DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6911#0030
1,6
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
arts, including that of architecture, anterior to the reign of Henry the Eighth,
are meagre in materials, and questionable in general statements. Before the
invention of printing, (which occasioned books to be more easily multiplied,)
the public were generally ignorant and incurious. A few Monks were the only
chroniclers of historical events, and their assertions, however inaccurate or doubt-
ful, were left uncontroverted. Many of these have lately been brought before
the public, but the editors, either from religious motives, or with a less justifiable
cause of excuse, have so blended and confused their crude materials, that it is
extremely difficult to separate the useful and important parts from the useless
and trivial. In examining critically the several histories of the reign of Henry
the Seventh, I have painfully felt the force of these truths, and have deemed it
necessary to state them, in justification of the peculiar manner that I shall adopt
in narrating the history of the Chapel erected by that monarch, as well as on
any other similar occasion.
In a former part of this work I have illustrated and described the principal
parts of an edifice, which nearly approximates in its architecture and historical
incidents the Chapel of Henry the Seventh at Westminster.* These splendid
structures, with that of St. George at Windsor f, are all of royal foundation,
and were each respectively the primary object of care, solicitude, and ambition
in the minds of the monarchs who raised them, and who thereby hoped to
obtain the approbation of man, and the favour of the Deity. Thus some kings
have vainly sought to acquire terrestrial fame, and remission of sins, by a single
ostentatious act; and it is a prevalent practice among mankind to adopt a
similar policy. The faithful historian will, however, adhere to actions and
events, and deduce the recorded character of great personages, from their
aggregate acts and deeds, not from one studied and artful performance. That
* The Chapel of King's College at Cambridge, founded by Henry the Sixth; partly erected by that monarch,
continued by Henry the Seventh, who gave 5000Z. in March, 1509, towards the building, and finished in the time
of King Henry the Eighth. The Will of the first king, with the Indentures between the Provost and different
masons, glaziers, &c. already published in the first volume of this work, will serve to exemplify the terms between
workmen and their employers, and also explain several other circumstances characteristic of the times. In the
absence therefore of such particular documents, respecting the chapel of Henry the Seventh, we may fairly refer
to those already given, for parallel elucidations.
f Having detailed the histories and illustrated the architecture of the two former chapels, I purpose to devote
a portion of the third volume of this work to the elegant Chapel of St. George, at Windsor, and shall have a set
of architectural drawings made in the course of this summer (1808) for the purpose.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
arts, including that of architecture, anterior to the reign of Henry the Eighth,
are meagre in materials, and questionable in general statements. Before the
invention of printing, (which occasioned books to be more easily multiplied,)
the public were generally ignorant and incurious. A few Monks were the only
chroniclers of historical events, and their assertions, however inaccurate or doubt-
ful, were left uncontroverted. Many of these have lately been brought before
the public, but the editors, either from religious motives, or with a less justifiable
cause of excuse, have so blended and confused their crude materials, that it is
extremely difficult to separate the useful and important parts from the useless
and trivial. In examining critically the several histories of the reign of Henry
the Seventh, I have painfully felt the force of these truths, and have deemed it
necessary to state them, in justification of the peculiar manner that I shall adopt
in narrating the history of the Chapel erected by that monarch, as well as on
any other similar occasion.
In a former part of this work I have illustrated and described the principal
parts of an edifice, which nearly approximates in its architecture and historical
incidents the Chapel of Henry the Seventh at Westminster.* These splendid
structures, with that of St. George at Windsor f, are all of royal foundation,
and were each respectively the primary object of care, solicitude, and ambition
in the minds of the monarchs who raised them, and who thereby hoped to
obtain the approbation of man, and the favour of the Deity. Thus some kings
have vainly sought to acquire terrestrial fame, and remission of sins, by a single
ostentatious act; and it is a prevalent practice among mankind to adopt a
similar policy. The faithful historian will, however, adhere to actions and
events, and deduce the recorded character of great personages, from their
aggregate acts and deeds, not from one studied and artful performance. That
* The Chapel of King's College at Cambridge, founded by Henry the Sixth; partly erected by that monarch,
continued by Henry the Seventh, who gave 5000Z. in March, 1509, towards the building, and finished in the time
of King Henry the Eighth. The Will of the first king, with the Indentures between the Provost and different
masons, glaziers, &c. already published in the first volume of this work, will serve to exemplify the terms between
workmen and their employers, and also explain several other circumstances characteristic of the times. In the
absence therefore of such particular documents, respecting the chapel of Henry the Seventh, we may fairly refer
to those already given, for parallel elucidations.
f Having detailed the histories and illustrated the architecture of the two former chapels, I purpose to devote
a portion of the third volume of this work to the elegant Chapel of St. George, at Windsor, and shall have a set
of architectural drawings made in the course of this summer (1808) for the purpose.