 anterbury Cathedral was the location in 1170 where Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered by four knights who mistook King Henry II's outburst at Becket's defiance against him as a request for the death of the Archbishop. The site for the cathedral was important as far back as AD 597 when the missionary St. Augustine converted the Pagan king Ethelbert to Christianity. Ethelbert gave Augustine an ancient building which had been a church belonging to earlier British Christians built by King Lucius. Augustine restored and rebuilt sections of the church and it became the centre of Christianity in Britain. After the Norman conquest the cathedral was completely rebuilt by Archbishop Lanfranc (1070) and his successor Anselm (1093) and all remnants of the Saxon church were removed. Anselm started the reconstruction of the choir and his successor Conrad completed the work which was celebrated by Kings Henry I of England and David I of Scotland in 1130. In 1174, shortly after the death of Becket, a fire started in buildings close to the Cathedral and embers set light to its roof. The damage was extensive and this presented the opportunity to do major redesign work. William of Sens was chosen as the architect and he chose the new Gothic style as the style to replace the older Norman building. William de Sens was injured in a fall during construction and his successor, William the Englishman, continued the work. In 1220 Becket's shrine was installed in the Cathedral. The shrine became a cult object attracting pilgrims along the Pilgrim's Way from London. This being the basis of the Canterbury Tales written by Chaucer. Further building work was performed by Henry Yeveley from around 1379 until 1405. Yeveley died in 1400 but the work was continued under his apprentice Stephen Lote. |
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