DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6886#0265
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
233
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
WESTMINSTER A BISHOP'S SEE.
Henry VIII. when he caused the monasteries to be dissolved, declared his
determination to restore some of them under a new character, and on different
foundations : when, therefore, the superior stateliness and magnificence of West-
minster Abbey are considered, that it was the place where he himself) as well as
all the kings since the Conquest, had been crowned; that it was the mausoleum
of so many of his royal predecessors, whose splendid tombs adorned and dignified
it; and that his father was interred in the superb and beautiful part of it, which was
erected by himself for that consecrated purpose, it was a natural expectation that
this church would be one, if not the first, of those which he had destined to arise,
as it were, from the overwhelming dissolution, in a better form and on a superior
establishment. The king accordingly fulfilled his intention by giving to West-
minster Abbey a new foundation; but not at first for a dean and prebendaries, as
Mr. Camden* has affirmed, as well as others, apparently on his authority; there
being no charters or documents of any kind that support the opinion of there
ft
having been such a settlement. On the contrary, it is a more justifiable con-
jecture, that Henry had, previous to its dissolution, designed this monastery
to be one of his new bishoprics. But be that as it ma}', on the 17th of De-
cember in the same year, 1540, he erected it by letters patent into a cathedral,
Vol. I.
Reges et Reginm, &c.
Hh
233
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
WESTMINSTER A BISHOP'S SEE.
Henry VIII. when he caused the monasteries to be dissolved, declared his
determination to restore some of them under a new character, and on different
foundations : when, therefore, the superior stateliness and magnificence of West-
minster Abbey are considered, that it was the place where he himself) as well as
all the kings since the Conquest, had been crowned; that it was the mausoleum
of so many of his royal predecessors, whose splendid tombs adorned and dignified
it; and that his father was interred in the superb and beautiful part of it, which was
erected by himself for that consecrated purpose, it was a natural expectation that
this church would be one, if not the first, of those which he had destined to arise,
as it were, from the overwhelming dissolution, in a better form and on a superior
establishment. The king accordingly fulfilled his intention by giving to West-
minster Abbey a new foundation; but not at first for a dean and prebendaries, as
Mr. Camden* has affirmed, as well as others, apparently on his authority; there
being no charters or documents of any kind that support the opinion of there
ft
having been such a settlement. On the contrary, it is a more justifiable con-
jecture, that Henry had, previous to its dissolution, designed this monastery
to be one of his new bishoprics. But be that as it ma}', on the 17th of De-
cember in the same year, 1540, he erected it by letters patent into a cathedral,
Vol. I.
Reges et Reginm, &c.
Hh