Ancient English town, probably near London, where important councils of the Anglo-Saxon Church were held in 742,747, 794,798, 803,824, 825. They represented the See of Canterbury and the whole English Church south of Humber. The most important were: the second, presided over by Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, in which letters of Pope Zachary were read, 31 canons were passed, and usage of the Roman Church was prescribed; and the fifth, which by the authority of Pope Leo III restored to Canterbury the Mercian Sees and abolished the archbishopric erected at request of King Offa. These councils were representative of church and realm. Kings of Mercia and chief men were present as well as bishops and abbots, and both laymen and clerical signed decrees.