DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6886#0177
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
145
church received from that prince was in the year 1448, when, on the dormitory of the monks being
consumed by fire, he remitted sixty-nine pounds, being the half of a tenth which the convent was to
pay. In the beginning of the reign of Edward IV. no assistance appears to have been received from
that monarch ; but after the queen, in the year 1470, had taken sanctuary in the abbey, and been
treated with great respect by the abbot, the king gave, at different times, fourscore oaks for the pur-
poses of the building, and about two hundred and fifty pounds in money. The queen also presented
a donation of one hundred and seventy pounds; and the young Prince of Wales, who was born in the
precinct of the abbey, gave to it an annual sum of twenty marks, during the last eight years of his
father's life, which was probably after his revenue was settled. The queen; also, added some buildings
to the east part; and endowed, with the manors of Cradley and Hagley, in Worcestershire, a chapel
dedicated to St. Erasmus, who is said to have been a bishop and martyr in the time of Dioclesian, (c)
which east part was afterwards pulled down, as well as the chapel of St. Erasmus, to afford a site
for that of Henry VII. The latter was also dedicated to the Virgin Mary ; but the name of St. Eras-
mus was transferred to the next chapel but one, on the north side. It does not appear, however, that
there were any more royal benefactions to the west part. Richard III. as it will be readily believed, did
not add a single contribution. Henry VII. did, indeed, build the beautiful chapel which bears his name,
but, during his life, he gave nothing to the other part of the structure. It is true, that he left, by his
will, five hundred marks towards the finishing of it; but there is no reason to believe, that the legacy
was ever brought to account. All records are silent, also, as to any donation of Henry VIII.:
nevertheless, the work continued to advance; as the rents of certain estates and the annual contri-
butions of the monks were applied to keep it in a progressive state. The last abbots took the direction
of the whole upon themselves; and when one of them, John Estney, had exceeded the allowance
about six hundred pounds, the next abbot, his executor or administrator, made a present of it to the
monastery. The body of the building was completed about the year 1500, but the two towers, which
were afterwards carried on, were not finished at the dissolution.
From this time nothing more was done, till Dean Williams laid out four thousand five hundred
pounds of his own money in repairing the south-east, and particularly the north-west, part of
the church, which was very much decayed. He would have done more had not his troubles pre-
vented him. Nothing more seems to have been finished till the year 1697; when, on the motion of the
Honourable Charles Montague, part of the duty on coals was given by parliament to the repairing of
(c) Baronius on the Roman Martyrology, and Lives of the Saints.
Vol. I. U
145
church received from that prince was in the year 1448, when, on the dormitory of the monks being
consumed by fire, he remitted sixty-nine pounds, being the half of a tenth which the convent was to
pay. In the beginning of the reign of Edward IV. no assistance appears to have been received from
that monarch ; but after the queen, in the year 1470, had taken sanctuary in the abbey, and been
treated with great respect by the abbot, the king gave, at different times, fourscore oaks for the pur-
poses of the building, and about two hundred and fifty pounds in money. The queen also presented
a donation of one hundred and seventy pounds; and the young Prince of Wales, who was born in the
precinct of the abbey, gave to it an annual sum of twenty marks, during the last eight years of his
father's life, which was probably after his revenue was settled. The queen; also, added some buildings
to the east part; and endowed, with the manors of Cradley and Hagley, in Worcestershire, a chapel
dedicated to St. Erasmus, who is said to have been a bishop and martyr in the time of Dioclesian, (c)
which east part was afterwards pulled down, as well as the chapel of St. Erasmus, to afford a site
for that of Henry VII. The latter was also dedicated to the Virgin Mary ; but the name of St. Eras-
mus was transferred to the next chapel but one, on the north side. It does not appear, however, that
there were any more royal benefactions to the west part. Richard III. as it will be readily believed, did
not add a single contribution. Henry VII. did, indeed, build the beautiful chapel which bears his name,
but, during his life, he gave nothing to the other part of the structure. It is true, that he left, by his
will, five hundred marks towards the finishing of it; but there is no reason to believe, that the legacy
was ever brought to account. All records are silent, also, as to any donation of Henry VIII.:
nevertheless, the work continued to advance; as the rents of certain estates and the annual contri-
butions of the monks were applied to keep it in a progressive state. The last abbots took the direction
of the whole upon themselves; and when one of them, John Estney, had exceeded the allowance
about six hundred pounds, the next abbot, his executor or administrator, made a present of it to the
monastery. The body of the building was completed about the year 1500, but the two towers, which
were afterwards carried on, were not finished at the dissolution.
From this time nothing more was done, till Dean Williams laid out four thousand five hundred
pounds of his own money in repairing the south-east, and particularly the north-west, part of
the church, which was very much decayed. He would have done more had not his troubles pre-
vented him. Nothing more seems to have been finished till the year 1697; when, on the motion of the
Honourable Charles Montague, part of the duty on coals was given by parliament to the repairing of
(c) Baronius on the Roman Martyrology, and Lives of the Saints.
Vol. I. U