St. Paul’s: West Front
ST. PAUL’S, LONDON
Dedication: St. Paul. A Church formerly served by Secular Canons.
Special features: Dome; Choir Stalls; Tombs and Monuments.
The present building in the Renaissance style is the third Christian church erected on this site. It is said that a Roman temple to Diana stood here; but the earliest church of which records exist was erected by Ethelbert, King of Kent, in 610, in which he was assisted by Siebert, King of the East Saxons, his nephew, who founded the monastery of St. Peter, called Westminster, on Thorney Island. This Cathedral, which owed much of its prosperity to St. Erkenwald, fourth Bishop of London, to whose memory a golden shrine was erected here, suffered from fire in 961 and was completely destroyed in 1086. On the ruins a Norman church was immediately erected, the architect for which was Bishop Maurice. Though injured by fire in 1193 it was a stately and beautiful building, in the Norman style. It was cruciform, with two western towers for bells and a high tower in the centre with a spire. In addition to the high altar there were seventy or eighty chantries with their own altars, and behind the high altar the golden shrine containing the body of St. Erkenwald. The nave contained twelve bays and also the choir rebuilt in 1221. The Lady-Chapel was added in 1225. It was the largest Cathedral in England. St. Paul’s was rich in relics and in treasure of all kinds—pictures and frescoes, vestments, gold, silver and jewels. In 1312 the nave was paved with marble and in 1315 a new wooden spire 460 feet high was added.
This great Cathedral became the very centre of the life of the citizens. Here men met to defend their liberties, summoned by the great bells of St. Paul’s, from the days of King Stephen until the magnificent Cathedral perished in the Great Fire.
“Again and again the tocsin sounded, as St. Paul’s bell rang clear and loud, and the citizens seized their weapons and formed their battalions beneath the shadow of the great church. Now it was to help Simon de Montfort against the King; now to seize the person of the obnoxious Queen Eleanor, who was trying to escape by water from the Tower to Windsor, and who was rescued from their hands by the Bishop of London, and found refuge in his palace. Now the favourites of Edward II. excited their rage, especially the Bishop of Exeter, the King’s regent, who dared to ask the Lord Mayor for the keys of the city and paid for his temerity with his life.[9]