When I visited the Jewel tower, I found a lot of soft material in the visual display there. This information is a very good to know the life of Medieval English people, Parliament, medieval Westminster and Westminster Abbey. Every line of it was worth reading. Most of the information given by me here is based on that.
Let us understand that Westminster palace and Westminster Church are two different things. Westminster palace is where today parliament sits while latter is a burial ground of royals and nobles. Jewel Tower is about 200 meters away from Abbey as well as palace. St. Stephen Chapel is inside the royal palace and entry for parliament.
House of Commons and House of Lords are adjacent opposite to each other and inside Westminster palace.
Today I am in the parliament which was once Westminster palace.
At night of Oct. 1834 a fire started beneath the House of Lords which swept through much of Westminster palace, including St. Stephen chapel. The Jewel tower was part of great royal palace of Westminster and is the one of the only four of the palace’s buildings to survive.
From 1042 to 1512, the Palace of Westminster was the main residence of English kings. Some parts were used only by king for his household, such as Jewel tower and St. Stephen chapel for king’s worship and first floor for dining. Others had more public functions where leading men advised king in early form of parliament. In 1512, a fire broke out and Henry VIII abandoned the palace, but other parts continue till today to function for law courts and parliament.
To understand the Westminster medieval life, to know parliament history better I think we should peek into Jewel Tower first. We get a lot of material about the area in display device kept hee.
Jewel Tower was built by Edward III in 1365. It formed as private treasury the part of kings palace of Westminster. The stone used is ragstone. To give tower better protection a moat was dug around it. Water was drawn from Thames by ditch. The windows glasses are highly decorative. From 1580 to 1864 it was used for storage of parliamentary records. The most important of these records were Acts of Parliament, documents of new laws, petitions to parliament and journals that recorded the daily business of hours of lords.
The records of Jewel tower were looked after by Clerk of the Parliaments, a role that still exists today. The Clerk and his assistants worked in the Jewel Tower. Daily tasks included preparing for the process of Royal Assent, where Monarch gave official approval to an Act of parliament. Clerk also kept records of minutes of meeting in House of Lords, which were recorded in Journals. Clerk were sworn to give true entries and records of things done.
In Jewel tower fine dishes, goblets and basins were kept here, as well as expensive wall hangings and beddings. Clerks in the king’s household checked and recorded all items and kept in chests. These were used at banquets on King’s other manors and castles. Most people in medieval England ate from simple pottery and wood- only kings and nobles could afford precious metals.
House of Commons was designed by sir Christopher Wren. The records of House of commons were kept elsewhere in Westminster. In 1834, a great fire much of the old palace of Westminster and most of the records of House of Commons were destroyed. Thereafter all the records were stored in another building. House of Lords was a body on noblemen and bishops which together with the house of commons and Monarch formed parliament.
The Great Reform Act of 1832 (photo 0486) shown here extended the right to vote. As today each act was approved by House of Commons and Lords and the Monarch.
Death warrant of King Charles I was kept here which was later shifted to Salisbury (the city of Stonehenge). An act for a Union of England and Scotland, 1707 was kept here. This union was agreed due to economic instability of Scotland and political stability of England.
There is a good amount of history is associated with the statue of Cromwell
There was once St. Stephen Chapel till 14th century as part of Westminster. It was gutted in 1834 fire. Almost a replica of it is constructed adjacent to Great Hall of Westminster in 1850.
During medieval period the House of Commons did not have a dedicated space and parliament had not yet settled permanently in Westminster. When parliaments did meet at Westminster, the monks of Abbey had MPs as their guests. The commons gathered either in the monk’s Chapter house which is still standing in Westminster today. The MPs were not always popular and there were many requests for the king to pay for damages to Westminster abbey.
In 1324, a mason working in St. Stephen was killed by monks of the abbey and case never resolved. so the relationship of St. Stephen and Abbey was often troubled.
Westminster Great Hall was the oldest part of the palace, ready for use in 1099. The walls still stand today. This hall was used for coronation feast and was also a public place.
The sculpted capitals once decorated the great hall of Westminster. The original Westminster hall was
built by William Rufus, son of William, the Conqueror. The capitals were carved that time. In 1390 the great hall was remodelled by Edward III and capitals were re-used. In last restoration these were
discarded and some sample we can see today as display in Jewel Tower.
Some landmarks in Great Hall are
Wild animals and grotesque heads have watched over all visitors to the jewel tower since it was built in 1365. The faces are carved onto ceiling and were once painted white with black pupil of eye.
Elaborate decorations like this was expensive in medieval times, reflecting the high status of owner of jewel tower, that is King of England. This type of ceiling is known as rib-vault and is feature of Gothic style of architecture. We can see this design in many churches and royal buildings from late 12th to early 17th century. Today these rib-vault design do not survive in royal palaces. In 1869 it became center of Trade’s standards department for weight and measurement which was used by millions of people.
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