Peterborough Cathedral

Hi guys this is my first post. I was walking round Peterborough today after buying a new camera, and I got think about how amazing the cathedral is. Let me tell you some history of the cathedral.

Peterborough Cathedral is a magnificent building with a huge history. A church has stood on this site for over 1300 years. The original housed some of the relics venerated by mediæval Britons. There was a King Oswald of Northumberland. He was renowned for giving food to the poor. After his death in 642 his right arm was kept in a casket at Bamburgh, Northumbria in northeast England. A monk called Winegot then transferred it to Peterborough Cathedral in 1060. This was the age when people believed such a limb could work miracles. and they would travel huge distances to see and touch these ?relics.?

In 1170 Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by four knights in Canterbury Cathedral. This was an act of sacrilege, which occurred because King Henry II, had been heard to say, ?who will rid me of this turbulent priest?? A priest called Benedict took Thomas?s bloodied shirt, two phials of his blood and some stone from the alter where Thomas had fallen, to Peterborough Cathedral. These items were, likewise, venerated as relics. Thomas was canonized in 1173, thus becoming known as St. Thomas à Becket.

Next, came the mortal remains of Catherine of Aragon. She was the first wife of Henry VIII, married to him for over 20 years. January 2009 was the 450th anniversary of her death. Local school children had decorated her resting place in the cathedral with their own handmade cards and flowers and a special service followed. The Spanish Ambassador attended, as Catherine was Spanish in origin.

Queen Elizabeth I, after delaying for as long as possible the signing of the death warrant for Mary Queen of Scots, had the latter?s remains interred in Peterborough Cathedral immediately following the execution in 1587. Mary?s body was later removed to Henry V11?s chapel in Westminster Abbey, where it still lies to this day. The Scottish flag of St Andrew, is placed just above the place where Mary was interred. Peterborough Cathedral is well worth a visit