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Page 8 of 8

• 1. The early history of Westminster
• 2. From Confessor to Conqueror
• 3. The Great Hall
• 4. The Painted Chamber
• 5. A symbol of good kingship
• 6. The great drama of Richard II
• 7. Show trials
• 8. A palace for Parliament
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A palace for Parliament

Throughout the 15th century, it is probable that the palace buildings continued to be developed and adapted although there is no documentation to indicate exactly how these changes would have appeared.

Henry VII’s greatest single patronage at Westminster was the building of the Lady Chapel at the east end of Westminster Abbey - originally intended for the burial of another royal saint, Henry VI. In the event, it was where Henry VII himself was interred. The design and iconography of this chapel, above all else, was to greatly influence the new Palace of Westminster.

'Henry VIII was to be the last monarch to reside at the Palace of Westminster.'

In 1512, just after Henry VIII came to the throne, a fire gutted the royal residential (or 'privy') area of the palace and in 1529 Henry VIII abandoned Westminster completely, having appropriated the more commodious York Palace (the residence of the Archbishops of York). This palace is better known as Whitehall.

The ruins of the Privy Palace were demolished and removed - thus ending almost 500 years of royal residence. The palace was now devoted to administration and law, and Henry VIII was to be the last monarch to reside at the Palace of Westminster.

'Henry had increased his power and wealth but in addition ... had also increased the power of parliament itself. '

Despite Henry’s absence, the Westminster Parliament’s influence increased, and an extraordinary programme of legislation was carried out, following ‘the break with Rome’. Some acts, like the various acts of succession, dealt not only with Henry’s marital situation but the line of the succession itself. Others were seemingly religious in intent - the Dissolution of Monasteries and Chantries acts - but were in essence economic and political.

Henry had increased his power and wealth but in addition, through the necessity of parliament as the vehicle for this legislation, he had also increased the power of parliament itself. Perhaps we can perceive the transfer of the Palace of Westminster from royal to parliamentary home, as symbolic of the shift of government itself, from monarch to parliament.

And as if to confirm this transition, in 1548 Edward VI gave the royal Chapel of St Stephen, whose college had been suppressed, to the House of Commons as their permanent home.

[If you would like to find out any additional information about any of the terms or words used in this article, please refer to the glossary page.]

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Published: 2005-02-02