Canterbury Cathedral (Part Four)

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Canterbury Cathedral Tower's Ceiling.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons).

Monastic Buildings

A bird's-eye view of the Cathedral and its monastic buildings, made in about 1165 and known as the "waterworks plan", is preserved in the Eadwine Psalter in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It shows that Canterbury employed the same general principles of arrangement common to all Benedictine monasteries, although, unusually, the Cloister and monastic buildings were to the North, rather than the South, of the Church. There was a separate Chapter-House.

The buildings formed separate groups around the Church. Adjoining it, on the North side, stood the Cloister and the buildings devoted to the monastic life. To the East and West of these, were those devoted to the exercise of hospitality. To the North, a large open court divided the monastic buildings from menial ones, such as the stables, granaries, barn, bakehouse, brew house and laundries, inhabited by the lay servants of the establishment. 

At the greatest possible distance from the Church, beyond the precinct of the monastery, was the eleemosynary department. The Almonry for the relief of the poor, with a great Hall annexed, formed the paupers' hospitium.

Canterbury Cathedral Cloisters.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The group of buildings devoted to monastic life included two Cloisters. The Great Cloister was surrounded by the buildings essentially connected with the daily life of the monks: The Church to the South, with the Refectory placed, as always, on the side opposite; The Dormitory, raised on a vaulted Undercroft, and the Chapter-House adjacent, and the lodgings of the Cellarer, responsible for providing both monks and guests with food, to the West. A passage under the Dormitory lead Eastwards to the smaller, or Infirmary, Cloister, appropriated to sick and infirm monks.

The Hall and Chapel of the Infirmary extended East of this Cloister, resembling in form and arrangement the Nave and Chancel of an aisled Church. Beneath the Dormitory, overlooking the green court or herbarium, lay the "pisalis" or "calefactory," the Common Room of the monks. At its North-East corner, access was given from the Dormitory to the necessarium, a building in the form of a Norman Hall, 145 ft long by 25 ft broad (44.2 m × 7.6 m), containing fifty-five seats. It was constructed with careful regard to hygiene, with a stream of water running through it from end to end.

A second, smaller, Dormitory, for the Conventual Officers, ran from East to West. Close to the Refectory, but outside the Cloisters, were the domestic offices connected with it: to the North, the Kitchen, 47 ft (14 m) square, with a pyramidal Roof, and the Kitchen Court; to the West, the Butteries, Pantries, etc. The Infirmary had a small Kitchen of its own. Opposite the Refectory Door, in the Cloister, were two Lavatories, where the monks washed before and after eating.

Canterbury Cathedral Stained Glass Windows.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART FIVE FOLLOWS

Canterbury Cathedral (Part Four)

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Canterbury Cathedral Tower's Ceiling.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons).

Monastic Buildings

A bird's-eye view of the Cathedral and its monastic buildings, made in about 1165 and known as the "waterworks plan", is preserved in the Eadwine Psalter in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. It shows that Canterbury employed the same general principles of arrangement common to all Benedictine monasteries, although, unusually, the Cloister and monastic buildings were to the North, rather than the South, of the Church. There was a separate Chapter-House.

The buildings formed separate groups around the Church. Adjoining it, on the North side, stood the Cloister and the buildings devoted to the monastic life. To the East and West of these, were those devoted to the exercise of hospitality. To the North, a large open court divided the monastic buildings from menial ones, such as the stables, granaries, barn, bakehouse, brew house and laundries, inhabited by the lay servants of the establishment. 

At the greatest possible distance from the Church, beyond the precinct of the monastery, was the eleemosynary department. The Almonry for the relief of the poor, with a great Hall annexed, formed the paupers' hospitium.

Canterbury Cathedral Cloisters.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The group of buildings devoted to monastic life included two Cloisters. The Great Cloister was surrounded by the buildings essentially connected with the daily life of the monks: The Church to the South, with the Refectory placed, as always, on the side opposite; The Dormitory, raised on a vaulted Undercroft, and the Chapter-House adjacent, and the lodgings of the Cellarer, responsible for providing both monks and guests with food, to the West. A passage under the Dormitory lead Eastwards to the smaller, or Infirmary, Cloister, appropriated to sick and infirm monks.

The Hall and Chapel of the Infirmary extended East of this Cloister, resembling in form and arrangement the Nave and Chancel of an aisled Church. Beneath the Dormitory, overlooking the green court or herbarium, lay the "pisalis" or "calefactory," the Common Room of the monks. At its North-East corner, access was given from the Dormitory to the necessarium, a building in the form of a Norman Hall, 145 ft long by 25 ft broad (44.2 m × 7.6 m), containing fifty-five seats. It was constructed with careful regard to hygiene, with a stream of water running through it from end to end.

A second, smaller, Dormitory, for the Conventual Officers, ran from East to West. Close to the Refectory, but outside the Cloisters, were the domestic offices connected with it: to the North, the Kitchen, 47 ft (14 m) square, with a pyramidal Roof, and the Kitchen Court; to the West, the Butteries, Pantries, etc. The Infirmary had a small Kitchen of its own. Opposite the Refectory Door, in the Cloister, were two Lavatories, where the monks washed before and after eating.

Canterbury Cathedral Stained Glass Windows.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART FIVE FOLLOWS

Canterbury Cathedral (Part Three)

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Canterbury Cathedral's Nave and Ceiling.

Photo: August 2007.

Source: Canterbury Cathedral

(Uploaded by Kurpfalzbilder.de)

Author: Hideyuki KAMON

(Wikimedia Commons)

The posthumous veneration of Becket made the Cathedral a place of pilgrimage. This brought both the need to expand the Cathedral, and the wealth that made it possible.

In September 1174, the Choir was severely damaged by fire, necessitating a major reconstruction, the progress of which was recorded in detail by a monk named Gervase. The Crypt survived the fire intact, and it was found possible to retain the outer walls of the Choir, which were increased in height by 12 feet (3.7 m) in the course of the rebuilding, but with the round-headed form of their windows left unchanged.

Everything else was replaced in the new Gothic style, with pointed arches, rib vaulting and flying buttresses. The limestone used was imported from Caen in Normandy, and Purbeck marble was used for the shafting. The Choir was back in use by 1180, and in that year the remains of Saint Dunstan and Saint Alphege were moved there from the Crypt.

Stained glass windows in the Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Master-Mason, appointed to rebuild the choir, was a Frenchman, William of Sens. Following his injury in a fall from the scaffolding in 1179, he was replaced by one of his former assistants, known as "William the Englishman.

In 1180-1184, in place of the old, square-ended, Eastern Chapel, the present Trinity Chapel was constructed, a broad extension with an Ambulatory, designed to house the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.

A further Chapel, circular in plan, was added beyond that, which housed further relics of Becket, widely believed to have included the top of his skull, struck off in the course of his assassination. This latter Chapel became known as the "Corona" or "Becket's Crown".

Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana

(Wikimedia Commons)

These new parts, East of the Choir Transepts, were raised on a higher Crypt than Ernulf's Choir, necessitating flights of steps between the two levels. Work on the Chapel was completed in 1184, but Becket's remains were not moved from his tomb in the Crypt until 1220. Further significant interments in the Trinity Chapel included those of Edward Plantagenet (The "Black Prince") and King Henry IV.

Shrine of Thomas Becket

The Shrine, in the Trinity Chapel, was placed directly above Becket's original tomb in the Crypt. A marble plinth, raised on columns, supported what an early visitor, Walter of Coventry, described as "a coffin wonderfully wrought of gold and silver, and marvellously adorned with precious gems".

Other accounts make clear that the gold was laid over a wooden chest, which in turn contained an iron-bound box holding Becket's remains. Further votive treasures were added to the adornments of the chest over the years, while others were placed on pedestals or beams nearby, or attached to hanging drapery.

Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana

(Wikimedia Commons)

For much of the time, the chest (or "ferotory") was kept concealed by a wooden cover, which would be theatrically raised by ropes once a crowd of pilgrims had gathered. Erasmus, who visited in 1512–1514, recorded that, once the cover was raised, "the Prior ... pointed out each jewel, telling its name in French, its value, and the name of its donor; for the principal of them were offerings sent by sovereign princes."

The income from pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's [Canterbury Tales]) who visited Becket's Shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges, depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his Shrine.

The Shrine was removed in 1538. Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court, to face charges of Treason. Having failed to appear, he was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his Shrine were confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.

PART FOUR FOLLOWS

Canterbury Cathedral (Part Two)

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

The Warrior Chapel,

South Side, Canterbury Cathedral, 

commemorates the War Dead and is the site of Regimental Colours.

Photo: July 2005.

Source: Flickr

Author: Heather from Atlanta, US

Reviewer: Shizhao.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Norman period

The Cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1067, a year after the Norman Conquest. Rebuilding began in 1070 under the first Norman Archbishop, Lanfranc (1070–1077). He cleared the ruins and reconstructed the Cathedral to a design based closely on that of the Abbey of St. Etienne in Caen, where he had previously been Abbot, using stone brought from France.

The new Church was a cruciform building, with an aisled Nave of nine bays, a pair of Towers at the West end, Transepts with apsidal Chapels, a low Crossing Tower, and a short Choir, ending in three Apses. It was dedicated in 1077.

Following the election of Prior Ernulf, in 1096, Lanfranc's inadequate East end was demolished, and replaced with an Eastern arm, 198 feet long, doubling the length of the Cathedral. It was raised above a large and elaborately decorated Crypt. Ernulf was succeeded as Prior in 1107, by Conrad, who completed the work by 1126. 

The West Front in 1821, showing the Norman North-West Tower

 prior to rebuilding, (coloured engraving).

Canterbury Cathedral, view of the Western Towers, engraved by J. LeKeux, 

after a picture by G. Cattermole, 1821.

The new Choir took the form of a complete Church in itself, with its own Transepts; the East end was semi-circular in plan, with three Chapels opening off an Ambulatory A free-standing Campanile was built on a mound in the Cathedral precinct about 1160.

As with many Romanesque Church buildings, the interior of the Choir was richly embellished. William of Malmesbury wrote: "Nothing like it could be seen in England, either for the light of its glass windows, the gleaming of its marble pavements, or the many-coloured paintings which led the eyes to the panelled Ceiling, above."

Though named after the 6th-Century founding-archbishop, The Chair of St. Augustine may date from the Norman period. Its first recorded use is in 1205.

Cloisters, Canterbury Cathedral.

April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons).

Martyrdom of Thomas Becket

The income from Pilgrims (such as those portrayed in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales"), who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the Cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the sale of Pilgrim Badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine.

A pivotal moment in the history of Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Thomas Becket in the North-West Transept (also known as "the Martyrdom") on Tuesday, 29 December 1170, by knights of King Henry II. 

The king had frequent conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" The knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his own Cathedral. 

Becket was the second of four Archbishops of Canterbury who were murdered (see also Alphege).

The shrine was removed in 1538. King Henry VIII summoned the dead Saint to Court to face charges of Treason. In his absence, he was found guilty, and the treasures of his shrine confiscated, carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts.

Canterbury Cathedral.

Photo: April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.
(Wikimedia Commons)

PART THREE FOLLOWS