Edward the Confessor's abbey

Between 1042 and 1052, Edward the Confessor began rebuilding Saint Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was built in the Romanesque style and was the first church in England built on a cruciform floorplan.^[8] The master stonemason for the project was Leofsi Duddason,^[9] with Godwin and Wendelburh Gretsyd (meaning "fat purse") as patrons, and Teinfrith as "churchwright", probably meaning someone who worked on the carpentry and roofing.^[10] Endowments from Edward supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan's time, to as many as 80.^[11] The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066.^[12] A week later, he was buried in the church; nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him.^[13] His successor, Harold Godwinson, was probably crowned here, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year.^[14]

The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey is in the Bayeux Tapestry. The foundations still survive under the present church, and above ground, some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory survive in the undercroft, including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey. It was a little smaller than the current church, with a central tower.^[15]

In 1103, thirty-seven years after his death, Edward's tomb was re-opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I, who discovered that his body was still in perfect condition. This was considered proof of his saintliness, and he was canonised in 1161. Two years later he was moved to a new shrine, during which time his ring was removed and placed in the abbey's collection.^[16]

The abbey became more closely associated with royalty from the second half of the 12th century, as kings increasingly used the nearby Palace of Westminster as the seat of their governments.^[17] In 1222, the abbey was officially granted exemption from the Bishop of London's jurisdiction, making it answerable only to the head of the Church itself. By this time, the abbey owned a large swathe of land around it, from modern-day Oxford Street to the Thames, plus entire parishes in the City of London such as St. Alban Wood Street and St. Magnus the Martyr, and several wharfs.^[18] Outside London, the abbey owned estates across southeast England, including in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Essex, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.^[19] The abbot was also the lord of the manor in Westminster as a town of two to three thousand people grew around the abbey.^[20] As a consumer and employer on a grand scale, the abbey helped fuel the town's economy, and relations with the town remained unusually cordial, but no enfranchising charter was issued during the Middle Ages.^[21]

Westminster Abbey at the time of Edward the Confessor's funeral, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century

The Chamber of the Pyx, one of the few remaining 11th-century sections of the church

Henry III's rebuilding

Westminster Abbey continued to be used as a coronation site, but after Edward the Confessor, no monarchs were buried there until Henry III began to rebuild it in the Gothic style as a shrine to venerate Edward, as a competitor to match the great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle,^[22] and as a burial place for himself and his family.^[23] Construction began on 6 July 1245 under Henry's master mason, Henry of Reynes.^[9] The first building stage included the entire eastern end, the transepts, and the easternmost bay of the nave. The Lady chapel, built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end, was incorporated into the chevet of the new building, but has since been replaced by the Henry VII Chapel.

Around 1253, Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester, who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260.^[24] During the summer, there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time,^[25] including stonecutters, marblers, stone-layers, carpenters, painters and their assistants, marble polishers, smiths, glaziers, plumbers, and general labourers.^[26] From 1257, Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey's chapter house, which were a precursor to the House of Commons. Henry III also commissioned the Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar.^[27] Further building work carried the nave an additional five bays, bringing it to one bay west of the choir. Here, construction stopped in about 1269. By 1261 alone Henry had spent £29,345 19s 8d on the abbey, and the final sum may have been in the region of £50,000.^[28] A consecration ceremony was held on 13 October 1269, during which the remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar,^[29] but after Henry's death and burial in the abbey in 1272, construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor's old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century.^[24]

Plan showing relative positions of the 11th-century church (in red) and the present church (in blue)

In 1296, Edward I captured the Scottish coronation stone, the Stone of Scone, and had a Coronation Chair made to hold it, which he entrusted to the abbot at Westminster Abbey.^[30] In 1303, the small crypt underneath the chapter house was broken into and a great deal of the king's treasure stolen. It was thought that the thieves must have been helped by the abbey monks, fifty of whom were subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London.^[31]

Completion of the Gothic church

From 1376, Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton and Richard II donated large sums to finish the church, and the remainder of the old nave was pulled down and rebuilding recommenced, with his mason, Henry Yevele, closely following the original design, even though it was now over 100 years out of date.^[32][33] During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor's shrine for "divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting" before meeting the rebels at Smithfield. To this day, the abbey holds his full-length portrait, the earliest of an English king, on display near the west door.^[34] However, building work was not to be fully completed for many years. Henry V, disappointed with the abbey's unfinished state, gave extra funds towards the rebuilding, and in his will left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb, which can be viewed from ground level today.^[35] Between 1470 and 1471, because of fallout from the Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV, took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed, and gave birth to the future Edward V in the abbot's house.^[36] Building work finally reached the end of the nave, finishing with the west window, in 1495.^[37]

Under Henry VII, the 13th-century Lady Chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular Gothic style, and is now often known as the Henry VII Chapel. Work was begun in 1503 and the main structure was completed by 1509, although decorative work continued for several years afterwards.^[37] Henry's original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor, as he planned on having Henry VI canonised. The Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to achieve sainthood for his predecessor, which he was not willing to hand over, and so instead Henry VII is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife, Elizabeth of York.^[38]

A view of the abbey dated 1532 shows a lantern tower above the crossing,^[39] but it is not shown in any later depiction. It is unlikely that the loss of this feature was caused by any catastrophic event, but structural failure seems more likely.^[40] However, other sources maintain that a lantern tower was never built. The current squat pyramid dates from the 18th century; the painted wooden ceiling below it was installed during repairs to World War II bomb damage.^[41]

In the early 16th century, a project began under Abbot John Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church. These were partially built up to the roof level of the church when building work stopped because of the uncertainty caused by the English Reformation.^[42]

The north transept, completed in the 13th century during the reign of Henry III

The west end of the nave, designed by Henry Yevele and completed in 1495

The vault of the nave, looking west from the crossing

Coronation portrait of Richard II, on display in the abbey

Dissolution and Reformation

In the 1530s, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England's monasteries, including Westminster Abbey, beginning the English Reformation.^[43] In 1535, when the king's officers assessed the abbey's funds, their annual income was £3,000.^[44] Henry's agents removed many relics, saints' images, and treasures from the abbey: the golden feretory that housed the coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down, and the monks even hid his bones to save them from destruction.^[45] The monastery was dissolved and the building became the cathedral for the newly created Diocese of Westminster.^[46] The abbot, William Benson, instead became dean of the cathedral, while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve newly created canons.^[47]

The Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556.^[46] The already-old expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to Saint Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St. Paul's Cathedral.^[48]

The abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under the Catholic Mary I, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559.^[49] In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "royal peculiar" – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of St. Peter (that is, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean).^[29][50] From this date onwards, although the building is still called an abbey, it is, strictly speaking, simply a church. Elizabeth also re-founded Westminster School, providing for 40 students known as the King's (or Queen's) Scholars and their schoolmasters. The King's Scholars have the duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina ("Long live the King/Queen") during the coronation of a new monarch. To this day, the dean of Westminster Abbey remains the chair of the school governors.^[29]

In the early 17th century, the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen who produced the King James Version of the Bible. They used the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbey for their meetings. The First Company was headed by the dean of the abbey himself, Lancelot Andrewes.^[51]

In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own Parliament. The Dean and Chapter fled the abbey at the outbreak of war, and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament.^[52] The abbey itself suffered damage during the war, when altars, stained glass, the organ and the crown jewels were damaged or destroyed.^[53] Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only for a body thought to be Cromwell's to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a gibbet at Tyburn.^[54] In 1669, the abbey was visited by the diarist Samuel Pepys, who saw the body of the 15th-century queen Catherine de Valois. She had been buried in the 13th-century Lady Chapel in 1437, but was exhumed during building work for the Henry VII Chapel and not reburied in the intervening 150 years. Pepys leaned into the coffin and kissed her on the mouth, writing "This was my birthday, thirty-six years old and I did first kiss a queen." She has since been re-interred close to her husband, Henry V.^[55] In 1685, during preparations for the coronation of James II, a workman accidentally put a scaffolding pole through the coffin of Edward the Confessor. A chorister, Charles Taylour, pulled a cross on a chain out of the coffin and gave it to the king, who then gave it to the Pope. Its whereabouts today are unknown.^[56]

18th and 19th centuries

The west front, before and after the construction of the western towers

At the end of the 17th century, the architect Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey's first Surveyor of the Fabric, and began a project to restore the exterior of the church,^[42] which was continued by his successor, William Dickinson.^[53] After over two hundred years, the abbey's two western towers were finally built in the 1740s in a Gothic-Baroque style by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James.^[42][2]

On 11 November 1760, the funeral of George II was held at the abbey and the king was interred next to his late wife, Caroline of Ansbach. He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle.^[57] He was the last monarch to be buried in the abbey.^[58] At around the same time, the tomb of Richard II developed a hole through which visitors could put their hand. Several of his bones went missing, including a jawbone, which was taken by a boy from Westminster School and kept in the family until 1906, when it was returned to the abbey.^[59]

In the 1830s, the previous screen dividing the nave from the choir, which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore. The screen contains the monuments for the scientist Isaac Newton and the military general James Stanhope.^[60] Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under the architect George Gilbert Scott, who rebuilt sections of the chapter house and north porches, and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing. His successor, J. L. Pearson, finished the work on the north porches and also reconstructed the northern rose window.^[61]

20th century

Replica of the Stone of Scone at Scone Palace in Scotland

The abbey saw "Prayers For Prisoners" suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914. Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting "God Save Mrs. Pankhurst" and praying for suffragette prisoners. In one protest, a woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[2] On 11 June 1914, a bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey.^[62] No serious injuries were reported,^[63] but the bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair.^[62] It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half, although this was not discovered until 1950, when four Scottish nationalists broke into the church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland.^[62]

In preparation for bombing raids during World War II, the Coronation Chair and many of the abbey's records were moved out of the city, and the Stone of Scone was buried.^[64] On the night of 10 May 1941 and the early morning of the 11th, the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs.^[65] Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and the abbey's own fire-watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church, the deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged, and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed, leaving the abbey open to the sky.^[66] The cost of the damage was estimated at £135,000.^[67] Some damage can still be seen in the RAF Chapel, where a small hole in the wall was created by a bomb that fell outside the chapel.^[68] However, no-one was killed, and the abbey continued to hold services thorughout the war. When hostilities ceased, evacuated objects were returned to the abbey, 60,000 sandbags were moved out, and a new permanent roof was built over the crossing.^[64] Two different narthexes (entrance halls) for the west front were designed by the architects Edwin Lutyens and Edward Maufe during World War II but were not built.^[69][70]

Because of its outstanding universal value, the abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church.^[71]

In 1997, the abbey, which was then receiving approximately 1.75 million visitors each year, began charging admission fees to visitors at the door^[72] (although a fee for entering the eastern half of the church had existed prior to 1600).^[73]

21st century

In June 2009, the first major building work in 250 years was proposed.^[74] A corona – a crown-like architectural feature – was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s.^[75] This was part of a wider £23m development of the abbey completed in 2013.^[74] On 4 August 2010, the Dean and Chapter announced that, "after a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward the construction of a corona would not be continued.^[76]

Conservators carrying out restoration work on the Cosmati pavement, 2009

The Cosmati pavement underwent a major cleaning and restoration programme for two years beginning in 2008.^[77] On 17 September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey,^[78] and on 29 April 2011, the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place at the abbey.^[79]

In 2018, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries were created in the medieval triforium. This is a display area for the abbey's treasures in the galleries high up around the sanctuary. A new Gothic access tower with lift was designed by the abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean.^[80][81]

In 2020, a 13th-century sacristy was uncovered in the grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation. The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in the Mass, such as vestments and chalices. Also on the site were hundreds of burials, mostly of abbey monks.^[82]

On 10 March 2021, a vaccination centre opened in Poets' Corner to administer doses of COVID-19 vaccines.^[83]

Interior

Inside, the church has Purbeck marble piers and shafting. The vaulting of the roof is quadripartite, with ridge ribs and bosses,^[2] and at 102 feet (31 m), it is one of the highest church vaults in Britain.^[8] To fit in as many guests as possible during coronations, the transepts were designed to be unusually long^[93] and the choir placed to the east of the crossing rather than to the west; a feature also seen in Rheims Cathedral.^[94] In the 13th century, the interior of the church would originally have been painted in bright colours and gilded, although the piers would have been left unpainted.^[95]

The nave was built slowly over the course of many centuries from the east end to the west end, and yet, because generations of builders stuck to the original design, it has a unified style. The markers of the long gap in building work between 1269 and 1376 are relatively minor, but can be seen at the fifth bay from the crossing: the spandrels above the arches are towards the earlier east end are decorated with diaper-work, and towards the west end, built later, are plain; the lancet windows on the earlier side have a foiled circle, whereas on the later side they have an unencircled quatrefoil; and the shields on the aisle walls are carved on the earlier side and painted on the later side.^[96][97] Above the crossing, in the centre of the church, is a roof lantern, destroyed by a bomb in 1941 and restored by the architect Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958.^[98] In the choir aisles, shields of donors to the 13th- and 14th-century rebuilding are carved and painted in the spandrels of the arcade.^[99] At the eastern end of the nave is a large screen separating the nave from the choir, made of 13th-century stone but totally reworked by Edward Blore in 1834 and with paintwork and gilding by Bower in the 1960s.^[96]

Behind the main altar, in the holiest part of the church, lies the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor. Saints' shrines were once common in English medieval churches, but most were destroyed during the English Reformation, and Edward is the only major English saint whose body still occupies his shrine.^[100] Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens: Henry III, Eleanor of Castile, Edward I, Philippa of Hainault, Edward III, Anne of Bohemia, and Richard II, with Henry V in the centre of the horseshoe, at the eastern end.^[101] Henry III's tomb was originally covered in pieces of coloured glass and stone, but these have since been picked off by generations of tourists below the level of hand height.^[102] Above Henry V's tomb, at a mezzanine level hanging over the ambulatory, is a chantry chapel built by the mason John Thirske, decorated with many sculpted figures, including Henry V riding a horse, and being crowned in the abbey.^[103] At the western end, the shrine is separated from the main church by a stone reredos, closing off the shrine as a semi-private space.^[101] The screen depicts episodes from the saint's life, including his birth and the building of the abbey.^[104] The shrine is closed to the public except for special events.^[105]

The abbey includes side chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Many were originally included in the 13th-century rebuilding as special altars dedicated to individual saints, and many of the chapels still bear saints' names, e.g. St. Nicholas, St. Paul, etc. From the time of the English Reformation, saints' cults were no longer orthodox, and so instead the chapels were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments.^[106] In the north ambulatory are the Islip Chapel, the Nurses' Memorial Chapel (sometimes called the "Nightingale Chapel"), the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew,^[107] the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, and St. Paul's Chapel.^[108] The Islip Chapel is named after Abbot John Islip, who commissioned it in the 16th century. The screen inside is decorated with a visual pun on his name, showing an eye and a boy falling from a tree (eye-slip).^[109] There are further chapels within the eastern aisle of the north transept, named after (from south to north) St. John the Evangelist, St. Michael, and St. Andrew.^[110] In the south ambulatory are the chapels of St. Nicholas, St. Edmund, and St. Benedict.^[111]

The footprint of the south transept is by necessity smaller than the northern one, because the 13th-century builders butted against the pre-existing 11th-century cloisters. To make the transepts match, the south transept is built hanging over the western cloister. This allowed the creation of a room above the cloisters used to store the abbey muniments.^[112] In the south transept is the chapel of St. Faith, built c.1250 to serve as the vestry for the abbey monks. On the east wall is a painting of her, made c.1290–1310, showing her holding the grid-iron she was roasted to death on.^[113]

The nave, showing the vault's tall height in relation to its relatively narrow width

The lantern roof over the crossing

The shrine of Edward the Confessor

Monuments in the side chapel of St Edmund

Chapter house and Pyx Chamber

The octagonal chapter house was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings where they would hear a chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict and be given their instructions for the day from the abbot.^[114] The chapter house was built between 1250 and 1259, and is one of the largest in Britain, measuring nearly 60 feet (18 m) across.^[115] For 300 years after the English Reformation, it was used to store state records, until these were moved to the Public Record Office in 1863.^[116] It was restored by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century.^[117]

The entrance is approached from the east cloister via outer and inner vestibules, and the ceiling starts low and gets higher as the visitor approaches the chapter house.^[118] It is an octagonal room with a central pillar, built with a small crypt below.^[117] Around the sides are benches for 80 monks, above which are large stained-glass windows showing the coats of arms of several monarchs, as well as the abbey's patrons and abbots.^[117] The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th century and a leaded roof designed by Scott.^[119] The interior walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century paintings representing the Apocalypse, the Last Judgement, and birds and animals.^[119] The chapter house also has an original mid-13th-century tiled floor. A wooden door within the vestibule was made with a tree felled 1032–1064 and is one of the oldest in Britain.^[119] It may have been the door to the 11th-century chapter house in Edward the Confessor's abbey, and was re-used as the door to the Pyx Chamber in the 13th century. Today it leads to an office.^[114]

The adjoining Pyx Chamber formed the undercroft of the monks' dormitory. It dates to the late 11th century and was used as a monastic and royal treasury. The outer walls and circular piers date from the 11th-century; several of the capitals were enriched in the 12th century, and the stone altar added in the 13th century. The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of the Pyx, in which newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards.^[87]

The chapter house and Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey are in the guardianship of English Heritage, but under the care and management of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.^[120]

Interior of the chapter house

Umbrella vault ceiling of the chapter house

Medieval wall paintings inside the chapter house

An 11th-century door in the undercroft of the chapter house, possibly Britain's oldest door

Henry VII Chapel

External video
Henry VII Chapel, Smarthistory[121]

The Henry VII Lady Chapel, also known simply as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII.^[122] The chapel is built in a very late Perpendicular Gothic style, the magnificence of which caused the English poet John Leland to call it the orbis miraculum (the wonder of the world).^[123] The tombs of several monarchs, including Edward V, Henry VII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, George II and Mary, Queen of Scots, are found in the chapel.^[124]

The chapel is noted for its pendant and fan vault-style ceiling, probably designed by William Vertue, which the writer Washington Irving said was "achieved with the wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb". In fact, the ceiling is not a true fan vault, but a groin vault disguised as a fan vault.^[125] The interior walls are densely decorated with carvings, including 95 statues of saints. Many statues of saints in England were destroyed in the 17th century, so these are a rare survival.^[68] Like much of the rest of the medieval building, these would originally have been painted and gilded.^[126] From the outside, the chapel is surrounded by flying buttresses, each taking the form of a polygonal tower topped with a cupola. At the centre of the chapel is the tomb of Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, made by the sculptor Pietro Torrigiano,^[123] who fled to England from Italy after getting into a fight with the artist Michaelangelo and breaking his nose.^[68]

The chapel has within it further sub-chapels radiating from the main structure. One of these to the north contains the tombs of Mary I and Elizabeth I, both coffins being within Elizabeth's monument; and another to the south contains the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots. Both monuments were commissioned by James I, the successor of Elizabeth to the English throne and the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.^[127] At the far eastern end is the RAF Chapel, with a stained-glass window dedicated to those who died in the Battle of Britain in 1940.^[68]

The chapel has also been the mother church of the Order of the Bath since 1725, and the banners of members hang above the stalls.^[128] The stalls themselves retain their medieval misericords – small ledges for monks to perch on during services, often decorated with varied and humorous carvings.^[129]

Monastic buildings

The Jerusalem Chamber circa 1914

Many of the rooms used by the monks still exist, only repurposed. The dormitory was turned into a library and a school room, and their offices have been converted into houses for the clergy.^[130] The abbot had his own lodgings and ate separately from the rest of the monks. The abbot's lodgings still exist but are now used by the Dean of Westminster, and are probably the oldest continuously occupied residence in London.^[131] They include the Jericho Parlour covered in wooden linenfold panelling, the Jerusalem Chamber, commissioned in 1369, and a grand dining hall complete with minstrels' gallery, now used by Westminster School.^[131] The prior also had his own household separate from the monks, on the site of which now stands Ashburnham House in Little Dean's Yard, now also part of Westminster School.^[132][133]

Cosmati pavement

The Cosmati pavement

At the crossing, in front of Edward the Confessor's shrine and the main altar, is the Cosmati pavement, a 700-year-old tiled floor made of almost 30,000 pieces of coloured glass and stone.^[146] It is where coronations take place in the abbey,^[147] and measures almost 25 feet square.^[146]

The floor is named after the Cosmati family in Rome who were known for such work.^[27] It was commissioned by Richard Ware, who travelled to Rome in 1258 when he became Abbot, and returned with stone and artists. The porphyry used was originally quarried as far away as Egypt, and was presumably brought to Italy during the days of the Roman Empire. When it was made, it was surrounded by an inscription in brass letters, since lost, written in Latin, giving the name of the artist as Odericus,^[148] probably referring to designer Pietro di Oderisio or his son.^[149] The inscription also predicted the end of the world 19,863 years after its creation.^[150] As opposed to traditional mosaic work, the pieces are not cut to a uniform size, being instead made with a technique known as opus sectile ("cut work").^[146] It is unique among all Cosmati floors in Europe for its use of dark Purbeck marble trays forming bold borders in place of the more typical white marble.^[146] The pavement influenced later floor treatments at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and Canterbury Cathedral.^[151]

Geometric designs such as those found on the pavement were thought to help the abbey's monks in their contemplation, and conveyed medieval Christian ideas on the nature of the universe that could not easily be put into words.^[152] Much of the design relies on a geometric principle called the doubling of the square, which was considered a trade secret among stonemasons.^[153] The four-sided squares, four-fold symmetry, and the four inner roundels of the design represent the four elements of classical philosophy, with the central roundel representing the unformed state of the universe at the beginning of creation.^[154] Each inner roundel is touched by two bands, representing the shared qualities of each element- for example, in classical philosophy, both water and air were considered "moist", and both air and fire were considered "hot".^[155]

Stained glass

The Queen's Window, designed by David Hockney

The 13th-century abbey's windows would have been filled with stained glass, but much of this was destroyed in the English Civil War and the Blitz and replaced with clear, plain glass. Since the 19th century, new stained glass has replaced clear glass, designed by artists such as Ninian Comper (on the north side of the nave), Hugh Easton and Alan Younger (in the Henry VII Chapel).^[156]

The north rose window was designed by James Thornhill and made by Joshua Price in 1722 and shows Christ, the apostles (not including Judas Iscariot), and the Four Evangelists. In the centre is the Bible. The window was restored by J. L. Pearson in the 19th century, during which the feet of the figures were cut off.^[157] Thornhill also designed the great west window, which shows the Biblical figures of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel underneath.^[158]

In the Henry VII Chapel, the west window was designed by John Lawson and unveiled in 1995. It depicts coats of arms and cyphers of Westminster Abbey's benefactors, in particular John Templeton, whose coat of arms is depicted prominently in the lower panel. In the centre are shown the arms of Elizabeth II. The central east window is designed by Alan Younger and was unveiled in 2000. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It depicts the Hale Bopp comet, which was passing over the artist's house at the time, as the star of Bethlehem. The donors of the window, Lord and Lady Harris of Peckham, are shown kneeling at the bottom.^[159]

In 2018, the artist David Hockney unveiled a new stained-glass window for the north transept, designed to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth II. It shows a countryside scene inspired by his native Yorkshire, with hawthorn blossoms and blue skies. Hockney used an iPad to design the window to replicate the backlight that comes through stained glass.^[160]

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries

The Westminster Abbey Museum was located in the 11th-century vaulted undercroft beneath the former monks' dormitory. This is one of the oldest areas of the abbey, dating almost to the foundation of the church by Edward the Confessor in 1065. This space had been used as a museum since 1908^[161] but was closed to the public in June 2018, when it was replaced as a museum by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, high up in the abbey's triforium, and accessed by the new Weston Tower, enclosing a lift and stairs.^[80]

The exhibits include a set of life-size effigies of English and British monarchs and their consorts, originally made to lie on the coffin in the funeral procession or to be displayed over the tomb. The effigies date from the 14th to the 18th century, and some include original clothes.^[162]

On display in the galleries is a portrait of the Queen called The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, painted by the artist Ralph Heimans, depicting the monarch standing on the Cosmati pavement of Westminster Abbey, where she was crowned in 1953.^[163] Other exhibits include a model of an unbuilt tower, designed by Christopher Wren; a paper model of the abbey showing Queen Victoria's 1837 coronation; and the wedding licence of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, who were married in the abbey in 2011.^[81]

Poets' Corner

Some of the memorials to writers in Poets' Corner, including William Shakespeare

The south transept of the church is nicknamed Poets' Corner because of its high concentration of burials of, and memorials to, poets and writers. The first was Geoffrey Chaucer, buried around 1400, who was employed as Clerk of the King's Works and had apartments in the abbey. Nearly 200 years later in 1599, a second poet, Edmund Spenser, who was local to the abbey, was buried nearby. However, the idea of a Poets' Corner did not fully crystallise until the 18th century, when memorials were established to writers buried elsewhere, such as William Shakespeare and John Milton. Since then, writers buried in Poets' Corner include John Dryden, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, and Rudyard Kipling. Not all writers buried in the abbey are in the south transept: Ben Jonson is buried standing upright in the north aisle of the nave, and Aphra Behn in the cloisters.^[171]

The Unknown Warrior

On the floor, just inside the Great West Door, in the centre of the nave, is the grave of The Unknown Warrior, an unidentified soldier killed on a European battlefield during the First World War. Although many countries have adopted the tradition of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Warrior, the one in Westminster Abbey was the first, and came about as a response to the unprecedented death rate of the war.^[172] The idea came from army chaplain David Railton, who suggested the idea in 1920.^[173] The funeral was held on the second anniversary of the end of the war, 11 November 1920.^[172] The Unknown Warrior lay in state for a week afterwards, and an estimated 1.25 million people viewed him in that time. This grave is the only floor stone in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk,^[174] and every visit by a foreign head of state begins with a visit to the tomb.^[173]

Coronations

The coronation of George IV in the abbey, 1822

Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, a total of 40 English and British monarchs (not counting Edward V, Lady Jane Grey, and Edward VIII, who were never crowned) have been crowned in Westminster Abbey.^[179][180] In 1216, Henry III could not be crowned in the abbey, as London was captured by hostile forces at the time. He was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral and later had a second coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1220.^[136] When he had the abbey rebuilt in the 13th century, it was designed with future coronations in mind, with long transepts to accommodate many guests.^[93] Much of the order of service still derives from an illuminated manuscript called the Liber Regalis, made in 1377 for the coronation of Richard II and held in the abbey's collections.^[181] On 6 May 2023, the coronation of Charles III took place at the abbey.^[180]

The area of the church used is the crossing, known in the abbey as "the theatre" because of its particular suitability for such grand events. Rather than being filled with immovable pews as in many similar churches, the space in the crossing is clear, allowing for temporary seating to be installed in the transepts.^[179]

The Coronation Chair, with a slot underneath the seat to hold the Scottish Stone of Scone

The Coronation Chair, the throne on which English and British sovereigns are seated at the moment of crowning, is housed within the abbey in St. George's Chapel near the west door, and has been used at coronations since the 14th century.^[182] From 1301 to 1996 (except for a short time in 1950 when the stone was temporarily stolen by Scottish nationalists), the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scots were crowned. Although has been kept in Scotland, at Edinburgh Castle, since 1996, the stone is returned to the Coronation Chair in the abbey as needed for coronation ceremonies.^[183] In the 18th and 19th centuries, the chair was freely accessible to the public, who were able to sit in it, leading to some even carving initials into the woodwork.^[184]

Prior to the 17th century, when a king married after his coronation, he would hold a separate coronation for his new queen. The last of these to take place in the abbey was the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533, after her marriage to Henry VIII.^[43] There have been a total of 15 separate coronations for queens consort in the abbey. A coronation for Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, was planned, but she died before it took place, and no coronations were planned for his subsequent wives. Mary I's husband, Philip of Spain, was not given a separate coronation for fear that he would attempt to rule alone after Mary's death. Since then, there have been few opportunities for a second coronation, as monarchs have generally come to the throne already married.^[179]

In 1170, Henry II held a separate coronation at Westminster Abbey for his son, known as Henry the Young King, while he, Henry II, was still alive, in an attempt to secure the succession. However, the Young King died before his father, so never took the throne.^[179]

Royal weddings

At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey over its history.^[185] Prior to the 20th century, royal weddings at the abbey were relatively rare, with royals often being married in a Chapel Royal or at Windsor Castle. This changed with the 1922 wedding of Princess Mary at the abbey, which successfully started a trend. In 1923, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became the first royal bride to leave her bouquet on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, a practice continued by many royal brides since.^[186]

Royal weddings have included:

The 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey

Royal funerals

Many royal funerals took place at the abbey between that of Edward the Confessor in 1066^[29] and that of Prince Henry, the last royal buried in the church, in 1790. After this date there were no royal funerals at the abbey until that of Queen Alexandra in 1925, who had her funeral at Westminster Abbey but was buried in Windsor Castle.^[190] Other queen consorts such as Queen Mary of Teck and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother have since also had funerals at the abbey, in 1953 and 2002 respectively, before being buried elsewhere.^[190]

On 6 September 1997 the formal, though not state funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, was held at the abbey. In the run-up to the funeral, the railings of the abbey were swamped with flowers and tributes, and the event was more widely witnessed than any previous occasion in the abbey's history, with 2 billion television viewers worldwide.^[191] A second public service was held on the following Sunday. The burial occurred privately on 6 September in the grounds of her family estate, Althorp, on a private island.^[192]

On 19 September 2022, the state funeral of Elizabeth II took place at the abbey before her burial at St George's Chapel, Windsor.^[193] It was the first funeral of a monarch at Westminster Abbey for more than 260 years.^[194]

Dean and Chapter

Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, as established by a royal charter of Elizabeth I dated 21 May 1560, which created it as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter Westminster, a royal peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the sovereign.^[195] In 2019, David Hoyle was appointed Dean of Westminster.^[196] The Chapter consists of four canons and a senior administrative officer called the Receiver General.^[195] One of the canons is also Rector of the adjoining St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and often also holds the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.^[197] In addition to the dean and canons, there are also minor canons and priests vicar.^[198]

King's Almsmen

An establishment of six King's (or Queen's) almsmen and women is supported by the abbey; they are appointed by royal warrant on the recommendation of the dean and the Home Secretary, attend Matins and Evensong on Sundays and do such duties as may be requested (in return for which they receive a small stipend). When on duty they wear a distinctive red gown with a crowned rose badge on the left shoulder.^[199]

The almshouse was founded close to the abbey in 1502 by Henry VII, and originally the twelve almsmen and three almswomen were minor court officials who were retired due to age or disability.^[200] They were required to be over the age of 50, single, with a good reputation, literate, able to look after themselves, and with an income of under £4 per year.^[200] The building itself survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but was demolished for road-widening in 1779.^[199] From the late 18th until the late 20th century the almsmen were usually old soldiers and sailors, but today they are mostly retired employees of the abbey.^[199]

Schools

Westminster School is located in the precincts of the abbey. Teaching certainly took place from the fourteenth century, alongside the monks of the abbey, but the school regards its founder as Elizabeth I, who dissolved the monastery for the final time and provided for the establishment of the school^[201] alongside a dean of the abbey, canons, and assistant clergy and lay officers.^[202] The schoolboys have added to the history of the abbey, often with their rambunctiousness: Westminster boys have defaced the Coronation Chair, disrupted services, and once interrupted a consecration of four bishops by starting a bare-knuckle fight in the cloisters.^[201] One schoolboy carved upon the Coronation Chair that he had slept in overnight, making him probably its longest inhabitant.^[203] In 1868, Westminster School became independent of the abbey Dean and Chapter, although the two institutions are still closely connected.^[202]

Separately, Westminster Abbey Choir School is also located within the abbey grounds and exclusively educates the choirboys who sing for abbey services.^[204]

Order of the Bath

Banners of members of the Order of the Bath in the Henry VII Chapel

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry whose spiritual home is the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.^[58] The order was founded by George I in 1725,^[205] fell out of fashion after 1812, and was revived by George V in 1913.^[206] The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements.^[58] Members are given stalls, complete with their banner, crest and stallplate, at installation ceremonies at the abbey every four years.^[207] There are far many more members than stalls, and so some members wait many years for their installation.^[208]

The Order of the Bath is the fourth-most senior of the British Orders of Chivalry, after The Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick (dormant).^[209]

Choir

Since its foundation in the fourteenth century, the primary role of the Westminster Abbey choir has been to sing for daily services while also playing a central role in many state occasions, including royal weddings and funerals, coronations and memorial services.^[214] In 2012, the choir accepted an invitation by Pope Benedict XVI to sing with the Sistine Chapel Choir at a Papal Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.^[215] The all-male choir consists of twelve professional adult singers or Lay Vicars, and thirty boy choristers aged between 8 and 13 years-old, who attend the Westminster Abbey Choir School.^[216]

Organ

The first record of an organ at Westminster Abbey was a gift of three marks from Henry III in 1240 for the repair of one or more organs.^[217] Unum parem organorum ("a pair of organs") was recorded in the Lady Chapel in 1304.^[217] An inventory compiled for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 shows a pair of organs in the choir and one in the Islip Chapel.^[217] During the Commonwealth, a Royalist source claimed that soldiers who were billeted in the abbey, "brake downe the Organ, and pawned the pipes at severall Ale-houses for pots of Ale"; however, an organ was played at the Restoration in 1660, suggesting that it was not completely destroyed.^[217] In 1720, an organ gifted by George II and built by Christopher Shrider was installed over the choir screen; organs had previously been hidden in the north of the choir. This instrument was fully rebuilt by William Hill & Son in 1848.^[217]

A new organ was built by Harrison & Harrison in 1937, with four manuals and 84 speaking stops, and was used publicly for the first time at the coronation of George VI and Elizabeth that year.^[218] Some pipework from the previous Hill organ of 1848 was revoiced and incorporated into the new scheme. The two organ cases, designed and built in the late 19th century by J. L. Pearson, were reinstated and coloured in 1959.^[219]

In 1982 and 1987 Harrison & Harrison enlarged the organ at the direction of Simon Preston to include an additional lower choir organ and a bombarde organ.^[218] The full instrument has five manuals and 109 speaking stops. In 2006 the console of the organ was refurbished by Harrison & Harrison, and space was prepared for two additional 16 ft stops on both the lower choir organ and the bombarde organ.^[219] There are three other organs in the abbey: the two-manual Queen's Organ in the Lady Chapel, a smaller continuo organ and a practice organ.^[216]

Bells

There have been bells at the abbey since at least the time of Henry III, but the current bells were installed in the north-west tower in 1971.^[220] The ring is made up of ten bells, hung for change ringing, that were cast in 1971 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and tuned to the notes F#, E, D, C#, B, A, G, F#, E and D. The tenor bell in D (588.5 Hz) has a weight of 30 cwt, 1 qtr, 15 lb (3,403 lb or 1,544 kg).^[221] In addition, there are two service bells cast by Robert Mot in 1585 and 1598, a sanctus bell cast in 1738 by Richard Phelps and Thomas Lester, and two unused bells — one cast about 1320, and a second cast in 1742 by Thomas Lester.^[221] The Westminster Abbey Company of Ringers ring peals on special occasions, such as the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.^[222]

Notes

References