of the eastern end has been excavated one can see the underground portion of practically all the east end and part of the north transept.  Ethelbert’s son, Eadbald, having been converted two years after his accession, built another church east of that of Saints Peter and Paul, and this was joined on to the abbey church when the east end was extended about the time of the Norman Conquest.  At the same time as he began the monastery subsequently called after him, Augustine appears to have made his headquarters close to another early Christian church within the walls of the Saxon city.  This, according to Bede, was hallowed “in the name of the Holy Saviour,” and thus arose the name Christ Church—­the name the cathedral now bears.  In these early times there were therefore five Christian churches either restored or under construction, and they were all roughly in a line running east and west.  First there was Christ Church and Augustine’s residence—­eventually the priory—­within the walls, then the embryo abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, with the chapel of St. Mary a little to the east.  Farther still was the church of St. Pancras, and farthest from the city walls, on its little hill, St. Martin’s.  There are other traces of Saxon work in the church of St. Mildred near the castle, but this is much later than anything that has been discovered on the other sites, and Dr. Cox points out what he claims as pre-Conquest work in St. Dunstan’s outside the city, on the Whitstable Road.

Canterbury appears to have grown and prospered in spite of various attacks made by the Danes until the year 1011, when the city, after a defence lasting nearly three weeks, fell into the hands of the invaders through treachery from within.  Alphege, the good old archbishop, was obliged to witness the savagery of the Danes when they burst through the gates and began a horrible slaughter, which included the monks of Christ Church, and it is said that about 7,000 Saxons perished.  Not content with all this butchery, they burnt the cathedral.  Archbishop Alphege was carried off by the victorious Danes, who at Greenwich gave way to drunken excesses, and in brutal fashion killed their prisoner.  The body was brought from London, where it had been buried, back to Canterbury ten years later by Canute, the first Danish King of England, who made what atonement he could by lending his freshly painted state barge for the ceremonious translation of the martyr’s remains.  Arrived at Canterbury, the King proceeded to further demonstrate his submission to the Church his people had devastated by hanging up his crown in the cathedral which Alphege’s successor, Archbishop Living, had reroofed.  Canute, having made a journey to Rome in 1031, among other pious resolutions, declared that he would amend his life and conversation, and it was with his help that the Saxon cathedral was properly repaired and decorated.