SOME OF THE ABBOTS
“_It is no small thing to dwell in monasteries, or in a
congregation, and to live there without complaint, and to persevere
faithfully even unto death._”
(_The Imitation of Christ._)
The name of Abbot Edwyn, who was the first Abbot to rule over the
Confessor’s newly founded monastery, leads us on to think of some few
others among the Abbots who played a part in English history. We may
begin by mentioning the name of Abbot Gilbert Crispin, a Norman, who was
Abbot during the time of the Norman Kings, from 1085 to 1117. He had
been a monk at the famous monastery of Bec in Normandy, and was a pupil
of St. Anselm and of Lanfranc. Crispin was a learned man, and ruled the
Abbey during a stormy time in English history. William Rufus seems to
have had a great regard for him, and for the love he bore him he was
kinder to the Westminster monks than to many others. It was while
Crispin was Abbot that the Confessor’s tomb was first opened.
In his time, too, Henry I’s marriage with the Saxon princess, Matilda,
took place, and on the same day, 11th November 1100, Matilda’s
Coronation by Archbishop Anselm.
Two of the Abbots in the early Plantagenet times obtained from the Pope
the right to wear a mitre and other outward marks of dignity. In later
days the “mitred Abbot” of Westminster sate in the House of Lords, next
after the Bishops. In Henry III’s reign the Abbey was made independent
of the Bishop of London, and it keeps that independent position down to
our own day.
Abbot Berkyng, who was a great friend and adviser of Henry III, was one
of the people who signed Magna Charta. He was a Privy Councillor, and
finally Lord Treasurer. He was also one of the Lords Justices of the
kingdom while Henry III was away at the Welsh wars in 1245. This shows
us what important men the Abbots were in those days. Abbot Berkyng died
in 1246, and was first buried in front of the altar of Henry III’s Lady
Chapel. His body now lies in the South Ambulatory, close to the steps of
Henry VII’s Chapel.
The next Abbot we will mention is Abbot Ware. His name is interesting
because in 1267, while Henry III was building his new Abbey Church,
Abbot Ware went on a visit to Rome, and brought back with him the
materials for the wonderful mosaic pavement in the Sacrarium, and the
materials for the decoration of the Confessor’s shrine. He also brought
with him the Italian workmen who laid the pavement, and who made the
lovely glass and gold mosaics for the shrine. It was Abbot Ware who drew
up the “customs” of which we have just heard, with all kinds of rules
and directions for behaviour.
We must now pass over nearly a century, and speak of one very able and
energetic Abbot who did a great deal of building in the Nave, the
cloisters, and elsewhere in the monastery. This was Nicholas Litlington,
who was made Abbot in 1362, in succession to Abbot Langham. Abbot
Langham, who was made a Cardinal by the Pope, is buried in a very fine
tomb in St. Benedict’s Chapel. He left a large sum of money to the
Abbey, and this money was used by Abbot Litlington for building.
Litlington died in 1386, and is buried in the South Transept.
The fine rooms known as the College Hall and Jerusalem Chamber were
built by Abbot Litlington somewhere about the end of Edward III’s reign,
when he rebuilt the Abbot’s house. It is thought that there had probably
been an earlier Jerusalem Chamber on the same site as the present one.
The name is said to have been given to the room because the tapestries
which hung on the walls represented scenes from the history of
Jerusalem.
It has already been told how Henry IV died in this famous room, and how
Shakspeare describes the scene in his play.
Another interesting bit of English history to be remembered in the
Jerusalem Chamber is the banquet given to the French Ambassadors in
1624, by Lord Keeper Williams, then Dean of Westminster, in honour of
Charles I’s marriage with Henrietta Maria of France. Dean Williams
restored and decorated the room for this occasion, and on the cedarwood
mantelpiece are small carved heads representing Charles I and his French
bride.
Much important work of various kinds has been done in the Jerusalem
Chamber. The Assembly of Divines held its meetings here in 1643, during
the time of the Commonwealth, and drew up the Longer and Shorter
Catechism, and the Confession of Faith, known as the “Westminster
Confession.”
Here, too, the Revisors of the Old and New Testaments used to meet for
their great work, which began in 1870.
[Illustration:
[_D. Weller_.
THE JERUSALEM CHAMBER.
]
The Jerusalem Chamber is now used as the Chapter-House, because the
actual Chapter-House still belongs to the Government, and not to the
Abbey.
The College Hall, which was built by Abbot Litlington to be his
refectory or dining-hall, is now used as the dining-hall for the
Westminster scholars. It is a beautiful room, with long windows in the
Early Perpendicular style, and a minstrels’ gallery at one end. The
fireplace, or stove, is in the middle of the room, and gives it a very
old-world look. The long tables in the hall are said to be made of
chestnut wood from the wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada, and to have
been given to the school by Queen Elizabeth.
The College Hall forms one side of the old courtyard of the “Abbot’s
place” (or palace) as it was called, part of which house is now the
Deanery.
Litlington’s successor, Abbot Colchester, is said to have joined in a
conspiracy against Henry IV. This story was evidently accepted by
Shakspeare, for in his play, _King Richard II_, he writes—
“The grand Conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience and sour melancholy,
Hath yielded up his body to the grave.”
There is, however, no good foundation for the story of Abbot
Colchester’s conspiracy, and he lived on quietly until 1420.
Two of the Abbots of Henry VII’S reign, Abbot Esteney and Abbot Islip,
did a good deal of building in the church and precincts. The great West
Window was set up in Abbot Esteney’s time, and the tracery shows how
entirely different the Perpendicular style of architecture is from the
Early English, in which the rest of the Abbey is built. The glass of the
West Window was put in much later, during the reign of George II.
In Abbot Islip’s time Henry VII’s Chapel was built, the Abbot himself
laying the foundation-stone. The western towers were carried up as far
as the roof, and some rooms were added to the Abbot’s house. One of
these is the charming panelled room known as the Jericho Parlour.
In the Nave, just over the Dean’s entrance, is a wooden gallery, which
is called the “Abbot’s Pew.” This, too, was put up by Abbot Islip. Islip
also fitted up the beautiful little Chapel which is named after him, and
in which he is buried. On the frieze of the Chapel are curious little
carvings, representing the Abbot’s name. One is an eye, with a hand
holding a branch, or slip: I-slip. Another is a man slipping from the
branch of a tree: “I slip.” A little design like this is properly called
a “rebus,” and there are many of them to be found on tombs erected about
that time.
In the Chantry above Islip’s Chapel are the wax effigies, about which we
have already read.
The last Abbot, John Feckenham, who was appointed in Mary Tudor’s time,
had suffered much for his religion during the reign of Edward VI. But in
spite of having himself been persecuted he was a kind and tolerant man,
and was good to the Protestants who were persecuted in Queen Mary’s
time.
Abbot Feckenham went to visit Lady Jane Grey in prison, and was with her
on the scaffold, but he could not persuade her to give up her Protestant
form of faith.
It was Abbot Feckenham who restored the Confessor’s shrine after it had
been all dismantled and partially destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII.
The funeral of Anne of Cleves took place in Feckenham’s time. Anne had
become a Roman Catholic. She died at Chelsea in 1557, and was buried
with great state by Queen Mary’s order.
On 24th December 1558, Abbot Feckenham must have taken part in the last
royal funeral service held in the Abbey according to the Roman Catholic
rite. This was the service ordered by Queen Elizabeth on the death of
the Emperor Charles V, who was Queen Mary’s father-in-law.
Feckenham quite refused to obey Queen Elizabeth’s laws concerning Church
matters, although Elizabeth seems to have been very kindly disposed
towards him.
When the monastery was dissolved in 1559 the Abbot and some of the monks
were sent to the Tower, and Feckenham lived on for twenty-five years in
a kind of captivity, though he did not remain at the Tower. He was a
very good man: kind to the poor and suffering, and steadfast to what he
believed to be right. Since his day the Abbey has been governed by a
Dean and Chapter, and the monastic life has ended.