Westminster Abbey

Westminster
Abbey is a Gothic monastery church in London
that is the traditional place of coronation and burial for English monarchs.
Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a place of
worship owned by the royal family.

Located
next to the Houses of Parliament in the heart of London, Westminster Abbey is a
must-see for any London visitor. With its oldest parts dating to the year 1050,
the Abbey contains some of the most glorious medieval architecture in London.
Because of its royal connections, it was spared King Henry VIII's general assault
on monastic buildings during the Reformation.

The
interior is a veritable museum of English history. Among many highlights are
the medieval coronation throne; Poet's Corner with its memorials to William
Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and other giants of literature; and the tombs of
Queen Elizabeth I, "Bloody" Queen Mary, explorer David Livingstone
and naturalist Charles Darwin.

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).

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). Westminster Abbey is a Gothic monastery church in London
that is the traditional place of coronation and burial for English monarchs.
Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a place of
worship owned by the royal family.

Located
next to the Houses of Parliament in the heart of London, Westminster Abbey is a
must-see for any London visitor. With its oldest parts dating to the year 1050,
the Abbey contains some of the most glorious medieval architecture in London.
Because of its royal connections, it was spared King Henry VIII's general assault
on monastic buildings during the Reformation.

The
interior is a veritable museum of English history. Among many highlights are
the medieval coronation throne; Poet's Corner with its memorials to William
Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and other giants of literature; and the tombs of
Queen Elizabeth I, "Bloody" Queen Mary, explorer David Livingstone
and naturalist Charles Darwin.

What to See

Henry
III rebuilt the Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor, whose
memorial and relics were placed in the Sanctuary. The Shrine of St.
Edward the Confessor has been the focus of pilgrimages to Westminster
Abbey since the Middle Ages.

Henry
III was buried nearby as were the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and
relatives. Subsequently, most English kings and queens were buried here.
However, Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St. George's Chapel in Windsor
Castle, as all royals have been since George II.

Aristocrats
were buried in side chapels of Westminster Abbey 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 a great honor to be buried or memorialized here. The
practice spread from aristocrats and poets to generals, admirals, politicians,
scientists, doctors, and others.

In the Da Vinci Code

Westminster
Abbey is the setting of a climactic scene in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci
Code. Towards the end of the book, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu finally
figure out (after a dead-end search at the Temple Church and with the help of
the computers at King's College London) that their latest clue —

In
London lies a knight a Pope interred His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred —
refers to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey. Newton's eulogy
was delivered by Alexander Pope - "A. Pope".

The
scene in Westminster Abbey includes some admiring descriptions of Westminster
Abbey and its history, and mentions of several important sights of its
interior, such as Poet's Corner, Newton's tomb, and the Chapter House. The
narrative includes this vivid description as the characters enter:

Langdon's
and Sophie's eyes, like those of almost every visitor, shifted immediately
skyward, where the abbey's great abyss seemed to explode overhead. Grey stone
columns ascended like redwoods into the shadows, arching gracefully over
dizzying expanses, and then shooting back down to the stone floor. Before them,
the wide alley of the north transept stretched out like a deep canyon, flanked
by sheer cliffs of stained glass. On sunny days, the abbey floor was a
prismatic patchwork of light. Today, the rain and darkness gave this massive
hollow a wraithlike aura... more like that of the crypt it truly was.

The
tomb of Isaac Newton is in a niche on the north side of the nave. The
monumental tomb is a grand affair, with lovely sculptures and elaborate
decorations representing his scientific discoveries. Atop the monument is a
giant orb with images of planets. The Da Vinci Code's characters are attempting
to solve the rest of the riddle that brought them to Westminster Abbey:

You
seek the orb that ought to be on his tomb It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded
womb.

Before
Robert and Sophie can figure out the puzzle, they discover a chilling note on
the sarcophagus lid, next to Newton's outstretched right foot: "I have
Teabing. Go through Chapter House, out south exit, to public garden." The
note was scrawled using the charcoal pencils provided by the Abbey for visitors
to do rubbings of the monuments in Poets' Corner.

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.

Since
the Christmas Day coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all English
monarchs (except Lady Jane Grey, Edward V and Edward VIII, who did not have
coronations) have been crowned in the Abbey. The Archbishop of Canterbury is
the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony. St. Edward's Chair, the
throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is
housed within the Abbey.

Closer
to our own time, in 1998 ten 20th-century Christian martyrs including Deitrich
Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Oscar Romero were immortalized in
stone statues over the Great West Door.