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The Tomb
of the Black Prince
On
the south side of Trinity Chapel, not far from the shrine of St; Thomas, is a gilded effigy of the Black Prince. His accoutrements hang on a beam above.
He was drowned when crossing the English Channel
in 1346,
the year
in
whith he beat the French at Crecy.
of Lanfranc's
north~west
tower
in
1832.
It was Considered at
the time that it did not harmonise with its Perpendirular
- neighbour and was replaced-by the replica
$
we-now--see it.
A
tragedy that played the greatest part in the history of the
Cathedral was the murder ofArchbishop Thomas
a
&eket in
, 1170.
From
all
over Europe pilgrims came to worship at his
shrine. During the fourteenth century Canterbury was on
the high road to the
~ntinentand
a tegular service of horses
plied. between Southwark and Rochester with relays from
Rochester to Canterbury. Twelve pe.nce was paid for each
journey, and the horses were branded, as a precaution againsL
dishonest travellers who might
think
of adopting them
permanendy.
Fifty years after the murder of the great Archbishop"
Stephen Langton moved Becket's bones from the Crypt to
the .Trinity Chapel at the east end of the Cathedral. Every
year the shrine grew richer both in treasure and
iil
fame,
~
Etasmus, who visited it with Dean Colet in
1512
wrote that
"go~d
was the- meanest thing to be seen there:
all
shone and
glittered with the rarest and most precious
jewel~
of an
extraordinary size, some larger than a goose's egg."
Tr~sure
and glory, however, were swept away by the 'ride, of the
Reformation, and it is even said that the bones of Becket were
burnt and scattered.
,Pilgrims still come to Canterbury, less devout, perhaps, but
in
much greater numbers.
An
average day during August
often brings more .than five thousarid visitors. The present
Dean, Dr. Hewlett Johnson.
has
done much to encourage this
, revival of interest by throwing the whole ofthe Cathedral open
to the public without any charge. Dr. Johnson succeeded ,
"Dick" Sheppard as Dean eight years ago. He is more than
modest about his work and says that his main function is
,, "to go round with' an oil-Can and see that the wheels are
: tunriing smQothly." A dean doesn't rule as an autocrat but
' as the head of a-,corporate body. The office itself is of great
,
St. Augustine's Chair
:Until last- century, the marble throne, known as St. Augustine's Chair, or the Patriarchal '
'seat, stood where the High Altar now stands.
It
follows the ancient design of a Roman State
,
Chair and
is
used by every Archbishop of Canterbury at his enthronement.
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