The first three figures (from left to right) are connected with the restoration of Christianity to the Kingdom of Kent and establishment of Canterbury Cathedral at the beginning of the seventh century.

They are Queen Bertha St Augustine and King Ethelbert. St Augustine is credited with converting the King – and his kingdom – to Christianity. Princess Bertha was the Christian daughter of the Frankish King of Paris who married the then pagan Prince Ethelbert of Kent in c.562. A term of the marriage settlement was that Bertha be provided with a place of worship and so St Martin’s church, half a mile east of the royal palace, was built. Ethelbert became King of Kent in c.580. In Rome, the pope, Gregory the Great was keen to convert the pagan king and re-establish Christianity in his kingdom. Augustine, the abbot of St Andrew in Rome, was sent to Canterbury, arriving in 597. Though initially reluctant to forsake his pagan gods, Ethelbert was baptised by Augustine in 602, giving the land on which his palace stood to the church. The construction of the first Saxon Cathedral began immediately, with Augustine as its first archbishop.

The next figure (centre) is that of Archbishop St Theodore of Tarsus (668-690), who reorganised the Church in England into dioceses and parishes, established a great library with material brought from Rome and expanded the school, establishing Canterbury as a significant place of learning. The next three figures are from the eleventh century – the martyred Saxon archbishop St Alphege (1005-1012) abducted by marauding Danes, who burnt the cathedral and took him to their camp at Greenwich, where he was pelted with ox bones** (he is depicted holding a bundle of them) and finished off with a battle-axe.

Lastly, the first two post-Conquest Norman archbishops Lanfranc (1070-1089) who took on the task of reconstruction after the Saxon cathedral was completely destroyed by fire in 1067 and St Anselm, (1093-1109) the scholar archbishop who, despite long periods of exile under William II (Rufus) (1087-1100) and his successor, Henry I (1100-1135), presided over a significant expansion of the cathedral and its priory. Here he is depicted holding a quill pen and a scroll.

The first two figures in the middle row are central players in the history of the cathedral.

St Thomas Becket with archbishop’s staff and a sword**, alongside Henry II* (1154-1189) whose knights carried out Becket’s murder on 29th December, 1070. Archbishop Stephen Langton (1213-1229) who officiated at the translation of Becket’s bones from the tomb in the Eastern Crypt to the shrine in the Trinity Chapel (then known as the Chapel of St Thomas) on 7th July 1220. Langton is often credited with producing the first draft of the Magna Carta (he is shown holding it), signed at Runnymede on 15th June 1215 and was a crucial intermediary between King John and the powerful barons. Langton’s famous ‘half in – half out’ tomb is in St Michael’s Chapel.

Archbishop St Edmund Rich (1234-1240) the last Archbishop of Canterbury to be canonised. He came into conflict with Henry III (1216-1272) over his efforts to uphold the principles of Magna Carta. He died in France, on his way to Rome to plead his case with the Pope. Edward I (1272-1307), who married his second Queen, Margaret of France, in the Cathedral in May 1299. Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376), who is buried in the Trinity Chapel. His chantry chapel (now the Huguenot Chapel) is in the crypt. Archbishop Simon of Sudbury (1375-1381) murdered during the Peasants’ Revolt outside the Tower of London in June 1381. His tomb is in the South Choir aisle.

*Note that Henry II is wrongly labelled Henry III (1216-1272).

**Ox bones and sword?? St Alphege and St Thomas Becket are shown holding the objects with which they were killed.

Henry IV (1399-1413). The only king to be buried in the cathedral – in the Trinity Chapel – and his statue is on the Pulpitum screen. Henry VIII with roll of Cathedral Statutes (1541). Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1533-1556) architect of Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, burnt as a heretic during the reign of Mary.

Next, two archbishops from before and after English Civil War, whose attitudes to religious tolerance could scarcely be more contrasting: Archbishop William Laud (1633-1645) who was accused of treason and executed at the behest of the Long Parliament. Laud made himself unpopular for his part in enforcing Charles I’s policy of religious conformism. He was an early Anglo-Catholic and opponent of Lutheranism, Calvinism and Puritanism. Archbishop John Tillotson (1691-5) was the son of a Puritan clothier, a moderate Anglican who had previously been Dean of Canterbury (1672-89). He was married to Elizabeth French, a niece of Oliver Cromwell.

Lastly, Edward White Benson (1883-1896), Archbishop at the time of the commissioning of the East Window. White Benson was the first archbishop to be buried in the Cathedral since Cardinal Pole (d.1558) his “Decorated Gothic” style tomb is in St Augustine’s Chapel in the Northwest corner of the Nave, and Queen Victoria (1837-1901), though 86 at this time, she is depicted, aged 19, dressed for her Coronation in Westminster Abbey in June 1838

(Ref. David Bell – A Guide’s Guide to Canterbury Cathedral §2.12(1))

Left to right – the names in bold refer to the individual represented in the corresponding panel in the East window

The meeting of Queen Bertha and St Augustine after his landing in AD 597. St Augustine preaching to King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha. Baptism of King Ethelbert in the font at St Martin’s Church, Canterbury c.601. Archbishop St Theodore of Tarsus (668-693), planning the division of the English Church into dioceses and parishes, c.670. The murder of St Alphege (1005-1012) by the Danes at Greenwich, 19th April 1012. Archbishop Lanfranc (1070-1090) plans the new Cathedral Church and Priory, c.1070. The reluctant Archbishop St Anselm (1093-1109), then Abbot of Bec, is nominated as Archbishop by King William II (Rufus) (1087-1100) from his sick bed in 1092.

The murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket (1162-1170) on 29th December 1170. The Penance of Henry II (1154-1189) at the tomb of St Thomas Becket in the Crypt on 12th July 1174. The “Translation” of the bones of St Thomas from his tomb in the Eastern Crypt to the Shrine in the Trinity (St. Thomas’s) Chapel by Archbishop Stephen Langton (1213-1229) on 7th July 1220. Archbishop St Edmund Rich (1234-1240) rebukes Henry III (1216-1272) for his foreign favourites and for encouraging exorbitant pecuniary demands against the English Church, c.1239. The marriage of Edward I (1272-1307) to his second Queen, Margaret of France, in the Martyrdom Transept on 2nd May 1299. The triumphal entry of Edward, the Black Prince (1330-1376), and his captive, King John II of France, into Canterbury on 19th April 1357, following the Prince’s victory at the battle of Poitiers on 19th September 1356. Archbishop Simon of Sudbury (1375-1381) is murdered by rebels, outside the Tower of London, during the Peasants’ Revolt, on 14th June 1381.

The funeral ceremony of Henry IV (1399-1413) in the Trinity Chapel on Trinity Sunday 1413. Henry VIII (1509-1547), accompanied by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and Cardinal Wolsey, pays a visit to the Cathedral and Shrine of St Thomas on Whit Sunday 1519 or 1520. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1533-1556) is forced to listen to a sermon from the Provost of Eton in the University Church of St Mary, Oxford, before being burnt at the stake on 21st March 1556. Archbishop William Laud (1633-1645) before execution on the scaffold in the Tower of London on 10th January 1645. Archbishop John Tillotson (1691-1695) preaches to William III and Queen Mary, c.1692. Archbishop Edward White Benson (1883-1896) presides over a service, preceding the third Lambeth Conference. He is shown seated in St Augustine’s Chair, before the High Altar, on 30th June 1888. Archbishop William Howley (1828-1848) gives Holy Communion to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) at her Coronation in Westminster Abbey on 28^th June 1838. Note the wig. Howley was the last Archbishop to wear one.

(Ref. David Bell – A Guide’s Guide to Canterbury Cathedral §2.12(2))