Introduction to Westminster
Abbey
An architectural masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries,
Westminster Abbey also presents a unique pageant of British
history – the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, the tombs of
kings and queens, and countless memorials to the famous and the
great. It has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066
and for numerous other royal occasions.
Today it is still a
church dedicated to regular worship and to the celebration of
great events in the life of the nation. Neither a cathedral nor a
parish church, Westminster Abbey is a “Royal Peculiar” under the
jurisdiction of a Dean and Chapter, subject only to the
Sovereign.
Westminster Abbey, a work of architectural genius, a place of
daily worship, deploying the resources of high musical expertise,
a burial place of kings, statesmen, poets, scientists, warriors
and musicians, is the result of a process of development across
the centuries, which represents the response of a monastery and
later a post-Reformation church to the stimulus and challenge of
its environment.
In the 1040s King Edward (later St Edward the Confessor), established his royal palace by the
banks of the river Thames on land known as Thorney Island. Close
by was a small Benedictine monastery founded under the patronage
of King Edgar and St Dunstan around 960 AD. This monastery Edward
chose to re-endow and greatly enlarge, building a large stone
church in honour of St Peter the Apostle. This church became
known as the “west minster” to distinguish it from St Paul’s
Cathedral (the east minster) in the City of London.
Unfortunately, when the new church was consecrated on 28 December
1065 the King was too ill to attend and died a few days later.
His mortal remains were entombed in front of the High Altar.
The only traces of this Norman monastery are to be found in the round arches and
massive supporting columns of the Undercroft in the Cloisters.
This now houses the Abbey Museum but was originally part of the
domestic quarters of the monks. The Abbey also possesses an eleventh-century door – the oldest in England – which now hangs in the vestibule to the Chapter House. Among the most significant
ceremonies that occurred in the Norman Abbey were the coronation
of William the Conqueror on Christmas day 1066, and the
“translation” or moving of King Edward’s body to a new tomb a few
years after his canonisation in 1161.
Edward’s Abbey survived for two centuries until the middle of
the 13th century when King Henry III decided to rebuild it in the
new Gothic style of architecture. It was a great age for cathedrals: in France it
saw the construction of Amiens, Evreux and Chartres and in
England Canterbury, Winchester and Salisbury, to mention a few.
Under the decree of the King of England, Westminster Abbey was
designed to be not only a great monastery and place of worship,
but also a place for the coronation and burial of monarchs.
Every monarch since William the Conqueror, with the exception
of Edward V and Edward VIII who were never crowned, has been
crowned in the Abbey. It was natural that Henry III should wish
to translate the body of the saintly Edward the Confessor into a
more magnificent tomb behind the High Altar. This shrine survives
and around it are buried a cluster of medieval kings and their
consorts including Henry III, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile,
Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, Richard II and Anne of
Bohemia and Henry V. The Abbey contains some 600 monuments and
wall tablets – the most important collection of monumental
sculpture anywhere in the country - and over three thousand
people are buried here. Notable among these is the Unknown
Warrior, whose grave, close to the west door, has become a place
of pilgrimage.
A remarkable new addition to the Abbey was the glorious Lady
chapel built by King Henry VII, first of the Tudor monarchs,
which now bears his name. The chapel has a spectacular
fan-vaulted roof and the craftsmanship of Italian sculptor
Torrigiano can be seen in Henry’s fine tomb. The banners of the
Knights of the Order of the Bath, which surround the walls,
together with the Battle of Britain window by Hugh Easton at the
east end, give colour to this chapel.
Two centuries later a further addition was made to the Abbey
when the western towers (left unfinished from medieval times)
were completed, to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Little remains
of the original medieval stained glass, once one of the Abbey’s
chief glories. The great west window and the rose window in the
north transept date from the early 18th century but the remainder
of the glass dates from the 19th century onwards.
History did not cease with the passing of the medieval
monastery in 1540. Queen Elizabeth I, buried in one of the aisles
of Henry VII’s chapel, refounded the Abbey in 1560 as a
Collegiate Church, a Royal Peculiar exempt from the jurisdiction
of bishops and with the Sovereign as its Visitor. In place of the
monastic community a collegiate body of a dean and prebendaries,
minor canons and a lay staff was established and charged with the
task of continuing the tradition of daily worship (for which a
musical foundation of choristers, singing men and organist was
provided) and with the education of forty Scholars who formed the
nucleus of what is now Westminster School (one of the country’s
leading independent schools). In addition the Dean and Chapter
were responsible for much of the civil government of Westminster,
a role which was only fully relinquished in the early 20th
century. Thus the Abbey was reshaped and newly patterned to
discharge a distinctive yet worshipful role in a modern age.
A daily pattern of worship is still offered to the
Glory of God. Special services, representative of a wide spread
of interest and social concern, are held regularly. In 1965-66
the Abbey celebrated its 900th anniversary, taking as its theme
‘One People’. Such a theme seemed to be fitting for a church
which, through a long history of involvement with the developing
life of the British people, has become known throughout the
world.