, as literally to answer to his name." 
 
 389 
 
CANTERBU RY CATHEDRAL 
 
 shelves which were my husband's in his lifetime." 
 Forty pounds were paid to Bee in the same year, and in 
 1670 the chapter " laid out in books to Mr. Bee of ye 
 Lord of Rochester's gift j^25o los." Archbishop 
 Sancroft was also a good benefactor, for it is recorded 
 that he gave to the chapter library at Canterbury all 
 the duplicate volumes at Lambeth, " he buying as 
 many more for that Library according as they were 
 valued." 
 
 During the eighteenth century there was a steady 
 increase of the collection, so that in 1802, when the 
 first printed catalogue was issued, there were 3656 
 volumes on the shelves. In 1823 a valuable collection 
 of early printed Bibles and rare liturgical books, which 
 had been formed by the Rev. Thomas Coombe, D.D., 
 (canon of the seventh stall from 1800 to 1822), was pre- 
 sented to the church by that gentleman's sons. During 
 the next forty years the books increased so rapidly 
 that Juxon's building was found insufficient to contain 
 them, and a new library was built from the plans of 
 H. G. Austin, the cathedral architect, on the site of 
 the monastic dormitory. In order to make the new 
 work harmonise with the ancient windows which were 
 incorporated in its western wall, the architect adopted 
 a pseudo-Norman style, with the result that though 
 its details are certainly open to criticism, the room is 
 of noble proportions, well lighted, and in every way 
 admirably suited to its purpose. The books were 
 removed from the old to the new library in 1868, and 
 the former, after remaining empty for nineteen years, 
 was refitted in 1887 to receive Archdeacon Harrison's 
 bequest, and thenceforward has been known as the 
 Howley-Harrison Library. This collection comprises 
 the books bequeathed by Archbishop Howley in 1848 
 to the Venerable Benjamin Harrison, Archdeacon 
 of Maidstone, and Canon of Canterbury from 1845 
 to 1887, and sometime his Grace's chaplain. The 
 Archdeacon by his will left the Howley books and his 
 
THE LI B RAR T 
 
 own to his widow, with verbal instructions as to their 
 disposal. In consequence of these instructions Mrs. 
 Harrison gave the whole collection to the dean and 
 chapter in 1887. 
 
 The Howley-Harrison library contains 11,711 
 volumes, and is especially rich in early printed Bibles, 
 liturgical books and controversial tracts and pamphlets. 
 The printed books in the chapter library number at 
 the present time (191 1) 13,600 volumes. It is open 
 to readers each Tuesday and Friday (with occasional 
 exceptions) from 11. 15 a.m. to 1.15 p.m. when the 
 assistant librarian is in attendance. Books may be 
 borrowed by beneficed and licensed clergy of the 
 diocese, and by other persons who possess the 
 written permission of the librarian or deputy librarian. 
 The Howley-Harrison library is not open to the 
 public, but on days when the chapter library is 
 open the catalogue of the former is placed on the 
 table, and readers may borrow books by written 
 consent of the dean or of a canon or of the deputy 
 librarian. 
 
 The muniments of the church were not considered 
 to be a part of the monastic library, nor were they kept 
 there in mediseval times. At Christ Church the 
 charters were preserved in chests in the treasury, and 
 the monastic registers and other books relating to the 
 domestic or rural economy of the priory either in an 
 apartment over the old audit house or in the offices of 
 the various obedientiaries. After the suppression of the 
 monastery the bulk of the archives remained in their 
 former depositories. Dean Wotton was fully alive to 
 his responsibilities as custodian of these documents, and 
 took special precautions to prevent their alienation. 
 Thus, when in 1564 Thomas Cartwright, the well- 
 known controversialist, made an application to view 
 the archives, the dean (who was in London at the 
 time) writes to the chapter that Cartwright should 
 not be allowed to go up into the treasury, but that 
 
 391 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 " the books and writings " should be laid out for his 
 inspection "in some aulmery beneath the treasury- 
 house." " I would wish," the dean continues, " that 
 Mr. Butler, who hath taken paynes and knoweth best 
 where to fynde oute all kinds of wrytinges, with one 
 or more were appointed to make out the said search, 
 and to gather all the writings that shall serve for the 
 purpose required together." 
 
 It would seem, however, that some records were 
 concealed on the eve of the dissolution, since early in 
 the seventeenth century a curious petition mentions the 
 discovery of documents which had apparently been 
 bricked up somewhere in the Cathedral. The peti- 
 tioner, who was one of the minor canons and sacrist, 
 describes how he (like Durdles in Dickens' Edwin 
 Drood) was in the habit of tapping about the walls of 
 the church with a hammer, and that in the course of his 
 investigations he hit upon a place which sounded 
 hollow, whereupon " he beat down the wall with a 
 spike," and came upon a door " which was made up 
 with breke and whytened over." Within he discovered 
 a chamber " where were many ould writings." He then 
 informed the canons of his discovery, but none of them 
 were able to read the writings except Dr. Simpson, who 
 found the documents related to land that " was not 
 known before," and to the " composition between the 
 King and the convent for the water of the parke." 
 He therefore asks the dean and chapter to reward him 
 for his services.^ 
 
 Dr. Wotton's successors in the deanery were perhaps 
 less careful guardians of the archives than he had been, 
 for there is evidence that some important Christ 
 Church MSS. had found their way into lay hands 
 when Laud was archbishop and Bargrave was dean. 
 Thus, in 1638 a clergyman named William Watts 
 wrote to the dean and chapter intimating that he 
 
 ^ The petition, is undated, but from internal evidence it must have 
 been drawn up about the year 1615. 
 
THE LIBRART 
 
 knew the whereabouts of several volumes which 
 had once been in their keeping. The first sheet of 
 this letter is missing, but the remainder is so curious 
 and interesting that we are tempted to quote it in 
 extenso. The part extant runs thus : 
 
 Perhaps it was the Priories Booke, or perhaps but a transcript out of 
 severall ones, or at least some originalls and some copies. ... I have 
 a firm presumption that it hath not been in y' muniment house these 
 20 yeares, and so much you would all say should I discover where I 
 had it. For plainly gentlemen there are other manuscripts in y° same 
 nest which some time were yours or ye moncks' before you. And one 
 among ye rest written by a monck of ye same convent. I am to wayte 
 upon my Lord's grace a week after ye term and then will I present 
 y' book unto him for y' use, and if his Grace's leisure will serve to heare 
 mee, I shall intymate a handsome byway how it may be fitt for him to 
 send Mr. Bray to see some wrytings in that Librarie where when he is 
 he may alsoe take notice of ye parchment manuscripts. Sincerely and 
 in verba sacerdotis I sometymes persuaded such as have possession of 
 y" to restore y" to you. ... In the meantyme I know gentlemen that 
 there are many of yours in Bennet CoUedge and some in Sir R. Cotton's 
 Library, one of which myself some 26 yeares ago got for him in Cam- 
 bridge. Some 3 yeares since I met with your statutes glossed and 
 interpreted in ye margent by Kg Henry 8th's ovrae hand, and Henricus 
 Octavus written on ye toppe of ye first page, and Matthew Parker's 
 name in ye margent. . . . There were also written in Sir Matthew 
 Parker's hand " Hae sunt fere Statua Ecclesiae Gloucestrensis," which I 
 understand not. With these was bound a booke of ye Obites and 
 particular places of burialls of ye Priors and some Archbishops which 
 have noe tombes, or lye not under them, with ye precise distances from 
 ye several! Altars, walls or pillars that they were interred. And in an 
 ancient hand (which made me most of all desyre it) were ye formes of 
 ye consecration of your church and of ye instalment of Archbishop 
 Richard Withersted, if I read it right. The booke was an inch and half 
 thick, bound in printed, leather with 2 claspes in a small foHo. I read 
 2 hours in it. The Bookseller asked me 20^^ for it, which I being loth 
 to give, and fearing to buye lest you should have said I found it amongst 
 Dr. Sympson's books, soe soon as my back was turned a Gent or Lawyer 
 who saw me about it bought it up presently. But these notes I give 
 that if any of you do light upon it you may doe as you see cause. Worthy 
 and honoured gentlemen, I am y' sincere servant and will ever remayne 
 Y Worships to honour and serve you all, William Watts 
 
 9ber 26, 1638 
 
 Whether the dean and chapter made any eflforts to 
 recover this volume we do not know ; at any rate, it 
 
 393 
 
CJNTERBURT CJTHEDRJL 
 
 is not at the present time in their possession. Even 
 if they did recover it, the book may have disappeared 
 again during the troublous times which a few years 
 after the above letter was written wrought sad havoc 
 among the muniments of the church, for Somner tells 
 us that during the Great Rebellion " the Records and 
 evidences of all sorts were seized and distracted, many 
 of them irrevocably lost, and the rest not retrieved 
 without much trouble and cost." Happily, however, 
 the retrieving process was apparently fairly successful, 
 since the collection of manuscripts is still a very 
 extensive one. 
 
 Further losses were sustained in 1670 through a fire 
 which broke out in the audit house. The damage 
 would have been worse had not the alarm been 
 promptly given by a lady who while passing through 
 the Dark Entry noticed smoke issuing from the 
 windows of the audit house, so that the Cathedral 
 workmen were able to extinguish the flames before 
 they had gained a complete hold of the building. It 
 is pleasant to add that the dean and chapter acknow- 
 ledged their obligations to the lady by presenting her 
 with twelve pairs of white kid gloves ! ^ 
 
 Although the fire was fortunately arrested before it 
 gained a complete hold of the room, many of the 
 records, including several register books, were greatly 
 injured, and no attempt was made to repair the 
 damage, for Nicholas Batteley, writing to Strype in 
 1690 (twenty years after the event), says : " The 
 Archdeacon was so kind as to lend me the keys of 
 the library, and of ye presses where ye MSS. lye, 
 and when I had looked them over he went with me 
 into ye place where ye records lie, where we spent a 
 whole forenoon . • . but in ye place where ye Records 
 of about ye time of K. Edward and Qu. Elizabeth 
 
 1 " July 29, 1670. By order 12 payre of gloves, white kid, &c., for a 
 present to Miss Savin for giving notice of the fyre as per bill, ^^l 3s." — 
 Treasurers' Accounts. 
 
 394 
 
THE LIBRART 
 
 lay were found heaps of burnt papers ; for some years 
 ago a fire happened to ye place where ye records 
 lay, whereby many of them were consumed, and ye 
 rest much defaced. A damage irrecoverable ! " ^ A 
 hundred years later the charred MSS. were in much 
 the same condition, for Hasted in his History of Kent 
 states that " many of the manuscripts which suffered 
 by the above fire remain in the same mutilated state 
 as at their first removal (from the old audit house), 
 though many of them might with care be recovered, 
 in a heap on the floor, in one of the rooms over the 
 vestry of the church." ^ During the past year (1911) 
 a portion of the loose paper leaves of the registers of 
 Edwardian, Marian and Elizabethan times have been 
 guarded and bound by an expert and an index of their 
 contents compiled. The treatment of the curled 
 leaves of the vellum books presents a more difficult 
 problem, which has not yet been solved. 
 
 In 1804 the dean and chapter at their St. Katherine's 
 audit passed a resolution that the whole collection of 
 MSS. should be examined and catalogued. The work 
 was entrusted to Mr. Oyprian Rondeau Bunce, a 
 Canterbury lawyer and antiquary, who completed his 
 task in two years. This was a heavy piece of work, for 
 the Chartee Antiques alone number nearly six thousand, 
 but Mr. Bunce accomplished it with much success, 
 and his catalogue still remains the key to the collection. 
 Unfortunately, when the audit house was pulled down 
 in 1868 the muniments were removed to other deposi- 
 tories without any pains being taken to preserve the 
 press marks noted in Bunce's catalogue, so that for 
 many years that great work was of little use for the 
 purpose of finding any particular document. 
 
 The late Dr. John Brigstock Sheppard, who devoted 
 more than thirty-five years of his life to work amongst 
 the Cathedral archives, made a very valuable index to 
 
 ^ Strype's Correspondence, vol. iii. 
 
 2 History of Kent, 8vo ed. vol. iv. p, 579. 
 
 395 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 the monastic registers, and transcribed a large number 
 of the Chartce Antiques, notably those which possess 
 especial historical interest. His report on the collec- 
 tion to the Historical MSS. Commission is well known 
 and has been of the greatest service to students.^ 
 Shortly before his death, which occurred in 1895, a 
 large number of ancient documents were discovered 
 in a loft over a stable in the stonemason's yard, 
 whither they had been relegated probably in the early 
 years of the nineteenth century. Amongst them were 
 many letters of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 
 turies, which proved to be of considerable historical 
 interest. Dr. Sheppard began to make a calendar of 
 these letters, and this has been completed recently by 
 the present deputy librarian, who has also added an 
 index to the whole series. 
 
 In 1905 Mr. J. P. Gilson, of the MSS. Department 
 of the British Museum, was invited by the dean and 
 chapter to inspect their records, and to advise what 
 methods should be adopted in order to ensure the 
 safety of the collection, and at the same time make it 
 more accessible for research purposes. In response to 
 this invitation Mr. Gilson paid a visit to Canterbury, 
 made a survey of the archives, and issued a report. 
 In accordance with the recommendations made 
 therein, the whole collection has been placed under 
 review and brought again into relation with the 
 great catalogue of 1806. In order to include the 
 documents discovered since that date, Bunce's cata- 
 logue has been interleaved and rebound in three 
 volumes, and descriptions of the additional MSS. 
 have been inserted on the extra leaves. The ancient 
 deeds, which, with a few exceptions, were folded 
 and tied into bundles, have been flattened out, 
 marked with the library stamp, and arranged in 
 drawers having letters and numbers attached corre- 
 sponding to those in the catalogue, so that any 
 
 1 Historical MSS. Commission's Reports, v. viii. and Appendix to ix. 
 
THE LI BRAR T 
 
 particular document can be readily produced when 
 required. The following epitome of the collection 
 will be sufficient to indicate its extent and importance, 
 and further may be of service to students who desire 
 to ascertain what kind of information the Canterbury 
 records may be expected to yield. 
 
 The whole collection of MSS. may be divided 
 roughly into two classes, viz. detached documents and 
 bound volumes. Of the former by far the most 
 important are the Chartcs Antiques or muniments 
 proper. These number nearly 6000, and date from 
 the eighth to the sixteenth century. They are cata- 
 logued under place-names, but there is also a short 
 index of subjects. The Anglo-Saxon charters are 
 thirty- three in number, of which the earliest is a grant 
 from iEthelbald, King of the Mercians, dated a.d. 742. 
 No. XIV is a grant of Reculver to Christ Church, 
 Canterbury, by Eadred totius Albionis monarchus et 
 frimicerius. This is the famous MS. which claims 
 on the strength of the attestation clause to be in the 
 handwriting of St. Dunstan. But there is another 
 copy in the British Museum (Cotton Aug. II. 57) 
 which makes the same claim on the same ground. 
 Twenty-three of these charters have been reproduced 
 by photo-zincography in Facsimiles oj Anglo-Saxon 
 MSS. Part I, published on the recommendation of the 
 Master of the Rolls, and are there transcribed and 
 translated by Mr. W. Basevi Sanders, who has also 
 written an introduction describing them. They have 
 also been printed in full by Mr. Kemble in the Codex 
 Diplomaticus Anglo-Saxonum, and with greater accuracy 
 by Mr. W. de Gray Birch in Cartularium Saxonicum. 
 Five of the Anglo-Saxon charters are later than the 
 Conquest. The Anglo-Norman charters (William I. 
 to John) exceed seventy in number. They have all 
 been photographed at the instance of the late M. 
 Delisle, of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, for 
 his monumental work on Norman charters. 
 
 397 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Those charters that have valuable seals attached 
 to them are arranged in boxes, and are placed in 
 separate cabinets. A brief analysis of their contents 
 is subjoined : 
 
 (i) The kings of England are represented hj 141 
 examples, ranging from William I. (fragment only) to 
 James I. ; William II. being the only absentee. 
 
 (2) The kings of France provide five seals, the 
 MSS. attached to which all relate to the annual grant 
 of wine given by the kings of France to the convent of 
 Christ Church. 
 
 (3) Thirty Archbishops are represented by eighty- 
 eight seals, Anselm's being the first and Cranmer's the 
 last ; Ralph, Baldwin, Reginald, Kilwardby, Brad- 
 wardine, Ufford, Chicheley, Kemp and Bourchier are 
 missing. 
 
 (4) Bishops of the southern province furnish about 
 fifty seals, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries being 
 the most prolific periods. 
 
 (5) Conventual seals afford about 100 examples. 
 
 (6) The heads of religious houses, abbots, priors, 
 &c., appear in about fifty instances. 
 
 (7) Private seals of clergy and laymen make up the 
 number to 690. The clerical seals are very interesting, 
 many of them being impressed by antique gems ; 
 this is also the case with several of the counter-seals 
 of the archbishops and bishops. 
 
 (B) Account rolls. These number about 2500; 
 thirteenth to early sixteenth centuries ; the earliest 
 is an almoners' roll of 1269. They fall into the 
 following classes : 
 
 {a) Rolls relating to the domestic economy of the 
 priory, viz. those kept by the following monastic 
 officers: the almoner (64); cellarer (ii); chamber- 
 lain (64) ; treasurers (28) ; sacrist (62) ; granger (64) ; 
 bartoner (36) ; bartoner's bailiff (32) ; prior's chaplains 
 (10); anniversary (21); warden of malthouse (15); 
 398 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 seneschal (41) ; various (computi diversi) (i 2) ; general 
 {assissa de scaccario) (13). 
 
 (^) Rolls relating to rural economy, viz. the rolls of 
 the provosts and bedels of the manors (about 2000). 
 
 (J) Visitation rolls (18). These are of fourteenth- 
 century date, and contain proceedings in the court 
 of the prior and chapter acting as guardians of the 
 spiritualities when the see was vacant. 
 
 There are also about 320 rolls containing the 
 depositions of witnesses in ecclesiastical suits, of the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 (C) Documents discovered since the compilation 
 of Bunce's catalogue in 1806, and not included therein, 
 viz. : 
 
 {a) Sede Vacante instruments (121 1). These date 
 from the early years of the thirteenth century down- 
 wards. They were mounted by the late Dr. Sheppard 
 in scrap-books, transcribed and indexed, the latter 
 imperfectly. 
 
 (^) Letters, thirteenth to sixteenth centuries (1267). 
 
 (f) Miscellaneous, but chiefly relating to the do- 
 mestic and rural economy of the priory ; 108 1 
 documents. 
 
 Class C has been calendared and indexed in recent 
 years. 
 
 Bound Volumes 
 
 (i) The Monastic Registers. These registers are 
 contained in twenty-one volumes, lettered from A to 
 T2. They were bound under the direction of Samuel 
 Norris, auditor and chapter clerk from 171 1 to 1753. 
 The work was so carelessly executed that not only 
 were documents of quite di£Eerent date and subject 
 bound up in one volume, but not infrequently the 
 pages of a document were misplaced, and even the 
 pages of different registers were intermingled. Many 
 of the volumes have suffered in times past from lire 
 
 399 
 
CJ NTS RBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 or damp, and several of the most dilapidated have 
 recently been repaired and rebound at a very consider- 
 able expense. The arrangement of the documents, 
 however, remains unchanged in the rebound volumes, 
 in order that the indexes should not be disturbed. 
 A full index of each volume vi^as made by the late 
 Dr. Sheppard. The following brief description of 
 the several volumes will be sufficient to indicate the 
 nature of their contents : 
 
 Register A. Documents relating to the liberties 
 and estates of the church of Canterbury from the 
 seventh to the fifteenth century. The earliest were 
 copied into this book when Henry of Eastry was prior, 
 1284-1331. 600 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register B. An account of the Christ Church 
 manors outside the county of Kent. 450 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register C. A similar record of the manors within 
 the county of Kent. 293 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register D. A continuation of the last. 
 
 300 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register E. Registrum Omnium Cartarum et Com- 
 fosicionum Ecclesie Cantuar. Compiled temp. Prior 
 Eastry. 408 fo. vellum 
 
 At the end are fifty folios of the ordinary register 
 of the convent for the year 1501. 
 
 Register F. Copies of wills proved in the court of 
 the prior of Christ Church (Sede vac ante). An index 
 of names is in the eighth report of the Historical MSS. 
 Commission, pp. 332-333. 290 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register G. Acts of the prior and chapter during 
 vacancies of the see of Canterbury between the years 
 1 348-1 41 3. 300 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register H. A composite volume made up of several 
 distinct Libelli, viz. {a) rentals, the earliest being of 
 twelfth-century date ; Q>) the conventual register, 
 1 35 3-1 373 ; {c) compositions between Christ Church 
 and St. Augustine's, and between Archbishop Boni- 
 face and the prior and convent of Christ Church ; 
 400 
 
THE LI B RA RT 
 
 (d) manorial extents ; (e) Assisa Scaccarii, 1252- 
 1262. 230 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register I. Made up of three Libelli, viz. {a) a land 
 chartulary, temf. Prior Eastry ; {b) letters, patents, 
 writs, &c., 1 290-1 340 ; (c) a list of the more important 
 evidences and muniments. 477 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register J. Surveys, and extents of Manors, and 
 treatises on Rural Economy, compiled by brother 
 John de Gore (i 286-1 326). 300 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register K. Records of suits, domestic economy and 
 rentals, temp. Prior Eastry (one is earlier). 
 
 271 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register L. The letter book of Christ Church, 
 1 318-1367. [The greater part of the contents are 
 printed in Literce Cantuariensis, edited by Dr. Shep- 
 pard for the Master of the Rolls.] 206 fo. paper. 
 
 Register M. Taxacio Beneficiorum Ecclesiasticorum 
 per totam Angliam et Walliam, 1384-5. [A fourteenth- 
 century copy of the Taxation of Pope Nicolas IV.] 
 
 300 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register N. Made up of two Libelli, viz. (i) The 
 Sede Vacante register for the years 1553, 1554, 1555; 
 (2) copies of monastic records, beginning in the year 
 143^- 280 fo. paper. 
 
 Register O. Rural and domestic economy, temp. 
 Prior Eastry. 200 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register P. Much the same as Register O. 
 
 188 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register Q. Sede Vacante records from 1 292-1 349. 
 
 236 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register R. Sede Facante records, i486, 1500, 1503. 
 
 190 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register S. General register of the priory, 1390- 
 1500. _ _ 450 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register Ti. General register of the priory, 1506- 
 1532. _ 350 fo. vellum. 
 
 Register T2. General register of the priory, 1532- 
 1540' ^7^ fo. vellum. 
 
 2 c 401 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 (2) Registers of the dean and chapter between the 
 years 1 541- 1800. 27 vols. 
 
 Gaps occur in the earlier volumes, notably in the 
 reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth, James I, and 
 Charles I, but these have been recently to some 
 extent filled by the repair of the charred leaves of 
 former register books. {See above, p. 395.) 
 
 (3) Treasurers' account books, 1 541-1800. 170 vols. 
 The series is incomplete, and some of the earlier 
 
 volumes are in a very frail condition. 
 
 (4) Receiver-General's account books, 1 600-1 800. 
 
 133 vols. 
 
 (5) Rentals and registers of the provosts and bedels 
 of the manors in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies. 17 vols. 
 
 (6) Act books of the dean and chapter, 1 561-1800, 
 The two first volumes are badly damaged by fire. 
 
 II vols. 
 
 (7) Miscellaneous books of accounts, fifteenth to 
 eighteenth century. 90 vols. 
 
 (8) Court books of the archdeaconry and consistory 
 courts from the closing years of the fourteenth to the 
 middle of the eighteenth century. 359 vols. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A list of the books which were once in the conventual 
 library and are still preserved in the library of the dean 
 and chapter : 
 
 Egidius de Columna romanus. De regimine -princi- , 
 fum. Fifteenth century. 
 
 Constitutiones : Othonis et Ottohoni ; Oxonie de 
 libertalibus ecclesiarum ; Bonejacii Archiepiscopi ; 
 Johis Peckham Arciepiscopu Fourteenth century. 
 
 Constitutiones Othonis et Ottoboni cum glossa Johis 
 de Aton. Fifteenth century. 
 
 Liber tertius Decretalium et Repertorium Clementi- 
 narum Thome de Walkyngton. Fourteenth century. 
 402 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 Summa Decretalium cum summa Gaufridi. 
 
 Thirteenth, century. 
 
 Libri quinque Decretalium Abbrev : fer Henricum 
 Hostiensem. Given to Christ Church hy Prior Thomas 
 Chillenden. Fourteenth century. 
 
 Johannis de Hysfano Casus Decretalium. This book 
 belonged to Prior Adam Chillenden. 
 
 Thirteenth century. 
 
 Cawston Thomas. An obituary of the monks of 
 Christ Church from 1286 to 1507, &c. 
 
 Fifteenth century. 
 
 Gregorii Efistolce Decretales. 
 
 Early fourteenth century. 
 
 Grosteste, Robert. Diversi tractatus fcenitentice. 
 
 Fourteenth century. 
 
 Correctorium totius Biblie. 
 
 Fifteenth century. 
 
 Hugo de Sancto Claro, Super quatuor Libros Sententi- 
 arum. Thirteenth century. 
 
 Ingram, W. Logica. Fifteenth century. 
 
 Langton, Stephen. Moralia. Three vols. A com- 
 mentary on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joshua, Judges, 
 Ruth, four books of Kings, Tobias, Hester, Esdras, 
 two books of Maccabees and the twelve minor 
 prophets. Thirteenth century. 
 
 Legenda Sanctorum. Imperfect. Sixty-one leaves 
 recovered by the late Dr. J. B. Sheppard from the 
 bindings of the registers of the archdeacon's court. 
 A few of the large illuminated initials contain repre- 
 sentations of saints. Twelfth century. 
 
 Lessons in the week and on some Sundays and Holy 
 days for monastic use. Fourteenth century. 
 
 Miscellaneous. Contains amongst many other items 
 Pope Gregory IX.'s statute concerning Peter's Pence, 
 and a treatise on the duties of the priesthood, called 
 Pars oculi sacerdotum. Fourteenth century. 
 
 Miscellaneous, (a) Summa que dicitur fars oculi 
 sacerdotum ; dextra oculi sacerdotum, sinistra pars oculi 
 
 403 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 sacerdotum. (b) Tractatus de seftem sacramentis, de 
 seftem virtutibus seftem peccatis mortalibus, et decern 
 praceftis. {c) Instructiones beati Gregorii quo modo 
 venerandi sunt sancti. Thirteenth century. 
 
 A short chronicle, beginning with the birth of King 
 Edward III and ending with the destruction of the 
 campanile at Canterbury by an earthquake in 1382. 
 
 Fourteenth century. 
 
 Miscellaneous. Contains {a) rents of Christ Church 
 in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ; {b) Diver- 
 sorum Patrum sententice de primatu Romane Ecdesie 
 Twelfth century, {c) I>atin sermons (forty). This 
 book belonged to the notorious Roger Norris who was 
 prior of Christ Church 1 188- 1 190. {See chapter vi, 
 
 P- . •) 
 
 Liber precum cuiusdam monachi Cantuariensis. 
 
 Early fifteenth century. 
 Roger de St. Elphege. Liber sermonum et collectio 
 de multis. The commonplace book of Prior Roger of 
 St. Elphege, 1258-1263. 
 
 Duns Scotus. Super primum, secundum et tertium 
 librum, Sententiarum cum collationibus eusdem. 
 
 Fourteenth century. 
 
 Qucestiones Theologies. Thirteenth century. 
 
 Tabula Speculi Historialis. Fifteenth century. 
 
 William of Norwich. A Latin commentary on 
 
 Isaiah. Twelfth century. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 404 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS AND MURAL 
 PAINTINGS 
 
 In spite of all the loss sustained by storm and tempest, 
 Reformers and Puritans, and what Gostling calls " the 
 wicked wantonness of unlucky boys," the windows of 
 the cathedral church still retain many splendid speci- 
 mens of ancient stained glass.^ From William of 
 Malmesbury's description of the church in the twelfth 
 century it would seem that the " glorious choir " of 
 Anselm and Conrad was adorned with painted windows ; 
 but it is scarcely possible that any of this glass can have 
 survived the great fire of 1174. Mr. Westlake, in his 
 History of Design in Painted Glass, is of opinion that 
 the earliest glass now in the cathedral is in the windows 
 of the clerestory of the choir, and that it was executed 
 very early in the thirteenth century. 
 
 There are forty-nine single-light windows in the 
 clerestory, each of which was once filled with two 
 figures, one above the other. With the exception of 
 five in the apse, these windows all illustrated our 
 Lord's ancestry, beginning with the Almighty and 
 
 1 Alterations made between 1541 and 1544 : 
 
 To the glasier " For emending and altering a window in Oxenforth 
 styple, blown down by the wynde, 5s. 
 
 " For putting out of scriptures and altering of part of the wyndowes 
 in the body of the church over the south syde, I5d. 
 
 " For emending of a window beside Arundel stylpe, 6d. 
 
 " For altering and emending a window in St. Michel's yele, isd. 
 
 " For emending of a window in our lady chappell, 6d. 
 
 " For emending of two casements over the high altar, I5d. 
 
 " For mendyng the windows and casements where the shiyne was and 
 in our lady Chapel, iiis. 
 
 405 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Adam, in the westernmost window on the north side, 
 and ending with the blessed Virgin Mary and our 
 Lord in the corresponding window on the south side. 
 Only sixteen of these windows now retain their ancient 
 glass ; the rest were designed and given by George 
 Austin, Junior, about the middle of the last century. 
 In general treatment the clerestory windows at 
 Canterbury bear a remarkably close resemblance to 
 ancient glass in the cathedral churches of Chartres, 
 Rheims, and Sens ; indeed, Mr. Westlake goes so 
 far as to say that " the subjects might in some cases 
 be exchanged without exciting comment from 
 the spectators." ^ The five windows in the apse 
 contained the following subjects arranged in triple 
 tiers : 
 
 Moses. The Transfiguration. 
 
 Striking the Rock. The Agony. 
 
 Giving the Law. The Magi. 
 
 3 4 
 
 The Ascension. The Resurrection. 
 
 The Crucifixion. The Flagellation. 
 
 The Nativity. The Flight in Egypt. 
 
 5 
 The Baptism. 
 
 The Beheading of St. John the Baptist. 
 (?) 
 
 These windows were destroyed by the Puritans in 
 the seventeenth century. The present glass was designed 
 by the late George Austin. 
 
 In the side aisles of the choir are fourteen large 
 round-headed windows (excluding those in the apses 
 of the transepts), twelve of which formerly contained 
 
 ^ History of Design in Painted Glass, London, i88i. 
 406 
 
Methusaleh from a window in the Clerestory 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 glass illustrating the life and teaching of our Lord. 
 When the whole series was complete the life of Christ 
 was set forth from the Annunciation to the Resurrec- 
 tion, the chief subjects being contained in central 
 medallions, flanked by others in which were depicted 
 certain types and illustrations. 
 
 The series commenced in the western window of 
 the north choir aisle and ended in the corresponding 
 window on the south side. A description of the sub- 
 jects and types portrayed in these great " theological 
 windows," together with the Latin inscriptions which 
 surrounded them, is preserved among the Chapter 
 archives. This MS. (C 246), which was written early 
 in the fourteenth century, was transcribed by Somner, 
 who printed it in the appendix to his Antiquities of 
 Canterbury ; it has also been edited by Dr. M. R. 
 James for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. The 
 original arrangement of the glass was as follows : 
 
 
 WINDOW I 
 
 The Conception and Nativity 
 
 Subject 
 
 IllustTations 
 
 The Annunciation 
 
 Moses and the burning bush. 
 
 
 Gideon and the fleece. 
 
 Mary meeting Elizabeth 
 
 Mercy and Truth meeting together. 
 
 
 Righteousness and Peace kissing each 
 
 
 other. 
 
 The Nativity 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the image 
 
 
 and stone. 
 
 Mary 
 
 
 The Shepherds 
 
 Moses and the rod that budded. 
 
 
 David. 
 
 
 Habbakuk. 
 
 
 WINDOW II 
 
 
 The Infancy 
 
 The Magi — 
 
 Balaam 
 
 (i) Follovring the star 
 
 Isaiah. 
 
 
 Jeremiah. 
 
 (2) Before Herod 
 
 Christ and the Gentiles. 
 
 
 The Eiodus. 
 
 409 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 (3) Adoring Christ 
 
 (4) Their Dream 
 
 The Presentation in the 
 
 Temple 
 The Flight into Egypt 
 
 The Slaughter of the 
 Innocents 
 
 Joseph with his brethren and Egyptians. 
 
 Queen of Sheba before Solomon. 
 
 Jeroboam and the Man of God. 
 
 Lot escaping from Sodom. 
 
 Abraham and Melchizedech. 
 
 Presentation of Samuel. 
 
 David's flight to Nob. 
 
 Elijah's flight from Ahab and Jezebel. 
 
 Saul slaughters the priests. 
 
 Slaughter of tribe of Benjamin in Gibeon. 
 
 WINDOW III 
 Among the Doctors. Baptism. Temptation 
 
 Jesus among the Doctors 
 
 The Baptism of our Lord 
 
 The Temptation 
 (Greed and Pride) 
 (Desire) 
 
 Moses and Jethro with the people. 
 Daniel among the Elders. 
 Noah and the Dove. 
 Israelites crossing the Red Sea. 
 Eve taking the apple. 
 Eve eating it. 
 
 Adam and Eve eating the apple. 
 David and Goliath. 
 
 WINDOW IV 
 Life of Christ 
 
 The Call of Nathanael 
 
 The Marriage Feast at Cana 
 
 (six waterpots) 
 The Aposties fishing 
 
 Jesus reading the Law 
 
 The Sermon on the Mount 
 
 Jesus cleansing the leper 
 
 Adam and Eve with fig-leaves. , 
 
 Israelites under the Law. 
 
 Six ages of the world. 
 
 Six ages of man. 
 
 St. Peter with the Church of the Jews. 
 
 St. Paul with the Church of the Gentiles. 
 
 Esdras reading the Law. 
 
 St. Gregory ordaining readers. 
 
 The Doctors of the Church. 
 
 Moses receives the Law. 
 
 Paul baptizing. 
 
 Elisha and Naaman. 
 
 WINDOW V 
 Life of Christ {continued) 
 
 Jesus casting out devils 
 Mary anointing His feet 
 Jesus with Mary and Martha 
 
 410 
 
 Angel binding the Devil. 
 Drusiana's acts of charity. 
 Peter in the ship. 
 John reading. 
 Rachel and Leah. 
 
Etwch from a window in the CUresttty 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 The Rich Men of this World 
 Window II. 20 
 
 Jesus plucking the ears of 
 
 com 
 The Woman of Samaria — 
 
 (i) At the well 
 
 (2) Bringing the people 
 to Jesus 
 
 Apostles grinding com. 
 
 Peter and Paul with the nations. 
 
 Moses with the Pentateuch. 
 Church of the Gentiles. 
 Rebekah meeting Abraham's servant. 
 Rachel meeting Jacob. 
 
 413 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 WINDOW VI 
 
 Parables. Feeding the Multitude 
 
 Jesus conversing with Gentiles seeking the Gospel. 
 
 Apostles Pharisees rejecting the Gospel. 
 
 The Parable of the Soioer 
 Window II. 21 
 
 Parable of the Sower — 
 
 (1) Fowls of air 
 
 (2) The thorns 
 
 (3) Good ground 
 Parable of the Leaven 
 
 Parable" of the Net 
 414 
 
 Pharisees rejecting Jesus. 
 Pharisees tempting Him. 
 The rich of this world. 
 Job, Daniel, and Noah. 
 Noah's sons and the Church 
 Virginity, continence, and matrimony, 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 Parable of the Harvest 
 Miracle of the five loaves 
 and.two fishes 
 
 The Last Judgment. 
 Christ as priest and king. 
 Moses and the Synagogue. 
 The Church vcith John. 
 
 ;+VrL0T/7 SAL BTVR I^RESPICIAT BeTVPv ?K0i9l 
 
 SK VI /INT PS V Ebl PER bBROD IS ReGKJ/\ SflBEIi 
 
 The Destruction of Sodom 
 Window II. 20 
 
 WINDOW VII 
 
 Life of Christ {continued). The Lost Sheep 
 
 Church of the Gentiles. 
 
 Peter's vision. 
 
 Moses with the Pentateuch. 
 
 Christ baptizing. 
 
 Angels clothing the risen dead. 
 
 Angels leading the righteous to God. 
 
 Jesus heaUng the Canaanite 
 
 woman's daughter 
 Jesus healing the man at the 
 
 Pool of Bethesda 
 The Transfiguration 
 
 415 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Peter and the fish with the Christ goes up to Jerusalem. 
 
 penny The Crucifixion. 
 
 Jesus and the little child Monks washing the feet of the poor. 
 
 Kings obedient to Peter and Paul'. 
 The lost sheep Christ on the Cross. 
 
 Christ despoiling Hell. 
 
 The Three Wise Men Riding 
 Window II. 2 
 
 WINDOW VIII 
 
 Parable of the Forgiven Servant 
 
 Parable of the master and 
 the debtor servant — 
 (i) He forgives the debt Peter and Paul giving absolution. 
 Christ giving absolution. 
 
 416 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 (2) The servant striHng 
 his fellow servant 
 
 (3) Servant given to the 
 tormentors 
 
 Stoning of Paul. 
 Stoning of Stephen. 
 Wicked cast into Hell. 
 Destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 WINDOW IX 
 
 Parable of the Good Samaritan 
 
 Parable of the Good 
 Samaritan — 
 (i) The man falls among 
 thieves 
 
 (2) Priest and Levite 
 pass by 
 
 (3) Samaritan taking the 
 wounded man to the inn 
 
 Creation of Adam. 
 
 Creation of Eve. 
 
 Adam and Eve eating the apple. 
 
 Adam and Eve cast out of Eden. 
 
 Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh. 
 
 The Passover. 
 
 The Exodus. 
 
 The golden calf. 
 
 Giving of the Law. 
 
 The brazen serpent. 
 
 Peter accused by the maidservant. 
 
 The Crucifixion. 
 
 The Entombment. 
 
 The Resurrection. 
 
 The angel speaks to the Maries. 
 
 WINDOW X 
 
 Raising of the Dead. Entry into Jerusalem 
 
 Raising of Jairus's daughter Abigail meeting David. 
 
 Constantine's repentance. 
 
 Raising of the widow's son 
 
 Raising of Lazarus 
 
 Triumphal entry into 
 Jerusalem — 
 (1) Jesus sending for the 
 ass 
 
 Solomon worshipping images and 
 
 repenting. 
 Repentance of Theophilus. 
 Jonah under the gourd. 
 Repentance of Mary of Egypt. 
 
 Holy Ghost in likeness of a dove between 
 
 God and man. 
 Jesus between Peter and Paul. 
 
 (2) Disciples bringing the Peter bringing Jewish Church, 
 ass and colt Paul bringing Gentile Church. 
 
 (3) Children meeting Isaiah. 
 Jesus David. 
 
 2D 417 
 
CJNTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 Balaam i 2. Magi riding i 3. Isaiah; 4. Pharaoh; 5- Herod and 
 Ma^i ; 6. Gentiles; 7. Solomon and Siuecn Sheha; 8. Magi 
 Offering; g. Joseph; 10. Sodom; II. Magi' s Dream ; 12. 5'"'''' 
 hoam; 13. Samuel; 14. Christ presented ; 15. Pharisees rejecting 
 Christ; 16. Virginity, ^ c. ; 17. Just Men; 18. N oah's three Sons ; 
 19. 5(JTOer an</ thorns; 20, /J/'c^ A/en; 21, Sower and Birds. 
 
 Window II 
 
 Medallions I to 14 are the originals. The remaining ones, now lost, 
 were as follows : 
 
 15. Melchizedech and Abraham. 
 
 16. David and Doeg's flight. 
 
 17. Flight into Egypt. 
 
 18. Elijah's flight. 
 
 418 
 
 19. Saul's slaughter of Priests. 
 
 20. Slaughter of the Innocents. 
 
 21. Slaughter of Gibeonites. 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 I. yeius and Doctors ; 2. Moses and Jethro ; 3. Daniel; 4. Miraculous 
 draught of fishes ; 5. Noah; 6. Ages of Man; 7. Marriage in 
 Cana; 8. &'«■ ^^cs offforld; 9. Pefer ik Jeivish Church; 
 10. Nathanael; 11. Pharisees reject Christ ; Gentiles seeking Christ 
 
 Window III 
 
 Medallions I, 2, 3, 5 are the originals. The remaining ones, now lost, 
 were as follows : 
 4. Christ's Baptism. 9. Eve Eating. 
 
 6. Crossing the Red Sea. 10. The Temptation (3rd). 
 
 7. The Temptation (ist and 2nd) 11. Adam and Eve Eating. 
 
 8. Eve taking the apple. 12. David and Goliath. 
 
 Note. The Roman figures in the centre of the circles refer to the 
 window from which the medallion was taken. 
 
 419 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 WINDOW XI 
 Last Supper. Betrayal. Scourging 
 
 The Last Supper 
 
 Jesus washing the Apostles' 
 
 feet 
 The Betrayal 
 
 The Flagellation 
 
 David 
 
 The falling of the manna. 
 
 Abraham washing the angel's feet. 
 
 Laban washing the camel's feet. 
 
 Joseph being sold. 
 
 Joab kissing and MUing Abner. 
 
 Job with boils. 
 
 Elisha mocked by the children. 
 
 WINDOW XII 
 
 Crucifixion. Resurrection 
 
 Christ carrying the Cross 
 Christ on the Cross 
 The Descent from the Cross 
 Christ in the tomb 
 
 Christ harrowing Hell 
 The Resurrection 
 Mary and the Angel 
 
 Isaac carrying the wood. 
 
 Widow of Zarephath gathering sticks. 
 
 The brazen serpent. 
 
 The golden caK burned. 
 
 Death of Abel. 
 
 Ehsha restoring the boy to life. 
 
 The Passover mark vmtten in blood. 
 
 Samson and Delilah. 
 
 Jonah in the whale's belly. 
 
 David rescuing the sheep. 
 
 Samson with the gates of Gaza. 
 
 Jonah cast up by the whale. 
 
 David let down from the window. 
 
 Joseph drawn up from the pit. 
 
 Lion bringing its young to life.' 
 
 Of these windows, Nos. II and III alone retain their 
 ancient glass. No. I was blocked up about 1663 when 
 a staircase to the organ-loft was erected ; but inasmuch 
 as the glass in this window had reference to St. Mary 
 the Virgin, it is probable that it had been aheady 
 destroyed. So that the windows which originally 
 came second and third in the series are at the present 
 time the first and second of the north choir aisle. 
 
 Several medallions in both these windows contain 
 glass which has been transferred from others of the same 
 series, and the present arrangement wiU be best under- 
 stood by the aid of the plans on the preceding pages. 
 
 ^ For this convenient summary of subjects we are indebted to 
 Mr. F. S, Parry. 
 420 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 It will be noticed that several of the scenes illustrate 
 the parables of our Lord, which (with the exception 
 of the three pecuHar to St. Luke's Gospel) were rarely- 
 made use of by medieval artists of the Western Church. 
 
 Dr. James traces a connection between the types 
 in these windows and those illustrated in a collection 
 of types called Pictor in Carmine, made late in the 
 twelfth century, and also with those in the series of 
 thirteenth-century wall-paintings which once adorned 
 the stalls at Peterborough ; and he suggests that 
 possibly Benedict, prior of Christ Church, who became 
 Abbot of Peterborough in 1177, may have com- 
 municated copies of the Peterborough legends to his 
 old monastery.^ 
 
 The Triforium Windows 
 
 The six windows with trefoiled heads, three in the 
 north and three in the south choir aisle, are filled with 
 ancient glass of great beauty, but much of it has been 
 removed thither from other parts of the church, and 
 the arrangement is so confused that the subjects cannot 
 in all cases be determined. 
 
 In the westernmost window of the north aisle only 
 the subject contained in the lower medallion to the 
 right can be made out. This represents the story 
 related by William of Canterbury, of Adam, a forester, 
 who had caught three men who had slain a deer, one 
 of whom, " casting a dart, pierced the throat of his 
 assailant." The keeper is represented as falling back- 
 wards, and the inscription reads, " Fur fugiens guttur 
 perforat insequentis " (" The fleeing thief pierces 
 the throat of his pursuer "). It is, however, satisfac- 
 tory to learn that " the Martyr to whom the Lord 
 of Power had granted power ordained that in three 
 weeks the unfortunate man should be cured at 
 Canterbury." 
 
 ^ " The Twelve Theological Windows of Canterbury Cathedral." 
 M. R. James in the Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 
 1901, p. II. 
 
 421 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 In the central window the only intelligible medallion 
 is the lower one to the left, which represents the siege 
 of Canterbury by the Danes. In the third window 
 the two lower medalHons depict scenes in the Hfe of 
 St. Alphege, viz. his capture by the Danes (left) and 
 his murder (right). 
 
 The three corresponding windows in the south aisle 
 contain glass taken probably from a window in the 
 Trinity Chapel, since all the subjects relate to the 
 miracles of St. Thomas. Five medallions illustrate the 
 story of William Kellett, a carpenter who wounded 
 himself with his axe and was healed by the saint. The 
 upper roundel of the third window shows the accident ; 
 the corresponding one in the first (western) window 
 the bandaging of the wound ; the lower one to the 
 left the carpenter's vision ; the lower medallion to the 
 right in the first window his recovery ; and that to the 
 right in the second window his joyful departure from 
 the city. 
 
 In the north transept the great rose window in the 
 gable retains a portion of its ancient glass. In the 
 centre are two figures representing respectively Moses 
 with the Tables of the Law and the Jewish Church 
 with the Levitical books. The heads of these figures 
 are modern restorations. Around the central medallion 
 are figures representing the cardinal virtues. In the 
 window of the northern apse of the transept, where 
 the altar of St. Martin formerly stood, one panel of 
 ancient glass remains, illustrating the well-known 
 legend of the saint dividing his cloak with the beggar. 
 
 Passing to the Trinity (St. Thomas's) Chapel we find 
 it lighted by six windows on the north and six on the 
 south side. All were once filled with scenes taken from 
 the stories of the miracles of St. Thomas, collected by 
 Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury, 
 both of whom were custodians of the saint's tomb 
 in the crypt. In the north aisle only the third, 
 fourth, fifth and sixth windows retain portions of 
 422 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 their ancient glass ; but there have been consider- 
 able "restorations," Thus, in the third window 
 (counting from the west) four of the medallions, eight 
 of the upper roundels and part of the border are 
 original. The remainder is the work of the late 
 S. Caldwell, of Canterbury, from old fragments.* 
 In the next window (towards the east) four of the 
 medalhons are filled with modern copies of the story 
 of Willliam Kellett related above. Three scenes in 
 the fifth window and six lengths of the border are new. 
 In the head of the window is a representation of a 
 vision which Benedict tells us he saw himself. The 
 martyr is seen coming forth from the shrine in full 
 pontifical robes and making his way to an altar, as if 
 ro celebrate mass. "The medallion," says Austin, 
 " is the more interesting from being an undoubted 
 work of the thirteenth century ; and having been 
 designed for a position immediately opposite to and 
 within a few yards of the shrine itself, and occupying 
 the place of honour in the largest and most beautiful 
 window, without doubt represents the main features 
 of the shrine faithfully." * 
 
 In the easternmost window on the north side no 
 less than nine of the medallions contain modern 
 replicas of scenes which occur elsewhere in this window 
 or in the one last mentioned.* 
 
 Perhaps the quaintest group in this window is that 
 which depicts the story of Robert of Rochester, a 
 
 ^ In 1894 S. Caldwell was paid ^41 los. for making " six figure lights, 
 also scrolling and border lights with fragments of old glass to complete 
 the window on the north side of the Trinity Chapel." 
 
 a See " The Cathedral Church of Canterbury," London, G. Bell 
 &Son, 1896. 
 
 * j£i05 7s. 6d. was spent on this window in 1855. The work com- 
 prised " Releading and re-storing the missing portions of the medallions 
 of the upper part of the window with old glass," and the making of " nine 
 medallions of new glass to complete the old subjects, six lights of ground- 
 work new, and six lengths of border, and two corner lights, also new 
 glass, at 30s. per foot, in aU 5 ft. 10 in. by 7 ft. 3 in. = 41 sq. ft. 3 J in." 
 " Treasurers' Vouchers," sub anno. 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 naughty and cruel boy who, as Benedict tells us, when 
 out stoning frogs in the Medway with some wicked 
 companions, slipped into the river and was drowned, 
 but who by the efficacy of the saint's blood mixed 
 with water was afterwards restored to life. The first 
 medallion shows the boy disappearing in the water 
 beside three large green frogs. In the next the 
 other boys are seen telling the mother of the acci- 
 dent. She exclaims, " Gracious Thomas, Martyr of 
 God, restore to me my son." In the third scene 
 the grief-stricken parents are watching their son's 
 corpse being drawn out of the river by a man with an 
 iron hook. Unfortunately, the medallions which com- 
 plete this story have been destroyed. 
 
 Nine compartments in this window illustrate a 
 marvellous succession of miracles which were wrought 
 in the family of one Jordan, a distinguished knight who 
 had been an intimate friend of Archbishop Becket. 
 First, the family nurse dies, and her funeral is depicted, 
 then the knight's little boy of ten. Fortunately, 
 twenty pilgrims arrive that day at the house, and the 
 father borrows some of the " Saint's water." In the 
 next scene the father is pouring, the wonder-working 
 mixture between the clenched lips of his son. At the 
 third draught a spot of colour showed itself upon the 
 cheek of the boy, who, as Benedict tells us, now opened 
 one eye, and said, " Why are you weeping, father ? 
 Why are you crying, lady ? The blessed martyr 
 Thomas has restored me to you." The father then 
 puts into his son's hands four pieces of silver to be 
 oflEered at the martyr's shrine before mid-Lent. In 
 the next sc6ne the boy is seen upon a couch feeding 
 himself with a spoon. But the vow is forgotten. 
 A visit of the Warden of the Cinque Ports puts it out 
 of the heads of the parents. The eldest son now dies 
 and twenty of the household fall sick. A reminder of 
 the forgotten vow is conveyed to the knight by a 
 leper, who has been warned in a dream to undertake 
 424 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 the errand. In the last scene of the series we see the 
 father offering a large bowl fuU of gold and silver pieces, 
 and the mother leading by the hand the boy, now quite 
 well. In the telling of this story the chief points 
 which the monastic artists were anxious to emphasise 
 were doubtless " the extreme danger of delaying the 
 performance of a vow under whatever circumstances 
 made, the expiation sternly required by the saint, 
 and the satisfaction with which the martyr viewed 
 money-offerings made at the shrine." ^ 
 
 Passing to the south aisle of the Trinity Chapel, we 
 find in the easternmost window sixteen medalHons, of 
 which no less than eight were added by Mr. Caldwell 
 in 1893 from fragments of old glass ; as also were 
 portions of the bordering and the spandrels at the 
 bottom. The place occupied by the new medallions 
 was perhaps once filled by the scenes relating to the 
 stories of William Kellett, the carpenter, and of Adam 
 the forester, now in the triforium windows.^ 
 
 The second window is plain. The third retains 
 only part of the bordering. The fourth is plain. The 
 fifth is filled with fragments of ancient glass which 
 were arranged by Mr. Caldwell as a memorial window 
 in 1906. The inscription beneath the window reads : 
 " This ancient glass was recovered and replaced by 
 Edward Moore, D.D., Canon of this Cathedral, as a 
 memorial to his dearly loved wife, Annie Moore, who 
 died December 27, 1906." 
 
 The sixth window has twenty-two compartments. 
 The stained glass from twelve of them was removed 
 (probably early in the last century) to windows in the 
 north and south transepts. In 1897 it was brought 
 back and refixed by Mr. Caldwell, who also made six 
 medallions partly from fragments of old glass to fill 
 
 ' George Austin, quoted in the " Cathedral Church of Canter- 
 bury," G. Bell & Son, London, 1896. 
 
 '^See "Notes on the Painted Glass in Canterbury Cathedral," 
 Emily Williams, Aberdeen, 1897, p. 39. 
 
 425 
 
CANTERBURT CA7HEDRAL 
 
 up the vacant spaces. The principal scenes relate to 
 the stories of Godfrey of Winchester, who was cured 
 of a fever by the holy water, and of William of 
 Gloucester, who was buried by a fall of earth when 
 
 I. The Earth falls on William of Gloucester 
 Window I. 13, Trinity Chapel, South Side 
 
 making some excavations for an aqueduct at Church- 
 down. 
 
 Of the five windows in the corona, the central one 
 only retains its ancient glass. Here there are five 
 principal scenes, taken from Holy Scripture, each being 
 surrounded by four types. The principal subjects 
 represent the Crucifixion, the Entombment, the 
 426 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost. Of these 
 the Crucifixion and Resurrection are wholly modern, 
 and the Ascension partly so. They were executed by 
 Mr. Caldwell, from designs in the possession of Mr. 
 
 2. Two men bring news that he is dead 
 
 George Austin, partly from fragments of old glass. So 
 nearly do the new medallions resemble the thirteenth- 
 century glass that they were taken to be parts of the 
 original window by Mr. Westlake, who gives an engrav- 
 ing of the " Crucifixion " in his " History of Design in 
 Painted Glass." In the eighteenth century, and earlier 
 
 427 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 probably, there was a little casement in the lower right- 
 hand corner of this window, which hung upon hooks 
 which still remain. Horace Walpole refers to this 
 casement in a letter to Miss Berry in 1794, where he 
 
 A Dismal Groan is heard 
 
 says, " If you should come to Canterbury again, make 
 the cicerone shew you a pane of glass in the east window 
 which does open and exhibits a most delicious view of 
 the ruins of St. Austins." ^ 
 
 In addition to the splendid thirteenth-century glass 
 in the choir, Trinity Chapel and corona, the cathedral 
 
 1 Walpole's "Correspondence," vol. ix. p. 441. 
 428 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 also possessed much fine fifteenth-century glass in the 
 nave and western transepts ; but of this comparatively 
 little now remains. The earliest is contained in the 
 head of the great west window, where, under the 
 
 4. Holy and humble men of heart 
 come with spades and country tools 
 
 point of the arch are the arms of King Richard II 
 impaling those of his patron saint, Edward the Con- 
 fessor. In the next tier are six small figures between the 
 arms of Anne of Bohemia (north) and Isabella of 
 France (south), the successive consorts of Richard II. 
 This glass was inserted probably in the first decade 
 of the fifteenth century. 
 
 429 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 The next two tiers were filled originally with 
 saints and apostles. Now they are replaced by figures 
 of saints and bishops brought from the west window 
 of the Chapter -house. Beneath are seven kings, viz. 
 
 5. William is Brought out 
 
 (from right to left) : Canute, Edward the Confessor, 
 Harold, William I, William II, Henry I and Stephen. 
 These with the figures in the next tier were also from 
 the chapter-house ; and the remaining lights are 
 fiUed with glass from the clerestory of the choir in 
 1799. 
 The great window of the south-west transept 
 
 430 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 retains portions of its original glass, but the greater 
 part of it was taken from the windows in the clerestory 
 of the choir transept in 1799 when, as Hasted informs 
 us, " this window was selected and arranged by Mr. 
 
 A Lady offering a Coil at St. Thomas's Altar 
 Window VI. 21 {South Side of Trinity Chapet) 
 
 John Simmonds, one of the vesturers of the church, 
 to whom the arrangement was committed by the 
 Dean and Chapter." ^ Much reglazing was done to 
 this window by Messrs. Austin and Caldwell between 
 1859 and 1897.2 
 
 * "History of Kent," vol. iv. p. 529 note. 
 
 2 The new glass is indicated by Miss Willliams in her " Note* on 
 the Painted Glass," op. cit. 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 It is, however, in the great north window of the 
 " Martyrdom " transept that the best fifteenth-century 
 glass is to be found. This window was a gift from 
 King Edward IV in memory of his ancestor, Edward I, 
 whose marriage with Margaret of France was celebrated 
 at the cloister door close by. When in its pristine 
 condition this was a magnificent composition, for 
 which, according to tradition, the Spanish Ambassador 
 to the Court of Queen Elizabeth oflEered ten thousand 
 pounds. Much of the original glass was wantonly 
 destroyed by the Puritans, notably by Richard Culmer, 
 the notorious " Blue Dick " of whose proceedings we 
 have given some account in a previous chapter, and 
 there are good reasons for believing that what remains 
 is not in its original position. We wiU first describe 
 the present arrangement of the glass and then attempt 
 the reconstruction of the original design. 
 
 It is a seven-light window, with a traceried head 
 comprising thirty-six compartments, of which thirty- 
 four still contain little full-length figures,^ arranged 
 in three rows, the topmost representing the prophets, 
 the second the twelve apostles, and the third fourteen 
 ecclesiastics ; these were made for the position they 
 now occupy. The main lights are divided by tran- 
 soms into three tiers. The arrangement of the glass 
 at the present time is as follows : 
 
 In the uppermost tier (from left to right) are 
 the following coats-of-arms : (i) Christ Church ; 
 (2) Guldeford and Halden ; (3) Thomas Becket, 
 impaHng the See of Canterbury ; (4) the Holy Trinity ; 
 (5) Edward the Confessor ; (6) Viscount Wells (part 
 only), the husband of Cecilia, daughter of Edward IV ; 
 (7) an archbishop (modern). 
 
 In the middle tier are the following kneeling 
 figures : (i) Richard Duke of York ; (2) Edward 
 Prince of Wales ; (3) King Edward IV ; (4) the arms 
 
 1 Nos. I to 10, owing to the exigencies of space, are only half-length 
 figures. 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 of King Henry VII over two small figures, viz. a king 
 in armour, with. " Mauritius " underneath, and a 
 female figure with helmet and sword ; (5) Queen 
 Elizabeth (Woodville) ; (6) the Princesses Elizabeth, 
 Cecilia and Anne ; (7) The Princesses Katherine and 
 Mary. 
 
 In the lowest tier are the following coats-of-arms : 
 (i) Thomas Becket ; (2) royal arms ; (3) the arms of 
 an archbishop ; (4) royal arms ; (5) Scott of Scott's 
 Hall ; (6) royal arms ; (7) modern. 
 
 From Gost ling's description of this window it appears 
 that in his day the glass occupied very much the same 
 position as it does now. But from Culmer's account of 
 his misdoings in 1643 we know that prior to his 
 fanatical destruction of much of the glass in this window 
 it contained (to quote his own words) " the picture of 
 God the Father, and of Christ beside a large crucifix, 
 and the pictures of the Holy Ghost in the form of a 
 Dove, and seven large pictures of the Virgin Mary in 
 seven glorious appearances . . . and of many other 
 Popish Saints, as of Saint George, etc. But their 
 prime Cathedral Saint, Archbishop Thomas Becket, 
 was most rarely pictured in that window, in full pro- 
 portion, etc. . . . And at the foot of that window 
 was a title intimating that window to be dedicated to 
 the Virgin Mary, ' In laudem et honorem beatissime 
 Virginis Marie Matris Dei,' etc." From the above 
 description Mr. J. Le Couteur, in an article contributed 
 to the Transactions of the Kent Archaeological Society,^ 
 has given some acute suggestions towards solving the 
 problem before us. Thus, he points out that if the 
 band of royal portraits had been in the middle tier 
 (as now), with the figures of the Virgin in the lowest 
 row, the picture presented would be meaningless, not 
 to say ridiculous ; but if in the original composition 
 " the Holy Trinity overshadowed the figures of the 
 
 * " Notes on the Great North Window of Canterbury Cathedral," by 
 J. D. Le Couteur, in Archaologia Cantiana, vol. xxix. 
 
 2E 433 
 
CANIERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 Virgin, and on either side and above again in the 
 tracery were nothing but saints, there would be both 
 sense and reverence in the window." 
 
 The original arrangement of the glass then, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Le Couteur, whose conclusions we 
 think are sound, though we have not space to give 
 all the evidence upon which he bases them, was as 
 follows : 
 
 Uppermost tier (from left to right) : (i) Saint 
 George ; (2) unknown ; (3) Saint Thomas of Canter- 
 bury ; (4) the Holy Trinity; (5) St. Edward the 
 Confessor ; (6) unknown ; (7) St. Anthony. 
 
 Middle tier : seven large pictures of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary, the central light being occupied by her 
 coronation. 
 
 Lowest tier : (i) Richard Duke of York ; (2) Edward 
 Prince of Wales ; (3) King Edward IV ; (4) the 
 Crucifix ; (5) Queen Elizabeth (Woodville) ; (6) the 
 Princesses Elizabeth, Cecilia, and Anne ; (7) the Prin- 
 cesses Katherine and Mary. 
 
 Miss Williams in her " Notes on the Painted Glass in 
 Canterbury Cathedral " says of the royal portraits in 
 this window : " The figures have all new heads, and 
 much of the drapery and other parts have been restored 
 by Mr. Caldwell, under the direction of the late Mr. 
 Harry Austin, the surveyor of the cathedral. Parts of 
 the original figures are in the hall at the Deanery, having 
 been removed there in 1879." 
 
 The only window which retains all its fifteenth- 
 century glass is the east window of the Lady Chapel. 
 It is a very delicate piece of work, the groundwork being 
 nearly devoid of colour, in order to admit as much light 
 as possible, since the chapel is dependent upon this 
 window for its light. This window commemorates 
 Archdeacon Bourchier, who was buried in the chapel 
 in 1495 ; in the upper part are roundels enclosing a 
 golden falcon and the Bourchier knot. In the lower 
 part are the knot and a stem of oak-leaf fructed for 
 
 434 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 Woodstock, and a border of oak-leaves surrounds the 
 window. The archdeacon's mother was a daughter 
 of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. At the 
 base are five coats-of-arms arranged chevronwise. 
 
 Modern Stained Glass Windows 
 The modern windows, with a few exceptions, do not 
 merit a detailed notice, and a few brief notes must here 
 suffice. 
 
 A very large proportion of the modern stained glass 
 in the cathedral was designed by the late George 
 Austin, and executed by his assistant, S. Caldwell. 
 Mr. Austin had made a special study of the thirteenth- 
 century glass in the " Becket windows," and as a 
 copyist of the designs in these windows he attained 
 very considerable skill, but as a colourist he failed 
 lamentably, his windows being generally exceedingly 
 crude and garish. 
 
 The dean and chapter, however, seem to have 
 reposed the utmost confidence in Mr. Austin's taste 
 and skill, for in 1855 they not only allowed him to 
 fill all the clerestory windows of the nave with glass 
 from his own designs — ^which with great generosity 
 he offered to do at his own cost — ^but actually gave 
 him the exclusive right of dealing with the remaining 
 windows of the nave in his own way. This is recorded 
 in a minute of chapter of the above date, which gives 
 Austin permission to fill the nave windows with stained 
 glass ; and inhibits any other person from inserting 
 a window " without communication first with Mr. 
 Austin and his consent given." It is somewhat curious, 
 in view of the present opinion about these nave 
 windows, to read that the dean and chapter conferred 
 this monopoly on the artist because they considered 
 it to be " of the last importance to the beauty of the 
 nave that all windows should be of the same character 
 and tone of colouring " ! Happily, Mr. Austin's 
 energies, or purse, were exhausted before his 
 
 435 
 
CANTE RBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 scheme of decoration could be carried out in its 
 entirety. 
 
 We will now give a brief account of the modern 
 glass, beginning with the nave : 
 
 The Nave. — Clerestory windows by Austin, c. 1855. 
 Under south-west tower a window to the memory of 
 Sir Robert Inglis, erected at the cost of Archdeacon 
 Harrison in 1855, by Austin. South aisle : i and 2, 
 Te Deum windows, by Austin. North aisle : under 
 north-west tower, west window to Mrs. Harry Austin ; 
 north window to Geo. Austin, sen., died 1848. Nos. i 
 and 2, Te Deum windows ; to the memory of H. C. 
 Kingsford, died 1857 ; all by Austin. In the same 
 aisle a memorial window to Dean Stanley, by Messrs. 
 Clayton and Bell, by whom it was presented to the 
 cathedral. It contains figures of Archbishops Odo, 
 Stigand, Lanfranc and Prior Ernulf, and scenes con- 
 nected with the history of the cathedral (c. 1881). 
 
 South-west Transept. — ^A window in the west wall 
 by Mr. C. Whall, of Chelsea, in 1903, a memorial to 
 the late Mr. O. Waterfield, of Nackington House. This 
 is the best modern glass in the cathedral. 
 
 North-west Transept. — ^A window in the west wall 
 representing scenes in the life of Archbishop Becket 
 given by the Rev. Robert Moore {c. 1867), and by 
 Messrs. Ward and Hughes. 
 
 St. Michael's Chapel. — The east window, by 
 O'Connor of Birmingham, was erected in 1862 to the 
 memory of the officers and men of the East Kent 
 Regiment who fell in the Crimea. The south-west 
 window, with figures of St. Gregory, St. Augustine, 
 King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, and scenes con- 
 nected with their history, is a memorial to Colonel 
 Geo. Brockman (died 1865), by Messrs. Clayton and 
 Bell. The south-east window, inserted in 1909 to the 
 memory of Lord Congleton, is also by Clayton and 
 Bell. 
 
 Choir. — South aisle : three windows by Wailes, of 
 
 436 
 
STAINED GLASS 
 
 Newcastle ; (beyond the crossing) a window to the 
 memory of Canon Lockwood (died 1851), hj Austin; 
 and two triforium windows to the memory of Dean 
 and Mrs. Lyall, by Austin. 
 
 South-east Transept. — ^West wall : a memorial window 
 to the Marquis Conyngham, erected by the officers and 
 men of the East Kent Mounted Rifles in 1883. South 
 wall (to the right) : a window to the memory of 
 Edward Leigh Pemberton (d. 1877), and (to the left) 
 one to Dean Alf or d (d. 1 871). Triforium: two windows 
 to Dean Alford ; all by Messrs. Clayton and Bell. 
 The circular window in the gable contains some glass 
 from the west window of the chapter -house and more 
 by Austin representing apostles, evangelists and virtues. 
 Mr. Westlake says that this is probably a correct repro- 
 duction of the old glass. East wall : two windows 
 by Austin, viz. one in St. Gregory's apse and one in 
 St. John the Evangelist's apse, the latter a " Jesse " 
 window ; both dated 1852. Triforium : a window 
 containing an excellent imitation of thirteenth- 
 century glass, by Caldwell ; and a window in memory 
 of Mrs. Alford, erected by her daughter, Mrs. Bullock, 
 in 1883 (with the one opposite in the west triforium). 
 Artist (?) 
 
 St. Anselm^s Chafel. — In the south window of five 
 lights are figures of Archbishop Stephen Langton, 
 Edward the Black Prince, St. Anselm, Joan Plantagenet 
 and Archbishop Theodore. In the west window. 
 Archbishops Mepham and Bradwardine. These win- 
 dows, with those in the eastern apse, were filled with 
 stained glass by Canon Francis Holland c. 1886. All 
 are by Messrs. Clayton and Bell. 
 
 The Corona. — ^The window to the right of the 
 central one was filled by Messrs. Hemming in 1897 
 with glass which is a very fair imitation of thirteenth- 
 century glass. The Jesse window to the left was put 
 in by Austin in 1861. 
 
 Trinity Chapel. — In the north aisle, over entrance 
 
 437 
 
CJ N7ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 to Henry IV's chantry, a window to the memory of 
 Lieut. R. G. Dyson, 3rd Dragoon Guards (d. 1888), 
 by Clayton and Bell. 
 
 St. Ancirew's Chafel. — ^The central window of the 
 apse is a memorial to Dean Stanley, and that to the 
 left of it to John Ellison, honorary canon of Canter- 
 bury and founder of the Church of England Tem- 
 perance Society. They were given by Dean Farrar, 
 and designed by Mr. C. Whall. 
 
 North-east Transeft. — ^East wall : the window in 
 St. Stephen's apse was presented by Dr. A. P. Stanley 
 in 1858 as a memorial of his visit to the Holy Land. 
 Part of the border appears to be old glass. In St. 
 Martin's apse with the exception of the panel repre- 
 senting the saint, most of the glass is the work of Austin, 
 and a memorial to Canon Spry (d. 1855). Triforium : a 
 window by Caldwell similar to that in the south-east 
 transept. North wall : the window to the east is 
 by Austin (i860) ; that to the west, to the memory 
 of Canon Chesshyre (d. 1859), ^^ ^7 Hardman. 
 Triforium : two windows of good colour by 
 Powell, of Whitefriars, London, in memory of Canon 
 J. C. Robertson (d. 1882). West wall : a window 
 to the memory of Lord Kingsdown (d. 1867), by 
 Clayton and Bell. 
 
 Chapter House. — ^Both the large windows are the 
 work of Hemming, of Margaret Street, London. 
 The east window was the gift of the Freemasons of 
 Kent. The west window is a memorial to Dean 
 Farrar (d. 1903). 
 
 WALL PAINTINGS 
 
 Little now survives of the elaborate mural decora- 
 tion which adorned the medieval church. In the 
 sixteenth century there was a good deal of " whiting 
 over " and " putting out of feigned histories " by the 
 Reformers, more defacement by the Puritans in the 
 438 
 
WALL PAINTINGS 
 
 seventeenth century, an'd finally much meddlesome 
 scraping and rubbing down of walls by the " restorers " 
 in the nineteenth, which wiped out the few paintings 
 which had survived the earlier onslaughts. Thus the 
 angels holding a cardinal's hat, and the figure of St. 
 Christopher above Pole's tomb, with the phoenix rising 
 from the flames, which in Gostling's time {c. 1770) 
 could still be made out on the walls of the corona, 
 have all disappeared. There was, too, somewhere in 
 the choir or in the choir aisles a large picture of the 
 Apocalypse, possibly at the west end of the north 
 aisle, where Johnson's view, painted in 1657, shows 
 a mural painting of considerable size. In the recess of 
 the blocked window nearest to the transept in the 
 same aisle a faded representation of the legend of 
 St. Eustace may still be traced. The subject is an 
 exceedingly rare one in English churches, but at Christ 
 Church St. Eustace had a special commemoration on 
 November l. That this picture is meant to illustrate 
 the life and martyrdom of St. Eustace is clear from 
 the crucifix between the antlers of a large white 
 stag, which is in accordance with the legend of his 
 conversion ; and the brazen bull, with a fire burning 
 beneath, into which an executioner is forcing the 
 martyr. 
 
 But the best specimens of the early mural decora- 
 tions owe their preservation to the fact that they were 
 hidden from sight for many centuries and have only 
 been brought to light within recent memory. The 
 finest example now extant is the painting representing 
 St. Paul at Melita in St. Anselm's Chapel. This was 
 discovered in 1888, when the late Canon Francis J. 
 Holland was generously undertaking the restoration 
 of the chapel in order to fit it for early celebrations of 
 the Holy Eucharist on week-days. It was then found 
 that at a very early period there had been a settlement 
 of the north wall of the chapel. To remedy this a 
 later Norman arch had been inserted between the 
 
 439 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 chapel and the apse, and at the same time the northern 
 part of the apse had been refaced with ashlar. After 
 an outer buttress had been built and the arches 
 had been reset, Canon Holland caused the internal 
 buttressing to be removed, and behind it Was dis- 
 covered the painting representing St. Paul shaking off 
 the viper into the fire. This painting, which must 
 have been hidden from sight for more than seven 
 centuries, has been described by the late Mr. J. G. 
 Waller, F.S.A., as follows : 
 
 The tempora painting of St. Paul at MeKta has a special interest 
 inasmuch as that as far as I know the subject is unique in the mediajval 
 art of this country. Still more interest perhaps attaches to it from its 
 merit as a work of art which must probably be attributed to the middle 
 of the twelfth century. . . . The drawing of the extremities, especially 
 of the foot, is a long way in advance of any example known to me in 
 England ; and this is always a test of an artist's power. The drapery 
 is well cast and gracefully treated. The colouring is generally good 
 and delicate throughout. The blue background, which was much 
 affected during the twelfth century and in the early part of the thirteenth, 
 is here rather too powerful, arising perhaps from the fact of its being a 
 pure colour and unbroken. Time, however, may have modified the 
 shades that go with it, and thus make it too prominent.^ 
 
 Inferior to the above in execution but of extra- 
 ordinary interest are the extensive series of twelfth- 
 century paintings on the walls and roof of St. Gabriel's 
 Chapel, beneath the chapel of St. Anselm, of which 
 we will give a brief description. 
 
 Entering the nave of St. Gabriel's chapel, we notice 
 that the four bays of the groined roof supported by 
 the central pillar have been entirely covered with 
 painted designs of which scarcely any remain complete. 
 The designs seem to have consisted of subjects from 
 Holy Scripture, arranged in medallions, of which several 
 of small size, each containing the half-length figure of 
 a saint or angel, are grouped around one of larger 
 diameter. The borders of conventional patterns 
 
 1 Arch. Cant. vol. xviii. pp. 172-3. 
 440 
 
WALL PAINTINGS 
 remain upon some of the square-edged members of 
 the groining arches. The medallions bear a very 
 close resemblance to those on the walls of the 
 Norman church at Brooke, near Wye. It is evident 
 that this decoration was added after Ernulf's crypt was 
 
 Nave of St. Gabriel's Chapel 
 
 finished (before 1 107) and that it was an afterthought, 
 since the ornaments wrought with a hatchet which 
 characterises Ernulf's work may be seen on the 
 squared edges of the arch where the plaster has 
 scaled off. 
 
 Probably these mural paintings formed part of a 
 scheme for the decoration of the crypt executed in 
 the days of Prior Wibert (1150-1157), which also 
 
 441 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 included the grotesque carvings on the capitals of the 
 columns. 
 
 The east end of this little nave was, during the 
 middle ages, a straight wall, in which towards the 
 south there was a piscina-like niche, and towards the 
 north a bracket for an image or lamps. The central 
 portion of the wall was very slightly recessed, as if 
 for the reredos of an altar. Low down in the wall 
 was a rectangular aperture, through which persons 
 could with difHculty creep into the small apse on the 
 other side. 
 
 In 1879 a door was broken through the wall, and it 
 was then found that its outer western face had been 
 added after the apse had been walled up ; for there 
 was evidence to show that the original blocking-wall 
 had been plastered and painted before it was covered 
 with an outer facing of ashlar. When, then, was the 
 apse of the chapel first blocked up ? From the fact 
 that in Gerv'ase's minute description of the church, 
 which was written in or about 11 99, no mention is 
 made of any altar under St. Anselm's chapel, we may 
 conclude that the monks had already shut up the apse 
 and desired to keep its existence secret. 
 
 The cause for this secret and mysterious closing of 
 St. Gabriel's apse can only be conjectured. Canon 
 Scott Robertson says : " It seems to me that in the 
 troubles and alarms of the monks during the period 
 between 11 70 and 1 199 we may find the cause (for 
 the walling up of the apse). The fierce threats of 
 Becket's enemies induced the monks to carry his body 
 in haste from the high altar down to the remotest 
 chapel of the crypt for safety within twelve hours of 
 his murder. . . . During the fire in 11 74, and again 
 when the new eastern crypt was building around 
 Becket's tomb, there would be great anxiety respecting 
 the safety of his wonder-working body. A few years 
 later occurred the dispute with Archbishop Baldwin, 
 who actually sent armed men to besiege the convent. 
 442 
 
WALL PAINTINGS 
 
 I believe that during one of these troublous periods, 
 which filled the monks with the utmost terror and 
 alarm, the apse of St. Gabriel's chapel was converted 
 into the most secret hiding-place in the church." ^ 
 However this may have been, the apse was shut off 
 from the rest of the chapel at an early date, and doubt- 
 less it I is to this circumstance that the preservation of 
 the paintings which adorn its walls and roof is due. 
 
 The subjects [says Canon Scott Robertson] are extremely appropriate 
 to their position. In the centre of the roof is the Divine figure, seated 
 in majesty, surrounded by a wide vesica to which the four adoring angels 
 are extended. By the position of the fingers, the Divine figure seems 
 to direct attention vnth both hands to the scenes, four upon the north 
 wall and four upon the south, which represent the history of the glorious 
 missions entrusted to the Archangel Gabriel. On the north side, Gabriel 
 announces to Zacharias the coming birth of John the Baptist. On the 
 south, Gabriel announces to Mary the Incarnation of Jesus our Lord. 
 The results of the first annunciation are sketched on the north side in 
 three further scenes : (ii) Zacharias, dumb, appearing to the people outside 
 the Temple ; (iii) friends come to Elizabeth's couch to name her son ; 
 (iv) they appeal to Zacharias against her naming him John. The 
 history of the second annunciation is further depicted in these three 
 scenes on the south : (i) Ehzabeth saluting Mary ; (ii) Mary on her 
 couch with the infant Saviour ; (iii) the fourth scene is very indistinct. 
 Right and left of the entrance to the apse are the admirably painted 
 figures of two seraphim, each having six wings, fuU of eyes within and 
 without. One stands on each side with his feet on a winged wheel, 
 the face north and south, as if guarding the entrance. To complete 
 the allusion to the heavenly host, we find above the site of the altar, 
 around the sofiit of the arch of the eastern recess of the apse, figures of 
 the angels of the seven Churches of Asia, each holding a candlestick. At 
 the apex of the arch is a circle containing representations of " the seven 
 stars, which are the angels of the seven churches " (Rev. i. 20). Seven 
 being an uneven number, there are four angels with candlesticks on the 
 south side, but only three on the north. To fiU the fourth compart- 
 ment on the north side the artist has depicted St. John the Evangelist 
 in the act of writing the Apocalypse.2 
 
 Mr. Westlake has pointed out that a sure mark of 
 the date of these remarkable frescoes is to be found in 
 the way the eyes of the various figures are drawn. " It 
 
 1 Archceologia Cantiana, vol. xiii. p. 53. 
 
 2 Ibid. pp. ss, 56. 
 
 443 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 was not common," he says, " to insert a second line 
 or iris to the eye in the earlier years of the twelfth 
 century, and it ceased to be used late in the twelfth 
 or early in the thirteenth century." ^ From the fact 
 that the artists who painted these figures made use of 
 the second line, we may infer that the work was 
 executed in the second half of the twelfth century, 
 probably in its last quarter. Mr. W. de Gray Birch, 
 of the British Museum, concurs on the question of 
 date, and is also of opinion that the frescoes are of 
 English origin. In 1878 the dean and chapter engaged 
 the services of Mr. James Neale, F.S.A., for the pur- 
 pose of fixing the plaster on which the above subjects 
 are painted, and when this had been done the same 
 gentleman made full-sized facsimile drawings of the 
 whole series at the cost of the Kent Archaeological 
 Society. Mr. Neale's drawings now hang upon the 
 walls of the chapter library. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 1 History of Design, of. cit. i. 40. 
 
 444 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE CHOIR AND THE ORGAN 
 
 The choral service is so important and distinctive a 
 feature in the English cathedral system that our 
 history of the cathedral and metropolitical church of 
 Christ in Canterbury would be incomplete without 
 some account of the choir and organ. 
 
 The statutes of Henry VHI made liberal provision 
 for the maintenance of the choral service. There 
 were to be twelve minor canons, twelve lay clerks, and 
 ten chorister boys, " to the end that earnest prayer 
 and continual supplication may be offered up in our 
 church decently and in order, and that the praises of 
 God may every day be celebrated with singing and 
 thanksgiving." A paid choir of singers was not, how- 
 ever, altogether a new thing, for although in monastic 
 times the choir offices had been chanted by the 
 brethren without outside help, the boys of the 
 almonry school sang at high mass, and on Sundays and 
 feast days further assistance was given by paid singers 
 who were not members of the community.^ 
 
 1 A list of the days upon which the Sacrist paid for extra music (jtro 
 sonilu) is preserved amongst the Chapter Archives. It was drawn up 
 in 1273, and from the various sums set against the feast-days we 
 can form some idea of their relative importance in the eyes of the 
 monks of Christ Church. In all there were seventy-two days on 
 which the Sacrist paid for extra music, and the amount varied from 
 three shillings and sixpence on Easterday, Whit Sunday, Trinity 
 Sunday, Christmas Day, the Martyrdom and Translation of St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury, St. Dunstan's Day, and the Assumption of 
 the blessed Virgin, to threepence, which was the sum paid on the 
 Feasts of the Apostles. 
 
 445 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Nor was there any break with the past at the time 
 of the new foundation, as far as the services of the 
 church were concerned. The Latin service book 
 retained its place, and the choir offices, in which 
 the chanting of the psalms was no inconsiderable 
 part, continued to be sung hy men's voices, the 
 boys being only requisitioned for the music of the 
 mass.^ The circumstance that nearly all the minor 
 canons and several of the lay clerks had been either 
 monks or novices of the priory was a further guarantee 
 that for a time at any rate the old Canterbury use 
 would be maintained. 
 
 In 1547, however, some important innovations were 
 introduced. By Royal Injunctions issued in the above 
 year the Lady Mass was to be omitted on all holy days 
 on which a sermon was preached or a homily was read. 
 Sequences (that is, hymns between the Epistle and 
 Gospel) were no longer to be sung, " neither working 
 day nor holy day." The psalms, which apparently 
 had hitherto been hurried through in a perfunctory 
 manner, were to be sung " with such a leisure and 
 deliberation as the pronouncing of them may be 
 perceived both by the singer and hearer." " Masses 
 of note " were no longer to be sung at side-altars or 
 in chantry chapels, but " within the choir." Two 
 chapters of the Bible were to be read daily, viz. one in 
 the morning after matins and the other in the evening 
 after the Magnificat, by the " peticanons " in their 
 turn. And lastly the tonsure was dispensed with as 
 far as the choristers were concerned.* 
 
 These changes were, of course, only the precursors 
 
 pr 
 
 of much greater ones, for two years later (1549) ^^^ 
 
 ' Statute No. 32 ordains that the daily service should be sung by the 
 minor canons, the lay clerks and the master of the choristers ; the boys 
 are not mentioned in this connection. 
 
 2 " That the choristers have from henceforth the crown shaven no 
 more, their heads nevertheless to be kept short." — Visitation Articles, 
 Sec, ed. by W. H. Frere for the Alcuin Club, vol. ii. p. 140. 
 446 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 Latin liturgy gave way to the English Book of Common 
 Prayer. Nevertheless, the ancient plain-song did not 
 at once become obsolete, but was adapted to the 
 words of the new book by Merbeck and TaUis. Early 
 in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, however, plain-song 
 began to be superseded by more elaborate compositions 
 which depended for their effect upon nicely balanced 
 harmonies. It was then found that the proportion 
 of men's voices was too great, and in order to give 
 greater relative strength to the treble part six of the 
 minor canonries were suppressed. Although six sub- 
 stitutes were appointed in their place, it is probable 
 that the latter only acted as deputies for absent minor 
 canons ; so that the number of men-singers was now 
 reduced from twenty-four to eighteen. Even then the 
 boys' voices were found to be overweighted, and 
 in order to give further support to the treble part 
 two sackbutters and two cornetters were appointed, 
 whose duty was " to support the melody on feast 
 days and their vigils." ^ The sackbut was an instru- 
 ment resembling the modern trombone, and the 
 cornett, which must not be confounded with the 
 modern cornet, was a small open metal pipe capable 
 of great brilliancy of tone, and thus well adapted for 
 sustaining the voices of the choir-boys. 
 
 The sackbutters and cornetters, who first make their 
 appearance in 1598, wore surplices and received a 
 stipend of ^5 a year each, their salaries being defrayed 
 out of the statutable allowance made for the epistoler 
 .and gospeller, offices which before the close of the 
 sixteenth century had become obsolete. They were 
 placed upon the foundation by Archbishop Laud in 
 1636, and reappear in the treasurers' books for a few 
 years after the Restoration, but then drop out of sight. 
 An inventory of church goods made in 1752 records 
 amongst the contents of a chest " two brass sackbuts 
 
 ^ " Tibicenis propter melodiam in ' choro faciend ' diebus festis et 
 eorum vigiliis." — Treasurers' Accounts. 
 
 447 
 
CANTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 not used for a great number of years, part of the body 
 of an old bass viol, and such-like trumpery." 
 
 It is remarkable that the statutes make no provision 
 for an organist. Dr. Hook states that organs were 
 introduced into England by Archbishop Theodore in 
 the seventh century ; however that may have been, 
 it is probably safe to assume that Canterbury Cathedral 
 was one of the first churches to possess such an 
 instrument. In monastic times the organist was 
 always one of the brethren, and a few references to 
 the organ occur in the sacrist's accounts. Thus, we 
 learn that a new organ was purchased in 1334 {in 
 exfensis circa nova organa -per diversas vices, Ixi") ; and 
 again, rather more than one hundred years later, that 
 Nicholas Rawnce in 1447 was paid 66s. 5id. for making 
 " one pair of organs," The inventory made at the 
 time of the suppression of the priory mentions " two 
 pair of organs in the choir." Unfortunately we do 
 not get any exact information as to where these pre- 
 Reformation instruments were placed. It seems, how- 
 ever, likely that the loft over the western choir screen 
 contained an organ, and that it was on the exception- 
 ally wide platform of this loft that the hired singers 
 stood when the voices of the monks required re- 
 inforcement. At all events when we first get definite 
 information about the position of the organ it was in 
 the rood-loft. Thus in 1564, when the dean and 
 chapter decided to buy a new organ, they ordered 
 that the old organ standing in the rood-loft be taken 
 down and its materials used for the new instrument.^ 
 
 The new organ was not placed in the rood-loft but 
 over the north choir stalls, in imitation of the example 
 that had been lately set at St. Paul's Cathedral 
 in London.^ And here the instrument remained 
 
 1 This seems to be the tenor of the order, but the Act Book is so 
 badly burnt that the entry cannot be read in its entirety. 
 
 2 " To the sexton of Powles to let me see the place where the new 
 organs stood XIP." — Treasurers' Accounts sub anno. 
 
 448 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 throughout all successive rebuildings down to the 
 year 1784. A good deal of money was spent upon the 
 organ in 1578, in which year Jasper Blankard was 
 paid ^20 " over and besides his bargain and agreement 
 for the amending of the great organs." It would seem 
 that twenty years later a new organ was acquired, for in 
 1598 four of the cathedral workmen assisted " to help 
 up the organes " ; but we hear nothing more about 
 it except that certain carved figures were bought in 
 1619 for the case (^ro imaginibus in organo fositis, 
 34s. 4d.). 
 
 Although the statutes made no provision for an 
 organist, William Selby (who was already master of 
 the choristers) was appointed organist in 1547, and 
 the two offices have been held together ever since. 
 During the Marian reaction Selby lost his place, 
 presumably on account of his religious sympathies, but 
 he was reinstated on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, 
 and continued to hold office for another five-and- 
 twenty years. As he was not a statutable officer he was 
 dependent for remuneration on the goodwill of the 
 dean and chapter, who made him certain grants every 
 year which appear in the Treasurer's Accounts as 
 Feoda et regaria. Of course, this was in addition to his 
 stipend of ^5 7s. per annum as master of the choristers. 
 
 To the other members of the choir the actual money 
 payment allowed by statute was as follows : to a minor 
 canon, ^^5 2s. ; to a lay clerk, ^^4 5s. lod. ; to a 
 chorister, ^\ 5s. But there were also allowances for 
 gowns which brought up the stipends to ^10, ^8 and 
 ^3 3s. 4d. respectively ; and in addition to the 
 privilege of dining together in the peticanons' hall, 
 all the minor canons had houses in the precincts 
 and several of the lay clerks had free lodgings in the 
 tenement houses formed out of the great monastic 
 dormitory. This was a fairly liberal provision at the 
 time, but the mistake made by the framers of the 
 statutes was that they allotted to the choir — ^and 
 
 2F 449 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 indeed to all non-capitulars — a fixed money pay- 
 ment instead of a fixed proportion of the whole 
 divisible income ; so that in process of time, as the 
 purchasing power of money declined, the inferior 
 members of the church became poorer. In the case 
 of the minor canons this was remedied by allowing 
 them to hold benefices with their minor canonries ; 
 and so well did they avail themselves of this privilege 
 that in the later years of the seventeenth century no 
 less than seventeen livings were held by six minor 
 canons. But to the lay clerks no such opportunity 
 of increasing their income was open, with the result 
 that although from time to time their stipends 
 received small augmentations, they remained miserably 
 underpaid. It is therefore perhaps scarcely to be 
 wondered at that sometimes they resorted to illicit 
 ways for eking out their slender livelihood. Thus, 
 Thomas Baylie seems to have turned his residence in 
 the precincts into a sort of public-house, where, in 
 spite of " divers warnings given by the dean and 
 chapter, he continued to sell beer, wine and other 
 victuals," until he was expelled by Act of chapter in • • • 
 1603. Another lay clerk who had been dismissed for 
 non-attendance petitioned to be restored to his place 
 in the choir on the ground that his absence from the 
 services of the church had not been wilful, " but to 
 prevent him from an arrest." He adds that he " hath 
 prevailed with his creditors to permit him to come to 
 church," and begs to be reinstated in his office that he 
 may be " in better capacity both of serving God and 
 of satisfying his creditors." There were even worse 
 cases than this ; for instance, that of a clerk whose 
 prolonged absence from duty had been the subject of 
 much unfavourable comment, and who was at length 
 discovered in the common debtors' prison in the 
 Westgate. 
 
 Laud's fondness for cathedral music was well known, 
 and the choirmen hoped that when he was engaged in 
 450 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 revising the statutes he might do something for 
 them. In the preamble to their petition they 
 stated that they were encouraged to approach 
 his Grace from the knowledge that he had " a good 
 liking towards the art of musick, now sore decayed," 
 and grounded their special appeal upon the fact that 
 since the city of Canterbury " stood upon the leading 
 highway unto the chiefest city of the realm," the 
 cathedral church was " much frequented by ambas- 
 sadors of the chiefest princes of Christendom." 
 
 The following concessions, they thought, would 
 tend towards the general well-being and efficiency of 
 the choir : 
 
 (i) That there should be but one choral service 
 on week days, and that in the forenoon, " as was 
 the custom at the Chapel Royal, St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral, Westminster Abbey, Rochester Cathedral and 
 all other cathedral churches " {sic). If this were 
 granted, then the minor canons would have more time 
 for study, the lay clerks a better opportunity "to 
 exercise themselves in their several functions to the 
 augmenting of their poor livings " ; and the chorister- 
 boys would be " better able to apply themselves to 
 their books." 
 
 (2) That all members of the choir, in accordance 
 with the statute, should have some voice in the 
 choosing of candidates for membership, in the same 
 way as such elections were made at the Chapel Royal 
 and at St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 (3) That the chorister-boys, after good service in 
 the choir, " should have the benefit of the grammar 
 school " ; and 
 
 (4) That the minor canons and lay clerks should be 
 exempted by statute from serving on juries. 
 
 The proposal that the choral service should be per- 
 formed only once a day in the metropolitical church 
 was not likely to be well received by Laud. When 
 revising the statutes, he put the organist, sackbutters 
 
 451 
 
CJNTERBU Rr CATHEDRAL 
 
 and coruetters on the foundation, but that was all. 
 Privately, however, he brought some pressure to bear 
 upon the Dean and Chapter to improve the stipends 
 of the choirmen, which was so far successful that 
 certain fees known as the " entertainment money " 
 were now ear-marked for the choir/ 
 
 It is somewhat surprising that the choirmen con- 
 sidered the two daily services a hardship, for not 
 many years previously they had been compelled to 
 attend three. Thus an Act of Chapter of the year 
 1583 ordered that " the peticanons and lay clerks 
 must be present at the three daily services, except in 
 their weeks of liberty ; and that every one of them 
 for making default shall the next service afterwards 
 stand in his surplice during the time of the whole 
 service at the door of the grate of the choir." 
 
 The " weeks of liberty " mentioned in the above 
 order meant one week in three, which seems a very 
 liberal amount of vacation ; but no doubt the sub- 
 stitutes acted for lay clerks as well as for minor canons. 
 In 1677 the " liberty weeks " were taken away, the 
 Act book stating that the privilege was withdrawn 
 on account of the choirmen " greatly abusing that 
 favour by neglecting of doing of their duty." 
 
 The " third daily service " probably referred to 
 early prayers in the sermon (chapter) house. Before 
 the time of the Commonwealth there was an organ 
 in the sermon house, at which Francis Plomer, one of 
 the lay clerks, officiated. The instrument was sold by 
 the sequestrators about 1650, as we learn from the 
 following acquittance : " Rec** of Mr. Robert Doe, of 
 ye Cathedral in Canterbury, due unto ye State, for a 
 small paire of Organs which formerly stood in ye 
 Sermon House, the sum of seaven pounds six shillings 
 and eightpence. By mee Tho : Monins." 
 
 At the outbreak of the great Rebellion the choir 
 
 ^ The entertainment money was paid by tenants in lieu of hospitality 
 to the dean and chapter when they visited their estates. 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 organ was wrecked by Col. Sandys' troopers, of whose 
 proceedings we have already given some account in 
 a previous chapter. When Puritanism was in the 
 ascendant the choir was silenced and its members 
 turned adrift. The hardships which the lay clerks 
 suffered is well illustrated by the following petition 
 in which Thomas Jones, who had served the church 
 for upwards of forty-three years, made known his 
 woes to the Dean and Chapter after the long inter- 
 regnum : 
 
 The humble petition of Thomas Jones, one of the lay-clerkes of the 
 said Cathedrall. 
 
 In most humble manner sheweth that your Worship's poore petitioner 
 in the time of the rebellion (the Church being dissolved) lost his main- 
 tenance, having then a wife and seven children, and no other lively hood 
 but a Reader's place of four pounds a year in the Hospitall of Kings- 
 bridge in Canterbury, and certain writing schoUeri wch he taught in 
 the King-schoole of the said Church wch amounted in all but to ten 
 pounds, wch means being small and his charge so great, lived in a Very 
 meane condition so that he was obliged to goe upon score both for the 
 belly and the back, And now it having pleased God to restore him to 
 his former place again his Creditors come very fast upon him, and being 
 not able for the present to give fuU satisfaction is constrained to become 
 an humble suitor unto your Worships, humbly intreating that your 
 Worships will be pleased to take his so sad condition so farre into your 
 charitable consideration (he having been a member of the cathedral 
 church for the space of three and forty yeares and upwards) to contribute 
 him this Audit your charitable benevolence, &c. . . . 
 
 The above is such a pathetic document that we feel 
 sure that the dean and chapter did not turn a deaf 
 ear to it. A joint petition drawn up by the lay clerks 
 at the same time, in which they claimed their wages 
 for the sixteen or seventeen years during which they 
 had been in enforced retirement, was less well received. 
 Nevertheless, something was done to improve their 
 position, for in a letter to Archbishop Juxon, dated 
 December 6, l66i, the Dean and Chapter inform his 
 Grace that " out of a desire we have to accommodate 
 our Quire-men we have set apart for the improvement 
 of their maintenance the yearly rent and revenue of a 
 
 45 3 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 manor of ours now by the expiration of the lease 
 falling into our hands." 
 
 In the following year articles of agreement were 
 entered into between the cathedral authorities and 
 Lancelot Pease, of Cambridge, organ-maker, for a 
 new choir organ. Pease in return for ^600 agreed 
 to " set up in the organ loft now standing in or by 
 the choir a double organ, viz. a great organ and a 
 chaire (Quire) organ, the great organ to contain 
 thirteen stops, and the quire organ six." From the 
 fact that in addition to the money payment Pease was 
 to be allowed " the present organ standing in the 
 organ loft " it would appear that the old organ had 
 not been entirely demolished by the Puritans. 
 
 As Pease's organ was not a large instrument (a 
 specification of the various stops will be found in an 
 appendix to the present chapter), the price seems 
 excessive, especially as in about twenty-five years the 
 organ was worn out. Perhaps its end was hastened 
 by rats, for between 1670 and 1680 a good many 
 rewards were given to the blower " for killing a rat 
 in the organ loft." 
 
 At any rate, the dean and chapter decided to have a 
 new organ in 1683, and determined that this time the;y 
 would employ a builder of repute. Accordingly they 
 called in the famous Bernard Smith, the King's organ- 
 maker, whose contest with Renatus Harris for the 
 contract for the organ of the Temple Church in London 
 is a matter of history.^ " Father Smith," as he is called 
 by the organ-building fraternity, prepared two 
 specifications for the Canterbury organ ; in the earlier 
 one he contracted to preserve the front pipes of the 
 old organ and set them up again " for a shew front 
 to the new organ fronting the body of the church." 
 From which it appears that it was at first intended to 
 place the new organ in the loft over the western choir 
 
 1 See the "History of the Organ," by Hopkins and Rimbault, London, 
 1877, p. 103, &c. 
 
 454 
 
fHE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 screen. This, however, was afterwards altered, and 
 Smith agreed to build his organ " in the place where 
 the old organ stood " — ^that is, under the third arch 
 of the northern arcade of the choir.^ 
 
 The new instrument was not quite so large as its 
 predecessor, having ten stops on the great and four 
 on the choir organ. The trumpet stop in the former 
 was a novelty, and the builder offered to teach Robert 
 Wren, the cathedral organist, how to tune it. The 
 price agreed upon, including a case "of the best 
 seasoned wainscot to be fashioned, carved and finished 
 in accordance with a model and draught delivered," 
 was no more than £^J0 ; but Smith, in giving his 
 acquittance for the above sum, complained that the 
 work " would not bear the charges," and asked for 
 ^loo more. Whether he got it or not we do not 
 know. 
 
 In 1 71 3 the dean and chapter received from Dr. 
 John Robinson, bishop of Bristol, and elect of London, 
 a gift of ;^ioo " as a memorial of his having been once 
 a canon of Canterbury," and the money was voted to 
 the improvement of the organ, which was repaired, 
 and a cremona stop added by John Knopple. 
 
 In 1752 the organ was rebuilt and enlarged by 
 Richard Bridge, of Wood Close, ClerkenweU, London. 
 For the first time a third manual was introduced, 
 controlling an echo or swell organ of six stops. The 
 cost was ^^480, of which sum Captain Humphery 
 Pudner gave half, and would have given more " if 
 the instrument might have been placed over the 
 choir door " ; but this was not approved, and the 
 organ was set up again in the north choir aisle and 
 retained its old case, 
 
 * G. S. in the " Chronological History of the Cathedral," p. 337, states 
 that the organ was placed under the second arch ; but in a picture by 
 Pieter Nieffs painted before 1 704, and also in Dart's view of the choir 
 published in 1726, the organ is under the third arch counting from the 
 west. 
 
 455 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 In 1784 the organ was again rebuilt, and was now 
 removed to the loft over the choir screen. The work 
 was entrusted to Samuel Greene, the most celebrated 
 organ-builder in England at that time, who took out 
 the old diapasons and replaced them by others of his 
 own make which had lately done duty in the organ 
 erected by him for the Handel Commemoration in 
 Westminster Abbey. Greene's organ over the choir 
 screen is shown in Wild's view of the nave published 
 in 1 816. But it did not retain this position very long, 
 for in 1827 it was removed by Longhurst senior to the 
 south triforium gallery. The console was placed behind 
 the decani lay clerks, and a long movement of upwards - 
 of ninety feet, without the aid of pneumatic action, 
 made the touch of the instrument intolerably heavy. 
 Longhurst also put in new keys and rebuilt the swell, 
 extending the compass to tenor C. A few years later 
 two octaves of pedals were added, and one octave of 
 pedal pipes from CCC to CC. The last-named addi- 
 tion was not altogether approved by Highmore Skeats, 
 the organist, who, to use his own expression, " had 
 never learnt to dance," and the story goes that he 
 would depute to his assistant the task of showing off 
 the qualities of the pedal pipes. Greene's organ must 
 have been a thoroughly sound piece of work, for it 
 lasted for upwards of one hundred years ; and although 
 in the later stages of its career the mechanism was so 
 faulty that no one except the cathedral organist or his 
 deputy could play upon it, the tone of the diapasons 
 was so good that they were incorporated in the new 
 organ which was erected by Henry Willis in 1886. 
 Specifications of the organs of Bridge, Greene and 
 WiUis will be found in an appendix. 
 
 To revert to the general history of the choir. The 
 litany was chanted by two lay clerks^ until 1704, 
 when the duty was transferred to the minor canons. 
 Twenty years later the substitutes were abolished, or 
 
 1 This is, or was until recently, the custom at Lincoln Cathedral. 
 456 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 rather their office was merged in that of the minor 
 canons hy providing that whenever a vacancy occurred 
 amongst the substitutes it should be filled by a minor 
 canon. At this date (1724) none of the substitutes 
 were in holy orders, and there has been some doubt 
 whether they acted as deputies for the minor canons 
 or for the lay clerks. It is certain, however, that 
 originally they were intended to act for the former, 
 since they are described in the church books as " in 
 loco minoTum canonicorum deservientes." Possibly their 
 duties never extended to the priests' part in the service 
 but merely to that for which all the members of the 
 choir (minor canons included) were responsible. The 
 first lesson was read by the lay clerks in turn down to 
 1770, when an order of chapter enacted that for the 
 future both lessons should be read by minor canons 
 " from their seats in the choir." The brazen eagle 
 which since the Restoration had been placed between 
 the seats of the singers, facing north, was now relegated 
 to the library, where it remained until the year 1847, 
 when it was brought back to the choir and placed in 
 its present position, the dean and canons undertaking 
 " to read the lessons at the lectern on Sundays and 
 precum days." The latter expression is a piece of 
 Canterbury jargon which requires a little explanation. 
 The precum days at Canterbury are those days on 
 which according to the statutes the whole of the 
 prayers are said by the dean, " if he be at home," or 
 in his absence by the vice-dean. A rota or ordo of 
 prayers and sermons for the year is drawn up at the 
 St. Katherine's audit (November 25), and the days on 
 which the whole of the service is performed by the 
 dean or vice-dean are placed under the heading 
 ordo extra Precum. 
 
 Of the chorister-boys, upon whose proficiency 
 the choral service has for many years past been 
 in a great measure dependent, we'^ have hitherto 
 said very little. The provision made for them by the 
 
 457 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 statutes was particularly liberal, for in addition to a 
 money payment equivalent to between thirty and 
 forty pounds at the present day they could get their 
 commons at the peticanons' hall, and nominally they 
 were entitled to a free education. The value of the 
 latter, except as far as musical training went, was a 
 doubtful asset, for their master apparently did not do 
 much beyond training their voices. At any rate, 
 religious instruction did not come within his purview, 
 for a question in Laud's visitation articles elicited the 
 fact that at that date (1634) ^^^^ duty was entrusted 
 to the usher of the King's school. Perhaps the re- 
 muneration of the choristers was purposely fixed at a 
 high rate on account of the special danger which a 
 boy with a good voice incurred of being kidnapped 
 and sent off to serve the King's Chapel. In the 
 sixteenth century, and in the early years of the seven- 
 teenth, commissions were granted to private persons 
 giving them the right " to take up children " for the 
 Chapels Royal, and several instances are recorded of 
 the impressment of Canterbury choristers and of their 
 subsequent ransom by the cathedral authorities. Even 
 " little Selby," the organist's son, was spirited away 
 to Windsor and only rescued after considerable ex- 
 pense and trouble. It would seem, however, that 
 those who held these commissions were willing to use 
 their powers on behalf of cathedral chapters if the 
 latter made it worth their while, since we read that 
 the dean and chapter on more than one occasion 
 paid money to an individual who promised " to take 
 up children for our church." One wonders what 
 sort of service these kidnapped choristers put in. 
 Possibly, when once accustomed to their new sur- 
 roundings, they attacked " Tallis " and " Tye " with 
 as much vigour as the victims of the naval pressgangs 
 attacked the French fleet. 
 
 It was not until the nineteenth century was well 
 advanced that any serious attempts were made to 
 
 458 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 give the choristers a fair general education. The 
 appointment of a grammar master in 1845 has done 
 much in this direction. For more than forty years 
 
 The Choir School (formerly 
 the Monastic Brewery) 
 
 the office was filled by the late Joseph Plant, for whose 
 memory many generations of ex-choristers entertain a 
 most affectionate regard. The lack of a boarding-school 
 is from some points of view a disadvantage both 
 
 459 
 
CANT ERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 to the boys themselves and to the cathedral music. 
 Hitherto, however, the establishment of such an 
 institution has not been found practicable. The 
 danger of an epidemic breaking out in a boarding- 
 school has to be reckoned vs^ith, as such a contretemfs 
 may mean the suspension of the choral service. At 
 Canterbury, where the boys are scattered about the 
 city, the number of choristers incapacitated for duty 
 at the same time has never been so great as to make 
 this necessary. 
 
 In all cathedrals of the new foundation the pre- 
 centor is chosen from the minor canons. His duties 
 as defined by the Canterbury statute are " to lead the 
 choir ; choose the music to be sung ; mark the 
 attendances of dean, canons and other ministers 
 attending the divine offices ; and take charge of the 
 choir books." 
 
 The choice of the music is a very difficult and 
 delicate matter, since individual tastes vary, and there 
 is always immense divergence of opinion as to what 
 ought and what ought not to be sung in church. At 
 Canterbury the list of " services " and anthems sung 
 in the cathedral is an exceptionally long one, the 
 supply of the former being sufficient for two months 
 without repetition, and the latter recurring as a rule 
 not more than twice or thrice in twelve months. In 
 such an extensive repertory composers of almost all 
 schools of church music are represented, and an 
 examination of the weekly schedules will show that 
 an honest attempt is made to maintain a fair balance 
 between the compositions of the old masters and those 
 of modern times. Many years ago the dean and 
 chapter passed a resolution that " Tallis his 1e Deum " 
 should be sung every Sunday morning. How long it 
 was before they were constrained to rescind this order 
 history does not relate. Tallis's service in D is still 
 regularly sung in the cathedral, but the Doric mode 
 is not understanded of the people to-day, and any 
 460 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 attempt to inflict it upon a mixed congregation 
 every Sunday morning would be disastrous. 
 
 At the present time (191 2) the general standard of 
 efficiency maintained by the choir of Canterbury 
 Cathedral is a very high one. The most character- 
 istic feature perhaps is the care and expression dis- 
 played in the chanting of the Psalms. For thirty years 
 the choir has been under the directorship of Precentor 
 Helmore, to whose unremitting zeal much of the 
 efficiency and reverence with which the choral service 
 is now rendered in the mother-church of Canterbury 
 is due. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 A LIST OF THE ORGANISTS (1400 ?-i9i2) 
 
 Pre-Rejormation Organists : 
 
 John Moundjeld, described in Causton's 
 
 " Obituary of the Monks of Christ Church, 
 
 Canterbury," (D. 14) as " eximius organista." 
 
 Ob. 1407. 
 W,illiam Bonyngton, " in cantu et ludo organico 
 
 egregio eruditus " (Causton). Ob. 141 1. 
 William Stanys, " precentor et suo tempore in 
 
 ecclesia Xti organista " (Causton). D. 1420. 
 John Cranhroke, " suis temporibus organista 
 
 eximius." Ob. 1445. 
 Thomas Chart, " in musicis et organicis bene 
 
 instructus." Ob. 1499. 
 1534. John Wodynshorozue, " Sol' fratri Johi Wodnys- 
 
 borowe pro organis pulsand', X'" (Sacrist's 
 
 accounts). 
 
 Post-Reformation Organists : 
 
 1547. William Selby, was master of the choristers from 
 1542, and was appointed organist in 1547- 
 He was superseded by Thomas Bull, as 
 master of the choristers in Queen Mary's 
 
 461 
 
CJNTE RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 reign, who presumably also acted as organist. 
 In Queen Elizabeth's reign Selby was re- 
 instated. In 1583, after forty years of service, 
 when he was no doubt becoming infirm, 
 Matthew Godwin was appointed joint 
 organist. 
 
 [1553-1558. Thomas Bull.] 
 
 1583. Matthew Godwin, Mus.Bac, was appointed joint 
 organist with Selby. In 1585 he became 
 organist of Exeter Cathedral, and, dying 
 there in the following year, he was buried 
 under the north tower of that cathedral. 
 His epitaph describes him as " a gentle, pious 
 and clever youth, the most skilful chief 
 musician of the Cathedrals of Canterbury and 
 Exeter," and that at the time of his death he 
 was aged seventeen years and five months. 
 
 1590. Thomas Stores is mentioned in the treasurers' 
 accounts for 1590 as organist, but the Act 
 Books and accounts for several years are 
 missing at about this period, so one cannot 
 ascertain how long he held office. He was 
 also a lay clerk. 
 
 1598. George Marson, M.A., also a minor canon and 
 master of the choristers. He is probably the 
 George Marson mentioned in Grove's " Dic- 
 tionary of Music " as a composer of madrigals. 
 D. 1831. 
 
 1 63 1. Valentine Rother. 
 
 1640. Thomas Tunstall lost his office at the time of 
 the Great Rebellion. 
 
 1661. Thomas Gibbes, was organist from 1661 to 
 1669, but there is no record of his appoint- 
 ment, resignation or death. 
 
 1669. Richard Chomley, resigned in 1675 " on account 
 of his age and other infirmities." 
 
 1675. Robert Wren. On his appointment the salary 
 was raised to ^^40. He died in 1691 and was 
 
 462 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 buried in the cloister. For two years before 
 his death he appears to have had a deputy, 
 since the following entry occurs in the 
 Treasurers' accounts : " Paid Mr. Smith, the 
 organist, 2 years' salary, viz. fro annis 1690, 
 1691, ^10." A "Service in E" and three 
 anthems of his composing, viz. " O give 
 thanks," " I beheld " and " Teach me, O 
 Lord," were for many years sung in the 
 cathedral. 
 1692. Nicholas Wotton was removed from his office in 
 1697 ; the cause is not stated in the Act 
 Book. He died in 1700 and was buried in 
 the north aisle of the nave. Composer of a 
 " Service " in C and of some anthems, e.g. 
 " Given to Nicholas Wotton at singing 
 ye first anthem of his compositing, los." 
 (Treasurers' Accounts). 
 
 1697. William Porter, received the organist's stipend 
 
 for the last half-year of 1697 and for the first 
 quarter of 1698 (Treasurers' Accounts). 
 
 1698. Daniel Henstridge. Died 1736 and was buried 
 
 in the cathedral. Composer of a " Service " 
 in D and of the following anthems, " I will 
 magnify Thee," " Blessed be the Lord," 
 " O be joyful in God " and " Behold how 
 good and joyful." 
 
 1736. William Raylton, a pupil of Dr. Croft. Died 
 1757. Composer of the following anthems : 
 " Great is the Lord " and " Behold I bring you 
 glad tidings " ; and of " Services " in E and 
 A ; the latter is still on the Precentor's list. 
 
 1757. Samuel Porter, a pupil of Dr. Maurice Greene, 
 organist of St. Paul's Cathedral. Died 1803 
 and was buried in the cloister. Composer of 
 two " Services," five anthems, a kyrie, suffrages 
 for the King's accession service, and nine 
 chants, which were published by his son, the 
 
 463 
 
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL 
 
 Rev. James Porter, master of the College 
 School, Worcester. His service in D, de- 
 scribed in Grove's " Dictionary " as a 
 " pleasing composition," is still used in several 
 cathedrals, but in recent years has been 
 discontinued at Canterbury. 
 
 1803. Highmore Skeats, born 1760, was organist of 
 Ely Cathedral from 1778-1803. Composer of 
 a " Service "1 in C and of a metrical anthem 
 beginning " The righteous souls that take 
 their flight," which is still sung in Canterbury 
 Cathedral. Died 1831, buried in St. 
 Martin's churchyard. 
 
 1831. Thomas Evance Jones. Born 1805. Chorister 
 1813, lay clerk 1822, master of the choristers 
 1830. Composer of church music. His only 
 published anthem is " Unto Him that loved, 
 us." Died 1872, buried in St. Martin's 
 churchyard. 
 
 1873. William Henry Longhur St. Born 1819. Chorister 
 1828, assistant organist and lay clerk 1836, 
 F.R.C.O. 1865, Mus. Doc. Cantuar 1875. 
 Retired as honorary organist 1898. Died 
 1904, buried in Harbledown churchyard. 
 Dr. Longhurst composed several anthems, 
 services, songs, &c., and an oratorio, " David 
 and Absalom." 
 
 1898. Harry Crane Perrin. Pupil of Sir Robert 
 Stewart. Organist of St. Michael's, Coventry, 
 1 892-1 898. Composer of the cantatas " Abode 
 of Worship " and " Pan's Pipes," morning and 
 evening services, anthems, songs, &c. Resigned 
 in 1908 on his appointment to Professorship 
 of Music in McGill University, Montreal. 
 
 1908. Clement Charlton Palmer, F.R.C.O. 1888, Mus. 
 Doc. Oxford 1896, assistant organist of 
 Lichfield Cathedral 1890-97, organist of the 
 parish church, Ludlow, 1897-1908. Composer 
 
 464 
 
THE CHOIR AND ORGAN 
 
 of a morning and evening service in E flat, 
 evening service in F minor, morning and 
 evening service in F for men's voices ; 
 " Casabianca," ballad for chorus and 
 orchestra, &c. 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Specification of the organ built hy Lancelot Pease, 
 1662-1 . 
 
 Great Organ 
 (i) Diapason, metal. 
 
 (2) Diapason, stopped wood. 
 
 (3) Principal, metal. 
 
 (4) Principal, metal. 
 
 (5) Fifteenth, metal. 
 
 (6) Fifteenth, metal. 
 
 ^^7) Great twelfth, metal. 
 
 (8) Small twelfth, metal, 
 
 (9) Two-and-twentieth, metal. 
 
 (10) Two-and-twentieth, metal, 
 
 (11) Flute, metal. 
 
 (12) Recorder, metal. 
 
 (13) Tierce, metal. 
 
 Quire Organ 
 
 (i) Stopped diapason, wood. 
 
 (2) Stopped diapason, wood. 
 
 (3) Principal, metal. 
 
 (4) Fifteenth, metal. 
 
 (5) Fifteenth, wood. 
 
 (6) Flute, wood. 
 
 Specification of the organ built by Bernard Smithy 
 1683-84. 
 
 Great Organ 
 
 (i) Open diapason, metal. 
 (2) Stopped diapason, wood. 
 
 2 G 465 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 (3) Principal, metal. 
 
 (4) Nason, in unison with the principal, wood. 
 
 (5) Cornet of four ranks, metal. 
 
 (6) Quint, to the principal, metal. 
 
 (7) Fifteenth, metal. 
 
 (8) Flageolet, metal. 
 
 (9) Furniture, three ranks, metal. 
 
 (10) Trumpet. 
 
 Quire Organ 
 
 (i) Principal (in the front), metal. 
 
 (2) Diapason, wood. 
 
 (3) Recorder. 
 
 (4) Fifteenth. 
 
 Specification of the organ built by Richard Bridge, 
 
 1752-3- 
 
 Great Organ 
 
 (i) The present open diapason (to be amended as 
 shall be needful), metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (2) Stop diapason, wood and metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (3) Principal, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (4) Twelfth, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (5) Fifteenth, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (6) Tierce, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (7) Largiot, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (8) Sesquialtera, of four ranks, 116 pipes. 
 
 (9) Furniture, of four ranks, 104 pipes. 
 
 (10) Cornet, of four ranks, 108 pipes. 
 
 (11) Trumpet, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (12) Clarion, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 Choir Organ 
 
 (i) Stop-diapason, wood and metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (2) Principal (the old pipes amended) wood and 
 metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (3) Flute, wood and metal, 55 pipes. 
 466 
 
THE ORGAN 
 
 (4) Fifteenth, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (5) Vox humana, metal, 55 pipes. 
 
 (6) Mixture of three ranks, treble and base, 165 
 pipes. 
 
 " The organ to consist of three rows of keys, the 
 compass from double gamut long eighths D la sol re 
 in alt." 
 
 Echo or Swell 
 
 (1) Open diapason, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 (2) Stop diapason, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 (3) German flute, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 (4) Trumpet, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 (5) Principal, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 (6) Hautboy, metal, 32 pipes. 
 
 The organ rebuilt by Samuel Greene in 1784, at the 
 time of its destruction in 1886, contained the following 
 stop : 
 
 Great, 12 stops 
 
 (i) Open diapason. 
 
 (2) Open diapason. 
 
 (3) Stopped diapason. 
 
 (4) Clarabella, treble (in place of five-rank cornet). 
 
 (5) Principal. 
 
 (6) Fifteenth. 
 
 (7) Twelfth. 
 
 (8) Sesquialtera, III ranks. 
 
 (9) Mixture, II ranks. 
 
 (10) Trumpet, treble. 
 
 (11) Great trumpet (throughout). 
 
 (12) Clarion (throughout). 
 
 Choir, 6 stop 
 
 (13) Stopped diapason. 
 
 (14) Dulciana. 
 
 (15) Stopped flute. 
 
 467 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 (i6) Open flute. 
 
 (17) Principal. 
 
 (18) Cremona. 
 
 Swell, 10 stops 
 
 (19) Stopped diapason. 
 
 (20) Double open diapason. 
 
 (21) Unison open diapason. 
 
 (22) Principal. 
 
 (23) Fifteenth. 
 
 (24) Twelfth. 
 
 (25) Sesquialtera, III ranks. 
 
 (26) Cornopean. 
 
 (27) Trumpet. 
 
 (28) Hautboy. 
 
 Pedal, 2 stops 
 
 (29) Stopped diapason, wood. 
 
 (30) Open diapason, wood. 
 
 Couplers 
 (i)"^ Swell to great. 
 
 (2) Pedal to great. 
 
 (3) Pedal to choir. 
 
 Specification oj the organ built by Henry Willis in 
 1886. 
 
 Great Organ 
 
 (i) Double open diapason, metal, 16 ft. 
 
 (2) Open diapason (large), 8 ft. 
 
 (3) Open diapason (small), 8 ft. 
 
 (4) Salcional, 8 ft. 
 
 (5) Stopped diapason, metal to mid C, 8 ft. 
 
 (6) Claribel flute, 8 ft. 
 
 (7) Principal, 4 ft. 
 
 (8) Flute harmonique, 4 ft. 
 
 (9) Twelfth, 3 ft. 
 
 (10) Fifteenth, 2 ft. 
 468 
 
THE ORGAN 
 
 (ii) Piccolo, 2 ft. 
 
 (12) Mixture (four ranks). 
 
 (13) Double trumpet, 16 ft. 
 
 (14) Cornopean, R ft. 
 
 (15) Clarion, 4 ft. 
 
 Swell Organ 
 
 (16) Double open diapason, metal and wood, 16 ft. 
 
 (17) Open diapason, 8 ft. 
 
 (18) Lieblich gedact, 8 ft. 
 
 (19) Salcional, 8 ft. 
 
 (20) Vox angelica, 8 ft. 
 
 (21) Octave, 4 ft. 
 
 (22) Flageolet, 2 ft. 
 
 (23) Mixture (three ranks). 
 
 (24) Contrafagotto, 16 ft. 
 
 (25) Trumpet, 8 ft. 
 
 (26) Hautboy, 8 ft. 
 
 (27) Vox humana, 8 ft. 
 
 (28) Clarion, 4 ft. 
 
 Solo Organ {in Swell-box) 
 
 (29) Flute harmonique, 8 ft. 
 
 (30) Concert flute, 4 ft. 
 
 (31) Orchestral oboe, 8 ft. 
 
 (32) Corno di bassetto, 8 ft. 
 
 (33) Tuba, 8 ft. 
 
 (34) Clarion, 4 ft. 
 
 Choir Organ 
 
 (35) Lieblich gedact, 16 ft. 
 
 (36) LiebHch gedact, 8 ft. 
 
 (37) Open diapason, 8 ft. 
 
 (38) Dulciana, 8 ft.^ 
 
 (39) Flauto traverso, 8 ft. 
 
 (40) Flute,^ 4 ft. 
 
 (41) Gemshorn, 4 ft. 
 
 (42) Corno di bassetto, 8 ft. 
 
 1 See note next page. 
 
 469 
 
CJNTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 Pedale 
 
 (43) Double open diapason, wood,^ 33 ft. 
 
 (44) Open diapason, wood, 16 ft. 
 
 (45) Open diapason, metal, 16 ft. (not yet inserted). 
 
 (46) Violone, metal, 16 ft. 
 
 (47) Bourdon, wood, 16 ft. 
 
 (48) Octave, metal, 8 ft. 
 
 (49) Flute, wood, 8 ft.^ 
 
 (50) Violoncello, metal, 8 ft. 
 
 (51) Posaune, metal, 16 ft. 
 
 (52) Clarion, metal, 8 ft.^ 
 
 ^ Added by Messrs. Norman and Beard, who now have 
 charge of the organ. 
 
 The action, with the exception of the swell pedals, is 
 electro-pneumatic throughout, and has proved itself {after 
 twenty-five years of constant use) to he thoroughly efficient. 
 
 From its position the organ is not altogether well 
 adapted to vocal accompaniments, since it is frequently 
 inaudible to the members oj the choir while they are 
 singing ; hut to listeners this defect is less apparent, 
 though it cannot be denied that to those that sit in the 
 choir the quality of the tone is occasionally somewhat 
 hard and unsympathetic. 
 
 The pedal organ, however, leaves little to be desired, 
 the tone of the thirty-two-foot being unusually fine. 
 
 The great organ is placed at the back oj the triforium 
 gallery and for that reason loses some of its directness and 
 force. Still, on the whole the instrument is undoubtedly 
 a fine specimen of Willises work, and can easily hold its 
 own with more modern cathedral organs of greater 
 pretensions. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 470 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 THE BELLS 
 
 There can be little doubt that the pre-Norman 
 cathedral was furnished with bells. It is said that 
 St. Dunstan not only gave bells to Canterbury- 
 Cathedral, but also provided rules for their use. But 
 nothing definite is told us about either bells or rules. 
 
 The first recorded gift of a bell to Christ Church 
 was made very early in the twelfth century by Prior 
 Ernulf. This bell was recast by his successor, Conrad, 
 who himself gave four smaller ones ; and about 
 sixty years later (c. I160) Prior Wibert added a sixth 
 of very large size. Wibert's bell required thirty- 
 two men to ring it. Inasmuch as it would be impossible 
 for thirty-two men to hang on to a rope, it is clear that 
 the bell was set in motion by men treading upon a 
 plank fastened across the head-stock — a method of 
 bell-ringing still in vogue upon the Continent.^ 
 
 From the Christ Church Obituary we learn that 
 Wibert's bell was hung " in Clocario," by which is 
 doubtless meant the detached bell-tower on the south 
 side of the cathedral, which (as we have already 
 related) was destroyed by the earthquake of 1382. 
 It is probable that all the six bells mentioned above 
 were in this campanile. 
 
 In 1343., when Hathbrand was prior, the bells in 
 the Clocarium were rehung. Their names as recorded 
 in the monastic registers were " Jesus," " Dunstan,'' 
 "Mary," "Thomas," "Elphege" and " Crundale," of 
 
 1 See " Tke Church Bells of Kent," by J. C. L. Stahlschmidt.JLondon. 
 1887, p. 193. 
 
CJ NTERBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 which " Jesus " and " Dunstan " were the gift of Hath- 
 brand, and "Thomas" of Prior Eastry in 1316; the 
 latter was a very large bell, weighing 8000 lb. 
 
 Eastry, in 13 17, also placed three bells in the 
 great central tower, to which Archbishop Arundel in 
 1408 added four more heavy bells, the tenor weighing 
 7188 lb. Mr. Stahlschmidt conjectures that the 
 Archbishop merely paid for the recasting of the bells 
 which had been broken by the fall of the campanile 
 in 1382. But the names of the bells of the Arundel 
 ring are not those of the bells which formerly hung 
 in the campanile. On the other hand, " Crundale," 
 " Elphy " and " Thomas " reappear in the Angel 
 Steeple after the destruction of the campanile. The 
 " Arundel ring " was blessed by the Archbishop on 
 April 8, 1409, when the beUs received the following 
 names : (i) St. John the Evangelist, (2) St. Blaise, 
 (3) St. Gabriel, (4) St. Mary.^ 
 
 To these Prior Chillenden added a fifth, dedicated 
 under the invocation of St. Thomas. 
 
 When the central tower was rebuilt, towards the 
 close of the fifteenth century, the " Arundel ring " was 
 removed to the north-western tower, which on that 
 account became known as the Arundel steeple. 
 
 Eastry's bells and "Crundale," "Elphy" and 
 " Thomas," however, were rehung in the new central 
 tower. The latter bells were confiscated by Henry VIII 
 at the time of the suppression of the priory, and sold 
 to Henry Crisp, of Birchington, and Robert St. Leger, 
 of Faversham. If we can accept as correct the weight 
 of bell-metal given in a document quoted by Battely, 
 viz. 24,646 lb., it is evident that the bells must have 
 been abnormally heavy .** 
 
 1 " Aiundel's Register," in the Lambeth Library, quoted by Stahl- 
 schmidt as above. 
 
 2 Battely professes to quote from the records of the Augmentation 
 Office (pp. 24, 25), but Mr. Stahlschmidt was unable to find the document 
 in the P.R.O. 
 
 472 
 
THE BELLS 
 
 From 1540 — the date of the new foundation — ^to 
 the present day (191 2) there has only been one bell 
 in the central tower, namely, that which hangs in a 
 pent-house upon the leads at the top of the tower, and 
 is known as " Bell Harry." It has generally been 
 supposed that this bell was given to the church by 
 King Henry VHI, and some writers have gone so far 
 as to state that it was brought back by that monarch 
 from France after the capture of Boulogne. But 
 the bell, which has no connection whatever with 
 Henry VHI, was hung, or rehung, in the cathedral 
 as far back as 1288, e.g. " fer R Dover ad fendendam 
 unam camfanam que dicitur Henricus." ^ This was 
 in the days of the famous Prior Henry of Eastry, who 
 in addition to the bells already mentioned gave another 
 and smaller bell, which was to serve the purpose of 
 summoning the Chapter. Possibly this bell was named 
 Harry after its donor. From the fact that at a later 
 date " Bell Harry " is mentioned in conjunction with 
 bells in the central tower, it seems probable that it 
 always hung there, though its position in mediaeval 
 times is never actually stated, e.g. " -pro I clapir de 
 Crundall in magno camfanili, i,s. 4^." " Item cum 
 eodem fro i Clapir de belle hary, 2S. 6d." (Sacrist's 
 Accounts, 1452). 
 
 The voice of " Bell Harry " is well known to Canter- 
 bury citizens, for it is heard four times every day, viz. 
 at 5.45 in summer and at 6.45 a.m. in winter, when the 
 bell is rung for ten minutes (this is a survival from the 
 days when early prayers were said in the church) ; for 
 ten minutes before matins and evensong ; and again 
 for the curfew at 8 p.m. On the death of the Sovereign 
 or the Archbishop the bell is tolled for one hour. 
 
 In the south-west tower or Oxford steeple there 
 
 were five bells in 1499, and one, namely, " Dunstan," 
 
 on the leads of the same tower {extra Clocarium). 
 
 " Bell Dunstan " was cast in the days of Prior Molash, 
 
 1 Canterbury MS, D. E. ii. 84. 
 
 473 
 
CANTERBURT CATHEDRAL 
 
 and was blessed by the Bishop of Ross in 1459 (Stone's 
 Chronicle, p. Jj). It was recast by John Bayle, bell- 
 founder, in 1499, and at that time weighed 7200 lb, 
 Bayle also rehung the other bells in the Oxford steeple, 
 the tenor of which ring weighed 2133 lb. 
 
 There were also at the above date three other 
 bells in the latter tower, called the " Quarres." 
 Possibly these may have been the quarter bells of a 
 clock. There certainly was a clock in the Oxford 
 steeple in 155 1, for in that year the Chapter ordered 
 that '' the hammer be set higher, and windows opened 
 and made so that the sound may enter out " that the 
 clock might be better heard. 
 
 " Bell Dunstan " was recast by Michael Derby, of 
 Stepney, in 1663, and again in 1684 by Christopher 
 Hodson, who added 16 cwt. of metal, thereby bringing 
 up the weight of the bell to 69 cwt. 3 qr. 5 lb. In 
 1758 it was cracked in an attempt to toll it by striking 
 it with a hammer, and was recast by Thomas Lester, 
 of London, in 1762. The work was carried out in the 
 precincts by William Chapman, then foreman and 
 afterwards partner with Lester and Pack. 
 
 The bells in the Arundel steeple were rehung in 
 1634 by Thomas Crust. The tower even at that date 
 was apparently in a rickety condition, since Crust had 
 to contract to make the frame for the bells " rest upon 
 the ground." By 1726 the state of the tower was 
 so bad that it was thought prudent to remove the 
 bells altogether. The work was entrusted to Samuel 
 Knight, of Holborn, who took down the six bells of 
 the " Arundel ring," recast them into a peal of eight 
 (with the exception of the treble, which was " removed 
 into the place of Bell Harry," the old Bell Harry 
 being recast and " given into the new ring "), and 
 rehung them in the Oxford steeple. The bells of 
 the latter tower were now sold, and the money 
 received for them was spent in repairing the windows 
 on the south side of the nave. The treble of Arundel 
 
 474 
 
THE BELLS 
 
 had been recast hj Joseph Hatch, of Ulcombe, in 
 1635, and his name and the date are on the bell at 
 the top of the central tower. 
 
 There are now ten bells in the Oxford steeple, and 
 the clock bell (Dunstan) on the leads outside. 
 
 The following dimensions and inscriptions are from 
 Stahlschmidt's " Church Bells of Kent " : 
 
 Diameter 
 I. 31 in. Thomas Mears, London. Fecit a.d, 
 
 1802. Pace Reddita. 
 11. 32 „ T. PowYs, D W. Welfitt & D H. 
 
 Radcliffe. T", E, Walsby, R" T. 
 
 Mears. Fecit 1802. 
 
 III. 34 „ Samu"- Gul' Gostling, A.M. S.K. 1726 
 
 a.d. mdccclv. 
 Benj. Harrison, A.M. Thesaur" 
 H. G. Austin, Archit° 
 C. & G. Mears, Founders, London. 
 
 IV. 36 „ GuL. Ayerst, S.T.B. Gul. Egerton, 
 
 LL.D., Johannes Gostling, A.M., 
 Sam. Knight. 1726. 
 V. 38 „ Sam. Holcombe, S.T.P., John Clark, 
 
 S.T.P. S.K. 1726. 
 VI. 40 „ David Wilkins, S.T.P., Edwardus 
 Wake, S.T.P. S.K. 1726. 
 
 A.D. MCCCLV. 
 
 Benj. Harrison, A.M. Thesaur° 
 H. G. Austin, Archit° 
 C. & G. Mears, Founders, London. 
 VII. 43i „ Johannes Grandorge, S.T.P. , 
 
 Johannes Hancocke, S.T.P. S.K. 
 1727 
 VIII. 46^ „ Eduardus Tenison, S.T.P., Hon. 
 
 Eduardus Finch, A.M. S.K. Fecit 
 1728 
 IX. 514 5, Radulphus Blomer, S.T.P., Elias 
 Sydal, S.T.P. S.K. Fecit 1726. 
 
 475 
 
CJNTE RBU RT CATHEDRAL 
 
 X. 57 in. Ye RINGERS ALL THAT PRIZE YOUR HEALTH 
 
 and happiness, 
 Be sober, merry, wise, and you'll the 
 same possess. 
 Pack and Chapman of London. 
 Fecit 1778. 
 Clock bell, 70 in. Gulielmo Friend, S.T.P. Decano 
 Lester & Pack of London. Fecit 1762. W" 
 Chapman molded me. 
 " Bell Harry," Joseph Hatch me fecit 1635. 
 
 In 1897 the peal of ten was rehung in a steel frame 
 by Thomas Blackburn of Salisbury, as part of the 
 reparation of the Cathedral undertaken by Dean 
 Farrar in commemoration of its thirteenth centenary. 
 At the same time quarter-chimes were added to the 
 clock. These chimes are founded on the 8th Gregorian 
 Tone, thus serving to commemorate the landing of 
 Augustine on the shores of Kent a.d. 597. 
 
 C. E. W. 
 
 DEANS AND CANONS 
 
 The names of the Deans and Prebendaries from 
 1540 to 1854 are recorded in T. Duff us Hardy's edition 
 of Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesice Anglicance. We give 
 below a supplementary list. 
 
 Deans 
 1857. Henry Alford. 
 1 871. Robert Payne Smith. 
 1895. Frederic William Farrar. 
 1903. Henry Wace. 
 
 Canons 
 
 1st Stall 
 1862. John Thomas. 
 1883. William Cadman. 
 476 
 
DEANS AND CANONS 
 
 1 891. Joh^n Duncan. 
 
 1895. William Page Roberts. 
 
 1908. William Danks. 
 
 2nd Stall 
 Suspended in 1845 on the death of F. W. Baylay. 
 
 ■i,rd Stall 
 Suspended in 1852 on the death of Francis Dawson. 
 
 /^th Stall 
 1869. Edward Parry \ Archdeacons of 
 
 1890. George Rodney Eden \ Canterbury and 
 1897. William Walsh J Bishops of Dover. 
 
 $th Stall 
 
 1858. William John Chesshyre. 
 
 1859. James Craigie Robertson. 
 1882. Hon. William Henry Fremantle. 
 1895. Arthur James Mason. 
 
 6th Stall 
 Suspended in 1852 on the death of Lord Charles 
 Thynne. 
 
 jth Stall 
 
 Suspended in 1845 on promotion of John Peel. 
 
 Uh Stall 
 1855. William Stone. 
 1882. Francis James Holland. 
 1908. Edward Alexander Stuart. 
 
 ()th Stall 
 1887. Benjamin Frederic Smith 1 Archdeacons of 
 1900. Henry Maxwell Spooner J Maidstone. 
 
 \oth Stall 
 Suspended in 1838 on the death of Philip Hunt. 
 
 m 
 
CANTERBURr CATHEDRAL 
 
 nth Stall 
 1863. Joseph William Blakesly. 
 1872. George Rawlinson. 
 1903. Edward Moore. 
 
 izth Stall 
 Suspended in 1851 on the death of Hon. J. 
 Boscawen. 
 
 Finis. 
 
 478 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbot, Abp., 321, 388 
 
 Aberbrothock, Abbey of, 75 
 
 Absolom, Robert, 314 
 
 Adam, the Forester legend of, 421 
 
 ^Ifric, Abp., 18 
 
 .(Ethelgar, Abp., relics of, 282 
 
 jEthelheard, Abp., relics of, 283 
 
 iEthelm, Abp., relics of, 283 
 
 Aix in Provence, Tapestry at, 280 
 
 Alan, Prior, 97, 105, 106, 266 
 
 Albano, Walter, Cardinal of, 38 
 
 Albryght, Ralph, 314 
 
 Aldington, 216 
 
 Aledon, Robert de, 244 
 
 Alexander V., Pope, 186 
 
 AKord, Dean, 366, 367, 368 
 
 Alfred Ealdorman, 384 
 
 All Souls College, Oxford, 197 
 
 Almoner, monastic, 247-248, RoUs, 
 
 398 
 Almonry, 139 ; chapel, 139 ; school, 
 
 248 
 Alphonsus Petrus, 160 
 Altar, High, 140, 173, 174, 175, 282, 
 
 297> 338, 343, 347, 368, 37' 
 St. Alphege, 174, 181 
 St. Audoen, 285 
 St. Augustine, 285 
 St. Bartholomew, 285 
 St. Clement, 285 
 St. Dunstan, 174, 181 
 St. Edmund of Abingdon, 385 
 St. Edward the Confessor, 78 
 St. Gregory, 403 
 St. John the Baptist, 285 
 St, John the Evangelist, 98, 
 
 282, 285 
 
 Altar, High, St. Katharine, 285 
 St. Martin, 283 
 St. Mary in Black Prince's 
 
 Chantry, 152 ; see also under 
 
 Chapel 
 St. Mary Magdalene, 285 
 St. Nicholas, 284 
 St. Paulinus, 285 
 St. Thomas the Apostle, 285 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury, 
 
 78 
 St. Stephen, 283 
 St. Swithin, 20 
 St. Wilfrid, 13, 19, 98, 284 
 " Sword Point," 70, 73, 79, 
 
 273, 275 
 Holy Cross, 30, 274 
 Holy Innocents, 285 
 Holy Trinity in Black Prince's 
 Chapel, 152 
 Alyn, Hugh, 256 
 "Angel Steeple," 31, 211 
 Anniversary rolls, 398 
 Anselm, see St. Anselm 
 Archbishops of Canterbury ; burial- 
 places of Saxon Archbishops, 375 
 and note ; Lanfranc withdraws 
 from the life of the cloister, 34 ; 
 primacy settled by the Council of 
 Winchester (1072), 32-33 ; cere- 
 mony of the reception of the 
 PaUium, 38 ; struggles with the 
 monks of Christ Church, 106-116. 
 See also under the names of the 
 various Archbishops 
 Arundel, Abp., 168, 174 ; tomb and 
 chantry, 194-195, 274, 282 
 
 479 
 
INDEX 
 
 Arundel, Earl of, 147 
 Arundel Steeple, report on, 360 ; 
 rebuilt, 361 
 Ring, 472 
 Asher, Robert, 253 
 Aspersorium, 279 
 Atwell, Will, 313 
 Audit House, 136 j pulled down and 
 
 rebuilt, 347 
 Augustine, Apostle of the English, 
 
 2,9." 
 
 Austin, Geo., 312, 361 
 
 Baldwik, Abp., election of, 105 ; 
 quarrel with monks, 107-114 
 
 Balsar, Will, 313 
 
 Baptist, Mr. (Canon), 312 
 
 Baptistery, II, 12 
 
 Bargrave, Dean, 323, 325, 326 
 
 Bargrave, Dr. John (Canon), 341 
 
 Barton, Elizabeth, 216 
 
 Bartoner's rolls, 398 
 
 Battle, Abbot of, 265 
 
 Beaufort, Cardinal, 201 
 
 Beaulieu Abbey, 268 
 
 Beck, Richard, Master Mason, 
 200 
 
 Becket, Abp. Thomas ; early life, 
 57 ; Archdeacon, 56 ; Chancellor, 
 58 ; Primate, 59 ; his defence 
 of the Canon Law, 61 ; excom- 
 municates the Bishops, 63 ; exile 
 and return, 64 ; martyrdom, 66 ; 
 burial, 68-69 » miracles, 69 ; 
 Henry H's penance, 74 ; trans- 
 lation of his rehcs, 75, 76, JJ, 122 ; 
 jubilee, 76 ; shrine, 77-79 ; offer- 
 ings at the shrine, 76 122, 151 ; 
 rehquary of the " Head," 138 ; 
 shrine destroyed, 217, 218 
 
 Bee, Cornehus, 389 note 
 
 Bekenore, John, 158 
 
 Bells, 471-475 ; names of, Crundel, 
 471-472; Dunstan, 473, 474, 
 475 ; Elphege, 471 ; Harry, 473 ; 
 Jesus, 472 ; St. Blaise, St. Gabriel, 
 St. John, St. Mary, 472 
 
 480 
 
 Bell-founders, Bayle, John ; Chap- 
 man, Will, 474, 476; Derby, 
 Michael, 474; Hatch, Joseph, 
 
 475 ; Knight, Samuel, 474-475 ; 
 Mears, 475 ; Pack and Chapman, 
 
 475 
 BeU Hangers ; Blackburn, Thomas, 
 
 476 ; Crust, Thomas, 474 
 
 " BeU-Harry " tower, 200, 209, 21 1 ; 
 
 see also " Angel Steeple " 
 Benedict, Prior, 73, 77, 266 
 Benson, Abp., tomb of, 375, and note 
 Bernard the Goldsmith, 197 
 Bertha, Queen, 6, 172, 178 
 Bible, chained, 368 
 Black Death, 148, 164 
 Black Prince, see Edward, Prince 
 Blackfriars, Council of, 165 
 Blechyndon, Dr. (Canon), 320 
 Blomer, Dr. (Canon), 346 
 Blomfield, Sir Arthur, 370 
 Bocking, Dr., 216 
 Boleyn, George (Canon), 299 
 Bologna, University of, 270 
 Boniface IX, indulgence of, for 
 
 rebuilding the Nave, 168 
 Boniface, Abp., 128 ; opposed by 
 
 the monks of Christ Church, 128- 
 
 132 
 Boulser, Mr., 312 
 Bourchier, Abp., 155, 206 
 Boys, John, his description of the 
 
 Cathedral in the seventeenth 
 
 century, 344-5 
 Bradwardine, Abp. Thomas, 148 
 Bredkyrke, Thomas, 313 
 Bregwyn, Abp., relics of, 283 
 Brenchley, Joan, Chantry Chapel of, 
 
 203, 350 ; Sir WiUiam, 203 
 Breton, Richard le, 64, 68, 70 
 Brewhouse, monastic, 367 
 Broc, Ralph de, 64 
 Broke, Mr., 312 
 Brookwood, 268 
 Brovra, John, 175 
 Bubwith, Bishop, Chantry Chipel 
 
 of, at Wells, 182 
 
INDEX 
 
 Buckingham, Bishop John, i8i ; 
 
 Chantry Chapel of, 182, 274 
 Bull, Thomas, 313 
 Bulls of Popes granting privileges to 
 
 the monks of Christ Church, 225 
 Bur, castle of, 63 
 Burnell, Robert, 133 
 Burrough, James, new altar-piece 
 
 by (1733), 348 
 
 Burton, James, Prior of Folkestone, 
 256 
 John, 314 
 
 Cade, Jack, 204 
 
 Caen, St. Stephen's Church at, 25 
 
 Caen Stone, 15 
 
 Calcote, Thomas, 314 
 
 Caldecote, Manor of, 142, 262 
 
 Callowe, Thomas, 313 
 
 Campanile, fall of, 165 
 
 CanceUor, James, 313 
 
 Candlesticks, purchase of, 368 
 
 Canterbury Cathedral : Roman 
 Church, 5 ; Eadmer's des- 
 cription of, 10 J Cuthbert's 
 Baptistery, 11 ; enlarged by 
 Odo, 1 3 ; attacked by the 
 Danes, 14 ; rebuilt by Lan- 
 franc, 16 ; grand plan of, 26 ; 
 dedication, 32 ; Anselm's en- 
 largement, 36-45 ; crypt, 41; 
 Conrad's decoration of the 
 choir, 45 ; dedication, 45- 
 6, Gervase's description, 
 46 ; carvings on the capitals 
 in the crypt, 50 ; Treasury 
 built, 50 ; services suspended 
 after Abp. Backet's murder ; 
 reconciliation, 70 ; the great 
 fire of 1 1 74; choir rebuilt 
 by Guillaume de Sens and 
 WiUiam the Enghshman, 8^ 
 102 ; corona, 100 ; stained 
 glass, 124 ; cloister rebuilt, 
 124 ; nave rebuilt, 158, 163, 
 164, 168, 171 ; floor repaved, 
 349 ; choir repaved, 175 ; 
 
 south-west tower rebuilt, 
 198-199 ; central tower re- 
 built, 207-8 ; pinnacles of, 
 208, buttressing arches, 210 ; 
 eve of Reformation, 272- 
 286 ; Henry VIII's new 
 foundation, 287, &c. ; char- 
 ter of incorporation, 287 ; 
 during Great Rebellion, 324, 
 329 ; Church goods temp 
 Commonwealth, 332 ; con- 
 dition temf Restoration of 
 Monarchy, 336 ; choir 
 wainscoted (1675), 342 ; 
 services in seventeenth cen- 
 tuiy, 343 ; panelling re- 
 moved from the choir, 360 ; 
 Austin's teredos, 360 ; In- 
 come of Dean and Chapter, 
 365 ; repairs in the nine- 
 teenth century, 362, 366 ; 
 fire of 1872, 369; choir 
 reseated (1879), 3^8 ; recent 
 repairs, 369 et seq. 
 College in Oxford, 250, 251, 
 
 269, 278 
 Priory of Christ Church : in 
 Saxon times, 17, 18 ; Lan- 
 franc's reforms, 33 ; Theo- 
 bald's reforms, 49 ; growth 
 of the power of the monks, 
 102-16 ; privileges granted 
 by Becket, 103 ; exile of the 
 monks, 120 ; quarrel between 
 monks and citizens, 134; 
 monastic life, 220 ; obedien- 
 tiaries, 223-257 ; income and 
 expenditure, 245-7 ; ser- 
 vant's wages, and allowances, 
 257-8 ; hours of divine 
 service, 259 ; Maunday, 248 ; 
 scriptorium, 261 ; plays and 
 minstrels, 262 ; meals, 263 ; 
 sermons, 264 ; surrender to 
 Henry VHI's commissioners, 
 218 
 Caroe, Mr. W. E., 367, 370, 371 
 H 481 
 
INDEX 
 
 Cawston, Thomas, obituary of, 403 
 Cellarer, 230-4; account rolls of, 
 
 398 
 
 Cemetery gate, 362-3 
 
 Chamberlain, monastic, 241 ; ac- 
 count roUs of, 398 
 
 Chapman, Archdeacon, tomb of, 70 
 
 Champyon, Dr., 312 
 
 Chantry Chapels : Arundel's, 194 ; 
 Black Prince's, 152, 156 ; Brench- 
 ley's, 203 ; Buckingham's, 152, 
 182 ; Henry IV's, 191 ; Lady 
 Mohun's, 185 ; Warham's, 214- 
 
 15 
 
 Chapel, Almonry, 139 ; St. Anselm, 
 41,42; St. Andrew, 176,277,363; 
 St. Bartholomew, 285 ; St. Blaise, 
 73 ; St. Benedict, 73 ; Dean's, 
 307 ; St. Gabriel, 50, 440 ; Lady, 
 171, 203, 204 ; in the Crypt, 157- 
 8 ; St. Michael's, 201-2 ; 
 Nevill, 203 ; Prior's, 128 ; St. 
 Thomas, 83, 94, 98 
 
 Chapter House, 138, 176, 301, 370 
 
 Charles I, 325 ; picture of, 342 
 
 Charte, Mr., 312 
 
 Charters of Christ Church, 397 
 
 Chartham, Robert, 253 
 
 Chatillon, Cardinal, tomb of, 307 
 
 Cheker building, 139, 367 
 
 " Cheker of the Hope," 181 
 
 Chicheley, Abp., 195, 196 ; tomb 
 of, 196-7, 380, 381 
 
 Chikwell, Hamo de, 146 
 
 ChiUenden, Adam, Prior, 133, 268 
 
 Chillenden, Thomas, Prior, 54, 166, 
 269 ; building operations of, 167- 
 186, vestments, &c., acquired by, 
 181 ; tomb of, 187 
 
 Chilton, Nich., 255 
 
 Choir-screens, 137, 138, 172 
 stalls, 137; removed, 346 
 
 Choristers, 294, 445, 449, 457-8 ; 
 school, 367, 459 
 
 Christ Church,Priory of, see Canter- 
 bury Cathedral ; gate, 210, 212, 
 356 note 
 
 482 
 
 City wall rebuilt, 178, 207 
 
 Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, 201 ; 
 tomb of, 202 
 
 Clarke, J. W., on Medieval Libra- 
 ries, 379 
 
 Clement VIH, Pope, 215 
 
 Clement of Maidstone, 193 
 
 Clerke, John, 314 
 
 Clock (1292), 136 and note ; dam- 
 aged by iire, 369 
 
 Cloister, Great, rebuilt, 176, 177, 
 188 
 
 Codex Aureus, 383 
 
 Coleman, Eustace, 314 
 
 Colet, Dean, 274 
 
 Coligny, Odet de, see Chatillon, 
 Cardinal 
 
 Colman, Robert, 313 
 
 Common Table, 293 
 
 Conrad, Prior, 45, 265 
 
 Consistory Court, 274 
 
 Coombe, Dr. Thomas, benefaction 
 to Library, 390 
 
 Copes " Profession," 278 
 
 Copton, Mr., 312 
 
 Corona, 100, 278, 349 
 
 Court at Street, 216 
 
 Courtenay, Abp. Will., 159, 164, 
 177, 178 
 
 Cranmer, Abp. Thomas, 216, 218; 
 letter of, 288, 291 ; Prebendaries 
 conspire against, 295 
 
 Cretinge, Hugh de, 130 
 
 Croft, James, Archdeacon of Can- 
 terbury, 354 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 354 ; Thomas, 
 217, 219 
 
 Crumbesfeld, 382 
 
 Crypt, 13; Lanfranc's, 29; Ern- 
 ulf 's, 41 ; carvings in, 50 ; floor 
 raised, 158 ; improvements in, 
 211 ; beneath Trinity Chapel, 
 300 
 
 Culmer, Richard, 216, 322, 325, 
 330 ; Cathedral news by, 327- 
 8 ; Six-Preacher, 328 
 
 Cuthbert, Abp., reUcs of, 283 
 
INDEX 
 
 Dance, George, senior, architect, 
 
 349 
 
 Danyell, Canon, 312 
 
 David, King of Scotland, 46 
 
 Davis, Roger, panelling in the 
 Choir by, 342 
 
 Dean and Prebends of New Founda- 
 tion, 288, and note 
 
 Deanery, 299 
 
 Deans, pre-Norman, 21, 22 
 
 Delasaux, George, 369 
 
 DepoTtum = comiaoii room, 227, 256, 
 257 
 
 Dering, Richard, 216, 279 
 
 Dormitory, monastic, 23 ; repaired 
 by ChiUenden, 176 
 
 Doulting Stone, 371 
 
 Drumme, Mr., 312 
 
 Dunfermline, Abbot of, 265 
 
 Dunstan, Abp., see St. Dunstan 
 
 " Dunstan " Bell, 199 
 
 Dunster, John de Mohun, Baron of, 
 18S 
 
 Durant, Edward, 199, and note 
 John, 333 
 
 Z)«rowr»Mm= Canterbury, 4, 5, 6 
 
 Eadmer's description of pre-Nor- 
 man Church, 19-21 
 Lanfranc's Church, 24 
 Eastry, Henry of, Prior, 135, 144; 
 building operations of, 136-143 ; 
 letters of, 140 ; burial-place, 144 
 Ecclesiastical Commission (1836), 
 
 364, 366, 369 
 Ecclesiastical Suits, rolls relating to, 
 
 399 
 Ediva, Queen, relics of, 283 
 Edmund, Abp., quarrel with monks, 
 
 127 ; retires to Pontigny, 128 ; 
 
 Altar of, 128, 132 
 Edward the Confessor, 78 ; statue 
 
 of, 172 ; altar of, 191 
 Edward I, King of England, 133 ; 
 
 his marriage at Canterbury, 143 
 Edward II, visit of, to Canterbury, 
 
 143 
 
 Edward III, visit of, to Canterbury, 
 146, 182 
 
 Edward IV, 206 
 
 Edward of Woodstock (Black Prince) 
 at Canterbury, 146, 148, 152 ; 
 Chantry Chapel of, 156 ; burial, 
 159 ; tomb, 159, 160 ; epitaph, 
 160 ; achievements, 161 ; sword, 
 161, and note ; bequests to 
 Christ Church, 162 
 
 Elham, John, Prior, 203, 270 
 
 Elias of Dereham, 77 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 304 ; visit to 
 Canterbury, 305 
 
 Elmer, Prior, 265 
 
 Elphy, Mr. (Minor Canon), 312 
 
 Emma, Queen Consort of Canute, 
 
 IS 
 
 Erasmus' description of the shrine 
 of St. Thomas, 79-80 ; Lady 
 Chapel, 158 ; visit to Canterbury, 
 272-3 
 
 Erfastus, Bishop of Thetford, 33 
 
 ErnuH, Prior, 39, 265 
 
 Ethelbert, King, 6 ; baptism of, 9 ; 
 statue on choir screen, 172 
 
 Evesham, Abbot of, 1 14, 267 
 
 Fairs in the Precincts, 209, 229, 318, 
 
 359 
 Farrar, Dean, 368, 370 
 Feramin, Master, ill 
 Ferrars, Henry de, 182 
 Finance, monastic, 245 
 Finch, John, Prior, Sj, 68, 163-5 
 Fishpond, monastic, 54 
 Fitzurse, Reginald, 64, Sj 
 FoUiot, Gilbert, Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 59, 60, 63 
 Font, pre-Reformation, 320 ; 
 
 Bishop Warner's, 320 ; removed 
 
 to Water Tower, 350 
 Foster, Will, 314 
 Franciscan Friars, landing of, 123 
 Franklyn, John, 320 
 Frater House, 23 ; rebuilt, 124 ; 
 
 demolished, 330 
 
INDEX 
 
 French Church in the crypt, 307- 
 9 ; Laud's attack on, 321 
 
 Gardener (Canon), 312 
 
 Gasworks, Cathedral, 366 
 
 Gate, Christ Church, 210, 212'note; 
 turrets removed, 212 ; in- 
 scription on, 213; Juxon's 
 doors, 337 
 Green-Court, room over, built, 
 177 
 
 Geddington, Council of. III 
 
 Geoffrey, Prior, 117, 265 
 
 Geoffrey II, Prior, 265 
 
 Gerald de Barri, 49 
 
 Gervase's description of Lanfranc's 
 nave, 30 ; rebuilding of choir, 
 90,98 
 
 Gilbert, Rev. George, Reminis- 
 cences of, 355 
 
 Gilbert de GlanviUe, Bishop of 
 Rochester, 117 
 
 Giles, Master, physician to prior, 
 256 
 
 Gilhngham, Richard, Prior, 269 
 
 Gilson, Mr. J. P., his report on 
 MSS. of Christ Church Canter- 
 bury, 396 
 
 Gisnes, Count of, 121 
 
 Glastonbury, Abbot of, 213 j con- 
 troversy wfith Prior of Christ 
 Church concerning the relics of 
 St. Dunstan, 213, 214 
 
 Glasyer, Hugh (Canon), 312 
 
 " Glory Cloth," 316 
 
 Gloucester, Abbot of, 265 ; college 
 in Oxford, 251 
 
 Gloucester, masons trained at, 165 
 
 Godmersham, Rectory of, 168 
 
 Godwin, Dean, 306 
 
 Goldson, Mr. (Canon), 312 
 
 Goldston I, Thomas, Prior, 199, 
 203, 205, 270 
 
 Goldston II, Prior, 210, 211, 271, 
 280 ; burial-place, 213, 216 
 
 Goldwell, Thomas, Prior, 215, 217, 
 218 ; letter of, 219, 271 
 
 484 
 
 " Gloriet," 270 
 
 Grandorge, Dr., bequest of, 347 
 Gray, Sir Henry, 204 
 Green-Court gateway, 51 
 Gregory IX, Pope, BuU concerning 
 
 Peter's pence, 403 
 Grig, Dr. 76 
 Grille, iron, in nave, 171 
 Grim, Edward, 68 
 Grosseteste, Robert, Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln, 133 ; treatises by, 403 
 Gualeran, Bishop of Rochester, 104 
 Guest-chambers, new, 165 
 GuiUaume de Sens, architect of the 
 
 choir, 91 ; accident to, 92 
 
 Hackington, Abp. Baldwin's Col- 
 legiate Church at, 107-14 
 
 Hadleigh, W., 251 
 
 Hales, Sir Christopher, 218 
 
 Halstow, Lower, 382 
 
 Hamilton, Lady Emma, 356 
 
 Hangings, arras, 279 
 
 Harbledown, St. Nicholas Hospital 
 at, 303 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin, his benefaction 
 to the Library, 390 
 
 Hartlip, Simon of, 127 
 
 Hartover, Christopher, Altar-screen 
 
 by, 338 
 
 Hathbrand, Robert, Prior, 147-8 ; 
 works of, 157-9 J burial-place of, 
 159, 269 
 
 Henry II, King of England, 58, 64 ; 
 penance of, 74, 75, 105 ; death, 
 112 
 
 Henry III, King of England, 77, 
 78 ; crowned at Canterbury, 127 
 
 Henry IV, King of England, statue 
 of on choir screen, 172 ; burial, 
 188 ; tomb, 191 ; Chantry Chapel 
 of, 191, 193 
 
 Henry V, 195, 196 
 
 Henry VI, 205 
 
 Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, 48 
 
 Henry of Eastry, Prior, see Eastry 
 
INDEX 
 
 Herlewin, Prior, 266 
 Heme, Brother Thomas, 278 
 Herring, Archbishop, letter of, 353 
 Herse cloth, 372 
 Holland, Canon Francis, 118 
 Home, Dean, alterations to the 
 fabric of the Church by, 349, 350 
 Honorius, Prior, no, 112, 266 
 Hope, Mr. W. H. St. John, 161, 
 
 174, 204, 276 
 Hopper, Thomas, architect, 360-1 
 Horsea, Hugh de, 68 
 Horsfelde, 52, 55 
 Howley, Abp., 362, 363, 390 
 Howley-Harrison Library, 389, 390 
 Hubert de Burgh, 77 
 Hubert Walter, Archbishop, 115, 
 
 117, 119 ; tomb opened in 1890, 
 
 118 
 Hulme, St. Benedict's Abbey, 265 
 Hunte, Mr. (Canon), 312 
 
 IcKHAM, Mr., 312 
 Infirmary, monastic, 151, 252 
 Ingram, Brother Will, 381 
 Innocent III, Pope, 121 
 Irving, Sir Henry, 370 
 Isabella, Queen, consort of Ed- 
 ward II, 144 
 Islip, Abp., tomb of, 273, 349 
 
 Jackson, Dr. (Canon), 331 
 
 Jaenbert, Abp., 19 
 
 James, Dr. M. R., 280, note, 379, 
 
 387 
 Jeffries, Judge, 313 
 Jeremiah, Prior, 265 
 Joan Plantagenet, the Fair Maid of 
 
 Kent, 156 
 Jocelyn, Bishop of Sahsbury, 63 
 John of Chatham, Prior, 127, 267 
 John, King of England, 75, 119, 120, 
 
 121 
 John of Sittingboume, Prior, 267 
 Johnson, Thomas, 137, 314 
 Jordan the Painter, 140 
 Juxon, Abp., 337, 389 
 
 Kellett, WiU., Legend of, 422 
 Kent, Holy Maid of, see Barton, 
 
 Elizabeth 
 Killygreve, Mr., 314 
 Kilwardby, Abp., 133 
 King's School, 140, 291-293 
 Kitchen, monastic, 152 
 Kydder, John, 313 
 
 Lady Chapel, new, 171 
 
 Lambeth, Abp. Baldwin's and Abp- 
 Hubert's Collegiate Church 
 at, 114, IIS 
 Conference (fifth), 376 
 Library, duphcate books given 
 to Canterbury, 390 
 
 Lancaster, Henry, Earl of, 147 
 
 Lanfranc, Abp., 23, 25 ; gifts of, 
 35 ; relics of, 98, 283 
 
 Langdon, John, Warden of Canter- 
 bury College, letter of, 251 
 
 Langton, Abp. Stephen, 75, 77, 120, 
 122; tomb of, 202; Moralia,^OT, 
 
 Laud, Abp., 311, 315 ; visitation of , 
 316-8 ; revision of statutes, 319 
 
 Lay Clerks, 31 3 ; stipends of, 449 ; 
 petition to Abp. Laud, 451, 453 
 
 Layton, Dr., letter of, 217, 385 
 
 Lee, Will., 313 
 
 Legge, Dr. Wickham, Inventories of 
 Christ Church by, 284 
 
 Leland, John, 167, 194 
 
 Lewcombe, Richard, 313 
 
 Lewes, battle of, 133 
 
 Lewis VII, King of France, 82, 94 ; 
 grant of wine by, 97 
 
 Leysted, John, 31 3 
 
 Library of Dean and Chapter, 377- 
 404 ; earliest catalogue, 379 ; 
 rebuilt by Chicheley, 380 ; estates 
 for upkeep, 381 ; books bought 
 in 1551 ; new (1868), 390 ; MSS., 
 396 ; Bunce's catalogue (1806), 
 
 .395 
 Linacre, Thomas, 207 
 Lindesfarne Gospels, 383 
 Living, Abp., rehcs of, 283 
 
 485 
 
INDEX 
 
 Lollards, 198 
 London, Dr., 295 
 Luithard, Bishop, 6 
 Luxmore, Dr. (Canon), 356 
 Lyall, Dean, 365, 366 
 Lychfeld, Mr., 312 
 
 Mac-Durnan, Gospels of, 378, 
 
 384 
 Maces, silver, for vergers, 338 note 
 Malmesbury, William of, 33 
 Manners-Sutton, Abp., 354, 359 
 Mantell, Roger, 313 
 Mapylton, Thomas, architect of the 
 
 S.W. tower 
 Marden, John, 313 
 Margaret, Queen Consort of 
 
 Henry VI, 203, 205 
 Marian reaction, ornaments, &c., 
 
 acquired during, 301-2 
 Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 
 
 343 
 "Master Omers," 181, 201, 225, 
 
 238, 307 
 Maunday Thursday, ceremony on, 
 
 263 
 Mensa Magistri, 151, 252 
 Mensura heatce Maria virginis, 
 
 283 
 Meopham, Abp., memorial vyindovy 
 
 to, 147 
 Minor Canons, 287, 449 ; houses of, 
 
 temp Commonwealth, 330 
 Mohun, Lady, tomb of, 185 
 Molash, Will., Prior, 198, 200, 270 
 Mongeham, Stephen, Prior, 159, 
 
 269 
 Monins, Thomas, 328, 331 
 Montreuil, Madame de, visit to 
 
 Canterbury of, 81 
 MoreviUe, Hugh de, 64 
 Muniments of the Christ Church, 
 
 391. 392, 394. 39S> 397 . 
 Music, extra in mediaeval times, 445 
 
 note 
 Myllys, Mr. (Canon), 312 
 Mystagogus, 79 
 486 
 
 Nantes, revocation of the Edict of, 
 
 311 
 
 Navarre, Joan of. Queen Consort of 
 
 Henry IV, 191 
 Necessarium, monastic, 211 
 Nelson, Dr. (Canon), 355 
 Nevill, Dean, 203, 387 
 Newbury, Father (Minor Canon), 
 
 295, 312 
 New Lodging, the, 225, 237 
 Nicholas of Sandwich, Prior, 268 
 Nigel, William Fitz, no 
 Nixon, Dorothea, benefaction of, 
 
 362 
 Noldekyn, Reginald, 1 37 
 Norman staircase, 234 
 Norreys, Roger, Prior, no, 11 3-14 
 Norris, Samuel, auditor, 399 
 Northfleet, rectory of, 195 
 Northgate, St. John's Hospital in, 
 
 303 
 North-Hall, 234, 237 
 North Holmes, 52 
 
 "Oaks," the, 337 note 
 
 Odo, Abbot of Battle, 104 ; Prior, 
 266 
 
 Omers, Meister, see Master Omers, 
 30, 112 
 
 Organ, Cathedral, 452, 454-6, 478, 
 479 ; specifications of, 465- 
 70 
 builders, Rawnce, Nich., 448 ; 
 Blankard, Jasper, 449; Pearse, 
 Lancelot, 454 ; Smith, Ber- 
 nard, 454 ; Harris, Renatus, 
 454 ; Knopple, John, 455 ; 
 Bridge, Richard, 455 ; 
 Green, Samuel, 456 ; Long- 
 hurst, 456 
 
 Orpington, Ralph of, 127 
 
 Osbert, Prior, 267 
 
 Ostiarius Chori, 279 
 
 Otforde, Mr., 312 
 
 Oxenden, Richard, Prior, 145, 148 ; 
 burial-place, 147 
 Solomon, 268 
 
INDEX 
 
 Oxford, Canterbury College in, 200 ; 
 269 ; see also Canterbury College 
 Oxney, John, Prior, 81, 270 
 
 Palace, Archiepiscopal, 34, 299, 
 
 3o.4> 371 
 Pallium, controversy concerning, 
 
 37 ; ceremony at the reception of, 
 
 38 
 " Paradise and Heaven," 165 
 ParkeLurst, Mr. (Canon), 312 
 Parker, Abp. Matthew, visitation 
 
 articles of, 304 ; entertainment 
 
 ^7) 305 ; a collector of books, 
 
 386 
 Pascal candle, 281, 293 
 Paske, Dr. (Vice-Dean), letters of, 
 
 324 
 
 Patriarchal seat, 47, 78, 282 ; re- 
 moved from primitive position, 
 360, 364 
 
 Payne, Smith, Dean, 368-9, 375 
 
 Pearson George (Hon. Can.), 70 
 note, 368 
 
 Peckham, East, manor of, 39 
 
 Peckham, Abp., 140 ; tomb, 141 
 
 Peel, John (Canon), 355 
 
 Peirce, John, petition of, 335 
 
 Pentise, 178, 234 
 
 Percy, Dean, 354 
 
 Perron, Count, 153 
 
 Peterborough, Abbot of, 265, 266 ; 
 monks, 251 
 
 Petham, William, Prior, 270 
 
 Peticanon's Hall, the, 293 
 
 Petvsrorth marble, use of, loi 
 
 Pevsrs erected in choir (1704), 346 
 
 Pfyffers, Theodore (sculptor), 366 
 
 Philippa, Queen, visit of, to Canter- 
 bury, 146 
 
 Pikenot, Brother John, work of, in 
 the cloister, 1 24 
 
 Pisa, Council of, 185, 186 
 
 Plague, 148 ; cattle, 245 
 
 Plant, Joseph, Grammar Master of 
 the choristers, 459 
 
 Plantagenet, Joan, 152 
 
 Plate, Church, alienated, 297 ; gift 
 of by Cardinal Pole, 301 ; sold, 
 325 ; lent by Independents, 333 ; 
 purchased at Restoration, 338, 341 
 
 Player, Thomas, 333 
 
 Players and minstrels, 262 
 
 Pole, Cardinal, 139, 301, 303 ; 
 Chapel, 303 ; tomb, 303 
 
 Pontigny, 267 
 
 Porch, south-west, 200 
 
 Porter of the Gate, allowances to, 
 258 
 
 Portugal, Crown Prince of, 45 note 
 
 Powys, Dean, 354, 355 
 
 Preachers (Six), see Six-Preachers 
 
 Prebendaries, names of first, 288 
 note, 311 ; married deprived, 
 303 ; numbers reduced, 364 
 
 Prebendal Houses temp Common- 
 wealth, 330 ; puUed down, 365 
 
 Precentor in monastic times, 226 j 
 modern, 460 
 
 Precincts, Houses in, temp Common- 
 wealth, 330 
 
 " Precum Days," meaning of, 457 
 
 Prior of Christ Church, election of, 
 223; yinidacdonsede vacant!, 
 
 224 ; privileges granted by 
 Popes, 225 ; lodgings, 177, 
 
 225 ; chapel, 226 ; servants, 
 226 
 
 Chaplains' Rolls, 398 
 Prior, Mr. E. G., 171 
 Proctor, Robert, 306 
 Pudner, Humphrey, 349 note 
 Pulpit in choir, 363 ; in nave, 375 
 Puritanism in Kent, 317, 323 
 Pyx, curious arrangement for, 174 
 
 QUENINCATE, I78 
 
 Rawlinson, Canon, 371 ; Mrs., 
 
 375 
 Red Door, the, 73 
 Refectory, see Frater-House 
 " Regale " of France, 82, 94 
 Reginald, Sub-prior, 120 
 
 487 
 
INDEX 
 
 Registers, monastic, 391, 399, 400-1 
 
 of Dean and Chapter, 400 
 Relics, catalogue of, 284 
 Reliquary cupboard, 276 
 Remigius, Bishop of Dorchester, 33 
 Reynolds, Abp. Walter, letters of, 
 
 140-143 ; tomb, 142, 244, 262 
 Rich, Sir Richard, 218 
 Richard I, King of England, visit of, 
 
 to Canterbury, 75, 113 
 Richard, Abp., 91, 102 
 Richard II, King of England, 164, 
 
 173, 185, 186, 191 
 Ringmere, Thomas, Prior, 134, 135 ; 
 
 resignation of, 135, 268 
 Rochester, monks of, 104 
 Roger of St. Alphege, Prior, 128, 
 
 268 ; sermons of, 404 
 Roger of Lee, Prior, 128, 267 
 Roger Norreys, Prior, 266 
 Rogers, Dean, 306 
 Rouen, Abp. of, 114 
 Rood, Great, 46, 274 ; in south 
 
 aisle of nave, 274 
 Ross, Bishop of, 191, 199 
 Ruton, Richard, 278 
 Ryche, Mr., 314 
 Rydley, Dr., 312 
 
 Sacrist, monastic, 228, 229 ; in- 
 come and expenditure, 229 ; 
 house of, 230 ; rolls, 398 
 
 St. Alphege, church of, 308 
 
 St. Alphege, martyrdom of, 14 ; 
 shrine, 47, 281, 297 ; translation 
 of relics, 97 
 
 St. Andrew, chapel of, 176, 277, 
 363 
 
 St. Anselm, 36^8 ; death of, 42 ; 
 canonisation, 45 ; shrine, 284 ; 
 rehcs of, 350-3 
 
 St. Anselm's chapel, window in, 
 147 J restored, 440 
 
 St. ApoUinare Nuova, church of, at 
 Ravenna, 12 
 
 St. ApoUonia, picture of, 144 
 
 St. Audoen, 13 ; altar of, 285 
 
 488 
 
 St. Augustine, relic of, 213 ; Psalter 
 
 of, 383 
 St. Bartholomew, chapel of, 285 
 St. Benedict, rule of, 222 ; chapel 
 
 of. ^7' 70. 73 
 St. Bertin, abbey of, 121 
 St. Blaise, 13 ; chapel of, Sj, 70, 
 
 74 ; shrine, 282 
 St. Christopher, painting of, 303 
 St. Clement, altar of, 285 
 St. Denis, Church of, Measure of 
 
 our Lord in, 282 
 St. Dunstan, translation of relics 
 
 of, 97; scrutiny of shrine, 213, 
 
 214, 281, 297 
 St. Edmund of Abingdon, ring of, 
 
 73> 228, 275 
 St. Furse, 20 
 St. Gabriel, chapel of, 50 
 St. Gregory, altar of, 20 ; priory 
 
 of, 52, 77 
 St. James, hospital of, ill 
 St. John the Baptist, altar of, 285 
 St. John the Evangelist, altar of, 
 
 248, 282 
 St. John Lateran (Rome), Measure 
 
 of our Lord in, 283 
 St. Katherine, altar of, 285 
 St. Leger, Mr. (Canon), 311 
 St. Martin, altar of, 21, 283 ; 
 
 church, William, rector of, 131 
 St. Mary, oratory of, 21 ; chapel, 
 
 171, 203 ; measure of, 283 ; 
 
 chapel in the crypt, 157-158 
 St. Mary Magdalene, altar of, 285 
 St. Michael, chapel of, 201, 202 ; 
 
 room over, 202 
 St. Nicholas, altar of, 284 
 St. Odo, relics of, 98 ; shrine, 284 
 St. Osyth, picture of, 144 
 SS. Peter and Paul, altar of, 284 
 St. Paulinus, altar of, 285 
 St. Thomas the Apostle, altar of, 
 
 285 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury, see 
 Becket, Thomas 
 Chapel, 98-99, 282 
 
INDEX 
 
 St. Wilfred, 13 ; shrine of, 285 
 
 Salisbury, Jocelyn, Bishop of, 63 
 
 Salisbury, John of, 31, 55 
 
 Salkyer, Richard, 380 
 
 Saltwood Castle, 64 
 
 Sancroft, Abp., 390 
 
 Sandwich, Bartholomew of, 127 
 
 Sandys, Colonel, 323-4 
 
 Sarisbury, John, Prior, 270 
 
 School of the Archbishop, 55, 250 ; 
 
 King's, 250 
 Scott, G. G., 30 
 
 Sir Gilbert, 100 
 Scotus, Duns, 404 
 Screen, Choir, 140, 172, 173, 342 
 Scriftorium, 382, 383, 385 
 Seals of the Prior and chapter, 16, 
 
 I23> 398 
 Searles, Mr., 312 
 Sede Vacante documents, 392 
 SeHinge, William, Prior, 206-7 ! 
 
 tomb of, 210, 251, 270, 381 
 Selmeston, Thomas, 278 
 Sermons, 258, 366 ; in the Chapter 
 
 House, 300, 323, 344 
 Seneschal of the Liberties, 258 
 Services, Church, tenup Queen Eliza- 
 beth, 304-5 
 Sheldon, Abp., 341-2 
 Sheppard, J. B., report on the 
 archives for the Historical MSS. 
 Commission, 395 
 Sherlock, Abp., visitation of, 349 
 Shuckford, Dr., letter of, 353 
 Simpson, Dr. (Canon), 392 
 Siric, Abp., relics of, 282 
 Sittingbourne, Prior John of, 267 
 Six-Preachers, names of the first, 
 
 312 ; houses of, 212, 288, 330 
 Smallwell, John (joiner), 346-7 
 Somerset, John, Earl of, 201 ; tomb, 
 
 202 
 Somner, William, MSS. of, pur- 
 chased by Dean and Chapter, 389 
 Spire of N.W. steeple built, 138 ; 
 
 pulled down, 346 
 Spry, Dr. (Canon), his account of 
 
 the opening of the tomb of 
 Henry IV, 193 
 
 Stained glass, 124; destruction of 
 at Reformation, 327 ; by Puri- 
 tans, 327 ; description of, 405- 
 38 
 
 Stalls, choir, 280 
 
 Stationarii, 253 
 
 Statutes of Henry VHI, 288; 
 Laud's revision of, 319 
 
 Stephen, King, crowned at Canter- 
 bury, 48 
 
 Stephens, William, 313 
 
 Stone, John, 64 ; chronicle of, 256 
 
 Stratford, Abp., 146-8 
 
 Succentor, monastic, 226 
 
 Sudbury, Abp., 159 ; murder of, 
 163 ; tomb, 164 
 
 Sumner, Abp., 363 
 
 Supremacy, Royal, oath taken by the 
 Prior and Convent, 217 
 
 Surrender of the Priory of Christ 
 Church, 218 
 
 " Suthdore," the, 20, 29 
 
 Survey of Precincts temf Common- 
 wealth, 329-32 
 
 Swifte, WilKam, 313 
 
 Sydall, Dr. (Canon), 346 
 
 S.S., collar of, 192 
 
 " Table-Hall " of the Infirmary, 
 
 151 
 Tait, Abp., 311 
 Tankerville, Master W., 256 
 Temple, Abp., 371, 375 
 Tenison, Abp., 347 
 Tewkesbury, Abbot of, 266 
 Teynham, Archiepiscopal manor 
 
 house at, 117 
 Theobald, Abp., 48, 55, 58 
 Theodore, Abp., schools of, 55 ; 
 
 rehcs of, 98, 250, 377, 386 
 Thornden, Richard, Bishop of 
 
 Dover, 296, 300-r, 311 
 Thornton, John, Prior of Dover and 
 
 assistant bishop to Abp. Warham, 
 
 215 
 
 I 489 
 
INDEX 
 
 Throne, Archiepiscopal, 347 ; new, 
 
 363 
 Thyrlwall, Richard, 385 
 Tilley, see Sellinge, William 
 TiUotson, Dean, 345 
 Towers, Western, 31 ; Central, 
 
 207-10 ; N.W., 360, 371 
 Tracy, William, 64, 67, 68 
 Treasurers of the Priory, 245 ; rolls 
 
 of, 398 
 Treasury, the, 50 
 
 Ufford, John de, Abp., 148 
 Umfrey, Brother Thomas, 25 1 
 Universities, Canterbury students 
 at, 251, 291 
 
 Vauxhall, manor of, 155 
 
 Wace, Dean, 370 
 
 Walkelin, Bishop of Winchester, 33, 
 
 37 
 Walkyngton, Thomas of, 402 
 Walloons, see French Protestants 
 Walter Durdent, Prior, 265 
 Parvus, Prior, 265 
 III, Prior, 267 
 of Colchester, JJ 
 Ware, Thomas, 362 
 Warham, Abp., 213 ; Chantry 
 
 Chapel of, 214 
 Warner, John, Bishop of Rochester, 
 
 320, 389, 391 
 Warwick, Thomas de Beauchamp, 
 
 Earl of, 182 
 Wastell, John, master mason, 208 
 Waterworks of Priory of Christ 
 
 Church, 51, SS note, 211 
 Water Tower, 53, 54 ; raised, 176 
 Watts, WiUiam, letter of, 393 
 Welfitt, Dr. (Canon), 355, 359 
 Welles, Mr. 313 
 
 WeUys, Will, Bishop of Norwich, 
 
 202 
 Westwell, rectory of, 168 
 White, Jesse, 356 note, 365 
 Whitgift, John, Abp., 386 
 Whitewashing of Churches, 175 
 Whittlesey, Abp., tomb of, 273, 
 
 349 
 Wibert, Prior, 51, 266 
 WiUement, Thomas, heraldic 
 
 notices of Canterbury Cathedral 
 
 by, 188 
 William the Conqueror, sign manual 
 
 of, 33 
 William Rufus, 36 
 William the Englishman, architect 
 
 of the retro-choir, 93, 94, 98 
 William the Lion, King of Scotland, 
 
 75 
 Rector of St. Martin's, Canter- 
 bury, 131 
 of Norwich, 404 
 Winchelsey, Abp., 141, 142 
 Winchester, council of, 32 ; Cathe- 
 dral, Nave of, 171 
 Wodensburgh, John, Prior, 187, 
 
 196 ; tomb of, 198, 269 
 Woghope, William, 165 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 215-328 
 Wotton, Nicholas, Dean, 294-5, 
 
 298, 391 
 Wulfred, Abp., charter of, 12, note ; 
 
 relics, 283 
 Wulfhehn, Abp., relics of, 282 
 Wultstan, Bishop of Worcester, 33 
 Wybert, Prior, see Wibert 
 
 York, Edward, Duke of, 205 
 
 Roger, Abp. of, 63 
 
 Thomas, 33, 36 
 Yngworth, Richard, Bishop of 
 Dover, 296 
 
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