Addison in the City: Canterbury

"Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?"

Those words uttered by Henry II quickly made Canterbury one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe. Henry II first named Thomas a Becket his chancellor, then went on to name him Archbishop of Canterbury. The new Archbishop then quit his job of chancellor and devoted his life to the church. He was constantly in Henry's way, causing Henry to say, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest." And someone did rid him of this priest. On the 29th of December in 1170, four knights rode in to where Becket was worshiping, Canterbury Cathedral, and killed him, right there at his alter. This threw the Catholic Church into uproar at such a cruel act, and in 1173, he was made a saint and became the object of may pilgrimages. But even before that, Canterbury was still a popular pilgrimage spot. The first church in England stood there, St. Augustine's Abbey. St. Augustine of Kent was the first missionary to England. But when Becket was killed, Canterbury Cathedral became the more popular spot to visit. And I got to see all of these spots. Our day started off with slight flurries of snow, which was gorgeous, but that meant it was very cold, unfortunately. We fist saw the "hotel" where pilgrims would've stayed. it was called Eastbridge Hospital. Back then a hospital was simply a place of hospitality. It was meant to sleep about 12 pilgrims, but as many as 60 slept their at one time. We then headed to Canterbury Castle, built by William the Conquerer in 1070ish. It was later converted into a prison, but quickly fell into ruins. And then of course, who could forget, we went to have lunch!! We popped by into a pub called (you won't believe this) The Bishop's Finger. Why on earth would you name a pub that?? I mean come on, I expected a finger in my food. But no worries there, my hamburger came completly finger free! :) After warming ourselves in the pub, we dashed out to see St. Augustine's Abbey. Though the abbey is now complelty in ruins, you can still see where St. Augustine was buried. And then finally, we headed to Canterbury Cathedral where I was hoping to see a blood stain of Thomas a Becket. To my huge disappointment, there was no such stain. Really and truely, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. I mean think about it.... four knights ride in to the Cathedral and hack Thomas a Becket to death. You would expect just a little tiny blood stain right? But no....at least not that I could tell. They didn't even have a shrine any more because it was destroyed by Henry VIII and the Puritans. So, that was a little sad. But what can you do? Anyways, the trip was a lot of fun and my favorite part was St. Augustine's Abbey.