Westminster Abbey: The Lady Chapel of Henry VII

The Lady Chapel constructed at the wish of Henry VII at Westminster Abbey is the last great masterpiece of English medieval architecture, and the culminating achievement of over three hundred years of development in the gothic style, at the point where it intersects with the new movements of the Renaissance. The burial place of some fifteen kings and queens, it houses both the largest surviving programme of gothic figure sculpture and the earliest and finest Renaissance tomb sculptures in England. This new book covers all the most important aspects of the Chapel's history, from the establishment of the cult of the Virgin in the twelfth century to the restoration of the 1990s, which provided an unrepeatable opportunity for close examination of the structure and contents of the building which is the subject of this volume.
Contributors: ROGER BOWERS, DONALD BUTTRESS, THOMAS COCKE, MARGARET CONDON, BARBARA HARVEY, JACQUES HEYMAN, PHILLIP LINDLEY, RICHARD MORTIMER, JULIAN MUNBY, JOHN PHYSICK, ANDREW REYNOLDS, TIM TATTON-BROWN, CHARLES TRACY, CHRISTOPHER WILSON.

Historians of British Art Book Prize for 2003

RICHARD MORTIMER is Keeper of the Muniments, Westminster Abbey; TIM TATTON-BROWN is Consultant Archaeologist to Westminster Abbey.

Reviews

The volume contains grippingly intelligent art-historical writing of the highest standard throughout. BURLINGTON MAGAZINE
[A] magnificent, sumptuous volume...it covers all the most important aspects of the Chapel's history, fabric, furnishing and restorations. [...] The editors deserve our warmest thanks for bringing to fruition a volume of such major and lasting importance. EHR
Provides a mass of fascinating information for the specialist. SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL
Careful thought and hard study have gone into its making. [...] A solid, informative and valuable specialist volume. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENT SOCIETY
No one reading this [book] is likely to suggest that its compilation is not fully justified by the range and quality of information assembled. THE ANTIQUARIES JOURNAL

Details

First Published: 15 Nov 2003
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843830375
Pages: 392
Size: 24.4 x 17.2
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: Boydell Press
Subject: Medieval History
BIC Class: HBLC1

Details updated on 02 Sep 2010

Contents

• 1  The monks of Westminster and the old Lady chapel
• 2  The musicians and liturgy of the Lady chapels of the monastery church, c.1235-1540
• 3  God save the king! Piety, propaganda and the perpetual memorial
• 4  The last will of Henry VII: document and text
• 5  The functional design of Henry VII's chapel: a reconstruction
• 6  The building history of the Lady chapels
• 7  An archaeological survey of the vaults of Henry VII's chapel
• 8  The roofs of Henry VII's chapel
• 9  The structure of the high vault of Henry VII's chapel
• 10  The Henry VII chapel stalls and their eighteenth-century remodelling
• 11  An appendix on the carpentry of the stalls
• 12  'The singuler mediacion and praiers of al the holie companie of Heven': sculptural functions and forms in Henry VII's chapel
• 13  The royal, the great and the good: the history of the later monuments
• 14  Henry VII chapel: the royal connection
• 15  The earlier restorations [with Richard Mortimer]
• 16  The earlier restorations [with Tim Tatton-Brown]
• 17  Restoring the chapel, 1991-6