Editing St Paul's Cathedral (section)

===Pre-Norman cathedral<!-- This section is linked from Ethelred the Unready -->===
There is evidence for Christianity in London during the Roman period, but no firm evidence for the location of churches or a cathedral. Bishop [[Restitutus]] is said to have represented London at the [[Council of Arles]] in 314 AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mann |first=J. C. |date=December 1961 |title=The Administration of Roman Britain |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/administration-of-roman-britain/8A09FCB2F3E872C7F0D48D63EEE9E8C6 |journal=Antiquity |volume=35 |issue=140 |pages=316–20 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00106465 |s2cid=163142469 |access-date=27 April 2023 |archive-date=16 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616023539/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/administration-of-roman-britain/8A09FCB2F3E872C7F0D48D63EEE9E8C6 |url-status=live }}</ref> A list of the 16 [[archbishops of London|"archbishops" of London]] was recorded by [[Jocelyn of Furness]] in the 12th century, claiming London's [[Celtic Christianity|Christian]] community was founded in the second century under the legendary [[Lucius of Britain|King&nbsp;Lucius]] and his missionary saints [[Saint Fagan|Fagan]], [[Deruvian]], Elvanus and Medwin. None of that is considered credible by modern historians but, although the surviving text is problematic, either Bishop [[Restitutus]] or Adelphius at the [[Council of Arles (314)|314 Council of Arles]] seems to have come from [[Londinium]].{{efn|"Nomina Episcoporum, cum Clericis Suis, Quinam, et ex Quibus Provinciis, ad Arelatensem Synodum Convenerint" ["The Names of the Bishops with Their Clerics who Came Together at the Synod of Arles and from which Province They Came"](from {{harvnb|Labbé|Cossart|1671|loc=col.&nbsp;1429}} included in {{harvnb|Thackery|1843|pp=272&nbsp;ff.}}).}}

[[Bede]] records that in AD{{nbsp}}604 [[Augustine of Canterbury]] consecrated [[Mellitus]] as the first bishop to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] kingdom of the [[East Saxons]] and their king, [[Sæberht]]. Sæberht's uncle and overlord, [[Æthelberht of Kent|Æthelberht]], king of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]], built a church dedicated to St&nbsp;Paul in London, as the seat of the new bishop.{{sfn|Bede|1910|pp=68–69}} It is assumed, although not proved, that this first Anglo-Saxon cathedral stood on the same site as the later medieval and the present cathedrals. <!-- If anyone wants to debate whether the original cathedral stood on another site, perhaps in Lundenwic, please cite verifiable references or discuss on Talk page-->

On the death of Sæberht in about 616, his pagan sons expelled Mellitus from London, and the East Saxons reverted to paganism. The fate of the first cathedral building is unknown. Christianity was restored among the East Saxons in the late seventh century and it is presumed that either the Anglo-Saxon cathedral was restored or a new building erected as the seat of bishops such as [[Cedd]], [[Wine (bishop)|Wine]] and [[Erkenwald]], the last of whom was buried in the cathedral in 693.

Earconwald was consecrated bishop of London in 675, and is said to have bestowed great cost on the fabric, and in later times he almost occupied the place of traditionary, founder: the veneration paid to him is second only to that which was rendered to St. Paul.<ref name="secular1">{{Cite web |title=Secular canons: Cathedral of St. Paul {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp409-433#fnn157 |access-date=27 August 2023 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref> Erkenwald would become a subject of the important High Medieval poem ''[[St. Erkenwald (poem)|St Erkenwald]]''.

King [[Æthelred the Unready]] was buried in the cathedral on his death in 1016; the tomb is now lost. The cathedral was burnt, with much of the city, in a [[Early fires of London|fire in 1087]], as recorded in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]''.{{sfn|Garmonsway|1953|page=218}}