St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
| St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle | |
|
The King's Free Chapel | |
|---|---|
|
Windsor, Berkshire | |
| Status: | Royal peculiar |
.jpg)
| |
| Church of England | |
| (Royal peculiar) | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU96837700 |
| Location: | 51°29’1"N, -0°36’25"W |
| History | |
| Built 1475 – 1511 | |
| Gothic | |
| Information | |
| Website: | stgeorges-windsor.org |
St George's Chapel stands within Windsor Castle in Berkshire. It is a castle chapel built in the late-mediæval Perpendicular Gothic style, serving the King, the castle community and several significant royal functions.
The chapel is a Royal Peculiar, which is to say a church outside the jurisdiction of the bishop and istead under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch. It is also the Chapel of the Order of the Garter.
St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. It is located in the Lower Ward of the castle.[1]
The castle has belonged to the monarchy for almost 1,000 years. So, the chapel has been the scene of many royal services, weddings and burials – in the 19th century, St George's Chapel and the nearby Frogmore Gardens superseded Westminster Abbey as the chosen burial place for the British royal family.[2] The running of the chapel is the responsibility of the dean and Canons of Windsor who make up the College of Saint George. They are assisted by a clerk, verger and other staff.
History
Development of the building
In 1348, King Edward III founded two religious colleges: St Stephen's at Westminster and St George's at Windsor. The new college at Windsor was attached to the Chapel of St Edward the Confessor which had been constructed by Henry III in the early thirteenth century. The chapel was then re-dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, George the Martyr and Edward the Confessor, but soon became known only by its dedication to St George.[3] Edward III also built the Aerary Porch in 1353–54.[4]
The period 1475–1528 saw a radical redevelopment of St George's Chapel set in motion by Edward IV and continued by Henry VII under the supervision of his most esteemed counsellor, Sir Reginald Bray, and by Henry VIII. The thirteenth-century Chapel of St Edward the Confessor was enlarged into a cathedral-like space under the direction of Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, and the master mason, Henry Janyns.[5]
The Chapel suffered a great deal of destruction during the Civil War. Parliamentary forces broke into and plundered the chapel and treasury on 23 October 1642. Further pillage occurred in 1643 when the fifteenth-century chapter house was destroyed, lead was stripped off the chapel roofs, and elements of Henry VIII's unfinished funeral monument were stolen. Following his beheading in 1649, Charles I was buried in a small vault in the centre of the choir at St George's Chapel, which also contained the coffins of Henry VIII and Queen Jane (née Seymour).[6]
During his life and reign, King George III was responsible for reigniting royal interest in Windsor Castle, which had been much overlooked after the House of Hanover came to the throne in 1714. On 12 August 1776 the royal family first attended the Sunday morning service at St George's Chapel – which they called "the Cathedral". George III was committed to St George's Chapel; he inspired and in large part funded an extensive restoration of the chapel from 1780 to 1790.[7]
The reign of Queen Victoria saw further changes made to the structure of the chapel. The east end of the choir was reworked in memory of Prince Albert. The Lady Chapel, which had been abandoned by Henry VII, was completed and renamed the Albert Memorial Chapel.[8]
By the early twentieth century, the bowing walls, cracked vaulting, decayed stone and stripped lead required urgent attention. In 1920 a much needed ten-year restoration project began at George's Chapel, overseen by the consulting architect Sir Harold Brakspear.[9] As part of this programme, Mahomet Thomas Phillips – an Anglo-Congolese sculptor – produced a falcon and a unicorn in 1923.[10]
The King George VI Memorial Chapel was constructed in 1969 between the Rutland Chapel and the north choir of St George's Chapel to a design by George Pace.[11]
The Royal Beasts
On the roof of the chapel, standing on the pinnacles, and also on pinnacles at the sides, are seventy-six heraldic statues representing the Royal Beasts. They represent fourteen of the heraldic animals:
- The lion of England;
- The red dragon of Wales;
- The panther of Jane Seymour;
- The falcon of York;
- The black bull of Clarence;
- The yale of Beaufort;
- The white lion of Mortimer;
- The greyhound of Richmond;
- The white hart of Richard II;
- The collared silver antelope of Bohun;
- The black dragon of Ulster;
- The white swan of Hereford;
- The unicorn of Edward III and;
- The golden hind of Kent.[12]
The original beasts dated from the sixteenth century, but were removed in 1682 on the advice of Sir Christopher Wren, who had noted the failings of the Reigate Stone, a calcareous sandstone, from which they were carved. The present statues date from 1925 when the chapel was restored.[13][14]
Order of the Garter
Members of the Order of the Garter meet at Windsor Castle every June for the annual Garter Service. After lunch in the State Apartments (Upper Ward of the Castle), they process on foot in their robes and insignia, down to St George's Chapel for the service. The Garter Service was revived in 1948 by King George VI for the 600th anniversary of the founding of the Order and has since become an annual event.[15]
After their installation, members are each assigned a stall in the chapel choir above which his or her heraldic devices are displayed. A member's sword is placed beneath a helmet which is decorated with a mantling and topped with a crest, coronet or crown. Above this, a member's heraldic banner is hoisted emblazoned with his arms.[16]
A Garter stall plate, a small elaborately enamelled plate of brass, is affixed to the back of the stall displaying its member's name and arms with other inscriptions. On a member's death, the sword, helmet, mantling, crest, coronet or crown, and banner are removed. A service marking the death of a late member must be held before the stall can be assigned to anyone else. The ceremony takes place in the chapel, during which the Military Knights of Windsor carry the banner of the deceased member and offer it to the Dean of Windsor, who places it on the altar. The stall plates, however, are not removed. They remain permanently affixed to the stall, so the stalls of the chapel are emblazoned with a collection of 800 plates of the members throughout history.[17]
Chantries
Chantry chapels across England were dissolved under King Henry VIII, but those within St George's Chapel have survived. Before the Reformation, a number of chantry elements were set up here, in the form of altars and small chapels in memory of various kings and even prominent courtiers, deans and canons, at which special services and prayers would also be offered in memory of the founder.
The much-admired iron gates in the sanctuary of the chapel as well as the locks on the doors of the chapel are the work of the mediæval Cornish metalsmith John Tresilian.[18]
Rutland Chantry
The Rutland Chantry chapel, forming the northern transept of St George's Chapel, was founded in 1491 in honour of Sir Thomas St Leger (c.1440–1483) and Anne of York (1439–1476).[19] Sir Thomas was Anne's second husband. She was the eldest surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and thus elder sister of kings Edward IV (1442–1483) and Richard III (1452–1485). A monumental brass in memory of Anne and Sir Thomas survives on the east wall of the Rutland Chantry, the inscription of which records that the chantry was founded "with two priests singing forevermore":
"Wythin thys Chappell lyethe beryed Anne Duchess of Exetur suster unto the noble kyng Edward the forte. And also the body of syr Thomas Sellynger knyght her husband which hathe funde within thys College a Chauntre with too prestys sy’gyng for ev’more. On whose soule god have mercy. The wych Anne duchess dyed in the yere of oure lorde M Thowsande CCCCl xxv"[20]
The chantry received its current name in honour of the Earls of Rutland, descendants of Anne and Sir Thomas: their daughter, also Anne, married George Manners, 11th Baron Ros, and their son was Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. The tomb of George and Anne Manners is a prominent feature of the chantry. Their effigies are carved in alabaster.[19]
The chantry comprises five panels which represent the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Adoration of the Magi, the Temptations of Christ in the wilderness and the Miracle at Cana. They were commissioned from embroiderer Beryl Dean and took five years to complete. Only one panel is normally on display to the public, but the others may be seen on request.[21]
Staff
The Chapel is under the King's personal jurisdiction. It is run by the Dean and Canons of Windsor.
The choristers of St George's Chapel are boarders at St George's School, Windsor Castle.[22]
The Society of the Friends of St George's and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter, a registered charity, was established in 1931 to assist the college in maintaining the chapel.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle) |
- St George's Chapel, Windsor
- St George's Chapel Archives & Chapter Library
- Charity Commission website
- Crests for the Knights of the Garter
- A guide to the chapel
- Report of Review Group on the Royal Peculiars 2009
- Music manuscripts preserved in the Chapter Library
References
- ↑ "Harry and Meghan to wed at Windsor in May". BBC News. 28 November 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42156565.
- ↑ Petter, Olivia (16 October 2020). "What will happen when the Queen dies and where will she be buried". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/queen-elizabeth-death-dies-what-happens-uk-london-bridge-down-a8444526.html.
- ↑ A History of the County of Berkshire - Volume 2 pp 106-112: Collegiate churches: Windsor (St George's chapel) (Victoria County History)
- ↑ "The Aerary Porch". St. George's Chapel website. http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/tour/tour_aerary.asp.
- ↑ James, Sara N. (2016). Art in England: The Saxons to the Tudors: 600–1600. Oxbow Books. p. 216. ISBN 978-1785702266. https://books.google.com/books?id=PIIlDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA216.
- ↑ "12 November 1537 – Jane Seymour's remains moved to Windsor". The Tudor Society. https://www.tudorsociety.com/12-november-1537-jane-seymours-remains-moved-to-windsor/.
- ↑ "The legacy of King George III". St George's Chapel. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/image_of_the_month/the-legacy-of-king-george-iii/.
- ↑ "The Wolsey Chapel". St George's Chapel. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/image_of_the_month/the-wolsey-chapel/.
- ↑ Baillie, Albert (13 February 1931). "The Restoration of St George's Chapel, Windsor". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 79 (4082): 306–319. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41358709. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
- ↑ Hughes, H (17 October 2022). "Mahomet Thomas Phillips Part 2". https://reimagininglincs.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2022/10/17/mahomet-thomas-phillips-part-2/.
- ↑ Keay, Douglas (15 February 2002). "Princess Margaret's ashes to rest by her father". The Times (67375): p. 3. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0501475187/TTDA?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-TTDA&xid=a9eafb8a. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ↑ "Windsor Royal Beasts on St George's Chapel roof". Wordpress. 6 July 2008. http://inel.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/windsor-royal-beasts-on-st-georges-chapel-roof/.
- ↑ London, H. Stanford (1953). "The" Queen's Beasts: An Account with New Drawings of the Heraldic Animals Witch Stood at the Entrance to Westminster Abbey on the Occasion of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II., 2. June 1953. Newman Neame. p. 15. https://books.google.com/books?id=2288swEACAAJ.
- ↑ "Sir Frederick Minter". The Times: p. 19. 15 July 1976.
- ↑ "Order of the Garter Timeline". The Companion. 2015. p. 3. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Companion21-web.pdf.
- ↑ "St George's Chapel Banners of Arms Hand-Painted by Flagmakers". Flagmakers. https://flagmakers.co.uk/blog/history/st-george-s-chapel-banners-of-arms-hand-painted-by-flagmakers/.
- ↑ "Register of Stall Plates in St George's Chapel". The Companion. p. 18. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Companion20-website.pdf.
- ↑ Blackburne, Harry W. (2008). The Romance of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Wildside Press. pp. 14–. ISBN 978-1434474285. https://books.google.com/books?id=100X0MRhNLEC&pg=PA14.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Eleanor Cracknell (15 July 2011). "The Rutland Chantry". College of St George. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/the-rutland-chantry.
- ↑ "The Roos Monument in the Rutland Chantry Chapel". St George's Chapel. https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/the-roos-monument-in-the-rutland-chantry-chapel/.
- ↑ "Beryl Dean Panels" (in en-GB). https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/news/beryl-dean-panels/.
- ↑ Wridgway, Neville (1980). The Choristers of St George's Chapel. Chas. Luff & Co.. p. 132.
- Begent, Peter J.; Chesshyre, Hubert; Chesshyre, D. H. B.; Jefferson, Lisa (1999). The most noble Order of the Garter: 650 years. Spink. ISBN 978-1902040202. https://books.google.com/books?id=X4IWAQAAIAAJ.
- Keen, Laurence; Scarff, Eileen, eds (2002). Windsor: mediæval archaeology, art and architecture of the Thames Valley. British Archaeological Association. ISBN 978-1902653457. https://books.google.com/books?id=h4dnAAAAMAAJ.
- Saul, Nigel, ed (2005). St George's Chapel, Windsor, in the Fourteenth Century. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1843831174. https://books.google.com/books?id=auSNtufAwnoC&pg=PA1.
- Richmond, Colin; Scarff, Eileen, eds (2001). St Georges Chapel, Windsor, in the late Middle Ages. Windsor: Maney Publishing. ISBN 978-0953967612. https://books.google.com/books?id=bzqAAAAAIAAJ.