Canterbury

Canterbury (often indicated by its English name, Canterbury ) is a city of the Kent, in the south of the England, on the Stour river, located not far from London. It counts 42  000 inhabitants (in 2001). It has the statute of city.

It is one of the oldest cities of the country. It is the old capital of the kingdom of Kent (Heptarchie). Augustin converts the city, as well as the king Ethelbert, and a episcopal see of it in makes 597. The city quickly becomes the seat of the Archevêque primacy of England.

The nine first archbishop S will be besides canonized, like Adrien of Canterbury. The other canonized archbishops are the saints Dunstan, Alphege, Anselme and Thomas Becket. The city becomes a great center of pilgrimage during the Moyen-âge, which inspired the Contes of Canterbury of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Since the 16th century, Canterbury is the seat of the spiritual leader of the Church of England and the Communion Anglican. The first of the archbishops Anglicans was Thomas Cranmer (1489 - 1556), named by Henri VIII in 1533, followed Reginald Pole (1500 - 1558), last archbishop roman catholic

The current archbishop (in 2004) is Rowan Williams, named in 2003.

Canterbury is today a tourist center (Cathédrale out of stones of Caen) and major academic.

History

The first times

The first human installations are attested in Canterbury as of the Préhistoire. Objects of the Bronze Age and the round wheelbarrows of the Neolithic were discovered in the area. Before the Roman arrival , Durovernum (in Kentique: duro , extremely and verno , marsh) was the most important village in the Kent.

Canterbury (in Latin Durovernum Cantiacorum ) became a Roman administrative center: it extended to the junction from the three roads from the ports from Regulbium (Reculver), from Dubris (Dover) and from Lemanis (Lympne); the main axe of circulation of the time is Watling Street today. The walls and one of the doors of the city always exist.

The name Canterbury drift of old English Cantwarebyrig , meaning the “fortress of the men of Kent”. The suffix bury comes from borough (English borough).

A castle of the type Mound (a type of construction Norman: the castle is on a mound strengthened with an interior court) was built in Canterbury by the Normands shortly after the conquest Norman, then replaced by the current stone castle Canterbury Castle.

Religious aspect

In 596, the pope Gregoire Ier sent Augustin of Canterbury to convert the England with the Christianisme. It was the first papal mission and Augustin made build a priory with the site of the current cathedral in 597 apr. J. - C. It made also build an abbey apart from the walls of the city where it was buried as well as the archbishops who succeeded to him. Although Gregoire the Large one initially envisaged the division of England in two archbishop's palaces (with London and the other with York), the success and the reputation of Augustin in Canterbury explain why the southernmost archiépiscopat was fixed at Canterbury instead of London. The beginnings of the diocese are told by Bède Worthy the (Hist. Eccl., I, xxxiii):
“When Augustine, the first Archbishop off Canterbury, assumed the episcopal throne in that royal city, He recovered therein, by the King' S assistance, has church which, ace He was told, had been constructed by the original ploughing off Romance believers. This church He consecrated in the name off the Savior, our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and there He established year dwelling for himself and all his successors. ”
(“When Augustin, the first archbishop of Canterbury, receipt the episcopal throne in this royal city, it found here with the assistance of the king, a church which, as that was known as, had been built by initial work Roman believers. It devoted this church in the name of the Saver, our God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it establishes a residence for him and all its successors. ”)
The church of which it is made mention in this text is Saint Martin, which is regarded as the oldest church still in service of all England. The ancient diocese of Canterbury, which bore off the name of Mother-Church and Primatial See All England , existed of 597 until the death of the last catholic archbishop, Reginald Pole, in 1558.

At the 16th century the Église of England separated from Rome under the reign of Henri VIII. The abbey St Augustin was destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries ordered by the king, and there remain only ruins about it today. Canterbury became the center of the new Church of England, although it is always a catholic center of pilgrimage. The ancient religious school was refondée and became the King School . The Cathédrale of Canterbury, where are buried the king Henri IV and of Edouard the Prince Noir, remained famous to have been the scene of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. Following this dramatic event, Canterbury became a high place of pilgrimage, inspiring Geoffrey Chaucer for its Contes of Canterbury in 1387. The hotel trade of St Thomas was a stage famous for pilgrims in the city. The city is also associated with Thomas More: its head is buried with the church of St Dunstan of Canterbury and its body with St Peter AD Vincula with the Tour of London).

The city is also the starting point and of arrival for much of routes of pilgrimage: the Via Francigena to Rome, " Road of the pèlerins" from Winchester and the route of Southwark as in the Tales of Canterbury .

The Middle Ages with today

The city became a corporate county (the equivalent in France of the cities profiting from communal charters) in 1461.

The French Protestant refugees were numerous to settle in Canterbury at the 16th century, bringing their know-how in particular in the manufacture of silk.

During the Second world war, the city was severely damaged by the bombardments after it was selected as a one of the cities in England to be aimed by the Luftwaffe in the attack flash of Baedeker.

In 1944; the city was celebrated by the realizers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in their film has Canterbury Tale .

The rebuilding of post-war period of the center of the city started quickly with the rebuilding of the east of the city, including in the district of Whitefriar. A peripheral was built to try to regulate the increasing problems of circulation in the downtown area, which is now pedestrian.

Canterbury is today an important city for tourism. The cathedral of Canterbury attracted with it only 1,2 million visitors in 2001. The city always has many old buildings and the construction of modern buildings in the medieval downtown area is strictly regulated.

In 2004 and 2005, the sector of Whitefriars was rehabilitated and associated archaeological research was called the “great excavation”. Canterbury has a larger variety of trade thanks to the development of Whitefriars. Locally, however, this development was criticized because a growing number of buildings are emptied in other district of the city because of competition.

The July 8th 2007, the city accommodates the arrival of the first stage of the Tour de France, London - Canterbury. It is the Australia N Robbie McEwen which gains the race with a time of 4:39 m and 1 second.

Demography

  • Population:

    • 1801 : 9.500
    • 1861 : 16.700
    • 1921 : 18.900
    • 1961 : 30.408
    • 2001 : 42.258
      • Surface: 23,54 km ²
      • Density: 1,795 hab./km²
The data for 1801-1961 are taken in the Kent History Illustrated of Frank W Jessup 1966

Twinning

Related articles

External bonds

  • Tourist bureau
  • Cathedral
  • Archbishop
  • UNESCO

Simple: Canterbury

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