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1、From a small Saxon church to a great Cathedral, the long history ofthis sacred place stretches back over 15 centuries. You II find so mu discover: glorious church architecture and tiny crafted details, priceless treasures and great works of art, historic eve nts and famous people. We hope you ll vis
2、it.Fiftee n cen turies of En glish history lie beh ind the massive Cathedral you see today. It stands at the heart of historic Winchester, once the seat of An glo-Sax on and Norma n royal power, on the site of an early Christia n church. It s been a place of worship ever since.A royal An glo-Sax on
3、churchToday Cathedral has its roots in the seventh century, when England s paga n mon archy first became Christia ns.In 635, Cynegils, king of the West Saxons, was baptised. Just over a decade later, his son Cenwalh built the first Christian church inWin chester, the heart of An glo-Sax on Wessex.Th
4、is small, cross-shaped church became known as Old Mi nster. You can still see where it stood, its outline traced in red brick, just north of the prese nt buildi ng.Soon, Old Min ster became a cathedral, hous ing the thron ecathedra) of a bishop who held sway over a huge diocese that stretched from t
5、he En glishCha nnel to the river Thames.This was now the most importa nt royal church in An glo-Sax on En gla nd.It was the burial place for some of the earliest kings of Wessex, includingKing Alfred the Great.Here too King Cnut, who ruled England and Denmark in the early 11th cen tury, chose to be
6、buried, and was joined by his wife Queen Emma on her death in 1052.A place of pilgrimageBy the 10th cen tury, Old Min ster was the priory church of a com mun ity of monks, living a simple life of frequent prayer under the rule of StBen edict.Here, eight times a day, the monks would pray and cha nt t
7、he begi nnings of the great En glish choral traditi on that rema ins one of the n ati on s treasures today.The church was made bigger and grander by its 10th-century bishop,Aethelwold. The bones of St Swithun, a former bishop, were dug up from its forecourt and housed in a sple ndid new shri ne in s
8、ide.St Swithun fame spread far and wide. All round his tomb, the walls were hung with the crutches of people he d healed.By the year 1000, Old Min ster was a multipurpose buildi ng -a mightyCathedral, a thriving priory church, a healing place of pilgrimage, and the final resting place of West Saxon
9、kings.The Norma ns arriveBut huge changeslay ahead,as England Saxon leaders were abruptly toppled by a great new military power.In 1066, William the Conq ueror successfully in vaded En gla nd from his duchy of Norma ndy. He was anoin ted king at Westm in ster Abbey, and quickly moved to take con tro
10、l of the Church.He replaced Winchester s last Saxon bishop with hioyawahaplain,Walkeli n. The French bishop set about buildi ng a huge new church in theNorma n Roma nesque style.After 450 years, Old Min ster was demolished. Its stones were used for thenew Cathedral, con secrated i n 1093 with a grea
11、t cere mony atte nded by almost all England s bishops and abbots.You can still the Norman roots of our present Cathedral in its massive, roun d-arched crypt and tran septs today.A thriv ing medieval CathedraThe Norman Cathedral flourished. William Rufus, William theConqueror s son, was buried here i
12、n 1100.You can still see the rema ins of its great mon astery, St Swithu nThese in clude the 14th-ce ntury Pilgrims Hall where visitors stayed, and the site of the monksmit6ry,dnxDw a tranq uil garde n.Sumptuous works of art were commissi on ed. A glorious new font celebrat ing the work of St Nichol
13、as was in stalled. I n the 12th cen tury, a magnificent illuminated Bible was made for the monks to use in their daily worship. You can still see the Win Chester Bible in the CathedralLibrary.In the centuries that followed, wealthy and powerful bishops put their stamp on the Norman cathedral. They r
14、emodelled it with soaring gothic arches the 14th century, making it even more ornate in the 15th and 16th cen turies.They also commissi oned their own chapels, where priests would say daily massesover their tombs to speed their souls into heaven. These fine chantry chapels rema in one of the great g
15、lories of our Cathedral.A new Church of En gla ndThe dissolution of England s monasteries during the 1530s under HenryVIII, in his dispute with the Catholic church of Rome, was a catastrophic upheaval. All were swept away. A few, including Winchester, were re-foun ded as cathedrals.After n early 600
16、 years, Win chester great Ben edict ine mon astery, StSwithun s Priory, hadme to an end. The shrine of its patron saint was ran sacked un der cover of dark ness, and its cloister demolished.In the 1550s, Roman Catholicism was briefly revived by Henry s daughter Mary Tudor, who married her Spanish husba nd in the Cathedral.But from then on, the reformed Church of England held
