As regular readers are aware I do like a list. Some people might set off Munro-bagging but I prefer castles, cathedrals and stately stacks. At the moment I’m looking at cathedrals and trying to work out which cathedrals I need to visit that I’ve never been to before as well as those I have been to but which I now need to re-photograph thanks to the pesky external hard drive which still contains all my photos but which won’t let me look at them. Please don’t mention the importance of backing up. I’m still kicking myself.
The bishopric of Rochester was set up in 604, not that long after Augustine set up Canterbury. Sandwiched between London and Canterbury, it seems a bit of an unusual choice today but the Roman city was at an important river crossing. A small diocese, the medieval bishops, who were also Benedictine monks, were largely dependent on Canterbury. It was only in 1124 that a bishop was appointed who was not one of the Benedictines who lived in the monastery there. It was the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 that improved Rochester’s finances. Bishop Glanville founded a hospital for tired pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury. Then in 1201 William of Perth went to the Holy Land and was murdered on his way home by his servant in a wood near to Rochester. A woman was cured of madness having touched the murdered man’s body and William, who was a baker, promptly became a martyr and the subject of a Rochester’s own miracles and cults – bringing in more income. The revenue helped pay for building work.
Rochester’s prosperity ceased with the reign of King John and never recovered. Matters were not helped by the political intrigues of the town’s Benedictine monks. Rochester soon found itself deeply in debt. It was 1539 though, before the monks were finally evicted from the cathedral with the dissolution of the monasteries. Rochester’s most famous bishop, Fisher, had been executed four years previously for his refusal to accept the split from Rome.
It should be added that Canterbury, infinitely more wealthy, had its own problems during the medieval period, despite the wealth that poured in with the pilgrims following the brutal murder of Thomas Becket. It has also been rebuilt many times including by Simon of Sudbury who was murdered during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. In 1539 Becket’s shrine was dismantled and centuries worth of accumulated wealth, in the form of twenty-six cartloads of jewels, was sent off to the royal treasury.
Its that time of year again when my mind turns to teaching. Â This term I’m back with Henry VIII and his wives and mistresses; the Norman Conquest and the English Reformation so that should keep me out of mischief for a while, though thankfully Henry’s love life is rather closely bound to the progress of the English Reformation. Â Today though I’m sticking with cathedrals: Rochester Cathedral to be specific – it has links with all the courses I have just mentioned one way or another.
