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Monasteries in London
in Medieval & Tudor Times


The Eastminster - © Nash Ford Publishing

 

In medieval & Tudor times, there were lots of monasteries within and immediately surrounding the walls of the City of London. Most of them were lived in by canons rather than monks. A few of them started back in Saxon times. They were all shut down by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Monks lived at:
  • Westminster Abbey was a Benedictine monastery. It housed the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor. The Kings of England were both crowned and buried there. It was also a place of sanctuary where lots of criminals hid out. Although the monks were sent away, it survived the Dissolution because it has always belonged to the monarch. It is now a Collegiate Church.
  • The Charterhouse was built on the site of a cemetery for Black Death victims. It was a Carthusian monastery for monks who all lived in separate little houses and rarely saw and never spoke to one another. The Prior and many of the monks were executed at the Dissolution. The buildings were lived in by several great lords & Queen Elizabeth I often visited. In 1611, it became the famous school of the same name. This has since relocated to Sussex.
  • St. Helen's Bishopsgate was a Benedictine nunnery. Legend says to was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. St. Edmund's body was kept safe there during the Viking Invasions. In the 14th century, the nuns were told off for keeping pet dogs, kissing people & wearing trendy clothes! The church eventually became a parish church. It survived the Great Fire of London & can still be seen today.
  • Bermondsey Abbey was a Cluniac monastery. It housed the famous 'Rood of Grace' relic. Princess Mary of Scotland was buried there & so was the Duke of Gloucester (temporarily). The queens of both Henry V & Edward IV retired & died there. When the monks left, it was pulled down to build Bermondsey House. Many of the books in the library went to Trinity College, Oxford.
  • The Eastminster was a Cistercian Abbey. The Pope said that people who visited on feast days could get an indulgence to reduce the amount of penance they were doing. It was the main meeting place in England for the Cistercians. The Abbot was allowed to wear a mitre.


 

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