Founded with a Saxon nunnery circa AD 700, Coventry has endured conflict with King Canute (whose army destroyed the nunnery), Henry II (whose army largely destroyed Coventry Castle), Henry VIII (whose Reformation saw the destruction of the first cathedral), Charles I (Coventry was a parliamentary stronghold) and, in 1940, with Hitler’s Luftwaffe. The city and cathedral share a history of conflict just as, today, they share a determination to build justice and peace, by healing wounds and learning to live with difference.