DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6886#0087
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 55
pected, that they should be found among the historical circumstances.of the period
when their authenticity, however ignorantly, was allowed: while the antiquary
would, surely, consider the narrative as imperfect from which they were discarded.
At all events, they may be regarded as worthy of attention as the grotesque sculp-
tures which still remain, the monuments of a fanciful superstition, in several of
our ancient monastic and cathedral structures. No small importance was added
to this, as well as to other religious establishments, by the supposed, and, at the
same time, credible, intervention of supernatural agents and circumstances; which
have, therefore, already been, as they will ever, more or less, continue to be,
noticed in history.
The next epocha in the progressive advancement of this abbey church, is ac-
companied with very dubious, as they are extraordinary, relations, which the his-
torians of those times confidently relate, and to which general allusions have been
already made.
In the year 1016, Ethelred concluded an unhappy and inglorious reign of
thirty-five.years. His successor, Edmund Ironside, possessed courage and abili-
ties sufficient to have prevented his country from sinking into calamities, but not to
raise it from the abyss of misery into which it had already fallen. He was no
sooner seated on the throne, than he was compelled to draw his sword to defend it;
and the church had its full share of suffering in the devastating wars that followed.
On the death of Edmund, who did not long enjoy the tranquillity which he had
at length obtained, Canute, his successor, is said to have rebuilt, or repaired,
all the religious places which had been despoiled during his wars, and, among the
rest, the Church of Westminster; as appears by a charter of Edward the Confessor
to the Abbot Wulnoth, concerning the jurisdiction of the city of London.
Such is the account given by Sporley, who continues to relate, that Canute,
pected, that they should be found among the historical circumstances.of the period
when their authenticity, however ignorantly, was allowed: while the antiquary
would, surely, consider the narrative as imperfect from which they were discarded.
At all events, they may be regarded as worthy of attention as the grotesque sculp-
tures which still remain, the monuments of a fanciful superstition, in several of
our ancient monastic and cathedral structures. No small importance was added
to this, as well as to other religious establishments, by the supposed, and, at the
same time, credible, intervention of supernatural agents and circumstances; which
have, therefore, already been, as they will ever, more or less, continue to be,
noticed in history.
The next epocha in the progressive advancement of this abbey church, is ac-
companied with very dubious, as they are extraordinary, relations, which the his-
torians of those times confidently relate, and to which general allusions have been
already made.
In the year 1016, Ethelred concluded an unhappy and inglorious reign of
thirty-five.years. His successor, Edmund Ironside, possessed courage and abili-
ties sufficient to have prevented his country from sinking into calamities, but not to
raise it from the abyss of misery into which it had already fallen. He was no
sooner seated on the throne, than he was compelled to draw his sword to defend it;
and the church had its full share of suffering in the devastating wars that followed.
On the death of Edmund, who did not long enjoy the tranquillity which he had
at length obtained, Canute, his successor, is said to have rebuilt, or repaired,
all the religious places which had been despoiled during his wars, and, among the
rest, the Church of Westminster; as appears by a charter of Edward the Confessor
to the Abbot Wulnoth, concerning the jurisdiction of the city of London.
Such is the account given by Sporley, who continues to relate, that Canute,