Bede makes no mention at all of Westminster Abbey. But the first Charter in which it is mentioned, that of King Offa of Mercia, in 785, calls it St. Peter’s. Bede’s History ends at the year 731; therefore the Abbey was founded between 731 and 785; or, which is more likely, the foundation was too small and insignificant for Bede to mention it. King Offa says, “I have given to St. Peter and the Lord’s people dwelling in Torneis, in loco terribili, quod dicitur aet Uuestminster.” There is another ancient charter, without date, still existing, under which one Ælfhelm grants lands to the Abbey. Considering the facts already dwelt upon—the religious fervour of the eighth century, the general desire for the monastic life, and the absence of monasteries or nunneries in London, we may very reasonably infer that Westminster would open her doors to the citizens, and these would endow and enrich her. So that the vanished foundation may very well have been a great and splendid monastery. As we have nothing to go upon but conjecture and inference concerning it, we may accept anything we please.
Then came the troubles of the Danes in the ninth century. It is not to be supposed that, when they were ravaging the whole island and destroying everywhere the religious houses, Westminster would be spared. Indeed, they seem to have actually occupied Thorney, according to Ethelred’s Chronicle, and to have been besieged there by Earl Ethelred. It certainly was not the only time that they visited a place so convenient and lying on the old high road. One visit was probably quite enough so far as the monks were concerned.
Edgar and Dunstan founded the Abbey anew—in this first great dissolution of the monasteries the younger monks probably took up arms and became fighting-men with the rest. However this may be, the monks of Westminster were lost: the new Abbey had to be served by monks from Glastonbury.
Rischgitz Collection.
ST. DUNSTAN AT THE FEET OF CHRIST
From a MS. in the Bodleian Library.
A document still exists, perhaps a forgery, but yet of great value, purporting to be the King’s charter granting estates to the Abbey. Its importance to us lies in the fact that, forgery or not, it does give the boundaries of the estate claimed and possessed by the monks. A very noble estate it is. You can lay it down on the map very easily. On the north it was bounded by the line of Oxford Street; on the east by the Fleet river; on the south by the Thames; on the west by the Tyburn and a line drawn from the present site of Buckingham Palace to Victoria Station, and thence to the outfall of the King’s Scholars’ Pond Sewer, east of Albion Terrace in the Grosvenor Road. Of this large manor a good portion was marsh-land, but there were pastures and meadows south of the present Oxford Street, and as far as Holborn and the Fleet. Later on the Abbey acquired the land between the Tyburn and the Westbourne, that is to say, that part now bounded by the Serpentine in Hyde Park and the two sewers known as King’s Scholars’ Pond Sewer and the Ranelagh Sewer.
This, however, was the demesne of the Abbey under Edgar’s foundation. He brought thither twelve monks of the Benedictine order from Glastonbury, and gave them presents in gold as well as in lands. Still it remained a poor foundation till the coming of the Confessor.
Of this church, that of Edgar, I suppose there is not a fragment left above the ground. Nor need we speculate as to the kind of church that it was.
Beside the Abbey, on the east side of it, it is said that King Cnut erected a royal palace. At least tradition ascribes the palace to him, and there are several reasons which make it as certain as can be that the King did build a palace of some kind—whether great or small—on Thorney. It is stated that he loved to converse with Wulnoth, Abbot of St. Peter’s. Now even in these days it is not so very easy to get from London to Westminster for the purpose of conversation, and King Cnut was the busiest man in the whole island, so it is at all events likely that he built some sort of dwelling near the Abbey. It is positively stated that his palace was burned in the time of the Confessor; there is a bull by Pope Nicholas II. (1058-1061), in which it is said that “the place where the church and monastery are built was anciently the seat of kings—therefore by the authority, etc., we grant and solidly confirm that hereafter, for ever, it be the place of the kings’ constitution and consecration, the repository of the Imperial Regalia, and a perpetual habitation of monks.” This is pretty plain. But there are other points which seem to indicate that Cnut was the first builder of a palace here. The story of the removal of St. Alphage’s remains from St. Paul’s to Canterbury proves the wholesome fear with which the King regarded the citizens of London. He caused his men to simulate riots and tumults at the City gates, so that when all the citizens hurried thither in hopes of a fight, the removal could take place unseen. He would not willingly remain within the City walls. Besides, he had with him his small standing army of 3000 huscarles (house men), whom he carried about with him. The housing of these men in London—men of a different nationality—would be an ever-present danger if they were billeted upon the citizens: one could not expect that the Londoners, who had twice beaten off Cnut’s father and once beaten off Cnut himself, would regard the intrusion of this army within their walls with satisfaction.
What kind of palace was that which Cnut erected? I am of opinion that it contained the central group of buildings associated with the name of Edward the Confessor, which remained, with many changes of windows and roof, down to the fire of 1834. Outside, there were the offices of state, the barracks, the guest-chambers, and so forth. We shall return to the subject again.