66. Edward the Confessor builds Westminster Abbey.

During a large part of his reign the King was engaged in building an
abbey or monastery at the west end of London, and hence called the
Westminster.[2] He had just completed and consecrated this great work
when he died, and was buried there. We may still see a part of the
original building in the crypt or basement of the abbey, while the
King's tomb above is the center of a circle of royal graves.

[2] Minster: a name given originally to a monastery; next, to a church
connected with a monastery; but now applied to several large English
cathedrals.

Multitudes made pilgrimages to King Edward's tomb, for the Pope had
enrolled him among the saints. Even now a little band of devoted
Catholics gather around his shrine every year. They go there to show
their veneration for the virtues and the piety of a ruler who would
have adorned a monastery, but had not breadth and vigor to fill a
throne.

67. Harold becomes King (1066).

On his deathbed, King Edward, who had no children, recommended Harold,
Earl of Wessex, as his successor (S65). But the Normans in France
declared Edward had promised that his cousin William, Duke of Normandy
(S65), should reign after him. The Witan, or National Council of
England (S81), chose Harold. That settled the question, for the
Council alone had the right to decide who should rule over the English
people. Harold was soon afterward crowned (January 16, 1066).