No. V:
Westminster Abbey.
Originally published in The Literary Chronicle and Weekly Review (J. Limbird) vol.1 #25 (06 Nov 1819).
The Abbey Church of St. Peter, Westminster, is one of the most celebrated piles of ancient art our country can boast. Its tombs have been frequently contemplated; and the poet and the philosopher have walked within its cloistered pale, as it were conversing with the dead of many ages. The early history of the abbey is not very satisfactorily known; there seems, however, little doubt, that it was founded by Sebert, king of the East Saxons, about the year 604. The original site of the building was, according to Sulcardus, and a charter of king Offa, in 785, called Thorney Island, it having been overgrown with thorns and environed with water. Tradition has, however, assigned a much earlier origin to this abbey, and, in one of the legendary tales by which its antiquity and sacred character have been supported, a chapel or oratory is said to have been raised by the apostle St. Peter himself, during his traditionary visit to this island. As to the first building here, or even as it was afterwards repaired by St. Dunstan, we cannot expect to find any account. Sebert, who died in 616, is believed to have endowed the church very liberally. Offa is also known to have been a benefactor. Previous to his time, the abbey had, for many years, been forsaken by the monks, and lay in ruins; a circumstance which cannot be accounted for without referring to the general devastation of the Danes.
In the time of Eadwine, who was chosen abbot in 1049, the church was built in a more splendid style, by Edward the Confessor. Antiquaries have puzzled themselves much to ascertain the motive which could induce Edward not only to rebuild it magnificently, but to endow it with such large revenues; and they have discovered, that when the king was in exile, in Normandy, he vowed, that if God would put an end to his troubles, he would go a pilgrimage to Rome, and return thanks to the almighty at the tomb of St. Peter. When he was restored to the throne, the pope, Leo IX, absolved him from his oath, on condition of his giving a part of the money allotted for his journey to the poor, and erecting and endowing a monastery in honour of St. Peter.
The apostolic letter permitted Edward either to repair the old church or to rebuild it. The words of the letter are—'Deinde precipimus tibi sub nomine sanctæ obedientiæ et pœnitentiæ ut expansas quas ad iter istud paraveras pauperibus eroges et cenobium monachorum, in honore sancti Petri, apostolorum principis, aut novum construas aut vetustum emendas.' But in the deed of Edward, which is given by the same writer, it is expressly stated, that he had not only caused the old church to be destroyed, but a new one, from the very foundations, to be built and dedicated in its room. 'Itaque decimari precepi omnem substantiam meam, tam in auro et argento quam in pecudibus, et omni genere possessionem, et destruens veterem, novam a fundarnentis basilicam construxi, constructam dedicari feci 5 kal. Jan.'
The rebuilding of the church commenced about the year 1050, and was finished in 1065, and dedicated a few days before the death of Edward, who had endowed it with numerous possessions and manors, invested it with extraordinary privileges, and pronounced 'an eternal anathema and punishment with the betrayer Judas, against all those who should contravene or violate the liberties thus given.' Edward also, as it is said, presented the church with numerous precious relics, among which were part of the manger where Christ was born; of the bread which he blessed; of the wilderness where he fasted; of the gaol where he was imprisoned; of his undivided garment; the sponge, lance, and scourge, with which he was tortured. Many pieces of the vestments of the Virgin Mary; of her milk; of her hair; with the relics of numerous saints.
Sulcardus tells us, that the church built by Edward, was supported by many pillars and arches, and that the fashion of it was in the shape of a cross; a hint, which sufficiently explains the remark of Matthew Paris, that it was built 'novo compositionis genere,' and served as a pattern, much followed, in the erection of other churches.
Camden has given another description of it, translated from a manuscript of the very period. 'The principal area or nave of the church stood on lofty arches of hewn stone, jointed together in the nicest manner, and the vault was covered with a strong double-arched roof of stone on both sides. The cross which embraced the choir, and by its transept supported a high tower in the middle, rises first with a low strong arch, and then swells out with several winding staircases to the single wall up to the wooden roof, which is carefully covered with lead.
The confessor's church is supposed to be introduced with the figure of the king in the Bayeaux tapestry, engraved by Dr. Ducarel in the Anglo-Norman antiquities. But nothing appears that can afford a good idea of what it might have been; we can only see that it was a lofty structure, in the best style of Saxon building.
In the reign of Henry II, the church suffered much by fire; and remained in a dilapidated state during the reign of Henry III, who, in the year 1220, commenced its rebuilding with a chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, on the site of which the chapel of Henry VII was afterward erected. Matthew, of Westminster, speaks expressly of Henry as the founder; 'Rege Henrico III, existende adhuc persuasore, fundatore, et primi lapidis in fundamento operis positore.' Henry, however, was then but thirteen years of age; and there are instruments still remaining, in the archives belonging to the dean and chapter, in some of which spiritual, and in others, temporal benefits are granted to such as shall contribute towards the building; so that, by founder, we are merely to understand, that Henry was the patron and principal benefactor of the work. The day after the foundation of this building, Henry repeated the ceremony of his coronation, which, at his accession in 1216, could not be performed here, as the place was then tn the possession of his enemies.
In 1245, twenty-five years after the first chapel, Henry took down the greater part of the church, to renew it, as some assert, upon the old foundations. Matthew Paris says, that he ordered the east-end, tower, and transept, to be taken down, and rebuilt in a more elegant form, at his own expense. And that he prosecuted these intentions with uncommon zeal, is evident from various records in the Exchequer. In 1246, he ordered to this use, 2591l. due from the widow of one David, of Oxford, a Jew. In 1254, the king's treasurer and the barons of the exchequer were ordered to apply to it the annual sum of 3000 marks. In 1258, a thousand marks a-year were ordered, to the same way, from the profits of the abbacy, while it lay vacant after the death of Abbot Crokesley; and, in 1270, it was certified, that there had been applied to the same work, 3754l. paid by Lady Alice Lacy, for eleven years' custody of her son's estate. The whole expense of the building is no where to be found, but Mr. Widmore gathered from the archives, that, so early as 1261, the charges had arrived at somewhat more than 29,600l.
The work, as far as it was prosecuted in the reign of Henry III, may be easily distinguished from the parts erected at a subsequent period. It consists of the Confessor's chapel, the side aisles and chapels, the choir {somewhat lower than Sir Isaac Newton's monument, and the transepts. The four pillars, westward of the present choir, which have brass fillets, appear to finish Henry's work; the conclusion of which is also marked by a striped chalky stone, which forms the roof. In the remainder of the church, the bases of the pillars on which the body rests, are not only higher, but there is an alteration of form in the upper windows, and the lace-work about the arches is omitted. The gifts of Henry to the church were very numerous; amongst these was the following curious one, 'a dragon in manner of a standard or ensign of red samit, to be embroidered with gold, and his tongue to appear as though continually moving, and his eyes of sapphires, or other stones.' And in his will, 1272, Henry committed the completion of his plans to his son; bequeathing five hundred marks to finish the shrine of Edward the Confessor.
In the three reigns immediately succeeding, the work seems to have been nearly at a stand; till, a little before the end of Edward III's reign, Cardinal Langham gave 600 marks; when something more was done in the pulling down and altering the western part, which still remained of the confessor's building. Under Richard II, the work was prosecuted with considerable spirit, and it is to his munificence we stand indebted for the beautiful porch which finishes the north transept. In his will, he made a handsome provision toward the completion of the building; but almost all its clauses were neglected; and, as far as the progress of the abbey is concerned, we must pass his successor's reign in silence. Henry V, however, revived the matter, and not only gave considerable sums in person, but granted an annual pension for this pious purpose, of a thousand marks a year. Under his son, Henry VI, the work of building was neglected. Nor did it receive encouragement in the early part of the reign of Edward IV. But, in 1470, when his queen had taken sanctuary there, and received respect from the abbot and his monks, the king made some trifling donations, and the queen built a small chapel to St. Erasmus.
Henry VII, on obtaining the crown as heir of the house of Lancaster, and next relation to Henry VI, designed, from respect to that prince, to build and endow a chapel to his memory, at Windsor; in which, to erect a stately monument over his remains; but the abbots and monks petitioned the king to have the remains of Henry deposited in their church, 'as being that which he himself, in his life time, had chosen for his burial place.' This was agreed to, and determined Henry on erecting the magnificent building, called, in honour of him, the chapel of Henry the Seventh.
For the erection of this noble pile, the two chapels, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to St. Erasmus, were pulled down, and the first stone of the new fabric was laid on the 24th of January, 1502-3, by the hands of Abbot Islip, Sir Reginald Bray, K.G., and several other persons. The king himself was present at the ceremony, and probably assisted in placing the stone, which had engraven on it, the following inscription:—
'Illustrissimus Henricus Septimus, Rex Angliæ et Franciæ, et Dominus Hiberniæ, posuit hanc petram in honore beatæ Virginis Mariæ; 24 die Januarii; Anno Domini, 1502. Et anno dicti Henrici Septimi, decimo octavo.'
Shortly after the foundation of this new chapel, Henry VII granted various estates to the abbey for specific purposes, and, a few days previous to his decease, in 1509, he delivered to Abbot Islip, 5000l. towards finishing the new chapel; he also bequeathed 500 marks for completing the west end of the Abbey Church.
This Abbey, which had existed for upwards of nine hundred years, was dissolved in the reign of Henry VIII, in the year 1540, and, the same year, it was advanced to the dignity of a cathedral, and endowed with a revenue of £586 13s. 1d. yearly. Queen Mary reinstated it as a monastery, but it was finally established as a collegiate church, by Queen Elizabeth, in 1560.
Since that time, little has been done to this venerable structure, if we except the rebuilding of the great west window, and the completion of the western towers. The chapel of Henry VII is now being restored to its original architectural grandeur.