Jerusalem Chamber
room in Westminster Abbey
The Jerusalem Chamber is a room in what was formerly the abbot's house of Westminster Abbey. The room overlooks the main west door of the abbey. It was added in the fourteenth century. The abbot's house was made the deanery when the monastery was dissolved in 1540.
Henry IV of England died in the Jerusalem Chamber on 20 March 1413, and the Committee to write the King James Version of the Bible met there in 1611. The Upper House of Convocation often met there, and the Westminster Assembly met there from the Winter of 1643 until its dissolution.
The Jerusalem Chamber is referenced in act IV of William Shakespeare’s play Henry IV, Part 2.
The public source identifies “Jerusalem Chamber” as room in Westminster Abbey. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jerusalem, Chamber and room.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jerusalem Chamber”, the useful work is to connect “room in Westminster Abbey” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16850037. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1540, 1413, 1611 and 1643.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jerusalem Chamber”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jerusalem Chamber primary sources, Jerusalem Chamber archive and Jerusalem research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jerusalem Chamber” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.