the Stuarts, by their exaggerated notions of kingly prerogative, had
precipitated rebellion, that the liberties of England were established
on a sure foundation by the victories of Cromwell. It was the period,
too, of the commencement of the struggle with Rome for liberty of
conscience. Never had England sunk so low in degradation as in 1213,
when John, after boldly defying the Pope, found himself compelled to
lay his crown at the feet of Pandulph. But now, "the morning star of
the Reformation" was, by voice and pen, awakening the people to a
consciousness of their slavery to a foreign priest, proclaiming that
the Scriptures were the only rule of faith, and asserting the right
of private judgment. Under the vigorous rule of the third Edward,
the authority of the Pope in the realm was materially curbed, and
enactments made declaring John's submission illegal, lacking, as it
did, the assent of the representatives of the people, and making it
penal to publish bulls, or any other Papal instruments, in the kingdom
without the consent of Parliament.
Nevertheless the Lollards were looked upon as heretics by the
authorities of the Church, and in 1377, Wyclif was cited to appear
before the Primate and Bishop Courtnay in St. Paul's Cathedral. He
went thither accompanied by his patrons, John of Gaunt and the Earl
Marshal (Lord Henry Percy), when the latter, in consideration of the
age and feebleness of the venerable reformer, desired him to be seated,
"which," says Foxe, "eftsoons cast the Bishop of London into a furious
chafe," which resulted in an altercation, the abrupt breaking up of
the assembly, and the rush of the London mob, with whom the Duke of
Lancaster was not then popular, to his palace of the Savoy, where they
murdered a priest, but were dispersed by the Lord Mayor.
After the murder of Archbishop Sudbury and the elevation of Courtnay to
the primacy, he called a synod together at the House of the Preaching
Friars, London, at which the new bishop (Braybrooke) attended. Soon
after their assembling, a shock of an earthquake occurred, which
alarmed the ecclesiastics, but Courtnay adroitly turned it to account,
saying that earthquakes were but the expulsion of noxious vapours from
the earth, and it was a sign that Heaven looked with approval on their
efforts to expel noxious doctrines from the Church, and the meeting
very speedily pronounced fourteen of Wyclif's tenets erroneous or
heretical.
This was, however, but the seed-time of religious liberty; the seeds,
nevertheless, in spite of opposition, fructified under Henry VIII. and
his daughter Elizabeth, grew apace under the Commonwealth, and the
harvest was reaped after the expulsion of the second James.
Intellectually, too, Braybrooke was the contemporary of the transition
from ignorance to learning. Chaucer, in his _Canterbury Pilgrims_, and
Gower in his _Confessio Amantis_, were laying the foundation of our
modern language and literature; and Faust, Gutenberg, and Schœffer
were establishing their printing presses in Germany, to be introduced
into England by Caxton in the next century, to aid in the diffusion
of knowledge, and in the liberation of the people from political and
spiritual thraldom.
When Braybrooke, half a millennium ago, was elevated to the episcopal
bench, London was a comparatively small city, encircled by two miles
of walls, gates, and ditch, with but one bridge over the Thames—that
built by Peter of Colechurch, with its movable centre for the passage
of vessels. The Tower was the Court and king's residence; with
Baynard's Castle, in Thames Street; the magnificent Palace of the
Savoy, the Monastery of the Knights Hospitallers, in Clerkenwell, and
many another noble edifice lay in ruins, demolished by the Wat Tyler
insurgents; the city was crowded with monasteries and churches; and the
streets presented a mingled crowd of nobles, monks, friars, priests,
and merchant burghers.
His cathedral was that which had risen on the ruins of the one
destroyed by fire in the reign of the Conqueror, which had been 200
years in course of erection, and now stood forth a grand building,
covering four acres of ground, with its Norman nave, two transepts, its
pointed Gothic choir, its spire, 510 feet in height, and its beautiful
Ladye Chapel, majestic in its magnitude, and beautiful in some of its
details; with St. Paul's cross outside, where, every Sunday, some
eloquent friar or priest addressed the citizens; and where many a
memorable political sermon has been preached. On the northern side,
near Warwick Lane, stood his residence, the Bishop's palace, described
as being "a stately and spacious pile."
Internally he found the ecclesiastics in a lax state of discipline, and
"the house of God a den of thieves." The cathedral was devoted more to
secular than to religious uses. "The south alley for usury, the north
for simony, and a horse fair in the midst, for all kinds of bargains,
meetings, brawlings, murthers, and conspiracies; and the font for the
payment of money;" which were associated with the shooting of arrows,
ball playing, and deeds even more reprehensible than these. These
abuses he set himself to correct, and effected a great reformation.
The sacred edifice was also a sort of theatre, where mystery and
miracle plays were performed, the stage consisting of three platforms,
the upper representing the Creator, surrounded by angels; the second
occupied by apostles, saints, and martyrs; and the lower presenting
the mouth of hell, vomiting flames and smoke, and resounding with the
shrieks of the lost. But it pleased the taste of the age that the
monarch of the nether regions should correspond with the clown of the
modern pantomime; and in the midst of solemn passages, the devil,
with a troop of his imps, would issue forth, to perform all sorts of
antics, and regale the ears of the audience with drolleries, filth, and
what would now be considered blasphemy. With these representations the
bishop did not interfere, considering them the only mode of appealing
to the hearts and consciences of the ignorant multitude; unless,
indeed, he sanctioned the petition of St. Paul's Players to Richard
II., to prohibit ignorant and inexperienced persons from "acting the
History of the Old Testament to the prejudice of the clergy of the
Church." A favourite device of these plays was the descent of a white
dove from an aperture of the roof, with the swinging of censers, to
represent the descent of the Third Person in the Trinity.
On the surrender of the chancellorship by Sir Richard Scrope, 1382,
"Robert Braybrooke, Bishopp of London," says Speed, "was made
chancellor in his place. This act of the King's was displeasant to
the whole realme, and one of the first things by which hee fell into
dislike, it being among the infelicities of King Richard that those
times were too full of sower and impatient censors for a Prince of so
calme a temper, and as yet unseasoned in yeares, but hee onely held
the office a yeare."
The distinguishing characteristic of Braybrooke's career was his
unrelenting persecution of the Lollards. It was enacted, 5 Richard
II., that any person preaching against the Catholic Faith should be
imprisoned until he could "justify himself;" and 2 Henry IV. that all
persons "suspected" of heresy should be imprisoned until they were
"canonically purged," or until they abjured their errors, and that
if they persisted in their heresy they should be delivered to the
secular arm and "burnt to death before the people." Toleration was a
word not known in that age. The oppressed ever cried out for liberty
of conscience, whether Romanist or Reformer, but when they became the
dominant power they were alike intolerant; and the cruelties of the
bishop to the Lollards must be ascribed to the spirit of the age,
backed by his own intense conviction that the Romanist was the one
"sole Apostolic Church," and that to destroy the enemies who were
beleaguering her was doing a service to God.
The bishop appears to have always been on friendly terms with the
citizens of London, and was, with the Duke of Gloucester, instrumental
in the reconciliation of King Richard and the Corporation after
their serious quarrel about a loan of £1,000, afterwards heading a
procession of 400 citizens on horseback to tender their submission,
on which occasion a fountain of wine was set playing at the door of
the cathedral, and the streets presented an animated spectacle, with
streaming banners and tapestries hanging in front of the houses, the
whole enlivened with instrumental music.
Notwithstanding his conservative sentiments, he welcomed the landing
of Bolingbrooke, assisted actively in the deposition of Richard,
was one of the signers of the document consigning him to perpetual
imprisonment, which meant death, within the walls of "bloody Pomfret,"
and crowned the usurper; afterwards conducting a service in St. Paul's,
at which King Henry was present, when the corpse of the murdered
Richard was exposed there, to certify to the citizens that he was
really dead, and obviate the possibility of revolts in his name.
Bishop Braybrooke died in the year 1404 (his epitaph says 1405), and
he was buried in the Ladye Chapel of his cathedral, under "a faire
marble stone inlaide with letters made every one of a several piece
of brasse." Two-and-a-half centuries after his burial the cathedral
was destroyed in the great fire of London, and on the removal of the
rubbish for the rebuilding the tomb was found open, with the slab
broken. "The body," as Camden states, "was found entire, the skin
still inclosing the bones and fleshy parts; only in the breast there
was a hole (made, I suppose, by accident) through which one might view
and handle his lungs. The skin was of deep tawny colour and the body
very light, as appeared to all who came to view and touch it, it being
exposed in a coffin for some time without any offensive smell: and then
reinterred."
A Brave Old London Bishop: Fulco Basset.
At the period when this prelate lived, England was struggling to free
itself from the shackles of its Norman and Angevin rulers. The feudal
system had been introduced at the Conquest, which constituted the king
the absolute master of the land; the barons were his vassals, holding
their lands by tenures of military service, and the great mass of the
people were either vassals of the barons, holding portions of land by
knight's service, or were mere serfs, excepting some merchants and
traders in the cities and towns, who enjoyed a modified species of
freedom, for which special charters were granted by kings. The citizens
of London have ever been famous for the bold and resolute way in which
they have preserved and defended the liberties and immunities granted
in such charters, and when Basset became their bishop they gladly
welcomed him as one who would not be backward in lending them his
countenance and assistance in any attempted invasion of their chartered
rights.
Beyond this permissive freedom, however, they aimed at something
further; the notion that kings were not the masters, but the servants,
of the sovereign people had been bruited abroad, and the initiative had
been taken by the barons, who revolted against the tyranny of John, and
extorted from him the Magna Charta, in which they were backed by the
Londoners and the merchants of other large towns; but the peasantry and
labourers were too much down-trodden in serfdom to make any assertion
of their natural rights, and it was not until more than a century
afterwards that they, under Wat Tyler, Jack Cade, and other leaders,
began to put forth the strange notion that they also were men with
natural rights, which they ceased not to reiterate, until a couple of
centuries afterwards they established their claims at Marston Moor and
Naseby and Worcester.
Thurstan Basset came to England at the Conquest, whose descendant
Ralph (_temp._ Henry II.,) by his great abilities raised the family
to distinction and wealth, and was the author of many salutary laws,
notably that of Frank Pledge. From him issued three baronies by writ,
those of Basset of Sapcoate, 1264-1378; Basset of Drayton, 1264, in
abeyance 1390; and Basset of Welden, 1299-1410.
Thomas, his second son, was founder of the Wycombe branch, whose eldest
son, Gilbert, had issue by Egeline, daughter of —— Courtney, three
sons—Gilbert, Fulco, and Philip—all of whom succeeded to the paternal
estates, one after the other.
Fulco was born at the end of the 12th century, was brought up to
the Church, and became Provost of Beverley, 1206-1238; Rector of
Cottesbrook, Northants, which he resigned, 1239; Dean of York,
1239-1242; Bishop of London, 1241-1258, but not consecrated until 1244,
in consequence of a vacancy in the See of Canterbury. He died of the
plague, 1258, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.
In the year 1250, he had a warm altercation with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, relative to metropolitical visitation, to which the
archbishop had an undoubted right, but which Basset denied. "Comming
to London, Boniface (the archbishop) tooke a small occasion to defoce
the bishop with fowle and reprochfull speeches, and being resisted by
the Dean and Chapter of Paules (who had appealed from his visitation
to the Pope), he made no more adoo but excommunicated them every
one." The next day he proceeded to the priory of St. Bartholomew, in
Smithfield, telling the sub-prior and monks, who came in their copes to
meet him, that he had come to visit them, who replied very respectfully
that "they knew their bishop (whose only office it was) to be a very
sufficient man in his place," and that, "although they were sorry to
disappoint him, they could not recognise any other." "This answere
so enraged this lusty Archbishop, as not being able to containe his
anger within any bounds of discretion, he ranne violently to the Sub
Prior, strucke the poore old man downe to the ground, kicked him,
beate him and buffeted him pitifully, tore his coape from his backe,
rent it into a number of pieces, and when he had so done stamped upon
it like a madde man." His followers also fell upon the monks, and a
general fight took place; but the Londoners hearing of the fray took up
cudgels in behalf of their bishop and prior, when the archbishop took
to flight, and got safely across the ferry to Lambeth. "If they (the
Londoners) could have met with him, they would surely have hewen him
into a thousand peeces." As soon as he got home he excommunicated the
whole of the inmates of the priory, and along with them Bishop Basset.
Appeals on both sides were made to Rome, the Dean of St. Paul's going
thither, followed by the archbishop. A great deal of bribery took
place, the Pope pocketing the proceeds from both parties alike, and
delaying his decision in order to exact more money, which seems not to
have been spared. At length he gave judgment that the archbishop had
the right of visitation all through his province, but for the unseemly
brawling and fighting in Smithfield he condemned him to rebuild, at his
own cost, Lambeth Palace, which was then in a dilapidated condition.
Although he was ever zealous and earnest in his defence of the people
against kingly and priestly tyranny, and supported the barons in this
and the preceding reign, it was in his old age, when verging upon the
grave, that Basset especially made a display of that bravery and sturdy
English love of freedom and hatred of oppression which entitles him to
the designation at the head of this chapter.
King Henry and the Pope had conspired together to levy a tax on the
English clergy, and share the plunder. Rustand, the Pope's legate,
with this view, convoked a meeting of the clergy of London, and
made his demand in the name of the Pope. Basset rose and replied,
in unmeasured terms, on the illegality and oppressive nature of the
exaction, finishing by saying that rather than submit to so intolerable
a demand he would lose his head, and in this he was backed by his
clergy, who passed an unanimous resolution to ignore any such claim
altogether. The legate laid his complaint before the king, who sent for
the bishop, abused him with vile and menacing language, and threatened
him with deprivation and Papal censure. Basset listened meekly to all
the king had to say, but when he left his presence he said to those who
he knew would carry it to the king, "He may remove my mitre, if it so
pleases him, but he will find a helmet beneath it, and he may take away
my crosier, but that is easily replaced with a sword."
M. Paris says of him, "He was a noble and honourable man, and,
excepting his last slip, the anchor of the whole kingdom, and
the shield of stability and defence." Weever also says, "As he
was a man of great lineage, and also of ample—both temporal and
ecclesiastical—possessions, so he was a prelate of an invincible, high
spirit; stout and courageous to resist those insupportable exactions
which the Pope's legate, Rustandus, went about to lay upon the clergie."
In the year 1256 he commenced the erection of the church of St. Faith,
under St. Paul's cathedral, founded a charity in St. Paul's for the
repose of his soul, and bequeathed to the cathedral a golden apple, two
carved chests for relics, some vestments, and a few manuscripts.
An Old London Diarist.
In the sixteenth century there dwelt in the parish of Holy Trinity the
Less, Queenhithe, a worthy and honest citizen, one Henry Machyn, a
member of the Merchant Taylors' Company. He was born about the period
of the accession of Henry VIII., and lived until after the accession of
Elizabeth, dying, it is presumed, in 1563, of the plague which visited
London in that year, when his diary comes to an abrupt conclusion.
The age in which he lived was a most important period, that of the
transition from Popery to Protestantism, accompanied by the discords,
troubles, evil passions, and cruelties incidental to transitional
epochs. During his life, he witnessed not less than three changes in
the national faith: First, the rejection of the Papal supremacy, the
suppression of monasteries, and the establishment of the reformed
religion under Henry VIII.; secondly, a return to the old Papal
allegiance and faith at the accession of Mary; and thirdly, the final
downfall of Popery, under Elizabeth. Our diarist, although, like the
Vicar of Bray, he seems to have accommodated his conscience to the
prevailing religion, evidently had a leaning towards the old faith,
which is manifested by the gusto with which he describes the Church
ceremonies and regal pageants of Mary's reign, and the "sarve them
right" sort of style in which he records the pillorying, whipping at
cart-tails, and lopping off the ears of utterers of "haynous wordes
aganst the Queen's magesty," as compared with the somewhat despondent
tone of the entries after the accession of Elizabeth.
It would appear, although not stated, that he was a purveyor of
trappings for pageants and funerals, heraldic painter, and undertaker
in general; his place of business was near to the Painterstainers'
Hall and the College of Arms; and it is supposed that he kept several
workmen employed in emblazoning flags, pennons, escutcheons, etc., for
public processions and spectacles.
The diary at the beginning appears to have been nothing more than a
trade record, consisting almost entirely of notices of funerals and
the pomp thereof, most probably those which he conducted himself.
Afterwards he notices other pageants—Lord Mayors' Shows, Royal
processions, guild companies' displays, etc., in most of which he would
probably have some professional connexion. Subsequently he records
notable events outside his profession, such as "preching at Powlle's
Crosse;" changes in religion; proceedings of Queen Mary, her marriage,
etc.; the punishing of heretics on the gallows and at the stake;
standings in the "pelere;" "rydyngs in Chepe;" penance in churches; and
sundry other events of a similarly lively character, which were marked
features of the time.
The diary is remarkably free from egotism, being written throughout in
the third person, even when speaking of himself or family, which is
very seldom. The following entries relate to himself and family: 1.
1550, the funeral of his brother—"30th November was bered Crystoffe
Machyn, Marchand Tayllor in the parryche of Sant James and broder of
Henry Machyn: the Cumpene of Marchand Tayllors behyng at the berehyng
and the Compene of the Clarkes syngyng and—Maydwell dyd pryche for
hym." 2. The birth of a daughter. September 25th 1557; he writes that
his wife was "browth a 'bed with a whenche," that she was attended by
his "gossip Master Harper," who was surgeon accoucheur to the Queen;
and that two days after was "chrysten'd Katheryn, doythur of Hare
(Harry) Machyn;" further that "Mistress Grenway, an Altherman's wife,
and Masters Blakwelle and Grenwell" were the sponsors. 3. A notice of
his own doing penance, but recorded in the third person and with a
Frenchifying of his name. "November 23rd, 1561: the third yere of Quen
Elesabeth, dyd preche at Powlle's crosse, Renager, yt was Sant Clement
Day; dyd syt alle the sermon tym Henry des Machyn for two (words) the
wyche was tolde hym, that Veron, the French—the precher was taken
wyth a wenche, by the reporting, by on (one) Wylliam Lawrence, dark
of Sant Mare (Mary) Maudlen, in Mylke Streete; the wych the same Hare
(Harry) kneelyd down before Master Veron and the byshopp, and yett
(they) would nott for (forgive) hym for alle ys fryndes that he hadde
worshepefulle." 4. Marriage of his niece. July 7th, 1562, "that Symon
Smith browth to the Gyldhalle, Kynlure Machen for to have lyssens
(licence) to have her a husband, Edw. Gardener, Cowper ... dowther of
Cristofer Machyn." These are all the references to himself and family,
but there is a memorandum on one of the sheets of a business nature,
which indicates his having been an emblazoner of arms: "Rember yt my
lade (Lady) Masum byll for armes,"—the rest illegible.
The diary extends from 1550 to 1563; it is couched in language and
orthography which denote deficient education even for that time, but
is valuable as a reliable record of events, interesting as a picture
of the age, and amusing from its quaint style. Strype made great use
of it in the way of quotation in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, as a
trustworthy authority. The MS. is in the Cotton collection. It suffered
in the fire at Sir Robert Cotton's house, Westminster, and now remains
in a fragmentary form, being much scorched and burnt at the edges. In
the year 1848, it was published by the Camden Society, edited by Mr.
John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., with a glossary, notes, etc.
The following extracts from the diary give a vivid picture of London
300 years ago; the tone of public opinion, and the turbulence of the
time, with the picturesque accessories of pageants and processions,
and the less pleasing but ever present spectacles of whipping,
pillorying, hanging, quartering, and burning of heretics and rebels.
1. The restored Papal rule. Queen Mary ascended the throne in 1553,
and immediately reversed all the doings of her father and brother in
matters of religion. Thus writes Machyn:—
"August 5th, 1553. Cam out of the Marselsay the old Bishop of London,
Bonar, & dyvers bysshopes bryngyng him unto home ye plasse at Powlces,
& doctor Coke whent to the same plass yn the Marselsey that the
bysshope was in."
February 12th, 1573-4. After Wyatt's rebellion "there was mad at evere
gate in Lundun a newe payre of galous, & set up 11 payre in Cheapside;
11 payre in Fletstrett, 1 in Smythfyld, 1 in Holborne, 1 at Ledyn-hall,
1 at Sant Magnus, London Bridg, one at Refer Allay Gatt, one at Sant
George's, 1 at Borunsay (Bermondsey) strett, 1 on Towr hylle, 1 payre
at Charyng Crosse, and 1 payre besyd Hyd Parke corner." The executions
took place on the 14th, and "on the iiii daye of junii wasse all the
galus in London plokyd done in all plases."
September 23rd, 1554. "Dyd pryche doctur Rud at Powlle's Crosse, and
he recantyd and repentyd that he ever was mared (married) and sayd
openly that he cold not mare by God's law."