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The Gothic Lives on in London:
Westminster Abbey |
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Francesca Drew |
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There are three variations of the origins of the church at Westminster in early Medieval legends: "founded by I) 'King Lucius', ii0 by 'a rich citizen of London', and iii) by Sebert, king of the East Saxons in AD 604." John Flete wrote a history of Westminster in the fifteenth century and in it he claims that Westminster was "a 'little Rome', most directly linked to the Holy See." Westminster is thought to be older than London itself. Flete also mentions King Lucius who may have made a house at Westminster as early as AD 184. The house at Westminster could have been a royal place, progressively dissolved and restored, notably by one Saxon king, Sebert in AD 604. Whether or not these are just legends still remains a mystery for two well known medieval sources of history, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and Bede's Ecclesiastical History do not mention Westminster at all which would be strange if was a royal house at such an early period. No archaeological evidence has been found to back up the long believed theory that Sebert laid the first foundations of a church at Westminster site in the seventh century, but it is the various references in literature which today, still considered to be the original sanctuary.
The beginning of the history of the Abbey, which is known, starts with its first patron, Edward the Confessor in the last century of the first millenium AD. It is generally accepted that King Edward planned to build the Abbey as a burial place for himself. Edward built a church, planned a monastery, and endowed Westminster with land. King Harold 'Harefoot' had been buried at
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