Canterbury

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Canterbury city (1991 pop. 34,046) and district, Kent, SE England, on the Stour River. Tourism, services, and retail are the city's main industries. There is also some light manufacturing. Canterbury is famous as the long-time spiritual center of England. In 597, St. Augustine went to England from Rome to convert the island peoples to Christianity. He founded an abbey at Canterbury and became the first archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England. The early cathedral was burned and rebuilt several times. After the murder (1170) of Thomas à Becket and the penance of Henry II, Canterbury became famous throughout Europe as the object of pilgrimage, and the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer relate the stories told by a fictional group of pilgrims. The present cathedral was begun under Archbishop Lanfranc, the first Norman archbishop. Constructed from 1070 to 1180 and from 1379 to 1503, it is a magnificent structure, its architecture embodying the styles of several periods and various architects. Noteworthy are the 15th-century tower (235 ft/72 m high); the long transepts; the screen separating the raised choir from the Perpendicular nave; the east chapel (called the Corona or Becket's Crown), which contains the marble chair in which the archbishops are enthroned; Trinity Chapel, which held the shrine of St. Thomas until 1538, when Henry VIII ordered it destroyed and the accumulated wealth confiscated; the chapel in which French Protestants worshiped in the 16th cent. and where services are still held in French; the northwestern transept (where a stone slab commemorates the exact site of Thomas à Becket's murder); and the tombs of Henry IV and Edward the Black Prince. During World War II the cathedral was the object of severe German reprisal raids (June, 1942), which destroyed the library and many other surrounding buildings; the cathedral itself received no direct damage. The city of Canterbury is also of great historical interest, with a 14th-century gate and remains of the old city walls; St. Martin's Church (established before St. Augustine's arrival and known as the Mother Church of England); the old pilgrims' hostel called the Hospital of St. Thomas; and several old inns. Christopher Marlowe was born at Canterbury and educated at King's School there before going to Cambridge. Other schools are the Univ. of Kent at Canterbury, and theological, art, and teacher-training colleges.

Canterbury, the primatial see of the English church, played an important though at times contested role in Irish ecclesiastical affairs in the 11th and 12th centuries. Although it is possible that Dúnán (Donatus), the first recorded bishop of Dublin, was consecrated at Canterbury c.1028, the first certain evidence of an Irish bishop being consecrated there relates to Gilla Pátraic (Patricius), bishop‐elect of Dublin in 1074. His two successors, Donngus (Donatus) in 1085 and Samuel in 1096, were also consecrated at Canterbury, as also, in 1096, was the first known bishop of Waterford, Máel Isú ( Malchus). The Synod of Ráith Bressail (1111), which outlined a nationwide diocesan structure for the Irish church, envisaged that the pre‐existing sees of Dublin and Waterford would, on the death of their incumbents, be incorporated into the new hierarchical constitution. However, a disputed episcopal election in the city of Dublin in 1121 ensured that recourse was once again made to Canterbury for the consecration of Gréne (Gregorius). In 1140, Patrick, a bishop‐elect of Limerick, sought consecration at Canterbury, also probably in the context of a disputed election. At the Synod of Kells (1152) presided over by the papal legate, Cardinal John Paparo, the diocesan constitution of the Irish church received papal endorsement, without acknowledgement of the fact that Canterbury had consecrated bishops for Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. It was almost certainly Canterbury's response to this diminution of its perceived rights that occasioned the procural of the papal grant Laudabiliter. While Canterbury's interest in the Irish church has been interpreted as expansionist and imperialist in intention, it is more likely that it was always secondary to its precedent primatial claims over the see of York; professions of obedience from Irish bishops afforded useful supporting evidence for Canterbury's primacy within a British Isles context.

Marie Therese Flanagan

Canterbury, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, USA 1. Canada (New Brunswick): named after Thomas Manners‐Sutton (1814–77), 3rd Viscount Canterbury, lieutenant‐governor of New Brunswick (1854–61).2. UK (England): the original Roman name, Durovernum, meant ‘Walled Town by the Alder Marsh’ from the Old British duro ‘fort’ or ‘walled town’ and verno ‘alders’ and ‘marsh’. This had been changed to Cantwaraburg by about 900 and by the time of the Domesday Book (1086) it had become Canterburie. The present name is a modification of these names meaning the ‘Town (fort) of the Men of Kent’ (Cantware) from the Old English ‐ware ‘dwellers’ and burh. The word ‘canter’ comes from pilgrims on horseback going at a ‘Canterbury pace’ to visit St Thomas à Becket's shrine.3. The towns in Australia and the USA, and the regional council in New Zealand, are probably named after the English city.

Canterbury a city in Kent, SE England, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. St Augustine established a church and monastery there in 597, and it became a place of medieval pilgrimage, to the shrine of St Thomas à Becket.
Canterbury bell a bellflower grown for ornament, named with reference to the bells on pilgrims' horses.
Canterbury gallop a slow easy gallop, supposedly the pace of mounted pilgrims.
Canterbury tale a story told on a pilgrimage (originally one of Chaucer's cycle of linked tales told by a group of pilgrims); a long tedious story.

Canterbury City on the River Great Stour, Kent, se England. It is the seat of the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church. The present cathedral (built in the 11th–15th centuries) replaced the original Abbey of St Augustine. Thomas à Becket was murdered in the cathedral in 1170; after his canonization, Canterbury became a major pilgrimage centre. It contains the University of Kent (1965). Tourism is a major industry. Pop. (1994) 133,859.

http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org

Canterbury Kent. Cantuarabyrg 805–10, Cantwaraburg c.900, Canterburie 1086 (DB). ‘Stronghold or fortified town of the people of Kent’. Ancient Celtic name + OE -ware + burh (dative byrig).

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