Westminster Abbey

Gothic abbey church in London, England, UK

74 dated entries naming Westminster Abbey, drawn from 62 separate years between 616 CE and 2023 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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7th century

616A shrine on the site of the future Westminster Abbey (London) is founded (approximate date).source

11th century

1045January 23 – Edward the Confessor, King of England, marries Edith of Wessex (daughter of Earl Godwin) and she is crowned queen consort at Winchester. This year also in England, Edward begins construction of Westminster Abbey.source
1065December 28 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated by King Edward the Confessor.source
1066January 6 – Harold Godwinson (now known as Harold II) is crowned king of England, probably in the new Westminster Abbey, where Edward the Confessor's funeral took place not long before the coronation.source
1068May 11 – William I brings his wife Matilda of Flanders to England. She is crowned queen in Westminster Abbey.source
1097William II orders the construction of Westminster Hall near Westminster Abbey in London. The hall is designed to hold banquets, ceremonies and coronations that take place in the Abbey nearby.source
1100August 5 – Henry I is crowned King of England, at Westminster Abbey. The power of the new monarch is ill-assured, and to mollify the barons he has to grant them the Charter of Liberties, one of the first examples of a written constitution in Europe.source

12th century

1102Henry I orders the tomb of Edward the Confessor be opened; the body of the former king is supposedly found undecayed. The Westminster monks start to claim Edward as a saint.source
1135December 26 – Stephen of Blois is crowned at Westminster Abbey in London by Archbishop William de Corbeil. Matilda (pregnant with child) and her husband Geoffrey V ("the Fair") leave for their own safety to Normandy, where she plans how to overthrow Stephen and claim the English throne for her own.source
1179Westminster School is founded by Benedictine monks of Westminster Abbey (by papal command) in England.source
1189September 3 – Richard I is crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey. During the coronation, a number of notable Jews are expelled from the banquet and rumours spread that Richard has ordered a massacre of the Jews. This causes an actual massacre of the Jews in London; among those killed is Jacob of Orléans, a respected French Jewish scholar.source
1199May 26 – John returns to London and chooses people to help him to rule the kingdom. He appoints Archbishop Hubert Walter as his advisor and chancellor. Geoffrey Fitz Peter is chosen as Chief Justiciar and William (the Marshal) becomes Marshal of John's household. On May 27, John is crowned as king of England at Westminster Abbey.source

13th century

1220May 17 – The 12-year-old Henry III is crowned at Westminster Abbey. He is reminded of his duties as king to maintain peace, defend the rights of the English crown, and the barons swear an oath of fealty.source
1236January 14 – King Henry III marries the 14-year-old Eleanor of Provence, one of the four daughters of Raimond Berenguer, count of Provence. The ceremony takes place at Canterbury Cathedral, with Simon de Montfort, as Lord High Steward, takes care of the banquet and kitchen arrangements. Eleanor is crowned queen at Westminster Abbey shortly afterward.source
1245King Henry III starts the work of rebuilding Westminster Abbey, as a tribute to Edward the Confessor.source
1274August 2 – Edward I of England finally returns from the Holy Land to be crowned king of England on August 19 at Westminster Abbey two years after his father King Henry III's death.source

14th century

1306May 22 – Feast of the Swans: At Westminster Abbey King Edward I of England proclaims that all squires, who agree to march in an invasion of Scotland, will be knighted. After the feast, the King has two swans brought in and swears "before God and the swans" to avenge the murder of Lord John Comyn III of Badenoch, the desecration of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries by Robert Bruce, and to fight the infidels in the Holy Land. The King knights his son, Prince Edward of Caernarfon. The Prince knights 266 other men. King Edward then gives his "Raise the Dragon" orders, proclaiming that no mercy is to be granted to Scotland, and all Scots taken in arms are to be executed without trial. Among the persons knighted, the King appoints Aymer de Valance, lieutenant for Scotland. Valence will make his base at Perth, along with Henry Percy and Robert Clifford, to organize an army.source
1307July 7 – King Edward I of England, known as Edward Longshanks, dies at Burgh by Sands after a 34-year reign. He is succeeded by his son 23-year-old Edward II, who becomes new ruler of England. After his death Edward's body is embalmed and transported to Waltham Abbey in Essex. Here it lay unburied for several weeks so that people can come and see the body lying in state. After this, Edward is taken to Westminster Abbey for a proper burial on October 28.source
1308February 25 – Edward II is crowned at Westminster Abbey under the guidance of Henry Woodlock, bishop of Winchester. During the ceremony, Piers Gaveston is given the honour of carrying the crown. At the banquet that followed, Edward spends more time with Gaveston than with his wife Isabella of France. Isabella's family, who have travelled with her from France, leave to report back to Philip IV of Edward's favouritism for Gaveston over Isabella. As part of the coronation, Edward swears an oath to uphold "the rightful laws and customs which the community of the realm shall have chosen".source
1327February 1 – The coronation of King Edward III as ruler of England takes place at Westminster Abbey with the approval of the English Parliament. Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury, places the crown upon the new King.source
1370January 9 – The funeral of the late Queen Philippa, who had served as Queen consort of England for 61 years as the wife of King Edward III, is held at Westminster Abbey.source
1377July 16 – Richard II, the 10-year-old grandson of Edward III, is crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey. A minority government is established, and a series of continual councils rule on his behalf until 1381.source
1386August 8 – King Richard II of England summons the members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords to assemble at Westminster Abbey on October 1 for his 14th Parliament, dubbed by historians as the "Wonderful Parliament". Although the King's purpose is to secure funding to defend against an imminent invasion from France, the parliament members begin plans to reform the unpopular king's government.source
1397January 8 – Isabella of Valois, the 7-year-old wife of King Richard II since their marriage on October 31, is formally crowned as Queen consort of England at Westminster Abbey.source
1399October 13 – Henry Bolingborke is crowned as King Henry IV of England at Westminster Abbey.source

15th century

1413March 20 – King Henry IV of England dies at Westminster Abbey, where the English Parliament has been meeting, in the Jerusalem Chamber of the house of the Abbot, William de Colchester.source
1413December 4 – By order of King Henry V of England, the remains of King Richard II (whom Henry V's father had overthrown and imprisoned in 1399) are moved from the grounds of King's Langley Priory in Hertfordshire and reinterred at Westminster Abbey, the traditional final resting place of English monarchs.source
1421February 23 – The coronation of Catherine of Valois as Queen consort of England takes place at Westminster Abbey.source
1445May 30 – At a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the coronation of Margaret of Anjou as Queen consort of England takes place before John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1483July 6 – Richard III and Anne Neville are crowned king and Queen of England, at Westminster Abbey.source

16th century

1503January 24 – Construction of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey begins in the perpendicular Gothic style, the final stage of English Gothic art.source
1533June 1 – Cranmer crowns Anne Boleyn as queen consort of England, in Westminster Abbey.source
1547February 20 – Edward VI of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.source
1559January 15 – Elizabeth I of England is crowned, in Westminster Abbey.source

17th century

1603April 28 – The funeral of Elizabeth I of England is held in Westminster Abbey.source
1603July 25 – The formal coronation of James I as King of England takes place at Westminster Abbey. Ceremonies are limited because of plague.source
1619May 13 – Anne of Denmark, queen consort of England, is buried at Westminster Abbey.source
1635November 15 – Thomas Parr, dead at the alleged age of 152, is buried in Westminster Abbey.source
1643July 1 – The Westminster Assembly of theologians ("divines") and parliamentarians is convened at Westminster Abbey with the aim of restructuring the Church of England.source
16431 July – the Westminster Assembly of theologians ("divines") and parliamentarians is convened at Westminster Abbey with the aim of restructuring the Church of England.source
165717 August – Admiral Blake dies of old wounds at sea off Plymouth. His body is given a lying in state in the Queen's House, Greenwich and a full state funeral in Cromwell's presence, and he becomes one of the first commoners to be honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey (although reinterred after the Restoration).source
1661April 23 (May 3 N.S.) – King Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.source
166123 April – Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned King in Westminster Abbey. A new St Edward's Crown is made for the occasion.source
1661April 23 – Charles II of England, Ireland and Scotland receives his second crowning, in Westminster Abbey.source
1674July 17 – Two skeletons of children are discovered by workmen repairing a staircase at the White Tower (Tower of London), and believed at this time to be the remains of the Princes in the Tower. The urns containing the bones are interred in 1678 in Westminster Abbey, with an inscription in Latin that states "Here lie interred the remains of Edward V, King of England, and Richard, Duke of York, whose long desired and much sought after bones, after over a hundred and ninety years, were found interred deep beneath the rubble of the stairs that led up to the Chapel of the White Tower, on the 17 of July in the Year of Our Lord 1674."source
167417 July – two skeletons of children are discovered at the White Tower (Tower of London) and believed at this time to be the remains of the Princes in the Tower. The remains are subsequently buried in Westminster Abbey.source
1685April 23 – The coronation of King James II of England (and his Queen Consort, Mary of Modena) takes place at Westminster Abbey.source
168523 April – coronation of King James II at Westminster Abbey, including anthems by Henry Purcell.source
168911 April – crowning of William and Mary as King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland at Westminster Abbey by the Bishop of London, Henry Compton. Ireland does not yet recognise them.source

18th century

170223 April – coronation of Queen Anne in Westminster Abbey.source
1714October 20 – The coronation of George I of Great Britain and Ireland takes place in Westminster Abbey, a little less than three months after George became the new British monarch.source
17229 August – State funeral of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, takes place in London, where he is initially buried in the Henry VII Chapel of Westminster Abbey.source
172711 October – coronation of George II at Westminster Abbey. Handel's Coronation Anthems are composed for the event, including Zadok the Priest which is sung at every subsequent coronation.source
1745West towers of Westminster Abbey completed.source

19th century

1838June 28 – The coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.source
183828 June – The Coronation of Queen Victoria takes place at Westminster Abbey. However, Lord Melbourne denies her the traditional medieval banquet due to budget constraints and critics refer to it as "The Penny Crowning". The Imperial State Crown is remade for her.source
1847Robert Gray is ordained as the first Bishop of Cape Town in Westminster Abbey, London.source

20th century

1902August 9 – Coronation of Edward VII as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India at Westminster Abbey in London.source
19029 August – coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra at Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Frederick Temple.source
1911June 22 – George V and Mary are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, at Westminster Abbey in London.source
191122 June – Coronation of George V and Queen Mary at Westminster Abbey, London.source
1920November 11 – In London, The Cenotaph is unveiled and The Unknown Warrior is buried in Westminster Abbey; while in Paris the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is consecrated beneath the Arc de Triomphe.source
1923April 26 – Wedding of Prince Albert and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon: The future King George VI of the United Kingdom marries the future Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in Westminster Abbey.source
1937May 12 – George VI and Elizabeth are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India at Westminster Abbey, London.source
1947November 20 – Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh: Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II), the daughter of George VI of the United Kingdom, marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London.source
1951April 11 – After its clandestine removal from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1950, the Stone of Scone resurfaces at Arbroath Abbey in Scotland.source
1953June 2 – Elizabeth II is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, at Westminster Abbey.source
19532 June – Elizabeth II's coronation as Queen of Australia takes place at Westminster Abbeysource
19532 June – Elizabeth II crowned as Queen of New Zealand at Westminster Abbey in Londonsource
1986July 23 – In London, the then Prince Andrew, Duke of York (later Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.source
1997September 6 – The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes place at Westminster Abbey, London, UK, watched by over two billion people worldwide.source

21st century

2011April 29 – An estimated two billion people watch the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London.source
2022September 19 – The state funeral of Elizabeth II is held in Westminster Abbey, London. Her coffin is then taken by procession to Windsor Castle for burial with her husband, parents and sister in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. The funeral is speculated to be the most watched television event in world history.source
2023May 6 – The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.source