Westminster
The town west of the City of London, seat of the royal palace and of the abbey church that Edward the Confessor rebuilt, which was consecrated in December 1065. Edward was buried there in January 1066.
Today: Westminster, London, England
A year in a sentence: entries from the Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, entries for 802–1154, in the edition of John Earle (Oxford, 1865) · entries for 802–1154; the Peterborough copy written about 1121–1155
On þissum geare man halgode þet mynster æt West mynstre on Cilda mæsse dæg. And se cyng Eadward forðferde on twelfta mæsse æfen. and hine mann bebyrgede on twelftan mæsse dæg. innan þære niwa halgodre circean on Westmynstre. And Harold eorl feng to Engla landes cyne rice. swa swa se cyng hit him ge uðe. and eac men hine þær tó gecuron. and wæs gebletsod to cynge on twelftan mæsse dæg. [...]
In this year the minster at Westminster was consecrated on Holy Innocents’ Day. And King Edward died on the eve of Twelfth Day and was buried on Twelfth Day, in the newly consecrated church at Westminster. And Earl Harold came to the throne of England, as the king had granted it to him, and the people also chose him for it. He was blessed as king on Twelfth Day.
On þissum geare com Harold cyng of Eoferwic to Westmynstre. to þam Eastran þe wæron æfter þam middan wintre þe se cyng forðferde. and wæron þa Eastran on þone dæg xvi kl' Mai. Ða wearð geond eall Engla land swylc tacen on heofenum gesewen swylce nan man ǽr ne geseah. Sume men cwedon ꝥ hit cométa se steorra wære. þone sume men hatað þone fæxedon steorran. and he æteowde ærest on þone æfen Letania Maior. viii kl' Mai. and Swa scan ealle þa seofon niht. [...]
In this year King Harold came from York to Westminster for the Easter after the midwinter when King Edward died. Easter fell that year on April 16. Then a sign was seen in the sky all over England, such as no one had ever seen before. Some people said it was the star called a comet, which some call the long-haired star. It first appeared on April 24, the eve of the Greater Litany, and it shone like this for seven nights.
A diary for every day of the year
Samuel Pepys, from his diary (London, 1660–1669), in the edition of Henry B. Wheatley (London, 1893–99) · January 1660 to June 1669, written day by day (modern calendar)
About 4 I rose and got to the Abbey, where I followed Sir J. Denham, the Surveyor, with some company that he was leading in. And with much ado, by the favour of Mr. Cooper, his man, did get up into a great scaffold across the North end of the Abbey, where with a great deal of patience I sat from past 4 till 11 before the King came in. And a great pleasure it was to see the Abbey raised in the middle, all covered with red, and a throne (that is a chair) and footstool on the top of it; and all the officers of all kinds, so much as the very fidlers, in red vests. At last comes in the Dean and Prebends of Westminster, with the Bishops (many of them in cloth of gold copes), and after them the Nobility, all in their Parliament robes, which was a most magnificent sight.
About four I rose and got to the Abbey, where I followed Sir J. Denham, the Surveyor, with some company that he was leading in. And with much trouble, thanks to Mr. Cooper, his man, [I] got up onto a great scaffold across the north end of the Abbey, where with a great deal of patience I sat from past four till eleven before the King came in. And it was a great pleasure to see the Abbey raised in the middle, all covered with red, and a throne (that is, a chair) and footstool on top of it; and all the officers of every kind, even the very fiddlers, in red vests. At last in came the Dean and Prebends of Westminster, with the Bishops (many of them in copes of cloth of gold), and after them the Nobility, all in their Parliament robes, which was a most magnificent sight.
A London Diary of the Plague Year, 1665
Samuel Pepys, Diary, 1665, edited by Henry B. Wheatley (1893–99) · June 7–December 31, 1665
I was much troubled this day to hear at Westminster how the officers do bury the dead in the open Tuttle-fields, pretending want of room elsewhere; whereas the New Chappell churchyard was walled-in at the publick charge in the last plague time, merely for want of room and now none, but such as are able to pay dear for it, can be buried there.
I was much troubled this day to hear at Westminster how the officers do bury the dead in the open Tuttle Fields, pretending want of room elsewhere; whereas the New Chapel churchyard was walled in at the public charge in the last plague time, merely for want of room, and now none but such as are able to pay dear for it can be buried there.
Thence I walked to the Tower; but, Lord! how empty the streets are and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets full of sores; and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, every body talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that, in Westminster, there is never a physician and but one apothecary left, all being dead; but that there are great hopes of a great decrease this week: God send it!
Thence I walked to the Tower; but, Lord! how empty the streets are, and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets full of sores; and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, everybody talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that in Westminster there is never a physician, and but one apothecary left, all being dead; but that there are great hopes of a great decrease this week: God send it!