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Westminster Abbey The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (Westminster Abbey), a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral, is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English monarchs. It is located in Westminster, London, just to the west of Westminster Palace. History According to tradition, a shrine was first founded here in 616 on a site then known as Thorney Island. It was said to have been miraculously consecrated after a fisherman on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter. While the existence of this shrine is uncertain, the historic Abbey was built by Edward the Confessor between 1045-1050 and was consecrated on December 28, 1065. Its construction originated in Edward's failure to keep a vow to go on a pilgrimage; the Pope suggested that he redeem himself by building an Abbey. The original Abbey, in the Romanesque style that is called "Norman" in England, was built to house Benedictine monks. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style between 1245-1517. The first phase of the rebuilding was organised by Henry III, in Gothic style, as a shrine to honor Edward the Confessor and as a suitably regal setting for Henry's own tomb, under the highest Gothic nave in England. The work was largely finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of King Richard II. Henry VII added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the Henry VII Lady Chapel). Westminster Abbey's western facade Although the Abbey was seized by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1534, and closed in 1540, becoming a cathedral until 1550, its royal connections saved it from the destruction wrought on most other English abbeys. The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may arise from this period when money meant for the Abbey, which was dedicated to St. Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St. Paul's Cathedral. It suffered damage during the turbulent 1640s, when it was attacked by Puritan iconoclasts, but was again protected by its close ties to the state during the Commonwealth period. Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gibbet. The Abbey was restored to the Benedictines under Queen Mary, but they were again ejected under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1579, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "royal peculiar" – a church responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, (i.e. a church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean). The abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under Sir George Gilbert Scott. Until the 19th century, Westminster was the third seat of learning in England, after Oxford and Cambridge. It was here that the first third of the King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated. The New English Bible was also put together here in the 20th century.
Coronations King Harold II Godwinson was the first monarch crowned in the Abbey in 1066. On Christmas Day of the same year William the Conqueror was crowned here and all subsequent English monarchs (except Lady Jane Grey, Edward V and Edward VIII, who did not have coronations) have been crowned there. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony. Harold and William, however, were crowned by the Archbishop of York possibly because Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury was excomunicated at the time. The throne, kept in the Abbey, on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation is known as St. Edward's Chair The north entrance of Westminster Abbey
Burials and Memorials Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor whose memorial and relics were placed in the Sanctuary. Henry III was buried nearby as were the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and relatives. Subsequently, most Kings and Queens of England were buried here. Although Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, as are all monarchs and royals since George II. Aristocrats were buried in side chapels and monks and people associated with the Abbey were buried in the Cloisters and other areas. One of these was Geoffrey Chaucer, who was buried here as he had apartments in the Abbey as he was employed as master of the Kings Works. Other poets were buried around Chaucer in what became known as Poets' Corner. Abbey musicians such as Henry Purcell were also buried in their place of work. Subsequently it became an honour to be buried or memorialised here. The practice spread from aristocrats and poets to Swarovski generals, admirals, politicians, scientists, doctors, etc., etc. These include: Buried Nave Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee Angela Burdett-Coutts Charles Darwin Ben Jonson David Livingstone Sir Isaac Newton Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin The Unknown Warrior North Transept William Ewart Gladstone William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham William Pitt the Younger South Transept Poets' Corner Robert Adam Robert Browning Geoffrey Chaucer Charles Dickens John Dryden David Garrick George Friderich Handel Dr Samuel Johnson Rudyard Kipling Thomas Macaulay Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier Edmund Spenser Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson Cloisters Aphra Behn North Choir Aisle Henry Purcell Ralph Vaughan Williams Commemorated William Shakespeare, buried Stratford-upon-Avon Sir Winston Churchill, buried Bladon, Oxfordshire Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, buried Beaconsfield Adam Lindsay Gordon, buried Australia Ten 20-century Christian martyrs from across the world are depicted in statues above the Great West Door. Unveiled in 1998, these are, from left to right: Maximilian Kolbe Manche Masemola Janani Luwum Elizabeth of Russia Martin Luther King, Jr. Óscar Romero Dietrich Bonhoeffer Esther John Lucian Tapiedi Wang Zhiming Removed The following were buried in the abbey but later removed on the orders of Charles II Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector Admiral Robert Blake
Schools Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School are also on the grounds of the Abbey. Westminster School was originally founded by the Benedictine monks in 1179.
Transport Nearest London Underground stations: St. James's Park (District, Circle lines) Westminster (Jubilee, District, Circle lines)
List of Abbots, Deans, and the Bishop of Westminster Abbots Edwin 1049 – c. 1071 Geoffrey of Jumièges c. 1071 – c. 1075 Vitalis of Bernay c. 1076 – 1085 Gilbert Crispin 1085 – 1117 Herbert 1121 – c. 1136 Gervase de Blois 1138 – c. 1157 Laurence of Durham c. 1158 – 1173 Walter of Winchester 1175 – 1190 William Postard 1191 – 1200 Ralph de Arundel (alias Papillon) 1200 – 1214 William de Humez 1214 – 1222 Richard de Berkying 1222 – 1246 Richard de Crokesley 1246 – 1258 Phillip de Lewisham 1258 Richard de Ware 1258 – 1283 Walter de Wenlok 1283 – 1307 Richard de Kedyngton (alias Sudbury) 1308 – 1315 William de Curtlyngton 1315 – 1333 Thomas de Henley 1333 – 1344 Simon de Bircheston 1344 – 1349 Simon de Langham 1349 – 1362 Nicholas de Litlyngton 1362 – 1386 William de Colchester 1386 – 1420 Edmund Kyrton 1440 – 1462 George Norwich 1463 – 1469 Thomas Millyng 1469 – 1474 John Esteney 1474 – 1498 George Fascet 1498 – 1500 John Islip 1500 – 1532 William Boston 1533 – 1540 Bishop intra-Reformation Thomas Thirlby 1540 – 1550 Deans intra-Reformation William Benson (Abbot Boston) 1540 – 1549 Richard Cox 1549 – 1553 Hugh Weston 1553 – 1556 Abbot restored by Mary I of England John Feckenham 1556 – 1559 Deans post-Reformation William Bill 1560 – 1561 Gabriel Goodman 1561 – 1601 Lancelot Andrews 1601 – 1605 Richard Neile 1605 – 1610 George Montaigne 1610 – 1617 Robert Tounson 1617 – 1620 John Williams 1620 – 1644 Richard Steward (never installed) 1644 – 1651 (Commonwealth period) John Earle 1660 – 1662 John Dolben 1662 – 1683 Thomas Sprat 1683 – 1713 Francis Atterbury 1713 – 1723 Samuel Bradford 1723 – 1731 Joseph Wilcocks 1731 – 1756 Zachary Pearce 1756 – 1768 John Thomas 1768 – 1793 Samuel Horsley 1793 – 1802 William Vincent 1802 – 1815 John Ireland 1816 – 1842 Thomas Turton 1842 – 1845 Samuel Wilberforce 1845 William Buckland 1845 – 1856 Richard Chenevix Trench 1856 – 1864 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley 1864 – 1881 George Granville Bradley 1881 – 1902 Joseph Armitage Robinson 1902 – 1911 Herbert Edward Ryle 1911 – 1925 William Foxley Norris 1925 – 1937 Paul de Labilliere 1938 – 1946 Alan Don 1946 – 1959 Eric Abbott 1959 – 1974 Edward Carpenter 1974 – 1985 Michael Mayne 1986 – 1996 Arthur Wesley Carr 1997 – present Further reading Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England - London 6: Westminster pp. 105-207. Yale University Press 2003. ISBN 0 300 09595 3.
External link Westminster Abbey (http://www.westminster-abbey.org/) |
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