Traces the history of a magnificent landmark in the history of late medieval art and architecture. As the principal royal chapel in the medieval Palace of Westminster, St Stephen's was at the centre of worship for the Plantagenets, a major collegiate foundation of a new kind for the mid-fourteenth century, and a community of national significance in the development of sacred polyphony. During the Reformation, the Chapel was converted into a meeting place for the House of Commons, which it remained for 300 years, shaping the development of British political culture. Its influence continues to be felt today in the design of the Commons chamber. Following the disastrous Palace fire of 1834, the site of the upper chapel was rebuilt as St Stephen's Hall, a gallery of national history, leading to the Central Lobby of the Houses of Parliament. This book tells the story of St Stephen's Chapel, from the thirteenth century to the present day. Sixteen chapters explain the building and its religious life, its political significance, and the antiquarian rediscovery of its former magnificence. Contributors highlight the interaction between visual and political culture; the contexts of kingship and international rivalry that informed the foundation and construction of chapel and college; the effect of medieval St Stephen's on the development of the House of Commons; the adaptation and re-use of St Mary Undercroft; and the creation of St Stephen's Hall in the 1840s. The hall would become a site of Suffragette activism in the campaign for Votes for Women, marked today by a monumental artwork New Dawn, which is the focus of the final chapter.
Contributions by:
Tim Ayers
Edited by:
Tim Ayers,
J.P.D. Cooper,
Elizabeth Hallam Smith,
Caroline Shenton
Imprint: The Boydell Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 240mm,
Width: 170mm,
Weight: 1.100kg
ISBN: 9781837651634
ISBN 10: 1837651639
Pages: 392
Publication Date: 01 October 2024
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: St Stephen's Chapel Westminster and its Legacies, 1292 to the Present Tim Ayers, J. P. D. Cooper, Elizabeth Hallam Smith, and Caroline Shenton Part I St Stephen's Chapel and College in the Middle Ages St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster: Presence and Absence Tim Ayers The Plantagenet Purpose: St Stephen's Chapel and English Kingship, 1272-1377 W. Mark Ormrod St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster: From a King's to a Collegiate Chapel John Harper War, Politics, and Architecture: Iterative Design at St Stephen's Chapel, 1292-1348 James Hillson St Stephen's College, 1348 to 1548 Elizabeth Biggs The Imagery of St Stephen's Chapel: An Overview Paul Binski The Iconography of the St Stephen's Chapel Painting Fragments Jane Spooner Performing Spaces: The Art of Polyphony Within and Beyond St Stephen's Magnus Williamson Part II St Stephen's and the House of Commons St Stephen's under the Tudors: From Royal Chapel to Commons Chamber J. P. D. Cooper The Wren Commons Chamber Murray Tremellen Architecture and Revolution at St Stephen's and Beyond Paul Seaward Antiquaries, Architects, and St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, 1790-1837 Rosemary Hill St Stephen's, Temporary Accommodation, and the New House of Commons Rebekah Moore 'Going to St Stephen's': The Gothic Legacy of the Chapel in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Mark Collins St Mary Undercroft, 1548-1870: 'a dull sort of ecclesiastical lumber-room'? Elizabeth Hallam Smith From Valhalla to New Dawn: Commemoration and Gender in the Afterlife of St Stephen's Caroline Shenton and Melanie Unwin Index
TIM AYERS is Professor of the History of Art at the University of York. J.P.D. COOPER is Professor in History at the University of York, UK. ELIZABETH HALLAM SMITH is an Honorary Research Professor at the University of York, UK. CAROLINE SHENTON was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives, UK. TIM AYERS is Professor of the History of Art at the University of York. Dr ELIZABETH BIGGS started work on St Stephen's College as part of the large research project ""St Stephen's Chapel: Visual and Political Culture, 1292-1941"" at the University of York. She has taught at York and the University of the West of England. J.P.D. COOPER is Professor in History at the University of York, UK. ELIZABETH HALLAM SMITH is an Honorary Research Professor at the University of York, UK. The late W. MARK ORMROD was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of York; he published extensively on later medieval history. CAROLINE SHENTON was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives, UK.
Reviews for St Stephen's Chapel and the Palace of Westminster
This is a valuable scholarly addition to the extensive literature on St Stephen's Chapel and is well produced with nearly 200 plans and illustrations. * COUNTRY LIFE * This book is a tribute to the quality of recording at St Stephen's by the archaeologists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A wide-ranging work of synthesis of great value. * TRANSACTIONS OF THE LONDON & MIDDLESEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY *
