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By the end of the 15th century,the most active patrons of art in England were the king and the towns. In the 15th century Henry VI and VII built Eton College Chapel (begun in 1441), King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446-1515), Henry VII and VIII St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle (begun 1481), and Henry VIII the Chapel of Henry VII at the east end of Westminster Abbey (1503-19). They are buildings of extremely simple exteriors and plans, but with plenty of masterfully ececuted decoration.
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was established in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensive enlargement began in the late 15th century. In June 1475 work began on clearing a site for a new St George's Chapel immediately west of the old one. Integral to this scheme were lodgings and a cloister for the vicars opposite the site of the future west front of the chapel. Integral to this scheme were lodgings and a cloister for the vicars opposite the site of the future west front of the chapel. The aim was evidently to build a chapel in the guise of a minster. Hence the basilican format, the consistent use of stone vaulting, the long choir and nave, the square ambulatory linking up with the old chapel, the transepts and (unexecuted) lantern-tower over the crossing, and the basing of the internal elevations on the two grandest works of Perpendicular cathedral architecture of the previous century, the choir of Gloucester Abbey (now Cathedral) and the nave of Canterbury Cathedral.
The Chapel has been the location of many royal ceremonies, weddings and burials. Windsor Castle is a principal residence for Queen Elizabeth II.
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