Henry VIII also made new arrangements for the old School, which had existed in the monastery from the Confessor’s time.
When Queen Mary Tudor came to the throne she brought the monks back, with Abbot Feckenham to rule over them, and the old services were restored for a time.
Queen Elizabeth changed this again, and established the Abbey as a Collegiate Church, with a Dean and Prebendaries. The present arrangements are not very different from those of her time, in spite of certain changes which have had to be made in modern days.
Queen Elizabeth also re-established the School, much on the same plan as her father had done. She settled that there should be a Head-Master, an Under-Master, and forty Scholars, who are called either King’s Scholars or Queen’s Scholars, according as the Sovereign is a king or a queen.
Westminster School always remembers what Queen Elizabeth did for it, and her name is commemorated in the prayers.
Now, having described something of the foundation and building of the Abbey, it is time to turn our thoughts to the many important and interesting things that have happened there, and to the great people of our nation who are resting within its walls.
CHAPTER II
THE CORONATIONS
“Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed Solomon king; and all the people rejoiced and said: God save the king, Long live the king, May the king live for ever.”—1 Kings i. 39, 40.
The greatest and most important ceremonies which have taken place in Westminster Abbey are, of course, the Coronations of our Kings and Queens, and so we will speak first of this most interesting part of the Abbey history.
Such a wonderful succession of coronations has never been seen in any other building in the world. Ever since 1066 our sovereigns have been crowned close to the spot where Edward the Confessor was first buried, and where the Saxon Harold and Norman William stood more than 800 years ago.