The Devil's Acre was a notorious slum near a large, mainly Gothic abbey church that between 1540 and 1556 had the status of what?
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the original abbey church.
Council of London in 1102 The Council of London was a Catholic church council convened by Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, on Michaelmas in 1102. It marked the first major council of his episcopate, as he had been prohibited from convening any during the reign of William II of England. Anselm took the opportunity to initiate the Gregorian Reformation, prohibiting marriage, concubinage, and drunkenness to all those in holy orders, condemning sodomy and simony, and regulating clerical dress. Anselm also obtained a resolution against the British slave trade, although this was aimed mainly at the sale of English slaves to Ireland and did not prevent the church from owning slaves.