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The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to as '''Westminster Abbey''', is a mainly Gothic Church , on the scale of a Cathedral , in Westminster , London , just to the west of the Palace Of Westminster . It is the traditional place of Coronation and Burial Site for English Monarchs . HISTORY According to Tradition a shrine was first founded in 616 on the present site, then known as Thorney Island ; it was said to have been miraculously consecrated after a fisherman on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter , and for many centuries the monks received presents of salmon from the Thames fishermen. While the existence of this shrine is uncertain, there was certainly a community of Benedictine Monk s before the first historic Abbey was built by King Edward The Confessor around 1045 – 1050 . Its construction originated in King Edward's failure to keep a vow to go on a Pilgrimage ; the Pope agreed that he redeem himself by building a church to St. Peter. It was consecrated on December 28 , 1065 , immediately before the Confessor's funeral and the last Saxon coronation of his successor King Harold . The only extant depiction of the original Abbey , in the Romanesque style that is called "Norman" in England, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry . The Confessor's shrine subsequently played a great part in his canonisation. The Abbot and learned monks, in close proximity to the royal Palace of Westminster, became a powerful force in the centuries after the Norman Conquest: the Abbot was often employed on royal service and in due course took his place in the House of Lords as of right. Henry III ordered the rebuilding of the Abbey in the Gothic style, as a shrine to honour Edward the Confessor and as a suitably regal setting for Henry's own tomb, under the highest Gothic nave in England. The work continued between 1245 - 1517 and was largely finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of King Richard II . Henry VII added a Perpendicular Style chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the '' Henry VII Chapel ''). Although the Abbey was seized by Henry VIII in 1534 during the Dissolution Of The Monasteries , and closed in 1540 , becoming a cathedral until 1550 , its royal connections saved it from the destruction wrought on most other English abbeys. The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may arise from this period when money meant for the Abbey, which was dedicated to St Peter , was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral . It suffered damage during the turbulent 1640s , when it was attacked by Puritan Iconoclasts , but was again protected by its close ties to the state during the Commonwealth period. Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658 , only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gibbet. The Abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Queen Mary , but they were again ejected under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 . In 1579 , Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a " Royal Peculiar " — a church responsible directly to the Sovereign , rather than to a diocesan bishop — and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter, (that is a church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean). The last Abbot was made the first Dean. The abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor , constructed from Portland Stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th Century under Sir George Gilbert Scott . Until the 19th century, Westminster was the third seat of learning in England, after Oxford and Cambridge . It was here that the first third of the King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated. The New English Bible was also put together here in the 20th Century . CORONATIONS Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William The Conqueror , all English monarchs (except Lady Jane Grey , Edward V and Edward VIII , who did not have coronations) have been crowned in the Abbey. The Archbishop Of Canterbury is the traditional Cleric in the Coronation ceremony. St Edward's Chair , the throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the Abbey; from 1296 to 1996 the chair also housed the Stone Of Scone upon which the kings of Scotland are crowned, but pending another coronation the Stone is now kept in Scotland. BURIALS AND MEMORIALS formed by Flying Buttress es]] Henry III rebuilt the Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward The Confessor whose memorial and relics were placed in the Sanctuary. Henry III was buried nearby as were the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and relatives. Subsequently, most Kings and Queens of England were buried here, although Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St George's Chapel , Windsor Castle , as are all monarchs and royals since George II . In 2005 the original ancient burial tomb of Edward The Confessor was discovered, beneath the 1268 Cosmati mosaic pavement, in front of the High Altar. A series of royal tombs dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries was also discovered using Ground-penetrating Radar . Aristocrats were buried in side chapels and monks and people associated with the Abbey were buried in the Cloisters and other areas. One of these was Geoffrey Chaucer , who was buried here as he had apartments in the Abbey where he was employed as master of the Kings Works. Other poets were buried around Chaucer in what became known as Poets' Corner . Abbey musicians such as Henry Purcell were also buried in their place of work. Subsequently it became an honour to be buried or memorialised here. The practice spread from aristocrats and poets to generals, admirals, politicians, scientists, doctors, etc., etc. These include: Buried , by Canaletto , 1749]] Nave
North Transept South Transept '' Poets' Corner ''
Cloisters North Choir Aisle Commemorated
Removed The following were buried in the abbey but later removed on the orders of Charles II : SCHOOLS Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School are also on the grounds of the Abbey. Westminster School was originally founded by the Benedictine monks in 1179 . TRANSPORT
CHAPTER The Abbey is a collegiate church organised into the College of St Peter, which comprises the Dean and four residentiary Canons (one of whom is also Rector of St Margaret's Church, Westminster , and Speaker's Chaplain), and seventeen other persons who are members ex officio, as well as twelve Lay Vicars and ten choristers. The seventeen are the Receiver-General and Chapter Clerk , the Registrar , the Auditor , the Legal Secretary and the Clerk Of The Works (the administrative officers). Those more directly concerned with liturgical and ceremonial operations include the Precentor , the Chaplain and Sacrist , the Organist, and the (honorary) High Steward and High Bailiff . The Abbey and its property is in the care of the Librarian, the Keeper of the Muniments, and the Surveyor of the Fabric. Lastly, the educational role of the Abbey is reflected in the presence of the Headmaster of the Choir School, the Headmaster and Under Master of Westminster School , and the Master of The Queen's Scholars. The Abbey is governed by the Dean and Chapter established under the Elizabethan statute of 1560. This consists of the Dean and the four residentiary Canons. LIST OF ABBOTS, DEANS, AND THE BISHOP OF WESTMINSTER GALLERY |