|
Brief History of Canterbury CathedralThe foundation of Christ Church and history through
the Danes
The Foundation of Christ Church and brief history through the DanesCanterbury is the seat of the Primate of all England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first Archbishop was St. Augustine of Canterbury, who baptized King Ethelbert of Kent in 597 C.E. and consecrated his church in Canterbury to Christ sometime around 602 C.E. Christ's church was built upon the foundations of an earlier church. Although Augustine established a community at Christ Church, it is less than clear that it was a monastic community. Augustine also began to collect a group of clerics during his ministry, and asked Gregory the Great for advice on how to deal with them. Bede's Ecclesiastical History contains Gregory's response to these questions, and he told Augustine that since he was a monk he should live the common life with his clergy. The answer does not mandate that the clergy be monks, which seems to imply that the community at Christ Church was not a monastic one. The monks, it would seem, lived at Augustine's Peter and Paul church, later known as St. Augustine's Abbey. In 610 Mellitus, bishop of London, went to Rome and obtained permission for the community at Christ Church to receive new members as monks. It is unclear how long Christ Church remained a monastic community, and very likely that the community was run by clerics until the tenth century. Although it was common in the north for cathedrals to be ruled from monasteries, the first documentation of a cathedral monastery in the south is in 964, when Ethelwold introduced monks to Winchester. Canterbury quickly copied this model; sources suggest that Archbishop Aelfric brought monks back to the community in the tenth century. The Danes later sacked the church as they made their way through England, and captured Archbishop Alphege and took him to Greenwich where they held him for ransom. When he refused to be ransomed, the Danes beat him to death with ox bones after a feast. The Arrival of Lanfranc as Archbishop of CanterburyThe cathedral was later repaired and enlarged, only to be devastated by a fire in 1067, a year after the Norman conquest of England. In 1070 William the Conqueror brought over one of his most trusted advisors, Lanfranc, who had been prior of Bec and and abbot of St. Étienne in Normandy. Due to the damage from the fire, Lanfranc had to be consecrated in a makeshift shelter. Lanfranc was born sometime around 1005. After a career in law in Pavia, Lanfranc left Italy around 1030; from 1030 until 1039, when he became a teacher in Avranches, little is known of his life. Shortly thereafter, Lanfranc entered the monastery of Bec and served as prior of Bec from 1045-1063. He developed a school there and was the teacher of Anselm, Ivo of Chartres, the future Pope Alexander II, and several bishops and archbishops. He was highly skilled in the arts of the trivium and known for his efforts to correct biblical texts; as Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc insured that the monastic churches had corrected texts of the Bible. His Biblical commentaries on the Pauline Epistles were influential in the schools of Laon and Paris and still being copied a century later. His skills were amply demonstrated in the debate with Berengar of Tours, who denied the doctrine of the transubstantiation. His Liber de corpore et sanguine Domini was noteworthy for its summary of patristic thought on the Eucharist, and it laid the groundwork for the modern understanding of the doctrine of transubstantiation. Lanfranc became an advisor to Duke William of Normandy, who in 1063 appointed him abbot of St. Étienne in Caen. Here he educated, among others, the relatives of Pope Alexander II. The Norman Conquest in 1066 eventually brought Lanfranc to England. After a church council removed Stigand as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, William invested his trusted advisor Lanfranc as the new Archbishop. He received the pallium in 1071 from his former pupil Alexander II in Rome. Lanfranc reorganized the English Church and established the primacy of Canterbury. Through his relationship as spiritual advisor to Queen Margaret of Scotland, Lanfranc also helped to reform the Church of Scotland and extended the influence of William and of Canterbury to Scotland. Lanfranc was the single greatest influence on English monasticism from 1070 until his death in 1089. Lanfranc drew many abbots from Bec and Caen; at the time of his death, the abbots of every important monastery were all Normans. Under Lanfranc, the number of monasteries grew by fifty percent, and monasticism was reformed under the Norman model. Through his nephew Paul, abbot of St. Albans, he influenced the rebuilding of St. Albans and his constitutions were imposed on the community. His constitutions were later also used in Croyland and Durham, influenced those of Westminster, and even had an influence in Norway. According to Lanfranc's customs, the abbot and the prior were the confessors of the community; novices and children also were allotted additional confessors. Although there is no evidence that Lanfranc established a school at Canterbury like he had at Bec, his statutes established a school for children in the cloister. He stipulated along with the Rule of St. Benedict that at the beginning of Lent the monks should be given a book. Lanfranc allowed monks from other monasteries to be admitted as confratres, and also made provisions for laymen, both men and women, high and low born, to be so admitted. There were strict regulations separating the monks from guests. The sick were allowed to eat meat, but only if they walked with a stick, wore a hood, and later asked the community for forgiveness for eating irregular food. The monks were to abstain from lard from Septuagesima until Easter, and during Advent except for feast days. These restrictions were also imposed upon the abbot, who ate with his monks until the twelfth century, when the abbot began to dine with his household and guests and to serve meat at the table. Lanfranc's regulations were further corrupted by the end of the twelfth century, when Gerald of Wales visited Christ Church and was served a sixteen course dinner! Further, wine was served, which previously had been more uncommon than meat. Although Lanfranc was not a strong supporter of monastic exemptions from diocesan control, he supported Bury St. Edmunds in the dispute with Herfast of Thetford and Ely in its dispute over land and rights with the bishop of Lincoln. As King's justice, he played an important role in the monastic affairs of East Anglia, and assisted in the recovery of monastic rights and property for the abbey of Ramsey. Under Lanfranc, Christ Church and other cathedral monasteries were clearly demarcated as monastic communities. Although some historians have argued about whether Christ Church was a monastic community before Lanfranc, it now seems clear that there were monks there during the entire eleventh century. Lanfranc's contribution was to fight to preserve monastic chapters in the Cathedral churches. During 997-1066, there had been little growth in the establishment of cathedral monasteries. Lanfranc obtained papal approval for the perpetual monastic status of the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury. In this period, the archbishop who served as abbot of Canterbury was very much a part of his community, and it is known that Lanfranc sat with his brethren in the cloister at Canterbury. This custom would change in the reign of Henry I and, as will be seen later, the monks of Canterbury were increasingly at odds with the archbishop. Eadmer, who entered Canterbury before the conquest and was the biographer of Lanfranc's successor Anselm and precentor of Christ Church, wrote in the Vita Dunstani that monastic discipline had become lax at Canterbury after the invasion of the Danes, and that the monks were living in lavish conditions and indulging in all kinds of excessive, worldly activities. During Lanfranc's reign, monastic life here reached a new high point, and Canterbury had the largest numbers of monks of any house in England. In the reign of Henry I, the house had 50 monks. Further, many abbots of other houses came from this community; its priors rarely held office for long before becoming abbot elsewhere. At any rate, under Lanfranc new vocations to the monastic life almost doubled and, consequently, many new building projects were begun. It was Lanfranc who rebuilt the church at Canterbury after the disastrous fire of 1067; he was was responsible for the construction of the nave which was dedicated in 1077. Lanfranc also constructed the monastic buildings there and surrounded the entire complex with a wall. Lanfranc brought Ernulf of St. Symphorien as schoolmaster at Canterbury, who built a monastic library and instilled French learning as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon traditions.His influence is also seen in Theobald, the third monk of Bec to become Archbishop of Canterbury. Theobald's interest in church law later created what was nearly a school of canon law at Canterbury. Lanfranc's influence can also be seen in the fact that by 1170, Christ Church had one of the largest monastic libraries in England, holding some six hundred volumes in its collection. Canterbury was also home to the famous Bosworth Psalter. Lanfranc had a difficult time respecting the Anglo-Saxon saints, and once remarked to his pupil Anselm that "sometimes when I turn over in my mind their own accounts of who they were, I cannot help having doubts about the quality of their sanctity." In fact, so difficult a time had he respecting these traditions, that he allowed only a small crypt to be built under Canterbury which was later vastly enlarged in 1100 to accommodate the larger choir and which would later house the relics of Becket. Lanfranc was, despite his reluctance to venerate Anglo-Saxon traditions, renowned for his kindness and for his loving nature. No other archbishop but Dunstan had as important an effect on English monasticism and, when Lanfranc died in 1089, like Dunstan before he was buried before the crucifix in Canterbury. Rebuilding under Anselm and later ArchbishopsLanfranc was succeeded by Anselm, one of his former pupils and Bec. Most of the Norman construction at Canterbury was completed under Anselm's direction. The enormous crypt of the cathedral was constructed during his archbishopric. Its carved columns betray the influence of Italian, Byzantine, and Muslim styles. The Canonization of Becket and Later Rebuilding ProjectsThe Romanesque choir was dedicated in 1130, but later destroyed by fire in 1174. The east wing of the cathedral was entirely destroyed except for the outer walls. The crypt was untouched; just the year before Pope Alexander III canonized St. Thomas ŕ Becket. Becket's shrine was at that time still located in the crypt. After his canonization, pilgrims came by the thousands to Canterbury, forcing the monks there to rebuild the cathedral on a grander scale. They retained William of Sens, a Frenchman, who managed to harmonized the new constructions with the remains of the former building. Under his direction, the choir transepts were completed and the high vault of the crossing was begun. Tragically, he fell from scaffolding, was permanently injured, and later died in 1180 in France. His architectural style, one of the earliest examples in England of the Gothic style, was emulated in many English churches and creates a striking contrast to the later Perpendicular nave. The rebuilding project continued under his successor, William the Englishman. William was responsible for designing Trinity Chapel, to house the new shrine of St. Thomas. The chapel rounded off the choir, and provided a beautiful setting for the shrine. The chapel had a circular chamber at its eastern end called the "Corona," named for the relic of Becket's head. For an account of Becket's life and martyrdom, see the link below to the Trinity Chapel shrine. Conflicts with Baldwin and Later ArchbishopsThe monks of Canterbury never again experienced the success of this period. They were frequently at odds with the monks of the nearby St. Augustine's abbey. Just as Becket had quarreled with Henry II, so too the monks at Canterbury quarreled with the Cistercian Archbishop Baldwin in the last years of Henry II's reign. The monks had become quite jealous of their privileged position as guardians of the relics of Becket and, although Church practice dictated that the archbishop be elected by bishops, the monks had long functioned as the sole electors of the archbishop. The trouble between Baldwin and the monks seems to have begun in earnest when he deprived them of the Christmas offerings from their manors and three churches. Further, he proposed to found a new school there under the patronage of Becket and St. Stephen and to fill it with learned scholars, a move which would have threatened the position of Canterbury. Although Hugh of Lincoln attempted to dissuade him, he took the case to Rome, and had the monks at Canterbury imprison within the enciente of their monastic buildings. King Henry II took the side of the Archbishop, but the monks nevertheless continued their opposition. Henry II died in November of 1189, and the monks made a plea to his son Richard for mercy. Richard persuaded Baldwin to abandon his attempt to have a new school founded, and later left on crusade. In 1196, however, the controversy resurfaced when Archbishop Hubert Walter once again took the proposal to Rome. Although he proposed that the canons of the school would have no voice in the election of the archbishop nor in any debate on the translation of Becket's relics, the monks at Canterbury nevertheless refused to consider the idea. The king weighed in again on the side of the archbishop and seized the monastic property of Canterbury. Pope Innocent III decided in favor of the monks, and ordered Walter to destroy the church he had built for the school and to void the foundation of the school itself. After a long illness, Archbishop Hugh Walter died on July 13, 1205. The controversies at Canterbury had not yet come to an end. Soon after Hugh's death, the monks came into conflict with King John, son of Henry II and brother of Richard. John wanted an archbishop who was not a monk, and wanted to see John de Gay, bishop of Norwich, elected to the position. He asked the monks to refrain from electing a new archbishop until December, and they and the bishops immediately appealed to Pope Innocent III. Meanwhile, John approached the papacy on behalf of his candidate, while the monks held a secret election and voted in favor of their subprior, Reginald, and gave him official documents of his election. The monks, however, made Reginald swear under oath that he would not produce the documents unless it seemed likely that the pope would approve King John's request. For whatever reasons, when Reginald arrived, he immediately produced the papers, and the bishops protested his election as being held while the matter was still under dispute. Innocent demanded evidence from England, where the monks had reacted to King John's anger by agreeing to elect his candidate John de Gay. This election took place on December 11, 1205, the month in which King John had originally said the monks could have an election. A delegation of monks traveled to Rome, where they were met with opposition from Reginald and his supporters. The Canterbury monks, in turn, argued that Reginald's election had been conditional and should be voided. Innocent voided the election of John de Gay, and summoned another group from Canterbury to provide further evidence. In December 1206, he met with this third delegation, and agreed that the monks had the sole right of election. At the same time, however, he voided Reginald's election since it was made during a period of appeal, and he asked the delegation to make one more election. After an intense debate, they settled on Stephen Langton. King John vigorously opposed Langton, and Innocent III himself consecrated him and invested him with the pallium six months later. In retaliation, King John confiscated the property of Canterbury and most of its monks fled to St. Bertin on the continent. Moreover, he placed in Interdict on all of England on March 23, 1208, which was not lifted until 1213. During this period, even the cult of Becket failed to keep the community alive. The Reformation and BeyondDespite these difficulties with the royal line, Canterbury's mystique as the site of Becket's shrine and its centrality in the English church made it the burial site of important monarchs and other figures. Among those buried here are Archbishop Henry Chichele, Henry IV and his wife, Joan of Navarre, and Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III. The tomb of Becket was destroyed during the Reformation, and if his relics survived the destruction, their whereabouts are unknown. Henry VIII dissolved the priory in 1540. In 1540 there were fifty monks at Canterbury. Twenty-eight of the monks became members of the reconstituted cathedral foundation led by a dean and consisting of prebendaries, minor canons, vergers, and choristers. The cathedral contains the tomb of the first dean of the cathedral, Nicholas Watton, who helped to arrange the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves. Further destruction of Canterbury occurred during the English Civil War, when Richard Culmer and Cromwell's troops destroyed much of the stained glass in the cathedral as they "rattl[ed] down proud Becket's glassy bones." Although the Reformation and English Civil War were the end of a series of achievements in the Roman Catholic history in England going back to St. Augustine of Canterbury, its modern history symbolizes a new era of reconciliation. For four hundred years, Huguenots have worshipped in the crypt, protected by the deans of Canterbury. Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral in 1982, and those of all faiths today come to Canterbury to appreciate its intense beauty and spirituality. References:Eadmer. Historia Novorum. Ed. Rule. Rolls Series. London, 1884. Margaret Gibson. Lanfranc of Bec. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. Dom David Knowles. The Monastic Constitutions of Lanfranc. London, 1951. Dom David Knowles, C.N.L. Brooke, V.C.M. London. The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales: 940-1216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. ----- Saints and Scholars. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962. Rpt. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1988. ----- The Monastic Order in England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941. Vita Lanfranci in J.P. Migne,ed. Patrologia Latina, CL. Paris, l854. William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum and Gesta Pontificum. Rolls Series. London, 1870
Pictorial TourThe gate into the Cathedral grounds The nave looking toward the choir The nave looking down from the choir The location where Becket was martyred The former site of the shrine of Becket in Trinity chapel Selected views of the windows of Canterbury
For further exploration, consult the following links:Unlike the subjects of my other virtual tours, there are many fine sites on the web about Canterbury and Becket. The primary value of my site is its history of the monastic community at Canterbury Cathedral. Many of the sites below have far better pictures of the Cathedral than I do here. This is simply an excellent site, with far better pictures of the Cathedral than I have here on this site. There is also a much more extensive discussion of the martyrdom of Becket there. The Miracle Windows at Canterbury excellent site which is beautifully designed for ease of navigation. The site has detailed images of the stained-glass windows portraying the miracles of Becket. This site also has images of the seals of the priory. Edward Grim: The Martyrdom of Becket primary source account from Britannia.com. See also the same selection at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Gervase of Canterbury: Thomas Becket's Life from his History of the Archbishops of Canterbury; see also this section from this text on Becket's death at Britannia.com and at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The section on Becket's life can also be found at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. William of Newburgh: Becket and Henry, Selections from Book II of his History (c. 1200) Thomas Becket Web Page by Scott McLetchie. Excellent site with wonderful pictures of the cathedral and links to online primary source documents. The Murder of Thomas Becket from ibiscom.com Catholic Encyclopedia: Becket The Constitutions of Clarendon one of the points of dispute between Henry II and Becket. Images of the cathedral, with a particularly nice photo of a pilgrim's ampulla. The Online Guide to Canterbury Discovery of an Anglo Saxon Cathedral under Canterbury From Current Archaeology Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales The most famous literary picture of pilgrimage to Canterbury.
To return to the medieval monasticim home page, click here. To return to the virtual tours page, click here.
|
