Westminster Abbey

LC control no.	n 80008753
Descriptive conventions	rda
Corporate name heading	Westminster Abbey *Browse this term in* LC Authorities or the LC Catalog
Variant(s)	St. Peter's (Westminster, London, England) Abby Church of Westminster (London, England) Saint Peter's (Westminster, London, England) Collegiate Church of St. Peter (Westminster, London, England) Dean and Chapter of Westminster (London, England) Abbey of St. Peter (Westminster, London, England) Abbey Church of Westminster (London, England) Ecclesia Collegiata B. Petri Westmonasterii (London, England) Abbey of Saint Peter (Westminster, London, England) Westminster Abbey Church (London, England) Ecclesia Abbatiae Westmonasteriensis (London, England) Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster (London, England) Church of St. Peter (Westminster, London, England) Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster (London, England) Westminster Cathedral (London, England : 1540-1556)
See also	Hierarchical superior: Great Britain. Sovereign *Browse this term in* LC Authorities
Beginning date	0960
Associated country	England Great Britain
Located	London (England)
Address	London UK SW1P 3PA http://www.westminster-abbey.org/
Affiliation	Church of England Benedictines Church of England Benedictines
Found in	Tanner, L. E. The history and treasures ... 1953. InU/Wing STC files (variants: St. Peter's; Abby Church of Westminster; Abbey of St. Peter; Abbey Church of Westminister; Ecclesia Collegiata B. Petri Westmonasterii) Allegations for marriage licences issued by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 1558-1699, 1886. Westminster Abbey Web site, 14 February 2014: main page (Westminster Abbey; founded 960; London SW1P 3PA UK) History (Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the tenth century; has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of seventeen monarchs; the first monks were brought to Westminster in about 960 AD by St Dunstan, then Bishop of London; Henry VIII dissolved the monastery 16 January 1540; the same year Henry VIII erected Westminster into a cathedral church; the abbot became the first dean; the bishopric was surrendered on 29 March 1550 and the diocese was re-united with London, Westminster being made by Act of Parliament a cathedral church in the diocese of London; Queen Mary I restored the Benedictine Abbey under Abbot Feckenham in 1556; on the accession of Elizabeth I the religious houses revived by Mary were given by Parliament to the Crown and the abbot and monks were removed in July 1559; Queen Elizabeth I refounded the Abbey by a charter dated 21 May 1560 as a Collegiate Church, a Royal Peculiar exempt from the jurisdiction of bishops and with the Sovereign as its Visitor; in place of the monastic community a collegiate body of a dean and prebendaries, minor canons and a lay staff was established; Elizabeth established the present Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (the Abbey's correct title)) <http://www.westminster-abbey.org/> Westminster Abbey : official guide, 1973: p. 9 ("Westminster Abbey" is shortened from the fuller phrase "Westminster Abbey Church," the church of the Abbey of Westminster; up to 1540, the "Abbey" as we call it today was the church of a Benedictine monastery; its legal title was Ecclesia Abbatiae Westmonasteriensis; Benedictine monks had been established there, at all events in the time of St Dunstan (about 960); 1540-1550, it was the cathedral of a diocese of Westminster; for a few years, under Edward VI, was declared to be a cathedral in the Diocese of London; with these exceptions, its extra-diocesan character has been carefully maintained to the present date; since 1560, when Elizabeth I replaced the abbot and monastery, which Queen Mary had restored for a time, by a dean, canons, and other officers, its legal title has been "the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster"; Church of St. Peter) Westminster Abbey. Acts of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 1609-1642, 2006: p. facing t.p. (Westminster Abbey) p. 3, etc. (texts using English and Latin) Wikipedia, 14 February 2014: Westminster Abbey (Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic, church in the City of Westminster, London, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster; the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs; the abbey is a Royal Peculiar (a church responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop) and between 1540 and 1550 had the status of a cathedral; in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, installed a community of Benedictine monks here; Henry VIII assumed direct royal control in 1539, granted the abbey cathedral status; the Abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Mary I of England, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559; Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a Royal Peculiar and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter; a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster) Dean and Chapter of Westminster (Westminster Abbey, a collegiate church of the Church of England and a royal peculiar in Westminster, Greater London)
Associated language	eng lat