St. Paul's Cathedral [antikvár]

^w- I 1 CATHEDRAL ST. PAUL'S FOR thirteen and a half centuries a cathedral dedicated to the honour of Saint Paul has stood upon the summit of Ludgate Hill. Sir Christopher Wren's great Renaissance church which rises majestically over the City is the fifth to bear the name of London's patron saint. The history of St. Paul's begins with the consecration of Mellitus as bishop of the East Saxons by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 604 A.D. His cathedral, which was probably a * above: On the terrifying night of 29th December 1940 a large part of the City of London perished in a fire-bomb raid. St. Paul's, as though by a miracle, escaped severe damage. wooden structure, was founded by Ethelbert, King of Kent, who endowed it with the Manor of Tillingham in Essex-an estate which, to this day, is still held by the Dean and Chapter. The first cathedral was destroyed by fire-a peril which through the centuries has beset all five churches. It was rebuilt in stone in 675-685 by the saintly Bishop Erkenwald whose shrine attracted many pilgrims to the cathedral throughout the middle ages. This church was destroyed by the Vikings in the ninth century and again rebuilt in 962. In 1087 the Saxon church was alsó burned down. Rebuilding, which began almost at once, had the support of William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, whom he had just succeeded as king. Maurice, a Norman, and sometime chaplain and chancellor to William the Conqueror, had been appointed Bishop of London the previous year. He seized the opportunity to build a cathedral on a vaster scale than anything previously envisaged in London. This cathedral, familiarly known as "Old St. Paul's", was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. "Old St. Paul's" stood within spacious precincts enclosed by walls. The line of these walls was marked by the course of Creed Lane and Ave Maria Lane on the west, Paternoster Row on the north, Old Change on the east, and Carter Lane on the south. In the walls of the precincts were six gates-the principal one being on Ludgate Hill; the second at Paul's