Including the Corona
The Corona Chapel by Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Commons
Western Nave
Fire Watchers Memorial
Font
Great West Window
Eastern Nave
Pulpit
Altar
Compass Rose
Martyrdom
Altar of the Sword Point
The Deans' Chapel
Western Crypt (North Aisle)
Ch. of Holy Innocents
St Nicholas Ch.
St Mary Magdalene Ch.
Eastern Crypt
Watching Chamber
"Transport"
Jesus Chapel
Western Crypt (South Aisle)
Huguenot Chapel
Our Lady Undercroft
St Gabriel Chapel
Pulpitum Steps
Royal Window
Bell Harry
Great South Window
Choir
Parclose Screen
Archbishop's Throne
St Augustine's Chair
North Choir Aisle
Chichele Tomb
Bible Windows
Northeast Transept
Trinity Chapel North
Opus Alexandrinum
Miracle Windows
Henry IV Tomb
Becket Shrine
Trinity Chapel South
Corona Chapel
Black Prince
Miracle Windows
South Choir Aisle
St Anselm's Chapel
Bossanyi Windows
Southeast Transept
Southwest Transept
St Michael's Chapel
Whall Window
Crypt access & Exit
Great Cloister
Heraldic shields
South, East, North & West panes
Cloister Garth
Chapter House
Wagon Vault
Victorian stained glass
Hint. View the map ‘landscape’ on small screens.
MapRounding the ambulatory from the north aisle to the south aisle of the Trinity Chapel, we reach the Corona Chapel – the easternmost point of the Cathedral. Continuing into the south aisle, we find the remaining Miracle Windows and several noteworthy tombs, including that of the Black Prince.
What's here?
The Corona, completed by William the Englishman in 1184, is unique in English Cathedral architecture and was built specifically to house the ‘corona’ (the crown, or top part of the skull) of St Thomas Becket.
The clerk Edward Grim’s graphic, first-hand account of Becket’s murder in December 1170 describes how Richard le Breton’s final sword blow severed the crown of Becket’s scalp and snapped the point of le Breton’s sword. The crown was recovered from the crime scene by the monks and preserved in a silver reliquary. Pilgrims visiting the Corona chapel were able to view and, if of sufficient status, also kiss the reliquary.
In recent times, the Chapel has been re-dedicated to the Saints and Martyrs of Our Own Time. A Book of Remembrance, naming 21 priests, men and women murdered for their Christian faith since 1916, is maintained here. Stained glass in the Corona (c.1200-1220)
The Jesse Windows
The Redemption Window
The fourth and fifth windows
Monuments in the Corona
Besides the tomb of the Black Prince (see below) there are three other noteworthy tombs in this corner of the Trinity Chapel:
The Tomb of Cardinal of Châtillon, Odet de Coligy (1571)
Tomb of Archbishop William Courtenay (1396)
More
Courtenay was an implacable opponent of John Wycliffe (c.1330-1384) and other proto-protestants, who argued, amongst other things, that the law of God came from the Bible, which should be made available, in English, to all men who could read. This ran counter to the orthodox establishment view that the Scriptures could only be interpreted by approved clergy. Wycliffe and his followers were disparagingly referred to as Lollards (from the Dutch: ‘mutterers, mumblers’).
Such was Wycliffe’s growing influence that, in 1382, Archbishop Courtenay convened The Synod of Blackfriars (the so-called “Earthquake Synod”) which banned Wycliffe’s teachings and the use of his English Bible and led to further persecution of the Lollards. During the years that followed, many Lollards and other dissenters were burned at the stake as heretics. Wycliffe was posthumously declared a heretic in 1415 and, in 1428, his corpse was exhumed from its grave in Lutterworth and burned, and the ashes cast into the river. The brutal suppression of dissenters continued throughout the 15th century and beyond. It was not until 1539, 155 years after Tyndale’s death, that the Great Bible (based upon translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale) was ordered to be placed in all English churches on the edict of Henry VIII.
Tomb of Archbishop Hubert Walter (c.1205)
This is a substantial tomb in Purbeck marble, with a gable top with six carved heads – one of which (the first on the left, at the front) may be intended to represent Saladin, the Kurdish sultan. Prior to becoming Archbishop, Hubert Walter accompanied Richard I on the Third Crusade and negotiated a treaty with Saladin in 1191, and was even a guest of Saladin in Jerusalem following the negotiation. On his return to England, Walter took command of the realm during Richard’s more or less permanent absences on Crusades and, when the returning Lionheart was taken captive in 1192 and subsequently imprisoned in Mainz, Germany at the behest of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, Archbishop Walter was instrumental in raising the ransom of 150,000 marks to free him.
More
Edward of Woodstock (1330-1376), Prince of Wales and elder son of King Edward III was the most celebrated and the most feared warrior of his time. His tomb here in the Trinity Chapel (attributed to Master Mason Henry Yevele) is made of Purbeck marble, and his magnificent brass-overgilt effigy shows him in full armour, spurred and helmeted, with a small bulldog at his feet. Shields around the base of the tomb feature the fleur de lys (signifying the Plantagenet claim to the French throne) and the Prince’s coat of arms – a plume of three ostrich feathers and the motto “Ich diene – “I serve” – a motto which has been adopted by all subsequent Princes of Wales.
The life, marriage and death of the Black Prince
The Prince was married to his cousin (for which he needed papal dispensation) Joan “the Fair Maid” of Kent in 1361. He survived many battles but did not outlive his father and died in 1376, aged 45, of a debilitating bacterial infection contracted while fighting in Spain. When the king, Edward III, died a few months later, in 1377, he was succeeded by the Black Prince’s 12-year-old son, who became Richard II.
The Prince’s Will laid out very specific instructions regarding his tomb, which were followed to the letter, apart from his request to be buried in the crypt undercroft, alongside his chantry chapel (now the Huguenot Chapel). The Black Prince was a national hero and therefore was buried here in the Trinity Chapel alongside the Shrine of Thomas Becket.The Black Prince’s ‘Achievement’
The prince’s sword disappeared long ago, probably during the upheavals of the English Civil War (1642-51) as did his dagger and sporting shield – and all the precious stones set into his helmet. The items on display over the tomb are faithful replicas made in 1954 – a selection of the originals can be seen in the Making History exhibition in the Crypt (subject to rotation for conservation purposes). It had been previously assumed that the achievements were purpose-made to adorn the tomb, but conservation work carried out for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Opus Anglicanum embroidery exhibition in 2016, revealed that the jupon had actually been worn by the prince during his lifetime.
As with the windows in the north aisle, the original purpose of the six windows in the south aisle was to depict some of the miracles that were observed at the tomb of Thomas Becket by the monks Benedict and William between 1180 and 1220. The windows here in the south aisle suffered much greater damage at the hands of Puritans in 1643 during the English Civil War, as they were more accessible from the outside. As a result of this, the second and fourth windows and most of the third, contain only plain glass.
The first Miracle Window
- The first window in the south aisle (after the Corona Chapel) was probably designed in c.1207 but installed after the monks returned from exile in France in 1213. There are 16 roundels in this window:
1-8 The 8 roundels in the top half of the window were reconstructed in 1893 using fragments of ancient glass and do not relate to any specific miracle, though the borders and background are thought to be original.
9-12 The next 4 roundels in the lower half of the window, tell the story of William Kellett, a carpenter who injures his leg with an axe and is visited by St Thomas. His leg heals miraculously and, after giving thanks at the tomb, he is able to go back to work.
13-16 The bottom 4 roundels tell the story of Adam the Forester who is shot through the neck with an arrow when he comes across two poachers, who make off with a deer. In his sick bed, Adam is shown drinking the Holy Water of St Thomas, and is visited by three bearded friends. Miraculously cured, he is pictured giving thanks at the tomb.
The third Miracle Window
- The two roundels at the bottom of the otherwise plain third window, were introduced by Samuel Caldwell Jnr. in 1929. The first roundel contains the often-reproduced portrayal of pilgrims on the road to Canterbury, one riding on a white horse. The second shows pilgrims at the tomb, over which hangs a red sanctuary lamp, with priest in attendance. Caldwell was a master of stained glass reproduction, using both medieval and new glass, and it has been a matter of debate to what extent these panels are “creative reconstructions”, rather than faithful restorations of a medieval original. Recent research by Dr Rachel Koopmans strongly suggests the latter!
The fifth Miracle Window
- The fifth window contains 13th century glass, collected from various parts of the Cathedral or, possibly, made by Samuel Caldwell Jnr. in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The window is made up of 16 panels, consisting of 6 central roundels interspersed with 5 half-roundels down either side.
1-4 Starting from the top of the window, the first cluster of four panels tells the story of the groom, John of Roxburgh. His horse bolts and throws him into the River Tweed. He is rescued by St Thomas and crawls out of the River. Two friends in a boat, search for his body, whilst John is happily tucked up by the fire at the toll-keeper’s house.
The remaining panels mainly consist of unrelated scenes. Those that can be explicitly identified are:
9 The 3rd half roundel on the right shows Henry of Beche, lame, barefoot and on crutches, making a pilgrimage with his parents.
13 The fifth central roundel down, shows a girl, possibly Cicely, the daughter of Jordan of Plumstead, sitting up in bed, after recovering from a fatal illness after being given a girdle (held in the background) dipped in holy water from the tomb of St Thomas.
14-15 The bottom two half-roundels depict a young boy, Gilbert, son of William le Brun. On the left, Gilbert sits up in bed, kissing his Father’s bearded face, while his Mother looks on. On the right, Gilbert, accompanied by his parents, is laying a coil of wire on the tomb.
The sixth Miracle Window
- The sixth window contains 22 panels, probably dating from 1214 to 1220. Although the two bottom panels depict the Shrine, they were probably made and installed before Becket’s “Translation”, in anticipation of the event on 7th July 1220.
As we leave the south side of Trinity Chapel, via the steps down towards the South Choir Aisle, take a moment to examine the steps themselves. These are the Pilgrim’s Steps. For over 300 years from 1220 (until the Reformation of Henry VIII swept it all away in 1538) pilgrims were expected to climb this last flight of steps to reach the Shrine of Thomas Becket on their knees. The groove worn into the stone steps by the knees of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims is clearly visible.
Where next?
Take the Pilgrims’ Steps down to the X South Choir Aisle