Pitkin is proud to release a special guidebook, showcasing the story of the archbishops of Canterbury. Expertly printed on high-quality paper and fully illustrated with stunning exclusive photographs throughout, this souvenir is a treasure. The archbishopric of Canterbury is the oldest continuous institution in Britain – older than the English crown and much older than Parliament. The first archbishop, Augustine, took up office in 597, a mere two centuries after the Romans had left, and since then his successors have survived the demise of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the emergence of the English nation, the Norman Conquest, the Protestant Reformation, the English Civil War, the evolution of
parliamentary democracy, the importation of foreign kings, the rise of modern science, the Industrial Revolution, two World Wars, the rapid growth of cultural pluralism and, in recent times, a marked decline in formal religious observance. This book explores how this ancient and venerable institution has shaped and been shaped by the social, political and religious events that have sculpted the contours of British history for a millennium and a half.
