CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

Foundation The Canterbury Cathedral was founded in 596-597 by St Augustine: when he was sent to Britain he was given a church in Canterbury. The cathedral is also the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The cathedral has been damaged several times, and several time it has been rebuilt. First rebuild With the Norman Conquer in 1067 the cathedral was destroyed by fire. The rebuild began in 1070 under the first Norman archbishop, Lanfranc. He decided to rebuild the cathedral to a design based on the Abbey of St. Etienne, his previous seat, and he used stone bought from France. The new cathedral was built in perfect Gothic style: massive pinnacles, pointed arches, huge windows, verticality of proportion were the main features of the church. With the election of the Prior Ernulf (1096) part of the cathedral was modified: the east end was demolished and replaced with an eastern arm. When Conrad succeeded to Ernulf, a campanile was built and the interior of the church was decorated following the bases of many Roman churches: glass windows, marble pavements, many-colored paintings. Murder of Thomas Becket Under Henry II kingdom the church reached his highest fame. When he was crowned, his attempt to reduce the power of the clergy was not successful. He tried to assign to his friend Thomas Becket the title of Archbishop of Canterbury to obtain more power, but Thomas became an opponent of the king, who claimed considerable authority in investing the bishops. The conflict lasted for a long time. When Henry II pronounced the famous sentence "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?", four knights interpreted this as a royal command. They arrived in Canterbury on 29 December 1170 and asked Thomas to surrender but he refused to go to Winchester to submit to the king, so the Knights took their swords and killed him in the room where the monk used to chant vespers. We don't know whether the knights killed Becket of their will or they were sent by Henry II: the king declared himself innocent, but it's probable that he sent the Knights to intimidate Becket and that they decided to kill him. The murder of Thomas Becket shocked all Europe in the XII century. All the countries began venerating him as a martyr, and in 1173 he was canonized by pope Alexander III. Pilgrims from all over Europe started to visit Thomas' shrine, situated behind the Trinity Altar in the chapel of the Canterbury Cathedral. Also Henry II walked barefoot to his tomb. Goffrey Chaucer's work The Canterbury Tales tells the voyage of a group of pilgrims from Southwark to Thomas' shrine in Canterbury. It's one of the most important literally works written in vernacular English. Second rebuild In 1382 a earthquake seriously damaged the cathedral, destroying in particular the campanile and the bells. The prior Thomas Chillenden tried to rebuild the entire cathedral: he used the existing fabric to built new less-bulky pinnacles and he also built a new choir screen at the east end of the nave. Because of a shortage of money the rebuild of the towers was neglected. In 1458 the south-west tower was replaced, and only in 1834 the Norman north-west tower was rebuilt. Dissolution of the monastery Under Henry VIII's kingdom we have the dissolution of the monasteries: this is one of the most important attacks to the ecclesiastical institution led by Henry VIII. The Canterbury

Cathedral ceased to be an abbey in 1539, and reverted to its previous status of a college of secular canons. The New Foundation came in 1541. 20th Century During the second world war the Cathedral was damaged: the Library was destroyed. Thankfully, the Cathedral itself was not seriously harmed, due to the bravery of the team of fire watchers, who patrolled the roofs and dealt with the incendiary bombs dropped by enemy bombers. Today Today, the Cathedral stands as a place where prayer to God has been offered daily for over 1,400 years; nearly 2,000 services are held each year, as well as countless private prayers from individuals. The Cathedral offers a warm welcome to all visitors its aim is to show people Jesus, which we do through the splendour of the building as well as the beauty of the worship. In 2006 the Save Canterbury Cathedral appeal was launched to protect the cathedral as a centre of worship, heritage and culture.