Next the pilgrims received the small leaden bottles, or ampulles, filled with water mixed with the Martyr’s blood; and in the numerous booths and stalls that lined Mercery Lane, the narrow street running from the Cathedral to the Chequers Inn, bought other memorials of the Pilgrimage, particularly the leaden brooches representing the mitred head of the saint with the legend, Caput Thomæ.
From the middle of the Fourteenth to the end of the Fifteenth Century a wonder-working well was shown to pilgrims in the Precincts.
Among the great visitors to the shrine of the “holy blissful Martyr” were all the English kings from Henry II. to Henry VIII.; Edward I. (1299), who presented the golden crown of Scotland, the crown given by Edward to John Balliol and carried off by him, but recaptured at Dover; Richard and John of England; Louis VII. of France; Isabella, wife of Edward II.; John, the captive king of France; Henry V. on his return from Agincourt; Emmanuel, Emperor of the East in 1400, and Sigismund, Emperor of the West in 1417; and great lords and ladies from England, France and Scotland. The barons of the Cinque Ports, after every coronation, presented the canopies of silk and gold which they held and still hold over the head of the king.
In 1538 Henry VIII. issued a writ of summons against Thomas à Becket accusing him of treason, contumacy and rebellion and had the document read before the Martyr’s tomb. The suit was tried in Westminster, and the long defunct Archbishop condemned. His bones were ordered to be burnt and all his offerings handed over to the Crown. Becket’s body, however, escaped burning and was re-buried. The Shrine was destroyed and all the offerings of jewels and gold carried off. They filled twenty-six carts. Becket was deprived of the name of Saint and his images destroyed throughout the country.
Returning now to the architectural history of the Cathedral, Prior Chillenden (1378-1410) took down Lanfranc’s Nave and Transepts. About 1473 Prior Goldstone II. added the splendid Angel Tower that rises from the centre of the roof, and upon which the figure of a golden angel welcomed the pilgrims to Canterbury.
In 1642, the Puritans battered the windows, hacked and hewed the altars and monuments and committed ravages of all kinds under a ringleader, Richard Culmer, known as “Blue Dick.”
After the Restoration, £10,000 was devoted to repairs. At a later period the Choir-stalls, said to be carved by Grinling Gibbons, were replaced.
In 1834, the northwest (Arundel) tower had to be pulled down. It was rebuilt on a different plan.
Nothing of importance happened until 1872, when a fire broke out on the roof of Trinity Chapel at half-past ten in the morning. Little damage was done, however; but the Black Prince’s Tomb was in danger and the relics above it were temporarily removed.
Canterbury was four centuries in building. It, therefore, exhibits specimens of nearly all the classes of Pointed Architecture. It is chiefly, however, Transitional Norman and Perpendicular.