The misericords and history of Canterbury Cathedral

medieval misericords misericord misericorde misericordes Miserere Misereres choir stalls

advanced

Home >

Canterbury

The misericords and history of Canterbury Cathedral,

St Savior

Canterbury has some wonderful misericords, which unfortunately are rarely accessible to the public.

Click to launch a description of the misericords of Canterbury Cathedral

Please click on the thumbnail misericords for larger images

History of Canterbury Cathedral, Kent.

St Augustine was seconded by Pope Gregory from being Abbot of St Andrew’s Benedictine monastery in Rome to Canterbury to be a missionary to the Anglo-Saxon population in 597 AD, in 602 St Augustine (of Canterbury) founded the Cathedral. In 1993, excavations under the nave of the present Cathedral showed that the original Saxon Cathedral was built across an earlier roman road. Between 941 and 958, much of the fabric of the original Cathedral was renewed, and the nave was much extended. Meanwhile, between sometime in the early 10th century, Christ Church Priory was added to the Cathedral precinct, but it took until 997 for the Cathedral to become fully monastic.
In 1011, the Vikings raided Canterbury, causing severe damaged to the Saxon Cathedral, so again, for the next 20 years or so, a great deal additions occurred, such as the Apse, although not much renovation of the Viking damage happened.
After the Norman conquest, the Saxon Cathedral was replaced by a Romanesque (Norman) design, heavily plagiarising the Abbey of St Etienne in Caen. This new cathedral was dedicated in 1077. A fire in 1174 destroyed most of the existing choir, so in 1174, a greatly extended choir was built, designed after the monks held a competition for an architect, which was won by William of Sens. The misericords were replaced in the early 13th century, however, these no longer exist, as they were, again, replaced in 1682.
Probably the most well known fact about Canterbury Cathedral is the martyrdom of Thomas Becket on 29th December 1170 (probably the most extreme way to tell someone that they are not welcome at your new year’s party). It may be of interest that the family of one of the knights who partook in the murder came from Bovey Tracey and as an act of penance paid for the construction of the Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury which some 250 years later gained misericords..
Between 1390 and 1410, the nave was rebuilt in the English Gothic style, whilst the east end was left as Romanesque. The Norman tower was demolished in 1430, and reconstruction did not take place until 1490, and completed in 1510.
In March 1539 the Priory surrendered to Henry VIII and the cathedral reverted to having of secular canons.
In the late 18th century the Norman Northwest tower was demolished and replaced in the 1830’s by an English Gothic tower, similar to the Southwest tower. There have been no structural changes since that time.
There appears to be some dispute about the ages of the misericords, If you look carefully at the carving styles, the colour and grain of the wood, all have similar appearance, however, other information, as shown in the corpus of misericords disagrees with this. I’ll leave it up to the viewer to decide, but any comments are welcome.

The Official Canterbury Cathedral Website

Click here for more British Cathedral Misericords

Click here for more 17th century misericords