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Old Palace of Westminster[edit]

The Old Palace of Westminster was a royal residence of the monarchs of England in Westminster, London, and later served as the meeting place of the Parlaments of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

Origins[edit]

See also: Westminster Abbey

The early history of the Palace of Westminster is intertwined with that of Westminster Abbey. Both occupy what was once Thorney Island, a scrubby, low-lying ait formed by the River Thames and two branches of a stream, the Tyburn, which joined it from the north.[1] A church (or minster) dedicated to Saint Peter was built there in the 8th century, probably by Offa, the king of Mercia.[2] The precursor to the modern St Paul's Cathedral had already stood for more than a century inside the Roman walls of London, about 3 kilometres (2 mi) downstream,[3] and the new church became known as Westminster by virtue of its location west of St Paul's.[2] Its distance from the mediaeval City of London left it in isolation,[nb 1] and around 960 Saint Dunstan founded a small monastic community on Thorney Island, which he organised as a Benedictine abbey.[4]

The monks benefited from a connection with several pious rulers, who offered relics to Westminster and adopted it as a royal church.[4] The Saxon king Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–66– ) was especially drawn to the place. A devotee of St Peter's, he originally intended to make a pilgrimage to Rome but instead decided to rebuild the abbey church on a grander scale, as his "private chapel and burial place".[5] He also established a palace on the island, on what may have been the site of an earlier residence constructed by the Danish king Canute the Great.[5][nb 2] Little is known about Edward's palace and none of its buildings survive, although parts of them may have lasted in some form until the 19th century. According to architectural historian John Goodall, the complex "must have included a hall and a private chamber block for the king, both commonplaces of domestic design in the period".[6] As the abbey took up the best part of the island, the palace had to fit in a narrow strip of land along the bank of the Thames.[6]

Edward died shortly after the consecration of his Romanesque Abbey, and in January 1066 he was entombed in it according to his wishes.[7] Harold Godwinson succeeded Edward as king, but his claim to the throne was disputed by William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, who invaded and conquered England in late 1066. Aiming to emphasise dynastic continuity, the Conqueror was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on 25 December, thereby enhancing the political importance of both the church and its neighbouring palace;[8] although his was the first documented coronation to take place in the Abbey, all subsequent English, and later British, monarchs would be crowned in the same venue.[9][nb 3]

Westminster Hall[edit]

William wanted to enlarge the Palace of Westminster to make it fitter for Norman feasts and displays of royal magnificence,[11] and for this purpose he ordered from France fifteen shiploads of Caen stone.[12] In the event, his intervention to the Palace was limited;[13] a storm in the English Channel sunk fourteen of the ships, and the one that survived ended up in Canterbury thanks to a deal between the ship's master and the Abbot of St Augustine's.[12]

The Conqueror's son, William Rufus, was the one to start work on the Palace's expansion. He commissioned a new Great Hall, which took two years of construction and was first used for the Whitsun feast of 1099.[14] Westminster Hall, as it is now called, was vast: measuring 73.2 by 20.7 metres (240 by 68 ft), it was far larger than any other hall in England and probably the largest in Europe as well.[14] Its size was intended to impress rather than dictated by practical concerns, and although it made the Hall suitable for banquets and large gatherings, smaller halls were used for most other occasions.[15] Its great length necessitated its north–south orientation, along the river, and the unorthodox placement of the door in the north wall.[12] The walls themselves were 12.2 metres (40 ft) high and were plastered and painted at ground level;[16] higher up, an arcade ran around all four walls between round-headed windows. The wooden roof was covered by shingles and probably rested on two rows of columns, which divided the Hall into three aisles.[17] At the same time as the Hall was built, a new square was created out of the marshland lying to its north, and became known as New Palace Yard. The original yard south of the Hall, between the Palace and the Abbey, was accordingly named Old Palace Yard.[17]

Under the Normans the Kingdom of England had no fixed capital city, and the royal household followed the monarch on a constant tour around his territories on both sides of the Channel. With the exception of the treasury, which was located permanently at Winchester Castle, the government operated out of whatever residence the king happened to occupy at the time.[18] Three of these royal seats were pre-eminent, and there the monarch celebrated the year's great religious festivals by wearing his crown and hosting feasts for the powerful men of the kingdom: Easter at Gloucester, Whitsun at Westminster and Christmas at Winchester.[19] Even in those palaces, however, Norman kings spent at most a few weeks before they moved on.[20]

The growing complexity of government over the 12th century made this nomadic lifestyle increasingly inconvenient, and parts of the royal household started to abandon it in favour of a permanent base.[21] They gravitated towards Westminster, a palace mostly distinguished by its Great Hall, and by the reign of Henry II (1154–89) the court of audit known as the Exchequer started holding its biannual sessions in a building adjoining the Hall.[21] Henry also set up a secondary treasury at the Palace; within the next fifty years it became the primary treasury, centralising the financial administration of the kingdom.[22] Business was transacted independently of the king's whereabouts, and thus Westminster started evolving into a centre of government.[23]

The administration of justice also followed Norman kings in their journeys around their possessions. Since at least 1178, however, some judges heard pleas in Westminster Hall during the monarch's absence, for the convenience of litigants.[24] Although King John (r. 1199–1216– ) ended the practice, in 1215 he was forced by a group of nobles to concede Magna Carta, which among other things stipulated that common pleas would be heard in a fixed place, as opposed to cases of interest to the king.[24] These separate jurisdictions—essentially for civil and criminal cases—evolved into the respective Courts of Common Pleas and King's Bench; while the former would usually sit in Westminster, the latter would remain with the monarch's entourage for another two centuries.[24]

Around this period started the custom of the coronation banquet. Feasts in Westminster Hall had traditionally been held to celebrate great events, such as royal weddings and military victories, and the coronation of Henry the Young King in 1170 was followed by such a banquet, as was that of Richard I in 1189.[25][nb 4] Abundant food and wine were characteristic of the feasts, which grew in extravagance throughout the Middle Ages, and their organisers sought to impress guests with elaborate dishes and table decorations, as well as music and jesters. The banquets also acquired ritualised aspects, such as the performance of feudal services; one example was the lord of the Manor of Heydon, who possessed half his lands in return for holding the towel when the king washed his hands.[26] Citizens of London acted as butlers to the king, and the Earl Marshal rode about the Hall on horseback to maintain order.[26]

Angevin palace and Henry III[edit]

The Palace suffered from neglect during the civil war known as the Anarchy, which occupied most of the reign of King Stephen (1135–54). His successor, Henry II, made extensive repairs to the ruined buildings and constructed or remodelled the King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber and the White or Lesser Hall—the latter may have been used for the everyday activities for which the Great Hall was too large.[27] Henry III, a patron of the arts, had an even greater impact on Westminster. He was particularly fond of the Palace and made various alterations in the course of his long reign (1216–72),[28] notably remodelling the King's Chamber, the monarch's state bedchamber and audience room.[29] The Chamber now featured glazed floor tiles and a peacock-shaped stone bath encrusted with gems, and it quickly became famous as the "Painted Chamber" for the rich, colourful paintings covering its walls. The murals depicted scenes from the Old Testament and the life of Edward the Confessor, as well as symbolic figures, and were kept in repair for the next two centuries in spite of the occasional damage from fires and mobs.[29][nb 5]

The Confessor had been canonised in 1161,[13] and the devout Henry identified himself with this royal saint, using his cult to improve his own standing and reinforce his kingly authority. He also found inspiration in Edward's charity, and organised large feasts for the poor; on one occasion he invited six thousand poor people to Westminster, seating the weak and the old in the Great and Lesser Halls, the stronger ones in the King's Chamber and the children in the Queen's Chamber.[30][nb 6] In 1245 Henry embarked on his main building project, the reconstruction of Westminster Abbey,[31] for which he used the emerging Gothic style of architecture.[32] The church was consecrated in 1269, although unfinished at the time, and the body of the Confessor was translated into its new shrine behind the high altar;[32] starting with Henry himself, many monarchs and royal consorts would be buried around it.[31] The Palace was now the primary residence of the kings of England, its prestige enhanced by the Abbey's double role as a coronation church and the burial place of the royal dynasty's patron saint. In Goodall's words, "what Henry created was a capital in which the temporal governance of the realm coexisted in one place with the spiritual forces that gave it legitimacy and authority".[31]

This capital continued to take shape in the 13th century. By 1244 a new building had been erected for the Exchequer at the north-west corner of the Great Hall,[33] and around this time a royal throne is first attested inside the Hall, placed on a dais at its south end and flanked by two statues of leopards.[34] The monarch occupied this seat when presiding over feasts[35] and councils, and over time it "acquired ritual significance as 'the throne of England' ", according to the historian John Field.[36] Westminster Hall became the place where new kings were acclaimed by the people,[36] and the throne served as a potent symbol of royal authority in the monarch's absence, reminding of the days when he personally dispensed justice there.[37] This authority, in addition to a need for easy public access, led the courts of law to establish themselves in the building despite the cold and the noisy crowds that filled it.[nb 7] Within years of Magna Carta, the Court of Common Pleas had a fixed location close to the Exchequer, on the western wall of the Hall and near the draughty north door. King's Bench sat around the throne when in Westminster, and the king would still sometimes hear cases in person.[37] Both courts used wooden benches and trestle tables, which could be easily removed when the Hall was needed for royal occasions.[37]

The Palace was also a place where the monarch received the counsel of his most important subjects. Throughout his travels he was surrounded by his court, a permanent core of advisers called the Curia Regis or King's Council, which comprised the great officers of state and certain other officials, magnates and clergymen. A forerunner of the modern Privy Council, the Curia originally considered state affairs of all kinds, whether of judicial, legislative or executive nature.[39][nb 8] From time to time the monarch summoned a larger assembly, the Great Council or Magnum Concilium, which included the rest of the nobility and higher clergy (bishops and abbots).[39][41] Attendance was low enough that, when the Council was convened in Westminster, it usually preferred the Painted Chamber or the Exchequer for its meetings, as opposed to the inconveniently large Great Hall. The latter was used for ceremonial meetings that were accompanied by banquets, and in exceptional circumstances, "when the barons were gathered to make war or the purpose was to make a point rather than to discuss anything".[42][nb 9]

Under the Norman and Angevin kings, the Curia Regis and Great Council were considered two forms of the same entity, and were very similar in character and functions; the main distinction between the two was that, when the monarch wished to levy taxes on the nobles, it was only through the Great Council that he could seek the required consent.[44] Such meetings of the Council were known by the mid-13th century as "Parliaments", and gave participants the opportunity to bargain with the monarch for concessions.[45] Beginning in 1213, knights from the shires were occasionally invited in an advisory capacity,[46] and Henry III took advantage of this to alleviate his financial troubles; in 1254 he summoned to a Parliament four knights from each county as representatives, to obtain wider consent for taxation at a time of dwindling Crown revenues and costly foreign wars.[45] Simon de Montfort went one step further in 1265, when he called a Parliament at Westminster with delegations from important towns in addition to those of the shires.[47] Thirty years later, again at Westminster, the Model Parliament of 1295 was attended by two knights, citizens and burgesses elected from each English county, city and borough respectively, setting the template for future assemblies.[48] By then Parliaments were convoked regularly, and on most occasions they met in the Palace, where they opened in the Painted Chamber and then moved to the Queen's Chamber for their deliberations.[34]

St Stephen's Chapel[edit]

In 1248 Henry III witnessed the consecration of the Sainte-Chapelle, the new royal chapel of his cousin, King Louis IX of France. Deeply impressed with the chapel's beauty, Henry returned from Paris determined to outdo Louis with an architectural response of his own, but political instability thwarted his plans.[49] He contented himself with beautifying St Stephen's, one of the several palace chapels at Westminster,[50] which was traditionally thought to have been founded in the reign of King Stephen.[51]

Henry died in 1272, but he had passed his vision on to his son, Edward I,[49] who torn down the Norman chapel in 1292 and started work on a new building.[51] Its completion would prove elusive; a lack of funds halted construction in 1297,[52] and a fire in the following year inflicted heavy damage on the Palace, leaving only the Great Hall, Painted Chamber and Exchequer in good condition.[53] Although Edward II repaired the buildings after he ascended to the throne in 1307, it took until 1320 for work to resume on St Stephen's.[54] Progress was made, and the walls rose sufficiently that machines from the Tower of London were used to lift the stones into place,[52] but money ran out again in the space of six years.[55] Meanwhile, the king's obstinacy and dependence on favourites had brought him into repeated conflict with the barons. Edward was deposed in January 1327, and his abdication in favour of his son was declared before Parliament and the London mob in a packed Westminster Hall;[56] within the year he was murdered.[57]

Edward III oversaw the completion of the Chapel in the 1330s and 1340s, which culminated in the construction of the roof between 1345 and 1348.[53] The new building had two storeys, each intended for different users and designed accordingly. The upper chapel, dedicated to Saint Stephen and reserved for the king's family and courtiers, was a tall and unified space with no aisles; although just 27.4 by 8.5 metres (90 by 28 ft) in area, it was 30.5 metres (100 ft) high, matching the nave of Westminster Abbey.[58] The lower chapel, called St Mary Undercroft, had less lofty proportions and was for the use of servants and minor officials;[52] its ceiling constituted an early example of lierne vaulting and featured carved bosses with scenes of martyrdom.[59] Unlike the more exclusive St Stephen's, which was accessible only from the court galleries, St Mary Undercroft opened directly outside.[58]

Although St Stephen's was clearly influenced from the Sainte-Chapelle in general form, it was distinctly English in style. Master mason Michael of Canterbury repeated certain decorative elements both around the main arches of the building and in a smaller scale, in internal features like stall canopies, resulting in "a building in which there was a correspondence of detail between the whole and its component parts".[55] Despite the protracted construction process, this inventive design was followed with few deviations (most notably the addition of a clerestory), and St Stephen's Chapel had a substantial effect in the development of the Perpendicular Gothic architectural style.[55]

With the building's shell finished, Edward endowed in 1348 a college, consisting of a dean and twelve canons, in honour of both St Stephen and the Virgin Mary.[60] He awarded them land north of the Chapel on which to erect their cloister,[61] and their houses would later form a line between the Great Hall and the Thames, giving the modern street of Canon Row its name.[62] Although religious services began with the establishment of the college,[63] the interior of the Chapel was still unfurnished at the time. Its decoration took another fifteen years, until 1363, during which more than eighty wall paintings were completed, stalls and statues were carved, the screen and altar were installed, and the great windows were filled with stained glass. Every wall surface was either gilded or painted with brilliant colours.[64] Funded by recent English successes in the Hundred Years' War,[55] [the result dazzled contemporaries],[65] and according to the 19th-century antiquarian John Carter, St Stephen's "must have been the first of all the architectural works of the land".[66]

Abutting the Chapel on its southern side was the king's private chapel of Our Lady of the Pew,[67] also rebuilt by Edward III.[68] The king would visit it from his apartments through a connecting gallery and look down on the altar of St Stephen's from a window, remaining unseen himself.[69] The Pew Chapel, as it was also known, contained a statue of the Virgin Mary to which great miracles were attributed;[69] the statue's reputation attracted pilgrims, and the income from the sale of indulgences was second only to that of the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.[70]

Expansion[edit]

[...]

[Tudor and Stuart periods][edit]

[...]

[Georgian palace][edit]

[...]

Destruction[edit]

[...]

Aftermath[edit]

[...]

Legacy[edit]

[...]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ [Story of Londinium, Lundenwic and Lundenburh]
  2. ^ [Details on disputed origins of the Palace]
  3. ^ Two kings were not crowned at all: the child Edward V, one of the Princes in the Tower, and Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne in the first year of his reign[9] and whose planned coronation became that of his successor, George VI.[10]
  4. ^ Banquets were also held for queens consort who were crowned separately from their husbands; this practice ended with Anne Boleyn's feast in 1533.[25]
  5. ^ [Details on fires and mobs]
  6. ^ Field gives a date of 29 December 1236 for this feast, while Jones and Gerhold place it in 1237.
  7. ^ Westminster Hall is notoriously difficult to heat. Its great thermal capacity, a consequence of its enormous size and stone walls and floor, makes it respond slowly to changes in temperature, to the extent that a spell of cold weather can result in lower temperatures in the Hall weeks later.[38]
  8. ^ It is from the delegated authority of this body that various instruments of English government developed, including the courts of law, the Exchequer and the Chancery.[40]
  9. ^ [Example from 1253][43]

References[edit]

Footnotes
  1. ^ Field (2002), p. 3.
  2. ^ a b Goodall (2000), p. 49.
  3. ^ Hobley, Brian (1988). "Lundenwic and Lundenburth: Two Cities Rediscovered" (PDF). In Hodges, Richard; Hobley, Brian (eds.). The Rebirth of Towns in the West AD 700–1050. CBA Research Reports. London: Council for British Archaeology. ISBN 0906780748. Retrieved 13 July 2010.
  4. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 3–4; Goodall (2000), p. 50.
  5. ^ a b Field (2002), p. 4.
  6. ^ a b Goodall (2000), p. 50.
  7. ^ Field (2002), p. 5; Goodall (2000), p. 50; Jones (1983), p. 10.
  8. ^ Goodall (2000), pp. 50–51.
  9. ^ a b "Abbey History". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  10. ^ "George VI". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  11. ^ Field (2002), p. 5.
  12. ^ a b c Jones (1983), p. 10.
  13. ^ a b Goodall (2000), p. 51.
  14. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 5–6; Gerhold (1999), p. 9.
  15. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 9, 13.
  16. ^ Field (2002), p. 6; Gerhold (1999), pp. 9, 11.
  17. ^ a b Gerhold (1999), p. 10; Jones (1983), p. 18.
  18. ^ Field (2002), p. 30; Gerhold (1999), pp. 12–13, 15; Goodall (2000), p. 51.
  19. ^ Field (2002), p. 42; Gerhold (1999), pp. 12–13.
  20. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 12–13.
  21. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 30–31; Gerhold (1999), pp. 13, 15; Goodall (2000), p. 51.
  22. ^ Field (2002), pp. 30–31, 292; Gerhold (1999), p. 15.
  23. ^ Field (2002), p. 31; Goodall (2000), p. 51.
  24. ^ a b c Field (2002), p. 32; Gerhold (1999), pp. 42–43.
  25. ^ a b Gerhold (1999), p. 13.
  26. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 20–21; Gerhold (1999), pp. 30–31.
  27. ^ Goodall (2000), pp. 51–52; see also Field (2002), p. 9.
  28. ^ Field (2002), pp. 10, 45.
  29. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 10–11.
  30. ^ Field (2002), pp. 12–13; Gerhold (1999), p. 13; Goodall (2000), p. 56; Jones (1983), p. 19.
  31. ^ a b c Goodall (2000), pp. 52–55.
  32. ^ a b Westminster Abbey - History
  33. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 15, 92.
  34. ^ a b Goodall (2000), p. 55.
  35. ^ Goodall (2000), p. 36.
  36. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 26–27.
  37. ^ a b c Gerhold (1999), p. 43.
  38. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 73–74.
  39. ^ a b Dicey (1887), pp. 5–7.
  40. ^ Dicey (1887), pp. 10–17.
  41. ^ "Anglo-Saxon origins". UK Parliament. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  42. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 13–14.
  43. ^ Gerhold (1999), pp. 14; Jones (1983), p. 19; see also Brayley and Britton (1836), pp. 62–63.
  44. ^ Dicey (1887), pp. 6, 19.
  45. ^ a b Field (2002), pp. 45–46.
  46. ^ Field (2002), p. 43.
  47. ^ Field (2002), pp. 48–49.
  48. ^ Jones (1983), p. 15.
  49. ^ a b Jones (1983), pp. 49–50.
  50. ^ Field (2002), p. 13; see also Brayley and Britton (1836), p. 58.
  51. ^ a b Fell (1994), p. 7.
  52. ^ a b c Jones (1983), p. 51.
  53. ^ a b Cooke (1987), p. 23.
  54. ^ Goodall (2000), p. 57; for details on the repairs see Brayley and Britton (1836), pp. 112–117.
  55. ^ a b c d Goodall (2000), p. 57.
  56. ^ Field (2002), pp. 52–54.
  57. ^ Jones (1983), p. 16.
  58. ^ a b Field (2002), p. 13; Jones (1983), pp. 50–51.
  59. ^ Goodall (2000), p. 133.
  60. ^ Fell (1994), p. 7; Jones (1983), p. 53.
  61. ^ Cooke (1987), p. 24.
  62. ^ Goodall (2000), pp. 57–58.
  63. ^ Field (2002), pp. 13–14.
  64. ^ Cooke (1987), p. 23; Field (2002), p. 14; Jones (1983), p. 52.
  65. ^ Field (2002), pp. 14–15; Goodall (2000), p. 57; Jones (1983), pp. 49, 51.
  66. ^ Fell (1994), p. 7–8.
  67. ^ Field (2002), p. 14.
  68. ^ Elvins (2002), pp. 133–134.
  69. ^ a b Jones (1983), pp. 51–52.
  70. ^ Field (2002), p. 14; Jones (1983), pp. 52–53.
Bibliography
  • Brayley, Edward Wedlake; Britton, John (1836). The History of the Ancient Palace and Late Houses of Parliament at Westminster. London: John Weale. OL 7136674M.
  • Cooke, Sir Robert (1987). The Palace of Westminster. London: Burton Skira. ISBN 978-0333459232.
  • Dicey, Albert Venn (1887). The Privy Council: the Arnold Prize Essay, 1860. London; New York: Macmillan and Co. OCLC 488934758. OL 7048033M.
  • Fell, Sir Bryan H.; Mackenzie, K. R. (1994) [1930]. Natzler, D. L (ed.). The Houses of Parliament: A Guide to the Palace of Westminster (15th ed.). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0117015791.
  • Field, John (2002). The Story of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster. London: Politico's Publishing; James & James Publishers. ISBN 978-1904022145.
  • Gerhold, Dorian (1999). Westminster Hall: Nine Hundred Years of History. London: James & James Publishers. ISBN 978-0907383888.
  • Goodall, John (2000). "The Medieval Palace of Westminster". In Riding, Christine; Riding, Jacqueline (eds.). The Houses of Parliament: History, Art, Architecture. London: Merrell Publishers. ISBN 978-1858941127.
  • Jones, Christopher (1983). The Great Palace: The Story of Parliament. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. ISBN 978-0563201786.
  • Macdonald, Peter (2004). Big Ben: The Bell, the Clock and the Tower. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 978-0750938280.
  • McKay, Chris (2010). Big Ben: The Great Clock and the Bells at the Palace of Westminster. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199585694.
  • Port, M. H., ed. (1976). The Houses of Parliament. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300020229.
  • Sawyer, Sean (2000). "Sir John Soane and the Late Georgian Origins of the Royal Entrance". In Riding, Christine; Riding, Jacqueline (eds.). The Houses of Parliament: History, Art, Architecture. London: Merrell Publishers. ISBN 978-1858941127.
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