Canterbury

 

Yesterday, my Crusades class made the three-hour drive southeast to Canterbury. I didn't know much about Canterbury beforehand, except for what I'd heard of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The 14th century story collection tells of a group of pilgrims who make the journey to Canterbury. 

The pilgrims were off to pay tribute to Thomas Becket, an Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in the cathedral in the 12th century by supporters of King Henry II.

 

Herky at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent

Today, the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches recognize Becket as a saint and a martyr. Here's the Altar of the Sword's Point that marks where Becket was assassinated.

 

Although they have this memorial, nobody knows where Becket is buried today. In 1538, Henry VIII destroyed the original shrine.

A cathedral has stood on this spot since 602, but a Norman archbishop leveled the previous Saxon structure to build the current one in 1070. Seems like it's constantly under renovation--even on the day we visited, it was partly covered with scaffolding. Canterbury Cathedral is recognized as a World Heritage Site and also contains the tombs of Henry IV and Joan of Navarre and a memorial to the son of Edward III, known as the Black Prince.

After touring the cathedral, we walked on top of the old city walls and saw Dane John mound. A Roman burial mound, it was later used as the motte (hill) for a Norman castle.

The city wall walk eventually reaches Canterbury Castle, which was built soon after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD.

 

The castle was built of flint and sandstone rubble, as were the city walls. France is only about 30 miles away, so many of the materials were shipped from there. 

I was surprised by how modern Canterbury was. You come to a medieval town like this one and expect it to be untouched by time--straight out of the history books--but that's not how it was. When you looked out from the top of the city walls, all you saw were modern shops, a bus station, and massive groups of Italian schoolchildren. I noticed one of the businesses in town was called the Chaucer Hotel--at least someone seems to be in touch with the town's history!