CHAPTER I.

THE FOUNDATION OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

THE devout King destined to God that place, both for that it was near unto the famous and wealthy city of London, and also had a pleasant situation amongst fruitful fields lying round about it, with the principal river running hard by, bringing in from all parts of the world great variety of wares and merchandise Les chiaflu for the love of the Chief Apostle,

Erratum

Page 89, foot-note, for Earl of Derby read Duke of Atholl. It was the Duke of Atholl's falconer who presented the falcons at George IV.'s coronation; the Atholls having succeeded the Derbys in the Lordship of the Isle of Man about 1730.

Stanley's Westminster Abbey.

A.D. 1440-1450.

(e) Vatican and Caius Coll. MSS., probably in the thirteenth century. All these are founded on Ailred.

(d) Harleian MS., A.D. 1066-1074 (almost contemporary).

(e) The charters of the Saxon Kings. (For the suspicions attaching to them, see Archwological Journal, No. 114, pp. 139–140.)

B

CHAPTER I.

THE FOUNDATION OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

THE devout King destined to God that place, both for that it was near unto the famous and wealthy city of London, and also had a pleasant situation amongst fruitful fields lying round about it, with the principal river running hard by, bringing in from all parts of the world great variety of wares and merchandise of all sorts to the city adjoining: but chiefly for the love of the Chief Apostle, whom he reverenced with a special and singular affection (Contemporary Life of Edward the Confessor, in Harleian MSS., pp. 980-985).

SPECIAL AUTHORITIES.

THE special authorities for the physical peculiarities of Westminster are :-1. Smith's Antiquities of Westminster. London. 1807.

2. Saunders's Situation and Extent of Westminster, in Archæologia, vol. xxvi. pp. 223-241.

3. Dean Buckland's Sermon (1847) on the reopening of Westminster Abbey, with a Geological Appendix.

4. History of St. Margaret's, Westminster, by the Rev. Mackenzie E. C.

Walcott.

For Edward the Confessor:

1. Life by Ailred, Abbot of Rievaulx, A.D. 1163, derived chiefly from an earlier Life by Osbert, or Osbern of Clare, Prior of Westminster, A.D. 1158.

2. The Four Lives published by Mr. Luard, in the Collection of the Master of the Rolls:

(a) Cambridge MS. French poem, dedicated to Eleanor, Queen of Henry III., probably about A.D. 1245.

(b) Oxford MS. Latin poem, dedicated to Henry VI., probably between

A.D. 1440-1450.

(c) Vatican and Caius Coll. MSS., probably in the thirteenth century.

All these are founded on Ailred.

(d) Harleian MS., A.D. 1066-1074 (almost contemporary).

(e) The charters of the Saxon Kings. (For the suspicions attaching to them, see Archæological Journal, No. 114, pp. 139-140.)

B