Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest Christian churches in England and forms part of World Heritage Site. “Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury” is the formal title and it was founded in 602 AD by St. Augustine, it still functions as the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Canterbury Cathedral became a major pilgrimage destination after the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in 1170. The superb architecture reflect Canterbury’s historic and religious importance with a magnificent collection of medieval stained glass windows which depicts miracles experienced at Thomas’ shrine, biblical scenes, prophets and saints.
The history of Canterbury Cathedral begins with St. Augustine who was a Roman missionary sent to England by Pope Gregory to convert the heathen Anglo-Saxons, in this way he get to baptized King Ethelbert of Kent in 597 AD.
Around 602 AD, Augustine dedicated a church on this site to Christ the Savior. Archbishop Cuthbert added a baptistery-mausoleum to the north of the church around 750 AD but none of this survives.
In 1011, Canterbury was destroyed by marauding Danes.
The cathedral was set on fire and the Archbishop Alphege was taken hostage, but he refused to allow anyone to pay for him, and was pelted to death with oxbones at the Danish camp in Greenwich.
The archbishop became a martyr and his life story is told in a medieval stained glass window in the cathedral.
In 1070, Norman Lanfranc was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, immediately he set about reorganizing the monastery, asserting the primary of Canterbury over York, and rebuilding the cathedral. The strong influence of the earlier building can still be traced in Canterbury Cathedral, and the mew Norman cathedral was dedicated in October 1077.
In 1093, a man named Anselm became Archbishop of Canterbury, and along with the priors Ernulf and Conrad made much of the Romanesque architecture and art that survives today. Anselm built the huge and beautifully decorated crypt beneath the east end, which still survives fully intact, also an extensive choir was built over the crypt.
William of Sens began the rebuilding work on the choir with a Gothic style in 1175. His successor William the Englishman contributed to the Trinity Chapel and Corona at the east end. The work was completed in 1184.
Meanwhile, numerous artists, who had probably worked in France, so the first stained glass panel to be completed was Adam Delving in 1174 or 1175, the first of more than 80 ancestors of Christ place in the clerestory windows.
In 1538, the medieval greatness of Canterbury Cathedral and its monastery came to an end, when the King Henry VIII ordered the Shrine of St. Thomas destroyed and despoiled. It ceased to be an abbey during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under rule of King Henry VIII when all religious houses were suppressed. In 1539, Canterbury surrendered and reverted to its previous status of “a college of secular canons”.
During World War II, the cathedral’s beautiful stained glass windows were removed for safekeeping from Hitler’s air raids. A large area of Canterbury town was destroyed, as was the cathedral library, but the main body of the cathedral remained intact.