Wesminister Abby Chapter House
IMG_2830r
The Chapter House in Westminster Abbey was built by King Henry III between 1246 and c.1255. It is one of the largest English chapter houses and it is located in a building which was built as a result of the single greatest act of royal architectural religious patronage in English medieval history and which is considered to be one of the finest displays of thirteenth-century English gothic architecture.
Until they were forced to leave in 1540, the monks of Westminster would gather in the Chapter House with the abbot to pray, read the rule of St Benedict, and to discuss the day’s business, The Chapter House was, however, also used as a secular meeting place. It was, for example, in Westminster Abbey’s Chapter House, on 14 February 1265, that King Henry III, then a prisoner of Simon de Montfort, swore to abide by the terms of a settlement at Montfort’s famous parliament. Thereafter parliaments would continue to meet in the Chapter House before they established themselves in the Palace of Westminster across the road. The Chapter House has also been used as an archive for state documents.
Wesminister Abby Chapter House
IMG_2830r
The Chapter House in Westminster Abbey was built by King Henry III between 1246 and c.1255. It is one of the largest English chapter houses and it is located in a building which was built as a result of the single greatest act of royal architectural religious patronage in English medieval history and which is considered to be one of the finest displays of thirteenth-century English gothic architecture.
Until they were forced to leave in 1540, the monks of Westminster would gather in the Chapter House with the abbot to pray, read the rule of St Benedict, and to discuss the day’s business, The Chapter House was, however, also used as a secular meeting place. It was, for example, in Westminster Abbey’s Chapter House, on 14 February 1265, that King Henry III, then a prisoner of Simon de Montfort, swore to abide by the terms of a settlement at Montfort’s famous parliament. Thereafter parliaments would continue to meet in the Chapter House before they established themselves in the Palace of Westminster across the road. The Chapter House has also been used as an archive for state documents.