Though perhaps not as famous as Westminster Abbey, in the middle ages the Cathedral of Canterbury was the seat of the most powerful archbishop in England (despite the constant challenges from the Archbishops of York). Even before the present cathedral building was erected, the diocese of Kent (in which Canterbury resides) was the political head of the Catholic Church in England, principally because the northern parts of England proved more difficult to convert and the area of Kent, in the southeastern part of the island, was most easily established as an early Christian stronghold. The first Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Augustine, baptized King Ethelbert of Kent in 597 and dedicated Canterbury's first cathedral shortly thereafter. That building burnt to the ground after it was enlarged by the Normans in the 8th century and was replaced with a newer structure by Archbishop Lanfranc, a close assistant to William the Conqueror. That church, however, was partially torn down by Lanfranc's successor, St. Anselm, who began the still-present crypt in 1096. The current cathedral, with the exceptions of the nave and the central and north-west towers, is the product of the extensive repairs begun shortly after 1100 - a construction that was directed for the first several years by the Frenchman William of Sens and then by the William the Englishman. Both of these master masons were quite innovative, making large strides away from the older Norman style and towards the newer Gothic architecture already in practice in France. In 1170 the infamous murder of Thomas Becket took place in the older Norman cathedral, an event which not only inspired a glass window made in 1220 and still standing in the present Cathedral but also gave Canterbury a leg up on York in the competition for most important diocese. Although the issue at hand (the political power of the clergy versus the king) was not particularly exciting, the spectacular manner in which Becket died - murdered by four knights of King Edward II while at prayer in the Cathedral - ensured his fame and "scored a goal" for Canterbury in the eyes of the Pope, whose sympathies in the political struggle lay with the Archbishop Becket. (Edwards)

The Norman nave was torn down in the 14th century and architect Henry Yevele was given license to rebuild in the Perpindicular Gothic Style while preserving very little of the original Norman stoneworking. The crypt is the only remaining Norman structure in Canterbury Cathedral. What Yevele produced is a space that floods with light from the large aisle windows and a sereies of vaults that seem to be held up by next to nothing. The pillars that line the nave are much more slender than those of Durham and their lines continue uninterrupted to the slightly pointed vaulting high above the cathedral floor. It is this characteristic that is unmistakenly Perpindicular, and distinguishes Canterbury from earlier Norman cathedral architecture. In Canterbury the successive levels from columns upward into the higher nave walls are all linked and united by continuous lines. This technique is noticeably lacking in places like Durham where vertical levels are strictly sectioned by hard horizontal lines. The wide nave contrasts elegantly with the long slender aisles as seen in the series of images below.

The central tower was added in 1490, the interior of which can be seen in the images directly below. An intricate pattern of fan vaulting was used in this instance and is indicative of the architectural influence of French Gothic that washed over southern England 500 years ago.