One of London’s great sights is the magnificent cross-topped dome of St Paul’s Cathedral rising supreme amidst the steeples, towers and high-rise office buildings of the modern city. But the dome goes back less than 300 years, and before its time a much larger medieval cathedral stood here whose spire once soared nearly 100 feet higher. Old St Paul’s was so important a part of medieval London that its story needs to be told separately.
This was the most ancient church foundation in London, the most splendid ecclesiastical structure in the City and the centre of its religious and, to some extent, its civic life. It lasted from 1240 to 1666, roughly on the site where St Paul’s Cathedral stands today. It was the fourth known church to be built here. At 596 feet, it was the largest church in England and the third largest in all Europe. The steeple was 489 feet high and could be seen from as far away as Greenwich.
The first St Paul’s Cathedral, a wooden building consecrated in 604, was replaced by a stone structure built by Bishop Erkenwald. After destruction by the Vikings, it was rebuilt by the Saxons in 962, and this building burned down in 1087. Construction of the medieval St Paul’s went on for some 250 years. Even after its consecration the further addition of a choir took place, which greatly increased its length. The steeple was put up in 1315 (and burned during a lightning storm in 1561).
Old St Paul’s was affected in one way or another by all the great events in London’s history throughout the Middle Ages. Pilgrims (like modern tourists) came by the thousands from all parts of the kingdom to visit the shrine of St Erkenwald, covered with pure gold, and to gape at other marvellous relics such as some hair of Mary Magdalene, the blood of St Paul, milk from the Virgin’s breast, the hand of St John and some pieces of the skull of Thomas who publicly proclaimed the excommunication of the bishop of London.) In the early thirteenth century archbishop Stephen Langton secured a pledge from a large gathering of prelates and barons at St Paul’s to support the Magna Carta and all the liberties of England. Wyclif came to St Paul’s in 1377 accompanied by John of Gaunt and Lord Percy, Earl Marshall of England. Later one of the Lollard priests nailed twelve articles to the door of St Paul’s denouncing false doctrine and clerical vice. And Henry VII came here twice after his victory at Bosworth Field to offer thanksgiving.
In Reformation times Old St Paul’s was the scene of several occasions of great ecclesiastical pomp involving the ambitious Cardinal Wolsey. In 1522 Wolsey said mass before King Henry VIII and the Emperor Charles V, surrounded by more than twenty prelates waving incense. But in the reign of Edward VI the cathedral was stripped of its images and crucifixes, vestments and altar cloths were sold, and a plain table was used for communion; the ceremonials returned during Mary’s short reign. Several heresy trials were conducted here under the vicious Bishop Bonner. In Elizabeth’s day the victory over the Spanish Armada was celebrated amid great rejoicing by a sermon at Paul’s Cross, and later the queen herself came to offer her thanks to God.
Despite its honoured position as London’s earliest Christian foundation and the episcopal see of the capital city, Old St Paul’s was used very irreverently by the general citizenry. As early as King Edward III (1327–77) a proclamation was issued prohibiting buying and selling in the cathedral, throwing stones and shooting arrows at jackdaws nesting in the church walls and playing at ball within the building. But numerous warnings and punishments notwithstanding, Old Sr Paul’s seems always to have been more a Vanity Fair than a place of worship. ‘Cheats, gulls, assassins, and thieves thronged the middle aisle of St Paul’s; advertisements of all kinds covered the walls; the worst class of servants came there to be hired; worthless rascals and disreputable flaunting women met there by appointment.’
By the seventeenth century Old St Paul’s was badly in need of repair. James I tried and failed to raise money for the work, but William Laud, the new bishop of London appointed by Charles I, succeeded in getting a new west end built, to a classical design by Inigo Jones. However, the work was cut short by the strife between the king and Parliament. The remaining building funds were seized, and after the king’s execution the building was badly defaced and the choir used for a cavalry barracks. Much of the gold, silver and valuables was sold off, partly to raise money for Cromwell’s artillery. After the Restoration, Wren was called in to try and make a plan to revive the old cathedral once again. However, the Great Fire enabled the architect to apply his genius to an entirely new structure.