This book - the study of Westminster Abbey in more than fifty years - places the Abbey's physical and artistic growth in the context of the political and religious culture of its time. Published on the 750th anniversary of the major building program of the abbey, it is a fitting tribute to one of the most ambitious royal edifices and art holdings ever constructed.

Both an appreciation of an architectural masterpiece and an exploration of the building’s shifting meanings, Jenkyns captures the voices of those who have described Westminster Abbey’s forms, moods, and ceremonies, from Shakespeare and Voltaire to Dickens and Henry James; we see how rulers have made used it, from kings to prime ministers.

For centuries, Westminster Abbey has inspired and challenged poets to try to capture and contain the spirit of its haunting beauty and worship-full reverence. This anthology includes poems written between 1413 to the present day, poems which contribute to the greatest epic imaginable in English, Westminster Abbey.

An account of the history, architecture and monuments of the chapel, the final, exquisite flowering of the gothic style.

Why was Edward I also known as Edward Longshanks? What do historians think happened to the Princes in the Tower? Who became known as ‘The Kingmaker' and why? And who shocked Europe with the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury? All of these questions and more are answered in this excellent book containing over one hundred facts about the Plantagenets. Separated into sections covering either an individual monarch or era (such as the Angevins or the House of York), the book is perfect for anyone studying this fascinating period in English History as well as those with a general interest in the age.

The British Archaeological Association’s 2013 conference was devoted to the study of Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. It also embraced Westminster School, which was founded at the Reformation in the Abbey precinct. Collectively, these institutions occupy a remarkable assemblage of medieval and later buildings, most of which are well documented. Although the Association had held a conference at Westminster in 1902, this was the first time that the internationally important complex of historic buildings was examined holistically, and the papers published here cover a wide range of subject matter. Westminster came into existence in the later Anglo-Saxon period, and by the mid-11th century, when Edward the Confessor’s great new abbey was built, it was a major royal centre two miles south-west of the City of London. Within a century or so, it had become the principal seat of government in England, and this series of twenty-eight papers covers new research on the topography, buildings, art-history, architecture and archaeology of Westminster’s two great establishments — Abbey and Palace. Part I begins with studies of the topography of the area, an account of its Roman-period finds and an historiographical overview of the archaeology of the Abbey. Edward the Confessor’s enigmatic church plan is discussed and the evidence for later Romanesque structures is assembled for the first time. Five papers examine aspects of Henry III’s vast new Abbey church and its decoration. A further four cover aspects of the later medieval period, coronation, and Sir George Gilbert Scott’s impact as the Abbey’s greatest Surveyor of the Fabric. A pair of papers examines the development of the northern precinct of the Abbey, around St Margaret’s Church, and the remarkable buildings of Westminster School, created within the remains of the monastery in the 17th and 18th centuries. Part II part deals with the Palace of Westminster and its wider topography between the late 11th century and the devastating fire of 1834 that largely destroyed the medieval palace. William Rufus’s enormous hall and its famous roofs are completely reassessed, and comparisons discussed between this structure and the great hall at Caen. Other essays reconsider Henry III’s palace, St Stephen’s chapel, the king’s great chamber (the ‘Painted Chamber’) and the enigmatic Jewel Tower. The final papers examine the meeting places of Parliament and the living accommodation of the MPs who attended it, the topography of the Palace between the Reformation and the fire of 1834, and the building of the New Palace which is better known today as the Houses of Parliament.