CHAPTER I

THE FOUNDING OF THE ABBEY:

WHAT IT HAS BEEN: WHAT IT IS

THE great brown stone church situated across the street from the Houses of Parliament is called Westminster Abbey, or, more correctly, Westminster Abbey church, because it was formerly the church of the great Benedictine abbey of St. Peter's at Westminster. It is familiarly known in England as The Abbey.

It is not a cathedral-though it once enjoyed that honour for a period of ten years since it has no bishop and contains no bishop's chair or cathedra: it is not a part of any English diocese: is not subject to the authority of any diocesan governor whatever, whether archbishop, bishop or archdeacon. Even the bishop of London who has his throne at St. Paul's cathedral, has no jurisdiction over the Abbey. The Archbishop of Canterbury has no authority here, save on the single occasion of a coronation. Its ecclesiastical head is the dean who has his chapter of canons and an archdeacon. The dean is appointed by

the king and to him directly owes his authority and to him alone is responsible. He is subject to no outside ecclesiastical jurisdiction whatsoever.

The constitution, government and relative position of the Abbey are therefore, peculiar, almost but not quite unique since St. George's, the King's royal chapel at Windsor, is of the same general character though the establishment is much smaller, and each is therefore called, very fittingly, a Royal Peculiar.

Having thus defined its position, in a manner, negatively, it is of interest to know what the Abbey stands for today, and what steps have led up to its present constitution. Its exceedingly romantic and varied history falls naturally into five sections, including its existence (1) as a Benedictine monastery; (2) as a mitred abbey; (3) as a cathedral church, the seat of a bishop; (4) as a restored monastery under Queen Mary, and (5) as a collegiate church, having unusual privileges and exemptions which entitle it to the name Royal Peculiar.

The first chapter, its history as a monastery, must include the story of its founding.

In the dim early days of the Christian centuries, there was no one to dispute the possession, by the first monks, of the long low

island or gravelly peninsula formed by inlets and divisions of the river Thames and the Tyburn river, known as Thorn Eye or Isle, on account of its dense thickets of thorn. Here the wild ox and red deer from the neighbouring hills grazed peacefully and undisturbed in the "terrible place" (as it is called in Offa's charter) which seemed inaccessible to man, and their bones were found in the earth by workmen laying the foundations of the Victoria tower, and later, in 1868, when making excavations in the Broad Sanctuary in front of the church, for the underground railway. The island lay a little beyond what was then the west gate of London. Here springs of water bubbled . up from the earth, and here, attracted no - doubt by these springs, by the healthful gravelly soil and by the fishing in the rivers close by, as well as by the natural beauty and seclusion of the place, some early monks founded a small monastery. Early legends tell us that a temple of Apollo once stood here and was destroyed by an earthquake in 154 A. D., and that the first monastery was founded by a British king, Lucius, himself a myth, the reputed founder also of Glastonbury, Gloucester and Dover abbeys. From the mass of traditions and legends some little

grains of truth may be extracted, no doubt, but in general, it is safe to say that almost nothing is certainly known of these early

centuries.

The earliest historian of the Abbey history is Sulcard, a Norman monk of the Conqueror's time (1066-1087), brought over from the abbey of Bernay by the King. He lived so near to the time of Edward the Confessor's refounding and building at Westminster at a period when all the early traditions of its establishment would naturally be well known and correctly estimated by many, that considerable confidence is placed in his writings.

The honour of founding the earliest church on Thorney Isle, Sulcard gives to a wealthy Christian citizen of London whom he does not name: who, with his wife, was inspired and encouraged by King Ethelbert, founder of St. Paul's. Sulcard calls him "a certain citizen" (quidam civium urbis non infimus); but some one in copying Sulcard's manuscript scribbled the name Sebert on the margin, and later it became incorporated with the text, and the Christian citizen, Sebert, and his wife were thereafter named, at least for some time, as the founders of the original Westminster Abbey. Sulcard tells us that they lived to see the building completed

and consecrated, and that when they died they were buried before the high altar. He adds that the church stood neglected from Ethelbert to Offa, whose charter, dated 785 (now considered spurious), grants new lands to the monks.

The Abbey thus founded was named the Westminster in order to distinguish it from the foundation in the east of London which we call St. Paul's, and which was the Eastminster. The founding, according to Sulcard, was in the time of Bishop Mellitus who was consecrated to St. Paul's in 604; thus making the two foundations of nearly the same date, as the monks of St. Peter desired.

Ailred, Abbot of Rivaulx, writing the Confessor's life in 1163, attributes the founding to Sebert, king of the East Saxons, who died in 616, and his wife, Ethelgoda: Gervase of Canterbury gives the same origin, but adds, "at the entreaty of Mellitus, Bishop of London." Ralph of Diceto also uses the King's name as founder, and it is true that a tomb called that of King Sebert has always been shown in the Abbey and exists there today: Malmesbury, using the same tradition, adds that it was founded by the urgent request of St. Peter himself. Says The Liber Regius: "Sebert, the King being baptized by St. Au