How to Visit the English Cathedrals

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How to Visit the English Cathedrals.

Salisbury: Cloisters

How to Visit
The English Cathedrals

By
Esther Singleton
Member of the Royal Society of Arts
With Numerous Illustrations

New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
1912
Copyright, 1912, by
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published April, 1912

PREFACE

This little book is offered to the tourist in the most modest spirit and with the hope that in this convenient form some gleanings from the works of specialists may afford help and pleasure to those who run quickly through the Cathedral towns of England. The subject has been done so often and so well that an additional book would demand an apology if it pretended to compete with the labours of those who have spent long years in the study of special cathedrals, or with the charming recollections of travel that others have given the world from time to time.

My plan has been merely to present in a single volume concise descriptions of the great ecclesiastical buildings of England, together with the story of their construction and historical associations supplemented with criticisms from the best authorities of their most striking architectural and artistic features. These authorities are duly acknowledged by initials.—E. S.

New York, March, 1912.

STYLES OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE

The cathedral usually grew architecturally from age to age, or rose like a phœnix from the ashes of an earlier building.

“Not only is there built into a mediæval cathedral the accumulated thought of all the men who had occupied themselves with building during the preceding centuries, but you have the dream and aspiration of the bishop, abbot, or clergy for whom it was designed; the master mason’s skilled construction; the work of the carver, the painter, the glazier, the host of men who, each in his own craft, knew all that had been done before them, and had spent their lives in struggling to surpass the works of their forefathers. It is more than this: there is not one shaft, one moulding, one carving, not one chisel-mark in such a building, that was not designed specially for the place where it is found, and which was not the best that the experience of the age could invent for the purpose to which it is applied; nothing was borrowed; and nothing that was designed for one purpose was used for another. A thought or a motive peeps out through every joint; you may wander in such a building for weeks or for months together, and never know it all.”—(Fergusson.)

Most English cathedrals are built in the form of a Latin cross, the arms of which are called the transepts. Over their point of intersection the central tower is usually erected. The part of the church running westward from this point to the entrance door is the nave and that running eastward to the high altar is the choir.

Behind, or east of the choir, is situated the Lady-Chapel, or Chapel of the Virgin, which sometimes contained additional altars to other saints. Along the aisles we frequently find side chapels, containing tombs and chantries of dignitaries, local saints and benefactors.

The nave usually consists of the main arcade; the triforium (which opens into a passage or gallery); and the clerestory.

The triforium is the arcaded story between the lower range of piers and arches and the clerestory. The name is supposed to be derived from tres and fores—three doors or openings, for such is often the number of arches in each bay. Professor Willis, however, believed that the word is traced to a monkish Latin word for thoroughfare.

Clerestory, or clearstory, is the upper story of the nave of the church above the aisles and pierced with windows. The windows of the clerestories of Norman work are less important than in the later styles. They become larger in the Early English period and more important in the Decorated, always lengthening as the triforium diminishes.

Sometimes the choir occupies two bays of the nave, but usually begins with the screen placed on the east side of the central tower. In olden days this was the rood-screen, so called because a large crucifix, or rood, stood on it. All roods were destroyed during the Reformation. At the present time the organ is frequently placed here; and there is diversity of opinion about the artistic propriety of its position.

Entering the choir we see the high altar often with a reredos (French l’arrière dos, i.e., embroidered hangings). Along the sides of the choir are the seats, or stalls, usually of carved oak, surmounted with tracery, arches and pinnacles. Among these is the bishop’s seat, or throne. Frequently the stalls exhibit beautiful tabernacle-work and the misereres (miséricorde), which turn up and afford support to a person in a position between sitting and standing, are generally carved with grotesque and quaint figures and caricatures. Vestries for the use of priests and choristers are often situated near the choir.

At the back of the choir (the retro-choir) was placed the chief shrine, where relics of the great saint of the cathedral were kept and to which the streams of pilgrims passed. In many churches the steps and pavements are worn away. Near the shrine was a watching-chamber, where a monk guarded the shrine and its treasures.

Further east the Lady-Chapel was situated, though in a few cases it is found on the north side, e. g. Bristol and Ely.

“In Italy the bones of a saint or martyr were almost invariably deposited either beneath or immediately in front of the altar. But in the Gothic nations this original notion of the burial-place of the Saints became obscured, in the increasing desire to give them a more honourable place. According to the precise system of orientation adopted by the German and Celtic nations, the eastern portion of the church was in those countries regarded as pre-eminently sacred. Thither the high altar was generally moved, and to it the eyes of the congregation were specially directed. And in the eagerness to give a higher and holier even than the highest and holiest place to any great saint, on whom popular devotion was fastened, there sprang up in most of the larger churches during the Thirteenth Century a fashion of throwing out a still further eastern end, in which the shrine or altar of the saint might be erected,—and to which, therefore, not merely the gaze of the whole congregation, but of the officiating priest himself, even as he stood before the high altar, might be constantly turned. Thus, according to Fuller’s quaint remark, the superstitious reverence for the dead reached its highest pitch, ‘the porch saying to the churchyard, the church to the porch, the chancel to the church, the east end to all—“Stand further off, I am holier than thou.”’ This notion happened to coincide in point of time with the burst of devotion towards the Virgin Mary, which took place under the Pontificate of Innocent III., during the first years of the Thirteenth Century; and, therefore, in all cases where there was no special local saint, this eastern end was dedicated to Our Lady and the chapel thus formed was called The Lady-Chapel. Such was the case in the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Norwich, Hereford, Wells, Gloucester and Chester. But when the popular feeling of any city or neighbourhood had been directed to some indigenous object of devotion, this at once took the highest place, and the Lady-Chapel, if any there were, was thrust down to a less honourable position. Of this arrangement, the most notable instances in England are, or were (for in many cases the very sites have perished), the shrines of St. Alban in Hertfordshire, St. Edmund at Bury, St. Edward in Westminster Abbey, St. Cuthbert at Durham, and St. Etheldreda at Ely.”—(A. P. S.)

Sedilia, seats used by the priest, deacon and sub-deacon during the pauses in the mass, are generally cut into the south walls of churches, separated by shafts or species of mullions and surmounted by canopies, pinnacles or other elaborate adornments. The piscina and aumbry are sometimes attached to them.

The piscina is a hollowed out niche with drain to carry away the water used in the ablutions during mass. After the Thirteenth Century there is scarcely an altar in England without one. Sometimes the piscina is in the form of a double niche.

Beneath the cathedral there is often a crypt—in reality a second church, often of great size.

“We may be tempted to ask, what is the purpose of a crypt? Some have said that it was merely meant to give dignity to the church, or to avoid the damp. It appears, however, to be a custom taken from the very early Christian churches at Rome, which were in many cases built over the tomb of a martyr, and had therefore a lower and an upper church. Indeed if we imagine the central portion of the choir steps removed so that the nave floor might extend without interruption to the crypt, and a clear view of the crypt be open to the nave, we should have an arrangement precisely similar to that of several Italian churches, notably that of San Zenone, at Verona.”—(F. and R.)

As a rule, the monastic buildings, refectory, dormitory, infirmary, etc., were built on the south side, and here were also the cloisters, those pleasant walks and seats for exercise and recreation surrounding a peaceful quadrangle. The slype, or passage on the east side, led to the monks’ cemetery.

In the chapter-house the monks transacted their business.

The chapter-house, often one of the richest and most beautiful portions of the cathedral, may be of any form. Those of Canterbury, Exeter, Chester and Gloucester are oblong; those of Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, York and Westminster are octagonal; and that of Worcester is circular. At Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln and Worcester a single massive shaft supports the vault.

In examining a cathedral we must remember that many changes have taken place since the first stone was laid. If the monks were fortunate enough to have a full treasury, they kept up with the architectural styles. They would pull down the old nave, or choir, or transepts, and erect new buildings, lower the pitch of the roof, add a new porch or door, or insert new windows in the ancient walls. Fires were frequent and lightning and winds often played havoc with towers and spires. Such manifestations of the displeasure of the elements or saints necessitated rebuilding; and, as a rule, this rebuilding was undertaken in the latest fashion. Therefore, we find in most cathedrals specimens of many styles of architecture.

“As we see our cathedrals now, the view that meets us differs much from that which would have greeted us in mediæval times. Then all was ablaze with colours. Through the beautiful ancient glass the light gleamed on tints of gorgeous hues, and rich tapestries and hangings, on walls bedight with paintings, and every monument, pier and capital were aglow with coloured decorations. We have lost much, but still much remains. At the Reformation the avaricious courtiers of Henry VIII. plundered our sacred shrines, and carried off under the plea of banishing superstition vast stores of costly plate and jewels, tapestry and hangings. In the Civil War time riotous, fanatical soldiers wrought havoc everywhere, hacking beautifully-carved tombs and canopies, destroying brasses, and mutilating all that they could find. Ages of neglect have also left their marks upon our churches; and above all the hand of the ignorant and injudicious ‘restorer’ has fallen heavily on these legacies of Gothic art, destroying much that was of singular beauty, and replacing it by the miserable productions of early Nineteenth Century fabrication.”—(P. H. D.)

And now, in order to make our visits more enjoyable, let us refresh our memories with a slight résumé of the four leading styles of English Architecture.

The Pointed Arch appeared almost simultaneously in all the civilized countries of Europe. It was probably discovered by the Crusaders in the Holy Land and brought home by them. None of its charming and beautiful accessories, however, accompanied it; the graceful clusters of pillars, the tracery and mullions were to be developed by the Europeans. One of the first to use the word Gothic to define Pointed Architecture was Sir Henry Wotton; and it seems that the word was finally determined as a definition by Sir Christopher Wren. An English critic says:

“The pointed arch was a graft on the Romanesque, Lombard and Byzantine architecture of Europe, just as the circular arch of the Romans had been on the columnar ordinances of the Greeks; but with a widely different result. The amalgamation in the latter case destroyed the beauty of both the stock and the scion; while in the former the stock lent itself to the modifying influence of its parasitical nursling, gradually gave up its heavy, dull and cheerless forms, and was eventually lost in its beautiful offspring, as the unlovely caterpillar is in the gay and graceful butterfly.”

Although Pointed or Gothic Architecture developed with almost equal vigour in every country of Europe, it reached its greatest perfection in France. Many of the finest earliest buildings in England were, to a great extent, French in their origin, or development; but, in the course of time, English Gothic Architecture became very original. In this country

“Gothic architecture seems to have attained its ultimate perfection in the Fourteenth Century, at which period everything belonging to it was conceived and executed in a free and bold spirit, all the forms were graceful and natural, and all the details of foliage and other sculptures were copied from living types, with a skill and truth of drawing which has never been surpassed. Conventional forms were in a great measure abandoned, and it seems to have been rightly and truly considered that the fittest monuments for the House of God were faithful copies of His works; and so long as this principle continued to be acted on, so long did Gothic architecture remain pure. But in the succeeding century, under the later Henrys and Edwards, a gradual decline took place: everything was moulded to suit a preconceived idea, the foliage lost its freshness, and was moulded into something of a rectangular form; the arches were depressed, the windows lowered, the flowing curves of the tracery converted into straight lines, panelling profusely used, and the square form everywhere introduced; until at length the prevalence of the horizontal line led easily and naturally to the Renaissance of the classic styles, though in an impure and much degraded form. The mixture of the two styles first appears in the time of Henry VII.,—a period in which (though remarkable for the beauty and delicacy of its details) the grand conceptions of form and proportion of the previous century seem to have been lost. Heaviness or clumsiness of form, combined with exquisite beauty of detail, are the characteristics of this era.”—(J. H. P.)

The styles are generally classified as follows: I. Norman, or Romanesque; II. Early English; III. Decorated; IV. Perpendicular.

“Soon after the Norman Conquest a great change took place in the art of building in England. On consulting the history of our cathedral churches, we find that in almost every instance the church was rebuilt from its foundations by the first Norman bishop, either on the same site or on a new one; sometimes, as at Norwich and Peterborough, the cathedral was removed to a new town altogether, and built on a spot where there was no church before; in other cases, as at Winchester, the new church was built near the old one, which was not pulled down until after the relics had been translated with great pomp from the old church to the new. In other instances, as in York and Canterbury, the new church was erected on the site of the old one, which was pulled down piecemeal as the new work progressed. These new churches were in all cases on a much larger and more magnificent scale than the old.

“Strictly speaking, the Norman is one of the Romanesque styles, which succeeded to the old Roman; but the Gothic was so completely developed from the Norman that it is impossible to draw a line of distinction between them; it is also convenient to begin with the Norman, because the earliest complete buildings that we have in this country are of the Norman period, and the designs of the Norman architects, at the end of the Eleventh Century and the beginning of the Twelfth, were on so grand a scale that many of our finest cathedrals are built on the foundations of the churches of that period, and a great part of the walls are frequently found to be really Norman in construction, although their appearance is so entirely altered that it is difficult at first to realise this; for instance, in the grand cathedral of Winchester, William of Wykeham did not rebuild it, but so entirely altered the appearance that it is now properly considered as one of the earliest examples of the English Perpendicular style, of which he was the inventor; this style is entirely confined to England; it is readily distinguished from any of the Continental styles by the perpendicular lines in the tracery of the windows, and in the panelling on the walls; in all the foreign styles these lines are flowing or flame-like, and for that reason they are called Flamboyant; a few windows with tracery of that style are met with in England, but they are quite exceptions.”—(J. H. P.)

The works of this period were colossal. Peterborough was begun in 1117 and finished in 1143; the nave of Norwich was built between 1122 and 1145; Canterbury was finished in 1130; and part of Rochester in the same year.

In the time of William Rufus all the Saxon cathedrals were being rebuilt on a larger scale. From this reign date the crypt of Worcester; crypt, arches of the nave and part of the transepts of Gloucester; the choir and transepts of Durham; and the choir and transepts of Norwich.

In the reign of Henry I. the choirs of Ely, Rochester, Norwich and Canterbury were dedicated; and among the new works begun were the nave of Durham and the choir of Peterborough.

“The piers in the earlier period are either square solid masses of masonry, or recessed in the angles in the same manner as the arches, or they are plain, round massive pillars, with frequently only an impost of very simple character, but often with capitals.

“The capitals in early work are either plain, cubical masses with the lower angles rounded off, forming a sort of rude cushion shape, as at Winchester, or they have a sort of rude volute, apparently in imitation of the Ionic, cut upon the angles; and in the centre of each face a plain square block in the form of the Tau cross is left projecting, as if to be afterwards carved. The scalloped capital belongs to rather a later period than the plain cushion or the rude Ionic, and does not occur before the time of Henry I. This form of capital was perhaps the most common of all in the first half of the Twelfth Century, and continued in use to the end of the Norman style. The capitals were frequently carved at a period subsequent to their erection, as in the crypt at Canterbury, where some of the capitals are finished, others half-finished, with two sides blank and others not carved at all. In later Norman work the capitals are frequently ornamented with foliage, animals, groups of figures, etc., in endless variety. The abacus throughout the style is the most characteristic member, and will frequently distinguish a Norman capital when other parts are doubtful.

“Norman ornaments are of endless variety; the most common is the chevron, or zigzag, and this is used more and more abundantly as the work gets later; it is found at all periods even in Roman work of the Third Century and probably earlier, but in all early work it is used sparingly, and the profusion with which it is used in late work is one of the most ready marks by which to distinguish that the work is late. The sunk star is a very favourite ornament throughout the style; it occurs on the abacus of the capitals in the chapel of the White Tower, London, and it seems to have been the forerunner of the tooth-ornament. The billet is used in the early part of Peterborough, but discontinued in the later work, and does not often occur in late work. It is sometimes square, more frequently rounded. The beak-head, the cat’s-head, the small medallions with figures and the signs of the zodiac, all belong to the later Norman period. In the later Norman mouldings a mixture of Byzantine character is seen on the ornaments as at Durham. It has also been observed that in the sculpture of the period of the late Norman style there is frequently a certain mixture of the Byzantine Greek character brought home from the East by the Crusaders, who had returned. This is also one of the characteristics of the period of the Transition.”—(J. H. P.)

The next period—that of the Transition—in which the science of vaulting received great impetus and construction became more elegant and graceful in line, is splendidly exhibited at Canterbury in the work of the French William of Sens and his successor, the English William. Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is also a fine example of late Norman and Transitional work.

The Early English Style covers the reigns of Richard I., John and Henry III., from 1189 to 1272. It is known also as the First Pointed, or Lancet, and is a purely English variety of Gothic Architecture. The developments were always in the line of greater lightness and elegance. There was also throughout this period a great use of delicate shafts of polished Purbeck marble for doorways, windows and arcades.

Canterbury, Rochester and Lincoln are famous examples. Canterbury was completed in 1184; Rochester in 1201-1227; and much of Lincoln was finished (especially the choir and eastern transept with its chapels) before 1200.

Salisbury Cathedral, however, is usually considered as The Type of the Early English style, because it is less mixed than any other building of the same importance. It was commenced in 1220 and consecrated in 1258.

The choir and apse of Westminster Abbey and the north transept of York Minster are also good examples of this period. We may note here that it was customary to build the west front immediately after the choir and leave the nave to be filled in afterwards.

“New ideas and a new life seem to have been given to architecture, and the builders appear to have revelled in it even to exuberance and excess, and it was necessary afterwards in some degree to soften down and subdue it. At no period has ‘the principle of verticality’ been so completely carried out as in the Early English style, and even in some of the earliest examples of it.”—(J. H. P.)

“The characteristic elegance of the general architectural design was carried out in all the details. The mouldings were delicately rounded and alternated with hollows so drawn as to give here delicate and there most forcible effects of light and shade. Thus the dark line produced by marble in a pier was continued by means of a dark shadow in the arch; and without considerable knowledge of the science of moulding, it is impossible to do justice to this part of the English Early Pointed work, which has never been surpassed, if, indeed, it has ever been equalled at any period elsewhere. The groined roofs were still simple in design, but a ridge rib was often added to the necessary transverse and diagonal ribs of the previous period. This gave a certain hardness of line to the vault; it was the first step to the more elaborate and later systems of vaulting, and was soon followed by the introduction of other ribs on the surface of the vaulting cells. Few works are more admirable than some of the towers and spires of this period.”—(G. S. S.)

The characteristic of lancet windows applies only to the early part of the style from 1190 to about 1220 or 1230. After that time circles in the head of the windows of two or more lights came in, and the circles became foliated by about 1230, and continued to 1260 or 1270, when the Decorated style began to come into fashion.

“The windows in the earlier examples are plain, lancet-shaped and generally narrow; sometimes they are richly moulded within and without, but frequently have nothing but a plain chamfer outside and a wide splay within. In the Early English style we have, in the later examples, tracery in the heads of the windows, but it is almost invariably in the form of circles, either plain or foliated, and is constructed in a different manner from genuine Decorated tracery.

“At first the windows have merely openings pierced through the solid masonry of the head, the solid portions thus left gradually becoming smaller and the openings larger, until the solid parts are reduced to nearly the same thickness as the mullions; but they are not moulded, and do not form continuations of the mullions until we arrive at real Decorated tracery. This kind of tracery was called by Professor Willis plate tracery; being in fact, a plate of stone pierced with holes: it is extensively used in early French work. The more usual kind of tracery is called bar tracery, to distinguish it from the earlier kind.”—(J. H. P.)

Doorways are generally pointed or trefoiled, but sometimes round-headed, and small doorways are frequently flat-headed, with the angles corbelled in the form called the square-headed trefoil, or the shouldered arch. Trefoiled arches are characteristic of this style. Arches are frequently, but not always, acutely pointed; and in the more important buildings are generally richly moulded, as in Westminster Abbey, either with or without the tooth-ornament, as the arches at York Minster. The pillars are of various forms, frequently clustered; but the most characteristic pillar of the style is the one with detached shafts, which are generally of Purbeck marble. These are frequently very long and slender and only connected with the central shaft by the capital and base, with or without one or two bands at intervals. These bands sometimes consist of rings of copper gilt, as in the choir of Worcester Cathedral, and are sometimes necessary for holding together the slender shafts of Purbeck marble. The bases generally consist of two rounds, the lowest one the largest, both frequently filleted, with a deep hollow between, placed horizontally, as at Canterbury. In pure Early English work, the upper member of the capital, called the abacus, is circular and consists, in the earlier examples, simply of two rounds, the upper one the largest, with a hollow between them; but in later examples the mouldings are frequently increased in number and filleted.

Mouldings are chiefly bold rounds, with equally bold and deeply cut hollows, which produce a strong effect of light and shade. Vaults are bolder than during the Norman period and differ from succeeding styles by their greater simplicity, as at Salisbury. In the earlier examples there are ribs on the angles of the groins only; at a later period the vaulting becomes more complicated, as at Westminster. There is a longitudinal rib, and a cross rib along the ridge of the cross vaults, and frequently also an intermediate rib on the surface of the vault. The bosses are rare at first, more abundant afterwards: they are generally well worked and enriched with foliage. English vaults are sometimes of wood only, as in York Minster, and the cloisters at Lincoln. A vault is, in fact, a ceiling, having always an outer roof over it. There is a marked distinction in the construction of Gothic vaults in England and France. In England, from the earliest period, each stone is cut to fit its place; in France the stones are cut square or rather oblong, as in the walls, and only wedged out by the thickness of the mortar at the back in the joints. Fan-tracery vaulting is peculiar to England, and it begins, in principle, as early as in the cloister of Lincoln about 1220, where the vault is of wood, but the springings are of stone, and cut to fit the ribs of the wooden vault.

Buttresses project boldly, and flying-buttresses become a prominent feature. There is a fine example of a compound flying-buttress at Westminster Abbey, which supports the vaults of the choir, the triforium and the aisles and carries the thrust of the whole over the cloister to the ground. Early English towers are generally more lofty than the Norman, and their buttresses have a greater projection. The spire is usually a noticeable feature. The East End is usually square; but sometimes terminates with the apse, generally a half-octagon or a half-hexagon, as at Westminster Abbey.

“Throughout the Early English period there is an ornament used in the hollow mouldings which is as characteristic of this style as the zigzag is of the Norman; this consists of a small pyramid, more or less acute, cut into four leaves or petals meeting in the point, but separate below as in Chester Cathedral. When very acute, and seen in profile, it may be imagined to have somewhat the appearance of a row of dog’s-teeth, and from this it has been called the ‘dog-tooth[1] ornament,’ or, by some, the shark’s tooth ornament, more commonly the tooth-ornament. It is used with the greatest profusion on arches, between clustered shafts, on the architraves and jambs of doors, windows, piscinas and indeed in every place where such ornament can be introduced. It is very characteristic of this style, and begins quite at the commencement of the style, as in St. Hugh’s work at Lincoln; for though in the Norman we find an approach to it, in the Decorated various modifications of it occur; still the genuine tooth-ornament may be considered to belong exclusively to the Early English.

“Another peculiarity consists of the foliage, which differs considerably from the Norman: in the latter it has more or less the appearance of being imitated from that of the Classic orders, while in this it is entirely original. Its essential form seems to be that of a trefoil leaf, but this is varied in such a number of ways that the greatest variety is produced. It is used in cornices, the bosses of groining, the mouldings of windows and doorways, and various other places, but particularly in capitals to which it gives a peculiar and distinctive character. The foliage of these capitals is technically called ‘stiff-leaf foliage,’ but this alludes only to the stiff stem or stalk of the leaf, which rises from the ring of the capital; the foliage itself is frequently as far removed from stiffness as any can be, as for instance in the capitals of Lincoln. The stiff stalk is, however, a ready mark to distinguish the Early English capital from that of the succeeding style. We must bear in mind, however, that foliage is by no means an essential feature of the Early English style; many of our finest buildings, such as Westminster Abbey, have their capitals formed of a plain bell reversed, with mouldings round the abacus like rings put upon it, and round the neck.

“The ornaments so well known by the name of crockets were first introduced in this style. The name is taken from the shepherd’s crook, adopted by the bishops as emblematical of their office. They occur at Lincoln, in St. Hugh’s work, the earliest example of this style, and are there used in the unusual position of being in a vertical line between the detached shafts. They are found in the same position also in the beautiful work of the west front of Wells. Afterwards they were used entirely on the outside of pediments, or in similar situations, projecting from the face of the work, or the outer surface of the moulding, as in the very beautiful tomb of Archbishop Walter Grey in York Cathedral; and they continued in use in the subsequent styles, although their form and character gradually change with the style.”—(J. H. P.)

The transition from the Early English to the Decorated was very gradual. It took place during the reign of Edward I. The transepts of Westminster Abbey are held up as models of this transition and contain some of the most beautiful work that can be found anywhere. The crosses erected by Edward I. at all places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested, on the march from Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, are usually regarded as fine early examples of the Decorated style. Easy attitudes and graceful draperies characterise the sculpture of human figures.

The Decorated Period dates from 1300 to 1377. It is also called the Middle Pointed, Geometrical Pointed and the Flowing, or Curvilinear, and also the Edwardian, because it covers the reigns of Edward I., II. and III.

Exeter Cathedral is a superb example of this style. The nave of York Minster and the lantern of Ely are also noteworthy illustrations.

“The general appearance of Decorated buildings is at once simple and magnificent; simple from the small number of parts, and magnificent from the size of the windows, and the easy flow of the lines of tracery. In the interior of large buildings we find great breadth, and an enlargement of the clerestory windows, with a corresponding diminution of the triforium, which is now rather a part of the clerestory opening than a distinct member of the division. The roofing, from the increased richness of the groining, becomes an object of more attention. On the whole the nave of York, from the uncommon grandeur and simplicity of the design, is certainly the finest example; ornament is nowhere spared, yet there is a simplicity which is peculiarly pleasing.”—(Rickman.)

“The Decorated style is distinguished by its large windows divided by mullions, and the tracery either in flowing lines, or forming circles, trefoils and other geometrical figures, and not running perpendicularly; its ornaments are numerous and very delicately carved, more strictly faithful to nature and more essentially parts of the structure than in any other style. There is a very fine window with reticulated tracery and richly moulded in the south walk of the cloisters at Westminster. No rule whatever is followed in the form of the arch over windows in this style; some are very obtuse, others very acute and the ogee arch is not uncommon. Decorated tracery is usually divided into three general classes—geometrical, flowing and flamboyant; the variety is so great that many sub-divisions may be made, but they were all used simultaneously for a considerable period. The earliest Decorated windows have geometrical tracery; Exeter Cathedral is, perhaps, on the whole, the best typical example of the early part of this style. The fabric rolls are preserved, and it is now evident that the existing windows are, for the most part, of the time of Bishop Quivil, from 1279 to 1291. In some instances windows with geometrical tracery have the mouldings and the mullions covered with the ball-flower ornament in great profusion, even to excess; these examples occur chiefly in Herefordshire, as at Leominster; and in Gloucestershire, as in the south aisle of the nave of the Cathedral at Gloucester: they are for the most part, if not entirely, of the time of Edward II. What is called the netlike character of tracery, from its general resemblance to a fisherman’s net, is very characteristic of this style at its best period, about the middle of the Fourteenth Century. Square-headed windows are very common. Windows in towers are usually different from those in other parts of the church. In the upper story, where the bells are, there is no glass; in some parts of the country there is pierced stonework for keeping out the birds, but more usually they are of wood only. These are called sound-holes. Clerestory windows of this style are often small, and either circular with quatrefoil cusps, or trefoils or quatrefoils; or the spherical triangle with cusps, which forms an elegant window. The clever manner in which these windows are splayed within and especially below, to throw down the light, should be noticed.”—(J. H. P.)

The large rose-window, so conspicuous a feature on the Continent, is rarely seen in England. When it does occur it is usually found in the transept ends.

The East Front generally consists of one large window at the end of the choir, flanked by tall buttresses. A smaller buttress appears at the end of each aisle. The arrangement of the West Front is the same, with a doorway beneath the central window. The towers of the Decorated style are usually placed at the west end and are, as a rule, similar to the Early English. The spires differ slightly from those of the Early English, except that there are generally more spire-lights and small windows at the bases and sides of the spire. Lichfield Cathedral is one of the best examples of the exterior of a perfect church of the Decorated style. Its three spires are perfect.

The ogee arch is frequently used in small arcades and in the heads of windows. The dripstones, or hood moulds, are generally supported by heads and are frequently enriched with crockets and finials. The arcades that ornament the walls and those over the sedilia are characteristic features of the style. Pillars are clustered and arches richly moulded; they often have the hood-moulding over them. Very often they have what is called a stilted base. The capitals are ornamented with beautiful foliage: each leaf is copied from nature and often arranged round the bell of the capital. The ornamental sculptures in the hollow mouldings are numerous, but there are two which require more particular notice; they are nearly as characteristic of the Decorated style as the zigzag is of the Norman, or the tooth-ornament of the Early English. The first is the ball-flower, which is a globular flower half opened, and showing within a small round ball. It is used with the utmost profusion in the mouldings of windows, doorways, canopies, cornices, arches, etc. The other ornament is the four-leaved flower. This has a raised centre, and four petals cut in high relief; it is frequently much varied, but may be distinguished by its being cut distinctly into four petals, and by its boldness: it is sometimes used abundantly, though not quite so profusely as the ball-flower. In some instances the centre is sunk instead of being raised. The battlement, as an ornamental feature in the interior of buildings, is frequently used in this style, although it is more common in the Perpendicular.

The foliage in this style is more faithfully copied from nature than in any other: the vine-leaf, the maple and the oak with the acorn, are the most usual. The surface of the wall is often covered with flat foliage, arranged in small squares called diaper-work, which is believed to have originated in an imitation of the rich hangings then in general use, and which bore the same name.

The groined roofs or vaults are distinguished from those of the preceding style, chiefly by an additional number of ribs, and by the natural foliage on the bosses. Many fine examples of these remain, as in the Cathedral of Exeter and at York in the chapter-house; at Norwich in the cloisters; at Chester the vault is of wood with stone springers.

After culminating in the Decorated style, Gothic Architecture began to decline in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. The transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular took place from 1360 to 1399:

“This change began to show itself in the choir and transepts of Gloucester Cathedral before the middle of the Fourteenth Century. The panelling and the window-tracery have so much the appearance of the Perpendicular Style, that they have been commonly supposed to have been rebuilt or altered at a late period; but the vaultings and the mouldings are pure Decorated, and the painted glass of the Fourteenth Century is evidently made for the places which it now occupies in the heads of the windows with Perpendicular tracery; it must therefore be considered as the earliest known example of this great change of style. In this work of alteration the walls and arches of the Norman church were not rebuilt but cased with panelling over the inner surface, so as to give the effect of the latter style to the interior. This was just the same process as was afterwards followed at Winchester by William of Wykeham, in changing the Norman to the Perpendicular style without any actual rebuilding.”—(J. H. P.)

The work at Gloucester was begun as early as 1337. Another fine example is the nave of Winchester Cathedral.

Bishop Edington, who died in 1366, began to alter Winchester into the Perpendicular style. His work was continued by William of Wykeham.

“Before the death of Bishop Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular style were fully established. These chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.”—(J. H. P.)

The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral are decidedly Perpendicular in the fan-tracery of the vaults, but are partly of earlier date and character. Another example of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular is the choir of York Minster, begun in 1361 and finished in 1408. Its general appearance is Perpendicular.

“This style is exclusively English, it is never found on the Continent, and it has the advantage of being more economical in execution than the earlier styles. It remains to describe its characteristic features. The broad distinction of the Perpendicular style lies in the form of the tracery in the head of the windows; and in fully developed examples the distinction is sufficiently obvious. We have no longer the head of the window filled with the gracefully flowing lines of the Decorated tracery, but their place is supplied by the rigid lines of the mullions, which are carried through to the architrave mouldings, the spaces between being frequently divided and subdivided by similar Perpendicular lines; so that Perpendicularity is so clearly the characteristic of these windows that no other word could have been found which would at once so well express the predominating feature. The same character prevails throughout the buildings of this period: the whole surface of a building, including its buttresses, parapets, basements, and every part of the flat surface, is frequently covered with panelling in which the Perpendicular line clearly predominates; and to such an excess is this carried that the windows frequently appear to be only openings in the panel-work. Panelling, indeed, now forms an important feature of the style; for though it was used in the earlier styles, it was not to the same extent, and was of very different character, the plain surfaces in those styles being relieved chiefly by diaper-work.”—(J. H. P.)

The great idea of the architect was to correct and restrain the exuberant tracery by introducing vigorous straight vertical and horizontal lines. Another feature of the Perpendicular style was the groined roof. The ribs of the vaulting were now enriched by cross ribs, which were intersected by more ribs into small panels, which were filled in with tracery. The key-stones were formed into pendants. This network of ribs is called fan-tracery because the ribs spread out like the sticks of a fan. Very beautiful examples occur in Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey, and in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral.

“The light and elegant style of vaulting known as fan-tracery, which is peculiar to this style, with its delicate pendants and lace-like ornaments, harmonises finely with the elaborate ornament of the tabernacle-work ornament. Fan-tracery vaulting is peculiarly English. The principle of it began with the earliest English Gothic style, as in the cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral, each stone of the vaulting being cut to fit its place. In France this is never done, each block of stone is oblong, as in those for the walls, and is only made to curve over in a vault by the mortar between the joints.

“Arches are not so acute as in the earlier periods; capitals and bases of columns are distinguished by the shallowness of the mouldings; mullions are carried straight through the arch of the windows; doorways consist of a depressed arch within a square frame with a label above; the label moulding is frequently filled with foliage and the space round the arch parallel; towers are often extremely rich and elaborately ornamented with four or five stories of windows, canopies, pinnacles and tabernacles; porches are also fine, highly enriched with panel-work, buttresses and pinnacles, and often with a richly-groined vault in the interior; and mouldings are generally more shallow than the earlier ones.

“There is an ornament which was introduced in this style and which is very characteristic. This is called the ‘Tudor-flower,’ not because it was introduced in the time of the Tudors, but because it was so much used at that period. It generally consists of some modification of the fleur-de-lis alternately with a small trefoil or ball, and is much used as a crest for screens on fonts, niches, capitals and in almost all places where such ornament can be used. The foliage of this style is frequently very beautifully executed, almost as faithful to nature as in the Decorated style, in which the fidelity to nature is one of the characteristic features. There is comparatively a squareness about the Perpendicular foliage, which takes from the freshness and beauty which distinguished that of the Decorated style. Indeed, the use of square and angular forms is one of the characteristics of the style; we have square panels, square foliage, square crockets and finials, square forms in the windows—caused by the introduction of so many transoms—and an approach to squareness in the depressed and low pitch of the roofs in late examples.”—(J. H. P.)

The woodwork of the Perpendicular period is very beautiful: open timber roofs (met with in the eastern counties), screens and lofts across the chancel-arch and richly carved bench ends exist in considerable numbers.

“The frequent use of figures, simply as corbels between the windows of the clerestory to carry the roof, is a good characteristic of the late Perpendicular style; they are generally of the time of Henry the Seventh or Eighth. The figure used is generally that of an angel, and each angel is sometimes represented as carrying a different musical instrument so as to make up a heavenly choir.”—(J. H. P.)

Among the best examples of late Perpendicular are Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; and Bath Abbey Church.

In writing of the latter W. D. Howells so beautifully describes this style that no excuse is needed for bringing his definition into this place. He says:

“It is mostly of that Perpendicular Gothic which I suppose more mystically lifts the soul than any other form of architecture, and it is in a gracious harmony with itself through its lovely proportions; from the stems of its clustered column, the tracery of their fans spreads and delicately feels its way over the vaulted roof as if it were a living growth of something rooted in the earth beneath.”

ABBREVIATIONS OF AUTHORS QUOTED

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

CANTERBURY

Dedication: Christ Church. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.

Special features: Becket’s Crown; Door of Chapter-House; West Doorway; Crypt.

Canterbury Cathedral presents a beautiful effect when seen from a distance, keeping watch over the city that lies in the valley of the Stour, girdled by hills. On one of these hills stands the village of Harbledown, the “Bob Up and Down,” where Chaucer’s Pilgrims halted, and from which a charming view of the ancient Cathedral is to be enjoyed.

Another fine prospect is gained from St. Martin’s:

“Let any one sit on the hill of the little church of St. Martin, and look on the view which is there spread before his eyes. Immediately below are the towers of the great Abbey of St. Augustine, where Christian learning and civilisation first struck root in the Anglo-Saxon race; and within which now, after a lapse of many centuries, a new institution has arisen, intended to carry far and wide to countries of which Gregory and Augustine never heard, the blessings which they gave to us. Carry your view on,—and there rises high above all the magnificent pile of our Cathedral equal in splendour and state to any, the noblest temple or church, that Augustine could have seen in ancient Rome, rising on the very ground which derives its consecration from him. And still more than the grandeur of the outward buildings that rose from the little church of St. Augustine, and the little palace of Ethelbert, have been the institutions of all kinds, of which these are the earliest cradle. From Canterbury, the first English Christian city—from Kent, the first English Christian kingdom—has, by degrees, arisen the whole constitution of Church and State in England, which now binds together the whole British Empire.”—(A. P. S.)

This great Cathedral stands on the site of the primitive Roman, or British, Church, attributed to King Lucius and granted by Ethelbert, King of Kent, to St. Augustine (who had converted him in 597). It is, therefore, the earliest monument of the English union of Church and State, and the cradle of English Christianity. Pope Gregory had intended to fix the Primacy in London and York alternately; but the sentiment of St. Augustine’s landing in Kent prevailed; and, therefore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the See of which was founded in 597, is still Primate of England. He crowns the King and ranks next to royalty.

The first Cathedral was injured by the Danes in 1011 and it was burned down during the Norman Conquest in 1067. Lanfranc, the first Archbishop after the Conquest (1070-1089), reconstructed both church and monastery from their foundations. Anselm (1093-1109), took down the eastern part of the church and reërected it with far greater magnificence. Ernulf, Prior of the monastery, was responsible for the architecture; but the chancel being finished by his successor, Prior Conrad, and beautifully decorated, became known as the “glorious Choir of Conrad.” Canterbury Cathedral was dedicated by Archbishop William in 1130. Henry I., King of England, David, King of Scotland, and all the Bishops of England were present at what Gervase calls “the most famous dedication that had ever been heard of on the earth since that of the temple of Solomon.” In 1170, Thomas à Becket was murdered here, having fled for protection to the church after a violent scene in his chamber with Henry’s knights. Becket was buried at the east end of the Crypt and remained there forty-six years.

“Most men were persuaded that a new burst of miraculous powers, such as had been suspended for many generations, had broken out at the tomb; and the contemporary monk, Benedict, fills a volume with extraordinary cures, wrought within a very few years after the ‘Martyrdom.’ Far and wide the fame of ‘St. Thomas of Canterbury’ spread. The very name of Christ Church, or of the Holy Trinity, by which the Cathedral was properly designated, was in popular usage merged in that of The Church of St. Thomas. For the few years immediately succeeding his death there was no regular shrine. The popular enthusiasm still clung to the two spots immediately connected with the murder. The Transept in which he died, within five years from that time acquired the name by which it has ever since been known, ‘The Martyrdom.’ The flagstone on which his skull was fractured and the solid corner of the masonry in front of which he fell, are probably the only parts which remain unchanged. But against that corner may still be seen the marks of the space occupied by a wooden altar, which continued in its original simplicity through all the subsequent magnificence of the church till the time of the Reformation. It was probably the identical memorial erected in the first haste of enthusiasm after the reopening of the Cathedral for worship in 1172. It was called the Altar of the Martyrdom or more commonly the Altar of the Sword’s Point (Altare ad Punctum Ensis) from the circumstance that in a wooden shed placed upon it was preserved the fragment of Le Bret’s sword, which had been left on the pavement after accomplishing its bloody work. Under a piece of rock crystal surmounting the chest, was kept a portion of the brains. To this altar a regular keeper was appointed from among the monks, under the name of ‘Custos Martyrii.’ In the first frenzy of desire for relics of St. Thomas, even this guarantee was inadequate.

“Next to the actual scene of the murder, the object which this event invested with especial sanctity was the tomb in which his remains were deposited in the Crypt behind the Altar of the Virgin. It was to this spot that the first great rush of pilgrims was made when the church was reopened in 1172, and it was here that Henry performed his penance. Hither on the 21st of August, 1179, came the first King of France who ever set foot on the shores of England, Louis VII., warned by St. Thomas in dreams, and, afterwards, as he believed, receiving his son back from a dangerous illness through the Saint’s intercession. He knelt by the tomb and offered upon it the celebrated jewel,[2] as also his own rich cup of gold.”—(A. P. S.)

In 1174 a fire destroyed “Conrad’s Glorious Choir.” Rebuilding was immediately begun under a French architect, William of Sens, who fell from a scaffolding and had to relinquish the work to another William, who completed the Choir and eastern buildings in 1184.

Everything was now in readiness for the removal of the Martyr’s remains. Stephen Langton gave two years’ notice of the intended “Translation”; and a marvellous assemblage gathered from all parts of Europe on July 7, 1220. The Archbishop opened the tomb the night before the coffin was carried to the Shrine above in Trinity Chapel, and the “Vigil of the Translation,” July 6, was kept in the English church until 1537. The great procession to the Shrine was led by Henry III., then aged thirteen. Pilgrims came to the new Shrine, as they had done to the one below, in thousands. Seven great “jubilees” were held before 1530.

“The outer aspect of the Cathedral can be imagined without much difficulty. A wide cemetery, which, with its numerous gravestones, such as that on the south side of Petersborough Cathedral, occupied the vacant space still called the Churchyard, divided from the garden beyond by the old Norman arch since removed to a more convenient spot. In the cemetery were interred such pilgrims as died during their stay in Canterbury. The external aspect of the Cathedral itself, with the exception of the numerous statues which then filled its now vacant niches, must have been much what it is now. Not so its interior. Bright colours on the roof, on the windows, on the monuments; hangings suspended from the rods which may still be seen running from pillar to pillar; chapels and altars, and chantries intercepting the view, where now all is clear, must have rendered it so different, that at first we should hardly recognise it to be the same building.”—(A. P. S.)

At the church door the company of pilgrims arranged themselves “every one after his degree,” and a monk sprinkled their heads with holy water with the “Sprengel.” The great tide of pilgrims then passed through the Cathedral. Sometimes they paid their devotions to the Shrine first, and sometimes they visited the lesser objects first and the Shrine last. In this case, they entered the Transept of the Martyrdom, through the dark passage under the steps leading to the Choir. Before the wooden altar and in the soft radiance of the glorious representation of the Martyr in the transept window (of which there remains only the central band with the donors, Edward IV., his Queen, with their daughters and the two sons who perished in the Tower), while the priest showed them the relics of which he had charge, including the rusty fragment of Le Bret’s sword, which all kissed in turn. Proceeding down the steps on the way to the Crypt, new guardians exhibited in the dim light of a row of lamps suspended from rings in the roof, the actual relics of St. Thomas,—part of his skull cased in silver, which all kissed devoutly, and his shirt and drawers of haircloth.

Mounting the steps of the Choir, the pilgrims were then shown the great array of about four hundred relics preserved in ivory, gilt or silver coffers, including the arm of St. George. And now, passing behind the altar and up the steps, which many ascended on their knees, chanting the hymn to St. Thomas, they entered Trinity Chapel. They were first led beyond the Shrine to the easternmost apse to see a golden head of the Saint studded with gems, in which the scalp or crown of the Saint was preserved.

“The Shrine occupied the central part of the upper platform, and the extent of the railed space round it may be readily perceived by examining the floor on which the depression made by the feet of the pilgrims is plainly visible. The pavement inside this limit is composed of the original steps and platform of the Shrine, and consists in part of rich African marbles, as do also two whole pillars to north and south, and two half pillars to the east. These are said to have been the gift of a Pope to the Shrine, and, indeed, to have once formed part of a Roman Temple. The Shrine itself was simply the coffin of the Saint, richly adorned and cased with gold and precious stones. It rested on a structure of stone arches some five or six feet high, and was, as a rule, concealed under a wooden cover, working on pulleys, like many covers of fonts in our churches now. When raised the cover would reveal to the venerating gaze of the pilgrims, plates of precious metal studded with jewels of fabulous value, the most remarkable of which would be pointed out by the attendant with a white wand. When the Shrine was destroyed, by order of Henry VIII., these treasures filled two great chests ‘such as six or seven strong men could no more than convey one of them out of the church.’ West of the Shrine stood an altar, and west of the altar a gate in the railings, in fact just between the altar and the beautiful fragment of Italian marble pavement.”—(F. and R.)

We can imagine the long line of kneeling pilgrims and those who were allowed behind the iron gates rubbing themselves against the marble, so that the wonder-working body within could effect a cure in anticipation of the moment when the wooden canopy would be lifted.

“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 innumerable jewels, pearls, sapphires, blassas, diamonds, rubies and emeralds, and ‘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 whatever part of the Cathedral they might be. The body of the Saint in the inner iron chest was not to be seen except by mounting a ladder, which would be but rarely allowed. But whilst the votaries knelt around, the Prior, or some other great officer of the monastery, came forward, and with a white wand touched the several jewels, naming the giver of each, and for the benefit of foreigners, adding the French name of each, with a description of its value and marvellous qualities. A complete list of them has been preserved to us, curious, but devoid of general interest. There was one, however, which far outshone the rest, and indeed was supposed to be the finest in Europe. It was the great carbuncle, ruby, or diamond, said to be as large as a hen’s egg or a thumb-nail, and commonly called ‘The Regale of France.’ The attention of the spectators was riveted by the figure of an angel pointing to it. It had been given to the original tomb in the Crypt by Louis VII. of France, when here on his pilgrimage.[3]

“The lid once more descended on the golden ark; the pilgrims

‘telling heartily their beads
Prayed to St. Thomas in such wise as they could,’

and then withdrew, down the opposite flight of steps from which they had ascended.”—(A. P. S.)

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.

“The existing cathedral, although of such various dates, covers, as nearly as can be ascertained, the same ground as the original building of Lanfranc, with the exception of the Nave, which is of greater length westward, and of the Retro-Choir, or extreme eastern portion, which is also longer.”—(R. J. K.)

Passing the traditional site of the Chequers Inn, where Chaucer’s Pilgrims were housed, we walk up Mercery Lane to Christ Church Gate, built by Prior Goldstone in 1517. It is a fine example of late Perpendicular and once contained a figure of Christ in the central niche.

This gate leads into the Precincts of the Cathedral. The close is surrounded by the gardens of the Canons’ houses. We now look upon the beautiful south side of the Cathedral.

“In the immediate Precincts, a delightful picture is presented from the Green Court, which was once the main outer court of the monastery. Here are noble trees and beautifully kept turf, at once in perfect harmony and agreeable contrast with the rugged walls of the weather-beaten Cathedral: the quiet, soft colouring of the ancient buildings and that look of cloistered seclusion only to be found in the peaceful nooks of cathedral cities are seen here at their very best.

“The chief glory of the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral is the central Angel, or Bell, Tower. This is one of the most perfect structures that Gothic architecture inspired by the loftiest purpose that ever stimulated the work of any art, has produced. It was completed by Prior Selling, who held office in 1472, and has been variously called the Bell Harry Tower from the mighty Dunstan bell, weighing three tons and three hundredweight, and the Angel Tower from the gilded figure of an angel poised on one of the pinnacles, which has long ago disappeared. The tower itself is of two stages, with two-light windows in each stage; the windows are transomed in each face, and the lower tier is canopied; each angle is rounded off with an octagonal turret; and the whole structure is a marvellous example of architectural harmony and in every way a work of transcendent beauty.”—(H. W.)

The South-west, or Chichele, Tower, (formerly St. Dunstan’s Tower) was completed by Prior Goldstone (1449-1468). It is now the Bell Tower. The Northern, or Arundel, steeple was rebuilt by Austen in 1840 in place of the old Norman Tower, which had become dangerous.

“The western towers are built each of six stages: each of the two upper tiers contains two two-light windows, while below there is a large four-light window uniform with the windows of the aisles. The base tier is ornamented with rich panelling. The parapet is battlemented and the angles are finished with fine double pinnacles. At the west end there is a large window of seven-light transoms. The gable contains a window of very curious shape, filled with intricate tracery. The space above the aisle windows is ornamented with quatrefoiled squares, and the clerestory is pierced by windows of three lights.”—(H. W.)

Above the aisle windows are quatrefoiled squares. The clerestory, Choir and Becket’s Crown contain lancet windows. In the main transept there is a fine Perpendicular window of eight lights.

The South side of the Cathedral is the one most generally admired.

“On the south side is seen the porch; the nave (a beautiful design); and the charming pinnacle of the south-west transept. East of the Warrior’s Chapel is the projecting end of Stephen Langton’s tomb. East of this, the two lower rows of windows are those of Conrad’s Choir; the upper row that of William of Sens. The middle windows in the south-east transept were the clerestory windows of Conrad; the windows above them are those of William of Sens. The three upper stages of the tower on the south of this transept are late Norman work; one of the prettiest bits in Canterbury. Farther east we have French design, pure and simple; here, for the first time in English architecture, the flying-buttresses are openly displayed; notice how flat and plain they are; it had not yet occurred to architects to make them decorative. The grand sweep of apse and ambulatory seems to send one straight back to France. Then comes the broken rocky outline of the corona—the great puzzle of Canterbury. North-east of the corona are two groups of ruined Norman pillars and arches discoloured by fire; once they were continuous, forming one very long building, the Monk’s Infirmary, of which the west end was originally an open dormitory, open to the roof, and the east end, separated off by a screen, the Chapel; which has a late Geometrical window. On the north side of Trinity Chapel is seen the Chantry of Henry IV.; then St. Andrew’s Tower and the barred Treasury; the lower part of the latter is late Norman work, largely rebuilt.”—(F. B.)

The Porch on the south side of Chichele Tower is the work of Prior Chillenden. It has a central niche on which the Martyrdom of Becket was represented on a panel of the Fifteenth Century. The niches are filled with statues. Through it we now pass into the Cathedral.

The Nave (Perpendicular) resembles the bolder nave of Winchester, built at the same period. The most striking feature is the manner in which the Choir is raised above the level of the floor, owing to the fact that it stands over the crypt. The

Canterbury: South Porch

Canterbury: Nave, east

flight of steps placed between the Nave and the Choir adds to the effect.

“The nave, of eight bays, has no triforium. Each bay consists of a huge arch resting on filleted pillars, and is subdivided into the pier-arch, with the clerestory and panelling reaching to the string-course above. It is paved with Portland stone. The vaulting and vaulting-shafts are the prominent features of the nave, and the pier-arches are quite subordinate; these shafts are banded, as at Bath, like Early English. The main transept has no aisles.”—(W. J. L.)

Of the Nave windows none remain entire. The great West Window is made up of fragments from the others. It contains the arms of Richard II. impaling the Confessor’s; and those of Anne of Bohemia (north); and Isabella of France (south).

The beautifully carved Screen of solid stone, separating the Nave from the Choir, was placed there in the Fifteenth Century. Of the six crowned figures in the lower niches, the one holding the church is supposed to be Ethelbert; and the one on the extreme right, Richard II. The figures of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, which filled the thirteen mitred niches around the arch, were destroyed by “Blue Dick” and his companions. A staircase leads to the top of the Screen.

Another Screen partly fills the space between the two western piers of the central, or Angel, Tower.

“The piers which support the central tower are probably the original piers of Lanfranc’s erection, cased with Perpendicular work by Prior Chillenden at the same time with the building of the nave. To this Prior Goldstone II. (1495-1517) added the vaulting of the tower, and all the portion above the roof, together with the remarkable buttressing-arches supporting the piers below, which had perhaps shown some signs of weakness. These arches have on them the Prior’s rebus, a shield with three golden bars, or stones. The central arch occupies the place of the ancient roodloft, and probably the great rood was placed on it until the Reformation.”—(R. J. K.)

The Choir of five bays shows the earliest instance of the Pointed Arch in England and groining on a large scale. The clerestory of the Choir is filled with windows representing the genealogy of the Saviour. The carvings on the stalls are said to be by Grinling Gibbons.

In 1096, Prior Ernulf began a longer and wider Choir than originally existed; and this was dedicated in 1114, before he left Canterbury to become Bishop of Rochester. Prior Conrad, his successor, finished the decoration of it and “the glorious Choir of Conrad,” as it was somewhat unjustly called, was consecrated in 1130. In 1174 it was destroyed by fire to the great distress of everybody. All that remains is a portion of the pavement consisting of large slabs of “stone or veined marble of a delicate brown colour,” between the two Transepts.

“About four years after the murder on the 5th of September, 1174, a fire broke out in the Cathedral which reduced the Choir—hitherto its chief architectural glory—to ashes. The grief of the people is described in terms which show how closely the expression of Mediæval feeling resembled what can now only be seen in Italy or the East—‘They tore their hair; they beat the walls and pavements of the church with their shoulders and the palms of their hands; they uttered tremendous curses against God and his saints—even to the patron saint of the church; they wished they had rather have died than seen such a day.’ How far more like the description of a Neapolitan mob in disappointment at the slow liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius than of the citizens of a quiet cathedral town in the county of Kent! The monks, though appalled by the calamity for a time, soon recovered themselves; workmen and architects, French and English, were procured; and among the former, William, from the city of Sens, so familiar to all Canterbury at that period as the scene of Becket’s exile. No observant traveller can have seen the two Cathedrals without remarking how closely the details of William’s workmanship at Canterbury were suggested by his recollections of his own church at Sens, built a short time before. The forms of the pillars, the vaulting of the roof, even the very bars and patterns of the windows are almost identical.... The French architect unfortunately met with an accident which disabled him from continuing his operations. After a vain struggle to superintend the works by being carried round the church in a litter, he was compelled to surrender the task to a namesake, an Englishman, and it is to him that we owe the design of that part of the Cathedral which was destined to receive the sacred Shrine.”—(A. P. S.)

“On entering the choir, the visitor is immediately struck by the singular bend with which the walls approach each other at the eastern end. By this remarkable feature, together with the great length of the Choir (180 feet; it is the longest in England) and the lowness of the vaulting; the antique character of the architecture enforced by the strongly contrasted Purbeck and Caen stone, and the consequent fine effects of light and shadow. The style is throughout Transition, having Norman and Early English characteristics, curiously intermixed. The pillars with their pier-arches, the clerestory wall above and the great vault up to the Transepts, were entirely finished by William of Sens. The whole work differed greatly from that of the former choir. The richly foliated and varied capitals of the pillars, the great vault with its ribs of stone, and the numerous slender shafts of marble in the triforia, were all novelties exciting the great admiration of the monks.”—(R. J. K.)

William of Sens, however, retained the second or Eastern Transepts, which had existed in the former church.

Before the Reformation the Choir contained the high altar and the altar-shrines of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan. No trace of the former remains; but on the south wall of the Choir, between the monuments of Archbishops Stratford and Sudbury, there is some diaper-work of open lilies that adorned St. Dunstan’s altar.

The High Altar is on a higher level than the floor of the choir. It is approached by two flights of steps (one on either side) in the Presbytery, about 25 feet higher than the floor of the Nave. The Altar was placed over the new Crypt, which is a good deal higher than the older, or western, Crypt. The Reredos, erected in 1870, was designed in the style of the screen-work in the Lady-Chapel in the Crypt. The crimson velvet altar-coverings, now in use, were presented by Queen Mary, wife of William III., and the gold chalice by the Earl of Arundell in 1636. The Archbishop’s Throne, a gift of Archbishop Howley (£1200), was carved by Flemish workmen from designs by Austen. The stone-pulpit, by Butterfield, was erected in 1846. The eagle used as a Litany desk is dated 1663.

The organ, built by Samuel Green, is believed to be the one used at the Händel Festival in Westminster Abbey in 1784. It was remodelled in 1886. Among the tombs and monuments of Archbishops and Cardinals are: Cardinal Bourchier, who crowned Edward IV., Richard III. and Henry VII.; Archbishop Howley, who crowned Queen Victoria; Stratford, Grand Judiciary to Edward III.; Simon of Sudbury, whose head was cut off during Wat Tyler’s rebellion; and Cardinal Kemp, who was present at Agincourt.

In the north aisle, in a coloured and gilt altar-tomb, lies Archbishop Chichele (died 1443), according to Shakespeare, the instigator of the war with France (see Henry V., Act I., Sc. I.). Here also lies Orlando Gibbons, Charles I.’s organist.

Of the six splendid windows in the north aisle of the Choir described by the old authorities, only two remain.

“They should not be overlooked by the visitor, as they are full of curious symbolism. The birth of Christ and His early life are depicted in the central panels and the types from the Old Testament with them. Observe the Magi all asleep in one bed; Shem, Ham and Japhet, dividing the earth, which one of them holds in his hands, like a gorgeously painted map; and in the sixth panel of the first window a very curious scene, in which we see depicted a bronze idol or statue, similar, no doubt, to some the artist had seen as of Roman work. Whoever he was who designed the work, he knew what was classical art. The exaggerated muscular development which came in again under Michael Angelo and his contemporaries in Italy, is seen here quite plainly.”—(W. J. L.)

The same fire that destroyed the Choir also damaged the Transepts. The windows and arcades in them are more completely reconstructed than those in the side aisles. One feature here is the double range of triforia, or open galleries. The lower triforium belongs to Ernulf’s time: the windows in the upper one were his clerestory.

The pilgrims were usually conducted into the North Transept, or Transept of the Martyrdom through the dark passage under the choir steps. In the west wall here, a door opened into the cloister, through which Becket passed to his tragic death.

Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, the Warriors’ Chapel is situated.

The apse, approached by a broad flight of steps, is entirely occupied by the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, which contained the Martyr’s Shrine. The work here shows the influence of the French. From the Transept of the Martyrdom the pilgrims were conducted through the North Aisle of the Choir on their way to the great Shrine; and, at the end of the aisle, close to the steps ascending to the Retro-Choir, we find the door of St. Andrew’s Tower. This is part of Lanfranc’s building and now used as a vestry; but it was once the sacristy, where the rich offerings and precious relics connected with Becket were exhibited to privileged pilgrims.

The Retro-Choir is reached by steep flights of steps necessitated by the height of the Crypt below. Up these steps the pilgrims climbed on their knees, chanting the hymn to St. Thomas:

“Tu per Thomæ sanguinem
Quem pro te impendit,
Fac nos Christo scandere
Quo Thomas ascendit.”

All this part of the Cathedral is the work of English William, which is lighter, in general character, than that of William of Sens.

The Chapel of the Holy Trinity (or that of St. Thomas) occupies the central portion of the Retro-Choir between the piers formed by double columns. In the old Chapel of the Trinity (destroyed by fire at the same time as Conrad’s Choir) Becket celebrated his first Mass as Archbishop. His body lay in the Crypt immediately below this spot.

“In earlier times the easternmost chapel had contained an altar of the Holy Trinity, where Becket had been accustomed to say mass. Partly for the sake of preserving the two old Norman towers of St. Anselm and St. Andrew, which stood on the north and south side of this part of the church—but chiefly for the sake of fitly uniting to the church this eastern chapel on an enlarged scale, the pillars of the choir were contracted with that singular curve which attracts the eye of every spectator, as Gervase foretold that it would, when, in order to explain this peculiarity, he stated the two aforesaid reasons. The eastern end of the Cathedral, thus enlarged, formed, as at Ely, a more spacious receptacle for the honoured remains; the new Trinity Chapel, reaching considerably beyond the extreme limit of its predecessor, and opening beyond into a yet further chapel, popularly called Becket’s Crown. The windows were duly filled with the richest painted glass of the period, and amongst those on the northern side may still be traced elaborate representations of the miracles wrought at the subterranean tomb, or by visions and intercessions of the mighty Saint. High in the tower of St. Anselm, on the south side of the destined site of so great a treasure, was prepared—a usual accompaniment of costly shrines—the Watching Chamber. It is a rude apartment with a fireplace where the watcher could warm himself during the long winter nights, and a narrow gallery between the pillars, whence he could overlook the whole platform of the shrine, and at once detect any sacrilegious robber who was attracted by the immense treasures there collected. On the occasion of fires the Shrine was additionally guarded by a troop of fierce ban-dogs.

“When the Cathedral was thus duly prepared, the time came for what, in the language of those days, was termed the ‘Translation’ of the relics.”—(A. P. S.)

Becket’s body was removed here on July 7, 1220 ([See page 4]), and remained the only occupant of this chapel for more than a hundred years.

It only proves in what deep affection the English nation held the Black Prince to have placed his remains by the side of Becket. His body lay in state in Westminster from June 8, 1376, to September 29; and on the Feast of Michaelmas it was taken to Canterbury, which he had selected for his resting-place. The procession from London to Canterbury was magnificent; and the idol of the nation was laid not in the Crypt, as he had expected, but in Trinity Chapel.

“In this sacred spot—believed at that time to be the most sacred spot in England—the tomb stood in which ‘alone in his glory,’ the Prince was to be deposited, to be seen and admired by all the countless pilgrims who crawled up the stone steps beneath it on their way to the shrine of the saint.

“Let us turn to that tomb, and see how it sums up his whole life. Its bright colours have long since faded, but enough still remains to show us what it was as it stood after the sacred remains of him had been placed within it. There he lies; no other memorial of him exists in the world so authentic. There he lies, as he had directed, in full armour, his head resting on his helmet, his feet with the likeness of ‘the spurs he won’ at Cressy, his hands joined as in that last prayer which he had offered up on his deathbed. There you can see his fine face with the Plantagenet features, the flat cheeks and the well-chiselled nose, to be traced perhaps in the effigy of his father in Westminster Abbey, and his grandfather in Gloucester Cathedral. On his armour you can still see the marks of the bright gilding with which the figure was covered from head to foot, so as to make it look like an image of pure gold. High above are suspended the brazen gauntlets, the helmet, with what was once its gilded leopard-crest, and the wooden shield, the velvet coat also, embroidered with the arms of France and England, now tattered and colourless, but then blazing with blue and scarlet. There, too, still hangs the empty scabbard of the sword, wielded perhaps at his three great battles, and which Oliver Cromwell, it is said, carried away. On the canopy, over the tomb, there is the faded representation—painted after the strange fashion of those times—of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, according to the peculiar devotion which he had entertained. In the pillars you can see the hooks to which was fastened the black tapestry, with its crimson border and curious embroidery, which he directed in his will should be hung round his tomb and the shrine of Becket. Round about the tomb, too, you will see the ostrich feathers, which, according to the old, but doubtful tradition, we are told he won at Cressy from the blind King of Bohemia, who perished in the thick of the fight; and interwoven with them the famous motto, with which he used to sign his name, ‘Houmout,’ ‘Ich diene.’ If, as seems most likely, they are German words, they exactly express what we have seen so often in his life, the union of Hoch muth that is high spirit, with Ich dien, I serve. They bring before us the very scene itself after the battle of Poitiers, where, after having vanquished the whole French nation, he stood behind the captive king, and served him like an attendant.

“And, lastly, carved about the tomb, is the long inscription, selected by himself before his death, in Norman French, and still the language of the court, written, as he begged, clearly and plainly, that all might read it. Its purport is to contrast his former splendour and vigour and beauty with the wasted body which is now all that is left.”—(A. P. S.)

The Black Prince’s effigy of brass was once entirely gilt. Round the tomb are escutcheons of arms, and on the canopy there is a representation of the Holy Trinity with emblems of the Evangelists at the corners.

At the foot of the Black Prince’s Tomb is the monument of Archbishop Courtenay (1381-1396), the great opponent of the Wycliffites; and directly opposite is the Tomb of Henry IV. and his Queen, Joan of Navarre, whose effigies lie under a most elaborate and beautiful canopy.

“In spite of some damage they remain the most interesting representations, not only of the costume of the time, but also, we cannot doubt, of the actual features of the persons. When the tomb was opened some time ago the features of the king were seen for a moment and corresponded closely with the representation on the tomb. The figures at the foot of the Queen, known in heraldry as genets, and to the ordinary person perhaps as weasels, appear also in the canopy combined with eagles and the motto ‘Soverayne and Atemperance.’ The defaced painting on wood at the foot of the tomb represented the Martyrdom of St. Thomas.”—(F. and R.)

Adjoining this tomb is the Chapel of Henry IV.’s Chantry, built, as directed in the will of King Henry, who died in 1413, “a chauntrie perpetual with twey prestis for to sing and pray for my soul.” It contains the first example in Canterbury of the “fan-vaulting,” so splendidly represented in the Dean’s Chapel.

The windows here and in the Corona should be studied.

“They are of the Thirteenth Century, and among the finest of this date in Europe, excelling in many respects those of Bourges, Troyes and Chartres; ‘for excellence of drawing, harmony of colouring and purity of design they are justly considered unequalled. The skill with which the minute figures are represented, cannot even at this day be surpassed’ (Stanley). Remark especially the great value given to the brilliant colours by the profusion of white and neutral tints. The scrolls and borders surrounding the medallions are also of beauty.

“The three windows remaining in the aisles surrounding the Trinity Chapel are entirely devoted, as were all the rest, to the miracles of Becket, which commenced immediately on the death of the great martyr. The miracles represented in the medallions are of various characters. The Lucerna Angliæ, a true St. Thomas of Kandelberg, as the Germans called him, restores sight to the blind. Loss of smell is recovered at the shrine of this Arbor Aromatica. Frequently he assists sailors, the rude crews of the Cinque Ports in his own immediate neighbourhood. At the Norway fishing his figure came gliding over the seas in the dusk, and descended, burning like fire, to the imperilled ships of the Crusaders. In the window toward the east, on the north of the Shrine, is represented a remarkable series of miracles, occurring in the household of a knight named Jordan, son of Eisulf, whose son is restored to life by the water from St. Thomas’s well, which, mixed with his blood, was always carried off by the pilgrims. The father vows an offering to the martyr before Mid-Lent. This is neglected; the whole household again suffer, and the son dies once more. The knight and his wife, both sick, drag themselves to Canterbury, perform their vow and the son is finally restored. On a medallion in one of the windows on the north side is a representation of Becket’s Shrine, with the martyr issuing from it in full pontificals to say Mass at the altar.”—(R. J. K.)

At the extreme east end, just behind Trinity Chapel, is the circular apse called Becket’s Crown, or the Corona. On the north side lies Cardinal Pole, Bloody Mary’s cousin, who died the day after she did.

“The great lightness and beauty of the Corona, the extreme east end of the Cathedral, are remarkable. It is English William’s work. When Archbishop Anselm was at Rome in the early part of his episcopate and attending a council in the Lateran, a question arose as to his proper place, since no Archbishop of Canterbury had as yet been present at a Roman council. Pope Pascal II. decided it by assigning to the ‘alterius orbis papa,’ a seat in the ‘corona,’ the most honourable position. It is possible that this fact may have led the architects, on the rebuilding of the choir, to make the addition of an eastern apse, or corona, which did not exist in the earlier church. In it were the shrines of Archbishop Odo and Wilfrid of York, and a golden reliquary in the form of a head, containing some relic of Becket, perhaps the severed scalp. By a confusion of its proper name with this relic the eastern apse came to be generally known as Becket’s Crown. On the north side is the tomb of Cardinal Pole, Queen Mary’s Archbishop (1556-1558) and the last Archbishop buried at Canterbury. His royal blood gave him a title to so distinguished a place of sepulture.”—(R. J. K.)

From here one gains the best view of the Cathedral as a whole. Canterbury is one of the longest of cathedrals (514 feet).

The central window (Thirteenth Century) in Becket’s Crown is very ornate.

“It is very complete and an admirable example of the intricate symbolism of the time. The subjects are arranged in three quatrefoils and two lozenges: the Crucifixion occupying a square panel at the foot, surrounded by representations of the spies carrying the great bunch of grapes; of Moses striking the rock; of the sacrifice of a lamb in the Temple, and of Abraham offering up Isaac on Mount Moriah. Next above is a lozenge-shaped panel, painted with the Entombment, adjoining which we have Joseph’s brethren putting him in the pit; Samson shorn in his sleep by Delilah; Daniel in a walled city, labelled Babilonia, and Jonah let down into the jaws of the whale by two men in a ship. Above these scenes is a quatrefoil, in the centre of which we see the Resurrection, surrounded by representations of Moses and the burning bush; Noah in the Ark; Rahab letting the spies down by the wall, and Jonah landing near Nineveh from the mouth of a great whale. Then another lozenge represents the Ascension and the scenes surrounding it are the Ark of the Mercy-Seat; Elijah ascending in a chariot of fire; the burial of Moses, and Hezekiah sick, while an angel gives him the sign of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz. The last of the series is at the top. In a square panel we see the great event of the Day of Pentecost. Above it Christ sits enthroned in glory. Moses receiving the Two Tables of the Law is below. On one side is the first ordination of deacons, and on the other the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. The whole style of this window is later than that of the Becket series.”—(W. J. L.)

Canterbury: Choir, east

Rochester: West front

Passing west, down the steps worn by the pious pilgrims we reach St. Anselm’s Tower and Chapel. Anselm’s Tower (like St. Andrew’s opposite) is Prior Ernulf’s work. The elaborate south window (1336) is Decorated of five lights.

St. Anselm’s Tower is entered through splendid gates of ancient wrought iron.

At the east end behind the Altar of SS. Peter and Paul, the great Anselm (1093-1109) was buried. Over the chapel is a small room with a window looking into the Cathedral. This was the Watching Chamber, in which, as we have seen, a monk was stationed at night to keep watch over the Shrine of St. Thomas. There is a tradition that King John of France was imprisoned here.

We now reach the South-east Transept, the work of both William of Sens and English William on Ernulf’s walls.

At the corner of the South-west choir-aisle architects love to notice the round arch and double zigzag of the Norman style fitted into the Pointed Arch and dogtooth of the restoration of 1180. Under the windows are the tomb of Archbishop Reynolds and the monument to Hubert Walter, the latter the warrior-prelate and Crusader who kept the Realm for Richard Cœur de Lion and raised the ransom for his release.

The steps leading down into the great South Transept are similar to those of the opposite Transept of the Martyrdom.

Opening east from this Transept is St. Michael’s, or The Warriors’ Chapel, so named because of the martial monuments and tombs contained in it.

The famous East Kent Regiment “The Buffs” place their memorials here. This Chapel is particularly notable for containing the tomb of Stephen Langton, the author of the Magna Charta, which is of earlier date than the chapel. A very beautiful alabaster monument of Lady Margaret Holland with her two husbands, John Beaufort, son of John of Gaunt, and the Duke of Clarence, son of Henry IV., beautifully represents the armour and dress of the Fifteenth Century.

The Warriors’ Chapel is Perpendicular (about 1370), with a complex lierne vault. The architect is unknown.

Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, is the Transept of the Martyrdom. Here was erected a wooden altar to the Virgin, where a portion of the Martyr’s brains were exhibited under a piece of rock-crystal and fragments of Le Bret’s sword.

Before this altar Edward I. was married to Queen Margaret in 1299. A rude representation of the altar may be seen over the south-west door of the Cathedral.

Returning to the North-west Transept, we visit the scene of the Martyrdom which took place near St. Benedict’s apsidal chapel (now occupied by the Dean’s Chapel) Dec. 29, 1170, during vespers. The west door from the cloisters by which Becket entered and the pavement by the wall, where he fell, remain. He was mounting the stairs to the north aisle (now removed) when the knights attacked him.

We have already noticed the great Window here, which was the gift, in 1465, of Edward IV. and his Queen, whose

“figures still remain in it, together with those of his daughters and of the two Princes murdered in the Tower. The ‘remarkably soft and silvery appearance’ of this window has been noticed by Mr. Winston. In its original state the Virgin was pictured in it ‘in seven several glorious appearances’ and in the centre was Becket himself at full length, robed and mitred. This part was demolished in 1642 by Richard Culmer, called Blue Dick, the great iconoclast of Canterbury, who ‘rattled down proud Becket’s glassie bones’ with a pike, and who, when thus engaged, narrowly escaped martyrdom himself at the hands of a malignant fellow-townsman.”—(R. J. K.)

In this transept stands the monument of Archbishop Peckham (1279-1292) with his effigy in Irish oak. This is the earliest complete monument in the Cathedral.

We now pass into the Dean’s Chapel, occupying the site of St. Benedict’s Chapel. It was formerly the Lady-Chapel, built by Prior Goldstone in 1460 and dedicated to the Virgin. The beautiful fan-vault is similar to that in Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey and to the roof of the staircase leading to the dining-hall of Christ Church College, Oxford. The Dean’s Chapel received its present name from the number of tombs and monuments to deans here, one of the most curious of which is that of Dean Boys, who died in 1625. He is represented as he was found dead in his Library, and the arrangement of the books with the edges turned outward from the shelves strikes every one as singular.

Archbishop Warham, the last Archbishop before the Reformation, also lies here, his heavy tomb in great contrast to that of Archbishop Peckham, already mentioned, near it,—good examples of the styles between 1292 and 1533.

The East Window is also notable.

“The figures of Dean Neville and his brother, against the eastern wall, were transferred to this place on the destruction of the chapel which formerly projected from the south side of the nave, and of which the marks in the wall are clearly visible. In the east window some points may be noted. We see the Neville arms, and a red shield with white saltire, and also the elaborate Bouchier arms, the most distinguishable features of which are the water ‘budgets,’ two curious red skins joined together at the top, sometimes given as an honourable blazon to those who supplied an army with water. We also see the Bouchier knot alternating in most of the panes with the oak leaf and acorn. This is the mark of Woodstock.”—(F. and R.)

A door here leads into the Great Cloister.

Opposite to St. Anselm’s, St. Andrew’s Chapel, now used as the Choir Vestry, contains interesting remains of coloured decorations. In olden days St. Andrew’s was a sacristy, where, as we have seen, were kept the very precious offerings to the Shrine. On the inner side is a building of late Norman work—this was originally the Treasury.

The North-east Transept is a repetition of the South-east Transept. It, however, contains a monument to Archbishop Tait, designed by Boehm; and in the north wall are three slits called hagiscopes. Through these “holy spy holes,” the Prior could see Mass being celebrated at the High Altar and in the altars in the Chapels of St. Martin and St. Stephen in the Transept below.

Before descending into the Crypt we must stop to look at St. Augustine’s Chair, by tradition the throne on which the kings of Kent were crowned and given by Ethelbert to St. Augustine. All the Archbishops of Canterbury have taken office in it.

“This chair, which is sometimes called the chair of St. Augustine, but which belongs to the Thirteenth Century, is composed of Purbeck marble. In it each successive archbishop for the last six hundred years has sat when he has been admitted to his metropolitan functions.”—(W. H. F.)

The famous Crypt is usually entered from the South Transept. It is the oldest part of the Church, having been built between 1093 and 1107 in the reigns of William II. and Henry I. It is heavy, massive, dark and low, like all Norman work. The capitals of the pillars are quaintly and sometimes harmoniously carved; one under St. Anselm’s Chapel, for instance, represents a concert of beasts playing on musical instruments. The whole crypt was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and in the centre stood her altar and chapel. “The Virgin Mother,” Erasmus wrote, “has there an habitation, but somewhat dark, enclosed with a double iron rail, for fear of thieves; for indeed I never saw anything more loaded with riches. Lights being brought we saw a more than royal spectacle. This chapel is not shown but to noblemen and particular friends.”

The beautiful Screen, which resembles the screen behind the High Altar of the choir, is thought to have been added with other decorations of the Crypt at the time of the Black Prince’s marriage to the Fair Maid of Kent (1363), when he founded two chantries in the Crypt. These now form the entrance to the French Church, where the descendants of the Huguenot and Walloon refugees still hold service in the ritual of their ancestors.

Queen Elizabeth gave up the whole of the Crypt in 1561 to the Flemish and French refugees “whom the rod of Alva bruised.” The silk-weavers set up their looms here.

Before the magnificent shrine of the Virgin lies Henry VII.’s minister, Cardinal Morton, whose tomb is enriched with the crown and roses of York and Lancaster, the Cardinal’s hat, the Tudor portcullis and a passing allusion to his name—Mort (hawk) and Ton or Tun (a barrel). He assisted in building Bell Harry (or the Angel) Tower.

Another famous tomb in the Crypt is that of Isabel, Countess of Atholl, granddaughter of King John and sister-in-law of John Balliol, King of Scotland. She owned the castle of Chilham near Canterbury and died in 1292. Her tomb stands at the entrance to the Chapel of St. Gabriel. The latter is extremely dark, but shows, when lighted up, some remarkable frescoes of the Twelfth Century, representing the Nativity of Christ and of John the Baptist.

“Further beyond the Duchess of Atholl’s tomb the crypt is much loftier and becomes almost a church in itself. This is the part beyond the apse of the original Cathedral, the place of Becket’s first burial, where Henry II. did penance, passing the night in fasting and in the morning baring his back and receiving three lashes from each of the monks. Here the miracles began to be wrought and the Tumba, even after its contents were removed, was still reckoned a holy place. The present lofty crypt was built over and round the Tumba after the great fire of 1174; and, some forty years after its completion and that of the Trinity Chapel above it, the remains of Becket were translated by Stephen Langton, with great pomp, to the shrine prepared for them in the sanctuary above.”—(W. H. F.)

The Crypt is largely the work of Ernulf; and the diaper pattern and marble shaft by the door that leads from the S. E. corner of the Martyrdom, occur again in Rochester, where Ernulf became bishop (See page 34). A statue of Ernulf, intended for the west front of the Cathedral, is now in his Crypt.

The lower part of the Crypt ends towards the east in a semi-circular sweep of pillars. The end of the Crypt was built by Ernulf in 1096.

The old Benedictine Convent of Christ’s Church that St. Augustine established grew to be of the utmost importance. Portions of the massive wall by which they were surrounded still remain. The monastic buildings were numerous and extensive. The Prior, who had the right of wearing the mitre and carrying the episcopal staff, lived in great dignity. In a set of state chambers, known as the Meist’ Omers and belonging to the Prior, pilgrims of high rank were lodged. Somewhere in the vicinity of the Infirmary and its chapel was the miraculous Well of St. Thomas, which appeared in the Fourteenth Century. A passage and the Dark Entry, haunted by the ghost of Nell Cook of the Ingoldsby Legends, takes us into the Priors’, or Green Court, planted with linden trees, or limes, as the English call them. Here we find remains of the great Dormitory, the Guest House, built by Prior Goldstone, the Norman Almonry Gate and the Norman Staircase, the only construction of its kind existing. The Hall above was built in 1855.

The beautiful Cloisters, the work of Prior Chillenden (about 1400), are decorated on the roof with the arms of Kentish families. In the northwest corner is the doorway through which Becket passed to his doom.

“The cloister occupies the same space as the Norman cloister built by Lanfranc, but of the Norman work only a doorway remains at the north-east corner; there is some Early English arcading on the north side, but the present tracery and fan-worked roof belong to the end of the Fourteenth Century, when Archbishops Sudbury, Arundell and Courtenay, and Prior Chillenden (1390-1411) rebuilt the nave, the cloister and the chapter-house. The latter work cuts across the older in the most unceremonious way, as is seen especially in the square doorway by which we shall presently enter the Martyrdom, which cuts into a far more beautiful portal of the Decorated period. If we take our stand at the north-west corner of the cloister, from which a very fine view is gained of the Cathedral, especially about sunset, we may picture to ourselves the life of the monks. Above the north-eastern side of the cloister are the old Norman arches of their dormitory, now taken in to the new library; on the eastern side is the chapter-house, with its fine geometrical ceiling, where they transacted their business; on the south the great church, the services of which occupied so many hours of the day.”—(W. H. F.)

ROCHESTER

Dedication: St. Andrew. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.

Special features: Door of Chapter-House; West doorway; Crypt.

After landing in 567, St. Augustine preached in Rochester, where Ethelbert soon founded the church of St. Andrew for secular canons. In 604, a bishop was appointed,—St. Augustine’s companion, Justus. Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, and was succeeded in Rochester by Paulinus; and he, in his turn, by the first English bishop, St. Ythamar (644-655). Rochester’s three chief saints in early days were, therefore, Justus, Paulinus and Ythamar.

Gundulf, a monk of Bec in Normandy, was appointed to Rochester in 1076. He immediately turned it into a Benedictine monastery and built a church for his monks. Gundulf was one of the greatest architects of his day: he also built the great Keep of Rochester Castle, portions of the Tower of London and the Castle of Dover. The Saxon Cathedral had suffered from the ravages of the Danes and upon the ruins, Gundulf, with assistance from Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, completed a larger cathedral between 1080 and 1089. The plan was peculiar: it was neither English nor Norman.

“All this work of Gundulf’s is now gone except portions of the crypt, the keep and the nave. Of Gundulf’s nave there remain on the south side five arches, together with the lower parts of the walls of both aisles. It is very doubtful whether he built any part of the triforium or clerestory. At present his work can only be seen in its original condition from the side of the aisles. The pierarches had originally two square orders, which remain unaltered on the side of the aisle (cf. Winchester transept). Gundulf’s masonry was in rough tufa.”—(F. B.)

Gundulf placed the relics of St. Paulinus in a silver shrine at the eastern end of his new cathedral.

Ernulf, Prior of Canterbury, began the second Norman church about 1120. This was continued by his successor, John of Canterbury.

“Subsequently the choir was re-arranged and the nave partly rebuilt, partly re-faced, added to, and finished with the west front, which, to a great extent, still remains. This later Norman work was carried out from east to west during the episcopate of Ernulf (1115-24) and John of Canterbury (1125-37). The upper part of the west front and some of the carving may not have been completed within even that period. What seems certain is, that we are indebted to later Norman builders for the re-casing of the piers of the nave arcade, the greater richness of their capitals, the outer decorated order of the arches, the triforium with its richly diapered tympana, and the west front. Assigning most of these works to the time of Bishop John, as seems best, we can point to others that testify to Ernulf’s architectural skill. He is recorded to have built the refectory, dormitory and chapter-house. Portions of these still remain, and one feature, in the ornamentation of the chapter-house, especially, marks it as his work. This is a peculiar lattice-like diaper, which occurs elsewhere at Rochester—in fragments that belonged probably to a beginning by him of the renovation of the choir—but has only been noticed at one other place: by the entrance to the crypt at Canterbury, where also it is due to him.”—(G. H. P.)

The Cathedral was dedicated in 1130; but while King Henry I., the Archbishop of Canterbury and many of the nobility were still in the city a fire broke out “without any regard to the majesty of the King, grandeur of the church or solemnity of the occasion,” as an old chronicle quaintly observes, and greatly damaged the new church.

Two other fires occurred in the same century, and in 1179 the monks set to work to rebuild the whole cathedral.

“As usual they arranged their building operations so as to avoid interfering with the services in the choir as long as possible. First they rebuilt the north aisle of the choir, but not so high as it is at present. The aisle remained narrow because Gundulf’s tower was in the way. But the south aisle of the choir they doubled in width. Next they set to work at the east end, planning it, as at Hereford, as an eastern transept with an eastern aisle and projecting eastward an oblong sanctuary (cf. Southwell). The new transept was lofty and broad; and it is quite possible that it was built over the top of Gundulf’s east end without disturbing daily services within it. Then when all was finished Gundulf’s east end was pulled down. Unlike the Worcester monks they preserved the level of the Eleventh Century choir, and consequently had to continue Gundulf’s crypt eastward. In the new presbytery is seen the same curious mixture of quadripartite and sexpartite vaulting as in St. Hugh’s eastern transept at Lincoln. All this work was finished in 1227.”—(G. H. P.)

The monks were enabled to undertake rebuilding on this large scale because in 1201 they acquired a new saint. A baker of Perth, named William, famed for his piety, started to the Holy Land. He got as far as the road to Canterbury, where his servant killed him for his money. The monks found the body and buried it in the choir of St. Andrew’s. St. William soon began to work miracles and attracted many of the pilgrims on their way to the Shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The choir, rebuilt by means of the offerings, was first used for service in 1227.

“The choir and transepts of Rochester Cathedral are a very beautiful and remarkable example of Early English. The architect was William de Hoo, first sacristan, then prior, and there is some reason to believe that he is the same person as William the young Englishman, who assisted William of Sens after his fall from the scaffold at Canterbury, and completed the work there. A young man at Canterbury in 1185, able to carry on and complete such a work, may very well have become the architect on his own account of the daughter church of Rochester in 1201-1227, and there is great resemblance in style between Rochester and the later work at Canterbury.”—(J. H. P.)