WESTMINSTER ABBEY Henry VII.'s Chapel WESTMINSTER ABBEY BY FRANCIS BOND E, OXFORD; FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, LOXDO> VTE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS 'GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND," "ENGLISH HEDRALS ILLUSTRATED," " SCREENS AND GALLERIES IN ENGLISH CHURCHES," "FONTS AND FONT COVERS'' LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOBNI1 ILLUSTRATED BY 2?0 PHOTOGRAPHS, PLANS, SECTIONS, SKETCHES, AND MEASURED DRAWINGS HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO, AND MELBOURNE 1909 Let us now praise famous men, and our jathers that begat tis." All these were honoured in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore." Printed at THE DARIEN PRESS, Edinburgh. PREFACE. OF all the magnificent memorials which we and the English-speaking nations beyond the seas have inherited from the piety and genius of our fathers, none approaches in interest the great church at Westminster, which " from its primitive foundation," as a monastic chronicler proudly records, " was the Coronation Church of England and the mausoleum of her kings, the head of England, and the diadem of the English realms." Round the Abbey a voluminous literature has gathered. A considerable part of it is devoted rather to the cemetery at West- minster than to the church. Another portion consists of architectural monographs on special subjects by Sir Gilbert Scott, Mr William Burges, Professor Lethaby, Mr J. T. Micklethwaite, and others all of great value. Lately, too, a large amount of documentary evidence as to the history of the church has been put on record by Sir E. M. Thomson, Dr J. Wickham Legg, Mr L. G. W. Legg, Colonel Chester, the present Dean of Westminster, Dr ]. Armitage Robinson, Dr Montague R. James, and the Reverend R. B. Rackham. But the only comprehen- sive account of the architectural history of the church is that published by Mr E. W. Brayley in 1818. The present volume may be regarded in part as an attempt to do on a small scale what was done by Mr Brayley in two large quarto volumes, but with the addition of information drawn from the special monographs and documentary evidence men- tioned above. This comprises the chapters on the churches of the Confessor and Henry the Third, on the rebuilding of the nave, on Henry the Seventh's Chapel, and on the monastic buildings. And as it would be idle to describe the monastic buildings and arrangements without reference to their occupants, the materials furnished by Abbot Ware's Customary have been largely utilised, to enable the reader in some measure to realise the daily life of a Benedictine monk as it was lived at Westminster. But the book attempts more than this. The church at Westminster is but one of the host of great monastic, collegiate, and cathedral churches left to us, which, amid a multitude of varying details, are in their main 2O622OS Vlii PREFACE arrangements largely the same. What is true of Westminster is true in essentials of all. If we understand the meaning of the planning of Westminster, we can visit with assured insight Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Winchester, Lincoln, and the rest. It is from this wider point of view that Westminster Abbey is regarded in this volume. To a large extent the book aims at describing the general arrangements and purpose of the English churches in general, except those which are purely parochial. Few people seem to recognise the great disparity in aim of the non- parochial and parish churches. Six chapters are here devoted to this subject. Then we turn to the architectural and artistic side of the monument. With the details of the design we are not here concerned ; they are treated at length in connection with English mediaeval architecture in general in a larger work of the writer. What is attempted here is something different ; it is to get at the fundamentals of the design. The Abbey is a large church, hugely long and enormously tall ; why is it so long, so tall, and so narrow ? and how was each of these precise dimensions arrived at ? and what lies at the bottom of its system of proportions ? These and the like are much bigger questions than the foliation of a capital or the contour of a base, and, with whatever success, an attempt has been made to deal with them. Finally, the writer has not shrunk from avowing his unqualified dissent from the brilliant generalisations of Viollet-le-Duc on the secular origin of Gothic architecture. Religion, and that in a very special sense, was the mainspring of Gothic architecture, as is set forth at length in Chapters IV. and XVII. In a task at once comprehensive and immersed in detail many imperfections cannot be avoided. The writer would plead that if they obtrude themselves, it is not because a great amount of work has not been put into the book. He has had at his disposal the long array of literature set forth in the Bibliography, and has constantly consulted the valuable works by Mr E. W. Brayley, Dean Stanley, and Professor Lethaby, and the important papers by Sir Gilbert Scott, Mr W. Burges, Mr J. T. Micklethwaite, the present Dean of Westminster, and the Rev. R. B. Rackham ; the " Deanery Guide " has also been useful in locating and describing the tombs and monuments. He has to thank the Dean of Westminster for the facilities accorded to him for studying the fabric of the Abbey, in which he received material assistance from Mr Wallace and Mr Wright. To Mr Weller special acknowledgment is due for the readiness and generosity with which he placed at the disposal of the writer his intimate knowledge of the Abbey. For photographs and drawings his thanks are due to Mr M. Allen, PREFACE ix A.R.I.B.A., Mr E. M. Beloe, F.S.A., Mr G. A. Dunn, Mr S. G. Kimber, F.R.P.S., Professor Lethaby, Mr T. MacLaren, A.R.I.B.A., Mr F. R. Taylor, Mr Sydney Vacher, A. R.I. B. A., Mr David Weller, Mr A. Needham Wilson, A.R.I. B.A., Mr E. W. M. Wonnacott, A.R.I.B.A., and Mr Thomas Wright. Mr W. S. Weatherley, F.R.I.B.A., has generously allowed a large number of his admirable series of drawings of the statuary in Henry the Seventh's Chapel to be reproduced. Mr Cottingham's illustrations of Henry the Seventh's Chapel, the Gentleman' 1 s Magazine, Gleanings from Westminster, Neale and Brayley's History of Westminster Abbey, Vetusta Monumenta, and Professor Willis' paper on Vaulting have also been drawn upon. The plans and sketches on pp. n, 12, 13, 40, 97, 127, 128, 138, 145 are by Mr J. Harold Gibbons, A.R.I, B.A., Pugin student 1903. The illustrations have been reproduced by the Grout Engraving Com- pany, the plans mostly by Mr Emery Walker. The book is lavishly illustrated there are 24 plans and sections, u measured drawings, 74 sketches and rubbings, and 161 photographs to the intent that those who live in far countries and may never have the opportunity of visiting Westminster may yet obtain an intimate knowledge of the Abbey. It may be added for the benefit of my foreign readers that it is customary in England to speak of the church as " the Abbey " ; Sir Lucius O'Trigger assured Bob Acres in "The Rivals" "there is very snug lying in the Abbey," Properly, however, the term is inclusive of the monastic buildings as well as the church. It should be mentioned also that the expenditure on the Abbey up to the Dissolution has been given as far as possible in modern equivalents. The text is preceded by a Bibliography, and is followed by an Index to the Illustrations and an Index to the text. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I PAGE CHAPTER I. The Beginnings of Westminster Abbey i PART II II. Westminster Abbey in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries ------ 8 VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. PART III Westminster Abbey in the Thirteenth Century The Plan and Purpose of Churches Served by Secular Canons, Regular Canons, and Monks Peculiarities of the Plan of Westminster Abbey Planning for the Monks. First Part - ,, ,, Second Part Chapels and Altars Planning for the General Public Planning for Pilgrims - Planning for Royalty and for the King's Treasurer Principles of Design in Henry the Third's Church Vaulting and Abutment in Henry the Third's Church French v. English Design in Henry the Third's Church PART IV XIV. Westminster Abbey in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries - PART V XV. Henry the Seventh's Lady Chapel PART VI XVI. Post-Reformation Westminster XVII. The Mainspring of Gothic Architecture PART VII XVI 1 1. Visitors' Guide to the Monuments in the Church XIX. Visitors' Guide to the Cloister and the Monastic Buildings, with some Account from Contem- porary Documents as to the Use of each LIST OF ABBOTS AND DEANS OF WESTMINSTER INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS INDEX RERUM - 19 28 37 45 55 65 67 7i 77 129 158 161 ,65 277 316 3'9 3 2 4 BIBLIOGRAPHY Neale. The standard work on Westminster Abbey is that by Mr E. W. Brayley, illustrated by Mr J. P. Neale ; (usually quoted as "Neale"); published in two volumes. London, 1818. It in- corporates the information of preceding writers ; and to it all books on Westminster published since are but supplementary. Camden. Reges, Reginae et Nobiles in Rcdesia Beatri Petri Sepulti. 1600, 1603, 1606. Stow. His Survey of London includes Westminster. New edition, with notes by C. L. Kingsford. Oxford, 1908. Eichorn. His Mausolea Regum, Reginarum, &<;., appeared in 1618. Weever. Ancient Funeral Monuments. Second edition. 1767. Sandford. Genealogical History. Second edition. 1707. H(enry) K(eepe). Monumenta Westmonasteriensia, 1681; inaccurate. Charles Taylour ( = Henry Keepe). A True and Perfect Narrative of the strange and unexpected finding the Crucifix and Gold Chain of that Pious Prince, Edward the Confessor. 1684. J. C(rull). The Antiquities of St Peter's, or the Abbey Church of Westminster. Fifth edition. 1742. Very inaccurate. John Dart. Westmonasterium ; or the History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of St Peter's, Westminster. Second edition. 1742. Very inaccurate, but valuable because he saw many things which now are gone. Richard Widmore. An Inquiry into the Time of the First Founda- tion of Westminster Abbey. 34 pages. 1743. An History of the Church of St Peter, Westminster, chiefly from Manuscript Authorities. 1751. Very valuable, being mainly derived from unprinted sources. xiv BIBLIOGRAPHY Vetusta Monumenta. Illustrations of various monuments, and a photographic reproduction of the drawings in the Islip Roll. Published by the Society of Antiquaries. Richard Gough. Sepulchral Monuments. 5 vols. 1786. J. P. Malcolm. Londiniwn Redivivum. Vol. i. 1802. Dugdale. Monasticon. 1817; and new edition in 1846. Brown Willis. Mitred Abbies. 2 vols. London, 1718. Carter. Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting. Vols. i. and ii. 1780. Ancient Architecture of England. Edited by Britton. 1830. Ackerman. Westminster ; only for the illustrations. 2 vols. 1808. The above list is abbreviated from the bibliography at the end of Neale's second volume. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS PUBLISHED SINCE l8l8. Gleanings from Westminster Abbey, by Sir Gilbert Scott and others. Second edition. Oxford, 1863. A collection of very valuable papers, especially those by Mr W. Burges : but almost useless for lack of an index. Westminster Abbey and the King's Craftsmen : a Study of Mediaeval Building, by W. R. Lethaby. 1906. Contains a multitude of new facts obtained from study of the Fabric Rolls. J. T. Micklethwaite. "Notes on the Abbey Buildings of West minster," in Archaeological Journal, xxxiii. 15. - " Further Notes on the Abbey Buildings at Westminster," in Archaeological Journal, \\. "The Statues in Henry VII. 's Chapel." Archaeologia, xlvii. The three papers above are of much importance. BIBLIOGRAPHY XV Mackenzie E. C. Walcott. Memorials of Westminster. 1849. Dean Stanley. Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey. Seventh edition, 1890. Very readable, and useful for its numerous references. Customary of St Peter, Westminster. Edited for the Henry Bradshaw Society by Sir E. M. Thompson. London, 1904. " The writing is of the latter part of the fourteenth century." It was compiled under the direction of Abbot Ware (1259-83) in the year 1266 by William de Haseley, sub-prior and master of the novices. Flete says (History, 114), " felicis memoriae frater Willelmus Haseley in hoc opere praecipue laborans ad finem debitum perduxit." It was divided into four parts, of which only one remains, and that greatly damaged by fire and water. The Customary of St Augustine's, Canterbury, resembles it closely, and may well have been largely derived from it. Dr J. Wickham Legg. Missale ad Usum Ecdesie Westmonasteri- ensis. Edited for the Henry Bradshaw Society in 3 vols., 1891-96. " Inventory of the Vestry in Westminster Abbey, taken in 1388," Archaeologia, vol. Hi. This was drawn up by Richard of Cirencester and William of Sudbury, with the aid of two younger monks. Mackenzie E. C. Walcott. Inventories of Westminster Abbey at the Dissolution. Printed by the London and Middlesex Archaeo- logical Society, vol. iv. 1874. Mr L. G. \V. Legg. English Coronation Records. 1901. Colonel J. L. Chester. Registers of the Abbey of St Peter, West- minster. 1876. Dr J. Armitage Robinson, Dean of Westminster. The History of Westminster Abbey, by John Flete. Cambridge, 1909. John Flete was a monk of the house from 1420 to 1465. The history breaks off with the death of Abbot Litlyngton in 1386. It contains (i) The story of the foundation of the Abbey; (2) The evidences of its privileges ; (3) A list of relics and a list of indulgences ; (4) The lives of the Abbots. Dr J. Armitage Robinson and Dr Montague R. James. The Manuscripts of Westminster Abbey. Cambridge, 1909. It contains a history of the Library and a description of the Cartu- laries by the Dean. Dr James describes the manuscripts, and contributes notes on the contents of former collections of manu- scripts at Westminster. XVI BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles by the Dean appeared in the Church Quarterly Review ; on "The Benedictine Abbey of Westminster" in Vol. 64, page 58; on " Simon Langham " in Vol. 66, page 339 ; and on " West- minster in the Twelfth Century : Osbert of Clare," in Vol. 68, page 336 ; a paper on " An Unrecognised Westminster Chronicle " (1381-1394), by the Dean, appeared in the Proceedings of the British Academy, iii., page 8 ; and one on " Westminster Abbey in the Early Part of the Eighteenth Century " in the Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain for 2gth April 1904. Rackham, R. B. The Nave of Westminster. This is a docu- mentary history of the Novum Opus in the western bays of the nave of Westminster. A paper read before the British Academy on i yth March 1909 will appear in the Proceedings of the British Academy. Cottingham, L. N. Plans, elevations, sections, and details of Henry the Seventh's Chapel. 1822 and 1829. Caveler, William, in his Select Specimens of Gothic Architecture, \ 839, gives measured drawings of the Doorway from aisle into East cloister ; Bosses and Capitals ; Incised Tiles ; Tombs of Queen Eleanor, Edmund Crouchback, and Aymer de Valence ; Canopy of St Erasmus, and over tomb of Edward III.; Henry the Fifth's chapel; the Islip chapel; and Window of 1340 in East cloister. Stothard, C. A. Monumental Effigies. Edited by Hewitt. 1876. E. M. Beloe. Monumental Brasses in Westminster Abbey. P U gin . Specimens of Gothic A rchitecture. 1821-23. The Builder for 6th January 1894 has a large plan and illustrated article on the Abbey. Measured drawings have appeared in the Spring Gardens Sketch Book and the Architectural Association Sketch Book ; the originals of several of which have been presented to the Spiers Collection in the Art Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Kensington. The Building News for 3oth July 1909 contains a list of illustra- tions which have appeared in its issues from 1869 onwards. WESTMINSTER ABBEY PART I CHAPTER I THE BEGINNINGS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY THE abbey church of Westminster has always occupied an exceptional and privileged rank among the churches of England. Like Gloucester, Peterborough, and Ely, it was served till the Dissolution by Benedictine monks ; and like these, it became the seat of a bishop ; but while these have remained cathedrals, Westminster retained cathedral rank only for ten years. Benedictine houses were of all sorts of size and import- ance ; Westminster was one of the most important of all. Its abbot was one of the greatest men in the realm, and was invested with the insignia of episcopal rank ; and as a mitred abbot sat with the bishops in the House of Lords : only to the mitred abbot of St Alban's he gave unwilling precedence. Moreover the abbey was in immediate and direct connexion with the sovereign. The monastery and church stood side by side in their precincts, and the church was a Royal Chapel ; Edward III. speaks of it as "Our chapel," "the Chapel Peculiar of Our Palace." Like some other of the greater abbeys, it was a "Peculiar"; a royal licence was required for the election, of Abbots of Westminster as w r ell as for their entry into possession, and they succeeded in getting exemption from all spiritual juris- A 2 WESTMINSTER ABBEY diction in England.* After Crokesley's abbacy (1246-1258) the Bishop of London finally ceased to have visitorial power over Westminster ; and to this day neither Archbishop nor Bishop may take part in any solemn service in the abbey church, other than a Coronation, except by permission of the Dean ; to this day also the Dean presents a formal protest on the meeting of Convocation within the precincts, as did the Abbots before him. On the other hand, being exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, the abbey was immediately subject to the Pope. The result was that every newly chosen abbot had to go all the way to Rome for confirmation of his election. What with the heavy fees payable at the Papal court and the expense of the journey, the Roman Sarcophagus cost at each election was enormous ; it is estimated that on each occasion it amounted to 6,400. t It was not till 1478 that, with the aid of Edward IV., the abbey got exemption from this obligatory visit to Rome at election time, and then only on condition of an annual payment to the Pope's treasurer. Like Southwell and Chichester cathedrals, the abbey of Westminster occupies a site which has been in use for nearly * The following is a quotation from the Bull of Pope Paschal IF. (1099- 1118), given in Flete's History, page 14: "Locum prelibatum ab omni servitio et dominatione episcopali absolvimus . . . ut nullus episcopus, sive Londoniensis seu quicunque aliquis alius, illuc introeat ordinaturus aut aliquid sive in maximo sive in minimo praecepturus, nisi propria abbatis ex petitione et monachorum communi utilitate. Concedimus, permittimus et confirmamus ut locus ille regiae constitutionis in perpetuum et consecrationis locus sit atque insignium regalium repositorium." t Widmore, 1 17. THE BEGINNINGS 3 twenty centuries. At Southwell a portion of Roman mosaic pavement may be seen in situ under the flooring of the transept ; while at Westminster, when the grave of Lord Lawrence was being dug in the nave, a Roman wall was found in situ ; and a Roman sarcophagus, found to the north of the nave, may be seen in the vestibule of the Chapter House (2). When first an abbey church arose is uncertain. The Isle of Thorns, Thorn-ea, or Thorney, was well suited for an abbey, being composed of gravel and fine sand ; with streams, once navigable, on either Tomb of King Sebert side, which served to flush the monastic drains and provided a harbour for the monastic boats ; while to the east there was the Thames, by which timber and building stone were easy of transport : moreover the river was then full of salmon. Two springs existed on the island, one in St Margaret's churchyard ; the other marked by the pump in the green of Dean's Yard ; in later days drinking water was brought to the abbey from springs in Hyde Park. With marshes to the south and west, as well as at Lambeth and Battersea, and with a broad river hard by, the site was of just the character which had led other Benedictines 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY to found abbeys at Peterborough on the Nene, at Ely on the Ouse, and elsewhere. Like Peterborough, Ely, Ramsey, Croy- land, St Benet's, Glastonbury, it was a Fen Monastery. The legendary history of the abbey dates back its foundation to A.D. 6 1 6, when the first church is said to have been built by King Sebert, whose reputed tomb is still shown in the south ambulatory opposite to the chapel of St Benedict (3). Sebert had finished his church, it is said, and all things were ready for its consecration by Mellitus, Bishop of London. On the eve of the consecration a fisherman, Edric by name, his day's work done, had rowed home in the gathering gloom to the Lambeth bank, when a stranger accosted him, and asked to be ferried across to Thorney Isle, and promised him meet reward. He Tiles in Chapter House was landed on the island and wended his way into the church. Whereupon straightway there brake forth from within a multi- tude of shining lights, and a chorus was heard of heavenly voices, and angels and archangels were seen descending a ladder from the skies, and the air was filled with celestial odours. At last the stranger returned, and was ferried back to the Lambeth bank, and the fisherman asked for his reward. The stranger bade him cast his net into the river, and he brought up a miraculous draught of salmon ; which, said the stranger, should never fail in Lambeth while tithe of them was offered to the church in Thorney Isle ; and he bade the fisherman take one of the salmon to Mellitus, and tell how he had carried in his boat the fisher of the Galilean lake and had seen the church consecrated THE BEGINNINGS 5 by St Peter and all the glorious hierarchy of heaven. Which when Bishop Mellitus heard, he hastened to the church, and there found twelve consecration crosses on the walls, and the letters of the alphabet written twice * on the sanded pavement, and the traces of chrism, and the droppings of the angelic tapers. All which things have been put into verse by Matthew Arnold : " Rough was the winter eve, Their craft the fishers leave, And down over the Thames the darkness grew. One still lags last, and turns and eyes the Pile Huge in the gloom, down in Thorney Isle, King Sebert's work, the wondrous Minster new. 'Tis Lambeth no\v, where then They moored their boats among the bulrush stems : And that new Minster in the matted fen The world-famed Abbey by the westering Thames. His mates are gone, and he For mist can scarcely see A strange wayfarer coming to his side ; Who bade him loose his boat and fix his oar And row him straightway to the further shore, And wait while he did for a space abide. The fisher awed obeys ; That voice had note so clear of sweet command ; Through pouring tide he pulls and drizzling haze, And sets his freight ashore on Thorney strand. The Minster's outlined mass Rose dim from the morass, And thitherward the stranger took his way. Lo ! on a sudden all the pile is bright ! Nave, choir and transept glorified with light, While tongues of fire on coign and carving play ! And heavenly odours fair Come streaming with the floods of glory in, And carols float along the happy air As if the reign of joy did now begin. * So the Norman poem : " L'abecede en pavement Escrit duble apertement ;" vv. 2,201, 2. The Latin account says that one alphabet was in Greek, the other in Latin ; " Videt pavimentum utriusque alphabet! inscriptione signatum." (Aeldred apud Migne, col. 757). On the mystical signification of the rite see Maskell's Afonuinenta Ritiia.Ha, \. 173. 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Then all again is dark ; And by the fisher's bark The unknown passenger returning stands. ' O Saxon fisher ! thou hast had with thee The fisher from the Lake of Galilee.' So saith he, blessing him with outspread hands ; Then fades, but speaks the while : ' At dawn thou to King Sebert shalt relate How his St Peter's church in Thorney Isle Peter, his friend, with light did consecrate.'" True or not, the story was devoutly believed for centuries. So late as 1359 King Edward III. expressly mentions West- minster as "the place which in ancient days received its consecra- tion from Blessed Peter the Apostle with the ministry of angels."* Moreover there was the undoubted fact that to the Westminster monks belonged by custom a custom which in 1230 they vindicated at lawf the tithe of salmon from Staines to Graves- end ; and till 1382 the usage survived that once every year a fisherman brought up a salmon in solemn procession to the convent assembled in state in the refectory ; where, it is re- corded,* he was set down at the table with the Prior or with those who had had their blood let, and was given his dinner * Flete (History, page 35) quotes the following "from a very ancient chronicle written in Anglo-Saxon " : " Deinde rex Orientalium Saxonum Sebertus, dicti regis Ethelberti ex sorore nepos, similiter accepto sanctae regenerationis lavacro, dejecit funditus Apollinis templum prope Londiniam in Thornensi insula, ut dictum est, situatum ; et ecclesiam ibidem in honore beati Petri apostolorum principis devote fundavit et construxit, quam postea idem caelestis claviger in spiritu cum supernprum civium comitatu deo et sibi consecravit." t See Flete, 67. + "Ut contingere solet de piscatoribus oblacionem de salmone beati Petri facientibus, qui ad tabulam sanguinatorum . . . decentius duci possunt, ut prandeant ibidem" (Consuetudines, 103). " Iste piscis cum fuerit coctus debet in parapside per medium refectorii usque ad mensam deferri, cui debet prior et omnes assidentes in ilia domo assurgere ; piscatores etiam ad mensam prioris eodem die debent comedere" (Flete's History, 66) Flete also quotes Giraldus Cambrensis' etymology and natural history of the salmon. It seems that " salmo a saliendo naturaliter nomen accepit," and that it leaps a spear's length high ; and when it comes to a steep place, it bends back its tail, or even seizes it in its mouth ; and, then letting go suddenly, flies up to the admiration of everybody. " Pisces hujusmodi naturaliter aquae cursum contranituntur, cumque obstaculum inveniunt valde praeruptum, caudam ad os replicant, interdum etiam ad majorem saltus efficaciam caudam ipsam ore comprimunt ; dumque a circulo hujuscemodi se subito resolvunt, impetu quodam, tanquam subita virgae circulatae explicatione, se ab imis ad alta cum intuentium admiratione longe transmittunt." $ For a critical discussion of the various versions of the legends of the foundation of Westminster, see the Dean of Westminster's edition of Flete's History, pages 2-11. THE BEGINNINGS 7 Be that as it may, there was certainly a monastery here in the tenth century ; for William of Malmesbury* tells us that c. 960 St Dunstan " brought in twelve monks of the Benedictine Order " ; in pursuance, no doubt, of his wonted policy of super- seding as far as possible Secular Canons by Monks. It is stated that St Dunstan among other things gave Paddington manor to the Abbey, t It is quite certain also that there was an important church standing and in use when the Confessor began to build ; for in a letter written between 1065 and 1074 it is recorded that he built his quire some distance east of an exist- ing church, and separated from it by an intervening space, that the services in the old church might not be interfered with. As the Confessor probably built little more than a quire and transepts, it may be inferred that the earlier church occupied the site of the Confessor's nave, and therefore that of the present nave, which is coextensive with the Norman one. * De Gest. Pont., 141. t Walcott's Memorials, I. PART II CHAPTER II WESTMINSTER ABBEY IX THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES WHEN we reach the reign of the Confessor, \ve are on firmer ground. Much of his monastic buildings still remains, and some fragments of his church. The church was begun about 1055, and enough was finished to permit its consecration on December 28th, 1065, a few days before the king's death. What was finished consisted probably of the eastern limb, the south wall of the south aisle of the nave, and as much of the transepts and nave as was needed to prop up the lower stage of a central tower ; also, apparently, a vestibule or covered passage was built to connect his work with the Anglo-Saxon church to the west. The building of the nave was commenced about 1 1 10, and most of it was probably finished by 1 163, when the bones of the Confessor were translated to a shrine on his canonisation. There have been dug up in the present nave fragments of enriched Norman work not earlier than the middle of the twelfth century. The new church was dedicated, like the old one, to St Peter. St Peter was one of the Confessor's patron saints ; moreover during his long exile in Normandy Edward had vowed to go on pilgrimage to St Peter's great church at Rome, if ever he were restored to England. But when he returned to England as king, the Great Council of the nation would not hear of such a thing ; but, instead, sent a deputation to the Pope, to explain how impossible it was for England to be without a sovereign during so long and perilous a journey. And the representative of St Peter gave him excuse ; but only on condition that he should found or restore an abbey of St Peter. And so King Edward rebuilt this church and IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES 9 monastery of St Peter. He had been sent away in childhood for safety to Normandy ; and, except that he retained long hair and a beard, had become a thorough Norman. At that time the Normans were on a much higher plane of culture than the Anglo-Saxons, and Edward's long sojourn abroad must have impressed him profoundly with the superiority of the Normans equally as regards manners, culture, religion, and art. Naturally, when he returned to England as king, he brought or sent for many sterling friends he had made in Normandy, both laymen and ecclesiastics ; in particular Rodbertus, Abbot of Jumieges, who became successively Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury.* And one of the outward and visible signs of his feeling in the ecclesiastical sphere was that he proceeded to build his new abbey not in Anglo-Saxon fashion, but in the manner of the new and advanced schools of Romanesque architecture which had grown up in Normandy and Touraine.f Now, too, French handwriting superseded in the English court the old Anglo-Saxon characters ; and under his auspices the French seals became the type of the sign manual in England for centuries.* It is perhaps somewhat remarkable that with his foreign antecedents and predisposi- tions he encountered so little opposition, and retained his throne undisturbed during a long and not unprosperous reign. Little however as his subjects may have appreciated his artistic and devotional tendencies, it was noted with approval that he was a "good sportsman," the "open sesame" to English hearts then as now. He would hear Mass early in the morning, and then be off to the woods for days together, flying his hawks, and cheering on his hounds. Nor was any language too strong to hurl at any one who was so unlucky as to interfere with the chase. One day a peasant had damaged the nets into which the deer were to be driven ; " By God and His Mother," said the king, ' sua nobili percitus ira,' " I will pay you out for this." To the end of his life he kept up his hunting. Sport and church- going were the two great pursuits of his life. On page 1 1 is a plan, in which, as far as may be, the Norman church is reconstituted. It is recorded that it had western towers ; probably they were just where they are at present. There was a long nave with aisles ; both nave and * Luard, Rolls, xxxiv. t Edward's knowledge of France was not confined to Normandy. Early in his reign he is found making gifts to St Denis and other monasteries (Ellis, 304, 307). \ Stanley, 14. Stanley, 1 1 ; Freeman's Norman Conquest, ii. 27. 10 WESTMINSTER ABBEY aisles were of the same breadth and length as at present ; and were divided, as now, into eleven compartments or " bays " ; it would however be far less lofty ; probably the top of its third story or " clerestory " was where now is the top of the second story or " triforium." Probably two screens ran across it as shewn in the plan ; and in front of each screen would be altars. Between the eastern of the two screens and the " crossing " would be placed the stalls of the monks, just as at present. Then came two cross-arms or " transepts," intersecting at the crossing under the central tower. The crossing and the next three bays to the east formed a large sanctuary, or as it is often called " presbytery " or " sacrarium." The transepts had no doubt little semicircular chapels projecting eastward from each ; either two chapels as at St Alban's ; or, more probably, only one, as at Gloucester. Besides these, there would be other little apsidal chapels to the north-east, east, and south-east of the eastern limb. To give access to these chapels, and, in addition, to enable processions to pass round the sanctuary without turning on their steps as they had to do in churches planned as Peterborough Cathedral originally was, with three parallel eastern apses, an aisle was built to the north, south, and east of the sanctuary, passing round it ; this is sometimes called the Ambulatory. Of the above details some we know from contemporary documentary evidence ; and there is also the material fact that the bases of three of the piers of the Norman apse still exist, and may be inspected by pulling up trap doors constructed for that purpose in the pavement of the sanctuary by Sir Gilbert Scott. The documentary evidence is in Latin and has been greatly misunderstood. The three passages that concern us are these : ( I ) " Principals arae domus altissiniis erect a fornicilnis quadrato opere parique coinmissura circumvolvitur" ; (2) "Abitus ipsius aedis dtipplici lapidnin nrcu ex utroque latere Jiinc et inde . . . clauditur" ; (3) " Subter et supra disposite ediicitnlur doinicilia, uiejuoriis apostolonun, martyrimn, confessonnn ac virginum conse- ctanda per sua nltaria" Most writers have followed a loose and inaccurate translation of Sir Christopher Wren ; Mr Micklethwaite * however gives a new translation, as follows : " The main building is rounded and built with very high and uniform arches of ashlar work. And the aisle enclosing that part is strongly vaulted with a double arch of stone springing from either side right and left." This translation is almost as unintelligible as Wren's ; moreover it is obviously a mistake to imagine that circus means " a vault," and fornix " an arch." * ArcJuzological Journal, li. n. IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES II SCALE. OF o so ioo tyo The Church, c. 1200 12 WESTMINSTER ABBEY * * 4*Hfc The Church, c. 1300 ; with Royal route and Pilgrim's way IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES 13 16 SCALI OF FE.ET O JO iOO The Church, c. 1530 ; with route of the Sunday procession 14 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Evidently the former means " an arch " or " an arcade," and the latter " a vault." The meaning of the words "principalis arae domus altissimis erecta fornicibus circumvolvitur " is that " the sanctuary (home of the high altar) is built with vaults very high and is surrounded by them." But what are the vaults meant ? Certainly they are not those of " the main building " ; there were no high vaults anywhere, either here or in Normandy, in 1050. It follows that they can only be the vaults of the ambulatory. What the writer is trying to say is that the sanctuary is apsidal, and that it is encircled by a vaulted ambulatory. He also tells us that the walls of the sanctuary (and no doubt of the ambu- latory also) are built of dressed stone (ashlar) laid in regular, uniform courses ; not of rubble laid in herring-bone fashion or at random. The second passage refers to the ambulatory ; for the other text has ambitus ("circuit" or "encircling aisle"), which is the correct reading, and not abitus. The translation is, " The ambulatory of the main building of the church, i.e., the sanctuary, is fenced off on both sides all round " (i.e., to the north, south, and east) " by a double arcade of ashlar." This means there are two rows of arches superposed ; the lower range of arches in front of the ambulatory, and the upper range in front of the triforium chamber. Probably the upper range would consist of a single undivided arch in each bay of the triforium, as at St Alban's, Norwich, Binham, Wymondham, the Abbaye-aux- hommes, and originally in Gloucester quire. Now we come to the third passage. This is translated by Mr Micklethwaite as if " educuntur " meant "are built projecting out from the transept" ; and accordingly he draws on his plan a couple of apsidal chapels projecting eastward from each transept. No doubt there were chapels in each Norman transept, though not necessarily two. But the word " educuntur" refers more especially to chapels projecting out from the ambulatory. Other- wise the church would have, as is shewn in Mr Mickle- thwaite's plan, an ambulatory and no radiating chapels ; a very improbable arrangement, as the chief use of an ambulatory was to provide access to eastern chapels ; moreover, there is hardly a single church in England or Normandy with semicircular ambulatory but without radiating chapels. To these latter the term '''educuntur" more especially applies; but it may also well apply to chapels projecting east from the transept ; for every large cruciform church of the period had transeptal chapels. Again turning back to the Latin, we are told that there were chapels above and chapels below, which when they got IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES 15 r-HtiCMf Part of Norman Refectory 1 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY their altars were to be dedicated to various saints. To under- stand this, we have only to consider the arrangement of the Gloucester quire and transepts. At Gloucester there are not only apsidal chapels on the ground floor, but another set on the top of them opening into the triforium chamber. From the analogy of Gloucester therefore we conclude that the third passage means that there were Saints' chapels ; three opening into the ambulatory, and two into the transept ; and five on the top of them opening into the triforium chamber of the quire and transepts. One difficulty remains. The ambulatory is described in the first passage as having very high vaults, t( altissimis erecta fornicibus" But if its vaults were very high, the pillars and arches on which the inner side of the vaults rested, would also be very high something like those of Gloucester nave. But if the pillars and arches round the sanctuary were lofty, it would be quite impossible for there to be upper chapels. Moreover the analogy of Gloucester quire is against it. Gloucester has upper chapels, and the pillars round the sacrarium are exception- ally low ; so they were originally at Tewkesbury, another church apparently planned like Norman Westminster. What vaults then is it that were very high ? Gloucester again supplies the answer. Not only has the ambulatory of Gloucester quire a groined vault, but the triforium chamber has a vault of its own as well. A very curious one it is ; what is called a half- barrel-vault or demi-berceau. Precisely the same type of vault seems to have been employed at St Stephen's, Caen ; and we found the spring of such a vault in the triforium chamber of the sanctuary of Cerisy-le-Foret, the most ancient part of the church, which is probably earlier in date than the Abbaye-aux-hommes. This, then, is the most probable explanation of the chronicler's very bad Latin ; the church was built with a groined ambulatory of coursed ashlar, and with a triforium chamber roofed, not like Jumieges with a groined vault, but like Gloucester quire with a demi-berceau. Altogether the Confessor's church must have been very far in advance of any church of its day in Normandy. It is highly probable that we have in Gloucester quire and transept a close copy of it ; the only important difference being that Gloucester has a crypt, in which are placed yet another set of chapels ; so that there are fifteen chapels at Gloucester against the ten of Norman Westminster in the quire and transepts. It is possible also that the design of the naves of Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and Pershore with their brobdingnagian pillars and diminutive triforiums may also be of Westminster inspiration ; at any rate no such design occurs in the eleventh-century IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES I/ churches of Normandy. In any case, this church of the Confessor was vastly important in the history of English architecture. It was the plan of Westminster, with chapels radiating from an ambulatory, and not that of the Normandy churches, with three parallel eastern apses and no ambulatory, that was followed in the eleventh and twelfth century plans of Battle, Winchester Cathedral, St Augustine's, Canterbury, Chichester, Lewes, Reading, Dover, St Bartholomew's, Smithfield, in the South of England ; Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Leominster, Pcrshore, Muchelney, Lichfield, Chester Cathedral, in the West ; Bury St Edmund's, Croyland, Norwich, and Tynemouth, in the Chapel of the Pyx East and North. Equally foreign to Normandy are the super- posed chapels of Norman Westminster and Gloucester. Hence it follows that whereas all the text-books tell us that our English Romanesque is derived from Normandy, there are in reality two separate sources, the second being the Confessor's church at Westminster. One would like greatly to know what was the genesis of its design. In all probability the plan came from St Martin's, Tours ; * it is possible that the idea of superposing the chapels came from the same church ; unfortunately, the * See Gothic Architecture in England, page 192, for plan of St Martin's abbey church. 18 WESTMINSTER ABBEY quire of St Martin's, Tours, was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, and what were its original arrangements on the first floor it is impossible now to ascertain. Norman Cloister Arcade PART III CHAPTER III WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY FOR a long period the Confessor's church sufficed all needs. But early in the thirteenth century, here and everywhere through- out Christendom, an increasing veneration for Our Lady led to the building or rebuilding or enlargement of Lady chapels. At Westminster there was substituted for the Confessor's eastern- most chapel a Lady chapel as broad as the nave of Henry VI I. 's chapel is now, and extending as far as the entrance of the chapel east of his grille ; the foundations of three sides of its eastern apse were found in 1876. Henry III. was a boy only ten years old when it was consecrated in 1220; so it was not a Royal work. It was begun by Abbot Humez, and finished by Abbot Berking, who was buried before its High Altar. The money was largely raised by subscriptions, entitling the donors to indulgence in purgatory.* Its roof was taken off in 1256 that it might be vaulted (12). Now we come to the greatest building period at West- minster, that of Henry III. Henry was a lover of art, and a most generous and munificent patron of art, spending on it all that he had and more than he had. His master passion, how- ever, was architecture ; he was always building somewhere ; and for his work at Westminster he impoverished himself and London and the whole kingdom to such an extent as to bring himself into conflict with London and the nation at large. He was moved to the rebuilding of the Westminster church because it was not only the greatest of the Royal chapels, but was the tombhouse of his especial patron and advocate, St Edward. His regard for the Confessor on St Edward's Day is specially * Neale, i. 41. 20 WESTMINSTER ABBEY mentioned by Matthew of Westminster, who says, that on the eve before St Edward's Day, " the king and his train clothed themselves in white garments, and spent the vigil in strict fast- ing, watching and prayer, and acts of charity, remaining all night in the Abbey Church. The next day solemn Mass was sung in the Church, the quire being clothed in vestments of richest silk presented by him, and the Church illuminated with innumerable wax tapers, and the finest music." In a deeply religious and devotional age Henry was conspicuous even above others for his love for the Church and her services, in this out- doing the saintly St Louis of France himself; twice, thrice, even four or five times a day he would hear Mass ; he could never pass a church without entering to say a prayer or join in the office that was being sung. His work at Westminster is the memorial of his devotion alike to religion and to art. There was, however, a special reason why the convent must have been equally anxious with the king to rebuild the Norman church. It was that the Norman sanctuary had become cramped and incommodious (ti). Even in his lifetime miracles had been worked by the touch of the Confessor ; and after his death in 1066 they became more frequent still ; application was made to Rome, and in 1163 he was formally canonised. He was buried in the crossing of his own church ; i.e., in the middle of the space beneath the central tower ; on this very spot a shrine was erected to contain his bones.* Now, in England, usually, unless there was a lofty crypt beneath, the High Altar was kept quite low ; and the Confessor's shrine, which was of considerable size,f standing in front of the High Altar at Westminster, must have seriously blocked the view of the celebrant at High Mass, whose movements it was all-important for the occupants of the stalls to see, if they were to follow the office with precision. And when it was desired to expose the relics of the Confessor and the offerings at his shrine to the great crowds of pilgrims who thronged to Westminster from all over England, it was necessary to introduce them into the very heart of the church, the sanctuary, a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. The remedy for this was to do what had been done at Canterbury in a somewhat similar case ; viz., to provide the great local saint at Canterbury it was St Thomas, martyred in 1170 with a separate chapel, placed out of the way, east of * Those who have visited Worcester Cathedral will remember that the tomb of King John to this day occupies a similar position in front of the High Altar. t The illustration shews the shrine which preceded the present one ; with sick folk creeping beneath it in hope of cure of their diseases. IX THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY King Henry III Queen Eleanor 22 WESTMINSTER ABBEY the High Altar. When Canterbury quire was rebuilt in 1 1/5, it was prolonged much further to the east than before in order to provide room for a new eastern Saint's chapel, the now wrongly- named Trinity chapel. Precisely the same course was adopted by Henry III. at Westminster. In planning the new eastern limb, the apse was set so far back to the east that room was left for a Saint's chapel at the back of the High Altar (12).* The demolition of the old church began in 1245 ; and in the first 13 years the eastern sanctuary with its ambulatory and The Old Shrine of St Edward chapels, and the crossing and transepts were completed. In 1258 orders were given for the demolition of the Norman nave as far as the vestry ; and the first four or five bays from the crossing must have been on the way to completion in the next II years; for in 1269 the bones of St Edward were trans- * Quite a large number of churches adopted the Canterbury plan about this time ; e.g., Winchester built an eastern Saint's chapel for St Swithin, c. 1207 or a little later; Beverley Minster for St John of Beverley, c. 1225 ; Ely for St Etheldreda, 1235-1252 ; Durham Cathedral for St Cuthbert in 1242 ; Lincoln Minster for St Hugh, 1256-1280 ; Hayles Abbey for the Holy Blood, 1270; St Alban's built probably two eastern chapels, one for St Alban and one for St Amphibalus, 1302-1308. IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY The Shrine of St Edward 24 WESTMINSTER ABBEY lated to the present shrine, and the monks sang Mass for the first time in the new church on October 13. The western bays of the quire cannot however have been completely finished for sometime afterwards: for the receipts in 1269 to be spent on work in the church amounted to ^24,400; in 1270 to .21,500; and in 1271 to .21,800. In these three years much work was done at the windows, including " canvas for closing the windows " till such time as they should be glazed. Evidently the work was still in full swing up to the day of the king's death in 1272: when it seems to have been suddenly stopped by Edward I. It is usual to assume that the eastern bays of the nave were built by Edward I. ; such an assumption is quite at variance with the fabric rolls. It is difficult to see how it arose ; for the Monasticon says, quite accurately, that " the abbey as rebuilt by Henry III. includes the quire to somewhat beyond Sir Isaac Newton's monument" ; also that the end of Henry's high vault westward is marked by the discontinuance of white stripes of chalk in the filling in of the vaulting cells.* On this great work, not only the building, but its equipment, the stalls, the reli- quaries, the service books, the vestments, the plate, the bells, money was poured out without count and without stint ; every- thing was of the best ; in all things it was desired to equal and if possible to surpass the finest work of England and of France. In 1253 over ^300,000 had been spent; in 1261 more than ,500,000 ; the total cost to Henry can hardly have been less than ^750,000 of our money. Taking into account the great increase of population and wealth since the thirteenth century, it is as if Edward VII. should spend on a single church, and that with the nave still to build, over ^6,000,000. f From 1245 to 1253 Henry of Westminster was in charge of the works ; from 1254 to 1262 John of Gloucester ; from 1262 to 1269 Robert of Beverley.J The changes in the design west of the crossing are due no doubt to John of Gloucester ; the piers have eight shafts instead of four, the additional four being engaged ; the high vault has additional ribs, viz., a transverse ridge rib and eight intermediate ribs ; in the spandrils of the arcading of the aisle walls are set beautiful shields^ of some of Henry's royal contemporaries and of great barons of the king- * Dugdale's Monasticon, 273, 2nd edition, 1817. t If we were to take into account the still greater disproportion between the income of the nation in 1269 and its present income (in 1904 it was estimated at 1,7 10,000,000) we should have to multiply that sum many times over. I Lethaby's Westminster, 150-173. IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 26 WESTMINSTER ABBEY dom (25); the capitals also of the aisle arcading are molded instead of being foliated, the triforium has no enrichments in its arch-moldings : the profiles of the vault ribs also differ. The design, as thus modified, was gradually carried out, with little further change, to the west end of the nave during the two succeeding centuries, as will be described later ; leaving the church practically as now we see it from the eastern apse above St Edward's shrine to the far-away western doorway of the nave. Before passing to the later history of the Abbey, it may be well to consider somewhat in detail this great and magnificent memorial of the genius and the faith of our fathers ; its plan and purport, its construction and design. IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY Quire and Sanctuary from West CHAPTER IV THE PLAN AND PURPOSE OF CHURCHES SERVED BY SECULAR CANONS, REGULAR CANONS, OR MONKS IT is a startling contrast to turn from the roar of London traffic to the solemn silences of Westminster Abbey ; at one step we have passed from modern England, thick set with public-houses as once it was with churches, into the Middle Ages. We are in the presence of one of the noblest works of humanity, so vast in scale and majesty that it seems hardly conceivable that it can have been planned and built by the pigmy man who walks beneath ; it seems not built by mortal man for mortal men ; man is overpowered by his own work. How was it that our fathers could build thus? Why did they build churches so numerous, and why churches so vast in scale? England held but a little people when this church was built. Yet in the England of the thirteenth century churches existed, not in hundreds but in thousands ; there were nearly ten thousand churches in England in the thirteenth century. And of these churches very many were of such vast dimensions as have only been equalled once or twice since in England. Even in the eleventh century there were set out churches that are among the largest in Europe St Alban's, Winchester, Ely, and many others. And not only were these English folk good and religious to an extent which modern people are wholly unable to realise or appreciate, but they seem to have been as much more clever than ourselves as they were more pious and devout. When modern architects designed the New Law Courts, Truro Cathedral, and the Houses of Parlia- ment the last perhaps the noblest building in modern Europe they had no ideas of their own ; all they could do was to imitate the work of their predecessors, the builders of the Middle Ages. Only by the builders of ancient Greece were the achieve- ments of the mediaeval craftsmen equalled ; nor need a Gothic minster shrink from comparison even with the Parthenon, with its windowless walls and paltry roof of wood, with a hole in the roof to admit light, or a roof that was all hole. THE PLAN AND PURPOSE 30 WESTMINSTER ABBEY When the numerous and lovely churches of old England were built, they were not built as we build churches nowadays. If we are asked now to subscribe to the erection of a new church, be sure that the circular will say that it is to accommodate a con- gregation of 400, 600, or whatever the number may be ; in other words, it is built for the use of man. That was not the primary intent of the old churchbuilders. Their first idea was that they were not building for man ; that they were building a Sanctuary wherein their God should dwell, where day by day for ever prayer and praise should rise to Him, where day by day there should ever be renewed the holy mystery of the change of the creatures of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. At this great sacrament, congregation or no con- gregation, the priest of the church officiated. If people chose to attend, there was the nave to shelter them. In a village church merely a chancel and an unaisled nave, such as thousands of them at first were all the quire that could normally be got together for such services was the parish priest and the parish clerk. They did their best no doubt. Sometimes, however, e.g., at Maidstone, it was thought that there might be a better quire than this, and moreover a larger number of daily services. So two, four, twenty, fifty priests as many as could be afforded were put in ; and churches with colleges of priests, and with quires enlarged to accommodate them, arose ; such as All Saints', Maidstone ; St George's, Windsor ; St Mary Overie, Southwark ; St Paul's Cathedral. In all this there is nothing very unfamiliar ; go to any of the above, except Maidstone, and there will still be found a community of priests, called Canons, and forming what is known as the Dean and Chapter, whose primary duty is to read the services and lessons and sing or say the psalms and offices. These functions, for their better performance, ever since plainsong gave place to pricksong, have been delegated, with small exception, to deputies in the form of Vicars Choral (Minor Canons) and paid singers, men and boys. The chief function left to them is that each shall attend all services. But as they have paid deputies to do their work, they do not always attend. In the Middle Ages this lax system was not originally con- templated. In the first place, the priests were forbidden to marry, and so they had not domestic distractions to keep them from church ; secondly, the music was plainsong, such as could be rendered by men's voices. And to make it easy for the Canons to attend the services, they were housed near the church. Sometimes, as at St Paul's, Salisbury, and Wells, the Canons had each a house of his own near the church, as they THE PLAN AND PURPOSE North Cloister from East 32 WESTMINSTER ABBEY have to this day. Sometimes, as at St Mary Overie, South- wark, and St Bartholomew's, Smithfield, they all lived together in a Clergy House, though they did not call it a Clergy House. They had a common dining-room, a common dormitory, and had " studies " in a common cloister (31); they lived very much as boys live nowadays in a public school on the hostel system, such as Wellington or Marl borough. Here, in or round the cloister, they were close at hand and could pass straight into church for the various services. They formed the residential quire of the church. In many churches this permanent quire was very large. We may form some idea of its size by counting the number of stalls that were put up for its accommodation, e.g., in Lincoln or Beverley Minster ; frequently the quire contains sixty stalls or more. But so far we have not spoken of the arrangements at Westminster. So far as the housing of the Westminster quire goes, the arrangements were the same as at Southwark and Smithfield, only that the group of buildings went by the name of monastery. The great difference, and a strange difference it seems to us, is, that with the exception of two or three priests to officiate at Mass, the whole of the occupants of the Westminster stalls were originally laymen. This was in accordance with the intent of St Benedict, who founded the Order of Benedictine Monks in the sixth century.* These residential quires of laymen are what are known by the name of Monks. There were several varieties of them : Benedictines, Cluniacs, who were Reformed Benedictines, Carthusians, Cistercians. The Benedictines wore black robes, and so are sometimes styled the Black Monks. The head of the community was called Abbot, and the whole establishment an Abbey. This church at Westminster from the tenth century to the Dissolution was served by Benedictine monks. These monasteries or communities of laymen had a totally different origin from the Canons Regular spoken of above. Monasticism grew up out of the ancient hermit or anchorite system.t Men found that it was impossible to live a good life in a Pagan world with its temptations and even compulsion to evil, and withdrew themselves to desert solitudes, that through mortification of the body evil might no more have dominion over them. It was no ignoble ideal. At the same time it was * He was by no means fond of priests, and says, " If any priest supplicate to be admitted, he is not to be received too readily ; and if admitted, he is not to be allowed to give himself airs." t On Early Monasticism see the Introduction to the Lausiac History of Palladius, by Abbot Butler. THE PLAN AND PURPOSE 33 not the highest of ideals, for it was not altruistic ; the hermit cared not for others' evil plight ; he was absorbed in his own. The same ideal, carried out in more systematic and orderly fashion, was that of the first monasteries ; and it remained long a primary motive for the foundation of monasteries. Such communities of laymen, striving after goodness of life, naturally found help in the services of the Church ; and services were provided for them in a monastic chapel. In one Order of monks, the Carthusian, the chapel was but a small one ; adequate and not more than adequate for a congregation of 20, 40, 50 monks. But in the other great Orders, the Benedictine, the Cluniac, the Cistercian, the monastic chapel was often on a vast scale ; at Westminster it is over 500 feet, at Glastonbury it was nearly 600 feet long. What was the object of building such enormous chapels as these? The scanty band of monks, seldom more than 50 or 60, must have been lost in their vast solitudes. The reason seems to be that the monks had largely grown out of the old ideal ; that it had been superseded, never wholly, but in large measure, by the ideals of the Canons. The old conception of the object which actuated the founders of monasteries was that a number of people gathered together, and to help them in their endeavour towards a good life seven services a day were provided, and a chapel built for these services. Such a theory however quite fails to account for the foundation of monasteries by people who were not monks themselves. How can it be said that Edward the Confessor or Henry the Third or Henry the Seventh built or endowed Westminster Abbey to enable not themselves there would have been some sense in that but certain other folks to lead a holy life? Plainly their primary meaning and intention was to present to God an acceptable offering, that so if it might be He might reward them in mercy. This offering took the shape of a chain of ever recurring worship, seven daily offices in addition to Matins at night and High Mass by day. For these services a church was built, commensurate not to the little band of monks* who sat within its stalls, but to the majesty of Him whose earthly abode it was ; and for the due performance of these services a residential quire was pro- vided, a quire of laymen from whose lips prayer and chant should rise unceasingly till time should be no more. Then, to the intent that none should serve in the Lord's House unworthily, * St Dunstan brought in 12 monks to Westminster ; in 1339 there were 49 ; in 1347 there were 52 ; in 1392 about 47 ; in the quire stalls there was accommodation for 64 ; in the Chapter House for 80. At the Dissolution there were not 30 monks. E 34 WESTMINSTER ABBEY strict rules were laid down for holy living. In all communities whether of monks or canons, an oath of poverty, chastity, and obedience was exacted ; the wide world had to be exchanged for the cloister's narrow walk ; occupation was provided for every moment of spare time ; meals were few and far between ; the food was of the simplest, sometimes consisting only of vegetables and water ; there were frequent fasts ; and lest the flesh should still wax too robust, there were blood-lettings at regular and not too distant intervals. In the early and better days of monasticism this rule or code of life very generally was faithfully observed. Monks and canons who lived their lives under a Rule were styled in those days " The Religious " par excellence ; the term was not applied to parish priests or to canons of such Collegiate or Cathedral churches as St George's, Windsor, or St Paul's, London, who lived as they liked, just as they do now, each in his own house, eating what he chose and when he chose, and talking at meals. It was not such people who sang God's praises at Westminster, but monks ; and the object of all the rules and regulations of this Westminster house was to ensure as far as possible that those who prayed and sang in the Westminster church should be men of good and holy living. But though such thought and care was devoted to the pro- motion of goodness of life, yet that was not the main object of such abbeys as Westminster ; the monastery did not condition the church, but the church the monastery. And so the Orders of Laymen practically came round to the ideals of the Orders of Canons ; and ever year by year the distinctions between them grew fainter and fainter, till in the end it becomes difficult to see any real difference between monk and regular canon. More and more of the monks became priests ; in the end every monk became a priest. So important was it thought at Westminster that they should do so, that a dispensation was obtained enabling Westminster monks to enter holy orders at the age of twenty- one, i.e., before the canonical age. Later on still, we shall find that just as the monks had become assimilated to Canons Regular, such as the Augustinians of Southwark, so ultimately they became assimilated to Canons Secular, such as those of St Paul's.* It may now be asked, perhaps, what of the general public ? what part or lot have they in this great church of West- minster? The general public must make up its mind that such churches as Westminster were not built for such as they ; or at any rate only to a very limited extent. If the general * See page 296. THE PLAN AND PURPOSE 35 36 WESTMINSTER ABBEY public wanted to be able to worship at any moment they chose, or to be married, or to be christened, or to be buried, they built a church of their own and went there. Westminster folks were expected to go to St Margaret's church, which was built for that purpose hard by (35). So at Bury St Edmund's there are two great churches built in the monks' precinct for the townsmen ; but little of the abbey church was open to them, and that not at all times, and then only by favour. It is no use to look at mediaeval churches through modern spectacles ; things were not then as they are now. Nowadays, if we see a large modern church, we know that it was built for a large congregation ; and if we see a small church, that it is for a small congregation. Paradoxical as it may seem, the largest mediaeval churches were built for the smallest congregations. When Westminster Abbey church was built, it was probably not contemplated that the regular congregation would ever reach a hundred. It may seem incredible that a church 511 feet long, 100 feet high, and that cost a million of money, should have been built for a congrega- tion normally under sixty in number. The fact is and unless it is grasped, it is impossible to understand Westminster or any of the greater churches here or abroad they were built not for man, but for God ; and they were built for quiremen and not for the general public. This is not mere conjecture. If we take our stand in the centre of the church and look westward, what do we see? All the three eastern bays or divisions of the nave are filled with stalls, and at the end of them a screen runs across (162). This has been so ever since the church was built. Moreover there was formerly yet another screen, the Rood screen, still further to the west. Only the part of the church which was west of that Rood screen was open to laymen who wished to worship in the abbey church. It was here, attached to the centre of the Rood screen, as may still be seen at St Alban's, that the special altar for the laity was, the altar of the Holy Cross. The many daily services in the eastern part of the church were forbidden to laymen ; fragments might float over the barriers now and then ; but they were debarred by the two great screens from seeing anything. And even in the western bays of the nave they had no independent or exclusive right ; they were only there by grace ; at times the monks used this part of the church also ; e.g., in the great Sunday procession it was here that they made some of their "stations." This then is a second thing which must be borne in mind if it be desired to understand Westminster Abbey or any of the monastic or cathedral churches, viz., that they were built with very little reference to what lay folk wanted or did not want. ( 37 ) CHAPTER V PECULIARITIES OF THE PLAN OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY LET us look now at the plan of the church more in detail. The first thing that strikes one is its complexity ; the second is how unsuitable it is for modern congregational worship ; perhaps it may strike one later on how admirably it is suited for what was its actual purpose. To understand the real nature of the planning, it must be remembered that the requirements of several different sets of people had to be borne in mind. These were the monks, the king and his court, whose royal chapel it was, pilgrims who wished to see the altars, shrines, and monu- ments, and lay folk who wished to say their prayers in the nave. All these people had to be accommodated ; and it had, moreover, to be arranged that the monks should not be interfered with in passing to and from the quire, the sacristy, and the cloister by pilgrims or the general public (13). The data by means of which we may hope to reconstitute the original plan and use of the church are as follows ; some of them common to all the great monastic churches, some peculiar to Westminster. The chief are the positions of screens, gates, altars, and doorways. The central member of the whole church, here as in all the greater churches, is the inner chapel of the monks, in which their seven daily services, with others, were held ; at Westminster, its chief altar is dedicated to St Peter (38). This, the monastic chapel, was screened off on all sides. Three doorways led into it ; one, as at present, through the centre of the quire screen to the west, and one from each transept ; these latter were the north and south doors of the presbytery or sanctuary, ostia presbyterii. In this part of the church the monks had four altars in the thirteenth century, to which another was added in the following century ; in the space between the quire screen and the rood screen they had two more. So far the arrangements are fairly normal (see page 44). When, however, we turn to the transepts, several things are to be seen which are anything but normal. If we turn to the plan on page 13 (one often learns more from a plan than from WESTMINSTER ABBEY the actual church), it will be seen that the transepts are very strangely arranged. In the first place, the western aisle of the south transept is boxed off with East low walls. What is inside? % VI % Inside is the northern part of * the east walk of the cloister. ^w"lJ"w N The Norman cloister stood pre- !| v in cisely where the present one does, as the plans shew ; but the Norman south transept had no western aisle. Consequently when Henry III. rebuilt the south tran- sept with a western aisle, the east walk of the cloister had to be put inside this new aisle, if it was to be retained. Secondly, the disposition of chapels in the two transepts is very eccentric. In the eastern aisle of the south transept there were no chapels, though an eastern aisle is peculiarly suit- able for altars (39). In the northern transept, on the other North Mi Mi South hand) the whole of the eastern aisle is filled up with chapels, but, though there is a western aisle, there are no altars in it. Now go round the church and look at the doorways. The church is entered by the double doorway of the north transept, by far the most imposing in the church ; more so than even that of the west front (43). It is flanked by two smaller door- ways ; that on the west has a doorway which led into the west aisle of the transept ; that on the gli ;.... ' ' j east is not pierced with a door- way. It may be thought that this is because it would have led into a chapel only. But the odd West Nave thing is that just round the Plan of St Peter's Chapel corner there actually is a door- PECULIARITIES OF THE PLAN 39 Eastern Aisle of South Transept 4 o WESTMINSTER ABBEY way, leading from the east into St Andrew's chapel. It is a broad and important doorway ; and so desirable was it thought to have this doorway, and to have it just here, that this chapel was made 2 feet 4 inches broader than the chapel to the south, to make room for it ; but it still seriously restricted the dimensions of St Andrew's chapel. Now proceed along the north side of the nave, and another doorway will be found, quite small (128). Nowadays it leads merely from the north aisle on to a lawn. But under the grass have been found foundations* of a long narrow building par- allel to the north aisle and extending back to the north transept ; it must have been about 90 feet long. Like the cloister of Salisbury, it was separated from the aisle wall by a small courtyard, so as not wholly to block the light of the aisle windows. Now West- minster was full of treasures vestments, tapestry, reliquaries, missals, shrines, altar plate, &c. and in 1250 Henry III. gave orders for a sacristy to be built, 120 feet long. There were already two sacristies. One of them, called the Revestry, opens out of the south transept ; it is quite narrow and its east end is occupied by the altar of St Faith ; it is far too small to have been the principal sacristy of so important a church as that of Westminster ; it seems, indeed, to have been reserved for the Abbot when he was about to officiate at High Mass (40). In * For plan and description of these by Henry Poole, the Abbey mason, see ArchcEological Journal, xxvii. 120. Revestry PECULIARITIES OF THE PLAN East Cloister Doorway West Cloister Doorway F 42 WESTMINSTER ABBEY the east walk of the cloister is another sacristy, now the Chapel of the Pyx ; but it was rather a treasury than a sacristy (17). It was probably because of the inadequacy of these arrange- ments that Henry determined to have a new sacristy with plenty of room for vestments and the like. Where, then, was it to be ? The normal position of a large sacristy is next to the wall of the eastern limb of a church, e.g., at Durham and Lincoln. But at Westminster the quire was not in the crossing or in the eastern limb, but in the nave. Therefore, if placed near the nave, as at Chichester, it would be placed conveniently. As for the dis- crepancy between the foundations found north of the nave, which are 90 feet long, and the prescribed 120 feet, that is explicable by the fact that near the east end of the foundations there are remains of two staircases. The building therefore was two stories high, and the two stories give more than the length required. \Vhen this large sacristy was built in 1250, the north aisle of the nave was still that of the twelfth century, and no doubt only a rough, temporary doorway was cut through it to give access to the sacristy. It was not till this bay of the aisle was rebuilt much later that the present doorway was inserted. Now, passing on to the west front, it is important to notice that we do not find the usual three doorways, but only one doorway, and that not so spacious as the central one in the north transept (29). Next come three small doorways, the central of which, below the Abbot's pew, leads to what seems to have been Abbot Islip's private chapel, and is probably a repro- duction of an ancient doorway (53). Next comes a large and fine doorway of late fourteenth-century date, leading from the west walk of the cloister into the south aisle of the nave (41). Further on is another large and beautiful doorway, leading into the same aisle from the east walk of the cloister (41). In the south-western corner of the south transept, now blocked by the monument to a Duke of Argyll, is a high doorway, from which, as the old plans show, the transept was reached by a staircase of wood. A few feet to the east, is the doorway into the Revestry (12). If now we enter the Revestry, we shall see at its west end a sort of stone bridge (40); and, if we look closely, we shall see doorways at either end of it. Across this bridge the monks passed from their dormitory and down the corkscrew staircase into the transept and quire for the services in the middle of the night. The next doorway leads down to the crypt beneath the Chapter House, as well as to a staircase leading to the wall -passage in the aisle, and to the triforium and the roof (12). Close to it is another doorway, fairly im- portant, leading from Poets' Corner into the open air (39). PECULIARITIES OF THE PLAN 43 North Transept 44 WESTMINSTER ABBEY So much for the doorways. There are also several iron gates across the aisles. There are two spots where gates can be proved to have existed in mediaeval days. It can be proved from the remains of the ancient pavement that there were always gates just as at present at the entrance to the north and south ambulatory, and that they were in their present irregular position ; the south gate one bay more to the east than is the north gate (12). Now let us see how far these data take us. How far was the plan of the present church suitable for the requirements (i) of the monks, (2) of pilgrims, (3) of the general public, (4) of Royalty, (5) of the King's Treasurer ? We cannot hope to prove throughout that the church was used precisely as we suggest ; we may however hope to show that if the parts of the church were used as suggested, the arrangements would have been very convenient for all the classes of people enumerated above.* * The following are the divisions of the central chapel shewn on page 38 : I. THE SCREENS. 19. Rood screen. 16. Quire screen. 17. Altar of Our Lady. 18. Altar of Holy Trinity. II. QUIRE. 12. Northern stalls. 13. Southern stalls. 15. Return stalls. 14. Lectern. III. LOWER SANCTUARY. 9. Matins altar. 10, u. Ostia presbyterii. IV. RAISED SANCTUARY. 8. High altar. 6. Reredos. 7, 7. Doors into St Edward's chapel. V. ST EDWARD'S CHAPEL. 2, 3. Shrine and altar, i. Earlier relic cupboard and altar. 4, 5. Later relic cupboard and altar. VI. HENRY THE FIFTH'S CHANTRY CHAPEL. ( 45 ) CHAPTER VI PLANNING FOR THE MONKS. (FIRST PART) WE will start first with the requirements of the monks. What they wanted was an enclosed central chapel with altars ; and it had to be easy of access from both the sacristies, and from the east walk of the cloister, and from their dormitory. More- over they wanted some dozen small chapels in addition ; out- side St Peter's chapel, but at the same time capable of being shut off from the laity. First let us look at their own special chapel (38). It consisted of six parts: (i) the space between the screens ; (2) the quire ; (3) the lower sanctuary ; (4) the raised sanctuary ; (5) St Edward's chapel ; to which was added in the fourteenth century (6) Henry V.'s chantry chapel of the Annunciation. (1) The space between the quire screen and the rood screen was usually utilised to accommodate two altars, one on either side of the central doorway in the quire screen ; at Westminster the northern of these was probably the altar dedicated to Our Lady, where now is the monument to Sir Isaac Newton (311) ; the southern would be that dedicated to the Holy Trinity, where now is the monument of Lord Stanhope. In front of each of these altars would be fence screens occupying part or the whole of the bay, with a central passage east and west.* By this passage between the screens vested priests could pass direct from the nave sacristy into the quire. When attending day services, the monks would pass from the east walk of the cloister to the south presbytery door, and so to their stalls : while for the night services they would descend across the platform of the revestry, into the south transept, and as before by the south presbytery door to their stalls. (2) Next let us look into the quire ; and, first, take away the front row or rows of seats and desks, which originally would riot be there ; that leaves a very broad gangway. It was in these stalls that the monks sat at the regular services. The * In the plans on pages 38 and 12 alternative arrangements of this space are suggested. In the first plan the rood screen occupies the whole bay ; in the second, only half the bay. WESTMINSTER ABBEY PLANNING FOR THE MONKS 47 services were at times very long the quire might have to stand for an hour or two during the singing, e.g., of the penitential psalms, and to give the monks a little support while standing, the seats or misericords were kindly provided with hinges, so that, without ceasing to stand, the occupant of the stall might nevertheless obtain some slight support when the seat was turned up, from the small ledge underneath it. In a parish church the benches of the nave were set north and south so as to give a good view of the celebrant at the High Altar. In a View from St Edmund's Chapel monastic church this could not be done, because there had to be found room for a great lectern in the middle of the quire. Moreover room had to be left for various processions during the offices from the altar to the lectern and to the stalls. The stalls therefore were arranged east and west, facing one another. But at the west end there were return stalls for the abbot and prior (now occupied by the dean and subdean) and these return stalls did face east (cf. Henry the Seventh's chapel, page 131). (3) Then the monks needed a quire altar, so that the High 48 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Altar might be reserved for the more important offices. This quire altar is spoken of as the " medium altare " at Worcester, the "parvum altare in choro" at Bury St Edmund's, the "altare in choro " at Ely, the " minus altare " at Rochester. At West- minster it is referred to several times in the Consuetudines of Abbot Ware (1258-1283); sometimes as the "altare matu- tinale," sometimes as the "altare chori," sometimes as the " parvum altare." * We know that it stood in the crossing, for in an indenture made with Abbot Islip by Henry VII. just before his death it is stipulated that daily mass and divine service shall be said by " thre chaunt'y monks at the Aultier under the lantern place betwene the Quere and the high aultier." The crossing therefore formed an additional sanctuary. It was at a higher level than now, being approached from the quire by three steps ; the reredos of its altar would be low, so as not to obstruct the view of the High Altar (38). (4) As for the High Altar, in order that it might be well seen, in the first place the stalls were not set on the pavement of the quire, but were raised considerably above it ; and, secondly, its sanctuary, where the opus alexandrinuni is, was made higher than the sanctuary of the quire altar, being approached from it by two steps. Moreover, the High Altar was raised above the opus alexandrinujii on a platform of its own. The eastern sanc- tuary retains its original level ; but, owing to the lowering of the western sanctuary, is now approached by a steep flight of steps. (5) Behind the High Altar, at a still higher level, was placed the new shrine of St Edward, to which his bones were translated in 1269 (22). The present reredos (the front of it is modern) was not erected till c. 1400 ; before that date the reredos was no doubt quite low, so as not to obstruct the view of the great shrine (23). For services in St Edward's chapel an altar was attached to the western end of the shrine ; the present altar is modern. Owing to the veneration felt for St Edward this chapel became the mausoleum of the Plantagenet dynasty. (6) Up to 1422 the eastern recess of St Edward's chapel, now occupied by the tomb of Henry V. (47), was filled by the great Reliquary or Relic Cupboard of the Abbey, and at the west end of the Reliquary was an altar. When the Reliquary * An abbot on his election is to kiss "parvum altare et magnum in choro " (Ware, 8). On Rogation Days caskets of relics were placed on the Matins altar ; "reliquiarum philacteriae super altare matutinale posita sunt" (Ware, 62). When mass is to be celebrated at the Quire altar, the subsacrist is to get it ready. " Subsacrista parabit (altare chori) quociens ad illud missa celebrabitur" (Ware, 55). PLANNING FOR THE MONKS 49 was removed in 1422 to the space between St Edward's shrine and Henry the Third's tomb, it still retained its altar. (7) When there came to the throne "King Harry the Fifth, too famous to live long," this chapel was completely en- circled, as we see it now, by the tombs of Plantagenet kings and queens. But Henry was most anxious that his bones also should rest here, and in his will drawn up at Southampton, before he started for Agincourt, he made precise arrangements for the construction of a chantry chapel as near as might be to St Edward's shrine. The only space left was that occupied by the great Reliquary, which, as we have seen, was removed, and the King was buried on its site. The problem was to pro- vide the chantry chapel which the King wished to have. The difficulty was got over by building a bridge across the ambula- tory, and constructing the chapel high in the air on the bridge. Henry the Fifth's Chantry Chapel G 50 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Henry left an endowment for three monks to say masses for him daily in this chapel, the altar of which he dedicated to the Annunciation. It is approached by two staircases (49). On either side of the reredos and in the side walls are large lockers,* with hinges remaining for flap doors ; the rest of each side wall is occupied with stone benches on which once stood wooden cupboards or presses (51). Moreover the precious shrine of St Edward was immediately below to the west (162) ; and there can be little doubt that the chapel was also utilised as a watching loft. Properly understood, therefore, it is at once the Chapel of the Annunciation, Henry V.'s Chantry Chapel, a Relic Chamber, and a Watching Loft.f Its construction must have been a great improvement to the monastic chapel, adding as it did a relic chamber and a watching loft. Looking back at the arrangements of the monks' chapel as a whole the screens, the quire, the sanctuaries, the chapels of St Edward and the Annunciation, one cannot but admire the care and thought and success of the planning. And it was as great an artistic as it was a practical success. The vista eastward from the quire must have been magnificent before the great reredos was erected behind the High Altar. Up to that time, sitting in the stalls, one saw first the low quire altar in the crossing ; secondly, well above it, the High Altar ; at the back of the High Altar the imposing shrine of St Edward ; and further back and higher still, the statued turrets and parapets of the chapel of the Annunciation. So far we have spoken only of the monks' services inside St Peter's chapel. But arrangements had to be made also for services outside the chapel ; both processional and other. Processions were in great favour in the English churches ; parish churches, conventual and collegiate churches alike. In a monastic or cathedral church the great procession was that on Sunday morning before High Mass, in the course of which all the altars in the church and the precincts were aspersed, and * " On the walls are Presses of Wainscot, with Shelves and folding Doors, very neat, six in all ; viz. four on each side wall, and one smaller on each side of the altar "(Dart., i. 63). t It was customary at Westminster in the thirteenth century for at least four monks and a secretary to lie in the church at night : u quattuor autem fratres ad minus una cum secretario in ecclesia pro consuetudine jacere solebant." One of them was to be the Sacrist ; and he was bound to assign one of them specially to guard the High Altar and the relics ; " tutelae magni altaris et reliquiarum assignare " (Ware, 52). The task of this man would be much facilitated by the erection of Henry V.'s chapel. The reredos shewn in the illustration (51) retains statues of St George of England, St Edmund, St Gabriel, the Blessed Virgin, St Edward Confessor, and St Denis. . PLANNING FOR THE MONKS 52 WESTMINSTER ABBEY as it were rehallowed. The Sunday morning services were threefold ; first there was the hallowing of the water ; secondly, the aspersing of the altars with the hallowed water ; thirdly, High Mass. From the course taken by the Sunday procession at Durham, also a Benedictine church, as minutely described in the Rites, we may infer the route at Westminster, as it would take place just before the Dissolution (13). The officiating priest with his attendant ministers would first asperse the High Altar, the altar of St Edward, the Relic altar and that of the Annunciation, and the Quire altar. Then he would pass through the northern door of the presbytery into the north transept, followed by the whole of the convent singing an anthem, and the altars of St Andrew, St Michael, and St John Evangelist would be aspersed. Then the route would be eastward round the ambulatory, aspersing the upper and lower Jesus altars, the altar of St Erasmus, those of St John Baptist and St Paul, the altars in the Lady chapel and its aisles, and those of St Nicholas, St Edmund, and St Bene- dict ; next, the altar of St Blase in the south transept, and of St Faith in the revestry. Then the procession would pass into the south aisle of the nave, and enter the cloister by the door- way which leads into the eastern walk (41). The eastern, southern, and western walks would be visited in turn, and the chapter house, dormitory, common house, frater, &c., would be aspersed. At the north end of the west walk another doorway leads into the church (41). Through this ivestern doorway the procession would pass, and form in double line along the central axis of the nave ; then the whole of the altars in the nave would be aspersed while the principal station was made in front of the rood screen, and the Bidding prayer was said, followed by the Lord's Prayer, and prayers for the dead. In order to accom- modate the double file, the rood screen always has two door- ways, as at St Alban's ; through these the procession filed into the space between the screens, and the two altars of St Mary and Holy Trinity were aspersed ; finally, forming into single file, the procession passed through the single central doorway of the quire screen, and all entered their respective stalls, and High Mass began. The route taken by the Sunday procession throws much light on the disposition of the doorways. The north door of the presbytery was wanted for the procession to pass out into the north transept. And of the two doorways always found between a nave and cloister, and usually erroneously called the Prior's and Monks' doorways, the eastern one is that by which the procession passed out of the church into the cloister, and the western that by which it re-entered PLANNING FOR THE MONKS 53 the church;* while the rood screen had two doorways for procession in double file, and the quire screen a single doorway for procession in single file. Another very important procession took place on Palm Sunday. Litlyngton's missal does not give the ceremonies of the procession ; but the custom of blessing the palms, and carrying round the Blessed Sacrament in procession on Palm Sunday was very widely spread in England, and moreover seems to have had its origin in a Benedictine house ; it is therefore a very likely opinion that it was practised at Westminster.! It had indeed been in use in the Anglo-Saxon Church as early as the days of Bishop Aid- hem; and St Dunstan set out the ceremonial at great length. This procession passed out of doors, and made a station outside in front of the great door of the nave, which at Westminster was the west door. The door itself was closed ; and for a time half the quire within the church and half the quire without sang antiphonally. At last the door was opened, and the priests entered and lifted high abovetheir heads the canopied Blessed Sacrament, and all entered the church passing beneath it. Abbot's Pew At YorkJ it was usual * Normally these two processional doorways open from the aisle into the adjoining walk of the cloister, as at Westminster, Ely, Wells, &c. Sometimes, however, other arrangements were necessary ; c. 3,795 in 1396, 5,655 in 1397, 3,360 in 1398; and we may picture to ourself the nave as consisting of nothing but two rows of pillars and arches with unfinished aisle walls, a walled off enclosure in its eastern bays, and a low-roofed south aisle extending from the west cloister doorway to Henry the Third's quire aisle. Now we come to the second stage of the Novum Opus. In 1413 Henry V. came to the throne, and at once issued a commis- sion to look after the works, " circa perfectionem et constructionem Navis," consisting of Prior Harweden and Sir Richard Whitting- ton, the famous Lord Mayor of London. Their accounts shew an expenditure in four years of about ,21,000 of our money, an average of 5,250 per annum. The pier arcades must have been completed previously, for six bays of the triforium were at once taken in hand. This is shewn by the payment of \6 ( = 240) for tsventy-four pillars of marble. For in the present triforium of the western bays of the nave there are only four marble shafts in each bay ; thus the twenty-four shafts bought would be precisely the number wanted to build the triforium of one side of the church. In 1417 the Fabric Roll shews a purchase of twenty-four more marble shafts. This would enable the triforium of the other side of the nave, probably the north side, to be built. We conclude therefore that in the western bays of the nave the ground story was built mainly in the reign of Richard II., but that the triforium of these bays on both sides of the nave is of the time of Henry V. It would seem that the builders began at the west end, and built from west to east. If they had begun at the east, their string courses would have been at the same level as those of Henry the Third's work, which they are not (120). The south aisle was roofed, but not vaulted, in 1415 ; the north aisle also in 1418. There is an entry of the purchase of lead in 1418 " for the covering of the northern side of the church," which shews that the north aisle was roofed after the south aisle. The next business would be to commence the clerestory. But Abbot Colchester died in 1420, and two years later the munificent supporter of the Novum Opus, King Henry the Fifth, died also. Moreover the great cost of the French war and the king's long absence from England seem to have curtailed his contributions ; for of .88,000 promised by him 120 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Junction of i3th and i4th Century Work in the Nave IX THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 121 during this reign only ,54,000 was received ; the rest of the expense was made up by the convent out of its own resources. If we assume that the builders had some ^60,000 at their disposal during 1403 and 1413, and that they built the whole of the triforium and finished and roofed the aisles with the money, they cannot have had much to spare with which to carry up the clerestory ; a commencement however may have been made. The year 1418 is followed by great slackening in the work. One would expect that it would be marked by much weathering of the delicate moldings and detail of the triforium arcade. But this is not so. Some measures must have been taken to prevent damage from the weather. We know that it was usual to give the upper part of the walls a temporary protection. In 1267, 1268, 1269, 1270, 1271 payments are recorded for "hollowed (or " fluted ") tiles, litter and reeds, bought for covering the walls of the works aforesaid." Later also, in 1489, two carpenters were paid for " covering the walls of the new work," and two tilers were also employed on the same job ; lead was also used for this purpose " super muros novi operis " : the covering of the walls ( i: coopertura murorum ") with tiling and lead becomes almost an annual charge. Some such course must have been adopted at this time also. We now come to the third stage of the Xovum Opus. From his examination of the Fabric Rolls Mr Rackham came to the conclusion that the work nearly stopped from 1418 to the death of Henry V. in 1422 ; that in the early part of the reign of Henry VI. under Abbot Harweden (1423 to 1440) progress was slow but steady ; that under Abbots Kyrton and Norwych (1440- 1467) it was at a very low ebb. The first important piece of work was confined to a single bay of the clerestory. This was in the time of Millyng, who was Citstos Novi Operis in 1468. In that year he paid carpenters ,500 " for scaffolding and machines, and the erection of the roof of the novum opus" ; and he acknowledges a debt of over 500 " for lead and solder unto a new severy (' bay ') upon the new work " ; the magnitude of the sums shews that it must have been a bay of the high nave that was being roofed. In the same year he employed ten or eleven masons a week ; this would be for the clerestory wall and the mullions and tracery of two of its windows, one on each side of the nave. In the same year two glaziers work for 92 days at glazing two windows in the nave, and payment is paid for paper for their drawings, a brick furnace, and coloured glass. These windows are evidently those in the 5th bay from the east. For if these are examined, it will be found that they range neither with Henry the Third's windows to the east, nor with Esteney's Q 122 WESTMINSTER ABBEY windows to the west.* Their situation is also fixed by the fact that in the same year a payment was made for " a partition at the end of the quire." Henry the Third had built only four bays of the clerestory, and must have put up a partition of some sort at the end of its 4th bay. Millyng now builds a 5th bay ; and, now that this 5th bay is thrown into the quire, he has to build a new partition to the west of it Millyng became abbot in the following year, and after completing his single bay, he seems to have set to work to finish the rest of the clerestory ; year by year payments are made for the covering of the walls, pointing each time to the completion of the walls to their full height, when they are furnished with protection till such time as it shall be possible to roof them. Probably however not many bays were finished ; for Millyng had not received as much support from the king as he may have expected ; the total con- tributions from Edward the Fourth, his Queen and their young son, between 1461 and 1474 amounted only to 6,500 ; to which however should be added " 80 oaks presented towards the new building of the nave." The fourth period is marked by the accession of Esteney, who was abbot from 1474 to 1498. As for the clerestory, its wall may have been built to some height, but not its windows ; had these been in existence, we may be sure that they would have been copied by Millyng in the 5th bay. Esteney bought on an average 200 loads of stone each year, and employed six regular masons for nine years (1471-1479) ; from 1423 to 1440 the average had been 65 loads of stone and three masons ; the average for 14/10 to 1450 is lower still. We conclude that all the clerestory windows are Esteney's work, and much of the walling. At the same time the roofing was going on. As the roof was 132 feet from the ground, very lofty and expensive scaffolding was necessary ; and for this and for the roof Esteney bought 103 and begged 132 oaks. Esteney succeeded in roofing three bays in 1474 and the remaining three bays of the nave in 1478. He commenced where Millyng left off; roofing succes- sively bays 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1 1 (115). \Ye now reach the fifth stage. A council of war is held. Three eminent architects are sent for, and they seem to have recommended that flying buttresses should next be erected with a view to putting up the vault.f Their advice was followed. Elying buttresses were put up between 1477 and 1482, cramped * The southern of these is shewn on page 103. t It is noteworthy that both in the clerestory and the aisles of the nave the vaults were not put till after the roofs ; and that the flying buttresses of the nave were erected before the vault. IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 123 with iron pins. At last everything was ready for the high vault. The first section of it, two bays, was begun in 1482, under the supervision of the Prior of Westminster, Robert Essex, "super- visor operuin voltorum" ; and the second section, of three bays, was let out by contract to Robert S towel 1, who completed his work in 1490. The builders of these five bays of the high vault probably commenced at the west end of the nave, not at the east. If they had begun at the west end of the 6th bay, their vault would have had nothing to abut it to the east except the unsub- stantial air, for Henry the Third's clerestory and vault stopped at the end of the 4th bay from the east. On the other hand, if they began at the west, they could carry up so much of two western towers as was needful to give abutment to the vault. In these six bays the bosses are foliated, and their leafage is of bulbous type ; and among the bosses is what appears to be a " rose en soleil," badge of Edward IV. At the east end of the 8th bay is a boss which is a Tudor rose; this boss may have been carved in or after 1485, when Henry the Seventh came to the throne. When the / th bay was finished, there was still a gap of two bays to arrive at Henry the Third's vault, the end of which is exactly over the western face of the quire screen. These two bays now have vaults. The question arises, Were they vaulted by Esteney between 1490 and his death in 1498, or were they vaulted in 1504 and 5 by Abbot Islip? It has been urged that the latter was the case, because undoubtedly much vaulting was done by Islip in this year. But the statements of John Felix and Widmore seem to be conclusive in favour of Esteney. The former says that Abbot Esteney provided " that the building of this minster should go forward ; so that both the vaultings of the new work, that is, both the higher and the lower vaulting , . . were fully completed while he was yet alive."* John Felix was a monk at Westminster from 1525 to 1537. It is almost impossible, that, being in daily intercourse with many who had seen the vault erected, he could have made the mistake of attributing the work of his own abbot, Islip, to Esteney. The statement of the accurate Widmore is equally clear : " In the time of Esteney the building of the west end of the church went on very well ; the vaultings were finished, and the great west window set up." The architectural evidence points the same way. The five westernmost bays had been finished in 1490. Nevertheless the very next year finds Esteney buying " twenty great stones each too big for a single cart." These are evidently great bosses intended for the high vault. What became of them? It is * John Felix, apud Rackham. 124 WESTMINSTER ABBEY hardly likely that they were hoarded up till Islip began his vaulting in 1501. The probability is that they were used up by Esteney himself in the years 1494-1497, when there is "an increase in the masons' activity and the number of masons is increased from five to eight." Again, these bays, 5 and 6, required flying buttresses just as much as the rest, but Islip is not recorded to have built any flying buttresses. The flying buttresses of bays 5 and 6 were built by Esteney ; it is probable therefore that he also built the vaults. Again, the method employed at Westminster in constructing the vaults was to erect scaffolds with a great wheel on them, such as is drawn in the Islip Roll, and pulleys and other machinery for lifting heavy weights ; then, when the bay was vaulted, the scaffold and the centres of the vaulting were taken down and put up again in the adjoining bay. All the bays of the nave were of the same area, and the centres and planks, on which the ribs and cells of one bay had been constructed, could be used in the next. Esteney's centres therefore, which had been employed in vaulting bay 7, could be employed again in vaulting bay 6. But we find that Islip did not employ the centres which had been in use in 1490. Instead of that we find that there are sawn for Islip in 1504 "between 17,000 and 18,000 elm boards and ' slyttenwerk ' for the new vault of the church." Evidently this vault was not one of the vaults in the nave, but a vault of different area ; probably- one or more of the vaults in or near the towers. Again, four bays of the vaults have the Abbey arms, a mitre and a crozier : in the 6th bay and the tower bay it is a mitre sinister, whereas in the north-west tower and the westernmost bay of the south aisle it is a mitre dexter. Now the mitre sinister occurs on the tombs of Abbots Langham, Esteney, and Fascet, and in Islip's chapel. And so the bays in which the mitre sinister occurs are as likely to be those of Abbot Esteney as of Abbot Islip. The difficulty about attributing the vaults of bays 5 and 6 to Esteney is that the bosses in them are quite different in character to those of the western bays, which are undoubtedly his work. If these two vaults are examined with a field-glass on a bright day, it will be found that for the most part they are no longer of the foliated character of those to the west. Several of them bear the same curly shield with a lance-rest high up on the left ("shield a kouche"} which occurs sporadically from 1431 onwards,* but is most common in Tudor times. A * Mr Mill Stephenson mentions early examples of the shield a bouche in 1431, 1422-39, 1449-50, 1450, 1423-55, 1432-61, 1447, 1462, 1479. Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries, 1899, P a g e 54- IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES 125 large shield of this type occurs on the east end of the tomb of Henry VII. Again, in the 5th bay there is a curious boss con- sisting of a fetterlock (Yorkist emblem) enclosing a rose (Lan- castrian emblem if painted red) ; this would denote the union of the two houses in the Tudor line. In the 6th bay one boss is a Catherine wheel and sword ; probably a reference to Catherine of France, whom Henry VII. was proud to acknow- ledge as granddame (page 130). The design is entirely different from that of Esteney's bosses in the western bays. Now Esteney had been a great friend of Abbot Millyng, who had sheltered in the abbey the Yorkist Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and had become godfather to Edward V. Esteney may well then have been a suspected Yorkist, and in his work of 1494- 1497 have been anxious to make a conspicuous display of his loyalty to Henry VII. by studding the vaults of these two bays with Tudor emblems. It is noteworthy that Henry, though a devout Churchman, did nothing whatever for the abbey in Esteney's time ; apparently the abbot was in disgrace ; when Islip became abbot, Henry almost immediately commenced to rebuild the Lady Chapel. The above does not include all Esteney's work. In 1490-91 battlements were built of Caen stone ; and in 1490-1494 nearly the whole of the aisles was vaulted.* He also finished the great west window. In 1491 carpenters and plumbers were working on " les syde flat roofes." The aisles are recorded to have been roofed in 1413 and 1418. These roofs of 1491 may have been those of the westernmost bays of the aisles, adjoining the towers, which may have been left unfinished because they contained masons' sheds, which we know to have long remained inside the church. George Fascet was abbot only for two years (1498-1500). Nevertheless he did his part. For he paid out of his own pocket a deficit left by Esteney on the building fund of some 6,000. John Islip succeeded him, and with him we reach the sixth and final stage of the Novuin Opus. At the beginning of his term of office he did a considerable amount of vaulting (1501- 1505). The tower bay was vaulted either by him or by Esteney. The vaults of the westernmost bays of each aisle may also be his work ; the northern one contains a Tudor rose, the southern one the Abbey arms with a Mitre dexter ; we have suggested that these bays were not roofed till 1491. The vault of the * Thus the order of Esteney's vaulting is (i) bays 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 of the high vault; 1482-1490; (2) aisle vaults, 1490-1494; (3) bays 6, 5 of the high vault; 1494-1497 126 WESTMINSTER ABBEY South- West tower has a boss with IHU, i.e., Jesu ; that of the North- West tower has one with the Abbey's arms with a Mitre dexter. He is also recorded to have carried up the towers ; i.e., up to the point where the Renaissance stages commence ; and to have finished the roof between the towers in 1501-2. In 1507 he glazes fourteen clerestory windows ; i.e., those of the nave and the towers ; the great west window is glazed in 1509. The nave is paved in 1510-1517. In 1525-1526 he is at work at his chantry chapel, the Jesus chapel (61); in 1524-1528, he puts up the side screens, now gone, of the western towers. The gable between the towers, however, was not completed ; for Sir Christopher Wren mentions that in his time, late in the seventeenth century, it was still weather-boarded. Finally, the upper parts of the two western towers were put up, either by John James, surveyor to the Abbey from 1725 to 1745, who was the architect of St George's, Hanover Square, and probably of St Alphege, Greenwich ; or by Nicholas Hawksmoor, from whom there is a report on the Abbey in his own handwriting (29). Such is the strange history, so far as it can be made out from architectural evidence and from that of the Fabric Rolls, of the Westminster nave. Henry III. had commenced it at or near the crossing in 1260, and in 1272 he had built the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th bays of the ground story and triforium ; and the clerestory, vault, and roof of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th bays. The works are then suspended till c. 1365, a whole century; the nave is not finished till c. 1517 ; the towers are not finished till c- 1735- The special interest of these western bays of the nave lies in the great care with which every one, from the first of its architects, Henry Yevele, onwards, adhered in all its main lines to the beauti- ful French design carried out by Henry of Westminster and John of Gloucester. Usually a Gothic architect was too conceited to appreciate or respect the work of his predecessors ; it is rare to find, as here and in the nave of Beverley Minster, a new design assimilated to an old one. It is largely because of the homo- geneity of their design that Westminster, Beverley, and Exeter * * It would seem that there was less iconoclasm in architectural design in the fourteenth century than at any other period. At St Alban's the southern clerestory windows of the eastern bays of the nave are untraceried lancets, to match the thirteenth-century windows to the west of them. The quire of Ely is assimilated to the thirteenth-century presbytery east of it, just as that presbytery had been assimilated to a Norman quire west of it. So also at Worcester, the nave is assimilated to the thirteenth-century quire, just as that quire probably had been assimilated to a Norman nave. In York Minster the quire and presbytery are but a rectilinear version of the IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES I2/ take their places as the finest Gothic interiors in this country. The illustrations on pages 120 and 128 shew some of the minor differences between the early and the later design. Externally, the clerestory and aisle windows are lower, and their centrepiece consists of a quatrefoil instead of a cusped circle ; the com- position of the buttresses also is different. Internally, the use of detached marble shafts is abandoned ; all the shafts of the pillars are engaged. The number of detached marble shafts in each bay of the triforium is reduced to four. The plinths of the pillars are molded as well as the bases, and are much loftier ; a great improvement (310). The molded caps, bases, &c., have the sections characteristic of their period ; and the spandrils of the South Aisle of Nave ground story are left plain, it maybe to save expense, or perhaps it was desired not to give so much ornament to the more or less public bays as to the purely monastic part of the church (120). The spandrils also of the aisle arcading differ markedly (127); and the wall passage at the level of the sills of the lower windows which ran round all the chapels, aisles, and transepts in the thirteenth-century work, now disappears. thirteenth-century nave. Even in Norman days there were those who declined to break away from an earlier design ; at Peterborough there is no marked difference between the design of the presbytery, commenced in 1117 or 1118, and that of the western bays of the nave, which were not finished till c. 1195. 128 WESTMINSTER ABBEY SCALE. OF FEET 10 i 10 20 30 40 One Bay of the Quire and tvvo Bays of the North Nave ( 129 ) PART V CHAPTER XV HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL IN 1502 the last of the great works, the rebuilding of the Lady Chapel, was commenced ; and in 1509 the pious and generous donor died. His will breathes the sweet piety of the mediaeval Churchman ; the following quotation from its preamble explains clearly and simply the purport of the work. " In the name of the merciful Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons and one God, We Henry &c. being entire of mind and whole of body the laud and praise to our Lord God make this our last will and testament in the manner and form hereafter ensuing." He then recommends his soul to the merciful hands of Him who redeemed and made it, and proceeds in these words : "And howbeit I am a sinful creature, in sin conceived and in sin have lived, knowing perfectly that of my merits I cannot attain to the life everlasting, but only by the merits of thy blessed Passion and of thy infinite mercy and grace, Nathless my most merciful Redeemer, Maker and Saviour, I trust that by the special grace and mercy of thy most Blessed Mother Ever Virgin, Our Lady Saint Mary, to whom, after thee, in this mortal life hath ever been my most singular trust and confidence, to whom in all my necessities I have made my continual refuge, and by whom I have hitherto in all mine adversities ever had my special comfort and relief, will now in my most extreme need, of her infinite pity take my soul into her hands, and it present unto her most Dear Son : Wherefore, Sweetest Lady of Mercy, Very Mother and Virgin, Well of Pity, and Surest Refuge of all needful, most humbly, most entirely and most heartily I beseech thee ; and for my comfort in this behalf I trust also to the singular mediations and prayers of all the holy company of heaven ; that is to say, Angels, Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins, and specially to mine accustomed Avoures (Patrons and Advocates) I call and cry, Saint Michael, Saint John Baptist, Saint John Evangelist, Saint George, Saint Anthony, Saint Edward, Saint Vincent, Saint Anne, Saint Mary Magdalen and Saint Barbara ; humbly beseeching you, not only at the hour of death so to aid, succour and defend me, that the ancient and ghostly enemy nor none other evil or damnable spirit have no power to invade me nor with his terribleness to annoy me, R 1 3 o WESTMINSTER ABBEY but also with your holy prayers to be intercessors and mediators unto our Maker and Redeemer for the remission of my sins and salvation of my soul. And forasmuch as we have received our solemn coronation and holy in- unction within our monastery of Westminster, and that within the same monastery is the common sepulchre of the kings of this realm ; and specially because that within the same, and among the same kings, resteth the holy body and relics of the glorious King and Confessor Saint Edward, and divers others of our noble progenitors and blood, and specially the body of our granddame of right noble memory Queen Katherine, wife to King Henry V., and daughter to King Charles of France ; and that we, by the Henry the Seventh's Chapel from East grace of God, propose right shortly to translate into the same the body and relics of our uncle of blessed memory, King Henry VI., for this and divers other causes and considerations us specially moving in that behalf, We will that whensoever it shall please our Saviour Jesus Christ to call us out of this transitory life, that our body be buried within the same monastery, that is to say in the Chapel where our said granddame lay buried, the which Chapel we have begun to build anew in the honour of our Blessed Lady. And We will that our tomb be in the midst of the same Chapel before the High Altar." HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL North-Western Stalls 132 WESTMINSTER ABBEY In this Royal chapel is seen another great artistic achieve- ment. High as is the place of the quire and nave of the Abbey in Anglo-French architecture, so high in our own art stands this triumph of Robert Vertue, architect.* It is far in advance of anything of contemporary date in England, or France, or Italy, or Spain. It shews us Gothic architecture not sinking into Fan Vault of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel senile decay, as some have idly taught, but bursting forth, Phcjenix - like, into new life, instinct with the freshness, originality, and inventiveness of youth ; searching out paths which none had adventured before, subjecting the ancient * William Bolton, Prior of St Bartholomew, Smithfield, is designated in the King's will " Master of the Works"; but Vertue was the architect. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 133 HffiBBB^-: :*&& ?''4aaifei3i.i2c5 : /*s^ v *' Fan Vault of Henry VII.'s Chapel 134 WESTMINSTER ABBEY problems to a new analysis, and solving them in a fashion equally surprising and delightful. This Royal chapel in deed and truth is, as Leland well styled it, an " Orbis Miraculum." The vault, to begin with, is the most wonderful work of masonry ever put together by the hand of man. For centuries builder after builder, to make vault-construction easier, had been compacting more and more ribs into the vaults, till the umbrella as it were had become nearly all rib. Then in a moment the whole method of vault-construction, which had been elaborated slowly, patiently, scientifically by generation after generation of ingenious craftsmen, is thrown over ; and vaults are put up without any ribs at all. In this chapel the new system is adopted to its full and logical extent ; and its unribbed vault is fitted together with as much certainty of precision and accuracy as the parts of an astronomical instrument. Marvellous is the effect of the great pendants resting or seeming to rest on the unsubstantial air. Following the lines laid down in the quire of Norwich, the Lady chapel of Christ- church, Hampshire, the Divinity School, and the quire of the St Frideswide's, Oxford, the vault is planned as if for a nave separated from aisles by pillars. But no pillars are built to support it. Instead of these, in each of the great arches which cross the nave, and of which only the lower parts are visible, two of the voussoirs are vertical blocks some eight feet long with a knob at the end ; and supported by this knob the circular courses of the pendants are built up, in the form of inverted concave cones. As for the small central pendants, and those in the aisles (132), each consists of a circular block dropped into a round hole left in the vault for the purpose intermediate between the fans ; similar round holes are in the vault of the north- western tower for hoisting the bells up; but in the latter the hole is covered with a flat lid of wood, whereas these pendants are lids of stone, and each lid projects downward for several feet. In the nave the circular " lid " of the smaller pendants has a diameter of 2 feet 7 inches. The construction of this vault is admirably described in Professor Willis' paper on Vaulting,* from which the following account is drawn. In mechanical construction it is an advance on all the other great fan vaults ; for a great arch is thrown across between each severy or bay, and each principal fan springs from one of the voussoirs of this arch at a considerable distance from the wall. Thus each fan, instead of including, as usual, half the solid of revolution, contains the whole solid, at least at its lower part. There are, however, minor fans which do spring from the wall in the usual fashion, and which meet the complete central fans. * Journal of R.I. fi. A., 1842, 53. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 135 Henry the Seventh's Chapel from South-East 136 WESTMINSTER ABBEY In Plate 27, A B C D is a plan of half a severy (or bay) of the vault ; the upper half of the plan shews its lower surface with the ribs and panels, and the lower half shews the upper surface of the vault and also the joints. Plate 28 is a vertical section through a line c D close to the face of the great arch. The great arch F E G springs from the walls at F, the joints below F being horizontal in the usual manner, and the portion F^lies below the vault and is visible from beneath. A branch arch at H again connects it with the walls ; and the space between the walls and these arches is rilled up with tracery ; which two expedients serve to stiffen the free portion of F E G, and prevent it from giving way by curving inwards between F and g. At g the arch F E G pierces the surface of the vault, and the upper portion of it, E G, lies above that surface (and therefore out of sight), its position being only marked on the lower surface by a continuation of the hanging cusps which decorate its lower portion, F^. The voussoir E, of which the pendant K is the lower portion, is a very large and long stone ; the form of the upper portion of it is marked by the joints, e, /, and g: fe gK is one solid block. At ;//, n, /, Plan 27, shews that there is also a conical surface or bed extending from e to/J from which the masonry of the principal fan or conoidal vault radiates upward and out- wards in all directions until it meets the neighbouring fans along the lines D M, M N, and N P in Plan 27. A fan vault of the same section rises from a conical bed, r s f, in Plan 27, formed upon the surface of a stone, C, which projects from the wall (Plan 27). This vault meets the neighbouring ones along the lines P N and N R. The method of filling in the cells i.e., the interspaces of the ribs with flat slabs or panels is altogether abandoned in this vault, which is wholly constructed of jointed masonry (139). This is disposed in concentric rings round the centre of each fan, and the radiating joints are disposed so as to break joint ; i.e., so that the joints of one course are opposite to the solids of the next course. When building, the vault was constructed with the upper surfaces of the blocks perpendicular to the general surface of the vault. When finished, to lighten it, the surfaces of operation were chipped away, and the upper surface reduced, as shewn in Plate 28, to parallelism with the lower ; but in one or two places the original surfaces remain, apparently forgotten, and traces may be seen of several others, so that they certainly were employed Owing to this chipping away of the surfaces of operation the vault is very thin ; the panels being but three to four inches thick, and the principal ribs projecting eight inches from the panels. Novel as is the vault, the system of abutment is still more original. The central principle of Gothic architecture is that its churches are ceiled with vaults of such a character that the walls have to be strengthened with buttresses : so much so that Gothic Architecture has been defined as "the art of erecting buttressed buildings." But if the plan on page 140 be consulted, or the view of the exterior on page 141, it will be seen that though the chapels have buttresses, yet there is not a single buttress to either aisle. Here indeed is an innovation. How then is a stable footing got for the immense flying buttresses above ? It is got by discarding the principle of adding lateral resistance, and substituting vertical weighting in the form of huge octagonal HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 137 Fan Vault of Henry VII.'s Chapel 138 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Transverse Section of Henry VII.'s Chapel HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 139 140 WESTMINSTER ABBEY turrets. Nor is this all. It has been said elsewhere that a Gothic church could be built without any walls ; the vaults of its nave and aisles resting on two rows of pillars on either side ; and that if the outer row of pillars were properly abutted, the church would stand safe with all the winds of heaven blowing through the skeleton. This is no paradox. It is precisely the way in which the nave and aisles of this chapel are constructed. To give an object lesson as it were in the principles of Gothic architecture, Robert Vertue has actually built the aisles without walls; instead of aisle walls there is nothing but rows of pillars SCALE OF FEE.T 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 $0 100 IIP 120 150 140 150 Windows omitted The original plan octagonal pillars (141). And there being no walls anywhere in the aisles, he amuses himself by playing with the voids left between his solids, the stone posts. Hitherto, and everywhere else, church windows were but insertions in walls ; the wall con- ditioned the form of the window ; the wall space was flat, therefore the window had to be flat. But here there are no walls ; consequently there is no reason whatever why the windows should be flat. So Vertue can make his windows of any charming shape that occurs to him ; and he does so, curving HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 14! Henry the Seventh's Chapel 142 WESTMINSTER ABBEY them and pointing them in most delightful fashion (140, 143). Every one of these aisle and chapel windows is an outward and visible sign that the constructional scheme of the New Gothic is no longer vault and buttressed wall, but vault and weighted pillar. Nor is this all. Vertue has not hesitated to diminish the weight of his all-important pinnacles by hollowing out three niches for statues in the face of each. From this and from the whole con- structional scheme it is plain that he recognised that vaults such as his needed not the powerful abutments of the Old Gothic ; that the thrusts of a fan vault are almost negligible. A few years later, in 1528, a still bolder demonstration of this was given by the man who built a fan vault for John Greene over the outer south aisle of the parish church of Cullompton, with next to no abutment to the pillars by which alone the north side of the vault was supported. Thus, when the change of religion came, Gothic construction was on the verge of a totally new and startling development ; retaining vaults, it was able to dispense with the machinery of buttress, flying buttress, and pinnacle. So far from " carrying within it the inherent elements of its own dissolution " Gothic architecture was on the point of running a new race even more marvellous than that of old. Vertue had taught how to build vaulted fanes on pillars ; others, retaining walls, might have had facades as uniform and symmetrical as those of any palace of the Renaissance, unbroken by obstructive buttress or fretful pinnacle. Such was the golden prospect which opened forth to English Gothic in the first years of the sixteenth century, of which this Royal chapel was the harbinger. Equally independent is Vertue's treatment of the lighting of the nave from the aisles. At first sight of the section on page 145, he seems to have managed matters badly ; for much of this source of light is cut off by the lowness of the arches of the ground story. But as a matter of fact he could in no case get but a modicum of light for his nave from aisle windows ; for the three western arches on either side were blocked up by taber- nacled stalls, and the next arch had a heavy stone screen extending for three-fourths of its height : it has been restored in the drawing on page 145. But he had no need of borrowed light from the aisles. For the chapel is only about no feet long; and there is a big window at the west, large clerestory windows on either side, and both upper and lower windows to the east : the chapel is admirably lighted without aid from the aisles. In the internal elevation of the nave the perfect proportions of Henry of Westminster's design had to be abandoned. If the drawing on page 145 be turned upside down, it will be more like the thirteenth-century design than if in its right position. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL Northern Chapel 144 WESTMINSTER ABBEY The proportions of the three stories in Henry of Westminster's design are 3, i, 2 (81) ; in Robert Vertue's they are more like 2, I, 3. Why this inversion? The reason is connected with what has been said above ; viz., that Vertue was not able to get indirect lighting from the aisles, and therefore had to increase proportionally the area of the clerestory windows of the nave. The one factor common to both designs is the importance given to the intermediate story, which in the chapel design is the more remarkable, because in the later English Gothic it had become the fashion to minimise this story as much as possible ; so much so that sometimes, as in Bath abbey church, its exist- ence is hardly observable. In both the Westminster designs the midzone is emphasised, but for totally different reasons. In the thirteenth-century design it seems due to the wish to arrange for the equipment in later days of an upper church on the top of the aisles and chapels. In the sixteenth-century design it is due to the fact that it was desired to provide an additional zone for sculpture. Henry the king wished to make his offering to Her in whose advocacy and protection he put his trust sumptuous and costly in the highest degree. So to all the other magni- ficence, to the fretted panels of the vault, to the interwoven traceries of the bronze portals, to the windows welling with the fires of the sunrise and the sunset, he added the yet more precious glory of sculptured imagery statue after statue enshrined in the reredos of every chapel, and enshrined for the first time in the triforium story. Only once elsewhere, so far as we know, was our mediaeval architecture so largely conditioned by sculp- ture. That was in another chapel, Ely, dedicated, like this chapel, to Our Lady. And look at the sensibleness of the whole thing. An ancient Greek would have put such a sculpture-band outside, up in the air under the parapet. But Robert Vertue, recognising by a flash of genius that art can only give pleasure if it can be seen without pain, put his sculpture low down, either in the reredoses of his chapels or in the triforium zone. And now we see yet another reason why he kept his ground story so low : it was that the statued tier above it might be viewed without a crick of the neck. And here is another surprising thing about this design. Rich beyond compare as the chapel is in sculpture, it is not a sculpture gallery. The building itself is the offering of offerings, the sculpture but one of many accessories. Note how very small after all is the space actually occupied by the statues ; note above all how the statues are boxed away in spacious niches and tabernacles ; in fact note that the frame plays a more prominent part than the picture. j K j- '45 North Nave of Henry the Seventh's Chapel ; third and fourth Bays from the West T 146 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Nowadays we frame pictures only ; the old designers framed their statues as well. And of such imposing dimensions and of work so rich were their frames, that the eye dwelt longer on the frame than on the picture. Standing in Ely Lady chapel as once it was, one's eye would have rested everywhere on archi- tecture ; after-inspection only would reveal the presence of statuary. So it was too with the Westminster tombs. How much does one see of the effigy of Aymer de Valence or that of Henry III. or that of Eleanor from the ambulatory from which they were meant to be viewed ? they even lie down so as not to distract attention ; and what is seen was framed under tester or canopy. The mediaeval sculptor was under architectural control ; he hid his light under a bushel ; the modern sculptor does not. There is another side to the shield however ; that is the planning. Extraordinarily bad is the arrangement of the chapel as we see it now, and as it has been for nearly 400 years. In front is an empty spacious nave, idly planned, for it was never meant to be used ; and so broad as seriously to injure the proportions of the chapel (13). Yet though it is so broad, the stalls are jammed tight up to the arches so that they can only be reached by dangerously steep flights of steps (131). The altar is jammed right up to Henry VII.'s grille; and the grille is so huge that it blocks up almost all view of the eastern chapels. Can Henry VII. have planned so awkwardly as this? Remem- ber that the foundation stone was laid seven years before his death, and that he must have had all the plans and drawings before him before 1502, and that he saw the whole fabric build- ing, and lived long enough to see it finished up to the vault. Could he have meant to have it arranged as now we see it? The answer is to be found in his will. The original planning was entirely different, and in his will of 1509 it was expected that it would be adhered to. The chapel was to serve three purposes. It was to be first and foremost the chapel of Our Lady, in whom, next to his Redeemer, had ever been his most singular trust and confidence. " On the daye of his departynge," said Bishop Fisher in his funeral sermon, " he herde Masse of ye gloryous Virgyn, ye Moder of Cryste, to whome alwaye in his lyfe he had a synguler and specyall devocyon." Secondly, it was intended to contain the " bodie and reliques of our Vncle of blissed memorie King Henry the VI th .," whom he had hoped to get canonised. Though the canonisation was not effected, he says in his will that he still intended " right shortely to trans- late" his uncle's body from Windsor to his Lady chapel. Thirdly, it was to contain a chapel of Our Saviour, or as he calls HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 147 Eastern Chapel 148 WESTMINSTER ABBEY it in an indenture with Abbot Islip, " a closure of metall in maner of a Chapell " ; i.e., a chantry chapel constructed of bronze, but designed with buttresses, window tracery, pinnacles &c., just as if it were of stone. At its east end was to be the altar of Our Saviour ; its position may still be identified by the blank space where the running inscription inside the grille stops, and by the presence of a beam above to give support to a tester. Between the altar and the tomb room was left for the chantry priests to stand. The western part of the enclosure was to be occupied by the tomb below which Henry was to be buried, and to which the body of his Queen, Elizabeth of York, was to be transferred. This bronze chantry chapel, he says in his will, was to stand in the centre of the stalls (140). And it was because the bronze " closure " is so broad, that Vertue had to make his nave broad, and the stalls narrow. Moreover, the " closure " is very lofty, even now when it has lost much of its parapets and finials ; so those in the stalls could not see over it. Therefore sufficient space had to be left between the stalls and the grille to allow those in the stalls an uninterrupted view on either side of the grille on to the altar of Our Lady. As for this altar, so that it might be well seen from the stalls, it was to be placed much further east than it is now. Finally, there was the site to be allotted to Henry VI. The precedent of St Edward's chapel was followed, where the shrine of the Confessor is placed at the back of the altar of St Peter, but at some distance from it. So here Henry VI.'s tomb was intended to be placed east of the altar of Our Lady, and quite clear of it. It must there- fore have been intended to occupy the easternmost of the chapels. In its arrangement it was to follow the precedent set by Henry V. Below was to be a table tomb with the effigy ; above, resting on columns, was to be a chapel, approached, of course, like Henry V.'s chantry chapel, by staircases. Now one sees how practical and how beautiful the original plan was. As one sat in the lofty stalls, one would have seen in front the magnificent bronze chapel of Our Saviour ; which would have occupied so much of the nave that the latter would no longer have seemed unduly broad ; then well to the east, the altar of Our Lady, with a reredos probably kept low ; then, towering up and behind it, the lofty chantry chapel of Henry VI. with his tomb below. Henry VII. dies, and Henry VIII. upsets the whole plan at once, and ruins the chapel for ever. Henry VI. he resolves to leave at Windsor ; Henry VII. he causes to be buried and tomb and grille erected as we see now ; and close up to the western end of the grille he puts up a great classical altar and baldachino by HENRY THE SEVENTH S LADY CHAPEL 149 South-Eastern and Southern Chapels I5O WESTMINSTER ABBEY Torrigiano, fragments of which are built into the present altar.* Magnificent as the interior of this Lady chapel is, it falls far short of what it was meant to be by its munificent founder. Reinstate St Saviour's chapel, Our Lady's altar, Henry VI. 's tomb and chantry chapel, each in its proper position, put back the painted glass, once so glorious that it was stipulated that the windows at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, should be made in its likeness, restore the magnificent images, crucifixes, chalices, cruets, bells, corporacs, candlesticks, missals, vestments, altar cloths, bequeathed by Henry for the altars, and some idea may be formed of the splendour and magnificence intended by the pious and generous king. Everywhere, within as without, with the sole exception of the external plinth, the chapel is crowded with ornament. The king would have it so. In his will Henry ordained that the chapel be " painted, garnished, and adorned in as goodly and rich manner as such a work requireth and as to a king's work appertaineth." And again : " As for the price and value of them " (the altar furniture) " our mind is that they be such as appertaineth to the gift of a Prince ; and therefore we will that our executors have a special regard and consideration to the laud of God and the weal of our soul and our honour royal." To the king then is to be ascribed the astonishing exuberance of internal and external ornament. The selection and the disposition of the ornament was the architect's function. Vertue's scheme is twofold. In the first place he selects two main architectural features the window tracery and the niche and reuses them as decorative motifs. With forms of window tracery he overlays the vaults, the great arch at the entrance to the apse, the internal walls of the aisles and chapels, the stone screens,-f- the bronze chantry chapel, the stalls, the great western gates, the vestibule, and nearly the whole of the exterior. All round the interior of the nave, north, south, east and west, and inside the chapels, are continuous ranges of tabernacle, niche, statue, pedestal, and frieze of demi- angels (147); outside also on still more grandiose scale the great turrets shoot up into domed niches, also once tenanted by * A drawing of it will be found in Sandford's Genealogical History, where it is wrongly entitled the " Monument of Edward VI." As for the intended tomb and chantry chapel of Henry VI., we know exactly what it was like from a drawing at the British Museum in the Cottonian Collection, Aug. 2, Vol. i. t The upper portions of the screens have gone ; and the whole of the screens in two bays have been replaced by stalls. The original arrangement has been restored in the drawing on page 140. HENRY THE SEVENTHS LADY CHAPEL 152 WESTMINSTER ABBEY HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 153 154 WESTMINSTER ABBEY HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 155 statues (141).* Exuberant therefore as the ornament is, its disposition is of the simplest. It is just this repetition of a limited number of motifs, and those architectural, that gives to the design what Tudor architects valued beyond everything, Harmony and Unity. There is no conflict between the decora- tive scheme and the constructional scheme ; nor between the different parts of the decorative scheme itself; St George's, Windsor, King's College Chapel, Cambridge, Henry VI I. 's Chapel, Westminster, each of them is a house at one with itself. Built in this magnificent fashion, with no counting or stinting of expense, the cost of the chapel was very great ; probably not less than ^"140,000. But that is only part of the expense; the endowment also had to be found ; and this too was provided as " to the laud of God and the honour royal." The endowment probably amounted to over 100,000. For it was calculated to produce a yearly income of .6,800 ; of which the Abbey was to retain .880 per annum for the administration of the trust, while ,5,800 was provided for a staff of three chantry priests, who were to be Batchelors of Divinity in the "vniuersite of Oxenford," and two ' fratres conversi " or lay-brethren, three scholars, thir- teen almsmen, with three poor women to attend upon them, besides payments for the saying of many thousand obits, preaching of sermons, and monitions and commemorations of the king's anniversaries in twenty-one churches up and down England, and giving of alms, burning of torches and tapers, and ringing of bells. The cost of the chapel, including the endow- ment, cannot have been less than .250.000. The chapel is there still ; but the endowment, together with all other chantry endowments, and the appointments of the chapel were confis- cated by Henry VIII. and his successors. The history of the chapel would be incomplete without mention of the east window of St Margaret's, Westminster, highly praised by Winston for the harmonious arrangement of its colouring. It is said to have been commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain to be executed at Gouda in Holland as a wedding present on the approaching marriage of their daughter, Catherine of Arragon, with Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII. ; with the intent that it should be placed in Henry's new Lady chapel. It represents the Crucifixion ; at the foot of the cross on one side kneels Prince Arthur and his patron, St George, with the red and white rose of Henry VII. and his Queen above his head, and on the other side, Catherine of Arragon, with her patron, St Catherine of Alexandria, and the * The upper battlement, that of the nave, is from a design of J. Wyatt in 1809, and is probably very little like the original. 1 5 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY ^ St Matthew St Martin HENRY THE SEVENTH'S LADY CHAPEL 157 pomegranate of Granada. But Prince Arthur died in 1502, before the window was finished ; and when it arrived Henry gave it to Waltham Abbey. At the Dissolution the last abbot of Waltham sent it for safety to his private chapel at New Hall. There it remained till New Hall became the property of General Monk, who buried it till the Restoration, when he replaced it in the chapel. After his death the chapel was pulled down, and the window was sold to Mr Conyers of Copt Hall, Essex. His son sold it in 1/58 to the churchwardens of St Margaret, Westminster. Even then its troubles were not at an end ; for the Dean and Chapter of Westminster sought to have it removed as " a superstitious image and picture " ; but after a lawsuit which lasted seven years, the churchwardens won, and in memory of their victory presented the parish with the beautiful " Loving Cup of St Margaret." * * Hare's Walks in London, ii. 281, and Walcott's Memorials of West- minster, 103, 136. Henry VII. and his Queen ( 158 ) PART VI CHAPTER XVI POST-REFORMATION WESTMINSTER I N ! 539 the convent was dissolved; and the treasures of the church were carried off by Henry VIII. ; most of its vast estates also passed away ; " they had been scattered not only over the whole of the present city of Westminster, from the Thames to Kensington, and from Vauxhall Bridge to Temple Bar, but through 97 towns and villages, 17 hamlets, and 216 manors ;"* the income of the abbey at the Dissolution was .3,471 ( = 35,000). Within the abbey itself the change was not perhaps so great as might appear. The common life proper to a monastic order had practically ceased long before. Most of the monks, instead of eating in a common refectory, sleeping in a common dormitory, studying in a common cloister, had come to have private houses of their own, and only led the coenobitic life in church. These separate houses took up much space, and must have greatly increased the expenses of the establishment ; so it had been necessary to decrease the number of monks ; at the Dissolution there were probably not more than thirty. In 1539, the abbot and monks were replaced by a dean and twelve prebendaries, each of whom was required to be present as before at the daily services in the quire. In 1540 the church became the seat of a bishop, and for 10 years, till the third year of Edward VI., was a cathedral. Then came Queen Mary ; the old religion was restored ; and in 1555 the abbey was reoccupied by an abbot and fifteen monks. Then followed Queen Eliza- beth's accession in 1558 ; and abbot and monks were superseded by dean and prebendaries once more. A more striking innovation was the founding of a great public school in the heart of the monastic buildings. In Pre- * Stanley, 338. POST-REFORMATION WESTMINSTER 159 Reformation days there had always been a school in the cloister ; the minute regulations of which are carefully detailed in Abbot Ware's Consuetu dines. To replace this, a new school was founded by Henry VIII., and was endowed with valuable scholarships to the Universities. By Elizabeth the school was still further fostered and was given Collegiate rank. For a long time the position at Westminster was largely what it is to this day at Christ Church, Oxford ; where the Dean is at once Head of the College and of the Cathedral Chapter. For a long time the Dean and prebendaries of Westminster dined in the College hall (the hall built for himself by Abbot Litlyngton) with the masters and boys (301) ; in Elizabeth's time the Dean kept a boarding-house ; and in the reign of James I. he took some part in the teaching. To this day the Dean and Chapter receive in the hall the old boys, who come to listen to the Epigrams and the Latin play ; and the successful captor of the pancake on Shrove Tuesday applies to the Dean for his guinea prize. But gradually the two institutions have drifted apart ; and to all intents and purposes the Headmaster of Westminster is now an independent potentate. But boys are conservatives ; and they ma} 7 still be seen treading the cloister's studious pale or the long-drawn recesses of the aisles ; or shouting for all they are worth at a Coronation, as is their prerogative, on behalf of the people of England, their assent to the election of the sovereign.* * For Westminster School, see Stanley, 41, 362, 395, 407, 409. i6o WESTMINSTER ABBEY THE STAIRCASE i WESTMINSTER. THE e RESIDENCE o OF a THE a REV o CANON l.O[\ll ^ JOHN a THYNNE' CHAPTER XVII THE MAINSPRING OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE AND now our task is at an end. We have praised famous men and our fathers which begat us. We have recorded the piety and generosity of kings, the Confessor, Henry III., Henry V., Henry VII.; of Abbots, Humez, Berking, Ware, Langham, Litlyngton, Colchester, Islip ; the genius of architects, Henry of Westminster, John of Gloucester, Robert of Beverley, Henry Yevele, Robert Vertue. They left a fair heritage in trust for those that were to come. For their sakes and for the sake of English folk the wide world over, who are heirs to its glories equally with ourselves, let us cease to regard and treat the Abbey as a Public Cemetery and Sculpture Gallery. It is a church a great and glorious church worthy of reverence and gratitude and care, not fit to be so misused. It was built by better builders than we. When its walls and pinnacles first rose to the blue skies, there were among English people, high and low, rich and poor, cravings for art and beauty, and especially for colour, which are unknown and inexplicable to us. In these days many have worshipped beneath the bare rafters of the whitewashed meeting-house and have found God. Not so in our ancient churches. Every church, in village or town parish church, canons' church, monks' church was a blaze of colour ; painting and gilding took the value out of carving, and paled themselves before jewelled glass pulsing and throbbing with liquid fire. Our ancestors could not have worshipped in an ugly church ; certainly they never did : they must have had a keen- ness of sensibility to art such as the Greeks once had ; which we moderns have lost. To them "the beauty of holiness" was no catchword ; in such a church as Westminster they were spirit- ualised and exalted by an atmosphere and environment of almost unearthly beauty. Their souls were quickened to spiritual emotion and ecstasy by one of the fairest visions that has ever met the eye of man, a church that was no unworthy copy and reflection of the City not built with hands ; a church encom- passed with treasures without price of wrought stone and oak 1 62 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Interior from East THE MAINSPRING OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 163 and marble, and silver and gold, and tapestry and glass. Art in quite a literal sense was then the handmaid of religion ; the sublimity and rapture of worship were felt most where art found noblest expression. But in churches such as this of Westminster, overhung by the fretted canopy of the branching vault, beset with statued niche and tabernacled stall, illumined by the welling fires of painted glass, art was more than an aid to devotion, an accessory to worship, a begetter and stimulant of spiritual emotion. Pillar and arch, window and wall and roof, were wrought so nobly, because the building of them compact was the abiding place of an indwelling God, whose mansion it was on earth, the pattern of the palace of the City of God immortal in the heavens. And this it was in a very special sense. For to those who built this church God was present therein in living, real, corporeal presence by ever-renewed daily miracle in the adorable sacrifice of the Mass. For Him who abode on the Altar they built this house, and as far as in them lay, gave it His especial attributes. Not built for mortal man, but for Him who is without beginning or end or length of days, they built it stable and monumental ; " they laid their foundations like the ground which He hath made continually," and arched it over with ribbed stone that fire should not prevail against it. From east to west, from north to south, arch after arch receded into dim distances ; while through arch after arch were glimpses of half-hidden recesses yet more remote ; all was the reflex of the overawing mysteries and the infinity of the Godhead. To Him it was at once a thankoffering and a sacrifice. It was an offering of hearts that could not too gratefully consecrate to Him who had given them the hand that wrought and the brain that planned, all that was fairest and noblest of their work. And so they gave of their substance and their labour, plentifully and without stint and not counting the cost, and were for ever giving, day by day, generation after generation, so that the church became a concrete embodiment, ever growing into yet greater richness and charm, of gratitude to God who is good and merciful, and as far as the East is from the West, so far hath He set our sins from us. Men gave liberally and gladly, beyond necessity and beyond their powers ; they not only gave but made sacrifices to give ; costliness was a condition of the acceptable- ness of sacrifice. And so in those days the churches of England were made all glorious within ; but of them all nothing fairer ever rose beneath the firmament of heaven than this abbey church of Westminster. For it is a church unequalled in England, unsurpassed in France ; in which are summed up the 1 6 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY faith and aspirations and sacrifices of many generations of men ; vast in scale, of proportions harmonious, roofed sky-high with monumental vaults ; infinite in distances and perspectives, with ever changing vistas into aisles and chapels half hidden, half revealed ; where marble pillars branch overhead into sweeping arches, " where the light once struck down through storied windows painted with benignant faces of saints and angels ; where was always the faint odour of old incense, the still atmosphere of adoration and of prayer." * * English Parish Churches, by Mr Ralph Adams Cram, than whom no one has written on our churches, great and small, with deeper sympathy, insight, and eloquence. Henry the Seventh PART VII CHAPTER XVIII VISITORS' GUIDE TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY FIRST SECTION THE "Visitors' Guide" deals principally with the monuments and other objects of interest in the church and cloisters. Visitors with only a limited time at their disposal will do well to confine their attention to those described below. The most convenient route for seeing the church and the cloisters is that indicated by numbers in the Key plan on page 166. In addition, special plans are given in the text of each part of the church and cloisters. Portions of the text in a smaller type may be reserved to be read at home. On Mondays and Tuesdays visitors are allowed to see the chapels unattended, and no charge is made. On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday parties of visitors are shewn by the vergers round the ambulatory and its chapels, and a charge of 6d. is made. An extra charge is made to those who visit the wax effigies. It is important to make sure at once of the cardinal points of the church ; see the Key plan on page 166. Entering by the North door, one stands in the North Transept. Opposite is the South Transept, with a great rose window overhead. Between the two transepts is the Crossing. On the right, that is to the West, is the Nave ; of which the eastern part, as far as the Screen, contains modern stalls occupied by the dean and canons and the singers : while the western part is used for the Sunday evening services. To the Hast is the railed Sanctuary with the High altar, and behind it is the Chapel of Edward the Confessor : all this eastern part of the church is encircled by an 1 66 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 14 ! ' IC \ 9 Henry 8 I. 2. North Transept. Sanctuary. VII's 3. St Benedict's c. Chapel 4- South Ambulatory. . , 5. St Edmund's c. W/////M W/W//A 6. St Nicholas' c. r^~^@\ ! /"^ ^A 7 South Ambulatory. / 18 N V 6 \ 8. Ladv Margaret's c. V x*' n 7 V x / Henry VII. 's c. Southern c. \^ ^^ *7 ff* t& * N. II South- Eastern c. / i 9 jt f ^ ^ f ^ * JS Eastern c. North-Eastern. 2 oSdM ;1 r~| 5 Northern c. Queen Elizabeth's c. 21 !* ' "^ il.i_ 3 _J M / | j^- St Edward's c. North Ambulatorv. 124 23 22 l| .Sanctuary! 2$ Sout h [p^h's l8 ' Transept North Transept Crossing or St Paul's c. St John Baptist's c. St Erasmus' c. Islip chapel. North Ambulatorv. |T o ^- -^ 1 i i Poets' Corner Rcvestry 22. St John Evangelist's c. St "Michael's c. St Andrew's c. - ^ 27 East Walk 25. South Trinsent \j v# 53= <***'* 26^ North Cloister. East Cloister. , 2 7- 26 47- West Cloister. ! i 48. South Aisle of Nave. 1 1 6 49- S.W. Tower. Screen > Cloister 5- N.W. Tower. North Aisle of Nave. 1 1 1 Garth 5 Nave. North Aisle of Quire. M 54- South Aisle of Quire. "S < O O < 5 O Nave O KEY PLAN. - 47 West Walk 2 52 o w - The numbers indicate the order in which the O O various parts of the church Si 48 are described. O [ Q So T 49 i i 1 NORTH TRANSEPT I 67 aisle, called the Ambulatory ; and round the Ambulatory are various Chapels. i. North Transept The figures attached to the headings refer to the Key Plan on page 166. On the right, next to the door, is a big, pretentious monument to the elder Pitt, Lord Chatham, d. 1778. Near it is the statue of Viscount Palmerston, d. 1865. On the opposite side of the transept are seven statues. The first, by Chantrey, nearest to the door, is that of George Canning, d. 1827. The second, by Foley, is that of Earl Canning, d. 1862, who governed India during the perilous times of the Mutiny ; he was the last of the Governor-Generals of India and the first Viceroy. The third, by Boehm, is that of Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, d. 1880, Ambassador at Constantinople in the Crimean War times : " Here silent in our Minster of the West Who wert the voice of England in the East.'"' Between the statues of the Cannings and Sir John Malcolm is a monu- ment of two interesting people ; William Cavendish, Uuke of Newcastle, d. 1676 ; and his second wife, d. 1673. The Duke and Duchess sleep quietly like mediaeval effigies, and do not kneel or loll about on one elbow, like Thomas Thynn (312), Sir Cloudesley Shovel (315), and many others. Clarendon says of the Duke, that "he loved monarchy, as it was the foundation and support of his own greatness ; and the Church, as it was well constituted for the splendour and security of the Crown ; and religion, as it cherished and maintained that order and obedience that was necessary to both." As for the Duchess, the epitaph tells us that " Her name was Margaret Lucas, youngest sister of Lord Lucas of Colchester a noble family, for all the brothers were valiant, and all the sisters virtuous " ; and that " she was a very wise, witty and learned lady, as her many books do testify." She left behind no less than thirteen folios of her writings. Round her at night she used to keep a band of lady secretaries, ready to wake up and take down at a moment's notice any happy thought that occurred to her. Even on the tomb book and inkstand are by her ready for use. She was one of the last to carry on the noble tradition of Margaret Beaufort, Lady Burleigh, Lady Jane Grey, Queen Elizabeth. The fourth statue, by Chantrey, is that of an Indian general Sir John Malcolm, d. 1833. The fifth, by Boehm, is that of Lord Beaconsfield, d. 1881. The sixth, by Brock, is that of Mr Gladstone, d. 1898. The seventh, by Gibson, is that of Sir Robert Peel, d. 1850, dressed as a Roman. On the West side of the transept, in the last bay, is the seated statue by Flaxman of a great lawyer, Lord Mansfield, d. 1793. Near it is the statue of Viscount Castlereagh, d. 1822. 1 68 WESTMINSTER ABBEY NORTH TRANSEPT 169 The Cannings I/O WESTMINSTER ABBEY Lord Beaconsfield NORTH TRANSEPT Gladstone and Peel 172 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 2. The Sanctuary East Opus Alexandrinum Aymer de| Ave ine THE SANCTUARY Standing beneath the central tower or lantern, to the left is the railed sanctuary, raised on steps (page 166). The altar and rich Reredos are modern. The mosaic pavement is of the variety called Opus Alexandrinum, such as may be seen at St Mark's, Venice, Murano, and Torcello (1/5). The materials of the pavement are mainly porphyry (red), serpentine (green), and palombino (\vhite), which in Italy are arranged in a background of white marble, bat here Purbeck marble was used and is now greatly worn and decayed. Long inscriptions in brass letters, now nearly all gone, record that the materials were brought from Rome in 1268 by Abbot Ware, and put together by Odericus of Rome. Flete (History, 113) says that "Ricardus de Ware repatriando (from Rome in 1259) adduxit mercatores et operarios, ducentes secum lapides illos porphyriticos, jaspides, et marmora de Thaso, quos sumptibus suis propriis emerat ibidem. Ex quibus ipsi operarii coram magno altari Westmonasterii mirandi operis fecerunt pavimentum." He gives the long inscription on it, which was a symbolical chronology, and ended with the couplet, " Tertius Henricus rex, urbs, Odoricus, et abbas Hos compegere porphyreos lapides." THE SANCTUARY 173 Aveline of Lancaster and Aynier de Valence 1/4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY On the right, backed by tapestry, is a portrait of King Richard II., painted for him in 1394, much "restored" by Mr George Richmond. It is the oldest contemporary portrait of any English sovereign, and is probably a good likeness (page 73). "It represents," says Dart, "that unhappy beautiful prince sitting in a chair of gold, dressed in a vest of green flowered with flowers of gold and the initial letters of his name ; having on shoes of gold powdered with pearls ; the whole robed in crimson lined with ermine, and the shoulders spread with the same, fastened under a collar of gold ; the panel plastered and gilt with several crosses and flowers of gold embossed." Beneath the portrait of Richard II. is the tomb of Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII. Where this tomb stands the sovereign used to sit, when attending service in the Abbey. To the East are four wooden seats or Sedilia for the celebrant and his assistants during certain parts of High Mass ; they were erected in 1308. The sedilia rest on the tomb of Sebert, the reputed founder of the Abbey. On the left of the Sanctuary are the three finest monuments in the Abbey : * the farthest is that of Edmund Crouchback, d. 1296 ; the nearest and smallest of the three is that of Aveline, Countess of Lancaster, the richest heiress in the kingdom. On her death her property passed to her husband, and ultimately to his descendant, Blanche of Lancaster, and by the marriage of the latter with John of Gaunt or Ghent, to King Henry IV., the first sovereign of the House of Lancaster. The central monu- ment is that of Aymer de Valence (d. 1 324), cousin of Edward I., and of Edmund and Aveline. In the centre of the pediments of the canopies of Aymer and Edmund the deceased is repre- sented riding on his war-horse. Instead of the flat wooden canopies or " testers " which are seen over the tombs of the earlier kings, these are surmounted with canopies of stone ; those of the monuments of Aymer and Edmund have little projecting brackets, each of which supported an angel holding a candlestick. These are shewn in the drawing from the Islip Roll on page 263. Originally all three monuments were gorgeously painted and gilt. All three are similar in design, and fit so neatly in their places, that they may well have been designed at the same time. Edmund Crouchback died in 1296, and the fact that he left instructions that he was not to be buried till his debts were paid renders it probable that his monument was not erected till after that date. The details of the tomb of his wife Aveline are later than those in use at the time of her death, c. 1273, and the decorations of the two tombs are in some cases identical. Crouchback was the second son of Henry III., and after his return from the Crusade with his elder brother, * For a drawing of these in their unrestored condition, see Neale, ii., Plate XLIII. THE SANCTUARY 175 Patterns of the Mosaic F i 7 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Edward I., he resided long at Provzns, east of Paris ; there he planted the famous red rose, wrongly called the "rose of Provence," brought from Palestine, which is to be seen carved on his tomb, and which afterwards became the badge of the Lancastrian dynasty. 3. St Benedict's Chapel X2 Countess of Hertford Cardinal Langham Earl of Middlesex ST BENEDICTS CHAPEL Turning to the left, we pass through an iron gate into the South Ambulatory. On the right is the chapel of St Benedict, which still retains the platform of its altar, (i) On the North side of this chapel is the monument and alabaster effigy of the greatest and most generous of all the Abbots of Westminster, Simon Langham, d. 1376, who bequeathed his immense fortune to the completion of the nave ; the tomb is fenced off from the ambulatory by the original ironwork. Lang- ham rose to the rank of Bishop, Archbishop, and Cardinal, and died at Avignon on the eve of the festival of St Mary Magdalen. At his feet was formerly a statue of St Mary ST BENEDICT'S CHAPEL 177 Magdalen, and the tomb Edward III., by a canopy of wood. (2) On the East wall is the Elizabethan monument of Frances, Countess of Hertford, d. T 59 8 - (3) I n the South wall of the chapel is what seems to be a double piscina, and a large recess which may have been an aumbry or a sedile. In front of the piscina is the kneeling figure of Dean Goodman, d. 1601, in the robes of a Doctor of Theology. (4) In the centre of the chapel is the Jacobean table tomb of the Earl of Middlesex, d. 1645, and his Countess, d. 1647. (5) Here also is a small brass to Dr Bill, d. 1561, the first Dean of Westminster on Queen Elizabeth's founda- tion. was surmounted, like that of Dean Goodman 4. South Ambulatory We now proceed up the Ambulatory, which is the aisle running all round the Eastern part of the church, having on its inner side the Sanctuary and the chapel of St Edward the Confessor, and on its outer side the chapels of St Benedict, St Edmund, St Nicholas, Henry VII.'s Lady chapel, the chapels of St Paul and St John Baptist, the Islip chapel, and the chapel of St John Evangelist (see plan, page 166). On our left is a low recess, constructed in 1308 to contain the coffin of King Sebert, who is said to have founded both St Paul's Cathedral, or East Minster, and St Peter's Church, or West Minster, in the seventh century. The carving at the back contains the badge of the Yorkist dynasty, a rose en soleil, i.e., a rose from which issue sunbeams, and must therefore have been executed later (page 3). A few steps farther, on the right, is a tomb recessed in the wall, 178 WESTMINSTER ABBEY SOUTH AMBULATORY 1/9 i So WESTMINSTER ABBEY in which lie buried four little children of Henry III., and four of Edward I. Among them is the Princess Katherine, daughter of Henry III., who died at the age of five in 1257; a brass effigy was set upon her tomb ; above it a silver statuette of St Katherine probably hung from the hook high up on the wall ; both have gone. Across the aisle is the back of the tomb of Richard II., and, a little farther, that of Edward III. ; some of the "weepers," beautiful little statues in bronze, remain on the latter ; counting from the left they are the Black Prince ; Joan de la Tour ; Lionel, Duke of Clarence ; Edmund, Duke of York ; Mary, Duchess of Brittany ; and William of Hatfield. In front, looking eastward, is the most beautiful vista in the Abbey ; high up is seen the sculptured chantry chapel of Henry V. ; while, farther away, through the open doors, are glimpses of the Lady chapel of Henry VII. (page 47). 5. Chapel of St Edmund 4 Children 1 of Edward III N/ 3 ST EDMUND'S CHAPEL Opposite the tomb of Edward III. is the chapel of St Edmund, in the middle of which are three tombs : i. On the central is the largest and finest brass in the Abbey. It is that of Alianore de Bohun (d. 1399), whose husband, Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III., ST EDMUND'S CHAPEL 181 Archbishop Waldeby Alianore de Bohun WESTMINSTER ABBEY was murdered at the instigation of his nephew, Richard II. ; whereon she entered a nunnery at Barking. "Desolate, desolate will I hence and die" ; she says to John of Gaunt in the first act of Richard II. She is represented in her widow's dress, with veil, wimple, and plaited barbe covering the whole of the head and neck. In the central canopy above her head is a swan, the badge of the Bohuns, which became a favourite badge of King Henry V. " Weepers " on John of Eltham's Tomb 2. Next to her tomb is another brass, which represents Robert Waldeby, Archbishop of York (d. 1397), the companion of the Black Prince and tutor to Richard II. ; his right hand is aised in the act of benediction. ST EDMUND'S CHAPEL 183 He wears the full eucharistic vestments, which in this early brass are rendered quite simply. The inner garment shewn is the sleeved alb, which covers the whole body, but is only seen just above the feet ; in the centre of it, in front, is a square piece of embroidery, or apparel. In front of the alb hang down the fringed ends of a long narrow band or stole, which passed round the neck. Above the fringes of the stole are seen the plain lower edges of the linen tunicle, the vestment of a subdeacon. Above that is seen part of the lower portion of the fringed dalmatic, the vestment of a deacon. On the top of all is the chasuble, pointed oval in shape, and here plain. Round the neck is an embroidered turn-down collar, the amice. From his left arm hangs an embroidered napkin, the maniple. On his head Duchess of Suffolk is a tall episcopal mitre, studded with gems, the mitra pretiosa. Over the embroidered gloves is usually the episcopal ring, the stone of which was always plain. The sandals were often richly adorned and jewelled, and their open work showed scarlet stockings. Being an archbishop, he holds in his hand a cross, instead of a pastoral crook or crozier ; and round his neck and in front of the chasuble hangs the pallium of white lamb's wool made by the nuns of St Agnes, Rome, and sent by the Pope to archbishops as the investi- ture of their office ; it is embroidered with crosses. The complexity of the vestments is due to the fact that the archbishop did not lose his right to the vestments worn in the various orders through which he had passed as bishop, 1 84 WESTMINSTER ABBEY priest, deacon, and subdeacon. Thus as subdeacon he wears the tunicle, as deacon the dalmatic, as priest and celebrant at the Mass he wears the chasuble ; as bishop he has mitre, gloves, ring, sandals, and scarlet stockings ; as archbishop he has cross and pallium. The following are the chief monuments in order from the doorway, proceeding from left to right : 3. The beautiful monument of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, second son of Edward II., is of alabaster; d. 1337. Notice the "weepers" on its West end. It is possible that the king and queen illustrated (182) may represent Edward II. and his Queen, Isabella. On the effigy the armour of the day is represented with the greatest minute- ness and fidelity ; at the head two little angels are ready to carry to heaven the departing soul, which on the monument of Aymer de Valence is shewn as a little naked child. This tomb once had a fine canopy, illustrated in Dart, 107. 4. To the right of it is a small tomb, with diminutive alabaster effigies of two Children of Edward III., in the costume of the day. 5. Then comes a stately table tomb, with effigy, of Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, d. 1559. She was daughter of Charles Brandon and Mary, Queen of France, and therefore granddaughter of Henry VII., and was the mother of Lady Jane Grey. Like Catherine of France, she contracted a mesalliance by her second marriage to Adrian Stokes, who erected the monument to her with the inscription, " Nupta duci prius est, uxor post Armigeri Stokes."* 6. Then comes a seated figure of Francis Holies, d. 1622. He died at the age of eighteen, on returning from his first campaign in the Nether- lands. The monument is by the famous sculptor Nicholas Stone, and, according to Horace Walpole, is "a figure of most antique simplicity and beauty." 7. Next is the seated statue of Elizabeth Russell, d. 1601. She was a daughter of Lord John Russell, and was one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour. She points with her finger to a skull, the emblem of mortality. Sir Roger de Francis Holies " First she married a Duke ; afterwards Stokes Esquire." ST EDMUND'S CHAPEL 185 Sir Bernard Brocas 2 A 1 86 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Coverl-y was told that she died of the prick of a needle, occasioned by working on a Sunday. She is seated erect in her osier chair ; " dormit, non mortua est !! says the epitaph. This is the first of the sepulchral effigies in the Abbey which departs from the recumbent posture. 8. Then comes the monument of her father, Lord John Russell, d. 1584. This monument has been recently redecorated by the Duke of Bedford. On it are inscriptions in Latin, Greek, and English by his wife, daughter of Sir Anthony Cook and sister of Lady Burleigh. 9. In the pavement is a slab to Lord Lytton, the novelist, d. 1873. 10. Opposite the doorway is a Gothic wall-monument to Sir Bernard Brocas (d. 1396) ; and in front of it the table tomb of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, who was killed at the battle of Barnet ; the brass is missing. Sir Roger de Coverley, on his visit to the Abbey, as recorded in the Spectator No. 329, was much interested to hear that Sir Bernard Brocas was " the lord who cut off the King of Morocco's head." True it is that he served in the wars against the Moors, and there won the crest which surmounts his helmet, the crowned head of a Moor. There are remains of a beautiful inscription in black letters, every word being separated by foliage or by an animal. 11. Then comes the Eliza- bethan monument of Sir Richard Pecksall, d. 1571, with his two wives and four daughters. 12. To the right is the stately Jacobean monument of the Earl of Shrewsbury, d. 1617, with the effigies of the Earl and his Countess and their daughter, a little girl who kneels at her mother's feet. 13. On the left of the doorway is the wooden tomb of William de Valence (d. 1296), half-brother of Henry III. Once it was surrounded by thirty-one little "weepers." The effigy was first carved in oak, and then covered with thin plates of copper engraved, the junctions being hid for the most part by borders of filigree work set Earl of Shrewsbury ST EDMUND'S CHAPEL I8 7 Sir Richard Pecksall i88 WESTMINSTER ABBEY with imitation gems. The wonderful beauty of the enamel is best seen on the shield reflected in the mirror which hangs above it. This monument must have come from Limoges in South-west France, the headquarters of the art. A full-sized illustration of it, showing the original colouring and design of the enamel, has been placed in the Chapter-house. He was the father of Aymer de Valence, whose monument is on the North side of the Sanctuary. William de Valence 6. St Nicholas's Chapel Leaving St Edmund's chapel, we see in the Ambulatory, a little farther on, the back of the tomb of Queen Philippa. Opposite is the chapel of St Nicholas, fenced by a stone screen erected early in the fifteenth century. 1. The noble monument in the centre is that of Sir George Villiers, and Lady Villiers ; it was executed by Nicholas Stone in 1631, at a cost of 560. The following are the chief monuments in this chapel, be- ginning at the doorway, and proceeding from left to right : 2. The first is the Jacobean tomb of Lady Cecil, d. 1591. The tomb is of alabaster, and covered with a thick slab of black marble, ST NICHOLAS'S CHAPEL I8 9 without an effigy. She was wife of Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, son of the great Lord Burghley, and died in childbirth the third year after her marriage. "Earth could not yield more pleasing earthly bliss : Blest with two babes, the third brought her to this." 3. At the foot of it is a small brass to Sir Humphrey Stanley, d. 1505 ; he was knighted for his bravery on Bosworth Field. He is represented bareheaded, as usually on Tudor brasses ; in plate armour, with a dagger and long sword ; the cuirass has long flaps and a skirt of mail. It should be compared with the Lancastrian brass of Sir John Harpedon. St Nicholas's Chapel 4. Close to it is the Percy Vault. The Percy family alone retains the privilege of being buried in the Abbey. 5. On the wall, to the right of the tomb of Lady Cecil, is the Jacobean monument of the Duchess of Somerset, who died in 1587 at the age of ninety. She was "dear spouse unto the renowned Prince Edward, Duke of Somerset, uncle to King Edward VI." beheaded on Tower Hill in 1551 for felonious practices against his nephew. " The Earl of Hertford, Edward, her eldest son, in this doleful duty care- ful and diligent, doth consecrate this monument to his dear parent, not for her honour wherewith living she did abound and now departing flourisheth, but for the dutiful love he beareth her and for his last testification thereof." IpO WESTMINSTER ABBEY 6. Next comes another Jacobean monument of a husband and wife, Sir George Fane, d. 1618, and Lady Fane, who kneel beneath a curtained canopy. At the apex is a pair of turtle doves, surmounting a heart inscribed " Vivere sine se nequeunt." 7. On the wall, facing the doorway, is the lofty Elizabethan monument erected to Lady Burleigh (d. 1589), and her daughter. Above is a kneeling statue of Lord Burleigh, who is himself buried at Stamford. Below are effigies of Lady Burleigh and her daughter Lady Yere ; at the feet of the mother kneels her only son, Robert Cecil ; at her head, her three granddaughters. Long Latin inscriptions by Lord Burleigh himself tell how that for forty-three years she shared all his fortunes in prosperity and adversity, and was ever merciful to the poor, and a great benefactor in secret to learned men, and herself during her whole life conversant with theology, and especially with the works in Greek of Basil, Chrysostom, and Gregory Nazianzen. Never were English women so learned as in Elizabeth's long reign, nor ever more respected and beloved ; "most dear," was Lady Burleigh, says her husband, "beyond all the race of womankind." 8. Next is the Gothic monument of Dudley, Bishop of Durham, d. 1483. It is very similar to that of Sir Bernard Brocas in St Edmund's chapel, from which it is probably copied. 9. Then, high up, comes the effigy of Lady Ross, d. 1591 ; formerly it rested on the pavement. 10. Below is a fine Elizabethan monument of Lady Brydges, Marchioness of Winchester, d. 1586. Below kneels her son, Lord Buckhurst, the poet, and her daughter, Lady Dacre, with her baby. Lady Dacre founded the Emmanuel Hospital at Westminster. 1 1. Then comes the monument of the Duchess of Northum- berland, d. 1776, designed by Robert Adam. 1 2. Adjoining the screen, is the Gothic monument of Philippa, Duchess of York, d. 1433. It was formerly in the centre of the chapel, when it had a triple canopy in wood, similar to that of the monument of Edward III. ; it is illustrated by Dart. The Duchess is represented, like Alianore de Bohun, in the attire of a nun or widow. She was wife of Edward Langley, Duke of York, grandson of Edward III.; the Duke was slain at Agincourt. The Duchess left directions in her will that at the place where she died and at every place where her body rested on its way to Westminster, her exequies should be performed with Dirge over night, and a Mass of Requiem before their removal in the morning ; and that on the day of the funeral six marks ST NICHOLAS'S CHAPEL 191 Duchess of Somerset 192 WESTMINSTER ABBEY and 4od. should be distributed between one thousand poor men and women, a penny to each. A thousand Dirges to be sung on the first day and a thou- sand Masses the next. After many bequests to monks, priests, and monas- teries, the residue of her goods was to be divided into four portions ; for Masses, for relief of prisoners, for the poor, and for the repair of roads. Philippa, Duchess of York 7. Henry V.'s Chantry Chape On leaving St Nicholas's chapel, to the right is seen a bridge of masonry thrown over the Ambulatory; on it, high up, is the Chantry chapel of Henry V., covered with sculpture. The square compartment on the South side of the chantry, above the arch, represents a Coronation of Henry V. ; probably that in France. In the spandril illustrated three angels hold his shield, on which he has the leopards and the fleurs de lys as King of England and King of France (193). In the frieze are alternately an antelope, collared, and a swan, collated, chained to a beacon. When Prince of Wales, Henry bore two swans for supporters in respect of his mother, who was a co-heiress of the Bohuns, Earls of Hereford. When king, he bore on his dexter side a lion guardant, on his sinister an antelope. Of the Beacon or Crescet Light burning the following explanation is given : "Henry V., by reason of his dissolute life in the time of his father's reign, when, after the death of the said king his father, he was anointed and crowned monarch of this realm, betook unto him for his badge or cognisance a Crescet Light burning ; showing thereby, that although his virtuous and good parts had been formerly obscured and lay as a dead coal wanting light to kindle it ... being now in this high Imperial throne, his virtues which before had lain dead, should now by his righteous reign shine as the light of Crescet, which is no ordinary light : meaning also, that he should be a light and guide to his people to follow him in all virtue and honour." At the top of the parapet is another frieze in which swans and antelopes alternate. Passing underneath the arch, we see before us the chapel of Henry VII. Before visiting its nave, it is best to turn to the right, and to enter the South aisle by a small doorway on the left. Henry the Fifth's Chantry Chapel 2 B 194 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 8. Lady Margaret's Chapel Both this and the North aisle are ceiled with fan vaults with large central pendants, i. At the entrance is the monument of Margaret, Countess of Lennox, d. 1 578. Her epitaph recounts that her great-grandfather was Edward IV., her grandfather was Henry VII., her uncle was Henry VIII., her cousin was Edward VI., her brother was James V. of Scotland, her son was Henry I. of Scotland (as husband of Mary, Queen of Scots), her grandson was James VI. of Scotland (i.e., James I. of England) ; but in spite of all this royalty, she died in poverty in the village of Hackney, Middlesex. Then at last her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, came to the rescue, and had her buried in West- minster Abbey. Her sons kneel on the side of the tomb facing the window ; the foremost of them, with remains of the fastening of a crown, and looking towards the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots, is Henry Darnley, the husband of Queen Mary; "this Henry," says the epitaph, "was mvrthered at the age of 21 yeares." He was strangled and then blown up with gunpowder, not without suspicion of the connivance of Queen Mary, his wife. 2. Next comes the beautiful monument of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was executed at Fotheringhay in 1587, and buried in Peterborough Cathedral. In 1612 her remains were quietly transferred to Westminster by her son, King James I., and a monument was erected by him similar to that of Queen Elizabeth, and occupying the same position in the south aisle as Elizabeth's occupies in the north aisle ; that, as James said, " the like honour might be extant of her, that had been done to his dear sister, the late Queen Elizabeth." The effigy is of white marble, very finely executed. Her head rests on two embroidered cushions ; her hands are raised in prayer. She wears a close coif with a narrow edging, and a laced ruff and a tucker, both plaited. Her features are small, but peculiarly sweet and delicate. Her mantle is lined with ermine and fastened over the breast with a jewelled brooch. The borders of her stomacher are wrought with chain-work ; her vest has a row of small buttons down the middle, with knots on either side. At her feet sits the Scottish lion, crowned, and once supporting the emblems of sovereignty. To her tomb pious Scots resorted as to the shrine of a canonised saint, and it was told that miracles were wrought thereat. 3. The Stuart Vault. This vault, marked by a slab West of Queen Mary's monument, was opened by Dean Stanley in 1868. " A startling, almost an awful scene, presented itself. A vast pile of leaden coffins rose from the floor ; some of full stature, the larger number varying in form from that of the full-grown child to the merest infant, con- fusedly heaped upon the others, while several urns of various shapes were tossed about in irregular positions throughout the vault." One coffin, of a solid and stately character, and shaped to the body, was that of Mary, Queen of Scots ; it was saturated with pitch, and deeply compressed by the weight above ; on it lay the coffin of Arabella Stuart, cousin of James I., and for that reason imprisoned in the Tower till she died a madwoman. Besides these, there were the coffins of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I.; HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 195 Henry the Seventh's Chapel, with Stalls and Screens in their original position [ 9 6 WESTMINSTER ABBEY that of her famous son, Prince Rupert ; that of Anne Hyde, first wife of James II., and mother of the sisters, Queen Mary and Queen Anne ; that of Henry, eldest son of James I. ; those of four children of Charles I. ; those of ten children of James II.; and eighteen children of Queen Anne, all of whom died in infancy except William, who lived eleven years. What a doomed dynasty ! 4. On a pedestal farther on, facing a window, is a statue erected by Horace \Valpole to his mother, Lady Walpole, Lord Darnley Mary, Queen of Scots " an Ornament to Courts, untainted by them " ; it is interesting as having been copied at Rome from a famous statue of Modestia. 5. In front of it is the monument, with effigy of gilt bronze, of Margaret Beaufort. Her first husband was Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and their son became Henry VII. She was great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and so HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 197 brought in the Lancastrian blood of which Henry VII. was especially proud. In religion and learning she was the pattern of her age and of ages to come ; the first of that order of good, pious, and learned women which was to be the glory of the Tudor age. To her are due the splendid foundations of Christ's College and St John's College, Cambridge, and the Lady Margaret professorships of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge ; her name has recently been revived in the title of the Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford. She died in Sir Thomas Lovell and Lady \Yalpole 1509, and her funeral sermon was preached by Bishop Fisher ; "every one that knew her," he said, "loved her, and everything that she said or did became her." Ca.xton's printing press in the Almonry was under her special protection. In her effigy, which is of gilded bronze by the great Florentine artist, Torrigiano, she wears a widow's dress ; at her feet is an antelope. This effigy and those of Henry VII. and his Queen, are "simple, quiet, and serious ; the faces and hands entirely noble ; the greatest sculptures ever 198 WESTMINSTER ABBEY wrought in England."* The features are petites, and, as also the delicate hands, are full of character. The tombs and effigies of Henry VI I., Elizabeth of York, and Margaret Beaufort are of immense importance in the history of English art, as being the first notable examples in England of the foreign Renaissance art which was soon utterly to overwhelm the indigenous Gothic of our country. It is interesting to see that the metal canopy above the head is not classical in design, but of Flamboyant Gothic tracery. 6. Near the statue of Lady Walpole, facing the window, is a bronze medallion, nobly wrought, of Sir Thomas Lovell, also Reredos by Torrigiano ; it was formerly placed over Sir Thomas's manor house at East Harling, Norfolk ; it was presented by Sir J. C Robinson. Torrigiano worked in the same studio with Michael Angelo, whose nose he broke in one of his quarrelsome fits, disfiguring him for life. He was a * Lethaby, 237. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 199 20O WESTMINSTER ABBEY big, ill-tempered brute, for ever bragging, on his return to Italy, of his pugilistic victories over " those bears of Englishmen."* 7. Still farther to the left is a huge rostral monument to General Monk, who brought about the Restoration ; below is a long inscription about the donors of the monument, but not a word about Monk (198). He is buried in the North aisle of the chapel. 8. At the East end of this South aisle a fine sculptured Reredos remains. The statue on the left represents St Catherine of Alexandria ; that on the right, St Margaret of Antioch. Henry VII., as appears from his will, was very proud of his descent from Catherine of France, queen of Henry V., and his grandmother. St Catherine the martyr, of Alexandria, d. A.D. 317, was a learned princess of Egypt, who resolved to be the bride of none but Christ himself. After a long argument with the heathen emperor Maxemius, in which he was talked down, she was condemned to be racked on a spiked wheel ; the wheel broke, and her head was then struck off with a sword. In this niche and in the East window of St Margaret's Church she is shewn sword in hand, and with a broken wheel at her feet, and trampling on Maxentius. On the right is a statue of St Margaret of Antioch ; who, because she refused to marry a heathen prince, was beaten and cast into prison, where, it was said, there fell upon her a vast dragon and swallowed her ; but the sign of the cross which she put upon her grew and grew, till the dragon was cleft asunder, and Margaret slept forth unhurt. Therefore at her feet is placed a dragon. 9. Underneath the altar platform are buried no less than four English sovereigns : Queen Anne (and her husband, Prince George of Denmark), William III. and Mary II., and Charles II. ; not one of them has a monument. We now leave this aisle, which, with its tombs of Margaret Beaufort and Margaret Lennox, and its statue of St Margaret, used, very properly, to be called " My Lady Margarettes Chapel." f 9. Henry the Seventh's Chapel We now leave Lady Margaret's chapel, and, turning to the right, enter the nave of Henry the Seventh's Lady chapel. Overhead is a wonderful Fan Vault, fitted together with the * Symonds, Life of Cellini, i. 27. t The chapel is so styled in Walcott's Inventory, 41. It was given a chantry endowment in Margaret Beaufort's will. " We will that our executors do make in the chapel a convenient tomb, and one altar or two in the same chapel for two chantry masses there perpetually to be said." HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 201 precision of an astronomical instrument ; the greatest achieve- ment in masoncraft in the whole world. On either side of the chapel are the Stalls, once occupied by the monks when they attended the services of Our Lady. They are of the same date as the chapel, and are surmounted by elaborate tabernacles of diversified design ; the Misericords or seats are hinged, so that, when raised, they might give support during prolonged periods Henry VII.'s Grate of standing. The banners above, and the brass plates on the backs of the upper stalls, are those of the Knights of the Bath, who in 1 66 1 and from 1725 to 1812 were here installed (135). Their banners continued to be hung here till 1839. Among the more interesting is that of the Duke of Wellington in the third bay from the West on the North side; and in the third bay from the East on the South side that of the brave sailor, Thomas Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, of which he was deprived in 1814; 2 C 202 WESTMINSTER ABBEY it was restored to his family on his death, and was replaced in the chapel in 1860 by order of Queen Victoria. Among the misericords of the lower stalls the most interesting on the south side are (i) a woman thrashing a prostrate man ; (2) a woman birching a man ; (3) two boys playing "tournament" with hands and legs tied to a stick, with a boy as a " supporter " astride a cock-horse. Now we turn to the bronze Grille, or sacellnui, as Dart calls it, of Henry VII. (151). In front was erected in 1519 an altar to Our Lady with a magnificent classical canopy by Torrigiano ; beneath the altar slab was "a baken image of earth coloured (terra-cotta) of Christ dead," visible through bronze balusters which supported the touchstone slab. In a small vault under this altar was buried the young king, Edward VI., in 1553, amid universal mourning, but no monument has ever been erected over his grave. In 1643 the altar and canopy were destroyed by the Puritans because of Torrigiano's images. A portion of the white marble frieze of the canopy and two of the original pillars, with beautiful Renaissance scroll work, have been recovered, and are worked into the modern altar. In 1509 King Henry VII. died, and was buried, not like his predecessors, in a raised tomb, but in a vault. Round HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 203 his tomb is what he calls in his will " a grate in manner of a closure of copper and gilt, after the fashion that we have begun." It has been much mutilated, having lost its altar and much of its cresting and many of its bronze statuettes, but is still by far the finest piece of metalwork in the country. Notice the four huge Tudor roses crowned, one at each end, composed of one rose inside a second rose and with well- developed stamens ; they contain prickets to support great tapers. In the vault below is the coffin of James I., side by side with those of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York. Everywhere there are fierce little Dragons and Greyhounds. Henry liked to think that through his Welsh parentage his grandmother, Catherine of France, after the death of Henry V.. had married a Welsh squire, Owen Tudor he was the representative of Cadwallader, the last king of the Britons. Henry's standard at Bosworth Field had been a red dragon painted on white and green silk ; commemorated by the institution of a Pursuivant at Arms, styled "Rouge Dragon. " The greyhound was an ancient supporter of the arms of the house of Beaufort, to which his mother, Margaret, belonged. So that the dragon confronting the greyhound means : " My father was a Welshman, my mother a Beaufort; on the one side 1 204 WESTMINSTER ABBEY derive from British, on the other from Lancastrian kings " ; while the Tudor rose symbolises the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York by the marriage of Henry, nephew of the last Lancastrian sovereign, Henry VI., with Elizabeth, daughter of the first Yorkist sovereign, Edward IV. Formerly there were thirty-two statuettes of gilt bronze on the grate ; all but six have been stolen. The figures are very vigorous and effective, as may be seen in passing round the grille. At the South-west angle is an admirable St George. On the South side is St John Evangelist, bearing the poisoned chalice, and, further on, St Bartholomew, with his skin on his arm; and above, the Confessor, holding up the ring. On the East side is St James the Greater, in pilgrim's garb ; on the North side, a figure which seems to have lost a crown or a mitre (154). The grate itself is constructed as if it were Gothic stonework, but with a tendency towards Flamboyant design, as is not uncommon in late work in wood, metal, and glass. The Tomb within is by Torrigiano, completed between 1512 and 1518 ; he was to receive for it some .15,000. Except that it is a table tomb, it is wholly classic in design. The nobler Italian form of sarcophagus is followed by Torrigiano in the tomb of Dr John Young in the HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 205 Rolls Chapel ; it is seen also in the magnificent tomb executed for Cardinal Wolsey, but which now, by a strange series of chances, is in the crypt of St Paul's and contains the bones of Nelson. Torrigiano's Effigies of Henry VII., Elizabeth of York, and Margaret Beaufort, are among the very noblest in Europe. They are undoubtedly portraits. "The personal characters of the king and queen are powerfully indicated not only in the faces but in the hands also, which are of an astonishing perfection of modelling. The disposition of the robes is simple, and not wanting in grandeur; and the lions on which the king and queen rest their feet are, in spirit, worthy of the finest periods of the sculptor's art."* The gay little angels at the corners, which once held banners, are very delightful ; and are wholly classic, except that Italian putti would be nude (152). Wholly classic too are the wreathed medallions, each containing two little figures of admirable workmanship. These are the patron saints mentioned in the king's will, with the addition of the Blessed Virgin and St Christopher. On the South side are (i) the Virgin and Child, and St Michael weighing a soul (below, a prostrate winged devil is depressing one of the scales with his clawed foot). The Babe is reaching forsvard to St Michael, who holds up a short cross or a banner. (2) Then follow St John Baptist and St John Evangelist, the latter a face of the sweetest beauty. The former points to the Agnus Dei ; the latter holds his Gospel open in his left hand : beneath is his emblem, the eagle. (3) Then comes a manly figure of St George, with banner and sword (broken), * A. Higgins, page 141. 206 WESTMINSTER ABBEY below is the dragon; and St Anthony in conventual attire and with a rosary; from beneath his robe peeps his symbol, a pig. On the North side are (4) St Mary Magdalene with long flowing hair, holding in her left hand the vase of precious ointment ; and St Barbara, who in the tower, in which she was imprisoned by her heathen father, had three windows inserted, symbolical of the Trinity. Thereon her father carried her to a high mountain and smote off her head, but was himself struck dead by lightning. Wherefore St Barbara is invoked for protection against thunder and lightning ; and, by a natural extension, is the patroness of armourers and blacksmiths and firearms and fortifications. Note, therefore, the three-storied tower she carries. (5) Then comes St Christopher, who, unwitting, carried Christ as a little child across a foaming river, bearing in his left hand a staff to steady himself against the torrent ; which staff, as shewn in the bronze, being set in the ground, " to the conversion of many, presently waxed green, and brought forth leaves and flowers and fruit." On his right is St Anna, the instructrt ss of the Blessed Virgin, reading in an open book. (6) Next is Edward the Confessor, holding up the ring (now gone), and St Vincent, the Spanish deacon ; he is shewn in the vestments of a deacon. He is said to have suffered martyrdom in 304 A.D. He was stretched, like St Lawrence, on a gridiron over a slow fire, and was offered life if he would put his Bible in the flames. When unconscious, he was laid on the floor of the dungeon, and his face was sweet and smiling as though he saw visions of heaven, till he breathed his last. The casts in metal, says Brayley, as displayed in the figures and alto-relievos on Henry VI I. 's tomb, have probably never been excelled. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 207 Notice the great beauty of the black-letter inscription which runs round the grille, both within and \vithout (201). Several of the brass plates on which the letters were cast have been lost ; they are supplied in brackets from the inscription inside the grille ; the full form of abbreviated words is given. Beginning on the West side the inscription is as follows : "(Septimus Henricus tumulo requiescit in isto ; Qui regum splendor, lumen et orbis erat.) Rex vigil et sapiens, comis, virtutis amator, Egregia forma, strenuus atque potens. Qui peperit pacem regno, qui bella peregit (Plurima, qui victor) semper ab hoste redit, Qui natas binis coniunxit regibus ambas, Regibus et cunctis foedere iunctus erat. Qui sacrum hoc struxit templum, statuitque sepulchrum, Pro se, proque sua coniuge, prole, domo. Lustra decem (atque annos tres plus) compleverat annis, Nam tribus octenis regia sceptra tulit. Quindecies domini (centenus fluxerat annus), Currebat nonus cum venit atra dies. Septima ter mensis lux turn fulgebat Aprilis, Cum clausit summum tanta corona diem. (Nulla dedere prius tantum tibi secula regem, Anglia ; vix similem posteriora dabunt.)" 208 WESTMINSTER ABBEV The statuary in the various chapels and below the clerestory windows deserves careful attention ; it was highly praised by Flaxman in his lectures delivered at the Royal Academy in 1821. The statues in the chapels, being larger and nearer to the eye, merit detailed examination. The statues illustrated are those in the triforium range of the nave, not those in the reredoses of the chapels. The latter are about 5 feet high ; the St Sebastian former about 3 feet 3 inches. It is remarkable that several of the figures occur both in the triforium range and in the reredoses. Mr W. S. Weatherley notes that they are of two sorts. The first and earlier are of Reigate "firestone"; they have a taller proportion, with the folds of the drapery straighter than in the others ; to this set belong statues of St Augustine, St Katherine, St Ambrose, St Helen, St Edward King and Martyr. The second and later set are of Caen stone. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 20Q St Matthew is represented with spectacles : a little angel with the right hand supports the Gospel, and with the left holds up an inkpot (156). St Martin ot Tours is represented with breastplate and mail coat and with the famous cloak ; in his hand he bears a mitre. He was an officer in a Roman cavalry squadron quartered at Amiens c. 336 A.D. One day as he was riding outside the gates, a naked beggar besought alms. The young officer drew his sword, and cut in two his long cavalry cloak and gave him one half of it. That night he dreamt that the whole scene was being re-enacted ; but instead of the beggar, he saw his Lord clad with the half cloak. Much against his will he became in later life Bishop of Tours, wherefore his statue bears a mitre ; but he continued to live a hermit life on a desert and rocky spot away from the town, except when he was away on long and arduous missionary journeys. St Edward the Confessor holds a sceptre in his right hand, and no doubt formerly held in his left the ring. The next figure illustrated is probably that of St Oswald, King of Northumbria from 634 to 642. When a child, he had been sent to Scotland for safety, and became a Christian under the influence of the monks of lona. In 642 he was defeated and slain by Penda, the heathen King of Mercia : and his head, arms, and hands were struck off and nailed to a tree. A year later the head was buried at Lindisfarne, and the arms and hands at Bamburgh. When the Benedictine monks of Lindisfarne had to flee from the Danes, they carried with them not only the body of St Cuthbert, but in the same coffin the head of St Oswald. When the coffin was opened in 1828, and again in 1899, it was still there. St Stephen is shewn in a deacon's vest- ment, the fringed dalmatic ; the two ends of a stole hang down in front on either side ; on his left arm is the maniple. In his hands he holds a heap of stones, on which rests an open book. St Jerome was a wealthy Roman, a son of Christian parents, who renounced the comforts of his position, and lived the ascetic life, persuading many high-born ladies of Rome to follow his example. His influence on the Western Church was immense ; partly because it was his example first that recommended the monastic ideal to Western Christians, partly because he supplied them with a translation of the Scriptures into Latin, the famous Vulgate. Twenty-two years he spent on the task ; a lion, finding him always still and absorbed, used to visit him in the cave where he worked. The figure of St Anne, teaching the Blessed Virgin to read, is of great dignity, and has been reproduced again and again in recent stained glass. St Anthony is repre- sented as usual with bell and pig ; he has also a crooked staff and a sheath- knife. St Ambrose of Milan holds the staff of a crozier in his left hand, and in his right a scourge. St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, is represented in rather unusual fashion holding in his left hand a basket in which is a naked babe. He was the patron saint of children ; witness the title of the American magazine, St Nicholas. A cruel pork butcher had killed three little boys ; St Nicholas found their severed heads and bodies in the pickling tub, and restored them to life ; this scene is depicted on the font in Winchester cathedral. St John the Evangelist has in his hand a chalice, into the wine of which poison had been infused ; but as he made over it the sign of the cross, the poison took the form of a dragon and fled. St Roch is represented as a pilgrim with cross keys on his broad hat ; he has the pilgrim's staff and wallet, and a rosary ; there is a sore on his left leg. St Wilgeforte or St Uncumber is a bearded lady, much in demand at childbirth ; in front of her is an open book resting on what looks like a T square. St Edward, King and Martyr, has lost both hands ; on his breast is a pin by which something was formerly affixed. He is not to be confounded with Edward the Confessor who 2 D 3 10 WESTMINSTER ABBEY died in his bed. The former became King of Wessex at the age of thirteen, and reigned three years and a half till 979, when being hot and thirsty after the hunt he called at Corfe, the castle of his wicked queen mother, and was given to drink ; but as he drank, he was treacherously struck from behind, and fled to die in the forest. His body was hurriedly buried without any kind of kingly honours at Wareham ; where, on the south side of the Priory church, may still be seen the Gothic vaulted chapel which reproduces the little wooden chapel where he was laid. Twelve months later the body was removed to Shaftesbury, where there arose above it one of the grandest abbeys in England the foundations were laid bare three years ago and the town itself became known till the Dissolution as Edwarclstow. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 211 St Edward Confessor St Oswald 212 WESTMINSTER ABBEY St Jerome HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 2I 3 St Anne St Anthony 2I 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY <^l> ' . St Ambrose St Nicholas HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 215 I ti \M i v:--'^ v , -.x- > -^ JHrirt .kv St John St Roch 216 WESTMINSTER ABBEY ;- St Wilgeforte St Edward, King and Martyr HENRY THE SEVENTHS CHAPEL 10. Southern Chapel We now turn to the first chapel in the nave, that near the Southern range of stalls. It contains a great monument to the Duke of Lennox, who died in 1623, the last of the legitimate line. The canopy is supported by allegorical figures of Faith, Hope, Prudence, and Charity. The beautiful curving screen with the original door should be noticed ; these are seen also in the corresponding chapel on the North side ; in both, Screen of Northern Chapel however, all the upper parts of the screen have been removed. In the Reredos, on the left is St Dionysius or St Denis, the patron saint of France ; on the right is St Paul (149). St Denis was Bishop of Paris, and, being decapitated A.D. 237, walked with the severed head in his hand to a hill two miles away, " Martyr's hill," or " Montmartre." Over the scene of his martyrdom a little church was built by St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, and ultimately the great abbey church of St Denis, ancient burial place of the kings of France. Just as the statue of St George indicates Henry : s claim to the English throne, so that of St Denis emphasises the fact that he had not relinquished that to the throne of France. On the right is St Paul, with the book of his Epistles supported by the pommel of the sword, now broken, by which he suffered martyrdom, 2 E 2l8 WESTMINSTER ABBEY ii. South-Eastern Chapel In the second chapel are the tombs of Dean Stanley, cl. 1 88 1 ; and the Due de Montpensier, brother of King Louis Philippe, d. 1807. In the Eastern Reredos, on the left, is perhaps St Clare, holding a pyx ; the first woman who threw in her lot with St Francis of Assisi (149). In the centre is St Roch, with a staff and a broad hat, on which is the sign of the crossed keys ; on his left is a dog with a small loaf in its mouth. On his right is perhaps St Monica in a cypress veil, bearing a small vase in her left hand. At the other end of the chapel are three more statues. On the left is St Dorothy carrying a wicker basket of the flowers and fruits of Paradise, as on the rood-screens of Blofield, Norfolk, and Yaxley and West- hall, Suffolk. In the centre is St Christopher with his large staff, carrying the child Christ over a river ; the head of the child is gone. On the right is St Apollonia ; in her right hand is a book, in her left a pair of pincers. She is represented holding a tooth in pincers on the rood-screens of Lessingham, Barton Turf and Ludham, Norfolk, and Westhall, Suffolk, in allusion to the torture to which she was subjected. 12. Eastern Chapel In the third chapel it was intended that Henry VI. should be buried. In the Commonwealth days there were interred here Oliver Cromwell, his great admiral, Blake, General Ireton, John Bradshaw, President of the tribunal which tried Charles I., and others; their bodies were ejected in 1660, and thrown into a pit in the churchyard north of the nave. At the back is now the Queen's Coronation chair, said to have been used first at the coronation of William and Mary (147) ; it used to stand, as shewn in the illustration (237), near the King's chair. On the North are three statues. That on the left is St Nicholas, with crozier, and with an infant child in a basket. In the centre is a vacant niche with the initials H. R. placed between a pomegranate and a rose ; evidently this was intended for a statue of Henry VI. On the right is the figure of some Archbishop, perhaps St Thomas of Canterbury. On the South side are three more statues. On the left is King Edward the Confessor, with crown and sceptre, and holding in his left hand the ring which was sent back to him from Palestine by St John Evangelist. In the centre is St Peter, with the book of his Epistles and a key. On the right is St Edmund crowned ; in his right hand is one of the arrows by which he suffered death at the hands of the Danes ; in his left he holds the orb of sovereignty. Here have been gathered together fragments of the original Heraldic Glass from various windows of the chapel. In the bottom row, beginning at the left are seen : 1. The Rose tree with red Lancastrian roses, crowned. 2. The Fleur de lys of France. 3. Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York, crowned. 4. The Leopards of England and the Fleurs de lys of France. 5. Red Rose of Lancaster and White Rose of York, crowned. 6. The Portcullis, crowned. 7. The Fleur de lys of France. $. A Rose tree with red Lancastrian roses, crowned. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 2I 9 In the middle row, beginning at the left, are seen : 1. The Red Rose of Lancaster, crowned. 2. The Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York, crowned. 3. The Portcullis, crowned. 4. The Rose tree, with red Lancastrian roses, with initials H. R. 5. The Red Rose of Lancaster, crowned. 6. The Portcullis, crowned. 7. The Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York, crowned. 8. The Rose tree with red Lancastrian roses, crowned. 9. The Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York, crowned. 10. The Shield of Edward the Confessor. The Portcullis, like the Greyhound, belonged to the Beauforts ; to it Henry added the motto, " Altera Securitas," implying that as the grated portcullis, when let down, gave additional security to the door below, so his descent through his mother added strength to his other titles. From this spot is an excellent view of the finest of all the reredoses, that in the next chapel to the north, which repre- sents St Sebastian tied naked to a tree ; on each side is a man with a cross-bow ; the first is taking aim, the other, a man with a powerful face, is preparing to do so (208). 13. North-Eastern Chapel In the fourth chapel is buried, with no memorial but a slab, Anne of Denmark, d. 1618, Queen of James I.: she was remarkably tall ; the leaden coffin is 6 feet 7 inches long. Here is the monument of the Duke of Buckinghamshire, d. 1721 ; the Duchess, d. 1742, is also buried here : on her death- bed she made her ladies promise that if she lay sense- less, they would not sit down in the room before she was dead. The waxen effigies of the duchess and her son, which were Duke of Buckinghamshire 220 WESTMINSTER ABBEY carried at her funeral, are shown in the I slip chantry. On the sarcophagus in the chapel reclines the Duke in Roman armour and a contemplative position, while his lady, seated above in the costume of George the First's reign, but with sandalled feet, looks at him with considerable interest. The poet Pope gave his valuable assistance in the composition. He tells us that it comprises " the portraiture of his Grace, habited like a Roman general ; at his feet the Duchess, weeping. On the top of the basis of the column is seen in relievo Time bearing away the four deceased children of the Duchess, whose effigies are represented in profile-busies, supported by Cupids lamenting." On the pedestal behind the Duke is the agnostic epitaph which he wrote himself, and which gave rise to much controversy : " Dubius, sed non Improbus, Vixi. Incertus morior, non Perturbatus ; Humanum est Nescire et Errare. (Christum adveneror.) Deo confido Omnipotent! Benevolentissimo ; Ens Entium miserere mei."* The words in brackets were struck out by Dean Atterbury, because, as he said quite rightly, the term "adveneror" is in strict theological parlance applicable only to the veneration of the saints. 14. Northern Chapel This is the fifth chapel, next to the northern stalls. It is filled by the huge monument of the favourite of Charles I., the Duke of Buckingham, who was assassinated at Portsmouth, in 1628, by an old soldier, John Felton, who believed, says Clarendon, that "he should do God good service if he killed the Duke "(143). Here are the first of the host of allegorical heathenish figures which dis- grace the church. Lofty obelisks are based on metal skulls, and at the foot of the obelisks sit in various mournful attitudes Mars, Neptune, Pallas, and Benevolence. Says James Ralph, the eminent architect, " In a word, I have yet seen no ornament that has pleased me better, and very few so well."t On the wall opposite are three statues. On the left is St Stephen as a deacon, with dalmatic and stole ; in his right hand he holds a heap of stones on which he supports a book. In the centre is St Jerome, represented as a cardinal ; on his left a small lion fawns on him. On his right is perhaps St Vincent, the Spanish deacon. Northern Misericords. In the lower stalls the following are the most interesting, beginning at the East. The third represents the Phoenix, waiting to be reincarnated in its nest * " In doubt but not in vice I lived. I die uncertain, but unafraid ; We know not and we err. Christ I venerate. In God Omnipotent, All Good, I put my trust. Essence of all being, have mercy on me." t Critical Review of Public Buildings, 1736. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 221 of flames ; the last but one, near the great gates, may refer to David and Goliath, or may be taken from mediaeval romance. On the end stall above is a charming little oaken figure ; perhaps Henry VII. contemplating his great work (164). In vaults beneath the centre of the nave are buried, without other memorial than a slab, King George II. and Queen Caroline, and many other members of the Hanoverian family. It is astonishing how quickly the English sovereigns were forgotten : Lockplate at Westminster, Edward the Sixth, his sister, Queen Mary, James the First, Charles the Second, William the Third and his wife, Queen Mary, her sister, Queen Anne, George the Second and Queen Caroline ; and at Windsor, Henry the Sixth, Henry the Eighth, and Charles the First are all buried like paupers without a monument. The magnificent Gates to the \Vest are by the same crafts- men as the grate round Henry the Seventh's tomb, and are a marvellous specimen of delicate design and workmanship ; on the northern door is a pretty little lockplate. The gates are intended to be seen from the inside of the chapel. 222 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Among the devices are found several times (i) H. R., the initials of Henricus Rex ; (2) Rose branches impaling a crown ; (3) a cluster of Daisies (Marguerites) impaling a crown, the cognisance of Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ; (4) a Falcon on an open fetterlock, the badge of Edward IV. ; in addition to which there recur the bearings described in the glass of the third chapel, page 218. 15. Queen Elizabeth's Chapel Leaving the nave, and turning to the right, we enter the North Aisle. Close by the entrance is a little Sacristy, built for three chantry priests of the Order of St Benedict. According to the directions of Henry's will, "perpetually while the world shall endure, they shall . . . pray specially and principally for the soul of the same king, our sovereign lord, and also for the soul of the Princess Elizabeth, the late queen his wife, and for their children and issue, and for Prince Edward, the king's father and Margaret his mother, and for all Christian souls," at the altar of Our Saviour at the east end of the bronze Grate. 1. On entering the aisle, a modern slab marks the grave of Addison, d. 1719, whose statue is in the South transept. 2. In front is the monument of Queen Elizabeth, d. 1603, erected by James I., but by no means so large or so costly or so beautiful as that of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, in the South aisle. But of all the post-Reformation tombs it was by far the dearest to the English people ; a drawing of it long hung in every London church and in most churches in the country (228).* The recumbent effigy of the queen is finely executed in white marble. The countenance exactly resembles the best of her portraits, when repre- sented in advanced years ; the features being strong, but dignified. Her attire is regal, but the crown is gone and the sceptre and orb are broken. She has on a close coif, from which her hair descends in small curls ; pendant jewels are attached to her ears, and she wears a necklace of pearls, having a large drop in the centre. The point-lace frill of her chemise is turned back upon a broad, plaited ruff, below which was a collar of the Order of the Garter, cast in lead and gilt ; but the last portion of this was stolen when the iron railing round the tomb was removed, with so many others, in 1822 ;t the holes by which the collar was attached may still be seen. The Latin epitaph commemorates her defeat of the Armada, her zeal for religion, her skill in many languages, her great endowments both of intellect and person, her qualities beyond her sex, that she was a Princess Incomparable. * Stanley, 153. t Neale, i. 64. HENRY THE SEVENTH'S CHAPEL 223 Gates of Henry VII.'s Chapel 22 4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Mary, Queen of Scots QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL 225 Elizabeth, Queen of England 2 F 226 WESTMINSTER ABBEV In the vault below her elder sister, Queen Mary, had been buried in 1558 ; the stately coffin of Elizabeth rests on that of Mar}'. Of Mary there was no memorial till King James I. caused the following Latin inscription to be placed on the Western base of the tomb : " Regno consortes et urna, hie obdormimus Elizabetha et Maria sorores, in spe resurrectionis." * At the east end of the chapel are two small monuments of alabaster to two little daughters of James I. Princess Sophia 3. The Princess Sophia died three days after her birth ; " Rosula Regia praepropero Fato decerpta," her epitaph calls her, " parentibus erepta, ut in Christi Rosario reflorescat " ; t at her father's wish her tomb is an alabaster cradle. 4. Her sister, the Princess Maria, lies on a little table-tomb, resting on her left arm. "She was, according to her father, 'a most beautiful infant,' and her death, at the age of two years and a half, is described as peculiarly * " Here two sisters sleep, who sat on the same throne and rest in the same grave." t "A royal rosebud, untimely plucked by death ; torn from her parents to bloom afresh in the rose garden of Christ." QUEEN ELIZABETHS CHAPEL 227 touching. The little creature kept repeating, ' I go, I go' 'Away I go'; and again a third time, ' I go, I go.'"* 5. In a recess in the East wall is a coffer containing the bones of two boys, the one conjectured to have been thirteen, the other ten years of age, which were discovered in 1674 in a wooden chest, ten feet below the stairs which formerly led to the Chapel of the White Tower. The workmen had scattered them among the rubbish, but this was sifted, and the bones Princess Mary preserved. Charles II., being convinced that they were the bones of King Edward the Fifth and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, and pitying their cruel fate, caused them to be placed here in 1678. * Stanley, 156 228 WESTMINSTER ABBEY In the reredos are three statues. That on the left is a bearded Priest in Armour, with a scapular pulled over his chasuble, and holding a dragon in leash ; this may represent All Hallows.* In the centre is a Crowned King, with sceptre and book. On the right is St Lawrence with an open book resting on a gridiron. On looking at the backs of the Stalls it will be seen Monument of Queen Elizabeth that those of the Easternmost bay, the ones with plain backs, are modern ; and that the tabernacles for them have been got by slicing away the back half of some of the original tabernacles. The pivots of the original doorway of the screen still remain. * Archaeologia t xlvii. 484. ST EDWARD'S CHAPEL OR CHAPEL OF THE KINGS 229 16. St Edward's Chapel or Chapel of the Kings Leaving Henry VI I. 's chapel, we see opposite, on the other side of the Ambulatory, a low flight of wooden steps (231) ; this leads into the chapel of St Edward the Confessor. In the centre is the shrine of St Edward, encircled by the tombs of the Plantagenet kings and Henry the Fifth the Holy Place of the 10 Frieze of the Confessor Richard Second and Queen Swor and Shielc 1 Coronation Chair I E 12 ward First r-> i hn f Exit 9 f Stairs St. Edward's Shrine '3 Henry Third y 14 Qn the East wall is the monument of Sir George Holies, who also played a gallant part at Nieuport. Vere died in 1609, Holies in 1626. It is worth while to compare the * Neale, 194; Stanley, 191. CHAPEL OF ST JOHN EVANGELIST 265 From the Tomb of Sir Francis Vere 2 L 266 WESTMINSTER ABBEY CHAPEL OF ST JOHN EVANGELIST 267 Franklin 268 WESTMINSTER ABBEY two monuments ; Vere's monument is in the style of the Early Teutonic Renaissance, still instinct with much of the genius and splendour of Gothic art ; on that of Holies is the first statue in the Abbey that stands erect ; the first that wears, not the costume of the time, but that of a Roman general, standing on a pedestal flanked by " whimpering figures of Bellona and Pallas." 3. Behind and above Holies' statue, remains much of the sculptured parapet of Abbot Islip's upper Jesus Chapel. To the left of Holies is a small tablet, high up, to Grace Scot, cl. 1645, on which is a loving epitaph by her husband. " He that will give my Grace but what is hers Must say her death hath not Made only her dear Scot But virtue, worth, and sweetness widowers." 4. To the pavement below has been removed the effigy, in very stiff Jacobean attire, of Lady St John, d. 1614, which was dislodged to make way for the Nightingale monument (266). 5. On the West side of the chapel is the memorial to Franklin, with Tennyson's epitaph : " Not here : the White North has thy bones ; and thou, Heroic sailor soul, Art passing on thine happier voyage now Toward no earthly pole." Below it is an inscription to another brave Arctic voyager, Admiral McClintock, d. 1907 (267). At the back of Franklin's monument may be seen the hinges of the door which formerly led into the transept. 23. St Michael's Chapel Next is the chapel of St Michael, St Martin, and All Saints. In the eastern wall are two niches of an ancient Reredos of the altar ; at the back of the tomb of the Duchess of Somerset is a marble slab, found beneath the transept floor, and probably the altar slab of the chapel ; two of its inscribed crosses remain. 6. Here is the most abominable monument in the church, that of Lady Nightingale, d. 1731, by Roubiliac, with her husband protesting against his wife being stabbed by a skeleton (266). However, when John Wesley visited the Abbey in 1771, he found "none other monument to be compared with that of Mrs Nightingale ;"* and the judicious historian of the Abbey, Mr Brayley, says : " Every sympathetic feeling of the heart and mind is awakened by the contemplation of this extraordinary performance ; and a throb of real anguish fills the breast, on viewing the alarmed countenance of the afflicted Husband, striving in- effectually to shield his beloved Wife from the blow which consigns her, * Stanley, 317. ST ANDREWS CHAPEL 269 an early victim, to the gloomy mansions of the dead. It is almost impossible to speak of such a masterly work without a degree of admiration bordering on enthusiasm ; yet even the language of enthusiasm itself would hardly be too strong to do justice to its merits. The genius that could conceive, and the talents which could execute so noble a monument of art, will for ever rank the name of Roubiliac in the highest class of human intelligence. It has been his, to express the severe pangs of conjugal affection when about to be bereaved of its last hope ; to portray the last struggle of female imbecility ; and to realise the daring idea of the poet Milton, by creating a Soul ' . . . under the ribs of Death ! ' " 24. St Andrew's Chapel 7. Next is the chapel of St Andrew, in which is another important monument in the style of the Tudor Renaissance, that of Lord Norris, d. 1601, renowned most, says Camden, From the Tomb of Lord Norris 270 WESTMINSTER ABBEY " for that right valiant and warlike Progeny of his, as the Nether- lands, Portugall, Little Bretagne, and Irelande can witnesse." Of these six " valiant and expert commanders " only one sur- vived the parents. They are shown kneeling on either side of the monument ; some of them display so much character that they must be actual likenesses. They are all represented with John Kemble Mrs Siddons hands clasped in prayer, except the youngest on the North side ; his statue is the best executed of the whole, and is probably intended for the surviving son, Edward.* On the far side of Lord Norris's monument are statues of (8) John Kemble and (9) Mrs Siddons. The statue of the * Neale, ii. 198. NORTH TRANSEPT 271 North Transept 2/2 WESTMINSTER ABBEY former represents him in his part of the Roman Cato. The colossal statue of his sister is by Chantrey, suggested by Sir Joshua Reynolds's portrait of the actress as the Tragic Muse; it was erected at the expense of the actor Macready. 10. On the North wall is some of the best preserved of the thirteenth- century Arcading in the Abbey. In one spandril St Margaret rises from the body of the dragon, cleft af the sign of the cross ; in a spandril to the right is a Majesty (86). South Transept In the East wall is an important Doorway, which was probably a private entrance from the Palace in the thirteenth century. From the fifteenth to the eighteenth century the Shafts on the west side of this chapel had been cased up in a screen ; they consequently retain to a large extent the polish given in the thirteenth century to the Purbeck marble.* * It may be added that the rich brown hue of the walling, &c., which is one of the special charms of Westminster, is due to the use of freestone from Reigate. In some of the pier arches it is used alternately with courses of grey freestone from Caen. In the high vaults of Henry III.'s work the cells are filled in with chalk banded with brown Reigate freestone. SOUTH TRANSEPT 273 274 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 25. South Transept We now return through these chapels to the Ambulatory, and, turning to the right, pass into the North transept (271). Then we cross the church to the South transept (273). This is crowded with monuments, many of them memorials of poets, and goes by the name of Poets' Corner. Nearly all are of post-Reforma- tion date, and many are memorials of people who are not buried in the Abbey, nor were ever in any way connected with its history : it is not worth while to examine them all at length. (i) Im- mediately to the left, before reaching the iron gates, is the monument of Dr Busby, Headmaster of Westminster School for fifty-five years, d. 1695; "a very great man," said Sir Roger de Cover- ley; "whipped my grand- father." (2) On the pillar at the corner of St Bene- dict's chapel is a small bust of Archbishop Tait, d. 1882, by Armstead. (3) Next is the monument of the poet John Dryden, d. 1700, by Scheemakers. (4) Then comes a bust of the poet Longfellow, d. 1882, by Brock; and (5) an urn-monument to the poet Cowley, d. 1667. (6) At the foot of this last a large slab in the floor commemorates the poets Cowley, Chaucer, Beaumont, Denham, and Prior. (7) On the left a red slab marks the grave of Browning", and a black slab that of Tennyson. (8) Beneath the window is a large monument in grey Purbeck marble, which at the same time provides an altar and room for a priest to stand at the end of it when saying a mass for the repose of the soul of the deceased. Hard by was buried the poet Chaucer. Chaucer lived in the precincts as Clerk of the Works to the King most illustrious Dryden, Cowley, Chaucer SOUTH TRANSEPT 2/5 Coleridge, Southey, Shakespeare, Burns, Thomson 276 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Clerk of the Works that ever was he died poor in 1400, and for long had no memorial but a leaden inscription hanging from a pillar. But in 1555 Nicholas Brigham presented the- existing tomb, transferring to it the ashes of the poet. The monument is of a design very common c. 1500, and may well have stood originally in one of the great churches of the Black Friars or Grey Friars, before they were dismantled. (9) Close to the door is a tablet surmounted by a bust of Michael Drayton, d, 1631, author of the geographical poem, Polyolbion. (10) Ben Jonson is buried in the North aisle of the nave, but there is a tablet here on the South wall above the low doorway in it, with the name misspelt, (n) On the same wall is a monument to Spenser, d. 1598, "the Prince of Poets in his tyme, whose divine spirrit needs noe othir witnesse then the workes which he left behinde him." (12) Above is the memorial of Samuel Butler, d. 1680, author of Hudibras. (13) Below, to the right, is the monument of the poet Gray, d. 1771. (14) Above it is the memorial of Milton, who died in 1674 ; it was not erected till 1737. (15) In the centre of the wall facing the window is the monument of the poet Matthew Prior, d. 1721. (16) At the corner of the pillar is a bust of Tennyson, executed by Woolner in 1857 ; the poet lived for thirty-five years after. The next group of monuments is on the west side of this wall. (17) First is seen on a pedestal a statue of Thomas Campbell, author of Ye Mariners of 'England, d. 1844; then (18) the bust of Samuel Coleridge, author of The Ancient Mariner, d. 1834, by Thorneycroft ; then (19) high up, the bust of the poet Southey, d. 1843. Then (20) comes the statue of Shake- speare, put up in 1740; then (21) high up, the bust of Robert Burns ; and below it (22) a statue of James Thomson, author of The Seasons, d. 1748. (23) In the centre of the transept are gravestones, side by side, of David Garrick, and (24) Dr Johnson ; and next, those of (25) Sheridan, (26) Dickens, and (27) Handel (275). The next group is on the South wall of the transept. (28) Over the doorway of St Faith's chapel is a medallion of Oliver Goldsmith, who, says Dr Johnson in his epitaph, " nullum fere scribendi genus non tetigit, nullum quod tetigit non ornavit." (29) Next comes a bust of Sir Walter Scott, and (30) above it a bronze medallion, by Onslow Ford, of John Ruskin, d. 1900, The next group of monuments is on the West wall. (31) In the first bay, high up, is the monument of Handel, by Roubiliac ; and (32) below, a bust of Thackeray ; then (33) a statue of Addison, in his dressing-gown, by Westmacott ; THE CLOISTER 2// then (34) at the back of this, a bust of Macaulay, facing his grave; and (35) at the very end of the wall, high up, the monument of David Garrick, retiring behind the curtains of the stage on his final exit. (36) Below are memorials of the scholar, Isaac Casaubon, d. 1614, and (37) the antiquary, Camden, second master of \Vestminster School, d. 1623 ; and at the corner are busts of (38) Grote and (39) Thirlwall, each of whom wrote a History of Greece* * Nothing is so staringly and painfully obtrusive and insistent as these white marble busts ; if memorials must be placed in the church, they should be medallions of bronze, which, against a brown stone background, are comparatively inoffensive. CHAPTER XIX VISITORS' GUIDE TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY SECOND SECTION The Cloister Now we turn to the left and enter the South aisle of the nave, but at once pass out into the Cloisters by a beautiful thirteenth- century doorway (41). The central garth is and always was a lawn or a garden ; the monks were not buried in the garth, but to the South-East of the church ; the present Chapter House is in the middle of their cemetery. The cloister stands exactly on the site of the Norman one ; large portions of Norman walls and vaulted substructures still remain to the East and South. The Norman cloister was much lower than the present one, and had no vaults, but merely a lean-to roof of wood. Fragments of its shafts and arches, which have been put together in the Museum, shew late and rich Norman work, not earlier than the middle of the twelfth century. WESTMINSTER ABBEY THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS i O O O O O N A o ^ 4) V ^N o t5 *O 1 S Cloister 3 u O 1 1 ^ U Garth .2 g 5 W ** tn 1 044 a; 45 o o o o o o o V 47_ West Cloister 46 Hatch i 43 Cell; : n 39 ^___ r. e -T 40 4' T , Dean's J. C. 42 jK. Lrer^__block NORTH CLOISTER 279 26. North Cloister We first turn to the right and pass a little way up the North walk (31). Looking through the windows across the grass, we have a good view of the upper part of the monks' Refectory, which was always on the far side of the cloister, to keep the smell of cooking and meals as far as possible from the church. The first four bays of the North walk would be built at the same time as the adjoining bays of the nave ; viz., between 1260 and 1272 ; they have simple quadripartite vaults. The warmest part of the cloister would be found here, the bays being open to the southern sun and protected from the north-east wind by the nave and transept. It is built exceptionally lofty, so as to admit as much sunshine as possible. 280 WESTMINSTER ABBEY THE CLOISTER 281 2 N 282 WESTMINSTER ABBEY This walk was from the first appropriated for study ; the monks sitting on the stone bench which runs along the aisle wall. The windows were at first unglazed, so that the orna- mental arcading on the aisle wall shewed up well. The Abbot had his special seat,* when in the cloister, on the broad bench in the first bay of the East walk, where the shafts have been purposely omitted (279). At Westminster the privilege of studying in the North cloister was much restricted. No one was to write in the cloister, unless he were writing by the order of his superior a charter or something of that sort for the good of the convent; "nisi forte cartam aut aliquid huiuscemodi scriptum iussu superioris pro communi scribat utilitate." Certain of the more proficient monks were given employment every day in writing or illuminating, but even they must not work at improper hours ; "nee debent illi cotidiani scriptores horis scribere incompetentibus."t There was only room for a few monks to have studies, and officers who rarely used the cloister were not to have " carrels " or studies in it ; nor were any other of the brethren, unless they were sure that they were benefiting the convent or themselves by writing or illuminating ; " nisi in scribendo vel illuminando aut tantum notando communitati aut eciam sibimet ipsis profjcere sciant."J The bays reserved for studies were those which had a good light, viz., the third, fourth, fifth, and half of the sixth bay from the East. In later days these bays were made much more comfortable ; they seem to have been screened off to the east and west by bookcases, and the windows were glazed. In the upper part of each window the glazing was carried down to a horizontal iron bar, grooved at the top to receive it and running along the springing line of the arch. Below the iron bar were " frames of wood " which con- tained "tinctured glass of divers colours. "^ Probably, as at Durham, Chester, and Gloucester, wooden tables and seats would be set under each window, forming little " carrels " or " studies," partitioned off. At the back, as may be gathered from the numerous holes in the wall, small bookcases were pegged against the wall ; moreover, the wall-bench is cut back for other large bookcases standing on the floor, as is shewn in the photograph on page 31 ; in fact the walk was converted into quite a comfortable library. There was, however, a special room elsewhere, scriptoriae donius, or scriptorium, where most of the copying and illuminating of manuscripts would be carried on. It may be worth while to compare the arrangement of the North walk at Durham at the Dissolution. "The North side of the cloister . . . was all finely glazed from the top of the windows to their sills, and in every window there were three pews or carrels, where every one of the old monks had his carrel by himself ; that when they had dined they did resort to that place of cloister, and there studied upon their books, every one in his carrel all the * " Domnus autem abbas ... in capite partis orientis claustri pro more antiquo sedere solet ; et prior primus in aquilonari parte iuxta hostium ecclesiae" (Ware, 157); i.e., "it is the ancient custom that the Abbot sit in the first bay of the East walk of the cloister ; and that the Prior have the first seat in the North walk next to the doorway into the Church." + Ware's Customary, 162. | Ware, 165. There were similar restrictions at St Augustine's, Canter- bury ; see its Customary, i. 211. Gleanings, 38 ; and Keepe in Lethaby, 37. EAST CLOISTER 283 284 WESTMINSTER ABBEY afternoon unto evensong time ; this was their exercise every day. All these carrels were all finely wainscoted, and were completely closed in except in front . . . and in every carrel was a desk to lay their books on ; and the carrels were no greater than from one mullion of the window to the next. And over against the carrels did stand against the church wall great almeries or cupboards of wainscot all full of books (with a great store of ancient MSS.) . . . wherein did lie as well the old ancient written Doctors of the Church as other profane authors, with divers other holy men's works, so that every one did study what Doctor pleased them best, having the library at all times to go study in besides their carrel." So that at Durham also there was a Library or Scriptorium as well as the Claustral carrels. On the wall in the third bay from the East is a tablet to William Laurence, who died in 1621, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. " Shorthand he wrote : his flower in prime did fade, And hasty Death short hand of him hath made." 27. East Cloister The first four bays were probably built before 1253, when the Chapter House was completed, except that it had canvas instead of glass in the windows. These bays have simple quadripartite vaults like those of the North walk. The tracery of the windows is different ; in the North walk it consists of circles into which cusps have been put back by Sir Gilbert Scott, while the wall arcading has quatrefoils ; in the East walk the window tracery consists of trefoils (280). In this walk took place a ceremony which goes back at least to the sixth century ; it is minutely described in the Rites of DurJiam. " There was a goodly ceremony which the Prior " (at Westminster, the Abbot) " and the monks did use every Thursday before Easter, called Maundy Thursday. The custom was this. There were thirteen poor aged men" (representing Christ and the twelve Apostles) "appointed to come to the cloister at that day, having their feet clean washed, there to remain till such time as the Prior and the whole convent did come thither at 9 o'clock or thereabouts ; the aged men sitting between the parlour door "(which at Durham was North of the chapter house) " and the church door, upon a fair long broad thick form . . . where the Abbot after certain prayers said, one of his servants did bring a fair bason with clean water, and the Abbot did wash the poor men's feet, all of them, one after another, with his own hand, and dried them with a towel, and kissed their feet himself. Which being done, he did very liberally bestow y>d. in money on every one of them, with seven red herring apiece, and did serve them himself with drink and three loaves of bread." In the South transept of Winchester there still remains a great oak settle, which may have been the Abbot's Maundy bench ; at Durham it was always taken back into the church after use. At Westminster, under- neath the stone bench under the first window on the west side, is a row of eyed bolts which may have had some connexion with the Maundy bench. The monks also had a Maundy, when they washed the feet of certain children. A little farther, on the west side of the cloister a staircase leads to the triforium of the South transept, used as a Muniment room. EAST CLOISTER 285 28. One bay farther, on the East side, is the Vestibule to the Chapter House ; it had to be built low, because the night path from the dormitory to the South transept passed over it (291). On the left of it is a doorway from the Revestry, enabling the Chapter House to be reached direct from the transept without going round by the cloister. On the opposite side of the vestibule is an ancient door, once covered with human skin ; a portion may be felt at the back of the top hinge ; some thief, no doubt, has been flayed and his tanned skin affixed to the Arcading of Chapter House door as a warning. The South alley of the vestibule has been renewed ; in the North alley deep grooves remain, worn by the footsteps of those who used the Chapter House for nearly three centuries. At the top of the flight of steps, on the left, is a Roman Sarcophagus of Valerius Amandinus, found on the North side of the Abbey. On its lid is a cross ; so that it may have been reused for Christian burial (2).* 29. All round the Chapter House are seats for the monks, who were only part occupiers, the sittings of the House of * See the discussion in the Archaeological Journal, xxvii. 103, 110, 119, 257. 286 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Commons being held here till the end of the reign of Henry VIII. (93). At the dissolution of the Abbey in 1540 the Chapter House became exclusively royal property, and has re- mained so ever since (that is why it is in charge of a policeman, and not of a verger). Up to 1865 it was used as a Record Office. The floor contains the largest collection of Incised Tiles in the country ; they are in good condition, as they were covered with a wooden floor for some centuries : they are of about the same date as the Chapter House, i.e., c. 1255. Among the subjects are Henry III., Eleanor of Provence, Abbot Crokesley, the Confessor giving his ring to the pilgrim (57), the leopards of England, the Westminster salmon (4) ; others, when put together, give the pattern of the great rose window in the South transept.* On the West side of the central pillar is a space about four feet square, where the tiles are very little worn ; this is where, till the Dissolution, the great lectern stood, which Henry III. ordered in 1249, and which was to be like the famous one at St Albans, " only more beautiful, if it might be." On the left of the door- way are beautiful frescoes, " painted by Brother John of Northampton in the time of Edward IV. The series shows us St John in Patmos, prostrate before the vision of the Majesty. We see him writing his messages to the Churches, which are represented as seven buildings ; an angel stands in the doorway of each one. Christ is represented between the golden candle- sticks, a sword in His mouth ; and the elders cast down their crowns." t On either side of the internal doorway stand fine thirteenth-century statues of St Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin ; between is a modern statue of our Lord in Majesty. The glass cases contain many objects of much interest ; in the one near the doorway is the magnificent missal which cost Abbot Litlington in 1384 over ,500 ; the large illuminated letters alone cost over ,300. In monastic times, every day, after the matins mass at the quire altar, the bell rang for Chapter ; this would be about 9 a.m., and monks and novices repaired to the Chapter House. Then a portion of the Martyrology was read, so that all might know for whom prayers should be offered in the services on the day following. Then all stood up and turned eastward towards the Majestas, which could be seen till recently behind the eastern stalls : in the centre was our Lord in Majesty with cherubim on either side, which again were flanked by adoring angels ; then God's blessing was invoked on the day's work, and the various tasks of the day were distributed. Then a chapter or part of a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict was read, and all left the Chapter House except the monks. The rest of the proceed- ings were strictly private ; offences might now be denounced, confessions made, and penance imposed. Also, at times, important business matters would now be communicated to the convent.J: Now we leave by the vestibule and have in front the four Reticulated Windows of this walk, which have the net-like flowing tracery in vogue during the first half of the fourteenth century: here, too, is enriched Vaulting overhead (281, 91). Notice the difference of the capitals at the junction of the thirteenth and fourteenth century work (113). * Lethaby, 45, 75, 163. t Lethaby, 282. - " + Rites of Durham, 279. CHAPTER HOUSE 28; Tiles in Chapter House 288 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Tiles in Chapter House CHAPTER HOUSE 289 Tiles in Chapter House 2 O 290 WESTMINSTER ABBEY 30. The first doorway to the South, close to the vestibule, is that of the Day Stairs, by which the monks in the day- time passed from their dormitory on the first floor to the cloister (278). 31. From the vestibule Southward, all the buildings are of the time of Edward the Confessor, and have groined vaulting within. The first room on the ground floor has two and a half bays, and is now the Chapel of the Pyx : the low and very strong door close to that of the day stairs admits to it (17). Originally it was the Abbey Treasury. At some period this room (not shewn) became the property of the Government, and became the Chapel of the Pyx ; in it used to be kept the standard weights and measures in a chest or pyx. At the East end of it is the original altar in situ ; it is remarkable that in the centre of the altar slab is a circular sinking ; in this some relic was kept, and then, to secure it, another slab was cemented on to it. Hard by is a columnar piscina of the thirteenth century. 32. South Cloister Turning to the right, we pass a little way up the South walk of the cloister, which was the work of Abbots Langham and Litlyngton. The South walk was begun by the former about 1351, and the South and West walks were finished by the latter in 1365. Litlyng- ton's monogram and arms appear on some of the bosses of the vault. The slabs of three abbots remain under the bench of the South wall ; the inscriptions above them are in- correct : starting from East to West they should be, Lawrence, d. 1 175, with a mitre ; Gilbert, d. 1121, no mitre, of black marble from Tournai, like the font in Winchester Cathedral ; and Humez, with a mitre, d. 1 222. Notice the great black slab, which is called " Long Meg " ; it is said, very doubtfully, to mark the place where Abbot Byrcheston and twenty-six of his monks are buried, who Uay Stairs THE CLOISTER 291 2Q2 WESTMINSTER ABBEY died of the Black Death in 1349; Abbot Byrcheston, however, is known to have been buried in the East walk in front of the reticulated windows which he built.* The illustration shews (i) a boss in the vault with the initials of Nicholas Litlyngton ; (2) the doorway to Ashburnham House ; (3) the towel recesses ; (4) the doorway to the refectory ; (5) the doorway to the outer parlour. If time is limited, the visitor will do well now to pass round the West walk of the cloister into the nave, and then leave the church by the North transept (see pages 306 to 313). 33. Dark Cloister Now we return to the East Cloister, which is continued to the South, forming what is called the Dark Cloister ; it is a long, dark, semicircular tunnel (278). 34. In the Dark Cloister, on the left, a few yards further on, is a low doorway marked "Gymnasium" (not shewn). It was probably the Slype and Parlour. The Slype was a passage leading from the cloister to the cemetery. The Parlour was a small room where, under restrictions, the monks might converse ; conversation in the cloister being strictly forbidden. t To the East is a small chapel, said to have been dedicated to St Dunstan ; at the end of it, on the right, is a piscina with a credence shelf, and above it a large niche for a statue ; both are of late and rich design, and retain much of their original colour and gilding. 35. Then come three more vaulted bays, in which a Museum is in course of formation. It contains portions of the arcade of the Norman cloister and some of the "ragged regiment" of funeral effigies (18). A room in this position formed at Durham the Common House or Calefactory. * " Sepultus est ante introitum locutorii domus capitularis juxta ostium dormitorii" (Flete's History, 129). t Sometimes Slype and Parlour were one. \ In the Cistercian abbeys the Calefactory or Warming House was a separate building, built on to the East side of the Refectory in the South cloister. The monks were allowed to come and warm their hands in the Calefactory in winter. At Durham "the Commoner's checker (or store room) was in the Common House. His office was to provide all such spices against Lent as should be comfortable for the monks for their great austerity both of fasting and praying, and to see a good fire continually in the Common SOUTH CLOISTER 293 South Cloister from East 294 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Infirmary Court THE CLOISTER 295 296 WESTMINSTER ABBEY House hall for the monks to warm them when they were disposed ; * and to have always a hogshead of wine for the keeping of (the feast when he sang the anthem) O Sapienlia; and to provide figs and walnuts against Lent." 36. A little farther, to the left, running at right angles, is a semicircular tunnel, which, like the rest of this range of buildings, is plainly eleventh- century work of Edward the Confessor ; it led to the Infirmary (294). This was originally a vast hall, divided into nave and aisles, and in the aisles were beds for infirm, sick, and superannuated monks, who were most carefully tended ; for St Benedict had ordered that the sick should " be served in very deed as Christ Himself; for He said, ' I was sick and ye visited Me.'"t East of the hall and open to it was the large Chapel or Church of St Katharine ; of its nave, which had aisles of five bays, part of the arcade remains with work c. \ 150 ; it was finished before 1 162, when Holinshed says a synod met in it. East of the nave is an unaisled chancel, in which the altar platform still remains. At the East end of each aisle were probably altars of Our Lady and St Lawrence. Such an infirmary, consisting of an aisled hall with chapel to the East, still remains in use at Chichester (St Mary's Hospital). This Westminster infirmary was burnt down in 1298, and was rebuilt by Abbot Litlyngton in a totally different and non-monastic fashion, much as we see it now. In the centre, where the hall had been, was a little courtyard, and all around it were small houses : the invalids declined to live any longer in an open hall ; they wanted, and they got, each man a room with a fireplace for himself.; So comfortable was the infirmary as newly arranged that in some monasteries laymen also were allowed to spend their declining years in it, and arrangements were made to receive them en pension on payment of a lump sum down. On the East side of the present court - * Special arrangements were made in winter at the Eucharist that the celebrant's hands might not be numbed, and there be danger lest he should drop the sacred elements. To prevent that, either warming-pans or hollow iron balls filled with lighted charcoal were provided. '' Necnon patellas ferreas vel saltern luceas (or 'fuceas') cum ignitis carbonibus ad altaria singula, . . . quociens in yeme opus fuerit, fratribus missam celebrantibus tenetur exhibere." So also Customary of St Augustine, Canterbury, i. 106, where it is called a Calepugnus ; at Salisbury it is called a Calefactory. At Worcester there was " a fyre ball to warm hands." The Lichfield Sacrist's Roll mentions " Unum pomum de cupro superauratum ad calefaciendum manus." "Poma" were used at the coronations of Roman emperors ; one is still kept in the sacristy of St Peter's, Rome, another in the treasury at Halberstadt (Editor's note in Ware, 50). t Abbot Laurence is praised by Flete for his goodness to the sick. "Ad curam infirmorum semper direxit oculum pietatis, in se recogitans illud beati Benedicti in regula sua ; ' Infirmorum cura ante omnia et super omnia adhibenda est, ut sicut revera Christo ita eis serviatur" (History, 94). \ One of the fireplaces, on the first floor, is shewn in the illustration (295) $ In 1147 Robert de Torpel entered the infirmary of the Benedictine monastery of Peterborough, and gave himself body and soul to God and St Peter, with all his lands in Coderstock and Glapthorpe ; and by way of confirmation of this donation he sent his pledge to the altar by a certain monk, videlicet a green bough, on condition that for life he should have from the abbey the diet of a monk, and four servants of his to have the diet of soldiers ; and that on his deathbed they should receive him in the habit of a monk (Craddock's Peterborough, 165, 174). At Westminster \Villiam de Colchester, afterwards Abbot, in 1382 was allowed a chamber and garden to himself, a yearly salary of six marks ( = ^6o), and a "corrody" or monk's provision (Widmore, 108). THE CLOISTER 297 298 WESTMINSTER ABBEY yard is a fine doorway, which was the West Doorway of St Katharine's Chapel after the building of the new infirmary, c. 1370. South-east of St Katharine's Church, but out of sight except from the Abbey roofs, is the Jewel House or Treasury, built by Richard II.; it is only accessible from Old Palace Yard, and is not shewn except by permission of the Office of the Board of Works (297). It is of the same character as the work of Abbot Litlington in the cloister. On the ground floor are a large and a small room, both vaulted ; the walls, parapets, and doorways of the tower are all original. Westminster, like many another church, once had a Hermit of its own. Somewhere in the precincts, probably on the south side of the chancel of St Margaret's Church, was the Anker's or Anchorite's House. The West- minster hermits must have been men of high standing in their profession. To one of them went Richard II., to be advised whether he should sally forth to Smithfield against Jack Cade. Another of them was consulted by Henry III. And on Henry IV.'s death, his son, in horror at the frightful disease which had attacked his father, and his sudden end, after spending the day on his knees in prayer, resorted to the hermit and vowed amendment of life and asked for absolution. The Anker's House was still standing in 1778. Now we return to the Dark Cloister ; and, turning to the left, proceed Southward again (278). On the left-hand side is a doorway to another bay of the undercroft of the dormitory ; it is thought to have been the prison (it is not shewn). A few steps farther on, another doorway led by a staircase to the monks' Rere-Dorter or Necessarium. Proceeding onward, we emerge into the quadrangle, round which are grouped the buildings of Westminster School. 37. To the left is a staircase leading up to the ancient Dormitory (not shewn in school hours). The Dormitory or Dorter was, as usual, on the first floor, with vaulted undercrofts beneath. Usually its North end abutted on to the South transept ; but at Westminster it did not extend over the vestibule of the Chapter House or the Revestry. It is a vast hall, 170 feet long, now divided up into the Abbey library and the great school- room ; the latter has a plain but imposing hammerbeam roof, probably of the last years of Elizabeth's reign (295). Originally all the monks slept in this open dormitory ; later, it would be partitioned off into cubicles ; at the Dissolution each monk of Durham had " a little chamber of wainscot to himself, and their windows towards the cloister, each window serving for one chamber, and in every window a desk to support their books for their studies." Abbot Ware's Customary gives detailed directions as to the behaviour of the monks in the dormitory. Here, as everywhere in the monastery, the THE CLOISTER 299 regulations seem at first sight vexatiously minute and exacting ; but it must be remembered that the monks had to live crowded together both by day and night all their lives ; and it was absolutely necessary that no one should be allowed to be a nuisance to his neighbours even in the smallest things : small causes of offence, constantly repeated, are quite as exasperating as grave ones. Minute regulations, and prompt, cheerful, and implicit obedience are indispensable on a man-of-war ; so they were in a mediaeval monastery. So Abbot Ware very properly gives precise directions when the monks shall go to bed, and when they shall rise ; how that a sleepy man is not to be awakened with a sudden shock ; what they shall wear in bed, and what they shall not wear ; how they shall keep their feet inside the bed ; that they The Deanery shall say their prayers, and what prayers they shall say ; what is to be done in case of fire and flood ; how that those who snore shall sleep apart from the rest ; how often the straw in their mattresses is to be changed,* and other things too numerous to mention. 38. Turning to the West, we pass the fine iron gates and railings of Ashburnham House, built by Inigo Jones in 1662 * The chamberlain and sub-chamberlain were to change the straw in the mattresses once a year if the occupant of the bed wished it. " Camerarii et subcamerarii incumbit officio . . . semel in anno, pro recta et antiqua consuetudine, stramen in omnibus lectis fratrum, si ipsi voluerint, mutare ac renovare" (Ware, 149). 3oo WESTMINSTER ABBEY for Colonel Ashburnham, which possesses a noble staircase and much fine plasterwork (160). Proceeding on, we pass through a vaulted gateway into Dean's Yard (the football field of the school). Here we turn to the right and walk alongside a long row of buildings rebuilt in the fourteenth century after the fire of 1 298, and which cost 7,500 of our money. These consisted mainly of the Cellarer's block, with probably a guest-house and offices above. Halfway on is a small vaulted entrance to the courtyard, near which was the monastic kitchen (278). A large stone hatch still exists (not visible) through which the dishes were passed from the kitchen to the refectory ; similar hatches may be seen in the refectory wall at Carlisle, Tintern, and Beaulieu. On days when meat was allowed to be eaten, the monks did not dine in the old refectory, which was by the side of the South walk of the cloister, but in the Misericord* (or "House of Mercy"), which was parallel to the refectory, and on the south-east of the kitchen. The kitchen does not now exist : parts of the Misericord are built up in Ash- burnham House. 39. Going still North, we reach another vaulted entrance in the corner of Dean's Yard. The first two vaulted bays are below the Entrance Tower of the cloister. 40. On the left is a vaulted Vestibule of two bays leading into the courtyard of what is now the Deanery, but was formerly the Abbot's residence, which at Westminster occupied the position west of the cloister, normally occupied by the cellarage and guest-house (278). 41. In the courtyard, to the left of the Jacobean flight of stone steps, is the Jericho Parlour, built by Abbot Islip (302). The coloured glass and the wainscot of the Jericho parlour date from the time of Lancelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster from 1601-1605. One day, later on, he and his successor, Richard Neile, were consulted by James the First on a matter of high politics. "My Lord," said the King, "cannot * At Peterborough the rule was "that all and singular brethren and monks of the monastery take the refection altogether in a place called the miseracorde, soch dayes as they eate fleshe, and all other dayes in the refectory." Deanery Quadrangle ABBOT'S HALL 301 302 WESTMINSTER ABBEY JERUSALEM CHAMBER 303 304 WESTMINSTER ABBEY I take my subjects' money without all these formalities in Parliament?" To which Neile, now Bishop of Durham, replied : " God forbid, Sir, but that you should ; you are the very breath of our nostrils." Then the King turned to Lancelot Andrewes, now Bishop of Winchester : "Well, my Lord, what say you?" "Sir," replied Andrewes: "I think it lawful for you to take my brother Neile's money, for he offers it." 42. The West side of the courtyard is occupied with the Abbot's Hall (now used by the school), with the Abbot's Kitchen in the corner south of it (301). The kitchen retains a great fireplace and hatches, and is in daily use for cooking the dinners of the boys of Westminster School ; they dine in Abbot Litlyngton's noble hall, which has a Western gallery and tables said to have been presented by Queen Elizabeth. The hall used to be warmed by a fire on the floor, as at Penshurst. In the middle of the roof is a louvre, which once was open for the smoke to escape. In the North-west corner, not visible from the courtyard, is the famous Jerusalem Chamber, where Henry IV. died ; it now serves as the Chapter House of the Abbey. In the Jerusalem Chamber is what remains of the Retabulum, which must have been "the most beauti- ful thirteenth -century painting in England";* formerly it formed a reredos to the High Altar. The fine chimneypiece, the ceiling, the armorial bearings in the north win- dow, and the external staircase are probably of the time of John William's, Bishop of Lincoln and Uean of Westminster, c. 1624. The Outer Parlour tapestry is of the time of Henry VIII., except one piece, which is of the time of the first James. The painted glass is older than the chamber (303).! The Jerusalem Chamber was built by Abbot Litlyngton between 1376 and 1386, when he built the hall and kitchen. The chronicler Fabyan relates that King Henry the Fourth had made a vow to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem "to visit the Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord .... But while he was making his prayers at King Edward's shrine, to take there his leave and so speed him upon his journey, he became so sick that such as were about him feared that he would have died right there. Wherefore . . . they bare him into the Abbot's place and lodged him in a chamber, and there upon a pallet laid him before the fire, where he lay in great agony a certain time. At last when he was come to himself, ... he commanded to ask if that chamber had any special name ; whereunto it was answered that it was named 'Jerusalem.' Then said the King . . . 'Now know I that I shall * Gleanings, 105 ; Lethaby, 263. t Gleanings, 215-220. HOUTII CLOISTER 305 die in this chamber, according to the prophecy of me that I should die in Jerusalem.' And so he made himself ready and died."* 43- Now we leave the courtyard, and turning to the left enter the Southern cloister by what used to be the monks' Parlour, or outer parlour of two vaulted bays (278). Here, at Durham, was a chair attached to the wall, whereon sat "the porter which did keep the cloister door ; and the said chair was boarded underfoot for wannness." At Dur- ham, the outer parlour was the " place for merchants to utter their wares." A fine vaulted outer parlour remains in the Benedictine cathedral of Worcester. At West- minster the outer parlour was used for interviews of the monks with secular persons, e.g., when they received a visit from a relative ; but no one was to converse with a secular person in the outer parlour till after Chapter.! It was also called the Locutorium, and ladies of rank, as a favour and privilege, accompanied by a monk, might be introduced into the outer parlour and provided with food and drink in one of the claustral apartments. \ South Cloister 44. We now once more enter the South Cloister. All the lower wall of its wall is of the Confessor's time, and Lavatory some of the original Norman * Shakespeare has dramatised the scene, with certain alterations. The King asks, " Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging ? . . ." The Earl of Warwick answers, '"Tis called Jerusalem, ^rny noble lord." The dying King replies, "Even there my life must end. It hath been prophesied to me many years I should not die but in Jerusalem, Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land." t " In locutorio exteriore nullus loqui debet claustralis cum aliqua secular! persona usque post capitulum " (Ware, 158). J "(Mulieres nobiles) non in refectorium aliquo niodo, sed in locutorium forinsecum, praesente aliquo ordinis custode, loquendi et bibendi gracia, ex permissione duel solent" (Ware, 171). 2 Q 306 WESTMINSTER ABBEY arcading remains on its inner face (15). It is the North wall of the Refectory or Prater, a great hall like the dining halls of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges, 130 feet long, 38 feet broad. It was burnt out in 1298, and the upper part was rebuilt, with loftier walls, by Abbot Litlington ; some of the windows and the corbels of his roof remain. The Doorway immediately on the right was the entrance to this Frater. 45- On the left of the doorway are four tall recesses in which were Towel Cupboards (293). Such an almery or towel cupboard is described in the Rites of Durham : " Betwixt the said bench " (m the South cloister, on which sat the children whose feet the monks washed on Maundy Thursday) "and the Frater house door there was a fair almery joined in the wall, and another on the other side of the said door ; and all the forepart of the almeries was through- carved (open) work for to give air to the towels, and three doors in the forepart of either almery, and a lock on every door, and every monk had a key for the said almeries, wherein did hang in every almery clean towels for the monks to dry their hands on when they washed and went to dine." The Westminster recesses had doors ; it can be seen where the hooks and fastenings were. At Westminster it was the rule that every Sunday before the Sunday pro- cession, and as often else as might be necessary, the soiled towels were to be taken away, and fair, white clean towels put in their place.* At Gloucester, opposite the lavatory, is a vaulted recess for towels, formerly closed by doors, the crooks of which remain ; above them is open tracery for the free passage of air, as at Durham.f A little farther on is a smaller fourteenth-century doorway ; it may be that a locker was converted into a doorway to provide access to Ashburnham House. From this walk of the cloister there is a fine view of the church across the garth, showing the complicated system of stone posts and props by which the high vault within the nave is stopped from thrusting outward the clerestory walls (103). West Cloister 46. We now turn back, and enter the West Cloister. Through the windows there is a fine view of the South transept, the conical roof of the Chapter House, the Victoria Tower of the Houses of Parliament, and, on the extreme right, the commence- ment of the high roof of the Dormitory. Behind us, in the West wall, close to its Southern end, is a recessed Lavatory, which originally was square and open to the cloister, where on stone shelves were placed cans of water with taps, such as are still in use in the provincial inns in France ; you turn the tap, water * " Mappae omni die Dominico ante processionem et quociens alias opus fuerit, per famulam camerarii amoveri debent, et alia munda, Candida, et honesta apponi " (Ware, 103). + Rites of Durham, 262. WEST CLOISTER 307 and you are held, ceremonially, to The monks were most scrupulous always washed their hands before East trickles over your fingers, have washed your hands, about table manners ; they meals, and sometimes afterwards. A magnificent lavatory re- mains in the Benedictine cloister of Gloucester ; others remain, more or less perfect, at Worcester, Peterborough, Norwich, Fountains, Beaulieu, Kirkham, Hexham, and else- where. At Peterborough the greater part of an earlier lavatory of circular form, with sixteen circular basins, has been discovered in the founda- tions of the West Front ; it would be of the character of a conduit, and would probably stand inside the cloister garth. It may be one of the marble lavatories presented by Abbot Robert Lindsey (1214-1222).* This Western walk was the Monastic School. Note the high polish given to the stone bench by the many generations of scholars who have sat and wriggled about on it. Abbot Ware says, "in the western walk the master of the novices occupies the first seat, and after him his novices." t Here those who aspired to be- come monks had to learn by heart the various offices, the psalter, &c., and were taught to chant, and were instructed in the manners and customs of the Abbey, especially the necessity of unquestioning obedience and unvarying courtesy. St Benedict had specially ordered that children should be received in the cloister ; the Vener- able Bede was brought up in a Benedictine cloister from the age often. The * Rites, 261 and xx. t " Magister vero noviciorum in occidentali parti primum locum optinet ; et post eum sui novicii " (Ware, 157). The Nave 308 WESTMINSTER ABBEY monks were always willing to put at the disposal of poor boys of ability the highest education of the day ; many such, entirely through a monastic training, rose to the highest positions in Church and State, one of them to the Papal throne. Great care was taken in selecting the Master of the Novices ; he was to be, says St Benedict, "a person fitted for winning souls"; the whole care of the novices was handed over to him, and he was not to be interfered with. The Abbot and Prior, however, were sometimes to visit the novices and to test and examine them, and give encouragement to those who deserved it. In the novices' walk at Durham there was "a fair great stall of wainscot where the novices did sit and learn ; and also the Master of the Novices had a seat . . : over against the j stall where the novices did sit and look on their books, and there did sit and teach the said novices both forenoon and afternoon." But it was not all work and no play for the novices ; for in the novices' walk at Canterbury there are no less than thirty sets of nine holes arranged in squares, evidently for some game ; while at Gloucester and Salisbury there are holes for the game of " fox and geese." It is noteworthy that the " nine- holes" are found on the wall- bench at Westminster, not only in the Western, but in the first bay and a half of the Northern walk ; that they extend no further to the East in this walk is probably due to the fact that at this point half a bay was taken up by a screen of broad bookcases planted across the walk.* Notice also that as the end bays of the. North walk were used by the novices, the wall in these is not arcaded, but left plain. 47. We now pass into the nave through a handsome Doorway, probably built when the West cloister was finished in 1365 (41). Charles James Fo> * For the cloister 'games' see Archceological Journal, xlix. 319, and xxxiii. 20 ; and Rites of Durham, 277. NAVE 309 Nave (307) 48. Turning to the left, we proceed up the South aisle towards the West end of the nave, (i) Three bays on projects the balcony built in front of his private chapel by Abbot Islip. It goes by the name of the "Abbot's Pew "(53). (2) Beneath it is the memorial of the dramatist, Congreve, d. 1728. 49. Then we pass beneath the South-western tower, where is the Consistory Court with desk and chair still remaining. (3) High up above the chair, and usually invisible, is a bronze to Dr Arnold, John Keble, William Wordsworth Henry Fawcett, d. 1884, by Alfred Gilbert. On the east wall are white marble busts of (4) Charles Kingsley by Woolner ; ^5; Matthew Arnold by Bruce Joy; and (6) Frederick Denison Maurice by Woolner. Opposite are memorials of (7) Dr Arnold of Rugby ; (8) John Keble by Woolner ; and (9) Wordsworth. 50. Then we leave this chapel, and pass in front of the \Vest doorway, do) High above it (skied) is the monument of William Pitt, d. 1 806, by \Vestmacott. On either side of this bay formerly were screens built by Abbot Islip, fencing in the 3 io WESTMINSTER ABBEY towers. (11) The site of the Southern screen of the North- western tower will shortly be occupied by the monument of Lord Salisbury, d. 1903, by Mr Goscombe John. Entering beneath this tower we see over the belfry doorway, (12) a bronze bust of "Chinese Gordon," by Onslow Ford. (13) Returning into the nave, we see in front of this same tower a half-naked statue of Charles James Fox, d. 1806, expiring in the arms of a figure intended to represent Liberty, but which with equal propriety might allegorise anything else ; there is also Peace and a naked negro. Canova, after inspecting the negro in Westmacott's studio, assured Lord Holland that neither in England nor out of England had he seen any modern work in marble which surpassed it. 51. Now we pass Eastward up the North aisle. (14) In the third bay is a brass of John Hunter, d. 1793, the anatomist; (15) and at the foot of it is a small square stone (modern) where Ben Jonson was buried standing upright ; in 1849 his two leg bones were seen upright in the sand ; and when John Hunter's grave was being made, his skull was seen with traces of red hair upon it ; (16) the original slab, with the famous inscription, " O rare Ben Jonson," spelt "Johnson," is placed low down against the wall to preserve it. Hard by is a pretty wooden pulpit, with linen pattern ; from which Cranmer is said to have preached at the coronation and at the funeral of his godson, Edward VI.* 52. (17) In the centre of the nave, one bay further on, is a large black slab, with brass letters, to the missionary, David Livingstone, d. 1873. To the left are four brasses, all in a row; of (18) Robert Stephenson, the engineer (a deplorable performance); (19) Sir Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of Parliament ; (20) Sir Gilbert Scott (with (21) that of Mr J. L. Pearson, architect of Truro cathedral, to the left); (22) Mr G. E. Street, architect of the New Law Courts in the Strand. To the South of the brass of Sir Gilbert Scott is (23) the slab of Thomas Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, d. 1860; and South of that (24) the slab of Sir James Outram, of the Indian Mutiny, d. 1863. A little farther to the South is a row of slabs of three more Indian generals and statesmen ; (25) Lord Lawrence, d. 1879; ( 2 ^) Colin Campbell, * Stanley, 495. Cranmer's Pulpit NORTH QUIRE AISLE Lord Clyde (the red slab), d. 1863; and (27) Sir George Pollock, d. 1872. Then passing on to the Quire screen, we see on the left end of it (28) the monument of Sir Isaac Newton, the astronomer. At the foot of it is his gravestone ; and close to it (29) a small lozenge- shaped slab marks the grave of William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, the physicist, d. 1907. On the floor to the left are the (30) slabs of Sir John Herschell, the astronomer, and (31) Charles Darwin, the biologist. 53- North Quire Aisle In the North aisle, at the end of the Quire screen, are medallions of (32) Stokes, the physicist, (33) Adams, the astronomer, and (34) Charles Darwin; and a tablet to (35) Joule, the physicist (36) A little farther is a seated monument of William Wilberforce, the abolitionist, cl. 1833, by Joseph (317). Over this aisle the organ formerly stood, and in the pavement and on the walls are memorials of several musicians. In the first bay is (37) that of Sir William Sterndale Bennett, d. 1875. In the second bay is that of (38) Henry Purcell, d. 1695. In the third bay are those of (39) Dr Samuel Arnold, d. 1802; (40) Dr Newton 312 WESTMINSTER ABBEY Croft, d. 1727; (41) Dr Burney, d. 1814; (42) Dr John Blow, d. 1708 ; and (43) Michael William Balfe, d. 1870, and Orlando Gibbons, d. 1625. 54. South Quire Aisle Now we retrace our steps, and pass round the Quire screen to the left into the South aisle. (44) In the first bay on the left, at the South end of the quire screen, is the monument of Thomas Thynn, d. 1682 ; the bas-relief below depicts his murder in his coach by paid assassins in the Haymarket, London. (45) In the next bay, on the left, is a fine alabaster effigy of Sir Thomas Owen, d. 1598, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas under Elizabeth, with the epitaph " Spes, vermis, et ego." On the opposite wall are memorials of (46) Isaac Watts and (47) Charles Wesley, hymn-writers ; and John Wesley, who is addressing one of his open-air congregations (314). (48) In the third bay, on the right, is the monument of Sir Cloudesly Shovell (315), wrecked with most of his fleet on the Scilly Islands in 1707, as shewn on the fine bas-relief below. Though he was neither a beau nor an ancient Roman, but a SOUTH QUIRE AISLE 313 brave, rough sailor, he is represented as an eighteenth-century dandy in a huge periwig with flowing curls, and below as a half-naked Roman. (49) In the fourth bay, on the left, is a fine bronze bust of Sir Thomas Richardson, d. 1634, by Hubert le Soeur, the king's sculptor, who executed the statue of Charles I. at the top of Parliament Street. (50) In the same bay is a fine recumbent effigy in alabaster of William Thynne, d. 1584, in plate armour. Finally, we cross the church, back to the North transept ; where, in the southern window of the western aisle, are large pieces of the original stained glass which formerly occupied a window in St Nicholas' chapel, and were part of the work done in 1253. There is evidence to shew that the windows of the ground floor were glazed with rich grisaille patterned glass, set with morsels of bright blue, red, and yellow, and charged with heraldic shields.* We may now examine the monuments in this aisle ; they are, however, of comparatively little import- ance. We leave the Abbey by the great doors in the North transept by which we entered (166). * Lethaby, 29 and 299. 2 R WESTMINSTER ABBEY The Wesleys Isaac Watts SOUTH QUIRE AISLE 315 Sir Cloudesly Shovell WESTMINSTER ABBEY LIST OF ABBOTS AND DEANS OF WESTMINSTER ABBOTS. Elected. Si ward - Ordbritht (c. 785) Alfwy Alfgar - Adymer - Alfnod - Alfric - (St Dunstan) - (c. 948) St Wulsin - (958) Alfwy - (1005) Wulnoth - (1025) Edwin - IO 49 Geoffrey- 1071 Vitalis - 1076 Gilbert Crispin 1085 Herbert - - - - 1121-3 Gervase - 1 137 ? Laurence 1158 Walter - 1175 William Postard - 1191 Ralph Arundel - - 1200 William Humez - 1214 Richard Berking - - 1222 Richard Crokesley - 1246 Philip Lewesham - 1258 Richard Ware 1258 Walter Wenlock - 1283 Richard Kedyngton 1308 William Curtlyngton - 1315 Thomas Henley - 1333 Simon Bircheston - - 1344 Simon Langham 1349 Nicholas Litlyngton 1362 William Colchester - 1386 Richard Harweden - 1420 Edmund Kyrton - 1440 George Norwych 1462 Thomas Millyng 1469 John Esteney - 1474 George Fascet 1498 John Islip - 1500 William Boston or Ben- son, afterwards Dean - 1533 BISHOP. Elected. Thomas Thirleby - 1540 DEANS. William Benson - I 54 Richard Cox or Coxe 1549 Hugh Weston 1553 ABBOT. John Feckenham J 5S6 DEANS. William Bill - 1560 Gabriel Goodman - - 1560 Lancelot Andrewes - 1601 Richard Neile 1605 George Montaine or Moun- tain - - - 1610 Robert Tounson - 1617 John Williams - 1620 Richard Steward - - 1644 John Earles - 1660 John Dolben - - 1662 Thomas Sprat 1683 Francis Atterbury - I 7 1 3 Samuel Bradford 1723 Joseph Wilcocks 1731 Zachary Pearce - 1756 John Thomas 1768 Samuel Horsley 1793 William Vincent 1802 John Ireland - - 1816 Thomas Turton 1842 Samuel Wilberforce '845 William Buckland - 1846 Richard Chevenix Trench 1856 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley - 1863 George Granville Bradley 1881 Joseph Armitage Robinson 1902 ABBOTS AND DEANS 317 William Wilberforce 318 WESTMINSTER ABBEY The list of abbots up to Nicholas Litlyngton is abridged from that given by Dean Armitage Robinson on page 139 of his edition of Flete's History. The Dean remarks that the dates within brackets are given or implied in Flete's History ; they may or may not be correct. " Of those which follow, the earlier are sometimes uncertain ; but they may be adopted at present as approximately correct." " Ordbritht is named in the charter of Offa, King of Mercia, 785." " But our first secure date is the death of Wulnoth in 1049." The remainder of the list is copied from Gleanings, page 300. ( 319 ) INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS. Subject and Page. Source. Subject and Page. Source. Abbot's bench - 279 T. MacLaren Charles the Do. Hall - 301 F. Bond Second - 257 S. G. Kimber Do. Pew - 53 j S. G. Kimber Cha'ham, Lord 168 S. G. Kimber Aisle, South - 79 D. Weller Chaucer monu- Do., arcading 127 Gleanings ment - - 274 F. R. Taylor Arnold, Dr - 309 S. G. Kimber Clarence, Duke Ashhurnham of - 178 D. Weller house - - i 60 W. Wonnacott Cloister, door- Aveline - - 173 D. Weller way of east - 41 Gleanings Aymer de Valence Do. , doorway 173 D. Weller of west- - 41 Gleanings Do., weepers- 261 D. Weller Do. , north bay of east - - 279 T. MacLaren Beaconsfield - 170 Black Prince - 178 Bohun, Alianore 181 Bohun, Hugh S. G. Kimber I). Weller E. M. Beloe Do., north walk 31 Do. of Norman Church- - 1 8 Do., plan - 278 F. R. Taylor D. Weller J. T. Mickle- and Mary - 252 Bourchier, tomb F. Bond Do., south walk 293 thwaite Gleanings of Lord - 248 Brittany, Duchess of - - 179 Brocas, Sir Ber- nard - - 185 Buckinghamshire, Duke of - 254 S. G. Kimber D. Weller D. Weller S. G. Kimber Do., west - 305 Do., windows of east - 280, 281 Do. , window of north - 280 Do., window of west- - 281 F. Bond F. Bond F. R. Taylor F. Bond Do., tomb - 219 S. G. Kimber Dark Cloister - 291 D. Weller Cannings - - 169 S. G. Kimber Darnley - - 196 F. Bond Capitals, foliated 107 Gleanings Day stairs - 290 S. G. Kimber Do., cloister 113 Gleanings Deanery, plan of 299 Gleanings Castlereagh - 168 S. G. Kimber Do., quadrangle 300 F. Bond Chapels, radiating 63 W. R. Lethaby Dormitory - 295 F. Bond Chapter House - 93 W.S.Weatherlev Do. , arcading - 285 F. R. Taylor Do., tiles, 287, 288 Gleanings East cloister, Do. , undercroft 75 Gleanings north bay - 279 T. MacLaren Do., vestibule 283 M. Allen Edmund Crouch- Do., do. 291 D. Weller back's tomb 262 S. G. Kimber 320 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS Subject and Page. Source. Subject and Page. Source. Edmund of Lang- Henry III., arms 25 D. Weller ley - - 179 D. Weller Do., effigy - 21 Stothard, C. A. Edward Confessor, Do., tomb - 241 F. R. Taylor arms - - 25 D. Weller Do., tomb - 241 F. Bond Do., frieze - 237 F. R. Taylor Henry the Fifth 239 I). Weller Do., tile - 57 F. Bond Do., tomb - 231 D. Weller Edward the First, Do., grille - 230 D. Weller tomb - - 240 D. Weller Do., chantry Edward the Third, chapel - - 193 D. Weller tomb - - 233 D. Weller i Do., interior - 51 G. A. Dunn Do. - - 243 F. Bond Do., staircase - 49 S. G. Kimber Eleanor grille - 69 F. Bond Henry VII. - 164 F. Bond Do. - 245 Eleanor of Pro- Gleanings Do., effigy - 157 ' Henry VII. 's D. Weller vence, arms - 25 D. Weller chapel, eastern Eleanor, Queen, chapel - - 147 S. G. Kimber effigy - - 21 Stothard, C. A. Do., grate - 151 1). Weller Do., tomb - 243 F. Bond Do., grate - 201 F. Bond Elevation, ex- Do., interior - 130 S. G. Kimber ternal - - 128 Neale Do., interior - 135 j Neale Elizabeth, Queen, Do., northern effigy - - 225 D. Weller chapel - - 143 S. G. Kimber Do., monument 228 D. Weller Do., north side 145 | Neale Do. , wax effigy 256 S. G. Kimber j Do., plan - 195 | Gleanings Eltham, John of 182 D. Weller Do., plans - 140 F. Bond Esteney, Abbot 259 E. M. Beloe I Do., section - 138 Cottingham Exterior, bays of 128 Neale Do., S. E. and Do. from north 35 S. G. Kimber S. chapels - 149 Neale Do. from south- Do., stalls - 131 S. G. Kimber east - - 101 S. G. Kimber Do., tomb - 152 D. Weller Do. from west 29 S. G. Kimber Do., vault - 133 D. Weller. Do., vault - 139 Willis Do., vault - 137 Fascet, tomb of 68 F. Bond Holies, Francis 184 Willis Flving buttresses 95 T. Wright Holmes, Ad- F. R. Taylor Fox - - - 308 F. Bond miral - -251 P\ Bond Franklin - - 267 S. G. Kimber Frieze of the Confessor - 237 F. R. Taylor Infirmary court 294 S. G. Kimber Interior from east 162 D. Weller Gates of Henry VII. 's chapel 22j Gladstone, - 171 Gleanings S. G. Kimber ! Do. of quire from west - - 27 Islip's chapel - 61 D. Weller A. Xeedham Goodman, Dean 177 Grille of Henry D. Weller Do. Roll - - 263 Vetusta Monu- men a V.'s tomb - 230 D. Weller Grille of Queen Eleanor - 245 Gleanings Jericho Parlour 302 S. G. Kimber Do. - - 69 F. Bond Jerusalem Cham- ber - - 303 S. G. Kimber Jewel House - 297 Gleanings Harpedon, Sir Joan of the Tower John - - 259 E. M. Beloe 178 D. Weller INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS 321 Subject and Page. Source. Subject and Page. Source. Keble - - 309 S. G. Kimber Peel - - 171 S. G. Kimber Kemble, John - 270 Kendall, Mrs - 251 F. Bond F. Bond Pilgrims' way - 12 Plan of church - 166 J. H. Gibbons F. Bond Key plan - - 166 F. Bond Plan of church C. 1 2OO - II J. H. Gibbon Plan of church Lavatory - - 305 F. Bond c. 1300 - 12 J. H. Gibbon Lockplate - 221 D. Weller Plan of church Lovell, SirThomas c. 1530 - 13 T. H. Gibbon 197 S. G. Kimber Plan of cloister 278 J. T. Mickle- thwaite Mansfield - 1 68 S. G. Kimber ' Plan of Deanery 299 Gleanings Margaret Beau- Plan of east aisle fort - - 199 D. Weller of North tran- Mary, Princess- 227 F. Bond sept - 264 F. Bond Mary, Queen of Scots - - 224 Plan of Henry D. Weller VI I. 's chapel 195 Gleanings Do., tomb - 196 D. Weller Plan of monastic Monk - - 154 D. Weller buildings - 278 J. T. Mickle- thwaite Plan of monastic Nave from Clois- chapel - - 38 F. Bond ter - - 103 F. R. Taylor Plan of nave - 115 F. Bond Do. , plan of - 115 F. Bond j Plan of nave Do., plan of monuments - 307 F. Bond monuments - 307 F. Bond Plan of radiating Nelson - - 255 S. G. Kimber chapels - 63 W. R. Lethaby Newton - - 311 D. Weller Plan of St Bene- Nightingale monu- ment - - 266 dict's chapel - 176 F. Bond 1 Plan of St Ed- F. Bond Norris monument mund's chapel 180 F. Bond 269 F. Bond Plan of St John North transept, Baptist's chapel exterior - 43 S. G. Kimber 249 F. Bond Do., interior - 271 F. R. Taylor Plan of St Ed- Do., plan of ward's chapel 229 F. Bond east aisle - 264 F. Bond Plan of St Nicho- Northern chapel las's chapel - 189 F. Bond screen - - 217 D. Weller Plan of St Paul's chapel - - 247 F. Bond Plan of Sanctuary OpusAlexandri- num - - 175 Gleanings 172 Plan of South F. Bond transept - 272 F. Bond Plans of Henry Parlour, outer - 304 F. Bond V 1 1. 's chapel 140 F. Bond Pavement of Chap- ter House 287,288 Gleanings Pulpit - - 310 Pyx, chapel of - 17 F. Bond Gleanings Do. of St Ed- ward's chapel 244 Gleanings Do. of sanctuary 175 Pecksall, Sir Gleanings Queen Elizabeth's Chapel, vault 132 D. Weller Richard - 187 D. Weller Quire, bay - 81 S. Vacher 2 S 322 INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS Subject and Page. Source. Subject and Page. Source. Refectory - 15 Gleanings St Edmund's Reredos of High chapel - - 47 F. Bond Altar - - 263 Islip Roll Do., plan - 1 80 F. Bond Do. of Lady Mar- St Edward the garet's chapel 198 S. G. Kimber Confessor 154, 207 D. Weller Do. of North- Do. - - 211 W.S.Weatherley East chapel - 208 F. Bond St Edward's chapel, Revestry - - 40 Richard II. , por- Gleanings pavement - 244 Do., plan - 229 Gleanings F. Bond trait - 73 S. G. Kimber St Faith - - 59 Gent, 's Magazine Do., tomb - 235 F. Bond St George 153, 204 D. Wellcr Robsert, tomb of St James the Lodovvick - 248 S. G. Kimber Greater - 1 54 D. Weller St Jerome - 212 W.S.Weatherley St John Baptist- 203 D. Weller Salmon - - 4 F. Bond St John Baptist's Sanctuary - 46 F. R. Taylor chapel, plan - 249 F. Bond Do., plan - 172 F. Bond St John Evangelist Sarcophagus, 153. 203 D. Weller Roman - - 2 S. G. Kimber Do. - -215 W.S.Weatherley School room - 295 F. Bond St John, Lady - 266 F. Bond Sebert, tomb of 3 D. Weller St Katherine's Section, cross, chapel - - 295 F. Bond of nave - - 97 Neale St Margaret and Shakespeare - 275 S G. Kimber dragon - - 86 D. Weller Shovell, Sir St Mary Mag- Cloudesly - 315 D. Weller dalene - - 205 D. Weller Shrewsbury, Earl St Mary, Virgin 202 D. Weller of - 186 F. Bond St Michael - 202 D. Weller Shrine of St St Nicholas - 214 W.S.Weatherley Edward - 23 F. R. Taylor Do. chapel, plan 1 89 F. Bond Do. - - 22 Gleanings St Oswald - 211 W.S.Weatherley Siddons, Sarah - 270 D. Weller St Paul's chapel, Simon de Mont- plan - - 247 F. Bond fort, arms - 25 D. Weller St Peter's chapel, Somerset, Duchess plan - - 38 F. Bond of - - 191 D. Weller St Roch - - 215 W.S.Weatherley Sophia, Princess 226 S. G. Kimber St Sebastian - 208 F. Bond South transept, St Stephen - 212 W.S.Weatherley interior - 273 F. R. Taylor St Uncumber - 216 W.S.Weatherley Do., plan - 272 F. Bond St Vincent - 207 D. Weller Suffolk, Duchess St Wilgeforte - 216 W.S.Weatherley of - 183 D. Weller Sunday procession 13 St Ambrose - 214 J. H. Gibbon W.S.Weatherley Thynn - - 312 S. G. Kimber St Anna - - 206 D. Weller Tile, Edward the Do. - - 213 W.S.Weatherlev Confessor - 57 F. Bond St Anthony - 204 D. Weller Tiles of Chapter Do. - 213 W.S.Weatherley House - 287-289 Gleanings St Barbara - 205 D. Weller Tiles, salmon - 4 F. Bond St Bartholomew 153 D. Weller Transept, eastern St Benedict's aisle of South 39 S. G. Kimber chapel, plan - 176 F. Bond Do. exterior of St Christopher - 206 D. Weller . North - - 43 S. G. Kimber INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS 323 Subject and Page. Source. Subject and Page. Source. Triforium - 85 Do. chamber - 99 F. R. Taylor Gleanings Vestibule of Chap- ter House - 283 M. Allen Do. of nave - 120 D. Weller Do. - - 291 D. Weller Valence, William de - - 188 Vaughan, Sir Thomas - 250 Vault of Ambula- tory - - 89 Vault of apse - 90 Vault of Chapter House - - 92 D. Weller F. R. Taylor D. Weller D. Weller S. G. Kimber Waldeby, Arch- bishop - - 181 Walpole, Lady 197 Watts ' - 314 Weepers - 182, 261 Wesley - - 314 West front - 29 Wilberforce - 317 William de Val- E. M. Beloe S. G. Kimber S. G. Kimber D. Weller S. G. Kimber S. G. Kimber S. G. Kimber Vault in east cloister- - 91 Vault of St Ed- mund's chapel 89 Vault in western D. Weller D. Weller ence - - 188 William of Hat- field - 179 Wordsworth - 309 D. Weller D. Weller S. G. Kimber nave - 91 D. Weller Vere, Sir Francis, tomb - - 265 D. Weller York, Duchess of 192 F. Bond ( 324 ) INDEX RERUM ABACUS, 108 Abbot's bench, 284 Abbot's chapel, 42 confirmation of election, 2 hall, 114, 300, 304 kitchen, 304 pew, 309 seat, 282 Abbots, list of, 316 gravestones of, 291 tombs of, 258 Abutment, 106, 136-140, 142 Adams, 311 Addison, 222, 276 Agincourt, 229 Agnostic epitaph, 220 Aisles, design, 80 exterior of, 102 vaults, 125 Alianore de Bohun, 180 All Hallows, 228 All Saints, 60 Almonry, 62 Alphabet, 5 Altar beneath Chapter House, 74 - High, 48 original, 290 quire, 47, 48 slab, 268 Altars, 55, 62 in nave, 1 18 position of, 62-64 Ambulatory, 10, 106 North, 245 South, 177 Amiens, 78, 105, 106 Anchorite's house, 298 Andre wes, Lancelot, 300 Anglo-Saxon Church, 7, 8 Anne of Bohemia, Queen, 232 of Cleves, 71, 173 of Denmark, Queen, 219 Queen, 196, 200 Queen, wax effigy, 258 Antelope, 192 Apollo's Temple, 6 Apsidal chapels, 10 Arabella Stuart, 194 Arcading, 24, 87, 272 Arch construction, 83 Architects, 24, 109, no Argyll, Duke of, 42 Armour, 184, 189, 260 Arms of Abbey, 124, 125 Arnold, Dr S., 311 Matthew, 5, 309 Thomas, 309 Art and religion, 161 Arthur, Prince, 156, 157 Ashburnham House, 299, 300 Assimilation, 126 Auxerre, 105 Aveline, 173 Avoures, 129 Aymer de Valence, 173, 184, 188, 260 BALFE, 312 Barry, Sir Charles, 310 Basilican plan, 79 Bath, 144 Abbey, 82 Knights of, 201 Battlements, 98 Beacon, 192 Beaconsfield, Lord, 167 Beaufort, 203 Margaret, 200 Beaulieu, 64 Beaumont, 274 Beauvais, 178 Bede, 307 Belfrey and bells, 112 Benedictines, 7, 32, 57 Benedictio aquae, 52 Bennett, 311 Berking, Abbot, 19 Beverley Minster, 22, 32, 73, 84, 126 Bill, Dr, 177 Bishop of Westminster, I, 158, 316 INDEX RERUM 325 Black Death, 292 - Monks, 32 Prince, 180 Blacksmithing, 246 Blake, Admiral, 218 Bloodletting, 6, 57 Blow, 312 Bohun, Alianore, 57 Hugh and Mary, 250 Bolton, Prior, 132 Bosses, 123-126 Bourchier, Lord, 248 Sir Humphrey, 186 Bradshaw, John, 218 Brasses, 180-184, 2o Brayley, E. W., 60, 268 Breadth of church, reason for, 78 Bristol Cathedral, 80 Brittany, Duchess of, 180 Brocas, Sir Bernard, 186 Bromley, Sir Thomas, 247 Browning, 274 Brydges, Lady, 190 Buckhurst, Lord, 190 Buckingham, Duke of, 22O Buckinghamshire, Duke of, 219 Duke of, wax effigy of, 258 Duchess of, wax effigy, 258 Burgundy, 87 Burleigh, Lady, 190 Burney, 312 Burns, 276 Bury St Edmund, 48, 57 Busby, Dr, 274 Busts, White, 277 Butler, Abbot, 32 Samuel, 276 Buttresses, 96, 137 Byrcheston, Abbot, 112, 292 /^ADWALLADER, 203 V> Caen, 16, IOO, 125 Calefactory, 292, 296 Calepugnus, 296 Camden, 277 Campbell, Thomas, 276 Canning, Earl, 167 George, 167 Canons, 30 churches of Regular, 30, 32 churches of Secular, 30, 32, 34 Canopies, 173, 174, 177, 184, 260 Canterbury Cathedral, 48, 53, 67, 8l, 102, 308 St Augustine, 55, 105, 282, 296 Capitals, 26, 84, 106 Carcasonne, 109 Carlisle, 88 Caroline, Queen, 221 Carrels, 282 Carthusians, 33 Casaubon, 277 Castlereagh, Viscount, 168 Cathedral churches, 30 Catherine of Arragon, 155 of France, Queen, 125, 130, 200, 203 wheel, 125 Caxton, 197 Cecil, Lady, 188 Robert, 189, 190 Cellarer's offices, 114, 300 Cemetery, 277 Cerisy, 16 Champagne, 87, 106 Chantry priests, 155 Chapel of Annunciation, 50 - - of Pyx, 62 Chapels, radiating, 62-64, 106, 108 of transept, 14 of triforium, 100 Chapter House, 72-74, 102, 108, 284, 285, 286 undercroft of, 42, 62, 72-76 Charles the Second, King, 200, 258 Chartres, 88 Chatham, Lord, 167, 258 Chaucer, 274 Chichester, 2, 296 Christchurch, 134 Clerestory, 80, 87, 106, 119, 126 Cloister, 277 Norman, 292 date of, 112, 113, 116 Dark, 292 East, 284 North, 279 South, 290, 292, 30? - West, 306 windows, 284, 286 Clyde, Lord, 310 Cochrane, Thomas, 310 Codes, monastic, 34 Coenobitic life, 158 Colchester, Abbot, 118, 119, 252, 296 Coleridge, Samuel, 276 College Hall, 304 Collegiate churches, 30 Cologne Cathedral, 78 Colour, love of, 161 Common House, 62, 294 Commons, House of, 286 Confessor's chapel, 229 Congreve, 309 Consecrations of Abbey, 4, 5, 6 Consistory Court, 309 Contractor, 123 Coronation, 159 chair, 218, 234 Corrody, 296 326 INDEX RERUM Cost of church. 24, 119, 121, 155 Cottington, Lord and Lady, 248 Coverley, Sir Roger de, 185, 186, 232, 274 Cowley, 274 Cram, R. A., 164 Cresset light, 192 Croft, 312 Crokesley, 2 Cromwell, Oliver, 218 Crossing, 48 Crouchback, Edmund, 173 Cullompton, 142 DACRE, Lady, 190 Daisies, 222 Dante, 236 Dark Cloister, 298 Darnley, Lord, 194 Darwin, Charles, 311 Daubeny, Sir Giles, 246 Day stairs, 290 Dean and Chapter, 158 Deanery, 114, 300 Deans, List of, 316 Dean's Yard, 114, 30x3 Delavals, 248 Demi-berceau, 16 Denham, 274 Design, Principles of, 77-87 Diaper, 83, 107 Dickens, 276 Discipline, monastic, 299 Doorways, 37-43, 52, 53, 71, 72, 74, 308 Dorchester, Viscount, 247 Dormitory, 42, 112, 114, 298 Dragon, 203 Drainage of roofs, 98 Drawings and plans, 109 Dray ton, Michael, 276 Dryden, John, 274 Dudley, Bishop, 190 Dundonald, Lord, 200, 310 Durham Cathedral, 22, 42, 52, 60, 66, 67, 282, 292, 298, 305, 306, 308 EASTERN Chapel, 218 Edith, Queen, 245 Edmund Crouchback, 258, 260 Duke of York, 180 Edward the Confessor, 8-18, 19, 20, 48, 50, 56, 62, 67, 86, 88, 117, 130, 204, 206, 209 arms, 219 church, 8-18 frieze, 236 monastic buildings, 38 relics, 235 Ed ward the Confessor, shrine, 20, 48, 235 Edward I., 24, 67, 74, in tomb, 240 Edward II., in Edward III., 6, 67, in, 180, 234 children of, 184 tomb, 232 Edward IV., 122 Edward V. , 227 Edward VI., 158, 202 Edward VII., coronation of, 71 Eleanor, Queen, 67, 242, 244, 246 Elizabeth Woodville, 125 Princess, 242 Queen, 71, 158. 159. 258 of Bohemia, Queen, 194 of York. Queen, 148, 203 Eltham, John of, 184 Ely Cathedral, 22, 48, 81, 126, 144, 146 Emmanuel Hospital, 190 Enamel, 186 Entrance tower, 300 Epigrams, 159 Essex, Robert, 123 Estates of Abbey, 158 Esteney, Abbot, 121-125, 2 6 Eucharistic vestments, 183, 260 Exeter Cathedral, 54, 77, 80, 88, 126 Earl of, 249 Exterior, 101, 102 FALCON and fetterlock, 222 Fan vaulting, 134-136, 142, 194, 200 Fane, Sir George, 190 Fascet, Abbot, 67, 124, 125, 249 Fawcett, Henry, 309 Felix, John, 123 Fenland abbeys, 4 Fetterlock, 125 Filling in of vault cells, 94 Fire, 113 Fireproof, 88 Fleury Abbey, 57 Flying buttresses, 106, 122, 124 Fontrevault, 242 Foreign workmen, 108 Foundations, 103 Founding of Abbey, 1-7 Fox, 310 Franklin, 268 Frater, 300, 306 French influence, 105 French v. English design, 105 Frescoes, 286 Frieze of the Confessor, 236 Fullerton, Sir James, 247 Funeral ceremonies, 191 INDEX RERUM 327 , west, 126 Vj Games, 308 Gargoyles, 98 Garrick, 64, 65, 276, 277 Gatehouse, 112 Gates, 44, 66-70 Gates of Henry VI I. 's chapel, 221 General public, 65-66 George II., 72, 221 Gilbert, Abbot, 290 Giraldus Cambrensis, 6 Gladstone, W. E., 167 Glass, heraldic, 218 painted, 150, 155 Glastonbury, 33 Glaziers, 121 Gloucester Cathedral, 10, 14, 16, 17. 62, 80, 86, 88, 100, 308 Goldsmith, 276 Goodman, Dean, 71, 177 Gordon, Charles, 310 Grace Scot, 268 Gray, 276 Greene, John, 142 Greenwich, St Alphege, 126 Greyhound, 203 Grille of Henry VII., 147, 148, 202 Grisaille, 313 Groined vaults, 88, 290 Grote, 277 Ground story, design of, 82 Guildhall, 112 Gymnasium, 292 HANDEL, 276 Harpedon, Sir John, 260 Harweden, 119, 121 Hatch from kitchen, 300 Hawkin of Liege, 232 Hawksmoor, 126 Hayles, 64 Abbey, 22 Height of church, reason for, 77, 79-82 Henry III., 19-26, 105, ill, 117 his work, 117, 126 tomb of, 242, 244 Henry IV., 117, 234, 304 Henry V., 48, 49, 50, 117, 119, 229, 234, 298 chantry chapel, 148, 180, 192, 238 tomb of, 229 Henry VI., 117, 130, 146, 148, 218 Henry VII., 129, 204, 221, 240 chapel, 147, 148, 200 Northern chapel, 220 North-eastern chapel, 219 Henry VIII., 71, 148, ISS. 158, 159 Henry, nephew of Henry III., 236 of Westminster, 24, 109, no Henry Vvele, no Heraldic glass, 218 Hereford, 108 Hermit, 298 Herschell, Sir John, 311 Hertford, Countess of, 177 Holies, Francis, 184 Sir George, 264 Holmes, Admiral, 249 Holy Cross altar, 62 water, 52 Homogeneous design, 126 Hoodmold, 83, 108 Human skin, 285 Humez, Abbot, 19, 290 Hunsdon, Lord, 252 Hunter, John, 310 Hyde, Anne, 196 INFIRMARY, 62, 112, 114, 296 Inigo Jones, 298 Inscription, black letter, 207 Ireton, General, 218 Iron gates, 44 Ironwork, 176, 232, 246 of windows, 113 Islip, Abbot, 42, 48, 54, 56, 60, 123- 126, 252, 254, 258, 300, 309 chapel, 254, 258 Roll, 65, 258 JAMES, John, 126 James the First, King, 203 Jericho Parlour, 300 Jerusalem Chamber, 114, 304 Jesus altars, 254, 258 chapel and anthems, 60, 126, 268 Jewel House, 92, 298 Joan de la Tour, 180 John of Eltham, 184 of Gloucester, 24 Johnson, Dr, 276 Jonson, Ben, 276, 310 Joule, 311 Jumieges, 16 KATHERINE of France, Queen, 125, 130, 238 Princess, 180 Keble, John, 309 Keepe, Mr Henry, 236 Kelvin, Lord, 311 Kemble, John, 270 Kendall, Mrs Mary, 250 Kentish tracery, 112 Key plan, 166 328 INDEX KERUM Kingsley, Charles, 309 Kitchen, 114, 300 Kyrton, Abbot, 121 LADY chapel, 19, 58, 129-155 Lady Margaret's chapel, 194, 200 Laity, 34,' 36, 65, 66 Lancaster, Countess of, 173 Lancastrian dynasty, 173 Langham, Cardinal, 112, 114, 116, 118, 124, 175, 260 Lathes, 108 Lavatory, 306 Laurence, William, 284 Lawrence, Abbot, 290, 296 Lawrence, Lord, 3, 310 Leaf scrolls, 87 Lectern, 47, 286 Length of church, reason for, 77 Lennox, Countess of, 194 Lennox, Duke of, 217 Leon, 1 02 Lethaby, Professor, 109 Library, 298, 308 Lichfield, 65, 87, 296 Lighting system, 80-8 1, 100, 106, 142 Limoges enamel, 186 Lincoln Minster, 22, 42, 80, 82, 87, 107 Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 180 Litlyngton, Abbot, 53, 112, 116, 118, 159, 290, 292, 296, 304 Livingstone, 310 Locutorium, 305 Long Meg, 290 Longfellow, 274 Lovell, Sir Thomas, 198 Loving-cup, 157 Lullingstone, 60 Lytton, Lord, 186 MACAULAY, 277 Maidstone, 30 Mainspring of Gothic, 161 Malcolm, Sir John, 167 Malthouse, 114 Malvern, 82 Manor houses, 114 Mansfield, Lord, 168 Marble shafts, 118, 119, 127 Margaret Beaufort, 196, 203 chapel, 194 Princess, 232 Marguerites, 222 Maria, Princess, 226 Mary the First, Queen, 158, 226 Man- the Second, Queen, 200, 258 Queen of Scots, 194 Masses, private, 55 Master masons, 24 Matthew Paris, 108 Maud, Queen, 245 Maundy Thursday, 284 Maurice, 309 M'Clintock, Admiral, 268 Mellitus, Bishop, 4 Micklethwaite, J. T., 10, 14, 71, 103, "7 Middlesex, Earl of, 177 Mill, 114 Millyng, Abbot, 117, 121, 122, 125, 249 Milton, 276 Milton Abbey, 53 Minstrels' gallery, 54 Misericord, 300 Misericords, 47, 201, 202, 220 Missal, Litlyngton s, 286 Mitre, 124-126 Moldings, 83, 84, 108 Monastic buildings, 112 churches, 32 discipline, 307 Monasticism, origin of, 32-34 Monasticon, 24 Monastic Orders, 32 Monk, General, 200, 258 Montpensier, Due de, 218 Moor's head, 186 Mosaic, 235, 238, 244 Muniment room, 100 Museum, 292 Music, 30 NATURALISTIC foliage, 107 Nave, 309 exterior of, 307 western bays, in, 128 Necessarium, 298 Nelson, 205, 258 Newcastle, Duchess of, 167 Newton, Sir Isaac, 46, 311 Niches, 150 Nieuport, 264 Night services, 42, 46 Nightingale, Lady, 268 Nine holes, 308 Norman cloister, 277 Normans, 9 Norris, Lord, 269 North ais'e of quire, 311 aisle of nave, 119 ambulatory, 260 transept exterior, 38, 106 Northumberland, Duchess of, 190 INDEX RERUM 329 Norwich Cathedral, 62, 134 St Lawrence's, 60 Norwych, Abbot, 121 Novices, 105, 307 ODERICUS, 172 Opus Alexandrinum, 172, 238 Order of building, 116, 117, 122 Orders, holy, 34 Ornament, disposition of, 150 Ostia presbyterii, 37 Outram, Sir James, 310 Owen, Sir Thomas, 312 Oxford C., 134 Divinity school, 134 PADDINGTON, 7 Painted glass, 313 Palisades, 67 Palladius, 32 Palm Sunday, 53 Palmerston, Viscount, 167 Parish churches, 30, 36 Parlour, 292 outer, 114, 305 Paschal II., 2 Patron saints, 2 5 Pavement, mosaic, 172 Paving of nave. 126 Pearson, T. L.. 310 P. cksall/Sir Richard, 186 Peculiar, i Peel, Sir Robert, 167 Pendants, 134 Pepys, 240 Percy vault, 189 Pershore, 1 6, 17 Peter of Rome, 235, 238 Peterborough Cathedral, 54, 127, 296, 306 Philippa, Duchess of York, 190 Queen, 67, 232 Phoenix, 220 Pier arcades, 119 Pilgrims, 67-70 Pillars, 24, 84 Pinnacles, 98 Pitt, 309 Plan of Westminster, defect in, 62-64 peculiarities of, 37 Planning of greater churches, 28 Henry VII. 's chapel, 146 Plantagenet mausoleum, 48, 49, 229 Plinths, 127 Podelicote, Richard de, 74 Poets' Corner, 274 Polish of sha'ts, 272 Pollock, Sir George, 311 Polychroniy, 272 Pomum, 296 Poole, Henry, 40 Popham, Colonel, 250 Portcullis, 219 Post-Reformation work, 158 Presbytery, 10 Princes in the Tower, 227 Prior, 274, 276 Prison, 298 Privileges of Abbey, i Processional doorways, 52, 53 Processions, 47, 50-54, 71 Proportions of interior, 82, 142 Protection of walls, 121 Provins, 176 Public, general, 34, 36 Puckering, Sir John, 246 Pulpit, 310 Purbeck marble, 84, 1.8, 116, 117, 118, '72. 235 Purcell, 311 Purpose of builders, 30-36 Pyx, Chapel of, 62, 290 QUADRIPARTITE vaults, 88 Queen Elizibeth's chapel, 222 Quire, 46 RAGGED Regiment, 258 Railings, iron, 232 Refectory, 112, 113, 114, 279, 300, 306 Regicides, 218 Reigate, 116 Relics and relic cupboard and altar, 48,. 49 Religious purpose, 161 Renaissance art, 198, 202 Rere-Dorter, 75, 298 Reredos, 48, 268, 371 Retabulum, 304 Revestry, 40, 42 Rheims, 64, 105 Richard II., 67, 71, 72, 102, 117, 118, 173, 232, 252, 298 Richardson, Sir Thomas, 313 Richmond, Duchess of, 258 Ridge ribs, 94 Ring of Confessor, 56, 57 Robert of Beverley, 24 Robsert, Lodowick, 248 Rochester, 48 Roman remains, 213 sarcophagus, 285 Rome, basilicas at, 79 dependence on, 2 loft Rood loft and altar, 65 Roofing of nave, 122 2 T 330 INDEX RERUM Rose en soleil, 123, 177 of Provence, 175 Tudor, 203 windows, 106 Ross, Lady, 190 Royal chapel, I route, 71-72 seat, 71-72 Rule of life, 34 Rupert, Prince, 194 Ruskin, 276 Russell, Elizabeth, 184 Lord John, 186 Ruthall, Bishop, 249 SACRARIUM, 10 Sacrifice, lamp of, 163 Sacristy, 40, 42, 46, 66 St Alban's, i, 10, 22, 52, 65, 126 St Ambrose, 208, 209 St Andrew, 56 chapel, 40, 72, 269 St Anne, 62, 129, 206, 209 St Anthony, 129, 206 St Apollonia, 218 St Barbara, 129, 206 St Bartholomew, 204 St Benedict, 32, 57, 105 chapel, 106, 175 St Blase, 58 St Candida, 235 St Catherine, 62, 155, 200 chapel, 296, 298 Sainte Chapelle, 105 St Christopher, 206, 218 St Clare, 218 St Denis, 50, 105, 217 St Dorothy, 218 St Dunstan, 7, 33, 53, 62, 109, 292 St Edmund, 50, 57, 218 chapel, 1 80 St Edward, 129 chapel, 92, 229 shrine, 235 St Edward, king and martyr, 208, 209 St Erasmus, 60, 64, 252 St Faith, 30, 58, 92 St Gabriel, 50 St George, 50, 67, 129, 155, 204, 205 St George's, Hanover Square, 126 St Helena, 62, 65 St James the Greater, 204 St Jerome, 220 St John Baptist, 56, 129, 205, 249 St John Evangelist, 55, 56, 60, 129, 204, 205, 209 chapel of, 252, 254, 264 St John, Lady, 58, 268 St Katharine's Church, 296, 298 St Lawrence, 62, 228 St Louis, 20 St Margaret, 87, 155, 200, 272 Church, 36, 155 St Martin, 60, 209 St Mary Magdalen, 129, 206, 252 St Mary Virgin, 50, 58, 129, 130, 146 altar of, 45, 62, 262 St Matthew, 209 St Michael, 57, 60, 87, 129, 205, 268 St Monica, 218 St Nicholas, 56, 209, 218 chapel, 1 88 St Oswald, 209 St Paul, 56, 217 chapel, 246 St Paul and the Crucifix, altar of, 62, 65 St Paul's Cathedral, 30, 34, 106 St Peter, 4, 5, 6, 8, 56, 218 chapel, 37, 44, 45-50 St Roch, 209, 218 St Sebastian, 219 St Stephen, 209, 220 St Stephen's, Westminster, 1 1 1 St Thomas of Canterbury, 21, 57 St Uncumber, 209 St Vincent, 129, 206 St White, 235 St Wilgeforte, 209 Saint's chapel, 20, 22 Salisbury Cathedral. 84, 102, 296, 308 Lord, 310 Salmon, 4, 6 Sanctuary, 10, 48, 172 Sandford, 150 Sarcophagus, Roman, 285 School, monastic, 307 room, 298 Westminster, 158, 298, 300, 304 Scone, stone of, 234 Scot, Grace, 268 Scott, Sir Gilbert, 83, 94, 100, 108, 109, 310 Sir Walter, 276 Screens, 10, 36, 46, 65, 118, 142, 150 of towers, 126 Scriptorium, 282 Scroll work, 108, 250, 272 Sculptor v. architect, 144, 146 Sculpture, place of, 144-146 Sebert, King, 4, 6, 173, 177 Sedilia, 174 Selby, 88 Setting-out, 103 Sexpartite vault, 92 Shafteslmry Abbey, 210 Shafts, 127, 272 Shakespeare, 58, 232, 276 Sheridan, 276 Shield a bouche, 124 INDEX RERUM 331 Shield of State, 234 Shields, 24 Shorthand, 284 Shovel], Sir Cloudesly, 312 Shrewsbury, Earl of, 186 Shrine of St Edward, 48, 235 Shrove Tuesday, 159 Siddons, Sarah, 270 Sidney, Frances, 247 Simon de Montfort's son, 236 Sir Roger de Coverley, 185, 186, 232, 274 Slype, 292 Smithfield, St Bartholomew's, 32 Solomon's porch, 102 Somerset, Duchess of, 189 Sophia, Princess, 226 South aisle of nave, 118 aisle of quire, 312 cloister, 290 transept, 264 Southern chapel, 217 South-eastern chapel, 218 Southey, 276 Southwark Cathedral, 30, 32 Southwell, 2 Sovereign's seat, 71, 72 Spandrils, 127 Spenser, 276 Staircases, 100 Stalls, 10, 33, 36, 46, 146, 201, 228 Stanhope, Lord, 46 Stanley, Dean, 218 Sir Humphrey, 189 State entrance, 71 Statuary, 144-146 Stephenson, Robert, 311 Stokes, Adrian, 184 G. G., 311 Stone, Nicholas, 184, 188. 247 Stowell, Robert, 123 Stratford de Redcliffe, Viscount, 167 Street, G. .,310 Stuart vault, 194 Studies, 282, 308 Suffolk, Duchess of, 184 Sunday procession, 36, 50-53, 117 Sussex, Countess of, 247 Swan, 183, 192 Sword of State, 234 TAIT, Archbishop, 274 Tennyson, 274, 276 Tester, 173 Tewkesbury, 16, 17, 6^ Thackeray, 276 Thames, 3 Thefts, in Thirlwall, 277 Thomas of Leighton, 246 Thomson, 276 Thorney Island, 3 Three-storied interior, 79 Thynn, Thomas, 312 Thynne, William, 313 Tiercerons, 94 Ties and beams, 84 Tiles, incised, 286 Torel, 244 Torpel, 296 Torrigiano, 150, 197, 198, 202, 204, 205 Tours, St Martin's, 17 Towel cupboards, 306 Tower bay, 1 25 central, 102 Towers, western, 102, 126 Tracery, window, 106 Transeptal aisles, 37, 38 chapels, 37, 38 Transept, long, 107 Norman, 102 North, 167 South, 274 Translation of Confessor, 8, 20, 72 Transverse section of church, 78 Treasury, monastic, 72, 290 robbed, 74 Royal, 72-76 Triforium, 81, 84, 86, 1 08, 144 chamber, 98-100 Trinity altar, 45, 62 Troyes, 105 Tudor rose, 203, 204 Typerton, Nicholas, 109 Tyrconnel, Lady, 248 u NITY of design, 155 Upper church, 98-100 VALENCE, Aymer de, 9, 174, 184. 260 Valence, William de, 186 Vaughan, Sir Thomas, 250 Vaulting, 88-96, 108, 286, 290 of Henry III., 24, 26 shafts, 77, 94, 96, 108 Vault of Henry VII. 's chapel, 134-139 west nave, 123-126 thrusts of, 96 Vaults, filling in of, 272 Vere, Sir Francis, 264 Vertue, Robert, 132 Vestibule of Chapter House, 285 of Deanery, 300 Vestments, Eucharistic, 183, 260 Villiers, Sir George, 188 33^ INDEX RERUM Virgin and Child, 205 Visitcrial power, 2 Visitors' Guide, 165 WALDEBY, Archbishop, 182 Wall passage, 87, 106 Walls protected, 121 Wai pole, Lady, 196 Ware, Abbot, 171 Watching loft, 50 Watt, James, 246 Watts, 312 Wax effigies, 258 WeUherley, W. S., 208 Weepers, 180, 182, 184, 186 Wellington, Duke of, 201 Wells Cathedral, 72 Wesley, 268, 312 West aisle of North transept, 313 front, 42 Western nave, 111-128 Westminster School, 114, 150, 298 Wheel, 124 Whitchurch, 235 White marble busts, 277 \\hittington, 119 Widow's dress, 182 Wilberforce, William, 311 Will of Henry VII., 129 William de Valence, 186 - of Hatfield, 1 80 of Malmesbury, 7 the Third, 203, 258 Williams, John, 304 Willis, Professor, 134 Winchester Cathedral, 17, 22, 54, 60, 62, 70 Window system, 80, 81, 87, 140 tracery, 150, 284, 286 west, 125, 126 Windows, io5 of cloister, 284 Windsor, St George's, 30, 34 Wolfe, 260 Wolsey, 205 Women, learned, 167, 186, 190 Wool combs, 58 Worcester Cathedral, 48, 126, 305 Wordsworth, 309 Wren, Sir Christopher, 10, 98, 126 YORK, Duchess of, 190 York, Duke of, 227 York Minster, 53, 77, 82, 88, 109, 126 Young, Dr, 204 Yvele, Henry, 126 Printed at THE DARIEN PRESS, Edinburgh. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND An Analysis of the Origin and Development of English Church Architecture from the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution of the Monasteries With 1254 Illustrations, comprising 785 Photographs, Sketches, and Measured Drawings, and 469 Plans, Sections, Diagrams, and Moldings. Imperial 8vo, 800 pp., handsomely bound in art canvas, gilt. Price 315. 6d. net Published by B. T. BATSFORD, 94 High Holborn, London SOME PRESS NOTICES The Times. " Mr Bond has given us a truly monumental work on English Gothic Architecture in his profusely illustrated and very fully indexed volume of some 800 pages. ... As a mine of erudition, of detailed analysis and information, and of criticism on English Mediaeval Church Architecture the book is worthy of all praise. For students it must be of lasting value ; for authentic reference it will he long before it is likely to be in any way seriously superseded ; while the lavish illustrations, many of them unpublished photographs, must be of permanent interest to all." The Atheineum. " This is, in every sense of the word, a great book. It at once steps to the front as authoritative." The Building News." A remarkable book. . . . Perfectly orderly, and most complete and thorough, this great book leaves nothing to be desired." The Reliquary. "The more expert a man is as a Church Architect or as an intelligent ecclesiologist, the more grateful will he be to Mr Bond for the production of a noble volume like that now under notice." The Spectator. " The whole book is extraordinarily full, extraordin- arily minute, and enriched by a wealth of illustrations, and must stand for many years to come as the book of reference on the subject of Ecclesiastical Gothic in England for all architects and archaeologists." The Westminster Gazette. " Mr Bond gives us an immense quan- tity of material the result of the most painstaking and laborious re- search ; he has illustrated every chapter, not only with photographs, but with the most admirable diagrams of mouldings and details ; he has scarcely missed a church of any importance in his search for examples. In all these respects he places the architect and the architectural student under an immense obligation." ' The Pall Mall Gazette." Archaeologist, scholar, and geologist, he is something more than a mere enthusiast, for to the ardour of his argument he brings deep technical mastery, much wide research, and scientific knowledge. . . . The hook is one of the most absorbing that we have read for a long time in any field." Bulletin Monumental." Le grand travail sur 1'architecture gothique francaise." BY THE SAME AUTHOR. SCREENS AND GALLERIES IN ENGLISH CHURCHES A handsome volume, containing 204 pp.. with 152 Illustrations reproduced from Photographs and Measured Drawings. Octavo, strongly bound in cloth. Price 6s. net LONDON: HENRY FROWDE, Oxford University Press SOME PRESS NOTICES Builder. "When we look at the detailed photographs we realise the richness of the field which Mr Bond has traversed, and congratulate him on the choice of his subject. His method is one of singular thoroughness from the ecclesiological standpoint." Journal of the Architectural Association. "As a record of the screens remaining in our churches it cannot be valued too highly. No book till now has brought such a number together, or traced their development in so full and interesting a manner. ... A most delightful book." Builders' Journal. "The author may be congratulated on the pro- duction of a book which, in text as well as in illustrations, is of striking and inexhaustible interest ; it is the kind of book to which one returns again and again, in the assurance of renewed and increased pleasure at each reperusal. Tablet. " The numerous excellent illustrations are of the greatest interest, and form a veritable surprise as to the beauty and variety of the treatment which our forefathers lavished upon the rood screen.'' British Weekly. "The book abounds with admirable illustrations of these beautiful works of art, so perfect even in the minute details that any one interested in the art of woodcarving could reproduce the designs with ease from the excellent photographs which occur on almost every page. There is also a series of 'measured drawings' of great beauty and interest." Neiv York Nation. " It is not easy to praise too highly the simple and effective presentation of the subject and the interest of the book to all persons who care for ecclesiology or for decorative art." Bibliophile. " This excellent book is a sign of the times ; of the reawakened interest in the beautiful and historic. ... A model of scholarly compression. Of the finely produced illustrations it is difficult to speak in too high terms of praise/' Daily Graphic. " Mr Bond has produced a work on our ecclesi- astical screens and galleries which, like his larger work on the ' Gothic Architecture of England,' is in the first degree masterly. His knowledge of his subject, exact and comprehensive, is compressed into a minimum amount of space, and illustrated by a series of photographs and measured drawings which render the work of permanent value." Bulletin Monumental. " Apres avoir analyse, aussi exactement que possible, Tinteressant etude de M. Bond, nous devons le feliciter de nous avoir donne ce complement si utile a son grand ouvrage." BY THE SAME AUTHOR. FONTS & FONT COVERS A handsome volume containing 364 pages, with 426 Illustrations reproduced from Photographs and Measured Drawings. Octavo, strongly bound in cloth. Price I2S. net. LONDON: HENRY FROWDE, Oxford University Press SOME PRESS NOTICES Guardian. " Mr Bond is so well known by his monumental work on ' Gothic Architecture in England,' and by his beautiful book on ' Screens and Galleries,' that his name alone is a sufficient guarantee for this new volume on ' Fonts and Font Covers,' the most complete and thorough that has yet appeared." Church Times. "The finest collection of illustrations of fonts and font covers yet attempted. ... A real delight to the ecclesiologist." Commonwealth. " A sumptuous monograph on a very interesting subject ; complete and thorough/'' Church Quarterly Review. " It is most delightful, not only to indulge in a serious perusal of this volume, but to turn over its pages again and again, always sure to find within half a minute some beautiful illustration or some illuminating remark." Irish Builder. "This book on 'Fonts and Font Covers' is a most valuable contribution to mediaeval study, put together in masterly fashion, with deep knowledge and love of the subject." Westminster Gazette. " Every one interested in church architecture and sculpture will feel almost as much surprise as delight in Mr Bond's attractive volume on ' Fonts and Font Covers.' The wealth of illustra- tions and variety of interest are truly astonishing." Journal of the Society of Architects. "The book is a monument of painstaking labour and monumental research ; its classification is most admirable. The whole subject is treated in a masterly way with perfect sequence and a thorough appreciation of the many sources of develop- ment ; the illustrations, too, are thoroughly representative. To many the book will come as a revelation. We all recognise that the fonts are essential, and in many cases beautiful and interesting features in our ancient churches, but few can have anticipated the extraordinary wealth of detail which they exhibit when the photographs of all the best of them are collected together in a single volume." Outlook. " Mr Francis Bond's book carefully included in one's luggage enables one, with no specialist's knowledge postulated, to pursue to a most profitable end one of the most interesting, almost, we could say, romantic, branches of ecclesiastical architecture. . . . This book, owing to its scholarship and thoroughness in letterpress and illustrations, will doubtless be classic ; in all its methods it strikes us as admirable. The bibliography and the indexes are beyond praise." BY THE SAME AUTHOR. VISITORS' GUIDE TO WESTMINSTER ABBEY 93 pages of text, abridged from the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the author's larger work on "Westminster Abbey," consisting chiefly of description of the Tombs, Monuments, and Cloisters, with 15 Plans and Drawings and 32 Photographic Illustrations. Price is. net LONDON: HENRY FROWDE, Oxford University Press SOME PRESS NOTICES Guardian. "There is probably no better brief handbook. Mr Bond's qualifications for the task are beyond question. By the use of varied type, ingenious arrangement, and excellent tone-blocks and plans, the book attains a high standard of lucidity as well as of accuracy." Building News. "This little work is characterised by its terseness, directness, and practical treatment. A carefully compiled and scholarly guide-book." Architect. " This book will excellently and admirably fulfil its purpose. ... A splendid itinerary, in which almost every inch of the way is made to speak of its historical connections." Birmingham Daily Post. "Concise, informative, reliable, and admirably illustrated." Western Morning News. " By his key plan and very clear directions as to where to find the numerous side chapels, historic monuments, and other objects of interest, Mr Bond makes it possible for a visitor to find his way round the building at his leisure. It refreshes one's knowledge of English history, and is supplemented by thirty-two excellent plates, which by themselves are worth the shilling charged for it." Scotsman. "A more complete and dependable guide to the National Pantheon could not be desired." Architectural Review. "This is an excellent little textbook. Mr Bond is to be congratulated in having introduced into it an interesting element of history. The notes in small print should make the visit to the Abbey both more profitable and more interesting. The key plan and the numerous small plans are extremely clear and easily read. The information given is concise and to the point, and a word of special praise must be given to the plates at the end ; the subjects of these are well chosen and are illustrated by very good photographs." Antiquary. "This little book, strongly bound in linen boards, gives concisely and clearly all the information the ordinary visitor is likely to require. Cheap, well arranged, well printed, abundantly illustrated and well indexed, this handy book, which is light and ' pocketable,' is the best possible companion for which a visitor to our noble Abbey can wish ; it is an ideal guide." UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. VE DES< 11 1964 A.M. P.M. Form L9-116m-8,'62(D1237s8)444