From Confessor to Conqueror
... it lay hard by the famous and rich town of London and also was a delightful spot, surrounded with fertile lands and green fields and near the main channel of the river, which bore abundant merchandise of wares of every kind for sale from the whole world to the town on its banks.
In addition, the Confessor was a devotee of St Peter, to whom the church was dedicated, so having decided to be buried there, he set about rebuilding it. It was at about this time that he decided to build a royal residence alongside Westminster Abbey.
Little is known of the Confessor鈥檚 palace but it probably included a Great Hall and a series of private chambers for the king himself. The Bayeaux Tapestry depicts the Confessor seated in a stylised palace, almost certainly intended to represent Westminster. The combination of a magnificent new abbey (unprecedented by its size and architectural style in England) and palace, elevated Westminster, architecturally at least, to the status of the primary royal residence of the English monarchy.
'William Duke of Normandy ... chose Westminster Abbey for his own coronation on Christmas Day 1066.'
The Confessor died at Westminster and was duly buried in Westminster Abbey on 6 January 1066. On the same day, his brother-in-law, Harold Earl of Wessex became the first English king to be crowned at the abbey. Thus Westminster鈥檚 status was increased, not only as the residence and burial place of kings, but also as the site where kings were annointed.
After the Norman invasion and the defeat of Harold at the Battle of Hastings, William Duke of Normandy, the cousin of the Confessor and known to posterity as 'the Conqueror', chose Westminster Abbey for his own coronation on Christmas Day 1066. This was a considered and significant move, clearly intended to demonstrate what he - William - perceived as his rightful assumption of the English crown. The adoption of the Confessor鈥檚 own church and palace by the new Norman dynasty was an extension of this.
William set about restoring order to his newly won kingdom. With no central or local administration (ie no civil servants or lawyers) to exercise the king鈥檚 will throughout his new domain, William developed the system of government called feudalism. The system was based on tenancy - as opposed to ownership - of land. William had disinherited most of the English nobles who had survived Hastings, and divided their estates amongst his own followers, giving them their tenancy in return for military service.
There was no parliament at this time, however it is from the assembly known as the King鈥檚 Great Council - formed from the leading nobles of the realm and the successor of the Anglo-Saxon council, the Witan - that a parliament based at Westminster was eventually to evolve.
Published: 2005-02-02
