MediæVal London - free ebook by Walter Besant

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MediæVal London

Walter Besant

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CHAPTER I HENRY II

CHAPTER I HENRY II

[In considering the reigning Kings in order, I have found it necessary to reserve for the chapters on the Mediæval Government of the City the Charters successively granted to the Citizens, and their meaning.] The accession of the young King, then only three-and-twenty years of age, brought to the City as well as to the Country, a welcome period of rest and peace and prosperity. These precious gifts were secured by the ceaseless watchfulness of the King, whose itinerary shows that he was a most u

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CHAPTER II RICHARD I

CHAPTER II RICHARD I

The coronation of King Richard on September 3, 1189, was disgraced by a massacre of the Jews—the first example of anti-Jewish feeling. Perhaps when they first came over these unfortunate people hoped that no traditional hatred of the race existed in England. Experience, alas! might have taught them, perhaps had taught them, that hatred grew up round the footsteps of the Infidel as quickly as the thistles in the field. When the Jew arrived in England what could he do? He could not trade because t

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CHAPTER III JOHN

CHAPTER III JOHN

John granted five Charters to the City. By the first of these Charters, June 17, 1199, he confirmed the City in the liberties which they had enjoyed under King Henry II. By the third Charter, July 5, 1199, he went farther: he gave back to the citizens the rights they had obtained from Henry I., viz. the farm of Middlesex for a payment of £300 sterling every year, and the right of electing their own sheriffs. This seemed a great concession, but was not in reality very great, for the existence of

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CHAPTER IV HENRY III

CHAPTER IV HENRY III

John was succeeded by his son Henry, then a boy of nine. The death of their enemy brought back the Barons to their allegiance: forty of them at once went over to the young King, the rest followed one by one. Louis was left almost alone in London with his Frenchmen. The pride and arrogance of the foreigners went far to disgust the English and inclined them to return to their loyalty. After the defeat at Lincoln, Louis found himself blockaded within the City walls, unable to get out, and, unless r

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CHAPTER V EDWARD I

CHAPTER V EDWARD I

The new reign began with the adjustment of an outstanding quarrel. Flanders was the principal cloth-making country, and, as such, she was always the chief customer of England for wool, in the trade of which so many of the London merchants were interested. In the year 1270, when the Countess of Flanders thought fit to lay hands upon the wool and other merchandise belonging to English merchants in her dominions, Henry issued a writ to the Mayor and Sheriffs forbidding the export of wool anywhere o

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CHAPTER VI EDWARD II

CHAPTER VI EDWARD II

The least worthy, or the most worthless, of all the English sovereigns, was the first who sat upon the sacred stone of Scone, brought into England by Edward I. The coronation was held on February 25, 1308, the Queen being crowned with the King. The Mayor and Aldermen took part in the function and in the banquet afterwards. The history of this miserable reign chiefly consists of the troubles caused by the King’s favourites. London, however, played a large part in the events arising out of their q

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CHAPTER VII EDWARD III

CHAPTER VII EDWARD III

The letter from the Queen in November 1326; the visit of Mortimer in 1327 and his oath taken before the Mayor and Chamberlain; and the first acts of the new reign—not of the new King, who was not yet of age,—all together prove the importance of the City in the minds of the new rulers. For the first acts were the grants of three simultaneous charters. The Liber Albus contains a brief synopsis of the contents of the first of these charters, which Maitland rightly calls golden. It is dated 6th Marc

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CHAPTER VIII RICHARD II

CHAPTER VIII RICHARD II

No one who considers the life and reign of Richard II. can fail to observe, and in some measure to understand, the very remarkable personal affection which he inspired in the people, especially the people of London, whose loyalty he rewarded so shamefully. His singular beauty, his kingliness, his charm of manner, the splendour and luxury of his court, his love of art and music, his personal bearing, all these things dazzled and fascinated the populace. Never was there a more gallant prince to lo

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CHAPTER IX HENRY IV

CHAPTER IX HENRY IV

We have now to consider a rare event in the history of London—the accession of a sovereign who honestly maintained friendly relations with the City of London and respected its liberties. The note of conciliation was struck at the Coronation Banquet, at which the Mayor and Aldermen claimed and were assigned places of honour and their right of assisting the Chief Butler. Let us assist at one of the many mediæval banquets—we can do so by the help of Fabyan:— “Upon Monday, beyng the day of seynt Edw

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CHAPTER X HENRY V

CHAPTER X HENRY V

On the night of his father’s funeral, the new King remained in the Abbey. He spent that night in confessing and praying at the cell of the anchorite which was outside the Chapel of Saint Catherine where are now the Little Cloisters. Stanley calls this the Conversion of Henry. That is because Stanley believed all that has been written about the youth of Henry—about his wild days, and his wild companions. But this Prince never existed except in the later popular imagination. That is to say, it has

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CHAPTER XI HENRY VI

CHAPTER XI HENRY VI

The disastrous and miserable reign of Henry of Windsor began when the King, an infant less than a year old, was carried through London in the lap of his mother. He was placed under the guardianship of the late King’s brothers, the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Gloucester. The former being the elder claimed to be Protector of the Realm, which was granted him, his Protectorate to begin on his return from France. The glories and victories of the late reign, the personal popularity of Henry V., an

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CHAPTER XII EDWARD IV

CHAPTER XII EDWARD IV

The reign of Edward IV., who had now become, as he remained to the end, the most popular of kings in the City of London, presents a record of continual agitation and excitement. He stayed first at Baynard’s Castle, where he began his reign by hanging an unfortunate grocer of Cheapside, trading under the sign of the “Crown,” for saying that his son was heir to the crown. Of course Walker must have said more than that. There were Lancastrians still among the citizens. One could hardly hang a man f

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CHAPTER XIII RICHARD III

CHAPTER XIII RICHARD III

On the death of Edward IV., the Duke of Gloucester made haste to seize upon the Prince, his elder son, then a boy of thirteen, on his way from Ludlow Castle to Westminster. The City thereupon began to busy itself about the Coronation Festival. The civic procession was already organised (Sharpe, London and the Kingdom , i. 319). The City Fathers were to meet the young King who would come into the City: they were to be arrayed in gowns of scarlet, their attendants, including five sergeants at mace

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CHAPTER I GENERAL VIEW

CHAPTER I GENERAL VIEW

Let us go back to the fourteenth century; let us walk about London in the reign of Edward III., great Captain and glorious Sovereign. Before we enter the City we will first stand upon the wall and look out upon the country outside. The wall itself, of Roman origin so far as the foundation and the core, has been faced and refaced and repaired over and over again. It is provided still, however, as in Roman times, with round bastions about 250 feet apart. One of these bastions, much rebuilt, overlo

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CHAPTER II PORT AND TRADE OF LONDON

CHAPTER II PORT AND TRADE OF LONDON

The limits of the Port of London, never defined until the reign of Charles II., seem to have been always understood as reaching from the North Foreland to London Bridge. Queenhithe, which, early in the thirteenth century, employed thirty-eight men as carriers, was the oldest landing-place and port. Its present appearance is, save for the warehouses round it, nearly the same as it has always been, substituting the small vessels then in use for the barges and lighters which now lie in that muddy p

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CHAPTER III TRADE AND GENTILITY

CHAPTER III TRADE AND GENTILITY

The popular imagination has always presented the City of London as paved with gold; the popular tradition has always delighted to present the rise of the humble village boy from the poor apprentice to the rich merchant, Alderman, and Mayor. In London itself this tradition did not exist, because it was known to be absurd. The honours open to the young craftsman were those obtained by valour on the field of battle. I do not think, however, that the traditional rise of the humble village boy is mor

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CHAPTER IV THE STREETS

CHAPTER IV THE STREETS

The mediæval regulations as to the cleanliness and order of the town leave nothing to desire, for they were minute, precise, and continually repeated. If they were passed by the London County Council of to-day they could not be clearer or more satisfactory. Thus ( A.D. 1282) it was ordered that every trade in the City should present to the Mayor a list of those practising that trade; by which means the Mayor and Aldermen would have accessible a Directory of the City: those not on the list had no

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CHAPTER V THE BUILDINGS

CHAPTER V THE BUILDINGS

The Kings of England had many palaces, both within and without the City. Their principal palace from King Cnut to King Henry VIII. was the “King’s House” of Westminster. Within the City itself was first and foremost the Citadel, Castle, Palace, and Prison, called the Tower of London. Baynard’s Castle was held successively by the Baynards, who lost it in 1111, by a son of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and his heirs until 1213, when the then holder, Robert FitzWalter, being on the side of the Barons, th

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CHAPTER VI FURNITURE

CHAPTER VI FURNITURE

The furniture of a mediæval house was scanty in the living-rooms, ample in the sleeping-rooms. The hall, which was the dining-room, the public room, and the room where all business matters were transacted, was provided with permanent benches running along the sides: at one end was a dais, on which, in great houses, was sometimes a table dormant, i.e. a permanent table, placed across the hall. Other tables were on trestles laid for each meal, and removed after the meal. At the middle of the “dorm

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CHAPTER VII WEALTH AND STATE OF NOBLES AND CITIZENS

CHAPTER VII WEALTH AND STATE OF NOBLES AND CITIZENS

The wealth of the great nobles and the cost of keeping up the households which enriched the City when they were in residence is set forth in some detail by Stow. Thus he says that Hugh Spencer the elder, when he was banished from the realm, was found to possess 59 manors, 28,000 sheep, 1000 oxen and steers, 1200 kine with their calves, 40 mares with their colts, 100 drawing horses, 2000 hogs, 300 bullocks, 40 tuns of wine, 600 bacons, 80 carcases of Martimas beef, 600 muttons in larder, 10 tuns

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CHAPTER VIII MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

CHAPTER VIII MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

In this chapter I propose to put together a miscellaneous collection bearing upon the manners and customs of mediæval London. 1. Letters from the Corporation. It is not easy to arrange them in any kind of order. I begin, however, with certain letters, which illustrate the City Government and show that there was already some organised plan of communication between London and the chief centres in the country, by which the Corporation was kept informed as to matters concerning its interest in those

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CHAPTER IX FOOD

CHAPTER IX FOOD

London has always been a City renowned for the great plenty and excellence of its food. In the twelfth century Fitz Stephen vaunts the cook-shops. He says, “There is also in London on the bank of the river, amongst the wine shops which are kept in shops and cellars, a public eating house. There are to be found, according to the season, every day, dishes of meat, roast, fried, and boiled, great and small fish, coarser meats for the poor, more delicate for the rich, of game, fowls, and small birds

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CHAPTER X SPORT AND RECREATION

CHAPTER X SPORT AND RECREATION

As regards the sports and pastimes of the City, there is cockfighting on Shrove Tuesday, with hockey. Every Friday in Lent there are tournaments with “disarmed” lances; when Easter has made the river a little less inclement there will be water sports, tilting in boats, etc.; in the summer the young men leap, dance, shoot, wrestle, cast the stone, practise their shields, play at quarter-staff, single-stick, football and bucklers; the maidens play their timbrels and dance as long as they can see.

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CHAPTER XI LITERATURE AND SCIENCE IN LONDON

CHAPTER XI LITERATURE AND SCIENCE IN LONDON

The Libraries in London were few in number, and, according to modern ideas, scanty as to the works they contained. Every monastery had its library: St. Paul’s Cathedral had its library; there were books of devotion belonging to every church, and, indeed, to every house; but of private libraries there were very few. The famous Duke Humphrey had a great collection of books, which he gave to the University of Oxford in two donations, one of two hundred and sixty-four volumes, the other of two hundr

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CHAPTER XII FIRE, PLAGUE, AND FAMINE

CHAPTER XII FIRE, PLAGUE, AND FAMINE

“London at that time was built of wood, consequently there was continual danger of fire.” This is a commonplace among historians. Let us examine into the statement. There were two great fires in London between the ninth and the seventeenth centuries, i.e. in 800 years—two fires, which swept the town almost from end to end, namely that of 1135 and that of 1666: between these two fires there were several others of considerable magnitude, one of which burned down the greater part of Southwark, then

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CHAPTER XIII CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

CHAPTER XIII CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

In Saxon London we have to consider the amazing ferocity of the punishments, and the severity of the penance ordered (though evaded), but in this era we may be surprised at the comparative mildness of the mediæval punishments. Criminals were hanged, it is true, with greater frequency than at present. They were also sometimes sentenced to have their right hands lopped off, but the Alderman was generally present, and ready to pardon the offenders on submission; chiefly we read of pillory and stock

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CHAPTER XIV CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES

CHAPTER XIV CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES

The best method of treatment as regards the Christian names borne by the people during this period is to give a list of the more common names. Now there is a list ready to hand giving the names—Christian and surname—of Cade’s Kentish followers. The whole number of men on the list amounts to 1719. I have gone through the list and transcribed the Christian names. The following is the result, classified according to frequency. The names present themselves to us rather unexpectedly. Thus, we have th

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APPENDIX I WYCLYF

APPENDIX I WYCLYF

Of the discord raised in St. Paule hys churche in London betwene the Cleargie &amp; the Duke, Syr Henry Percye &amp; the Duke, by John Wiclyffe. “Thys sonne, therefor, of perdition, John Wiclyffe, was to appeare before the bishopps the Thursday before the feast of St. Peter his chaire (23 of February) there to be converted for marvellous wordes that he had spoken, Sathan, the adversarye of the whoole churche, as ye beleaved, teachynge hym: whoe after the nynth houre, the duke &amp; S

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APPENDIX II TRADES OF LONDON

APPENDIX II TRADES OF LONDON

Some of these trades are obscure. The following notes will perhaps be useful....

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APPENDIX III FOREIGN MERCHANTS

APPENDIX III FOREIGN MERCHANTS

“For many centuries the enterprising foreigner who ventured to visit this country for the purposes of traffic had to struggle against numerous discouragements and grievous restrictions, originating partly in the avarice of the English sovereigns and the insolence and rapacity of their officers, and, to a still greater extent, in the jealousy entertained towards them by the English population, the freemen of the cities and towns more specially. So early, however, as the time of Ethelred II. (abou

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APPENDIX IV NAMES OF STREETS

APPENDIX IV NAMES OF STREETS

The following list of mediæval streets is compiled from Riley’s Memorials , Sharpe’s Calendar of Wills , Liber Custumarum , and the Ninth Report of the Commissioners. Other streets could be found in other documents, but this list certainly gives a very full index to the streets of Mediæval London. They are here produced alphabetically. The abbreviations used are simply “A.” for Alley, “L.” for Lane, “R.” for Row, “S.” for Street:—...

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APPENDIX V

APPENDIX V

The following is a list of the principal residents and householders of London, 12 Edward II., compiled for purposes of assessment: it shows how many great men of the time had town houses in the fourteenth century....

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APPENDIX VI THE SHOP

APPENDIX VI THE SHOP

The following textures were sold in London, the coarse woollen goods manufactured in the City:—Mercery; “wad mal,” a woollen stuff; “lake” or fine linen; canvas, woven linen, frestian, felt, “lymere” or “lormerie,” the material used for making saddles and trappings for horses, pile, kersey, haberdashery, i.e. all kinds of “hapertas,” a thick woollen cloth, raw texture of Limoges, “Parmentrye” qualloorn, cloth of silk and cloth of Rheims. Striped cloth called “ray” was brought from Brabant and Fl

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APPENDIX VII THE ASSIZE OF BUILDING

APPENDIX VII THE ASSIZE OF BUILDING

The following is an abridgment of the ordinances, said to have been issued in 1189 and ascribed by John Carpenter to Henry Fitz Aylwin, first Mayor “for the allaying of the contentions that from time to time arise touching boundaries, etc.” The said “provision and ordinance” was called an Assize. 1. The Mayor to be assisted by committee, or jury, or twelve men elected in full Hustings. 2. If any one demands the Assize, i.e. appeals to the Mayor in case of a dispute, he must do so in full Husting

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APPENDIX VIII RULES CONCERNING LAWYERS

APPENDIX VIII RULES CONCERNING LAWYERS

“In the time of Gregory, Mayor of London, in the eighth year of the reign of King Edward, because that oftentimes there were some who made themselves countors, who did not understand their profession, nor had learnt it; as to whom, the substantial men of the City well perceived that through their ignorance the impleaded and impleaders lost their pleas and their suits, in the Hustings and in the houses of the Sheriffs, and that some were disinherited through their foolish conduct; seeing that eve

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MEDIÆVAL LONDON VOL. II ECCLESIASTICAL

MEDIÆVAL LONDON VOL. II ECCLESIASTICAL

BY SIR WALTER BESANT LONDON ADAM &amp; CHARLES BLACK 1906...

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CHAPTER I THE RECORDS

CHAPTER I THE RECORDS

Before entering upon the government of London under the Plantagenet Kings, let us first ask what are the documents in which we shall find information at first hand. No city in the world possesses a collection of archives so ancient and so complete as the collection at the Guildhall. Riley, in his Introduction to the Liber Albus , begins his list of those who have consulted the archives with John Stow. Surely, however, the compiler of the Liber Albus itself, John Carpenter, also consulted archive

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CHAPTER II THE CHARTER OF HENRY THE SECOND

CHAPTER II THE CHARTER OF HENRY THE SECOND

The Charter granted by Henry the Second, though apparently full, contained certain omissions which are significant and important. Round has arranged this Charter side by side with that of Henry the First, dividing their contents into numbered clauses, italicising the points of difference ( Geoffrey de Mandeville , pp. 368-369). The text of the first is that of Stubbs’s Select Charters ; that of the second is taken from the transcript in the Liber Custumarum (collated with the Liber Rubeus ). One

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CHAPTER III THE COMMUNE

CHAPTER III THE COMMUNE

We are now in a position to proceed to the establishment of the Commune. The stages of any important reform are, first, the right understanding of the facts; then a tentative discussion of the facts; then an animated discussion of the facts; next, an angry denial of the facts; then a refusal to consider the question of reform at all; finally, the unwilling acceptance of reform with gloomy prophecies of disaster and ruin. One knows nothing about these preliminary stages as regards the great Civic

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CHAPTER IV THE WARDS

CHAPTER IV THE WARDS

The large area included by the Roman Wall was parcelled out, after the Saxon occupation, into manors, socs, or estates, held by private persons. Some of them passed into the possession of the Church; some into possession of the City; some changed hands. That these manors included the most densely populated parts of the City, or Thames Street, and the streets north of that main artery, proves that the first allotment took place very early in the Saxon occupation, when the City was still deserted;

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CHAPTER V THE FACTIONS OF THE CITY

CHAPTER V THE FACTIONS OF THE CITY

The long struggle between the oligarchic and the popular party, which was carried on without cessation for at least two hundred years, was at its acutest and its worst in the thirteenth century. It must be noted here because it exercised great influence in the development of municipal institutions. To this point I will return after we have considered the leading features of the faction struggle complicated by the machinations of the King. We must note, at the outset, that the various Charters co

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CHAPTER VI THE CENTURY OF UNCERTAIN STEPS

CHAPTER VI THE CENTURY OF UNCERTAIN STEPS

Whether the Mayor was elected immediately after the concession of the Commune, or a year or two later, as happened in certain French towns, matters very little. The point of importance is that even after his election, and that of the Council, his powers were ill-defined. During the reign of Richard the First, while he was not even recognised by the King, we can understand that a wise Mayor would not seek to magnify his office; it would be safer to allow the Commune to go on quietly, so as to acc

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CHAPTER VII AFTER THE COMMUNE

CHAPTER VII AFTER THE COMMUNE

In the year of our Lord 1419, John Carpenter completed his great work on the temporal government of the City of London, the Liber Albus . It is in this work that we find the only complete description of the administration of the City as it was at the beginning of the fifteenth century, with all the officers, their duties, and their responsibilities, and the laws which governed the citizens. The author was Town Clerk from the year 1417 to 1438. He was twice Member of Parliament for the City; he w

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CHAPTER VIII THE CITY COMPANIES

CHAPTER VIII THE CITY COMPANIES

We have next to consider the origin, growth, and development of the City Companies. On the origin and antiquity of Guilds I have already spoken (vol. i. p. 204). It is impossible to conceive of any time, after men had begun to live in villages and towns, after arts and crafts had arisen, after some attempt at order had been made, when there were no such associations as those we call guilds. Those of the same trade were compelled to band together for the use of tools, for instruction, for the reg

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CHAPTER I THE RELIGIOUS LIFE

CHAPTER I THE RELIGIOUS LIFE

If churches and religious houses make up religion, then London of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries surely attained the highest point ever reached in religion. The Church was everywhere. In Appendices IV. and V. will be found a list of the Parish Churches and their patronage. The abbeys, priories, nunneries, and friaries contained a vast army of ecclesiastics from archbishop to Franciscan friar: hermits, anchorites, pardoners, limitours, somnours, church officers of all kinds, were everywh

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CHAPTER II CHURCH FURNITURE

CHAPTER II CHURCH FURNITURE

The furniture of a London church was elaborate to a degree which astonishes those accustomed to a simple Anglican ritual. It would also, I believe, astonish the modern Catholic priest when he thinks of his own village church. The Book of the Visitation of Churches belonging to St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1297 and in 1458 (Camden Society, edited by W. Sparrow Simpson, D.D.) enables us to understand the extent and the wealth of these churches. The font, of which many specimens still remain, was genera

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CHAPTER III THE CALENDAR OF THE YEAR

CHAPTER III THE CALENDAR OF THE YEAR

The influence of the Church on the daily life of London may be illustrated by a brief Calendar of the Ecclesiastical Year and of the observances of the people. It is needless to remind ourselves that these observances included an immense collection of old traditions, ancient pagan customs, and superstitions grafted on the association of these days with Church history and doctrine. (See Appendix VI.) The year began with the holy season of Advent, when the Wednesdays and Fridays were days of that

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CHAPTER IV HERMITS AND ANCHORITES

CHAPTER IV HERMITS AND ANCHORITES

There is one branch of ecclesiastical history which has been curiously neglected, that, namely, concerned with the anchorite, ankret, anchoress, or ankress. That is to say, it is generally concluded that a hermit and an anchorite are the same persons. One might as well think that a monk is the same as a friar. There was nothing to prevent a hermit setting up his cell wherever he pleased; yet there were certain places where a hermitage was a recognised institution, and the hermit was, so to speak

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CHAPTER V PILGRIMAGE

CHAPTER V PILGRIMAGE

Pilgrimage, never so great a craze in London as in the country, or in England as in France, plays an important part in the mediæval life. The earliest pilgrimage was, of course, to the Holy Places of Jerusalem: it began in the second century with a journey to the site of the Ascension. The other sites multiplied with the increase of pilgrims and the demand for sites and sacred relics and associations. The desire to go pilgrimaging grew and spread with great rapidity among all classes. In the cen

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CHAPTER VI ORDEAL

CHAPTER VI ORDEAL

Trial by ordeal was always possible in London, yet, in later years, rarely practised. The reason of its rarity was, no doubt, the fact that the accused person was in most cases the guilty person. In an age when the judgment of God could be solemnly invoked, when there was absolute belief in the punishments and tortures reserved for the guilty, a man would, as a general rule, hesitate before loading his soul, heavy with the actual crime, with perjuries and the blasphemy of calling upon an offende

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CHAPTER VII SANCTUARY

CHAPTER VII SANCTUARY

It is strange that an institution which played a large part in the social scheme of the Middle Ages should have fallen so completely into decay as to be absolutely forgotten by the people, so that there is not even a legend or a tradition of it left. The memory of Sanctuary is as clean lost and forgotten as that of Frank Pledge. Yet, three hundred years ago, the constant thought of debtor or malefactor was, that, if the worst came to the worst, he could fly to St. Martin’s or to Westminster and

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CHAPTER VIII MIRACLE AND MYSTERY PLAYS

CHAPTER VIII MIRACLE AND MYSTERY PLAYS

I have elsewhere spoken of the singular fact that no remains of a Roman theatre or amphitheatre have been found in London, and I have ventured to put forward a theory as to the site of one or both. One cannot, indeed, understand how there could be a theatre at Rutupiæ, or at Bath, and none at London. It is true that Augusta was, for the greater part of her Roman existence, a Christian City; but so was Bath; it is also true that the Church condemned the Theatre. But these facts did not destroy th

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CHAPTER IX SUPERSTITIONS, ETC.

CHAPTER IX SUPERSTITIONS, ETC.

When we think of the great mass of people of Mediæval London, when we think of their laborious and industrious days, the precarious nature of their lives, the perils which attended them, far greater to our thinking than those of the present day—dangers ever present, of fire, famine, plague, pestilence, and war, we are moved to inquire into the ideas and beliefs which controlled the minds of this apparently inarticulate mass. There were ideas on religion, on superstitions, on manners and customs,

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CHAPTER X ORDER OF BURIAL

CHAPTER X ORDER OF BURIAL

The display at funerals, and the ceremonies observed, the hospitality offered, and the order of the procession, formed a large part in the social life of the time, especially in times when some great man or other was always dying. The following is the order of the funeral procession of the fifteenth century, set forth in detail:—First, for the Burial of a King. ( Archæologia. ) “What shall be don on the demyse of a King annoynted? When that a King annoynted is decessed, after his body is sp’ged,

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CHAPTER I GENERAL

CHAPTER I GENERAL

The history of the Monastic Life, with its rise and its decay, its work and its importance, has attracted many writers and historians. It has been fiercely assailed; it has been vehemently defended. In speaking of the Dissolution it was necessary to state plainly the condition into which Monks and Friars had fallen in the early sixteenth century. (See Appendix VIII.) In this place, and as a fitting preface to a review in detail of the Monastic Houses of London, it may be permitted to quote those

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CHAPTER II ST. MARTIN’S-LE-GRAND

CHAPTER II ST. MARTIN’S-LE-GRAND

This foundation, by reason of its antiquity and religious objects, should have been venerable, but it became, by its claims, privileges, and position, an institution hateful and detestable, long before the Monastic Houses fell into disrepute. It had its origin certainly before the Conquest, but how long before cannot be ascertained. Tradition made Wythred, King of Kent, its founder in the seventh century. We need not trouble ourselves with the reasons which make this tradition impossible. Safe g

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CHAPTER III THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY TRINITY, OR CHRIST CHURCH PRIORY

CHAPTER III THE PRIORY OF THE HOLY TRINITY, OR CHRIST CHURCH PRIORY

This once rich and flourishing House was founded in the year 1108 by Maud, wife of Henry the First, owing, it is said, to the persuasion, if that pious Queen wanted any persuasion, of Anselm. “This church was given to Norman, first canon regular in all England. The said queen also gave unto the same church, and those that served God therein, the plot of Aldgate, and the soke thereunto belonging, with all customs so free as she had held the same, and twenty-five pound blankes, which she had of th

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CHAPTER IV THE CHARTER HOUSE

CHAPTER IV THE CHARTER HOUSE

In Agas’ Map of London, “Civitas Londinum,” circa 1560 (see end of London in the Time of the Tudors ), there is represented, lying on the west of Aldersgate Street, an irregular square or place called Charter House Square: it has a small church in the middle, and on the north side are monastic buildings; on the north of these are gardens and orchards; one of them with a small building which may be meant for a church enclosed with a wall. Some of these monastic buildings, with later additions and

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CHAPTER V ELSYNG SPITAL

CHAPTER V ELSYNG SPITAL

This House, the memory of which had almost disappeared, was again restored to Mediæval London by the publication of Dr. Sharpe’s Calendar of Wills . And since the original terms of a Religious Foundation, and the subsequent growth of a Religious House by bequest and gift, are not often accessible, I extract from the work (1) the précis of the original will of William de Elsing, mercer, by which this House was created; and (2) a list, with dates, of the various gifts which from time to time were

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CHAPTER VI ST. BARTHOLOMEW

CHAPTER VI ST. BARTHOLOMEW

The Hospital and the Priory of St. Bartholomew were distinct and separate foundations, of which the former was governed by the latter. The traditional history of this foundation is one of those remarkable stories which belong to a period when things material and things imagined were mixed together, and the visions of a brain, disordered by sickness, or by fasting, or by loneliness, were even more real than the tangible realities of man and matter. In the time of Henry the First there lived about

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CHAPTER VII ST. THOMAS OF ACON

CHAPTER VII ST. THOMAS OF ACON

A Foundation of very human interest was the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon or St. Thomas of Acres. It is well known that Thomas Becket belonged to a wealthy city family, his father having been a citizen of Norman extraction. Gilbert Becket died leaving behind him a considerable property in houses and lands. Whether the Archbishop took possession of this property as his father’s son, or whether he gave it to his sister, I do not know. Certain it is that, after his death, his sister Agnes, married

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CHAPTER VIII ST. ANTHONY’S

CHAPTER VIII ST. ANTHONY’S

The Hospital of St. Anthony stood in Threadneedle Street, exactly opposite Finch Lane. It was originally a cell to the House of St. Anthony in Vienne, and was founded as such in the reign of Henry the Third. According to Stow, the Jews had built a synagogue there, which was taken from them and converted into a church dedicated to the Virgin. This church became the Chapel of the Hospital. The House consisted of a master, two priests—afterwards enlarged to fourteen,—and twelve poor men. To the gro

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CHAPTER IX THE PRIORY OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

CHAPTER IX THE PRIORY OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

The history of this House belongs to the history of the Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers. The Order was founded about the year 1048, beginning, like all great orders, in a small and humble way, with a Hospital for pilgrims at Jerusalem; after the conquest of the city, the Brethren were incorporated into a religious body, bound by vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience; in the year 1118 they became a military body, sworn to defend the Holy Sepulchre. They became, in the course of tw

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CHAPTER X THE CLERKENWELL NUNNERY

CHAPTER X THE CLERKENWELL NUNNERY

It has been generally believed that the founder of the Convent, dedicated to the Honour of God and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, was one Jordan Briset about the year 1100. Stow speaks as if there was no doubt of the matter at all:— “Beyond this house of St. John’s, was the Priory of Clerkenwell, so called of Clarks-Well adjoining; which Priory was also founded, about the Year 1100, by Jorden Briset, Baron, the son of Ralph, the son of Brian Briset: Who gave to Robert, a Priest, fourteen Acr

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CHAPTER XI ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, OR HOLIWELL NUNNERY

CHAPTER XI ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, OR HOLIWELL NUNNERY

The nunnery of Haliwell, or Holywell, was named after a holy spring or well on the eastern extremity of Finsbury Fields, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. There were many other holy wells around London, especially that in the Strand, west of St. Clement Danes. How one spring came to be accounted holy above other springs, one knows not. However, there can be no doubt that this spring in Shoreditch was a place of considerable resort and great sanctity, which was reason enough why its owner

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CHAPTER XII BERMONDSEY ABBEY

CHAPTER XII BERMONDSEY ABBEY

The absolute oblivion into which this once noble House has fallen, so that there is no longer, among the people living on its very site, any memory or tradition of its existence, is not without a parallel in the case of other London Houses. Yet it is remarkable for the reason that its site and its gardens remained open and unbuilt over until a hundred years ago, while, almost within the memory of man, many ruins and portions of the former buildings still remained. The internal history of the Abb

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CHAPTER XIII ST. MARY OVERIES

CHAPTER XIII ST. MARY OVERIES

The Priory of St. Mary Overies, or Overy, was one of the most ancient Houses in London. It stood beside the ferry, the south end of which was the long and narrow dock still to be seen, close to the present church. The other end of the ferry may be also still existing in what is now called Dowgate Dock; it is true that this is not opposite, but it may be surmised that Allhallows Lane led to the north end of the ferry. This ferry existed long before London Bridge was built, and continued long afte

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CHAPTER XIV ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL

CHAPTER XIV ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL

The commonly received opinion as to the Foundation of this Hospital is that it sprang out of an Almonry belonging to Bermondsey Abbey, founded in 1213 by Richard, Prior of that House. This statement was made by Stow, and has been followed by Strype, Maitland, and others; Wilkinson, however, does not agree with it. According to Tanner and Dugdale, the Almonry of the Abbey, consisting of an almshouse for converts and a school for poor boys, was attached to the walls of the House, was dedicated to

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CHAPTER XV ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS

CHAPTER XV ST. GILES-IN-THE-FIELDS

The Hospital known as St. Giles-in-the-Fields was founded by Maud, Queen of Henry the First, about the year 1117. It was a large foundation, designed for forty lepers, the Master, Chaplains, Matrons, and servants. The original endowment was only £3 a year, which, even in the twelfth century, would not go far towards the support of forty lepers. It appears, however, as if the custom of lepers going about begging with a bowl and a clapper was considered the right thing, because it is said that the

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CHAPTER XVI ST. HELEN’S

CHAPTER XVI ST. HELEN’S

The foundation of this House of Benedictine Nuns was in or about the year 1212, when Alardus de Burnham, who died in 1216, was Dean of St. Paul’s. The right, or permission, to found the House is contained in a deed still preserved. The seal of the convent represents the finding of the Cross by St. Helen: she stands beside the Cross, holding in her hand the three nails, while a crowd of nuns are on their knees with uplifted hands. In 1439 the then Dean, Reynold Kentwode, drew up a new set of Rule

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CHAPTER XVII ST. MARY SPITAL

CHAPTER XVII ST. MARY SPITAL

Outside Bishopsgate, on the site now occupied by Spital Square, stood that most venerable and most beneficent House called Domus Dei , or Domus Beatæ Mariæ . It was founded by Walter Brune and Rosia his wife, for Canons Regular, in the year 1197. Walter, Archdeacon of London, laid the foundation stone, and William, Bishop of London, dedicated it to Jesus Christ and His Mother, by the name of Domus Dei et Beatæ Mariæ extra Bishopsgate . The place carried on a blameless and most useful existence f

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CHAPTER XVIII ST. MARY OF BETHLEHEM

CHAPTER XVIII ST. MARY OF BETHLEHEM

St. Mary of Bethlehem, from which we get the word Bedlam, was founded by Simon FitzMary, sheriff, in 1247. The deed of gift is preserved among the archives of the Bethlehem Hospital. I am indebted for the following copy to the Rev. E. G. O’Donoghue, Chaplain to the Hospital. The name of the principal witness, “Peter Fitz-Alwyn,” is probably a misreading of “Peter Fitz Alan.” The preamble is omitted. By REASON of my reverence for my Lord Himself and for the same His most tender mother, to the hon

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CHAPTER XIX THE CLARES

CHAPTER XIX THE CLARES

The Abbey of St. Clare, which stood on the site of the church called Holy Trinity, Minories, was founded by Blanche d’Artois in 1293. The following genealogy sufficiently explains the connection of Blanche with this country and with London:— A tabular version is available here . The House was founded in 1293 for the reception of “certain nuns devoted to the service of God, St. Mary and St. Francis, expected shortly to arrive and to settle in this realm.” The first nuns were Frenchwomen, brought

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CHAPTER XX ST. KATHERINE’S BY THE TOWER

CHAPTER XX ST. KATHERINE’S BY THE TOWER

On the 30th day of October, in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, there was gathered together a congregation to assist at the mournfullest service ever heard in any church. The place was the Precinct of St. Katherine’s, the church was that known as St. Katherine’s by the Tower—the most ancient and venerable church in the whole of East London—a city which now has but two ancient churches left, those of Bow and of Stepney, without counting the old tower of Hackney. Suppo

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CHAPTER XXI CRUTCHED FRIARS

CHAPTER XXI CRUTCHED FRIARS

The Order of Crutched, or Crossed, Friars—“Brethren Crucifer”—was instituted in the twelfth century. Some came over to England towards the end of the thirteenth century. Two London citizens, Ralph Hoster and William Sabernes, being greatly attracted by the sanctity of the Friars, took for them three tenements at an annual rent of 13s. 4d. of the Holy Trinity Priory, and for themselves either entered the Order or took up the Fraternity of the Order. Twenty years later, the Community had obtained

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CHAPTER XXII AUSTIN FRIARS

CHAPTER XXII AUSTIN FRIARS

The House of Austin Friars, i.e. of Friars Eremites of the Order of St. Augustine, was founded in the year 1253 by Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, “to the honour of God, and the Blessed Mother, the Virgin, and for the health of the souls of himself, his ancestors, and his descendants.” The House was enriched in 1344 by the munificence of Reginald Cobham, and in the year 1354 the great-grandson of the founder built the church, of which a portion of the nave still remains. This Church,

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CHAPTER XXIII GREY FRIARS

CHAPTER XXIII GREY FRIARS

In the year 1224, being the eighth year of King Henry the Third, there arrived at Dover a small company of nine Religious, being Brethren of the Fratres Minores, the Franciscan Order, not yet known in this country. Five of these were priests, the remaining four were laymen. They pushed on without delay as far as Canterbury, where they halted and begged permission to begin their missionary work in that city. They were allotted a room in which they slept at night, and in the daytime they used it a

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CHAPTER XXIV THE DOMINICANS

CHAPTER XXIV THE DOMINICANS

The Dominicans, or Black Friars, came over to England with their Prior, Gilbert de Fraxineto, in the year 1221. There were thirteen of them in company. They were at first received by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who invited the Prior to preach, and being greatly pleased with his discourse, became the patron of the Order in England. Their first quarters were in Holborn on the south side, part of the site of Lincoln’s Inn. Here they built a House and church, and their gates opened up

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CHAPTER XXV WHITEFRIARS

CHAPTER XXV WHITEFRIARS

On the north bank of the river, between Bridewell and the Temple, stood the House of the White Friars— Fratres Beatæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli ,—first founded by Sir Richard Gray in the year 1241. King Edward the First gave them ground in Fleet Street; their House was enlarged and beautified in 1350 by Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon. John Lovekyn, Mayor of London, gave them a lane running from Fleet Street to the river, in order to extend the west end of their church. Sir Robert Knowles, in the reig

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CHAPTER XXVI ST. MARY OF GRACES

CHAPTER XXVI ST. MARY OF GRACES

This House was called that of St. Mary of Graces, or Eastminster, or New Abbey. It was situated without the walls by East Smithfield. Newcourt gives the following account of it:— “In the Year 1348 (23 Edw. III.), the first Great Pestilence in his time began and increased so sore, that for want of room in Church-yards to bury the Dead of the City, and of the Suburbs, one John Corey, Clerk, procured of Nicholas, Prior of the Holy Trinity within Ealdgate, one Toft of ground near East Smithfield for

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CHAPTER XXVII THE SMALLER FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER XXVII THE SMALLER FOUNDATIONS

Among the Houses mentioned by Arnold FitzThedmar are two or three not considered in the above enumeration. There are the Houses of St. Anne by the Tower Hill, St. James in the Temple, St. James in the Wall, St. Stephen’s at Westminster, St. Thomas’ Chapel of the Bridge, St. James in the Field, St. Mary Magdalen Guildhall, St. Mary Rouncevall, and St. Ursula in the Poultry. There are one or two others which shall here be briefly mentioned. Concerning many of these Houses, so little is known that

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CHAPTER XXVIII FRATERNITIES

CHAPTER XXVIII FRATERNITIES

We must not forget the Fraternities. There was not, I believe, a single Parish Church which had not its Fraternity. Except for purposes of war, when all marched under order of the King, the first attempt at union was the Parish Fraternity. The Parish Church has always been the natural centre round which gathered the temporal as well as the spiritual concerns of the Parish. The Fraternity, dedicated to the Patron Saint of the Parish, was a union of all for the protection of all: the members maint

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CHAPTER XXIX HOSPITALS

CHAPTER XXIX HOSPITALS

Stow provides a list of Hospitals in the City and suburbs “that have been of old time and now presently (1598) are.” “Hospital of St. Mary, in the parish of Barking church, that was provided for poor priests and others, men and women in the City of London, that were fallen into frenzy or loss of their memory, until such time as they should recover, was since suppressed and given to the hospital of St. Katherine by the Tower. St. Anthony’s. St. Bartlemew, in Smithfield. St. Giles in the Fields, a

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APPENDIX I LIST OF WARDS OF LONDON

APPENDIX I LIST OF WARDS OF LONDON

ROT. HUNDRED’, 3 ED. I Order of Wards...

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APPENDIX II LIST OF ALDERMEN

APPENDIX II LIST OF ALDERMEN

(Supposed to be dated c. 1285-1286; from Calendar of Wills , Pt. i. p. 702) The following is a copy of the earliest list of Aldermen of the City of London preserved among the records of the Corporation ( Letter-Book A , fol. 116), together with the names of the wards they respectively represented. It is not dated, but there is good reason for conjecturing it to have been written circa 14 Edward the First [ A.D. 1285-1286]. Nomina propria Wardarum Civitatis Londoniarum et nomina Aldermannorum On

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APPENDIX III ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALDERMEN WHOSE NAMES ARE AFFIXED TO DEEDS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

APPENDIX III ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALDERMEN WHOSE NAMES ARE AFFIXED TO DEEDS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

(From the Liber Trinitatis )...

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APPENDIX IV LIST OF PARISHES

APPENDIX IV LIST OF PARISHES

The following names of city benefices are taken from the Liber Custumarum , pp. 228-230 (Riley, 1859):— [ Nomina Beneficiorum Londoniarum ] Sancti Andreae super Cornhulle—Sancti Andreae de Holebourne—Sancti Andreae de Castro Baynardi—Sancti Andreae Hubert—Sancti Antonii—Sancti Augustini ad Portam—Sancti Augustini Papay—Sancti Alphegi—Sancti Audoeni—Sancti Albani—Sancti Athelburgae—Sanctae Agnetis—Sancti Botulphi extra Bisschopesgate—Sancti Botulphi apud Billinggesgate—Sancti Botulphi de Alegate—

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APPENDIX V PATRONAGE OF CITY CHURCHES

APPENDIX V PATRONAGE OF CITY CHURCHES

The patronage of the London Churches in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is given by the Chronicler called Arnold. The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s had nineteen London benefices in their gift. The Archbishop of Canterbury had seven....

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APPENDIX VI

APPENDIX VI

The “Glossarial Index of Festivals,” published in the Liber Custumarum , will throw light upon the religious life of London. The alphabetical table is followed by a yearly table for convenience. Adventus Domini. The Advent of Our Lord; the four weeks preceding Christmas, devoted by the Church to preparation for the Advent of Christ. Almes. The Feast of All Souls, 2nd November. Andreae Apostoli, Festum Sancti. The Feast of Saint Andrew, the Apostle, 30th November. Ascensio Domini. The Ascension o

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APPENDIX VII AN ANCHORITE’S CELL22

APPENDIX VII AN ANCHORITE’S CELL22

“Soon after the present work was begun a strange hole was discovered in the chancel wall, just at the turn of the apse on the north side. It is about 4 feet high and 20 inches wide. There is no stonework. A roughly rectangular hole has been broken through the flint wall, and the sides of it plastered to something like a smooth face. There is no provision for or mark of a door. And it was difficult to assign any reason for the making of the hole. Yet it was certain that some reason for it had bee

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APPENDIX VIII THE MONASTIC HOUSES

APPENDIX VIII THE MONASTIC HOUSES

List of Religious Houses and Parish Churches The religious Houses and Churches of the City and its suburbs which existed in the fifteenth century are enumerated in Arnold’s Chronicle. Arnold, who lived and wrote towards the end of the fifteenth century, belongs to Mediæval London, which Stow, of a hundred years later, certainly did not. We shall adopt, therefore, from Arnold’s list, as a guide to this survey of Mediæval London, the Churches and ecclesiastical foundations which he considers as es

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APPENDIX IX A DOMINICAN HOUSE

APPENDIX IX A DOMINICAN HOUSE

The following Notes are from the Archæolog. Journal :— “The traditions of the Dominican order required that the buildings should be arranged quadrilaterally, enclosing a plot of ground which formed the cloistral cemetery for the deceased of the community, one side being occupied by the church; but no fixed rule was adopted for the distribution of the offices. This is apparent from the plans of several of the English priories founded within the same period of twenty years. At Gloucester, Bristol,

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APPENDIX X THE PAPEY

APPENDIX X THE PAPEY

“The Hospital of Le Papey was founded in the year 1442, by Thomas Symminesson, William Cleve, William Barnaby, and John Stafford, priests in the diocese of London. Symminesson, otherwise written Symmesson, and Symson, was Rector of All Saints, or All Hallows, on the Wall; Cleve was priest of the charity of St. John Baptist in the church of St. Mary Aldermary; Barnaby was a chantry priest in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul; and of Stafford I know no more than that he was a priest in the city of

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APPENDIX XI CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT

APPENDIX XI CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT

I. Almshouses (From Stow) The following is a list of charitable endowments:— Those of Sir John Milborne’s, draper, Mayor in 1531, founded in Woodroffe Lane for 13 poor men and their wives. Those at Bishopsgate for the Parish Clerks, all that remained of a suppressed Brotherhood. Those at Little St. Helen’s for 7 poor persons belonging to the Leathersellers. Those in Gresham Street founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, for 8 poor persons. St. Anthony’s Hospital. A School and Almshouses. In Spittle Lane

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APPENDIX XII

APPENDIX XII

The following is a list, by no means complete, of the fraternities of London:— THE END Printed by R. &amp; R. Clark, Limited , Edinburgh . 1 “In France the Communal Constitution was during this period encouraged, although not very heartily, by Lewis the Sixth, who saw in it one means of fettering the action of the barons and bishops and securing to himself the support of a strong portion of his people.” (Stubbs.) 2 Spelt anciently Mortaigne, but not to be confused with the present French tow

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