Westminster Abbey
formed by flying buttresses.]]
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
\nAccording 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).
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 the Archbishop of Canterbury – and made it the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, the college being Westminster School. Since then, the head has been not a bishop but a dean, appointed by the monarch.
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
\nKing 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.
Burials
\nHenry 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 most of the monarchs after Charles I are buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
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 Generals, Admirals, politicians, scientists, doctors etc. etc. These include:
Buried\nNave\n*Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee\n*Angela Burdett-Coutts\n*Charles Darwin\n*Ben Jonson\n*David Livingstone\n*Sir Isaac Newton\n*Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford\n*William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin\n*The Unknown Warrior\nNorth Transept\n*William Ewart Gladstone\n*William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham\n*William Pitt the Younger\nSouth Transept\n*Robert Adam\n*Robert Browning\n*Geoffrey Chaucer\n*Charles Dickens\n*John Dryden\n*David Garrick\n*George Friderich Handel\n*Dr Samuel Johnson\n*Rudyard Kipling\n*Thomas Macaulay\n*Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier\n*Edmund Spenser\n*Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson\nCloisters\n*Aphra Behn\nNorth Choir Aisle\n*Henry Purcell\n*Ralph Vaughan Williams
Commemorated\n*William Shakespeare, buried Stratford-upon-Avon\n*Sir Winston Churchill, buried Bladon, Oxfordshire\n*Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, buried Beaconsfield\n*Adam Lindsay Gordon, buried Australia
Removed
\nThe following were buried in the abbey but later removed on the orders of Charles II\n*Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector\n*Admiral Robert Blake
See also Poets' Corner
Schools
\nWestminster 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
\n*Nearest London Underground stations: \n** St. James's Park (District, Circle lines)\n** Westminster (Jubilee, District, Circle lines)
List of Abbots, Deans, and the Bishop of Westminster
\n{|\n|-\n| colspan="2" | Abbots\n|-\n| Edwin || 1049 – c. 1071\n|-\n| Geoffrey of Jumièges || c. 1071 – c. 1075\n|-\n| Vitalis of Bernay || c. 1076 – 1085\n|-\n| Gilbert Crispin || 1085 – 1117\n|-\n| Herbert || 1121 – c. 1136\n|-\n| Gervase de Blois || 1138 – c. 1157\n|-\n| Laurence of Durham || c. 1158 – 1173\n|-\n| Walter of Winchester || 1175 – 1190\n|-\n| William Postard || 1191 – 1200\n|-\n| Ralph de Arundel (alias Papillon) || 1200 – 1214\n|-\n| William de Humez || 1214 – 1222\n|-\n| Richard de Berkying || 1222 – 1246\n|-\n| Richard de Crokesley || 1246 – 1258\n|-\n| Phillip de Lewisham || 1258\n|-\n| Richard de Ware || 1258 – 1283\n|-\n| Walter de Wenlok || 1283 – 1307\n|-\n| Richard de Kedyngton (alias Sudbury) || 1308 – 1315\n|-\n| William de Curtlyngton || 1315 – 1333\n|-\n| Thomas de Henley || 1333 – 1344\n|-\n| Simon de Bircheston || 1344 – 1349\n|-\n| Simon de Langham || 1349 – 1362\n|-\n| Nicholas de Litlyngton || 1362 – 1386\n|-\n| William de Colchester || 1386 – 1420\n|-\n| Edmund Kyrton || 1440 – 1462\n|-\n| George Norwich || 1463 – 1469\n|-\n| Thomas Millyng || 1469 – 1474\n|-\n| John Esteney || 1474 – 1498\n|-\n| George Fascet || 1498 – 1500\n|-\n| John Islip || 1500 – 1532\n|-\n| William Boston || 1533 – 1540\n|-\n| colspan="2" | Bishop
intra-Reformation\n|-\n| Thomas Thirlby || 1540 – 1550\n|-\n| colspan="2" | Deans
intra-Reformation\n|-\n| William Benson (Abbot Boston) || 1540 – 1549\n|-\n| Richard Cox || 1549 – 1553\n|-\n| Hugh Weston || 1553 – 1556\n|-\n| colspan="2" | Abbot
restored by Mary I of England\n|-\n| John Feckenham || 1556 – 1559\n|-\n| colspan="2" | Deans
post-Reformation\n|-\n| William Bill || 1560 – 1561\n|-\n| Gabriel Goodman || 1561 – 1601\n|-\n| Lancelot Andrews || 1601 – 1605\n|-\n| Richard Neile || 1605 – 1610\n|-\n| George Montaigne || 1610 – 1617\n|-\n| Robert Tounson || 1617 – 1620\n|-\n| John Williams || 1620 – 1644\n|-\n| Richard Steward (never installed) || 1644 – 1651 || (Commonwealth period)\n|-\n| John Earle || 1660 – 1662\n|-\n| John Dolben || 1662 – 1683\n|-\n| Thomas Sprat || 1683 – 1713\n|-\n| Francis Atterbury || 1713 – 1723\n|-\n| Samuel Bradford || 1723 – 1731\n|-\n| Joseph Wilcocks || 1731 – 1756\n|-\n| Zachary Pearce || 1756 – 1768\n|-\n| John Thomas || 1768 – 1793\n|-\n| Samuel Horsley || 1793 – 1802\n|-\n| William Vincent || 1802 – 1815\n|-\n| John Ireland || 1816 – 1842\n|-\n| Thomas Turton || 1842 – 1845\n|-\n| Samuel Wilberforce || 1845\n|-\n| William Buckland || 1845 – 1856\n|-\n| Richard Chenevix Trench || 1856 – 1864\n|-\n| Arthur Penrhyn Stanley || 1864 – 1881\n|-\n| George Granville Bradley || 1881 – 1902\n|-\n| Joseph Armitage Robinson || 1902 – 1911\n|-\n| Herbert Edward Ryle || 1911 – 1925\n|-\n| William Foxley Norris || 1925 – 1937\n|-\n| Paul de Labilliere || 1938 – 1946\n|-\n| Alan Don || 1946 – 1959\n|-\n| Eric Abbott || 1959 – 1974\n|-\n| Edward Carpenter || 1974 – 1985\n|-\n| Michael Mayne || 1986 – 1996\n|-\n| Arthur Wesley Carr || 1997 – present\n|}
See also
\n* List of churches and cathedrals of London\n* List of other famous burial sites
Further reading
\n* 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
\n* Westminster Abbey
Category:World Heritage Sites in England\nCategory:London architecture\nCategory:London attractions\nCategory:British churches\nCategory:London places of worship
\n\n\n \nzh-cn:西敏寺
