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 CANTERBURY

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CANTERBURY

Simon Sudbury, 1375-

1381. William Courtenay, 1381-

1396. Thomas Arundel, 1396-

1414. Henry Chicheley,* 1414-

1443. John Stafford,* 1443-

1452. John Kemp,* 1452-1454. Thomas Bourchier,*

1454-1486. John Morton,* 1486-1500. Henry Dean, 1502-1503. William Warham, 1503-

1532. Thomas Cranmer, 1533-

1556. Reginald Pole,* 1556-

1558.

St. Edmund Rich, 1234-

1240. Boniface of Savoy, 1245-

1270. Robert Kilwardby,*

1273-1279. John Peckham, 1279-

1292. Robert Winchelsey, 1294-

1313. Walter Reynolds, 1313-

1327. Simon Meopham, 1328-

1333. John Stratford, 1333-

1348. Thomas Bradwardine,

1349-1349. Simon Islip, 1349-1366. Simon Langham,* 1366-

1368. William Whittlesey,

1368-1374.

Of this list seventeen archbishops were recognized as saints, nine were cardinals, and twelve became Lord Chancellors of England. The full title of t he archbishop was Primate of all England, Metropolitan of the Province, and Diocesan of the Diocese. In documents he was described as Archbishop provi- dentid divinA, instead of permissione divinA, as was usual with other bishops.

Metropolitan Rights. — The organization of the province was, of course, a matter of gradual growth, and therefore the number and the names of the suf- fragan sees in the earlier periods vary very much, as does the extent of the metropolitan jurisdiction. At the height of its power Canterbuiy counted seventeen suffragan sees: Bangor, Bath and Wells, Chichester, Coventry and Lichfield. Ely. Exeter, Hereford, Llandaff, Lincoln, London, Norwich, Rochester, St. Asaph, St. David's, Salisbury, Winchester, and Worcester. To these were added five of the six sees founded under Henry VIII in 1541 and afterwards recognized by the Holy See under Mary (1553-1558), viz., Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough, and Westminster. Several of these bishops acted on state occasions as the curia of the archbishop. Thus the Bishop of London acted as his dean; Winchester was his chancellor; Lincoln his vice-chancellor; Salis- bury his precentor; Worcester his chaplain; and Rochester his cross-bearer. Even the Archbishop of York was not exempt from his jurisdiction, and these metropolitan rights also extended to Irish bishops (see Wharton, "Anglia Sacra", for instances) and to the clergy of Normandy, Gascony, and Aquitaine. as long as these provinces formed part of the English dominions. The archbishop enjoyed perpetual legatine power, being Apostolicm Sedia legalus nalus, and in councils abroad he took precedence of other archbishops, having the right to a special place "at the Pope's right foot". In England he was the ordi- nary of the royal court, wherever held, and the king and queen were regarded as his parishioners. He had the right of crowning and anointing the sover eign, a privilege confirmed by a Bull of Alexander III. He was the first peer of the realm, with precedence over all dukes not of the blood royal. He had the right of confirming the election of all suffragan bishops, and of consecrating them, and in the ease of Rochester he enjoyed the patronage of the see, having the nomination of the bishop and the right to the temporalities during all vacancies. He also pos- sessed many churches and parishes in the dioceses of London, Winchester, Norwich, Lincoln, Chichester, and Rochester. There were over eighty such bene- fices, all of which were exempt from the jurisdiction

of their proper bishops and subject to him. The archbishop alone had the right of summoning a provincial synod.

The Diocese. — The diocese itself was not of great extent, consisting only of part of the County of Kent. There were 257 parishes, and only one archdeaconry for the whole diocese. The archbishop's palace was at Canterbury on the west side of the cathedral. The archbishop owned more than twenty manors in Kent alone, including the castle of Saltwood. The Lon- don residence, in later times, was at the Manor of Lambeth, while Otford was the most favoured coun- try seat.

The Cathedral. — The consecration by St. Augus- tine of an existing Roman basilica has been described in the words of the Ven. Bede. This building, with additions and alterations, continued till 1067, when, with the adjacent monastery, it was destroyed by fire. In 1070 Lanfranc began to rebuild it on a con- siderable scale, but no trace of his work remains visible. But the present nave and western towers still rest on his foundations, and in fact the existing

Cathedral Cloisters, Canterbu

cathedral covers as nearly as possible the same ground, with the addition of the retro-choir. Parts of the crypt and some of the monastery ruins also belong to his period. A new choir, afterwards known as the " glorious choir of Conrad ", was begun in 1096, finished in 1130, and burnt in 1174, though two chapels and part of the crypt survive. The present choir, begun by William of Sens and continued by William the Englishman, was finished in 1184, and is the earliest specimen of Transitional architecture, as well as being the longest choir in England (ISO feet). In 1378 Lanfranc's nave was pulled down, and the present nave was begun by Prior Chillendon. At the same date the chapter house and cloisters were fin- ished. Finally the cathedral was completed, about 1495, by the erectiou of the great central tower 235 feet high. The total length of the cathedral is 522 feet, the breadth of the nave and aisles 71 feet. The building illustrates in itself almost all the varieties of Gothic, though Early English and Perpendicular predominate.

History op the See. — Before England had ac- quired national unity, the foundation of the see had given it ecclesiastical unity. Older than any na- tional institution, its history is inseparably bound up with that of the country, and the barest outline ex- ceeds our space. The formation of the diocese was monastic, taking its rise from the Monastery of Christ Church, and the ecclesiastical organization grew by means of the great religious houses at Dover, Ly- minge, Folkestone, Minster in Sheppy, Minster in Thanet, Reculver, and the great rival monastery in Canterbury of Sts. Peter and Paul, afterwards St. Augustine's. Throughout the subsequent history the archbishops could not deal with archiepiseopal