[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MARTYRDOM, NORTH-WEST TRANSEPT.]
The story of Becket and his quarrel with Henry II. will be dealt with in the next chapter. But before examining the spot on which he was a.s.sa.s.sinated it is perhaps fitting to recall the events which immediately preceded his death. Henry"s wrathful exclamation, which stirred the four knights to set out on their bloodthirsty mission, is well known. Whatever we may think of the methods employed by these warriors--Fitzurse, de Moreville, de Tracy, and le Bret were their names--we must at least concede that they were gifted with undaunted courage. To slay an anointed archbishop in his own cathedral was to do a deed from which the boldest might well shrink, in the days when excommunication was held to be a living reality, and the Church was believed to hold the power of eternal blessing or d.a.m.nation in her hand. These men--who were all closely attached to the king"s person, and were sometimes described as his "cubicularii," or Grooms of the Bedchamber--arrived at the gate of the archbishop"s palace in the afternoon of Tuesday, December 29th, 1170. With a curious want of directness they seem to have left their swords outside, and entered, and had a stormy interview with Becket; enraged by his unyielding firmness, they went back for their weapons, and in the meantime the archbishop was hurried by the terrified monks through the cloister and into the cathedral, where the vesper service was being held.
The knights quickly forced their way after him, and the monks locked and barricaded the cloister door. But Becket, who bore himself heroically through the whole scene, insisted that the door should be thrown open, exclaiming that "the church must not be turned into a castle." Then all the monks but three fled in terror. Those who stayed urged Becket to hide himself in the crypt or in the Chapel of St. Blaise above. But he would not hear of concealment, but preferred to make his way to the choir that he might die at his post by the high altar. As he went up the steps towards the choir the knights rushed into the transept, calling for "the archbishop, the traitor to the king," and Becket turned and came down, and confronted them by the pillar of the chapel. Clad in his white rochet, with a cloak and hood over his shoulders, he faced his murderers, who were now girt in mail from head to foot. They tried to seize him and drag him out of the sacred precinct, but he put his back against the pillar and hurled Tracy full-length on the pavement. Then commending his cause and the cause of the Church "to G.o.d, to St. Denys, the martyr of France, to St. Alfege, and to the saints of the Church," he fell under the blows of the knights" swords. The last stroke was from the hand of le Bret, it severed the crown of the archbishop"s head, and the murderer"s sword was shivered into two pieces. Then the a.s.sa.s.sins left the church, ransacked the palace, and plundered its treasures, and, lastly, rode off on horses from the stables, in which Becket had to the last taken especial pride.
Such is the brief outline of the events of this remarkable tragedy, for a fuller account of which we must refer our readers to the excellent description in Stanley"s "Memorials of Canterbury." As we have already said, the present transept has been entirely rebuilt; although not damaged by the fire, it was reconstructed by Prior Chillenden at the time when he erected the present nave. It is even doubtful whether the present pavement is the same as that which was trodden by Becket and his murderers. A small square stone is still shown in the floor of the transept, as marking the exact spot on which the archbishop fell; it is said to have been inserted in place of the original piece which was taken out and sent to Rome, but there is little or no authority for this statement. On the other hand, we read that Benedict, when he became Abbot of Peterborough, in order to supply his new cathedral with relics, in which it was sadly deficient, came back to Canterbury and carried off the stones which had been sprinkled with St. Thomas"s blood, and made therewith two altars for Peterborough.
In this transept an altar was erected, called the Altar of the Martyrdom, or the Altar of the Sword"s Point (_altare ad punctum ensis_), from the fact that upon it was laid the broken fragment of le Bret"s sword, which had been left on the pavement. Also, a portion of the martyr"s brains were kept under a piece of rock crystal, and a special official, called the Custos Martyrii, was appointed to guard these relics.
The chief window in this chapel was presented by Edward IV.; in it we can still see the figures of himself and his queen and his two daughters, and the two young princes who were murdered in the Tower. It originally contained representations of "seven glorious appearances" of the Virgin, and Becket himself in the centre, but all this portion was destroyed by Blue d.i.c.k, the Puritan zealot. The west window was the gift of the Rev.
Robert Moore, sometime Canon of Canterbury; it is an elaborate piece of work depicting Becket"s martyrdom and scenes in his life.
Here also we see the very beautiful and interesting monument to Archbishop Peckham (1279-1292), the oldest Canterbury monument which survives in its entirety; even it has been encroached upon by the commonplace erection adjoining it, which commemorates Warham who was archbishop from 1503 to 1532, and was the friend of Erasmus.
#The Dean"s Chapel.#--Eastward of the north-west transept is the chapel which was formerly known as the Lady Chapel, but has latterly been named the Dean"s Chapel from the number of deans whose monuments have been placed here. It stands on the site of the Chapel of St. Benedict, and was built by Prior Goldstone, who dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin in 1460.
The usual place for the Lady Chapel in cathedrals is, of course, at the extreme east end; but at Canterbury the situation was occupied by the shrine of St. Thomas. The princ.i.p.al altar to the Virgin in our cathedral was that in the crypt, in the "Chapel of Our Lady Undercroft." The vault of the Dean"s Chapel is noticeable. It is a fan vault, of the style developed to so great perfection in the Tudor period, as shown in Henry VII."s Chapel at Westminster, and in the roof of the staircase leading to the dining-hall of Christ Church, Oxford. The architecture of this chapel is Perpendicular in style, and its delicate decoration should be carefully noticed; the screen which separates it from the Martyrdom Transept is also worthy of close attention. The monuments here are interesting rather than beautiful. Dean Fotherby is commemorated by a hideous erection bristling with skulls. Dean Boys is represented as he died, sitting among his books in his library; it is curious that the books are all apparently turned with the backs of the covers towards the wall, and the edges of the leaves outwards. Here also is the monument of Dean Turner, the faithful follower of Charles I.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PART OF SOUTH-WESTERN TRANSEPT.]
#The South-West Transept.#--Crossing the cathedral through the pa.s.sage under the choir steps, we find ourselves in the south-west transept, which, together with the nave and the north-west transept, was rebuilt by Prior Chillenden. In the pavement we see memorial stones to canons and other departed worthies. Among them is the tombstone of Meric Casaubon, Archbishop Laud"s prebendary, and son of Isaac Casaubon, the famous scholar.
#St. Michael"s, or the Warrior"s Chapel.#--Eastward of the south-west transept is a small chapel, generally known as that of St. Michael. In position and size it closely corresponds with the Dean"s Chapel on the north side of the church. In general style there is also some resemblance, but the vaulting of the roof is quite different; it is described by Professor Willis as "as a complex lierne vault of an unusual pattern, but resembling that of the north transept of Gloucester Cathedral, which dates from 1367 to 1372." The exact date and the name of the builder of this chapel are alike uncertain, but it probably replaced the old Chapel of St.
Michael at some time towards the end of the fourteenth century, and Willis comes to the conclusion that it is most probable that its erection may be ascribed to Prior Chillenden, and that "it formed part of the general scheme for the transformation of the western part of the church."
A curious effect is presented by the tomb of Stephen Langton, who was archbishop from 1207 to 1228, and is famous as having compelled King John to sign the Great Charter, and also as having divided the Bible into chapters. His tomb, shaped like a stone coffin, is half in the chapel and half under the eastern wall, and Professor Willis considers that it was originally outside the wall, in the churchyard; "and thus the new wall, when the chapel was rebuilt and enlarged in the fourteenth century, was made to stride over the coffin by means of an arch." The reverence in which Langton"s memory was held is attested by the fact that his remains must have lain under the altar of the chapel, a most unusual position except in the case of celebrated saints. In the middle of the chapel is a very beautiful and interesting monument erected by Margaret Holland, who died in 1437, to the memory of her two husbands and herself. The monument is of alabaster and marble, and represents the lady reposing with her first spouse, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, and son of John of Gaunt, on her left, and Thomas, Duke of Clarence, her second husband, on her right. The latter was the second son of Henry IV., and, so, nephew of John of Somerset the first husband; he was killed at the battle of Bauge in 1421. Leland thinks that this chapel was built expressly for the reception of this tomb: "This chapel be likelihood was made new for the Honor of Erle John of Somerset," but it is probably of rather earlier date than would be allowed by this theory. The figures of Margaret and her two lords are very fine and are interesting examples of fifteenth century costume.
As such they may be contrasted with the effigy of Lady Thornhurst, who exhibits all the beauty of an Elizabethan ruff. Sir Thomas Thornhurst, whose monument is hard by, was killed in the ill-fated expedition to the Isle of Rhe. In the corner of the chapel is the bust of Sir George Rooke, Vice-Admiral, who led the a.s.sault on Gibraltar by which it was first captured. And the t.i.tle of "Warrior"s" Chapel is further justified by the presence here of tattered standards, memorials of dead comrades, left by the famous Kentish regiment, "the Buffs."
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CRYPT.]
#The Main Crypt.#--Returning through the pa.s.sage under the steps that lead up to the choir, we turn to the right into the crypt which originally supported Conrad"s "glorious choir." On the wall as we enter we may notice some diaper-work ornamentation, interesting from the fact that a similar decoration may be traced on the wall of the chapter house at Rochester for Ernulf who built the westward crypt, was afterwards made Bishop of Rochester. Willis tells us that there are five crypts in England under the eastern parts of cathedrals, namely, at Canterbury, Winchester, Gloucester, Rochester, and Worcester, and that they were all founded before 1085. "After this they were discontinued except as a continuation of former ones, as in Canterbury and Rochester." This crypt of Ernulf"s replaced the earlier one set up by Lanfranc; Willis thinks it not impossible that the whole of the pier-shafts may have been taken from the earlier crypt. "The capitals of the columns are either plain blocks or sculptured with Norman enrichments. Some of them, however, are in an unfinished state." He describes minutely one of the capitals on the south-west side. "Of the four sides of the block two are quite plain. One has the ornament roughed out, or "bosted" as the workmen call it, that is, the pattern has been traced upon the block, and the s.p.a.ces between the figures roughly sunk down with square edges preparatory to the completion.
On the fourth side, the pattern is quite finished. This proves that the carving was executed after the stones were set in their places, and probably the whole of these capitals would eventually have been so ornamented had not the fire and its results brought in a new school of carving in the rich foliated capitals, which caused this merely superficial method of decoration to be neglected and abandoned. In the same way some of the shafts are roughly fluted in various fashions. The plain ones would probably have all gradually had the same ornament given to them, had not the same reasons interfered." The crypt then stands as it was left by Ernulf except that some of the piers were afterwards strengthened and one new pillar was inserted in the aisle by William of Sens, in order to fit in with the new arrangement of the pillars in the choir which he was then rebuilding. It is therefore, of course, the oldest part of the church, and remains a most beautiful and interesting relic of Norman work in spite of the hot water pipe apparatus which now disfigures it, and its general air of unkempt untidiness. There are signs, however, that in this respect there is likely to be some improvement. The floor is being lowered to its original level by the removal of about a foot of acc.u.mulated dirt which had been heaping itself up for the last eight hundred years and had at last entirely smothered the bases of the columns, and it is even whispered that the part now cut off and used as the French church, may be opened out and restored to its original position as part of the main crypt.
According to Gervase, the whole of the crypt was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Here stood the Chapel of Our Lady Undercroft, surrounded by Perpendicular stone-work screens, from which the altar-screen in the choir above was imitated. The shrine of the Virgin was exceedingly rich and was only shown to privileged worshippers: traces of decoration may still be seen in the vault above. It was at the back of this shrine that Becket was laid between the time of his murder and his translation to the resting-place in the Trinity Chapel.
In the main crypt we may notice the monument of Isabel, Countess of Athol, who died in 1292; she was heiress of Chilham Castle, near Canterbury, and grand-daughter of King John. She was twice married, her second husband being Alexander, brother of John Baliol, King of Scotland. The monument of Lady Mohun of Dunster is in the south screen of the Chapel of Our Lady.
She was ancestress of the present Earl of Derby, and founded a perpetual chantry. Lastly, here is the tomb of Cardinal Archbishop Morton, the friend of Sir Thomas More, and the faithful servant of the House of Lancaster; it was he who brought about the union of the Red and White Roses by arranging the marriage of Henry of Richmond with Elizabeth of York. As Henry VII."s Chancellor he made great exactions under the euphonious t.i.tle of "Benevolences," and propounded the famous dilemma known as "Morton"s Fork," by which he argued that those who lived lavishly must obviously have something to spare for the king"s service, while those who fared soberly must be grown rich on their savings, and so were equally fair game to the royal plunderer. He lies in the south-west corner of the crypt, and his monument, which has suffered considerably at the hands of the Puritans, bears the Tudor portcullis and the archbishop"s rebus, a hawk or _mort_ standing on a tun.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. GABRIEL"S CHAPEL.]
In the south-east corner, under Anselm"s Tower, is a chapel generally known as that of St. John, sometimes as that of St. Gabriel. It has been divided into two compartments by a wall. There are some very interesting paintings[2] on the roof, representing Our Lord in the centre of the angelic host, the Adoration of the Magi, and a figure of St. John; this work is believed to be of the thirteenth century. The central pillar of this chapel, with the curved fluting in the column and the quaintly grotesque devices of the figures carved on the capital, is well worthy of close examination. The grate that we see here was erected by the French Protestants, large numbers of whom fled to England during the persecution which was inst.i.tuted against their sect in 1561. They were welcomed by Queen Elizabeth, and allowed to settle in Canterbury, where the cathedral crypt was made over to them to use as a weaving factory. It is possible that the ridges in the floor of St. John"s Chapel are marks left by their looms, but more evident trace of their occupation is afforded by the inscriptions in French painted on the pillars and arches of the main crypt, and again by the custom which still survives of holding a French service in the south aisle of the crypt; this part has been walled off especially as a place of worship for the descendants of the French exiles, and here service is still held in the French tongue. Alterations have been lately made by which the French service is held in the Black Prince"s Chantry, and the part of the crypt formerly walled off has been merged with the rest of the crypt, which is thus completely thrown open. Access to the French church is now obtained from the crypt, and not from outside.
This chantry was founded by the Black Prince in 1363 to commemorate his marriage with his cousin Joan, the "Fair Maid of Kent." Here, according to the prince"s ordinance, two priests were to pray for his soul, in his lifetime and after; the situation of the two altars, at which the priests prayed, can still be traced. On the vaulting we see the arms of the prince, and of his father, and what seems to be the face of his wife. In return for the permission to inst.i.tute this chantry, the prince left to the monastery of Canterbury an estate which still belongs to the Chapter, the manor of Fawkes" Hall. This was a piece of land in South Lambeth, which had been granted by King John to a baron called Fawkes. His name still survives in the word "Vauxhall."
[2] The above paintings are ill.u.s.trated in Dart"s "History of Canterbury," 1726, and in "Archaeologia Cantiana," vol. xviii.
[Ill.u.s.tration: IN THE MAIN CRYPT, WITH TOMB OF CARDINAL MORTON (see p. 99).]
#The Eastern Crypt.#--The eastern portion of the crypt, under the Trinity Chapel and the corona, is a good deal more lofty than Ernulf"s building.
We noticed the ascent from the choir and presbytery to the Trinity Chapel, and it is, of course, this greater elevation of the cathedral floor at the east end which accounts for the greater height of the eastern crypt. The effect, both above and below, is exceedingly happy. The most striking thing about the interior of the cathedral is the manner in which it rises--"church piled upon church"--from the nave to the corona, and this characteristic enabled William the Englishman to build a crypt below which has none of the cramped squatness which generally mars the effect of such buildings. "The lofty crypt below," says Willis, "may be considered the unfettered composition of the English architect. Its style and its details are wholly different from those of William of Sens. The work, from its position and office, is of a ma.s.sive and bold character, but its unusual loftiness prevents it from a.s.suming the nature of a crypt.... There is one detail of this crypt which differs especially from the work above. The abacus of each of the piers, as well as that of each central shaft, is round; but in the whole of the choir the abacuses are either square, or square with the corners cut off."
It was in the smaller eastern crypt, which formerly occupied the site of William"s building which we are now examining, that Becket was hastily buried after his a.s.sa.s.sination, when his murderers were still threatening to come and drag his body out, "hang it on a gibbet, tear it with horses, cut it into pieces, or throw it in some pond to be devoured by swine or birds of prey." And from that time until the translation of the relics in 1220, this was the most sacred spot in the cathedral, and it was known, down to Reformation times, as "Becket"s tomb." Hither came the earliest pilgrims in the first rush of enthusiasm for the newly-canonized martyr.
And here Henry II. performed that penance, which is one of the most striking examples of the Church"s power presented by history. We are told that he placed his head and shoulder in the tomb, and there received five strokes from each bishop and abbot who was present, and three from each of the eighty monks. After this castigation he spent the night in the crypt, fasting and barefooted. His penitence and piety were rewarded by the victory gained at Richmond, on that very day, by his forces over William the Lion of Scotland, who was taken prisoner, and afterwards, recognizing the power of the saint, founded the abbey of Aberbrothwick to Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF THE SEE.
The history of the See of Canterbury may be said to have begun with the coming of Augustine, for there can be no doubt that it is owing to its being the settling-place of the first messengers of the gospel in Saxon England that Canterbury has been the metropolis of the English Church.
Pope Gregory, with his usual thoroughness, sent to Augustine, soon after his arrival here, an elaborate scheme for the division of our island into sees, which were to be gradually developed as Christianity spread.
According to his arrangement, there were to be two archbishops, one at London and one at York. But we cannot regret that this scheme was not carried out, as an archiepiscopal see is much more picturesquely framed by the hills which encircle Canterbury than it could have been by the dingy vastness of the political and social capital.
#Augustine# reached England in 597, and found that his path had been made easy by the fact that Bertha, wife of Ethelbert, King of Kent, was a Christian. He soon effected the conversion of the king himself, and his labours were so rapidly successful that at Christmas, 597, no less than ten thousand Saxons were baptized at the mouth of the Medway. The archiepiscopal pall, and a papal Bull, creating Augustine first English archbishop, were duly sent from Rome, and the royal palace in Canterbury, with an old church--Roman or British--close by, were handed over to him by Ethelbert. The first archbishop died in 605, and was buried, according to the old Roman custom, by the side of the high road which had brought him to Canterbury. A few years later, however, his remains were transferred to the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, which had then just been completed.
Augustine was succeeded by one of the monks who had originally come with him from Rome. The new archbishop"s name was #Lawrence#; he had been already consecrated by Augustine in his lifetime. This unusual measure was thought to be necessary, as the Church had hardly yet established itself in a strong position. Indeed, so weak was its hold over its rapidly acquired converts, that when Ethelbert"s son, who succeeded his father in 616, backslid into the path of heathendom, the great majority of the people followed the royal example, and Lawrence, together with the Bishops of London and Rochester, prepared to leave England altogether, as a country hopelessly abandoned to paganism. However, the archbishop determined to make one more attempt to maintain his position, and succeeded in terrifying the king, by a pretended miracle, into becoming a Christian. He then recalled the two bishops who had already crossed to France, and on his death, in 619, was succeeded by the Bishop of London, #Mellitus#.
Mellitus only held the Primacy till 624, when his place was filled by #Justin#, who also had a brief archiepiscopal life, being succeeded in 627 by #Honorius#. This archbishop held the see for twenty-six years, till 653, and it was not until 655 that his successor was appointed.
So far the archbishops had all been foreigners who had come over either with Augustine or with the second company of missionaries who were despatched by Gregory soon after Ethelbert"s conversion. In 655, however, a native Englishman, named Frithona, was consecrated by the Saxon Bishop of Rochester, and adopted the name of #Deus Dedit#. He ruled at Canterbury till 664, and after his death the see remained vacant for four years, probably owing to the plague which was then wasting all Europe, and caused the death of Wighard, a Saxon, who had started for Rome to receive his consecration there. But in 668, #Theodore#, a native of Tarsus in Cecilia, was appointed, and was welcomed by the members of the torn and divided English Church. He devoted all his energy to centralizing and consolidating the power of the archbishop, which had been hitherto largely nominal. He journeyed all over England, correcting the prevalent laxity of discipline and establishing the control of the metropolitan authority. He went so far as to interfere with the Archbishopric of York, and with the help of the king attempted to divide it into three sees. He was, moreover, an enthusiastic scholar, and first diffused the study of Greek in England. He had brought a copy of Homer with him, and is said to have established a school of Greek in Canterbury. He died in 690, and after his death there was no archbishop for three years. In 693, one #Brethwald#, an English monk, some time Abbot of Reculver, was appointed to the see. The Saxon Church shows that it had benefited by Theodore"s rigorous discipline, in that it was henceforth able to supply its own archbishops; it had now securely established itself all over the country, and the last home of paganism, which, curiously enough, held its own longest in Suss.e.x, had been finally converted in Theodore"s time. Brethwald ruled till 731, and was followed by #Tatwin# (731-734) and #Nothelm# (734-740). In 740 #Cuthbert# became archbishop. He seems to have been an interesting personage with a good deal of zeal for reform; he is recorded to have a.s.sembled a synod at Cliff to discuss measures for the improvement of the lives and behaviour both of clergy and laity. Probably at his instigation the synod ordained that the Lord"s Prayer and the Creed should be taught in the vulgar tongue; he was the first archbishop buried in the cathedral. He was succeeded by #Bregwin#, who held the see from 759 to 765. He was an exception among the series of English primates, being of German origin.
During the rule of the next archbishop, #Jaenbert#, an attempt was made to transfer the primacy from Canterbury. Offa, the King of Mercia, had established himself in a position of commanding power, and wishing that the seat of the chief ecclesiastical authority should be within his own dominion, obtained a Bull from Pope Adrian I. by which an Archbishop of Lichfield was created, with a larger see than that of Canterbury. Jaenbert seems to have acquiesced, though doubtless most unwillingly, in this arrangement, but in spite of the central situation of Lichfield, the traditional claims of Canterbury were too strong, and Adulf was the first and last Archbishop of Lichfield. #Athelard#, who succeeded Jaenbert in 790, had the primacy restored to him. The Northmen began their raids on the English coasts at this time, and their ravages probably continued through the days of his successors, #Wulfred#, #Feologild#, #Ceolnoth#, and #Ethelred# (805-889).
In 889 the learned #Plegmund#, formerly tutor of Alfred, was by his quondam pupil"s influence made Archbishop of Canterbury. It was during his time that the sees of Wells for Somerset and Crediton for Devonshire were established.
#Athelm# (914-923).
#Wulfhelm# (923-942).
#Odo# (942-959), called "the severe," was born a pagan Dane of East Anglia, but having been received into a n.o.ble Saxon family, was duly baptized into the faith. He was appointed to the Wiltshire bishopric by Athelstane, and combined in his person the characters of the warlike Dane and the Christian churchman. Like his successor Dunstan, Odo made his chief objects in life the maintenance of the Church"s supremacy and the reformation of the married clergy. He bore his archbishopric with much pomp and dignity through the reigns of Edmund, Edred, and Edwy. He was responsible for Dunstan"s conduct on the occasion of King Edwy"s coronation, though it is not known how far he sanctioned the cruelties subsequently practised on Elgiva. Odo reconstructed and enlarged the cathedral.
His immediate successor was #Elsi#, Bishop of Winchester, but this archbishop died while on his way to Rome to receive his pall from the Pope.
#Dunstan# (960-988), the next archbishop, continued Odo"s crusade against the married clergy, which he conducted relentlessly. In many cases the secular clergy were turned out of their livings to make room for members of the regular monkish orders. Even with these harsh measures and the employment of miracles the archbishop does not seem to have succeeded in enforcing celibacy among the clergy. Dunstan was born in Somersetshire of n.o.ble parents, and educated at the Abbey of Glas...o...b..ry. He became abbot of that place, and Bishop of Worcester and London. At the coronation of Edwy he intruded himself into the king"s presence, and was afterwards obliged to retire to Ghent. He held the See of Canterbury for twenty-seven years, and on his death was buried in the cathedral, where countless miracles are said to have been worked at his tomb.
#Ethelgar# (988-989).
#Siricius# (990-994).
#aelfric# (995-1005).
#Alphege# (1005-1012), Prior of Glas...o...b..ry, migrated thence to Bath, where he founded the great abbey, afterwards united to the See of Wells. After holding the See of Winchester for twenty-two years, he was translated to Canterbury. When in 1011 Canterbury was sacked by the Danes, he was carried off a prisoner, and on his refusal to ransom himself, was barbarously murdered by his captors. His body was ransomed by the people of London and buried at St. Paul"s Cathedral, whence it was removed to Canterbury by Canute. Subsequently, in the time of Lanfranc, he was canonized.
#Living# (1013-1020) also suffered much from the Danes, who from this time continued their incursions until the reign of Canute.
#Egelnoth# (1020-1038) is described as the first dean of the Canterbury canons who seem to have acquired an ascendancy over the monks ever since the ma.s.sacre of the latter by the Danes in 1011. He restored the cathedral after the damages inflicted by the invaders.
#Eadsi# (1038-1050).
#Robert of Jumieges# (1051-1052) was one of the many Normans who were brought over into England by King Edward the Confessor; he took an active part in the king"s quarrel with the great Earl G.o.dwin, and in the reaction which followed against the Normans retired to Jumieges, where he remained till his death.