London - Westminster Abbey - 6/24/2013

 Today, thanks to Manuel's generosity, we have a real treat in store. He has hired a professional tour guide to take us on a trip through Westminster Abbey. Marilyn (not my classmate Marilyn - another Marilyn), a red-headed English woman, shows up at the Petersham flat at 9:30AM sharp. She's very pleasant, but a no-nonsense drill sergeant.We're on out way to the tube station. "Do not cross the street unless the pedestrian light is green," she admonishes us. There will be no jaywalking on her watch. A flattened American who was looking the wrong way while crossing a busy London street would definitely upset her timetable. We are destined to arrive at Westminster Abbey safely and on time.

Westminster Abbey

 As I mentioned, our tour guide is a professional. These guides must take exams on the history of each of the sites that they are licensed for. Blue Badge Tourist Guides are the official guides of the United Kingdom. In London, it takes up to two years of study and testing to get your badge. As you would guess, Marilyn is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about today's subject matter, Westminster Abbey. However, the best part is, because we are with a Blue Badge guide, we don't have to wait in line to get in. We enter the Abbey through the Cloister which was originally built in the 13th century and rebuilt in 1298 after it was destroyed by a fire.Whereas the British Museum was a massive collection of world history, Westminster contains the full pageant of British history from 1066 to the present. A Gothic architectural masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries, this building houses the tombs of kings, queens, poets, writers, scientists, musicians, actors, warriors, statesmen, and countless memorials to the famous and great who make up British history through the centuries. "It has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066 and for numerous other royal occasions, including sixteen royal weddings. Today it is still a church dedicated to regular worship and to the celebration of great events in the life of the nation."
Wow, this is great, I can get plenty of great pictures in here! But as knowledgeable of the rules as she is about the history, our red-headed Blue Badge Tourist Guide Drill Sergeant spots me going for my camera. "Photos are not allowed, please holster your camera." She has marked her territory and we have been reminded who is in charge. I must keep up with the group and soak in the history of this place as dispensed by Marilyn, our tour professional. In truth, she was incredibly knowledgeable and very entertaining. I think she took some acting lessons along with the tour exams. As a history major in college, I gradually get drawn into this incredible place. The Abbey contains over 600 monuments and wall tablets. Over three thousand people are buried here. Monuments and graves from the ornate and ridiculous to the humble and simple are scattered throughout the Abbey. One section of the Abbey contained a series of graves and monuments where it seemed like the occupants were determined to outdo one another. A lot of royals and statesmen with money and power wanted to get in on the action, believing that prime real estate here would help them live forever. They may have been right.
In the Nave we come upon one of the humble tombs, the revered grave of the Unknown Warrior. He is an unknown British soldier who was killed on a battlefield in Europe during World War I and buried here in November, 1920. Interestingly, there are many famous graves under the floor of the Abbey, but this is the only one that is forbidden to step on. On the more ornate side, we pass the exquisite sculpture of Queen Elizabeth I on the lid of her raised coffin. In fact, she is the last monarch buried in the Abbey to have a monument erected above her. The aforementioned daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, her long reign was one of the most brilliant in British history.
Our tour guide stopped us along the way to occasionally provide historical background (with a flair, I might add) to the things we were seeing as we passed through the Abbey. On one stop, she gave us a soliloquy on the sad end of the reviled Oliver Cromwell (remember him from the Windsor Castle blog?). As you may remember, he led England into a republic, abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords after he had King Charles I executed in January of 1649. With his unrestricted power, he lived the high life. However, he only enjoyed his exalted status for a little over eight years, as he died after an illness in 1658. With the republic still in effect and his star still bright, he was buried in Westminster Abbey. He lay there undisturbed until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Hell has no fury like the son of an executed king who becomes king himself. The twelve living revolutionaries who participated in the execution of Charles I were convicted of treason, as were Cromwell and two other dead guys. The living convicted traitors "were hanged, drawn, and quartered - that is, dragged through the streets on an unwheeled sledge or hurdle, hanged by the neck and cut down while alive, beheaded and dismembered." I guess Charles II wanted to make damn sure they were dead. With considerable difficulty, "Cromwell's body, hidden in the wall of the middle aisle of Henry VII Lady Chapel" was exhumed. On the morning of January 30, 1661, the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I, the body of Cromwell was dragged on a sledge through the streets of London to the gallows. They strung up the body for public viewing. "After being taken down, Cromwell's head was severed with eight blows, placed on a wooden spike on a 20-foot pole, and raised above Westminster Hall." Don't mess with the king. He has no qualms concerning capital punishment. They even hang perpetrators who are already dead. We have been educated. Needless to say, Oliver Cromwell was among the very few who did not have a long stay in Westminster Abbey.
We also stopped to view and to hear some history behind King Edward's chair, or as it is better known, the Coronation Chair. The chair was commissioned by Edward I in 1297 to contain the coronation stone of Scotland (the Stone of Scone) which he brought back to London after invading Scotland in 1296. This was to serve notice that the king of England also lorded over Scotland. "Since 1308, all anointed sovereigns of England (until 1603) and Great Britain (after the union of the crowns) have been seated in this chair at the moment of their coronation, with the exception of Queen Mary I (who was crowned in a chair given to her by the Pope) and Mary II." From 1307 until today, the chair has rarely been moved from Westminster Abbey. This high-backed gothic chair was carved from oak; four gilded lions that act as legs were added in the 16th century. The Stone of Scone is currently missing, as it had been returned to Scotland in 1996 with the provision that it be returned to the chair on the occasion of the next coronation. Too bad we couldn't see the stone. It's story is more interesting than the chair.
Weighing 336 pounds, the Stone of Scone is a rectangular block of sandstone measuring 26 inches by 16 inches by 11 inches. A Latin cross is its only decoration. Legend has it that it was once the pillow where the biblical figure Jacob rested when he had visions of angels. It is said that the stone traveled form the Holy Land to Egypt, Sicily, and Spain before ending up in Ireland on the hills of Tara (where ancient Irish kings were crowned) around 700 BC. The Celtic Scots invaded, confiscated the stone, occupied Scotland, and eventually transported the stone to the village of Scone in 840. It came to be encased in the seat of the royal coronation chair where for centuries it was associated with the crowning of Scottish kings. Then in 1296, Edward I came along and took the stone to show the Scots who was boss. Now that's a hell of a pet rock.
But the legend continued and the Scots would get their revenge. "Attached to the stone in ancient times was allegedly a piece of metal with the prophecy that Sir Walter Scott translated as
Unless the fates be faulty grown
And prophet's voice be vain
Where'er is found this sacred stone
The Scottish race shall reign."

When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and was succeeded by King James VI of Scotland, he was crowned on the Stone of Scone as James I of Great Britain. The legend had been fulfilled; a Scotsman again ruled where the stone was located.
There's just too much history here. I'll never remember all this stuff. I am bordering on old age and my brain is beginning to explode. I also noticed the glazed look in the eyes of some of my cohorts. Amazing sights and stories, but sensory overload. We walked over to the Poets' corner where many famous memorials and graves are located. We stopped again to listen to Marilyn, our tour guide, attempt to cram some more history into our over-taxed brains. The first person to be buried in Poet's corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1556. I started to tune out and looked down at my feet. It just so happened that I had one foot on the grave of Charles Dickens and the other on the grave of Rudyard Kipling. Now, if that doesn't instill some writing inspiration - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ..." - I could hear those voices of the past telling me, "Go for it dude, that blog will be epic." With some renewed purpose, I came back to the present. What was that she said about Geoffrey Chaucer?
It was time to end our visit and go get some lunch. Our tour guide was only on the clock for a half day, so it was time to bid her farewell until the day after tomorrow when we will meet again for a full day at the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral. It's good that we will have a day to decompress and a few drinks before absorbing more knowledge. After lunch, the girls are going for High Tea while us guys are on our own.