| 4 | A B B | |
nity, and by several charters not only con-
firmed all its ancient rights and privileges,
but endowed it with many rich manors,
and additional immunities: ordained that
all its lands and possessions, should be sub-
ject to none but its own jurisdiction, and
the convent be free from the authority of
the Bishop of London; and the church, by
a bull of Pope Nicholas I. was constituted
the place for the inauguration of the Kings
of England. In short, he gave it a char-
ter of sanctuary, in which he declares,
that any person whatsoever, let his crimes
be ever so great, who takes sanctuary in
that holy place, shall be assured of life,
liberty, and limbs, and that none of his
ministers, nor those of his successors, should
seize any of his goods, lands or posses-
sions, under pain of everlasting damnation,
and that whoever presumed to act contrary
to this grant, should lose his name, wor-
ship, dignity, and power, and with the
traitor Judas, be in the everlasting fire of
hell. This was the pious language of St.
Edward the Confessor, and from this char-
ter, Westminster Abbey became an asylum
for traitors, murderers, robbers, and the
most abandoned miscreants, who lived
there in open defiance of the laws.
|
| | This, |
|
| A B B | 5 |
|
This, and King Edward's other charters,
in which he recites the ridiculous story of
its consecration by St. Peter, as above re-
lated, its destruction by the Danes, the
grants and privileges of his predecessors,
and those bestowed by himself, drew people
thisther from all parts, so that in a short
time there was not sufficient room in the
Abbey church for the accommodation of
the numerous inhabitants, without incom-
moding the monks; he therefore caused
a church to be erected on the north side
of the monastery, for the use of the in-
habitants, and dedicated it to St. Margaret.
William the Conqueror, to shew his re-
gard to the memory of his late friend
King Edward , no sooner arrived in Lon-
don, than he repaired to this church, and
offered a sumptuous pall, as a covering for
his tomb; he also gave fifty marks of sil-
ver, together with a very rich altar cloth,
and two caskets of gold; and the Christ-
mas following was solemnly crowned
there, his being the first coronation per-
formed in that place.
The next Prince who improved this
great work, was Henry III. who in the
year 1200 began to erect a new chapel
to the blessed Virgin; but about twenty
|
| B 3 | years |
|
HomeVolume IPage Group i - 19
