The Monuments of Westminster Abbey: Power and Memory in Early Modern Britain

This is the first critical history of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century monuments of Westminster Abbey. It explains how the Abbey was transformed from a monastery with royal tombs into one of the most popular sites of commemoration in early modern Europe. It shows the extraordinary impact of the Reformation and the civil wars on the monuments at Westminster Abbey. The book includes accounts of the royal tombs, Poets’ Corner, and monuments to soldiers and sailors. The book illustrates how tourism grew and how the Abbey and others responded by erecting signs, providing tour guides, and publishing guide books, which made visiting the monuments one of the most popular amusements in London.

This book is essential reading for anyone who has visited Westminster Abbey, is fascinated by its unparalleled collection of monuments, and wants to know more about their history and meaning. The book makes a significant contribution to memory studies by providing an in-depth case study of a single building in the premodern era, and creating a methodology for studying the habits of memory in British culture. The book has 32 illustrations including photographs of the tombs and images of the monuments as reproduced in early modern publications, revealing the vibrancy of commemoration at Westminster Abbey.

Peter Sherlock is Professor at Charles Sturt University, Australia, and was previously Foundation Vice-Chancellor of the University of Divinity. An internationally recognised expert on history, memory, and commemoration in Reformation and Renaissance Europe, he is the author of Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England (2008).