Henry's great gift to the nation was more than just a fine new church. Across the way, its secular counterpart was the great hall of the Palace of Westminster. The palace was both the seat of government and a residence for Henry who, unlike his Angevin ancestors, didn't much like being in the saddle. And the hall was a court in both the senses the word suggests - a place of judgement and a theatre of ceremony. At Westminster, the King had to be seen to be magnificent, but the King had also to be seen to be just. Westminster may have been the creation of the monarchy, but it also belonged to England - a nation of laws, the nation of Magna Carta.


亨利对国家的贡献，不仅仅是全新的大教堂。教堂对面是其世俗的对等物，威斯敏斯特宫的大厅。这座宫殿同时充当着政府办公厅与亨利王的住所，与金雀花王朝的先王们不同，亨利王不嗜安逸。这座大厅的功能恰如其称谓，[court既有法庭之意，也有宫廷之意]，既是审判庭，又是礼堂。在威斯敏斯特，国王的形象必须威严雄伟，同时还必须正义凛然。威斯敏斯特算得上是君主制的产，但它同时属于英格兰，一个法治国家，《大宪章》之国。