ormation. We know
that in A.D. 1541, Cranmer deplored the slight effect which had been
wrought by the royal orders for the destruction of the bones and images
of supposed saints. And that he forthwith received letters from the king,
enjoining him to cause "due search to be made in his cathedral churches,
and if any shrine, covering of shrine, table, monument of miracles, or
other pilgrimage, do there continue, to cause it to be taken away, so as
there remain no memory of it." This order probably brought about the
destruction of the tombs and monuments of the early archbishops, most
of whom had been officially canonised, or been at least enrolled in the
popular calendar, and were accordingly doomed to have their resting-places
desecrated. We know that about this time the tomb of Winchelsey was
destroyed, because he was adored by the people as a reputed saint.

Any monuments that may have escaped royal vandalism at the Reformation
period, fell before the even more effective fanaticism of the Puritans,
who seem to have exercised their iconoclastic energies with especial zeal
and vigour at Canterbury. Just before their time Archbishop Laud spent a
good deal of trouble and money on the adornment of the high altar. A
letter to him from the Dean, dated July 8th, A.D. 1634, is quoted by
Prynne, "We have obeyed your Grace's direction in pulling down the
exorbitant seates within our Quire whereby the church is very much
beautified.... Lastly wee most humbly beseech your Grace to take notice
that many and most necessary have beene the occasions of extraordinary
expences this yeare for ornaments, etc." And another Puritan scribe tells
us that "At the east end of the cathedral they have placed an Altar as
they call it dressed after the Romish fashion, for which altar they have
lately provided a most idolatrous costly glory cloth or back cloth."

These embellishments were not destined to remain long undisturbed. In A.D.
1642, the Puritan troopers hewed the altar-rails to pieces and then "threw
the Altar over and over down the three Altar steps, and left it lying with
the heels upwards." This was only the beginning: we read that during the
time of the Great Rebellion, "the newly erected font was pulled down, the
inscriptions, figures, and coats of arms, engraven upon brass, were torn
off from the ancient monuments, and whatsoever there was of beauty or
decency in the holy place, was despoiled."

A manuscript, compiled in 1662, and pr