159-517: Westminster Abbey , formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster , is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster , London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100. Although
318-612: A via media ('middle way') between Protestantism as a whole, and Catholicism. The faith of Anglicans is founded in the Scriptures and the Gospels , the traditions of the Apostolic Church, the historical episcopate , the first four ecumenical councils , and the early Church Fathers , especially those active during the five initial centuries of Christianity, according to the quinquasaecularist principle proposed by
477-539: A Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I . The abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 because of their historic and symbolic significance. The church's Gothic architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, although some sections of the church have earlier Romanesque styles or later Baroque and modern styles. The Henry VII Chapel , at
636-623: A bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey. No serious injuries were reported, but the bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair. It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half, although this was not discovered until 1950 when four Scottish nationalists broke into the church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland. In preparation for bombing raids during World War II ,
795-481: A chancel with ambulatory and radiating chapels . The building is supported with two tiers of flying buttresses . The western end of the nave and the west front were designed by Henry Yevele in a Perpendicular Gothic style. The Henry VII Chapel was built in a late Perpendicular style in Huddlestone stone, probably by Robert and William Vertue . The west towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and blend
954-418: A cruciform floorplan. The master stonemason for the project was Leofsi Duddason, with Godwin and Wendelburh Gretsyd (meaning "fat purse") as patrons, and Teinfrith as "churchwright", probably meaning someone who worked on the carpentry and roofing. Endowments from Edward supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan 's time, to as many as 80. The building was completed around 1060 and
1113-685: A " royal peculiar " – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean. From that date onwards, the building was simply a church, though it was still called an abbey. Elizabeth also re-founded Westminster School , providing for 40 students (the King's (or Queen's) Scholars ) and their schoolmasters. The King's Scholars have
1272-446: A compromise, but as "a positive position, witnessing to the universality of God and God's kingdom working through the fallible, earthly ecclesia Anglicana ". These theologians regard scripture as interpreted through tradition and reason as authoritative in matters concerning salvation. Reason and tradition, indeed, are extant in and presupposed by scripture, thus implying co-operation between God and humanity, God and nature, and between
1431-459: A different kind of middle way, or via media , originally between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and later between Protestantism and Catholicism – a perspective that came to be highly influential in later theories of Anglican identity and expressed in the description of Anglicanism as "catholic and reformed". The degree of distinction between Protestant and Catholic tendencies within Anglicanism
1590-509: A divine order of structures through which God unfolds his continuing work of creation. Hence, for Maurice, the Protestant tradition had maintained the elements of national distinction which were amongst the marks of the true universal church, but which had been lost within contemporary Catholicism in the internationalism of centralised papal authority. Within the coming universal church that Maurice foresaw, national churches would each maintain
1749-559: A high degree of commonality in Anglican liturgical forms and in the doctrinal understandings expressed within those liturgies. He proposes that Anglican identity might rather be found within a shared consistent pattern of prescriptive liturgies, established and maintained through canon law , and embodying both a historic deposit of formal statements of doctrine, and also framing the regular reading and proclamation of scripture. Sykes nevertheless agrees with those heirs of Maurice who emphasise
SECTION 10
#17327723048651908-409: A lantern tower was never built. The current squat pyramid dates from the 18th century; the painted wooden ceiling below it was installed during repairs to World War II bomb damage. In the early 16th century, a project began under Abbot John Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church. These had been partially built up to roof level when building work stopped due to uncertainty caused by
2067-416: A nuanced view of justification, taking elements from the early Church Fathers , Catholicism , Protestantism , liberal theology , and latitudinarian thought. Arguably, the most influential of the original articles has been Article VI on the "sufficiency of scripture", which says that "Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby,
2226-861: A possibility, as other denominational groups rapidly followed the example of the Anglican Communion in founding their own transnational alliances: the Alliance of Reformed Churches , the Ecumenical Methodist Council , the International Congregational Council , and the Baptist World Alliance . Anglicanism was seen as a middle way, or via media , between two branches of Protestantism, Lutheranism and Reformed Christianity. In their rejection of absolute parliamentary authority,
2385-600: A precursor to the House of Commons . Henry III also commissioned the Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar. Further work produced an additional five bays for the nave, bringing it to one bay west of the choir . Here, construction stopped in about 1269. By 1261, Henry had spent £29,345 19s 8d on the abbey, and the final sum may have been near £50,000. A consecration ceremony was held on 13 October 1269, during which
2544-469: A small crypt below. Around the sides are benches for 80 monks, above which are large stained-glass windows depicting the coats of arms of several monarchs and the abbey's patrons and abbots. The exterior includes flying buttresses (added in the 14th century) and a leaded roof designed by Scott. The interior walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century paintings of the Apocalypse ,
2703-513: A stone reredos which makes it a semi-private space. The reredos depicts episodes from Edward's life, including his birth and the building of the abbey. The shrine is closed to the public, except for special events. The abbey includes side chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Many were originally included in the 13th-century rebuilding as altars dedicated to individual saints, and many of the chapels still bear saints' names (such as St Nicholas and St Paul). Saints' cults were no longer orthodox after
2862-799: A tradition that her death brought an end to an illness from which she had been suffering at some length. She was buried together with her husband in Westminster Abbey and her funeral was arranged by William. The northern author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , Manuscript D, reports: Edith the Lady died seven nights before Christmas in Winchester , she was King Edward's wife, and the king had her brought to Westminster with great honour and laid her near King Edward, her lord. In 2006, Carola Hicks , an art historian, put her forward as
3021-519: A young fisherman on the River Thames had a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to have been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to the abbey, a custom still observed annually by the Fishmongers' Company . The origins of the abbey are generally thought to date to about 959, when Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on
3180-520: Is also more similar to French churches than English ones in terms of its ratio of height to width: Westminster Abbey has the highest nave of any Gothic church in England, and the nave is much narrower than any medieval English church of a similar height. Instead of a short, square, eastern end (as was the English fashion), Westminster Abbey has a long, rounded apse , and it also has chapels radiating from
3339-465: Is decorated with a visual pun on his name: an eye and a boy falling from a tree (eye-slip). Additional chapels in the eastern aisle of the north transept are named after (from south to north) St John the Evangelist, St Michael, and St Andrew. The chapels of St Nicholas, St Edmund, and St Benedict are in the south ambulatory. The footprint of the south transept is smaller than the northern one because
SECTION 20
#17327723048653498-531: Is in the Bayeux Tapestry . The foundations still survive under the present church, and above ground, some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory survive in the undercroft , including a door said to come from the previous Anglo-Saxon abbey. It was a little smaller than the current church, with a central tower. In 1103, thirty-seven years after his death, Edward's tomb was re-opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I , who discovered that his body
3657-731: Is known as the English Reformation , in the course of which it acquired a number of characteristics that would subsequently become recognised as constituting its distinctive "Anglican" identity. With the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559, the Protestant identity of the English and Irish churches was affirmed by means of parliamentary legislation which mandated allegiance and loyalty to the English Crown in all their members. The Elizabethan church began to develop distinct religious traditions, assimilating some of
3816-508: Is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." This article has informed Anglican biblical exegesis and hermeneutics since earliest times. Anglicans look for authority in their "standard divines" (see below). Historically, the most influential of these – apart from Cranmer – has been the 16th-century cleric and theologian Richard Hooker , who after 1660
3975-448: Is primarily a treatise on church-state relations, but it deals comprehensively with issues of biblical interpretation , soteriology , ethics, and sanctification . Throughout the work, Hooker makes clear that theology involves prayer and is concerned with ultimate issues and that theology is relevant to the social mission of the church. Edith of Wessex Edith of Wessex ( Old English : Ealdgyth ; c. 1025 – 18 December 1075)
4134-497: Is quadripartite, with ridge ribs and bosses and, at 102 feet (31 m), it is one of Britain's highest church vaults. To accommodate as many guests as possible during coronations, the transepts were designed to be unusually long and the choir was placed east (rather than west) of the crossing; this is also seen in Rheims Cathedral . The 13th-century interior would have been painted in bright colours and gilded, although
4293-590: Is routinely a matter of debate both within specific Anglican churches and the Anglican Communion. The Book of Common Prayer is unique to Anglicanism, the collection of services in one prayer book used for centuries. The book is acknowledged as a principal tie that binds the Anglican Communion as a liturgical tradition. After the American Revolution , Anglican congregations in the United States and British North America (which would later form
4452-528: Is still considered authoritative to this day. In so far as Anglicans derived their identity from both parliamentary legislation and ecclesiastical tradition, a crisis of identity could result wherever secular and religious loyalties came into conflict – and such a crisis indeed occurred in 1776 with the United States Declaration of Independence , most of whose signatories were, at least nominally, Anglican. For these American patriots, even
4611-475: Is used to describe the people, institutions, churches, liturgical traditions, and theological concepts developed by the Church of England. As a noun, an Anglican is a church member in the Anglican Communion. The word is also used by followers of separated groups that have left the communion or have been founded separately from it. The word originally referred only to the teachings and rites of Christians throughout
4770-537: The 1552 prayer book with the conservative "Catholic" 1549 prayer book into the 1559 Book of Common Prayer . From then on, Protestantism was in a "state of arrested development", regardless of the attempts to detach the Church of England from its "idiosyncratic anchorage in the medieval past" by various groups which tried to push it towards a more Reformed theology and governance in the years 1560–1660. Although two important constitutive elements of what later would emerge as Anglicanism were present in 1559 – scripture,
4929-605: The Acts of Union of 1800 , had been reconstituted as the United Church of England and Ireland (a union which was dissolved in 1871). The propriety of this legislation was bitterly contested by the Oxford Movement (Tractarians), who in response developed a vision of Anglicanism as religious tradition deriving ultimately from the ecumenical councils of the patristic church. Those within the Church of England opposed to
Westminster Abbey - Misplaced Pages Continue
5088-643: The Apostles' Creed as the baptismal symbol and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith . Anglicans believe the catholic and apostolic faith is revealed in Holy Scripture and the ecumenical creeds (Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian) and interpret these in light of the Christian tradition of the historic church, scholarship, reason, and experience. Anglicans celebrate
5247-454: The Bishop of Wells , secure the endowments of his see, and gave lands to Abingdon Abbey , but the monks of Evesham alleged that she had the relics of many monasteries brought to Gloucester so that she could select the best for herself. When Gervin, abbot of Saint-Riquier , was visiting the English court, he rejected her kiss of greeting and she took offence. Edward reproved her, and she accepted
5406-680: The Celticist Heinrich Zimmer, writes that the distinction between sub-Roman and post-Roman Insular Christianity, also known as Celtic Christianity, began to become apparent around AD 475, with the Celtic churches allowing married clergy, observing Lent and Easter according to their own calendar, and having a different tonsure ; moreover, like the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox churches,
5565-500: The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888. In the latter decades of the 20th century, Maurice's theory, and the various strands of Anglican thought that derived from it, have been criticised by Stephen Sykes , who argues that the terms Protestant and Catholic as used in these approaches are synthetic constructs denoting ecclesiastic identities unacceptable to those to whom the labels are applied. Hence,
5724-401: The English Reformation and Edward is the only major English saint whose body still occupies his shrine. Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens: Henry III, Eleanor of Castile , Edward I, Philippa of Hainault , Edward III , Anne of Bohemia , and Richard II. Henry V is in the centre of the horseshoe, at the eastern end. Henry III's tomb
5883-576: The English Reformation , in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity , with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001 . Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans ; they are also called Episcopalians in some countries. The majority of Anglicans are members of national or regional ecclesiastical provinces of the international Anglican Communion , which forms
6042-556: The English Reformation . In the 1530s, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England's monasteries , including Westminster Abbey, beginning the English Reformation . In 1535, when the king's officers assessed the abbey's funds, their annual income was £3,000. Henry's agents removed many relics, saints' images, and treasures from the abbey. The golden feretory that housed
6201-670: The Last Judgement , and birds and animals. The chapter house also has an original, mid-13th-century tiled floor. A wooden door in the vestibule, made with a tree felled between 1032 and 1064, is one of Britain's oldest. It may have been the door to the 11th-century chapter house in Edward the Confessor's abbey, and was re-used as the door to the Pyx Chamber in the 13th century. It now leads to an office. The adjoining Pyx Chamber
6360-511: The Lutheran Book of Concord . For them, the earliest Anglican theological documents are its prayer books, which they see as the products of profound theological reflection, compromise, and synthesis. They emphasise the Book of Common Prayer as a key expression of Anglican doctrine. The principle of looking to the prayer books as a guide to the parameters of belief and practice is called by
6519-682: The See of Rome . In Kent , Augustine persuaded the Anglo-Saxon king " Æthelberht and his people to accept Christianity". Augustine, on two occasions, "met in conference with members of the Celtic episcopacy, but no understanding was reached between them". Eventually, the "Christian Church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria convened the Synod of Whitby in 663/664 to decide whether to follow Celtic or Roman usages". This meeting, with King Oswiu as
Westminster Abbey - Misplaced Pages Continue
6678-534: The Tractarians , especially John Henry Newman , looked back to the writings of 17th-century Anglican divines, finding in these texts the idea of the English church as a via media between the Protestant and Catholic traditions. This view was associated – especially in the writings of Edward Bouverie Pusey – with the theory of Anglicanism as one of three " branches " (alongside the Catholic Church and
6837-533: The Vita Edwardi , according to Barlow, "although she is always placed modestly behind the throne, the author does not minimize her power or completely conceal her will. Whenever we catch sight of her elsewhere, we see a determined woman, interfering, hard, probably bad-tempered." As the king's wife, she was responsible for his regal presentation. She commissioned works for his personal ornament, and had at least one goldsmith among her tenants. When he died, she
6996-410: The archbishop of Canterbury , and others as navigating a middle way between two of the emerging Protestant traditions, namely Lutheranism and Calvinism . In the first half of the 17th century, the Church of England and the associated Church of Ireland were presented by some Anglican divines as comprising a distinct Christian tradition, with theologies, structures, and forms of worship representing
7155-610: The historic episcopate , the Book of Common Prayer , the teachings of the First Four Ecumenical Councils as the yardstick of catholicity, the teaching of the Church Fathers and Catholic bishops, and informed reason – neither the laypeople nor the clergy perceived themselves as Anglicans at the beginning of Elizabeth I's reign, as there was no such identity. Neither does the term via media appear until
7314-468: The piers would have been left unpainted. Although the nave was built over the course of centuries from the east to the west end, generations of builders stuck to the original design and it has a unified style. Markers of the long gap in building between 1269 and 1376 are relatively minor, but can be seen at the fifth bay from the crossing. The spandrels above the arches are towards the earlier east end are decorated with diaper-work , and are plain towards
7473-515: The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton . In 2018, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries were opened. Located in the medieval triforium , high up around the sanctuary, they are areas for displaying the abbey's treasures. A new Gothic access tower with a lift was designed by the abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean . In 2020, a 13th-century sacristy was uncovered in
7632-464: The "three-legged stool" of scripture , reason , and tradition is often incorrectly attributed to Hooker. Rather, Hooker's description is a hierarchy of authority, with scripture as foundational and reason and tradition as vitally important, but secondary, authorities. Finally, the extension of Anglicanism into non-English cultures, the growing diversity of prayer books, and the increasing interest in ecumenical dialogue have led to further reflection on
7791-401: The (later) west end. The lancet windows on the earlier side have a foiled circle, and have an unencircled quatrefoil on the later side; the shields on the aisle walls are carved on the earlier side, and painted on the later side. Above the crossing, in the centre of the church, is a roof lantern which was destroyed by a bomb in 1941 and restored by architect Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958. In
7950-458: The 13th-century builders butted against the pre-existing 11th-century cloisters . To make the transepts match, the south transept overhangs the western cloister; this permitted a room above the cloisters which was used to store the abbey muniments . In the south transept is the chapel of St Faith , built c. 1250 as the vestry for the abbey's monks. On the east wall is a c. 1290 – c. 1310 painting of St Faith holding
8109-413: The 1627 to describe a church which refused to identify itself definitely as Catholic or Protestant, or as both, "and had decided in the end that this is virtue rather than a handicap". Historical studies on the period 1560–1660 written before the late 1960s tended to project the predominant conformist spirituality and doctrine of the 1660s on the ecclesiastical situation one hundred years before, and there
SECTION 50
#17327723048658268-401: The 16th-century Reformed Thirty-Nine Articles form the basis of doctrine. The Thirty-Nine Articles played a significant role in Anglican doctrine and practice. Following the passing of the 1604 canons, all Anglican clergy had to formally subscribe to the articles. Today, however, the articles are no longer binding, but are seen as a historical document which has played a significant role in
8427-592: The 1830s, the Church of England in Canada became independent from the Church of England in those North American colonies which had remained under British control and to which many Loyalist churchmen had migrated. Reluctantly, legislation was passed in the British Parliament (the Consecration of Bishops Abroad Act 1786) to allow bishops to be consecrated for an American church outside of allegiance to
8586-473: The Anglican churches and those whose works are frequently anthologised . The corpus produced by Anglican divines is diverse. What they have in common is a commitment to the faith as conveyed by scripture and the Book of Common Prayer , thus regarding prayer and theology in a manner akin to that of the Apostolic Fathers . On the whole, Anglican divines view the via media of Anglicanism not as
8745-807: The Asia-Pacific. In the 19th century, the term Anglicanism was coined to describe the common religious tradition of these churches and also that of the Scottish Episcopal Church , which, though originating earlier within the Church of Scotland , had come to be recognised as sharing this common identity. The word Anglican originates in Anglicana ecclesia libera sit , a phrase from Magna Carta dated 15 June 1215, meaning 'the English Church shall be free'. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans . As an adjective, Anglican
8904-475: The British Crown (since no dioceses had ever been established in the former American colonies). Both in the United States and in Canada, the new Anglican churches developed novel models of self-government, collective decision-making, and self-supported financing; that would be consistent with separation of religious and secular identities. In the following century, two further factors acted to accelerate
9063-663: The Canadian and American models. However, the case of John Colenso , Bishop of Natal , reinstated in 1865 by the English Judicial Committee of the Privy Council over the heads of the Church in South Africa, demonstrated acutely that the extension of episcopacy had to be accompanied by a recognised Anglican ecclesiology of ecclesiastical authority, distinct from secular power. Consequently, at
9222-434: The Catholic Church does not regard itself as a party or strand within the universal church – but rather identifies itself as the universal church. Moreover, Sykes criticises the proposition, implicit in theories of via media , that there is no distinctive body of Anglican doctrines, other than those of the universal church; accusing this of being an excuse not to undertake systematic doctrine at all. Contrariwise, Sykes notes
9381-634: The Celtic churches operated independently of the Pope's authority, as a result of their isolated development in the British Isles. In what is known as the Gregorian mission , Pope Gregory I sent Augustine of Canterbury to the British Isles in AD 596, with the purpose of evangelising the pagans there (who were largely Anglo-Saxons ), as well as to reconcile the Celtic churches in the British Isles to
9540-631: The Church." After Roman troops withdrew from Britain , the "absence of Roman military and governmental influence and overall decline of Roman imperial political power enabled Britain and the surrounding isles to develop distinctively from the rest of the West. A new culture emerged around the Irish Sea among the Celtic peoples with Celtic Christianity at its core. What resulted was a form of Christianity distinct from Rome in many traditions and practices." The historian Charles Thomas , in addition to
9699-715: The Confessor as a hostage in 1051 and soon afterwards became a prisoner of William the Conqueror , remained in captivity in Normandy. Edith was therefore the only senior member of the Godwin family to survive the Norman conquest on English soil, the sons of Harold having fled to Ireland. After Edward's death, Edith read the lives of English saints and gave information about St Kenelm to his hagiographer, Goscelin . She died at Winchester on 18 December 1075. Matthew Paris records
SECTION 60
#17327723048659858-444: The Confessor. A chorister, Charles Taylour, pulled a cross on a chain out of the coffin and gave it to the king, who then gave it to the Pope. Its whereabouts are unknown. At the end of the 17th century, the architect Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey's first Surveyor of the Fabric . He began a project to restore the exterior of the church, which was continued by his successor, William Dickinson . After over two hundred years,
10017-402: The Coronation Chair and many of the abbey's records were moved out of the city, and the Stone of Scone was buried. In 1941, on the night of 10 May and the early morning of 11 May, the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs. Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and the abbey's own fire-watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church,
10176-441: The English Established Church , there is no need for a description; it is simply the Church of England, though the word Protestant is used in many legal acts specifying the succession to the Crown and qualifications for office. When the Union with Ireland Act created the United Church of England and Ireland, it is specified that it shall be one "Protestant Episcopal Church", thereby distinguishing its form of church government from
10335-451: The English thegns refused to enforce the order. Morcar was confirmed as earl and Tostig forced into exile. Upon Edward's death (5 January 1066), he was succeeded by Edith's brother, Harold Godwinson . At the Battle of Stamford Bridge (25 September 1066) and the Battle of Hastings (14 October 1066), Edith lost four of her remaining brothers ( Tostig , Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine ). Her brother Wulfnoth , who had been given to Edward
10494-419: The English Reformation, and the chapels were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments. In the north ambulatory are the Islip Chapel, the Nurses' Memorial Chapel (sometimes called the Nightingale Chapel), the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew, the Chapel of St John the Baptist, and St Paul's Chapel. The Islip Chapel is named after Abbot John Islip , who commissioned it in the 16th century. The screen inside
10653-401: The English Reformation, it was used to store state records until they were moved to the Public Record Office in 1863. It was restored by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. The entrance is approached from the east cloister via outer and inner vestibules , and the ceiling becomes higher as a visitor approaches the chapter house. It is an octagonal room with a central pillar, built with
10812-553: The English bishop Lancelot Andrewes and the Lutheran dissident Georg Calixtus . Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as "containing all things necessary for salvation" and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith. Reason and tradition are seen as valuable means to interpret scripture (a position first formulated in detail by Richard Hooker ), but there is no full mutual agreement among Anglicans about exactly how scripture, reason, and tradition interact (or ought to interact) with each other. Anglicans understand
10971-413: The Gothic style of the abbey with the Baroque style fashionable during his lifetime. The modern Westminster Abbey is largely based on French Gothic styles, especially those found at Reims Cathedral , rather than the contemporaneous English Gothic styles. For example, the English Gothic style favours large and elaborate towers, while Westminster Abbey did not have any towers until the 18th century. It
11130-408: The Henry VII Chapel and not reburied in the intervening 150 years. Pepys leaned into the coffin and kissed her on the mouth, writing "This was my birthday, thirty-six years old and I did first kiss a queen." She has since been re-interred close to her husband, Henry V. In 1685, during preparations for the coronation of James II , a workman accidentally put a scaffolding pole through the coffin of Edward
11289-442: The Latin name lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of prayer is the law of belief"). Within the prayer books are the fundamentals of Anglican doctrine: the Apostles' and Nicene creeds, the Athanasian Creed (now rarely used), the scriptures (via the lectionary), the sacraments, daily prayer, the catechism , and apostolic succession in the context of the historic threefold ministry. For some low-church and evangelical Anglicans,
11448-484: The Orthodox Churches) historically arising out of the common tradition of the earliest ecumenical councils . Newman himself subsequently rejected his theory of the via media , as essentially historicist and static and hence unable to accommodate any dynamic development within the church. Nevertheless, the aspiration to ground Anglican identity in the writings of the 17th-century divines and in faithfulness to
11607-714: The Prayer Book is still acknowledged as one of the ties that bind Anglicans together. According to legend, the founding of Christianity in Britain is commonly attributed to Joseph of Arimathea and is commemorated at Glastonbury Abbey . Many of the early Church Fathers wrote of the presence of Christianity in Roman Britain , with Tertullian stating "those parts of Britain into which the Roman arms had never penetrated were become subject to Christ". Saint Alban , who
11766-594: The Presbyterian polity that prevails in the Church of Scotland . The word Episcopal ("of or pertaining to bishops") is preferred in the title of the Episcopal Church (the province of the Anglican Communion covering the United States) and the Scottish Episcopal Church , though the full name of the former is The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America . Elsewhere, however,
11925-524: The Pyx , when newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards. The chapter house and Pyx Chamber are in the guardianship of English Heritage , but under the care and management of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy , and identity of the Church of England following
12084-561: The Roses , Elizabeth Woodville , the wife of Edward IV , took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed, and gave birth to Edward V in the abbot's house. In 1495, building work finally reached the end of the nave, finishing with the west window. Under Henry VII , the 13th-century Lady chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular Gothic style ; it is known as the Henry VII Chapel . Work began in 1503 and
12243-574: The Saxon kings of England in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Edith was crowned queen. The marriage produced no children. Later ecclesiastical writers claimed that this was either because Edward took a vow of celibacy, or because he refused to consummate the marriage because of his antipathy to Edith's family, the Godwins. However, this is dismissed by modern historians. In the view of Edward's biographer, Frank Barlow , "the theory that Edward's childlessness
12402-613: The Tractarians, and to their revived ritual practices, introduced a stream of bills in parliament aimed to control innovations in worship. This only made the dilemma more acute, with consequent continual litigation in the secular and ecclesiastical courts. Over the same period, Anglican churches engaged vigorously in Christian missions , resulting in the creation, by the end of the century, of over ninety colonial bishoprics, which gradually coalesced into new self-governing churches on
12561-550: The abbey owned estates across southeast England, including in Middlesex , Hertfordshire , Essex , Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire . The abbot was also the lord of the manor in Westminster, as a town of two to three thousand people grew around the abbey. As a consumer and employer on a grand scale, the abbey helped fuel the town's economy, and relations with the town remained unusually cordial, but no enfranchising charter
12720-513: The abbey was officially granted exemption from the Bishop of London 's jurisdiction, making it answerable only to the head of the Church itself. By this time, the abbey owned a large swath of land around it, from modern-day Oxford Street to the Thames, plus entire parishes in the City of London , such as St Alban, Wood Street and St Magnus the Martyr , as well as several wharfs. Outside London,
12879-618: The abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556. Money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to St Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral ; this led to an association with the already-old saying " robbing Peter to pay Paul ". The abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under the Catholic Mary I , but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as
13038-424: The abbey's two western towers were built in the 1740s in a Gothic– Baroque style by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James . On 11 November 1760, the funeral of George II was held at the abbey, and the king was interred next to his late wife, Caroline of Ansbach . He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle. He was the last monarch to be buried in
13197-407: The abbey. Around the same time, the tomb of Richard II developed a hole through which visitors could put their hands. Several of his bones went missing, including a jawbone which was taken by a boy from Westminster School and kept by his family until 1906, when it was returned to the abbey. In the 1830s, the screen dividing the nave from the choir, which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor,
13356-461: The abbot at Westminster Abbey. In 1303, the small crypt underneath the chapter house was broken into and a great deal of the king's treasure was stolen. It was thought that the thieves must have been helped by the abbey monks, fifty of whom were subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London . From 1376, Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton and Richard II donated large sums to finish the church. The remainder of
13515-464: The ambulatory, which is typical of a French Gothic style. However, there are also distinctively English elements, such as the use of materials of contrasting colours, as with the Purbeck marble and white stone in the crossing. The northern entrance has three porches, with the central one featuring an elaborately-carved tympanum , leading it to acquire the nickname " Solomon 's porch" as a reference to
13674-701: The basis for the modern country of Canada) were each reconstituted into autonomous churches with their own bishops and self-governing structures; these were known as the American Episcopal Church and the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada . Through the expansion of the British Empire and the activity of Christian missions , this model was adopted as the model for many newly formed churches, especially in Africa, Australasia , and
13833-485: The change was mostly political, done in order to allow for the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage, the English Church under Henry VIII continued to maintain Catholic doctrines and liturgical celebrations of the sacraments despite its separation from Rome. With little exception, Henry VIII allowed no changes during his lifetime. Under King Edward VI (1547–1553), however, the church in England first began to undergo what
13992-685: The chapter house and the Henry VII Chapel, and contains a lift shaft and spiral staircase to allow public access to the triforium, which contains the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. The tower has a star-shaped floorplan and leaded windows with an elaborate crown rooftop. The lift shaft inside is faced with 16 kinds of stone from the abbey's history, including Purbeck marble, Reigate stone, and Portland stone . The project took five years and cost £22.9 million. The galleries were designed by McInnes Usher McKnight. The church's interior has Purbeck marble piers and shafting. The roof vaulting
14151-502: The choir aisles, shields of donors to the 13th- and 14th-century rebuilding are carved and painted in the spandrels of the arcade . At the eastern end of the nave is a large screen separating the nave from the choir, made of 13th-century stone, reworked by Edward Blore in 1834, and with paintwork and gilding by Bower in the 1960s. Behind the main altar is the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor . Saints' shrines were once common in English medieval churches, but most were destroyed during
14310-402: The cloisters is a cellarium formerly used by the monks to store food and wine; in modern times, it is the abbey café. The north cloister and northern end of the east cloister, closest to the church, are the oldest; they date to c. 1250 , whereas the rest are from 1352 to 1366. The abbey also contains a Little Cloister, on the site of the monks' infirmary. The Little Cloister dates from
14469-418: The coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down, and monks hid his bones to save them from destruction. The monastery was dissolved and the building became the cathedral for the newly created Diocese of Westminster . The abbot, William Benson, became dean of the cathedral, while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve newly created canons . The Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550, but
14628-402: The construction of a corona would not be continued. The Cosmati pavement underwent a major cleaning and restoration programme for two years, beginning in 2008. On 17 September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey when he participated in a service of evening prayer with archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams . On 29 April 2011, the abbey hosted
14787-478: The deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged, and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed, leaving the abbey open to the sky. The cost of the damage was estimated at £135,000. Some damage can still be seen in the RAF Chapel , where a small hole in the wall was created by a bomb that fell outside the chapel. No one was killed, and the abbey continued to hold services throughout
14946-423: The development of a distinct Anglican identity. From 1828 and 1829, Dissenters and Catholics could be elected to the House of Commons , which consequently ceased to be a body drawn purely from the established churches of Scotland, England, and Ireland; but which nevertheless, over the following ten years, engaged in extensive reforming legislation affecting the interests of the English and Irish churches; which, by
15105-641: The dominant influence in Britain as in all of western Europe, Anglican Christianity has continued to have a distinctive quality because of its Celtic heritage." The Church in England remained united with Rome until the English Parliament, though the Act of Supremacy (1534) declared King Henry VIII to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England to fulfill the "English desire to be independent from continental Europe religiously and politically." As
15264-680: The duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina ("Long live the King/Queen") during the coronation of a new monarch. In the modern day, the dean of Westminster Abbey remains the chair of the school governors. In the early 17th century, the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen who produced the King James Version of the Bible. They used the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbey for their meetings. The First Company
15423-454: The earliest of an English king, on display near the west door. Building work was not fully complete for many years. Henry V , disappointed with the abbey's unfinished state, gave extra funds towards the rebuilding. In his will, he left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb; the chapel can be seen from ground level. Between 1470 and 1471, because of fallout from the Wars of
15582-528: The east end of the church, is a typical example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture; antiquarian John Leland called it orbis miraculum ("the wonder of the world"). The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people , many prominent in British history: monarchs, prime ministers , poets laureate , actors, musicians, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior . Due to the fame of
15741-583: The end of the 17th century and contains a small garden with a fountain in the centre. A passageway from the Little Cloister leads to College Garden , which has been in continuous use for 900 years, beginning as the medicine garden for the monks of the abbey and now overlooked by canons' houses and the dormitory for Westminster School . The newest part of the abbey is the Weston Tower, finished in 2018 and designed by Ptolemy Dean . It sits between
15900-447: The entire eastern end, the transepts , and the easternmost bay of the nave . The Lady chapel , built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end, was incorporated into the chevet of the new building. Part of the new building included a rich shrine and chapel to Edward the Confessor, of which the base only still stands. The golden shrine with its jewelled figures no longer exists. 4,000 marks (about £5,800) for this work came from
16059-742: The estate of David of Oxford, the husband of Licoricia of Winchester , and a further £2,500 came from a forced contribution from Licoricia herself, by far the biggest single donation at that time. Around 1253, Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester, who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260. During the summer, there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time, including stonecutters, marblers, stone-layers, carpenters, painters and their assistants, marble polishers, smiths, glaziers, plumbers, and general labourers. From 1257, Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey's chapter house ; these assemblies were
16218-447: The figures buried there, artist William Morris described the abbey as a "National Valhalla ". Historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to Saint Peter on the site prior to the 11th century, though its exact origin is somewhat obscure. One legend claims that it was founded by the Saxon king Sæberht of Essex , and another claims that its founder was the fictional 2nd-century British king Lucius . One tradition claims that
16377-570: The final decision maker, "led to the acceptance of Roman usage elsewhere in England and brought the English Church into close contact with the Continent". As a result of assuming Roman usages, the Celtic Church surrendered its independence, and, from this point on, the Church in England "was no longer purely Celtic, but became Anglo-Roman-Celtic". The theologian Christopher L. Webber writes that "Although "the Roman form of Christianity became
16536-448: The forms of Anglican services were in doubt, since the Prayer Book rites of Matins , Evensong , and Holy Communion all included specific prayers for the British royal family. Consequently, the conclusion of the War of Independence eventually resulted in the creation of two new Anglican churches, the Episcopal Church in the United States in those states that had achieved independence; and in
16695-417: The future. Maurice saw the Protestant and Catholic strands within the Church of England as contrary but complementary, both maintaining elements of the true church, but incomplete without the other; such that a true catholic and evangelical church might come into being by a union of opposites. Central to Maurice's perspective was his belief that the collective elements of family, nation, and church represented
16854-451: The grid-iron on which she was roasted to death. The octagonal chapter house was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings, where they would hear a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict and receive their instructions for the day from the abbot. The chapter house was built between 1250 and 1259 and is one of the largest in Britain, measuring nearly 60 feet (18 m) across. For 300 years after
17013-630: The grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation. The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in Mass , such as vestments and chalices . Also on the site were hundreds of buried bodies, mostly of abbey monks. On 10 March 2021, a vaccination centre opened in Poets' Corner to administer doses of COVID-19 vaccines . The building is chiefly built in a Geometric Gothic style, using Reigate stone for facings. The church has an eleven-bay nave with aisles , transepts , and
17172-488: The historic episcopate . Within the Anglican tradition, "divines" are clergy of the Church of England whose theological writings have been considered standards for faith, doctrine, worship, and spirituality, and whose influence has permeated the Anglican Communion in varying degrees through the years. While there is no authoritative list of these Anglican divines, there are some whose names would likely be found on most lists – those who are commemorated in lesser feasts of
17331-423: The incompleteness of Anglicanism as a positive feature, and quotes with qualified approval the words of Michael Ramsey : For while the Anglican church is vindicated by its place in history, with a strikingly balanced witness to Gospel and Church and sound learning, its greater vindication lies in its pointing through its own history to something of which it is a fragment. Its credentials are its incompleteness, with
17490-466: The innumerable benefits obtained through the passion of Christ; the breaking of the bread, the blessing of the cup, and the partaking of the body and blood of Christ as instituted at the Last Supper . The consecrated bread and wine, which are considered by Anglican formularies to be the true body and blood of Christ in a spiritual manner and as outward symbols of an inner grace given by Christ which to
17649-473: The instigation of the bishops of Canada and South Africa, the first Lambeth Conference was called in 1867; to be followed by further conferences in 1878 and 1888, and thereafter at ten-year intervals. The various papers and declarations of successive Lambeth Conferences have served to frame the continued Anglican debate on identity, especially as relating to the possibility of ecumenical discussion with other churches. This ecumenical aspiration became much more of
17808-400: The last century, there are also places where practices and beliefs resonate more closely with the evangelical movements of the 1730s (see Sydney Anglicanism ). For high-church Anglicans, doctrine is neither established by a magisterium , nor derived from the theology of an eponymous founder (such as Calvinism ), nor summed up in a confession of faith beyond the ecumenical creeds , such as
17967-456: The legendary temple in Jerusalem . The abbey retains its 13th- and 14th-century cloisters , which would have been one of the busiest parts of the church when it was part of a monastery. The west cloister was used for the teaching of novice monks, the north for private study. The south cloister led to the refectory , and the east to the chapter house and dormitory. In the southwest corner of
18126-406: The main structure was completed by 1509, although decorative work continued for several years afterwards. Henry's original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor, as he planned on having Henry VI canonised. The Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to proclaim Henry VI a saint; Henry VII was unwilling to pay
18285-641: The meeting of primates , and is the president of the Anglican Consultative Council . Some churches that are not part of the Anglican Communion or recognised by it also call themselves Anglican, including those that are within the Continuing Anglican movement and Anglican realignment . Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible , traditions of the apostolic church, apostolic succession ("historic episcopate"), and
18444-407: The mid-19th century revived and extended doctrinal, liturgical, and pastoral practices similar to those of Roman Catholicism. This extends beyond the ceremony of high church services to even more theologically significant territory, such as sacramental theology (see Anglican sacraments ). While Anglo-Catholic practices, particularly liturgical ones, have become more common within the tradition over
18603-480: The more well-known and articulate Puritan movement and the Durham House Party, and the exact extent of continental Calvinism among the English elite and among the ordinary churchgoers from the 1560s to the 1620s are subjects of current and ongoing debate. In 1662, under King Charles II , a revised Book of Common Prayer was produced, which was acceptable to high churchmen as well as some Puritans and
18762-551: The most powerful earl in England. Her mother Gytha was sister of Ulf , a Danish earl who was Cnut the Great 's brother-in-law. She was probably born in or before 1027. Edith was originally named Gytha, but renamed Ealdgyth (or Edith) when she married King Edward the Confessor. Her brothers were Sweyn (c. 1020 – 1052), Harold (later King Harold II) (c. 1022 – 1066), Tostig (c. 1026 – 1066), Gyrth (c. 1030 – 1066), Leofwine (c. 1035 – 1066), and Wulfnoth (c. 1040 – 1094). Edith
18921-526: The murder of the Northumbrian noble Gospatrick in Tostig's interest. In 1065, Tostig was probably hunting with King Edward when the northerners rebelled and elected Morcar, Harold's brother-in-law, as earl. Tostig charged Harold with conspiring with the rebels, a charge which Harold purged himself of with a public oath. Edward demanded that the rebels be suppressed, but to his and Edith's fury, Harold and
19080-489: The old nave was pulled down and rebuilding commenced, with his mason Henry Yevele closely following the original design even though it was now more than 100 years out of date. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor's shrine for "divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting" before meeting the rebels at Smithfield . In the modern day, the abbey holds Richard's full-length portrait,
19239-400: The origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks was on the site by the mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor , who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III . The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar –
19398-485: The parameters of Anglican identity. Many Anglicans look to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 as the sine qua non of communal identity. In brief, the quadrilateral's four points are the scriptures as containing all things necessary to salvation; the creeds (specifically, the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds) as the sufficient statement of Christian faith; the dominical sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion ; and
19557-497: The rebuff, even going on to urge English churchmen not to kiss women, although they did not object to the custom. Edith lost four of her brothers in a very short span. Tostig died on 25 September 1066 during the Battle of Stamford Bridge . Three others – Harold, Gyrth, and Leofwine – all died less than three weeks later on 14 October 1066, during the Battle of Hastings . Edith married Edward on 23 January 1045. Unlike most wives of
19716-553: The remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar. After Henry's death and burial in the abbey in 1272, construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor's old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century. In 1296, Edward I captured the Scottish coronation stone, the Stone of Scone . He had a Coronation Chair made to hold it, which he entrusted to
19875-494: The repentant convey forgiveness and cleansing from sin. While many Anglicans celebrate the Eucharist in similar ways to the predominant Latin Catholic tradition, a considerable degree of liturgical freedom is permitted, and worship styles range from simple to elaborate. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), the collection of services which worshippers in most Anglican churches have used for centuries. It
20034-515: The sacred and secular. Faith is thus regarded as incarnational and authority as dispersed. Amongst the early Anglican divines of the 16th and 17th centuries, the names of Thomas Cranmer , John Jewel , Matthew Parker , Richard Hooker , Lancelot Andrewes , and Jeremy Taylor predominate. The influential character of Hooker's Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity cannot be overestimated. Published in 1593 and subsequently, Hooker's eight-volume work
20193-575: The shaping of Anglican identity. The degree to which each of the articles has remained influential varies. On the doctrine of justification , for example, there is a wide range of beliefs within the Anglican Communion, with some Anglo-Catholics arguing for a faith with good works and the sacraments. At the same time, however, some evangelical Anglicans ascribe to the Reformed emphasis on sola fide ("faith alone") in their doctrine of justification (see Sydney Anglicanism ). Still other Anglicans adopt
20352-490: The site. At that time, the location was an island in the Thames called Thorney Island . This building has not survived, but archaeologists have found some pottery and foundations from this period on the abbey site. Between 1042 and 1052, Edward the Confessor began rebuilding Saint Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was built in the Romanesque style and was the first church in England built on
20511-416: The six signs of catholicity: baptism, Eucharist, the creeds, Scripture, an episcopal ministry, and a fixed liturgy (which could take a variety of forms in accordance with divinely ordained distinctions in national characteristics). This vision of a becoming universal church as a congregation of autonomous national churches proved highly congenial in Anglican circles; and Maurice's six signs were adapted to form
20670-428: The sum, and so instead he is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife, Elizabeth of York , rather than a large raised shrine like the Confessor. A view of the abbey dated 1532 shows a lantern tower above the crossing , but this is not shown in any later depiction. It is unlikely that the loss of this feature was caused by any catastrophic event: structural failure seems more likely. Other sources maintain that
20829-409: The tension and the travail of its soul. It is clumsy and untidy, it baffles neatness and logic. For it is not sent to commend itself as 'the best type of Christianity,' but by its very brokenness to point to the universal Church wherein all have died. The distinction between Reformed and Catholic, and the coherence of the two, is a matter of debate within the Anglican Communion. The Oxford Movement of
20988-418: The term Anglican Church came to be preferred as it distinguished these churches from others that maintain an episcopal polity . In its structures, theology, and forms of worship, Anglicanism emerged as a distinct Christian tradition representing a middle ground between Lutheran and Reformed varieties of Protestantism ; after the Oxford Movement , Anglicanism has often been characterized as representing
21147-485: The theology of Reformed churches with the services in the Book of Common Prayer (which drew extensively on the Sarum Rite native to England), under the leadership and organisation of a continuing episcopate. Over the years, these traditions themselves came to command adherence and loyalty. The Elizabethan Settlement stopped the radical Protestant tendencies under Edward VI by combining the more radical elements of
21306-514: The third-largest Christian communion in the world, after the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church , and the world's largest Protestant communion. These provinces are in full communion with the See of Canterbury and thus with the archbishop of Canterbury , whom the communion refers to as its primus inter pares ( Latin , 'first among equals'). The archbishop calls the decennial Lambeth Conference , chairs
21465-518: The traditional sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Mass . The Eucharist is central to worship for most Anglicans as a communal offering of prayer and praise in which the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are proclaimed through prayer, reading of the Bible, singing, giving God thanks over the bread and wine for
21624-463: The traditions of the Church Fathers reflects a continuing theme of Anglican ecclesiology, most recently in the writings of Henry Robert McAdoo . The Tractarian formulation of the theory of the via media between Protestantism and Catholicism was essentially a party platform, and not acceptable to Anglicans outside the confines of the Oxford Movement . However, this theory of the via media
21783-456: The war. When hostilities ceased, evacuated objects were returned to the abbey, 60,000 sandbags were moved out, and a new permanent roof was built over the crossing. Two different designs for a narthex (entrance hall) for the west front were produced by architects Edwin Lutyens and Edward Maufe during World War II, but neither was built. Because of its outstanding universal value, the abbey
21942-480: The work on the north porches and also reconstructed the northern rose window. The abbey saw "Prayers For Prisoners" suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914. Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting "God Save Mrs Pankhurst " and praying for suffragette prisoners. In one protest, a woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury . On 11 June 1914,
22101-422: The world in communion with the see of Canterbury but has come to sometimes be extended to any church following those traditions rather than actual membership in the Anglican Communion. Although the term Anglican is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. In British parliamentary legislation referring to
22260-731: The writings of the Church Fathers , as well as historically, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and The Books of Homilies . Anglicanism forms a branch of Western Christianity , having definitively declared its independence from the Holy See at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement . Many of the Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century correspond closely to those of historical Protestantism . These reforms were understood by one of those most responsible for them, Thomas Cranmer ,
22419-503: Was Queen of England through her marriage to Edward the Confessor from 1045 until Edward's death in 1066. Unlike most English queens in the 10th and 11th centuries, she was crowned. The principal source on her life is a work she herself commissioned, the Vita Ædwardi Regis or the Life of King Edward who rests at Westminster , which is inevitably biased. Edith was the daughter of Godwin ,
22578-411: Was consecrated on 28 December 1065, about a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church; nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold Godwinson , was probably crowned here, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year. The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey
22737-515: Was also a tendency to take polemically binary partitions of reality claimed by contestants studied (such as the dichotomies Protestant-"Popish" or " Laudian "-"Puritan") at face value. Since the late 1960s, these interpretations have been criticised. Studies on the subject written during the last forty-five years have, however, not reached any consensus on how to interpret this period in English church history. The extent to which one or several positions concerning doctrine and spirituality existed alongside
22896-522: Was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches, which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world. In 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer , the then archbishop of Canterbury . While it has since undergone many revisions and Anglican churches in different countries have developed other service books,
23055-429: Was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church . In 1997, the abbey, which was then receiving approximately 1.75 million visitors each year, began charging admission fees to visitors at the door (although a fee for entering the eastern half of the church had existed prior to 1600). In June 2009, the first major building work in 250 years
23214-446: Was due to deliberate abstention from sexual relations lacks authority, plausibility and diagnostic value." In 1051, Godwin and his sons fell out with Edward and fled the country. Edith was sent to a nunnery, possibly because she was childless and Edward hoped to divorce her. When the Godwins effected their return through force in 1052, Edith was reinstated as queen. In later years, she became one of Edward's inner group of advisers. In
23373-636: Was executed in AD 209, is the first Christian martyr in the British Isles. For this reason he is venerated as the British protomartyr . The historian Heinrich Zimmer writes that "Just as Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, so the British Church formed (during the fourth century) a branch of the Catholic Church of the West; and during the whole of that century, from the Council of Arles (316) onward, took part in all proceedings concerning
23532-458: Was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only for a body thought to be Cromwell's to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a gibbet at Tyburn . In 1669, the abbey was visited by the diarist Samuel Pepys , who saw the body of the 15th-century queen Catherine de Valois . She had been buried in the 13th-century Lady chapel in 1437, but was exhumed during building work for
23691-550: Was headed by the dean of the abbey, Lancelot Andrewes . In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own parliament . The Dean and Chapter fled the abbey at the outbreak of war, and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament. The abbey itself suffered damage during the war; altars, stained glass, the organ, and the Crown Jewels were damaged or destroyed. Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
23850-406: Was increasingly portrayed as the founding father of Anglicanism. Hooker's description of Anglican authority as being derived primarily from scripture, informed by reason (the intellect and the experience of God) and tradition (the practices and beliefs of the historical church), has influenced Anglican self-identity and doctrinal reflection perhaps more powerfully than any other formula. The analogy of
24009-642: Was issued during the Middle Ages . Westminster Abbey continued to be used as a coronation site, but after Edward the Confessor, no monarchs were buried there until Henry III began to rebuild it in the Gothic style . Henry III wanted it built as a shrine to venerate Edward, to match great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle , and as a burial place for himself and his family. Construction began on 6 July 1245 under Henry's master mason, Henry of Reynes. The first building stage included
24168-400: Was originally covered with pieces of coloured glass and stone, since picked off by generations of tourists. Above Henry V's tomb, at mezzanine level over the ambulatory , is a chantry chapel built by mason John Thirske and decorated with many sculpted figures (including Henry V riding a horse and being crowned in the abbey). At the western end, the shrine is separated from the main church by
24327-418: Was proposed. A corona – a crown-like architectural feature – was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s. This was part of a wider £23-million development of the abbey completed in 2013. On 4 August 2010, the Dean and Chapter announced that, "after a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward
24486-425: Was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore . The screen contains the monuments to the scientist Isaac Newton and the military general James Stanhope . Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under the architect George Gilbert Scott , who rebuilt sections of the chapter house and north porches, and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing. His successor, J. L. Pearson , finished
24645-418: Was reworked in the ecclesiological writings of Frederick Denison Maurice , in a more dynamic form that became widely influential. Both Maurice and Newman saw the Church of England of their day as sorely deficient in faith; but whereas Newman had looked back to a distant past when the light of faith might have appeared to burn brighter, Maurice looked forward to the possibility of a brighter revelation of faith in
24804-433: Was still in perfect condition. This was considered proof of his saintliness, and he was canonised in 1161. Two years later he was moved to a new shrine, during which time his ring was removed and placed in the abbey's collection. The abbey became more closely associated with royalty from the second half of the 12th century, as kings increasingly used the nearby Palace of Westminster as the seat of their governments. In 1222,
24963-459: Was the undercroft of the monks' dormitory. Dating to the late 11th century, it was used as a monastic and royal treasury. The outer walls and circular piers also date to the 11th century; several capitals were enriched in the 12th century, and the stone altar was added in the 13th century. The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of
25122-776: Was the firstborn of Godwin's three daughters, which included her sisters Gunhild (or Gunhilda) (c. 1035 – 1080) and Ælfgifu (c. 1035 – ?). The exact birthdates of the Godwin children are unknown, but Sweyn was the firstborn and Harold was the second son. Harold was aged about 25 in 1045, which makes his birth date around 1020. Edith was brought up at Wilton Abbey . She was an educated woman who spoke several languages including English, Danish, French, Irish, and Latin, skills she probably acquired at Wilton. She remained attached to it, and in later years rebuilt its church. Her niece Gunhild of Wessex would also be educated at Wilton. The Vita Edwardi emphasised her piety. She helped Giso ,
25281-414: Was the richest woman in England, and the fourth wealthiest individual after the king, Stigand (the Archbishop of Canterbury ), and her brother Harold . She held land valued at between £1,570 and £2,000 per annum. She was close to her brother Tostig , and in 1055 she and Harold secured his appointment as Earl of Northumbria . His rule was unpopular, and in 1064 Edith was accused at court of engineering
#864135