Westminster Abbey: The last days of the monastery as shown by the life and times of Abbot John Islip, 1464-1532

by H. F. Westlake

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WESTMINSTER ABBEY
THE LAST DAYS OF THE
MONASTERY
Works by the same Author
——
ST. MARGARET’S, WESTMINSTER
THE PARISH GILDS OF MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND
WESTMINSTER, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH
ETC.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY
THE LAST DAYS OF THE
MONASTERY

AS SHOWN BY THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ABBOT JOHN ISLIP
1464-1532
BY
H. F. WESTLAKE, M.A., F.S.A.
Custodian and Minor Canon of Westminster Abbey

LONDON
PHILIP ALLAN & CO.
QUALITY COURT, CHANCERY LANE

First Published in April, 1921
Printed by Whitehead Brothers, Wolverhampton

FOREWORD

The story of the last forty years of the monastery of Westminster centres round two persons. In the thirty-two years of John Islip’s rule as Abbot he raised its glory to a height which it had never before attained. In the eight years that followed Abbot Boston reduced it to a level which made its dissolution easy. To plead that Boston was merely Cromwell’s tool is to offer but little excuse, for it was a position Islip would have disdained to occupy. Had Islip lived to witness an end which perhaps was inevitable he might well have been involved in a tragedy such as that of Abbot Whiting of Glastonbury. As a man on the fringe of public life some accusation would not have been difficult to fabricate.