resteth in this his new chapel, was made and finished in the year 1519
by one Peter, a painter of Florence; for the which he received one
thousand pounds sterling for the whole stuff and workmanship at the
hands of the king’s executors; Richard, bishop of Winchester; Richard,
bishop of London; Thomas, bishop of Durham; John, bishop of Rochester;
Thomas, duke of Norfolk, treasurer of England; Charles, earl of
Worcester, the king’s chamberlain; John Fineaux, knight, chief justice
of the King’s bench; Robert Reade, knight, chief justice of the Common
Pleas.
This monastery being valued to dispend by the year three thousand four
hundred and seventy pounds, etc., was surrendered to Henry VIII. in
the year 1539. Benson, then abbot, was made the first dean, and not
long after it was advanced to a bishop’s see in the year 1541. Thomas
Thirlby being both the first and last bishop there, who, when he had
impoverished the church, was translated to Norwich in the year 1550, the
4th of Edward VI., and from thence to Elie in the year 1554, the 2nd of
Queen Mary. Richard Cox, doctor in divinity (late schoolmaster to King
Edward VI.), was made dean of Westminster, whom Queen Mary put out, and
made Doctor Wonest dean until the year 1556, and then he being removed
from thence on the 21st of November, John Feckenham (late dean of
Pauls) was made abbot of Westminster, and took possession of the same,
being installed, and fourteen monks more received the habit with him
that day of the order of St. Benedict; but the said John Feckenham, with
his monks, enjoyed not that place fully three years, for in the year
1559, in the month of July, they were all put out, and Queen Elizabeth
made the said monastery a college, instituting there a dean, twelve
prebends, a schoolmaster, and usher, forty scholars, called commonly the
Queen’s scholars, twelve alms men; and so it was named the Collegiate
church of Westminster, founded by Queen Elizabeth, who placed Doctor
Bill,[294] first dean of that new erection; after whom succeeded Doctor
Gabriel Goodman, who governed that church forty years, and after Doctor
Lancelot Andrewes.
Kings and queens crowned in this church: William, surnamed the
Conqueror, and Matilde his wife, were the first, and since them all
other kings and queens of this realm have been there crowned.
Kings and queens buried in this church are these: Sebert, king of the
East Saxons, with his wife Athelgede; Harold, surnamed Harefoot, king of
the West Saxons; Edward the Simple, surnamed Confessor, sometime richly
shrined in a tomb of silver and gold, curiously wrought by commandment
of William the Conqueror; Egitha his wife was there buried also;
Hugolyn, chamberlain to Edward the Confessor; King Henry III., whose
sepulture was richly garnished with precious stones of jasper, which his
son Edward I. brought out of France for that purpose; Eleanor, wife to
Henry III.; Edward I., who offered to the shrine of Edward the Confessor
the chair of marble, wherein the kings of Scotland were crowned, with
the sceptre and crown, also to the same king belonging.
He gave also to that church lands to the value of one hundred pounds by
the year; twenty pounds thereof yearly to be distributed to the poor
for ever. Then there lieth Eleanor, his wife, daughter to Ferdinando,
king of Castile, 1293; Edward III. by Queen Philippa of Henault his
wife; Richard II. and Anne his wife, with their images upon them, which
cost more than four hundred marks for the gilding; Henry V., with a
royal image of silver and gilt, which Katherine his wife caused to be
laid upon him, but the head of this image being of massy silver, is
broken off, and conveyed away with the plates of silver and gilt that
covered his body; Katherine, his wife, was buried in the old Lady
chapel 1438, but her corpse being taken up in the reign of Henry VII.,
when a new foundation was to be laid, she was never since buried, but
remaineth above ground in a coffin of boards behind the east end of
the presbytery; Henry VII. in a sumptuous sepulture and chapel before
specified, and Elizabeth his wife; Edward VI. in the same chapel,
without any monument; Queen Mary, without any monument, in the same
chapel; Matilde, daughter to Malcolm, king of Scots, wife to Henry I.,
died 1118, lieth in the revestry; Anne, wife to Richard III.; Margaret,
countess of Richmond and Darby, mother to Henry VII.; Anne of Cleves,
wife to Henry VIII.; Edmond, second son to Henry III., first earl of
Lancaster, Darby, and Leycester, and Aveline his wife, daughter and heir
to William de Fortibus, earl of Albemarle. In St. Thomas’ chapel lie the
bones of the children of Henry III. and of Edward I., in number nine.
In the chapter-house,--Elianor, countess of Barre, daughter to Edward
I.; William of Windsor, and Blaunch his sister, children to Edward III.;
John of Eltham, earl of Cornewell, son to Edward II.; Elianor, wife to
Thomas of Woodstocke, duke of Gloucester; Thomas of Woodstocke by King
Edward III. his father; Margaret, daughter to Edward IV.; Elizabeth,
daughter to Henry VII.; William de Valence, earl of Pembroke; Aymer
de Valence, earl of Pembroke; Margaret and John, son and daughter to
William de Valence; John Waltham, bishop of Sarum, treasurer of England;
Thomas Ruthal, bishop of Durham, 1522; Giles, Lord Dawbeny,[295]
lord lieutenant of Callis, chamberlain to King Henry VII., 1508, and
Elizabeth his wife, of the family of the Arundels in Cornwal, 1500;
John, Viscount Wells, 1498; the Lady Katherine, daughter to the duchess
of Norfolk; Sir Thomas Hungerford, knight, father to Sir John Hungerford
of Downampney, knight; a son and daughter to Humfrey Bohun, earl of
Hereford and Essex, and Elizabeth his wife; Philippa, duchess of York,
daughter to the Lord Mohun, thrice married, to the Lord Fitzwalter, Sir
John Golofer, and to the duke of Yorke; William Dudley, bishop elect
of Durham, son to John, baron of Dudley; Nicholas, Baron Carew, 1470;
Walter Hungerford, son to Edward Hungerford, knight; Sir John Burley,
knight, and Anne his wife, daughter to Alane Buxull, knight, 1416; Sir
John Golofer, knight, 1396; Humfrey Burcher, Lord Cromwell, son to
Bourchier, earl of Essex, slain at Barnet; Henry Bourchier, son and
heir to John Bourchier, Lord Barners, also slain at Barnet, 1471; Sir
William Trussell, knight; Sir Thomas Vaughan, knight; Frances Brandon,
duchess of Suffolke, 1560; Mary Gray, her daughter, 1578; Sir John
Hampden, knight; Sir Lewis, Viscount Robsart, knight; Lord Bourchere of
Henalt, 1430, and his wife, daughter and heir to the Lord Bourchere;
Robert Brown, and William Browne, esquires; the Lady Johane Tokyne,
daughter of Dabridge Court; George Mortimer, bastard; John Felbye,
esquire; Ann, wife to John Watkins; William Southwike, esquire; William
Southcot, esquire; Ralph Constantine, gentleman; Arthur Troffote,
esquire; Robert Hawley, esquire, slain in that church; Sir Richarde
Rouse, knight; Sir Geffrey Maundevile, earl of Essex, and Athelarde
his wife; Sir Foulke of Newcastle; Sir James Barons, knight; Sir John
Salisbury, knight; Margaret Dowglas, countess of Lennox, with Charles
her son, earl of Lennox; Henrie Scogan, a learned poet, in the cloister;
Geffrey Chaucer, the most famous poet of England, also in the cloister,
1400, but since Nicholas Brigham, gentleman, raised a monument for him
in the south cross aisle of the church: his works were partly published
in print by William Caxton, in the reign of Henry VI., increased by
William Thinne, esquire, in the reign of Henry VIII.; corrected and
twice increased, through mine own painful labours, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, to wit, in the year 1561; and again beautified with notes by
me, collected out of divers records and monuments, which I delivered to
my loving friend, Thomas Speght; and he having drawn the same into a
good form and method, as also explained the old and obscure words, etc.,
hath published them in anno 1597.
Anne Stanhope, duchess of Somerset, and Jane her daughter; Anne Cecill,
countess of Oxford, daughter to the Lord Burghley, with Mildred Burghley
her mother; Elizabeth Barkley, countess of Ormond; Frances Sidney,
countess of Sussex; Francis Howard, countess of Hertford, 1598; Thomas,
Baron Wentworth; Thomas, Baron Warton; John, Lord Russell; Sir Thomas
Bromley, lord chancellor; Sir John Puckering, lord keeper; Sir Henry
Cary, Lord Hunsdon, and lord chamberlain, 1596, to whose memory his son,
Sir George Cary, Lord Hunsdon, and lord chamberlain, hath created a
stately monument.
This church hath had great privilege of sanctuary within the precinct
thereof, to wit, the church, churchyard, and close, etc.; from whence
it hath not been lawful for any prince or other to take any person that
fled thither for any cause: which privilege was first granted by Sebert,
king of the East Saxons, since increased by Edgar, king of the West
Saxons, renewed and confirmed by King Edward the Confessor, as appeareth
by this his charter following:
“Edward, by the grace of God, king of Englishmen: I make it to be known
to all generations of the world after me, that by speciall commandement
of our holy father, Pope Leo, I have renewed and honored the holy
church of the blessed apostle St. Peter, of Westminster; and I order
and establish for ever, that what person, of what condition or estate
soever he be, from whence soever he come, or for what offence or cause
it be, either for his refuge into the said holy place, he be assured of
his life, liberty, and limbs. And over this I forbid, under the paine of
everlasting damnation, that no minister of mine, or of my successors,
intermeddle them with any the goods, lands, or possessions of the said
persons taking the said sanctuary; for I have taken their goodes and
livelode into my special protection, and therefore I grant to every each
of them, in as much as my terrestriall power may suffice, all maner
freedom of joyous libertie; and whosoever presumes or doth contrary to
this my graunt, I will hee lose his name, worship, dignity, and power,
and that with the great traytor Judas that betraied our Saviour, he be
in the everlasting fire of hell; and I will and ordayne that this my
graunt endure as long as there remayneth in England eyther love or dread
of Christian name.”
More of this sanctuary ye may read in our histories, and also in the
statute of Henry VIII., the 32nd year.
The parish church of St. Margaret, sometime within the abbey, was
by Edward the Confessor removed, and built without, for ease of the
monks. This church continued till the days of Edward I., at which time
the merchants of the staple and parishioners of Westminster built it
all of new, the great chancel excepted, which was built by the abbots
of Westminster; and this remaineth now a fair parish church, though
sometime in danger of down pulling. In the south aisle of this church is
a fair marble monument of Dame Mary Billing, the heir of Robert Nesenham
of Conington, in Huntingdonshire, first married to William Cotton, to
whose issue her inheritance alone descended, remaining with Robert
Cotton at this day, heir of her and her first husband’s family; her
second husband was Sir Thomas Billing, chief justice of England; and her
last, whom likewise she buried, was Thomas Lacy; erecting this monument
to the memory of her three husbands, with whose arms she hath garnished
it, and for her own burial, wherein she was interred in the year 1499.
Next to this famous monastery is the king’s principal palace, of what
antiquity it is uncertain; but Edward the Confessor held his court
there, as may appear by the testimony of sundry, and, namely, of
Ingulphus, as I have before told you. The said king had his palace, and
for the most part remained there; where he also so ended his life, and
was buried in the monastery which he had built. It is not to be doubted
but that King William I., as he was crowned there, so he built much at
his palace, for he found it far inferior to the building of princely
palaces in France: and it is manifest, by the testimony of many authors,
that William Rufus built the great hall there about the year of Christ
1097. Amongst others, Roger of Wendover and Mathew Paris do write, that
King William (being returned out of Normandy into England) kept his
feast of Whitsontide very royally at Westminster, in the new hall which
he had lately built; the length whereof (say some) was two hundred and
seventy feet, and seventy-four feet in breadth; and when he heard men
say that this hall was too great, he answered and said, “This hall is
not big enough by the one half, and is but a bed-chamber in comparison
of that I mean to make.” A diligent searcher (saith Paris) might find
out the foundation of the hall, which he was supposed to have built,
stretching from the river of Thames, even to the common highway.
This palace was repaired about the year 1163 by Thomas Becket,
chancellor of England, with exceeding great celerity and speed, which
before was ready to have fallen down. This hath been the principal seat
and palace of all the kings of England since the Conquest; for here have
they in the great hall kept their feasts of coronation especially, and
other solemn feasts, as at Christmas and such like, most commonly: for
proof whereof, I find recorded, that in the year 1236, and the 20th of
Henry, III., on the 29th of December, William de Haverhull, the king’s
treasurer, is commanded, that upon the day of circumcision of our Lord,
he caused six thousand poor people to be fed at Westminster, for the
state of the king, the queen, and their children; the weak and aged to
be placed in the great hall and in the lesser; those that were most
strong, and in reasonable plight, in the king’s chamber; the children in
the queen’s; and when the king knoweth the charge, he would allow it in
the accounts.[296]
In the year 1238, the same King Henry kept his feast of Christmas at
Westminster in the great hall; so did he in the year 1241, where he
placed the legate in the most honourable place of the table, to wit, in
the midst, which the noblemen took in evil part: the king sat on the
right hand, and the archbishop on the left, and then all the prelates
and nobles according to their estates; for the king himself set the
guests. The year 1242 he likewise kept his Christmas in the hall, etc.
Also, in the year 1243, Richard, earl of Cornewall, the king’s brother,
married Cincia, daughter to Beatrice, countess of Province, and kept his
marriage-feast in the great hall at Westminster, with great royalty and
company of noblemen: insomuch that there were told (_triginta millia_)
thirty thousand dishes of meats at that dinner.
In the year 1256, King Henry sate in the exchequer of this hall, and
there set down order for the appearance of sheriffs, and bringing in of
their accounts: there were five marks set on every sheriff’s head for a
fine, because they had not distrained every person that might dispend
fifteen pounds land by the year to receive the order of knighthood,
as the same sheriffs were commanded. Also, the mayor, aldermen, and
sheriffs of London, being accused of oppression and wrongs done by them,
and submitting themselves in this place before the king sitting in
judgment upon that matter, they were condemned to pay their fines for
their offences committed, and further, every one of them discharged of
assise and ward.
In the years 1268 and 1269, the same king kept his Christmas feasts
at Westminster as before; and also in the same 1269 he translated
with great solemnity the body of King Edward the Confessor into a new
chapel, at the back of the high altar: which chapel he had prepared of a
marvellous workmanship, bestowing a new tomb or shrine of gold; and on
the day of his translation he kept a royal feast in the great hall of
the palace. Thus much for the feasts of old time in this hall.
We read also, that in the year 1236, the river of Thames overflowing the
banks, caused the marshes about Woolwitch to be all on a sea, wherein
boats and other vessels were carried with the stream; so that besides
cattle, the greatest number of men, women, and children, inhabitants
there, were drowned: and in the great palace of Westminster men did row
with wherries in the midst of the hall, being forced to ride to their
chambers.
Moreover, in the year 1242, the Thames overflowing the banks about
Lambhithe, drowned houses and fields by the space of six miles, so
that in the great hall at Westminster men took their horses, because
the water ran over all. This palace was (in the year 1299, the 27th of
Edward I.) burnt by a vehement fire, kindled in the lesser hall of the
king’s house: the same, with many other houses adjoining, and with the
queen’s chamber, were consumed, but after that repaired.
In the year 1313, the 31st of Edward I., the king’s treasury at
Westminster was robbed; for the which, Walter, abbot of Westminster,
with forty-nine of his brethren and thirty-two other, were thrown into
the Tower of London, and indicted of the robbery of a hundred thousand
pounds; but they affirming themselves to be clear of the fact, and
desiring the king of speedy justice, a commission was directed for
inquiry of the truth, and they were freed.
In the year 1316, Edward II. did solemnize his feast of Penticost at
Westminster, in the great hall; where sitting royally at the table, with
his peers about him, there entered a woman adorned like a minstrel,
sitting on a great horse, trapped as minstrels then used, who rode
round about the tables, showing pastime, and at length came up to the
king’s table, and laid before him a letter, and forthwith turning her
horse, saluted every one, and departed. The letter being opened, had
these contents:,--“Our soveraigne lord and king, hath nothing curteously
respected his knights, that in his father’s time, and also in his owne,
have put forth their persons to divers perils, and have utterly lost, or
greatly diminished their substance, for honor of the said king, and he
hath inriched abundantly such as have not borne the waight as yet of the
busines, etc.”
This great hall was begun to be repaired in the year 1397 by Richard
II., who caused the walls, windows, and roof, to be taken down, and new
made, with a stately porch, and divers lodgings of a marvellous work,
and with great costs; all which he levied of strangers banished or
flying out of their countries, who obtained license to remain in this
land, by the king’s charters, which they had purchased with great sums
of money; John Boterell being then clerk of the works.
This hall being finished in the year 1398, the same king kept a most
royal Christmas there, with daily justings and runnings at tilt;
whereunto resorted such a number of people, that there was every day
spent twenty-eight or twenty-six oxen, and three hundred sheep, besides
fowl without number: he caused a gown for himself to be made of gold,
garnished with pearl and precious stones, to the value of three thousand
marks: he was guarded by Cheshire men, and had about him commonly
thirteen bishops, besides barons, knights, esquires, and other more
than needed; insomuch, that to the household came every day to meat ten
thousand people, as appeareth by the messes told out from the kitchen to
three hundred servitors.
Thus was this great hall, for the honour of the prince, oftentimes
furnished with guests, not only in this king’s time (a prodigal
prince), but in the time of other also, both before and since, though
not so usually noted. For when it is said, the king held his feast of
Christmas, or such a feast at Westminster, it may well be supposed to be
kept in this great hall, as most sufficient to such a purpose.
I find noted by Robert Fabian (sometime an alderman of London), that
King Henry VII., in the 9th of his reign (holding his royal feast of
Christmas at Westminster), on the twelfth day, feasted Ralph Austry,
then mayor of London, and his brethren the aldermen, with other
commoners in great number, and after dinner dubbing the mayor knight,
caused him with his brethren to stay and behold the disguisings and
other disports in the night following, showed in the great hall,
which was richly hanged with arras, and staged about on both sides;
which disports being ended in the morning, the king, the queen, the
ambassadors, and other estates, being set at a table of stone, sixty
knights and esquires served sixty dishes to the king’s mess, and as
many to the queen’s (neither flesh nor fish), and served the mayor with
twenty-four dishes to his mess, of the same manner, with sundry wines
in most plenteous wise: and finally, the king and queen being conveyed
with great lights into the palace, the mayor with his company in barges
returned and came to London by break of the next day. Thus much for
building of this great hall, and feasting therein.
It moreover appeareth that many parliaments have been kept there; for I
find noted, that in the year 1397, the great hall at Westminster being
out of reparations, and therefore, as it were, new built by Richard II.
(as is afore showed), the same Richard, in the mean time having occasion
to hold a parliament, caused for that purpose a large house to be built
in the midst of the palace-court, betwixt the clock tower and the gate
of the old great hall. This house was very large and long, made of
timber, covered with tile, open on both the sides and at both the ends,
that all men might see and hear what was both said and done.
The king’s archers (in number four thousand Cheshire men) compassed the
house about with their bows bent, and arrows knocked in their hands,
always ready to shoot: they had bouch of court (to wit, meat and drink),
and great wages of six pence by the day.
The old great hall being new built, parliaments were again there kept
as before:[297] namely, one in the year 1399, for the deposing of
Richard II. A great part of this palace at Westminster was once again
burnt in the year 1512, the 4th of Henry VIII.; since the which time it
hath not been re-edified: only the great hall, with the offices near
adjoining, are kept in good reparations, and serveth as afore for feasts
at coronations, arraignments of great persons charged with treasons,
keeping of the courts of justice, etc. But the princes have been lodged
in other places about the city, as at Baynarde’s castle, at Bridewell,
and White hall, sometime called York place, and sometime at St. James’.
This great hall hath been the usual place of pleadings, and ministration
of justice, whereof somewhat shortly I will note. In times past the
courts and benches followed the king wheresoever he went, as well since
the Conquest as before; which thing at length being thought cumbersome,
painful, and chargeable to the people, it was in the year 1224, the 9th
of Henry III., agreed that there should be a standing place appointed,
where matters should be heard and judged, which was in the great hall at
Westminster.
In this hall he ordained three judgment seats; to wit, at the entry
on the right hand, the Common Pleas, where civil matters are to be
pleaded, specially such as touch lands or contracts: at the upper end
of the hall, on the right hand, or south-east corner, the King’s Bench,
where pleas of the crown have their hearing; and on the left hand, or
south-west corner, sitteth the lord chancellor, accompanied with the
master of the rolls, and other men, learned for the most part in the
civil law, and called masters of the chancery, which have the king’s
fee. The times of pleading in these courts are four in the year, which
are called terms: the first is Hillary term, which beginneth the 23rd
of January, if it be not Sunday, and endeth the 12th of February; the
second is Easter term, and beginneth seventeen days after Easter day,
and endeth four days after Ascension day; the third term beginneth six
or seven days after Trinity Sunday, and endeth the Wednesday fortnight
after; the fourth is Michaelmas term, which beginneth the 9th of
October, if it be not Sunday, and endeth the 28th of November.