The Cathedral Church of Canterbury | Page 3

on the north, the other tower was
built in honour of the blessed Martin, and had about it cloisters for the
use of the monks.... The extremity of the church was adorned by the
oratory of Mary.... At its eastern part, there was an altar consecrated to
the worship of that Lady.... When the priest performed the Divine
mysteries at this altar he had his face turned to the east.... Behind him,
to the west, was the pontifical chair constructed with handsome
workmanship, and of large stones and cement, and far removed from
the Lord's table, being contiguous to the wall of the church which
embraced the entire area of the building.
Lanfranc, the first Norman archbishop, was granted the see in 1070. He
quickly set about the task of building himself a cathedral. Making no
attempt to restore the old fabric, he even destroyed what was left of the
monastic building, and built up an entirely new church and monastery.
Seven years sufficed to complete his cathedral, which stood on the
same ground as the earlier fane. His work, however, was not long left
undisturbed. It had not stood for twenty years before the east end of the
church was pulled down during the Archiepiscopate of Anselm, and
rebuilt in a much more splendid style by Ernulph, the prior of the
monastery. Conrad, who succeeded Ernulph as prior, finished the choir,
decorating it with great magnificence, and, in the course of his
reconstruction, nearly doubling the area of the building. Thus
completed anew, the cathedral was dedicated by Archbishop William in
A.D. 1130. At this notable ceremony the kings of England and Scotland
both assisted, as well as all the English bishops. Forty years later this
church was the scene of Thomas à Becket's murder (A.D. 1170), and it
was in Conrad's choir that the monks watched over his body during the
night after his death.
Eadmer also gives some description of the church raised by Lanfranc.

The new archbishop, "filled with consternation" when he found that
"the church of the Saviour which he undertakes to rule was reduced to
almost nothing by fire and ruin," proceeded to "set about to destroy it
utterly, and erect a more noble one. And in the space of seven years he
raised this new church from the very foundations and rendered it nearly
perfect.... Archbishop Anselm, who succeeded Lanfranc, appointed
Ernulf to be prior.... Having taken down the eastern part of the church
which Lanfranc had built, he erected it so much more magnificently,
that nothing like it could be seen in England, either for the brilliancy of
its glass windows, the beauty of its marble pavement, or the many
coloured pictures which led the wondering eyes to the very summit of
the ceiling." It was this part of the church, however, that was completed
by Ernulf's successor, Conrad, and afterwards known as Conrad's choir.
It appears that Anselm "allowed the monks to manage their own affairs,
and gave them for priors Ernulf, and then Conrad, both monks of their
own monastery. And thus it happened that, in addition to the general
prosperity and good order of their property, which resulted from this
freedom, they were enabled to enlarge their church by all that part
which stretches from the great tower to the east; which work Anselm
himself provided for," having "granted to the said church the revenues
of his town of Peckham, for seven years, the whole of which were
expended upon the new work." Prof. Willis, unable to account for the
haste with which the east end of Lanfranc's church was pulled down,
assumes that the monks "did not think their church large enough for the
importance of their monastery," and moreover wanted shrine-room for
the display of relics. The main body of Lanfranc's church was left
standing, and is described as follows by Gervase. "The tower, raised
upon great pillars, is placed in the midst of the church, like the centre in
the middle of a circle. It had on its apex a gilt cherub. On the west of
the tower is the nave of the church, supported on either side upon eight
pillars. Two lofty towers with gilded pinnacles terminate this nave or
aula. A gilded corona hangs in the midst of the church. A screen with a
loft (pulpitum) separated in a manner the aforesaid tower from the nave,
and had in the middle and on the side towards the nave, the altar of the
holy cross. Above the pulpitum and placed across the church, was the
beam, which sustained a great cross, two cherubim, and the images of
St. Mary and St. John the Apostle.... The great tower had a cross from

each side, to wit, a south cross and a north cross, each of which had in