(M607)
Although Wolsey was no more, his works followed him. He it was, and not
Henry, who first conceived the idea of church reform, towards which some
steps had been taken in Wolsey's lifetime. It was left for Henry to carry
out the design of his great minister. When the king laid his hand on the
monasteries, he only followed the example set by the cardinal in 1525,
when some of the smaller religious houses in Kent, Sussex and Essex were
suppressed for his great foundation of Oxford. To assist him in carrying
out his design he turned to parliament. Relieved as they now were of the
oppression of the great nobles, the Commons were ready to use their
newly-acquired independence against the clergy, who exacted extravagant
fees and misused the powers of the ecclesiastical courts. Acts were passed
regulating the payment of mortuary fees and the fees for probate, whilst
another Act restricted the holding of pluralities and the taking of ferms
by church-men.(1152) The clergy threatened to appeal to Rome, but were
warned that such action would be met with pains and penalties as opposed
to the royal prerogative.(1153)
(M608)
In the city the question of tithes payable to the clergy had been always
more or less a vexed question. Before the commencement of the thirteenth
century the city clergy had been supported by casual dues in addition to
their glebe land. These casual payments were originally personal, but
subsequently became regulated by the amount of rent paid by parishioners
for their houses. A question arose as to whether the citizens were also
liable to pay personal tithes on their gains, and it was eventually
decided that they were so liable.(1154)
On the 31st August, 1527, a committee, which had been specially appointed
to enquire into matters concerning the city's welfare, reported, among
other things, upon the tithe question as it then stood in the city.(1155)
The "curates," they said, had purchased a Bull of Pope Nicholas, on the
6th August, 1453, and this Bull had been confirmed by Act of Common
Council on the 3rd March, 1475. Not only was the amount of the tithe
payable fixed by the Bull, but the Bull itself was to be publicly read by
the curates four times a year, so that no doubt should exist in the minds
of the parishioners. This the curates had failed to do, and had caused
their parishioners heavy legal expenses in disputing demands for tithes.
One man was known to have spent as much as L100 in his own defence. The
committee suggested that the whole question should be referred to the
Bishop of London, and that a translation of the Bull should be exhibited
in every church. The citizens were the more aggrieved because many
parsonages and vicarages were let to ferm.(1156)
(M609)
The curates made their defence in a book of eighteen articles touching
tithes and other oblations, the chief point being that every householder,
time out of mind, had been bound to pay to God and the Church one farthing
out of every 10_s._ of rent, a half-penny out of 20_s._ and so forth, on
100 days of the year; amounting in all to 2_s._ 1_d._ for every 10_s._
rent _per annum_. This manner of payment proving tedious, the curates and
their parishioners came to an agreement that 1_s._ 2_d._ should be paid on
every 6_s._ 8_d._ or noble, and this sum the curates had been receiving
time out of mind, none reclaiming or denying. But, inasmuch as this
payment by occupiers of houses was only ordained for a "dowry" to the
parish churches of London which had no glebe lands, the curates demanded
that all merchants and artificers, with other occupiers of the city,
should pay personal tithes of their "lucre or encrece" according to the
common law, and as "well conscyoned" men had been in the habit of paying
in times past.(1157) The book of articles was laid before the Court of
Common Council on the 16th February, 1528, by Robert Carter and six other
priests, on behalf of their entire body. On the following 16th March the
Court of Aldermen for themselves agreed to pay tithe at the forthcoming
Easter according to the Bull of Pope Nicholas, and not after the rate of
1_s._ 2_d._ on the noble,(1158) whilst four days later the Common Council
decided that, for the sake of convenience, bills should be posted in every
parish church within the city showing the number of offering days (viz.,
eighty-two) and the amount to be offered by inhabitants of the city.(1159)
So matters continued until, early in 1534, it was agreed to submit the
whole question to the lord chancellor and other members of the council,
who made their award a few days before Easter.(1160) It decreed that at
the forthcoming festival every subject should pay to the parson or curate
of his parish after the rate of 2_s._ 9_d._ in the pound, and 16 pence
half-penny in the half-pound, and that every man's wife, servant, child
and apprentice receiving the Holy Sacrament should pay two pence. These
payments were to continue to be paid "without grudge or murmur" until such
time as the council should arrive at a final settlement.(1161)
(M610)
In the meanwhile the city had been made to feel the heavy hand of the king
and of his new minister, Thomas Cromwell. In May, 1530, Elsing Spital, a
house established by William Elsing, a charitable mercer, for the relief
of the blind, but which had subsequently grown into a priory of
Augustinian canons of wealth and position, was confiscated by the Crown.
What became of the blind inmates is not known. In the following year
(1531) the Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, shared the same fate. The
priory had existed since the time of Henry I and the "good queen"
Matilda,(1162) and its prior enjoyed the singular distinction of being
_ex__ officio_ an alderman of the city. The canons were now removed to
another place and the building and site bestowed by Henry upon his
chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley.(1163)
(M611)
Between 1531 and 1534 the City enjoyed some respite from attack. It even
recovered some of its lost privileges. In 1521 Henry had deprived the City
of its right to the Great Beam, and of the issues and profits derived from
it, and had caused a conveyance of it to be made to Sir William Sidney. In
1531 the beam was re-conveyed to the City.(1164) The Grocers' Company were
scarcely less interested in the beam than the City, for to them was
deputed the choice of weighers, who were afterwards admitted and sworn
before the Court of Aldermen. Both the City and the company used their
best endeavours to recover their lost rights, the former going so far as
to sanction the distribution of the sum of L23 6_s._ 8_d._ between the
king's sergeant, the king's attorney, and one "Lumnore,"(1165) a servant
of "my lady Anne,"(1166) with the view of gaining their object the
easier.(1167) A compromise was subsequently effected by which Sir William
Sidney continued to hold the beam at an annual rent payable to the
City,(1168) until, in 1531, he consented to a surrender, and it became
again vested in the Corporation.
(M612)
Finding it hopeless to obtain the Pope's sanction to his divorce from
Catherine, Henry at last lost all patience, and on the 25th January, 1533,
was privately married to Anne Boleyn. The match was unpopular with the
citizens, who took occasion of a sermon preached on Easter-day to show
their dissatisfaction. According to Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, who
sent an account of the affair to the emperor, the greater part of the
congregation got up and left the church when prayers were desired for the
queen. When Henry heard of the insult thus offered to his new bride he was
furious, and forthwith sent word to the mayor to see that no such
manifestation should occur again. Thereupon, continues Chapuys, the mayor
summoned the guilds to assemble in their various halls and commanded them
to cease murmuring against the king's marriage on pain of incurring the
royal displeasure, and to order their own journeymen and servants, "and, a
still more difficult task, their own wives," to refrain from speaking
disparagingly about the queen.(1169)
(M613)
It was perhaps on this account that the civic authorities excelled
themselves in giving the queen a suitable reception as she passed from the
Tower to Westminster on the 31st May. The Court of Aldermen directed (14
May) the wardens of the Haberdashers to prepare their barge as well as the
"bachelers" barge for the occasion. Three pageants were to be set up, one
in Leadenhall and the others at the Standard and the little Conduit in
Cheapside. The Standard was to run with wine. A deputation was appointed
to wait upon the king's council to learn its wishes, and enquiry was to be
made of the Duke of Norfolk whether the clergy should take part in the
day's proceedings, and whether the merchants of the Steelyard or other
strangers should be allowed to erect pageants.(1170)
(M614)
The Court of Common Council had on the previous day (13 May) voted a gift
of 1,000 marks to be presented to the queen at her coronation, and a
further sum to be expended in the city "for the honor of the same."(1171)
Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn were the only queens of king Henry
VIII who were crowned, and on both occasions the citizens of London
performed the customary services.(1172)
(M615)
In September (1533) Anne gave birth to a daughter, who afterwards ascended
the throne as Queen Elizabeth. In the following spring (1534) parliament
passed an Act of Succession, which not only declared Elizabeth (and not
Mary, the king's daughter by Catherine of Aragon) heir to the crown, but
required all subjects to take an oath acknowledging the succession.
Commissioners were appointed to tender the oath to the citizens,(1173) and
by the 20th April the "most part of the city was sworn to the "king and
his legitimate issue by the queen's grace now had and hereafter to
come."(1174) A fortnight later deeds under the common seals of the livery
companies "concernyng the suretye state and succession" of the king were
delivered to Henry in person at Greenwich by a deputation of
aldermen.(1175)
(M616)
The oath, nevertheless, met with much opposition, more especially among
the clergy and the religious orders. Elizabeth Barton, known as the "holy
maid of Kent," and some of her followers, among them being Henry Gold,
rector of the church of St. Mary Aldermary, were executed at Tyburn for
daring to speak against the king's marriage.(1176) The friars proved
extremely obstinate, and Henry sent commissioners to seek out and suppress
all those friaries that refused to submit.
(M617)
The inmates of the London Charterhouse, who might well have been left to
enjoy their quiet seclusion from the world, were startled by a visit from
the king's commissioners calling upon them to take the oath. The manner of
their reception by John Houghton, the prior, and his brethren and
subsequent proceedings are graphically described by Maurice Chauncy,(1177)
one of the inmates, who was more compliant than his brethren to the king's
wishes, and thereby saved his life. The prior and Humphrey Middlemore, the
procurator of the convent, were committed to the Tower for counselling
opposition to the commissioners. There they were visited by the Archbishop
of York and the Bishop of London, who persuaded them at last that the
question of the succession was not a cause in which to sacrifice their
lives for conscience sake. The result was that after a while Houghton and
his companion declared their willingness to submit. On the 29th May the
commissioners received oaths of fealty from Prior Houghton and five other
monks, and on the 6th June Bishop Lee and Sir Thomas Kitson, one of the
sheriffs, received similar oaths from a number of priests, professed monks
and lay brethren or _conversi_ belonging to the house.(1178) The oaths of
obedience to the Act were given under reservation "so far as the law of
God permitted," and for a time the monks were left in comparative quiet,
some few of them, of whom Cromwell entertained the most hope of
submission, being sent, by his direction, to the convent of Sion.(1179)
(M618) (M619)
The exhortations of the "father confessor" were not without some measure
of success, several of the Carthusians being induced to alter their
opinions as to the king's demands. The seal of doom, however, was fixed on
the order by the passing of the Act which called upon its members to
renounce the Pope and acknowledge the royal supremacy.(1180) Fisher and
More denied the king's title of Supreme Head of the Church, and were
committed to the Tower. At this crisis there came to London two priors of
Carthusian houses established, one in Nottinghamshire and the other in
Lincolnshire. They came to talk over the state of affairs with Houghton.
An interview with Cromwell, recently appointed vicar-general or king's
vicegerent in matters ecclesiastical, was resolved on. The king might
possibly be prevailed upon to make some abatement in his demands.
Cromwell, however, no sooner discovered the object of their visit than he
committed them to the Tower as rebels and would-be traitors. As they still
refused to acknowledge the king's supremacy in the Church, in spite of all
efforts of persuasion, they were brought to trial, together with Father
Reynolds of Sion, on a charge of treason. A verdict of guilty was, after
some hesitation on the part of the jury, found against them, and they were
executed at Tyburn (4 May, 1535), glorying in the cause for which they
were held worthy to suffer death. Houghton's arm was suspended over the
gateway of the London Charterhouse, in the fond hope that the rest of the
brethren might be awed into submission. This atrocious act of barbarism
had, however, precisely the opposite effect to that desired. The monks
were more resolute than ever not to submit, and not even a personal visit
of Henry himself could turn them from their purpose.(1181) Three of them
were thereupon committed to prison, where they were compelled to stand in
an upright position for thirteen days, chained from their necks to their
arms and with their legs fettered.(1182) They were afterwards brought to
trial on a charge of treason, convicted and executed (19 June).
The fate of the remaining monks is soon told. In May, 1537, the royal
commissioners once more attended at the Charterhouse, when they found the
majority of its inmates prepared to take the oath prescribed. Ten of them,
however, still refused, and were committed to Newgate and there left to be
"dispatched by the hand of God," in other words to meet a painful and
lingering death from fever and starvation. The following month the remnant
of the community made their submission, and the London Charterhouse, as a
monastic institution, ceased to exist.
(M620)
Fisher and More were now brought from the Tower, where they had lain six
months and more, and convicted on a similar charge of treason. Their
sentence was commuted to death by beheading. Fisher was the first to
suffer (19 June, 1535). His head was set up on London Bridge and his body
buried in the churchyard of All Hallows, Barking. More suffered a few
weeks later (6 July). His head, too, was placed on London Bridge, but his
body was buried in the Tower, whither the remains of Fisher were
afterwards carried. On the 15th December the Court of Aldermen publicly
condemned a sermon preached by Fisher "in derogation and diminution of the
royal estate of the king's majesty."(1183)
(M621)
When, in the following year (1536), the smaller monasteries--those of less
than L200 a year--were dissolved by Act of Parliament, and the inhabitants
of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, taking fright lest the king and Cromwell
should proceed to despoil the parish churches, set out on the Pilgrimage
of Grace, Henry sought the City's aid. On the 10th October a letter from
the king was read before the Court of Aldermen, desiring them to dispatch
forthwith to his manor of Ampthill, where the nobles were about to wait
upon his majesty, a contingent of at least 250 armed men, 200 of which
were to be well horsed, and 100 to be archers.(1184) The mayor, Sir John
Allen,(1185) lost no time in issuing his precept to the livery companies
for each of them to furnish a certain number of bowmen and billmen, well
horsed and arrayed in jackets of white bearing the City's arms. They were
to muster in Moorfields within twenty-four hours. The Mercers were called
upon to furnish the largest quota, viz., twenty men; the Grocers, Drapers,
Tailors and Cloth-workers respectively, sixteen men, and the rest of the
companies contingents varying from twelve to two.(1186) The Court of
Aldermen at the same time took the precaution of depriving all priests and
curates, as well as all friars dwelling within the city, of every
offensive weapon, so that they should be left with nothing but their
"meate knyves."(1187) The king sent a letter of thanks for the city's
contingent.(1188)
Later on, when Allen had been succeeded in the mayoralty by Sir Ralph
Warren,(1189) it was resolved that each member of the court should provide
at his own cost and charges twenty able men fully equipped in case of any
emergency that might arise, whilst the companies were again called upon to
hold men in readiness.(1190)
(M622)
Henry in the meantime had got rid of his second wife on the specious
ground of her having misconducted herself with more than one member of the
court, the real cause being her miscarriage(1191) of a male child, to the
king's bitter disappointment. Henry had made up his mind to change his
wives until he could find one who would give him a male heir and thus
place the succession to the crown beyond all possibility of doubt. The
very next day following Anne Boleyn's execution he married Jane Seymour.
The marriage necessitated the calling together of a new parliament, when a
fresh Act was passed settling the succession on Jane's children and
declaring both Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate. Nevertheless, as soon as
Mary made formal submission to her father, the king's attitude towards
her, from being cold and cruel, changed at once to one of courtesy if not
of affection. He was thought to entertain the idea of declaring her
heir-apparent. Indeed, on Sunday, the 20th August, she was actually
proclaimed as such in one of the London churches--no doubt by some
mistake.(1192)
(M623)
Whilst parliament was sitting at Westminster convocation was gathered at
St. Paul's in the city, and continued to sit there until the 20th July,
presided over by Cromwell as the king's vicar-general. The meeting was
remarkable for its formal decree that Henry, as supreme head of the
Church, might and ought to disregard all citations by the Pope, as well as
for the promulgation of the ten articles intended to promote uniformity of
belief and worship.(1193)
(M624) (M625)
In September, 1536, the Court of Common Council agreed to vote the same
sum of money for the coronation of the "right excellent pryncesse lady
Jane, quene of Englonde," as had been granted at the coronation of "dame
Anne, late queene of Englonde."(1194) The money, however, was not
required, for the new queen was never crowned. Just one week after the
birth of a prince (12 Oct., 1537), afterwards King Edward VI, there was a
solemn procession of priests from every city church, with the Bishop of
London, the choir of St. Paul's, the mayor, aldermen and crafts in their
liveries, for the preservation of the infant prince and for the health of
the queen, who lay in a precarious state.(1195) A few days later (24 Oct.)
she was dead. The citizens caused her obit to be celebrated in St. Paul's
with truly regal pomp.(1196)
(M626) (M627)
Two years later the citizens were preparing to set out to Greenwich in
their barge (the mayor, aldermen, and those who had served the office of
sheriff, in liveries of black velvet with chains of gold on their necks,
accompanied by their servants in coats of russet) to welcome Anne of
Cleves, who landed at Dover the 27th December, 1539.(1197) On the 3rd
February, 1540, the Court of Aldermen was informed that the king and queen
would be leaving Greenwich on the morrow for Westminster, and that it was
the king's wish that the commons of London should be in their best
apparel, in their barges, to wait upon his highness, meeting at St.
Dunstan's in the East at 7 o'clock in the morning and arriving at
Greenwich by 8 o'clock.(1198)
(M628)
The insurrection which had taken place in the country under the name of
the Pilgrimage of Grace was seized by the king as an excuse for
suppressing many of the larger monasteries and confiscating their
property. He had no such excuse for carrying out his destructive policy in
the city. Nevertheless, under the immediate supervision of Cromwell, the
work of suppression went on, and before the end of 1538 was well nigh
complete. The surrender of the houses of the Black Friars, the Grey Friars
and the White Friars followed in quick succession, "and so all the other
immediatlie."(1199) Cromwell by this time had removed from his house near
Fenchurch to another near the Austin Friars in Throgmorton Street. He had
recently asked for a pipe of water to be laid on to his new house, and
this the Common Council had "lovingly" granted.(1200) In his private
concerns he showed as little regard for the rights of others as in the
affairs of State. He did not scruple to remove bodily a small house, the
property of Stow's father, in order to enlarge his own garden, giving
neither warning beforehand nor explanation afterwards, and "no man durst
go to argue the matter."(1201)
The hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, which had ministered to the wants of
the poorer citizens for nearly 400 years, disappeared,(1202) and was soon
followed by the priory and hospital of St. Bartholomew, an institution of
even greater antiquity, the hospital of St. Thomas, in Southwark, the
priory and hospital of St. Mary without Bishopsgate, known as St. Mary of
Bethlem, or "Bedlam," and the Abbey of Graces or New Abbey (sometimes
called the Eastminster to distinguish it from the other minster in the
west of London) which had been founded by Edward III, near Tower Hill.
(M629)
A portion of the spoil was, as we have already seen, distributed among
court favourites. The site of the house and gardens of the Augustinian
Friars in Broad Street Ward was occupied, soon after their suppression (12
Nov., 1538), by the mansion-house of that politic courtier the celebrated
Marquis of Winchester, who managed to maintain himself in high station in
spite of the changes which took place under the several reigns of Henry
VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, "by being a willow and not an oak."
The building known at the present day as Winchester House, in Broad
Street, stands near the site of the old mansion-house and garden of
William Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester. The Friars' church he allowed
to stand; and in June, 1550, the nave was granted, by virtue of a charter
permitting alien non-conforming churches to exist in this country, to the
Dutch and Walloon churches.(1203) The first marquis dying in 1571, he was
succeeded by his son, who sold the monuments and lead from the roof of the
remaining portion of the church and turned the place into a stable.(1204)
The fourth marquis was reduced to parting with his house, built on the
site of the old priory, in order to pay his debts, and appears to have
found a purchaser in a wealthy London merchant and alderman of the city,
John Swinnerton or Swynarton.(1205)
(M630)
The steeple of the church, which was of so great beauty that the citizens
desired its preservation,(1206) was sold by the marquis to Henry Robinson,
who forthwith set to work to pull it down on the ground that it was in
such a state of decay as to be a danger to the passer-by. Swinnerton, who
happened to be mayor at the time, ordered him to stay the work of
demolition; he, however, not only hurried on the more, but obstructed the
officers sent to put a stop to the work, for which he was committed to
Newgate to stay there until he gave security for restoring what he had
already pulled down. The thought suggests itself that the fact of
Swinnerton having purchased adjacent property may have made him the more
zealous in preventing the demolition of the steeple than perhaps he might
otherwise have been. However that may be, he lost no time in informing the
lords of the council of the state of affairs and asking their advice (16
Feb., 1612). The reply came three days later, and was to the effect that
as the City had had the option of purchasing the steeple at even a less
price than Robinson had paid for it, and might have come to some
arrangement with the marquis to keep it in repair, it could not prevent
Robinson, who purchased it as a speculation, making the best he could of
his bargain; so that, unless the City consented to accept Robinson's offer
to part with his property on payment of his purchase-money and
disbursements within a fortnight, down the steeple must come.(1207)
(M631)
The priory of St. Helen without Bishopsgate was one of the last to be
surrendered. In 1542 the nuns' chapel, which at one time was partitioned
off from the rest of the church, was made over to Sir Richard Williams, a
nephew of Thomas Cromwell, and ancestor of the Protector. The nuns'
refectory or hall passed into the hands of the Leathersellers' Company and
formed the company's hall until the close of the last century. The conduct
of the inmates of the priory had not always been what it should be.(1208)
The last prioress, in anticipation of the coming storm, leased a large
portion of the conventual property to members of her own family, and at
the time of the suppression was herself allowed a gratuity of L30 and a
pension.
(M632)
The relations existing between the civic authorities and the religious
houses in the city were often of a most friendly and cordial character.
When, in 1520, the Friars of the Holy Cross wanted assistance for the
maintenance and building of their church, they applied to the Corporation
as being their "secund founders."(1209) For assistance thus given the
friars bound themselves to pray for their benefactors. When, in 1512, the
master of St. Bartholomew's hospital obtained a lease for ninety-nine
years from the City of a parcel of land on which his gatehouse or porch
stood, it was on condition of payment of a certain rent and of his keeping
a yearly obit in his church for the souls of the mayor, aldermen and
commons of the city; and when the master of the hospital, two years later,
attempted to back out of the terms of his lease and asked to be discharged
from keeping the obit on the ground that he thought that the payment of
the specified rent was sufficient for the premises, the Court of Aldermen
unanimously decided that no part of the agreement should be minished or
remitted.(1210) When the house of the Sisters Minoresses or Poor Clares,
situate in Aldgate, suffered from fire, the Corporation rendered them
pecuniary aid to the extent of 300 marks.(1211)
It was, however, to the Franciscans or Grey Friars that the citizens of
London, individually as well as in their corporate capacity, were more
especially attached. Soon after their arrival in England in 1223, they
became indebted to the benevolence and generosity of citizens, their first
benefactor having been John Ewen, citizen and mercer, who made them a gift
of some land and houses in the parish of St. Nicholas by the Shambles.
Upon this they erected their original building. Their first chapel, which
became the chapel of their church, was built at the cost of William
Joyner, who was mayor in 1239; the nave was added by Henry Waleys, who was
frequently mayor during the reign of Edward I; the chapterhouse by Walter
le Poter, elected sheriff in 1272; the dormitory by Gregory de Rokesley,
who was mayor from 1274 to 1281, and again in 1284-5, and whose bones
eventually found a resting place in their church; the refectory by another
citizen, Bartholomew de Castro; and lastly--coming to later times--a library
was added to their house by the bounty of Richard Whitington, as already
narrated. It became the custom for the mayor and aldermen, as patron and
founders, to pay a yearly visit to their house and church on St. Francis's
day (4 Oct.). The custom dates from 1508. In 1522 the visit was for the
first time followed by a dinner.(1212)
(M633)
In one respect at least, if in no other, Cromwell's action in suppressing
religious houses resulted in a benefit to the city of London as well as to
the country at large, and this was in the institution of parish registers,
not only for baptisms, but also for marriages. It had been his intention
to establish them in 1536 to remedy the inconvenience to the public
arising from the suppression of the smaller monasteries, and it is evident
that some instructions were given at this time, inasmuch as the registers
of two city parishes--viz., St. James Garlickhithe and St. Mary
Bothaw--commence in November of this year,(1213) although the royal
injunction commanding that registers should systematically be kept up,
under penalty of fines, was not published by Cromwell, as vicar-general,
until the 29th September, 1538. The delay is to be accounted for by the
great discontent which the rumour of his project excited in the country.
It was reported that some new tax on the services of the Church was
contemplated, and the first in the list of popular grievances circulated
by the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace was the payment of tribute to the
king for the sacrament of baptism. In course of time, as matters became
quieter and the government began to feel its own strength, Cromwell
resumed a project never altogether abandoned, and caused the injunction to
be issued, an action for which posterity must ever be deeply grateful.
(M634)
On the other hand, the sudden closing of these institutions caused the
streets to be thronged with the sick and poor, and the small parish
churches to be so crowded with those who had been accustomed to frequent
the larger and more commodious churches of the friars that there was
scarce room left for the parishioners themselves. The city authorities saw
at once that something would have to be done if they wished to keep their
streets clear of beggars and of invalids, and not invite the spread of
sickness by allowing infected persons to wander at large. As a means of
affording temporary relief, collections for the poor were made every
Sunday at Paul's Cross, after the sermon, and the proceeds were
distributed weekly among the most necessitous,(1214) but more
comprehensive steps were required to be taken.
(M635)
Sir Richard Gresham,(1215) who was mayor at the time (1537-8), took upon
himself to address a letter(1216) to the king setting forth that there
were three hospitals in the city, viz., St. Mary's Spital, St.
Bartholomew's and St. Thomas's, besides the New Abbey on Tower
Hill--institutions primarily founded "onely for the releffe, comforte and
helpyng of pore and impotent people not beyng able to helpe theymselffes;
and not to the mayntenannce of Chanons, Preests, and Monks to lyve in
pleasure, nothyng regardyng the miserable people liyng in every strete,
offendyng every clene person passyng by the way with theyre fylthy and
nasty savours"--and asking that the mayor and aldermen of the city for the
time being might have the order and disposition of the hospitals
mentioned, and of all the lands, tenements and revenues appertaining to
the same. If his grace would but grant this request the mayor promised
that a great number of the indigent sick would be relieved, whilst "sturdy
beggars" not willing to work would be punished.
(M636) (M637)
In March, 1539, the City presented two petitions to the king, one desiring
that the late dissolved houses might be made over to them, together with
their rents and revenues, in order that relief might be provided for the
sick and needy, and the other asking that Henry would be pleased to convey
to them the churches of the late four orders of friars, together with
their lands and tenements, so that the mayor and citizens might take order
for the due performance of divine service therein to the glory of God and
the honour of the king.(1217) These petitions having been either refused
or ignored, the Court of Common Council, on the 1st August, 1540,
authorised the mayor and aldermen to make diligent suit to the king for
the purchase of the houses, churches, and cloisters of the dissolved
friars, and to make an offer of 1,000 marks for them "yf thei can be
gotten no better chepe."(1218) Henry upbraided the City for being "pynche
pence" or stingy in their offer,(1219) but as no better offer was made the
matter was allowed to stand over, and nothing was done for four years.
(M638)
Henry meanwhile took the opportunity afforded him by a full treasury,
which rendered him independent of the favour of the citizens, of robbing
them of their right of measuring linen-cloth and other commodities, and
conferring the same by letters patent on John Godsalve, one of the clerks
of the signet. The City's right was incontestable, and had been admitted
by the king's chancellor, as well as by the Chancellor of the Court of
Fruits and Tenths (a court recently established), and the mayor and
aldermen represented the facts of the case to the king himself by letter,
dated the 21st July, 1541.(1220) Another "variance" occurred about this
time between the City and the Crown touching the office and duties of the
City's waterbailiff.(1221)
Again, in the spring of 1542, an incident occurred which caused the
relations between parliament and the City to be somewhat strained. The
sheriffs of that year--Rowland Hill,(1222) an ancestor of the founder of
the Penny Post, and Henry Suckley--had thought fit to obstruct the
sergeant-at-mace in the execution of his duty, whilst attempting to remove
a prisoner, who was a member of parliament, from one of the compters. The
arrest of a member of parliament has always been a hazardous operation,
and the sheriffs after a time thought better of it and gave up their
prisoner. The Speaker, nevertheless, summoned them to appear at the Bar of
the House and finally committed them to the Tower. They were released
after two or three days, however, at the humble suit of the mayor.(1223)
(M639)
In the following year (1543) the plague returned, and extra-precautions
had to be taken against the spread of the disease, now that the houses of
the friars were no longer open to receive patients and to alleviate
distress. Besides the usual order that infected houses should be marked
with a cross, the mayor caused proclamation to be made that persons of
independent means should undergo quarantine for one month after recovery
from sickness, whilst others whom necessity compelled to walk abroad for
their livelihood were to carry in their hands white rods, two feet in
length, for the space of forty days after convalescence. Straw and rushes
in an infected house were to be removed to the fields before they were
burnt, and infected clothing was to be carried away to be aired and not to
be hung out of window. The hard-heartedness engendered by these
visitations is evidenced by the necessity of the mayor having to enjoin
that thenceforth no householder within the city or liberties should put
any person stricken with the plague out of his house into the street,
without making provision for his being kept in some other house. All dogs
other than hounds, spaniels or mastiffs kept for the purpose of guarding
the house were forthwith to be removed out of the city or killed, whilst
watch-dogs were to be confined to the house.(1224) In October the mayor
was ordered to resume the weekly bills of mortality, which of late had
been neglected, in order that the king might be kept informed as to the
increase or decrease of the sickness.(1225) The Michaelmas Law Sittings
had to be postponed until the 15th November, and were removed to St.
Albans.(1226)
(M640)
Whilst the city was being wasted by disease the king was preparing for war
with France.(1227) A joint expedition by Henry and Charles was to be
undertaken in the following year (1544). A commission was issued early in
the year for raising money in the city, and the lord chancellor himself,
accompanied by officers of State, came into the city to read it. Finding
that the lord mayor's name appeared third on the commission instead of
being placed at its head, the chancellor ordered the mistake to be at once
rectified by the town clerk and a new commission to be drawn up, whilst
the rest of the lords agreed that at their several sessions on the
business of this subsidy the lord mayor should occupy the seat of
honour.(1228) By the end of April the chancellor (Audley) had died. His
successor, Lord Wriothesley, had not long been appointed before the Court
of Aldermen sent a deputation to desire his lordship's favour and
friendship in the city's affairs, and agreed to make him a present of a
couple of silver-gilt pots to the value of L20 or thereabouts.(1229) On
the 24th May the Common Council agreed to provide a contingent of 500 or
600 men at the discretion of the mayor and aldermen, the men being raised
from the livery companies.(1230)
(M641)
Just as the king was about to set sail for the continent, he issued
letters patent (23 June, 1544) re-establishing the hospital of St.
Bartholomew on a new foundation, with the avowed object of providing
"comfort to prisoners, shelter to the poor, visitation to the sick, food
to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and sepulture
to the dead."(1231)
(M642)
Henry crossed over to France, leaving the new queen, Catherine Parr, widow
of Lord Latimer, whom he had recently married, regent of the realm. After
a long siege, lasting from July until September, he succeeded in taking
Boulogne. On Thursday, the 25th September, an order was received by the
Court of Aldermen from the lord chancellor, on behalf of the queen regent,
to get in readiness another contingent of 500 men well harnessed and
weaponed, 100 of whom were to be archers and the rest billmen. The last
mentioned were to be provided with "blak bylles or morys pykes." The whole
force was to be ready for shipment to Boulogne by the following Saturday.
No time was to be lost. The wardens of the city companies were immediately
summoned, and each company was ordered to provide the same number of men
as on the last occasion. Each soldier was to be provided with a coat of
grey frieze, with half sleeves, and a pair of new boots or else "sterte
upps." The Corporation for its part appointed five captains, to each of
whom was given the sum of L10 towards his apparel and charges, whilst L5
was allowed to each petty captain. These sums were paid out of the "goods"
of the mayor and commonalty.(1232)
Scarcely had the city recovered from this drain upon its population before
it was again called upon to fill up the ranks of the army in France. On
Saturday, the 25th October, the Court of Aldermen was ordered to raise
another force of 500 men by the following Monday. It was no easy matter to
comply with so sudden a demand. The city companies were called upon to
contribute as before, any deficiency in the number of men raised by them
being made up by men raised by the mayor and aldermen themselves in a
somewhat novel fashion. The Court of Aldermen had agreed that each of
their number should on the Saturday night make the round of his ward and
select "fifty, forty, twenty, or ten" tall and comely men, who should be
warned in the king's name to appear the next morning before seven o'clock
at the Guildhall. On Sunday morning the mayor and aldermen came to the
Guildhall, and took the names of those whom they had selected over night.
Two hundred men were eventually set apart to make up the deficiency of
those to be provided by the companies. By six o'clock in the evening the
whole contingent of 500 men was thus raised, and at nine o'clock on Monday
morning they mustered at Leadenhall, whence they were conducted by the
sheriffs and city chamberlain to the Tower Hill and handed over to Sir
Thomas Arundel, who complimented the civic authorities on the appearance
of the men, and promised to commend their diligence to the king.(1233)
This same Monday morning (27 Oct.) the mayor received instructions to see
that such carpenters and other artificers as had been "prested" for the
king's service at Boulogne by the king's master-carpenter kept their day
and presented themselves at the time and place appointed on pain of
death.(1234) Search was ordered to be made in the following month for
mariners lurking in the city, and if any were discovered they were to be
forthwith despatched to the ships awaiting them.(1235)
(M643)
By this time the king had ceased to take a personal part in the campaign
and had returned home, the mayor and aldermen giving him a hearty welcome,
and making him a suitable present in token of their joy for his return and
his success in effecting the surrender of Boulogne.(1236)
(M644)
At the opening of the next year (1545) Henry demanded another benevolence
after the rate of two shillings in the pound. The lord chancellor and
others of the king's council sat at Baynard's Castle to collect the
benevolence of the city, "callinge all the citizens of the same before
them, begininge first with the mayor and aldermen."(1237) Richard Rede,
alderman of the ward of Farringdon Without, resisted this demand as
unconstitutional, and was promptly despatched to the king in Scotland,
where he was shortly afterwards made a prisoner of war. Another alderman,
Sir William Roche, of Bassishaw ward, was unfortunate enough to offend the
council and was committed to the Fleet.(1238)
(M645)
On the 8th February William Laxton, the mayor, was presented to the king
at Westminster, when Henry took occasion to thank him and his brother
aldermen for the benevolence they had given him. He informed them of the
success that had recently attended the English forces under the Earl of
Hertford and the lord admiral, Sir John Dudley, whom he had left as deputy
of Boulogne, and dismissed them to their homes after conferring upon the
mayor the honour of knighthood.(1239)
(M646)
In the following April volunteers were called for, and those in the city
willing to follow the fortunes of war as "adventurers" were asked to
repair to the sign of the "Gunne," at Billingsgate, where they would
receive directions from John of Caleys, captain of all such adventurers,
for their passage to France.(1240) The sessions of the law courts were
adjourned in order to give lawyers and suitors an opportunity of showing
their patriotism by taking up arms.(1241) The city companies furnished 100
men appareled "with whyte cotes of penystone whytes(1242) or karsies,"
with a red cross of St. George before and behind, each being provided with
a white cap to wear under his "sallett or scull."(1243)
(M647)
There yet remained a portion of the last subsidy to be collected, for
which purpose the lord chancellor once more paid a visit to the city (12
June) and sat in the Guildhall. Every alderman was straitly charged to
call before him every person in his ward who was worth L40 and upwards.
The king's affairs were pressing, and this last payment must be
immediately forthcoming.(1244)
(M648)
A week later (19 June) letters from the king were read to the Court of
Aldermen touching the levying of more forces and firing of beacons--a
French squadron had appeared off the south coast. It was resolved to
adjourn consideration of the message until the following Monday, when the
lord chancellor and other lords of the council would again be coming into
the city for the subsidy, and their advice could be asked. The outcome of
these letters was that the City had to raise a force of 2,000 able men. To
do this an assessment of a fifteenth was ordered to be levied on the
wards, but in the meantime the money so to be raised was to be advanced by
the aldermen.(1245) Not only were the aldermen on this, as on other
occasions, mulcted in their pocket, but they were also called upon to
personally share with the lord mayor himself and the sheriffs in the extra
watch which in the "besye tyme of the warres" was ordered to be kept in
the city.(1246) In the meantime a man was despatched by the Court of
Aldermen to St. James' Fair to buy five wey of cheese for the city's
soldiers who were already at Guildford. The cheese was to be sent by water
as far as Kingston, whence it would be conveyed by "the good industrye and
help of Master Judde, alderman," to its destination. The bakers of
Stratford contracted to send two cart-loads of bread. It was further
agreed on the same day that Christopher Fowlke should forthwith go to
Guildford, and further if need be, "to guyde the seyd vytayle and to utter
the same to the souldyers by thassistence of the sworde berer and the
under chamberleyn. And to recyve money for the same."(1247) A flag and a
drum were likewise to be despatched forthwith. The citizen soldiers were
required to assist in driving out the French, who had effected a landing
in the Isle of Wight; but before they arrived the enemy had
disappeared.(1248)
(M649)
The French king now prepared to lay siege to Boulogne, and the citizens
were again called upon to furnish soldiers. One thousand men were
required, and this number was only raised by enlisting men who had failed
to pass previous musters. However, there was no time to pick and
choose.(1249)
(M650)
By this time Henry's resources were fast giving out. A parliament was
summoned to meet in November, and again resort was had to confiscation for
the purpose of supplying the king with money. An Act was passed which
placed 2,000 chantries and chapels and over 100 hospitals at Henry's
disposal.(1250)
(M651)
All parties were, however, tired of the war, and in the following June
(1546) a peace was concluded. Henry was allowed to retain Boulogne as
security for a debt, and the French admiral soon afterwards paid a visit
to the city, where he was heartily welcomed and hospitably
entertained.(1251)
(M652) (M653)
Freed from the embarrassment of foreign wars, Henry now had leisure to
turn his attention to home affairs, and more particularly to the
establishment of that uniformity which he so much desired, and which he
endeavoured to bring about by getting rid of all those who differed in
opinion from himself. Those who openly declared their disbelief in any one
of the "Six Articles," and more particularly in the first article, which
established the doctrine of the real presence, ran the risk of death by
the gallows, the block or the stake. A city rector, Dr. Crome, of the
church of St. Mary Aldermary, got into disgrace for speaking lightly of
the benefits to be derived from private masses, and, although his argument
tended to minimise the effect of the recent confiscation of so many
chantries, he was called upon to make a public recantation at Paul's
Cross.(1252)
(M654)
Others were not so compliant. Among these was Anne Ascue or Ascough, a
daughter of Sir William Ascough, of Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, and sometimes
known as Anne Kyme, from the name of her husband, with whom she had ceased
to live. In June, 1545, she and some others, among whom was another woman,
Joan, wife of John Sauterie, of London, had been arraigned at the
Guildhall "for speaking against the sacrament of the altar"; but, no
evidence being adduced against her, she was on that occasion acquitted and
discharged.(1253) Scarcely a year elapsed before she was again in custody.
On the 18th June, 1546, she was tried at the Guildhall and condemned to be
burned alive as a heretic at Smithfield, where the city chamberlain had
orders to erect a "substantial stage," whence the king's council and the
civic authorities might witness the scene.(1254)
(M655)
The insanitary condition of the city, occasioned for the most part by an
insufficient supply of water, was not improved by the influx of disbanded
and invalided soldiers, followed by a swarm of vagabonds and idlers, which
took place at the conclusion of peace with France. To the soldiers
licences were granted to solicit alms for longer or shorter periods,
whilst the vagabonds were ordered to quit the city.(1255) The water
question had been taken in hand by the Common Council towards the close of
the preceding year (1545), when Sir Martin Bowes entered upon his
mayoralty, and a tax of two fifteenths was imposed upon the inhabitants of
the city for the purpose of conveying fresh water from certain "lively
sprynges" recently discovered at Hackney.(1256) Bowes himself was very
energetic in the matter, and before he went out of office he had the
satisfaction of seeing a plentiful supply of water brought into the heart
of the city from the suburban manor of Finsbury.(1257)
(M656)
Henry's reign was now fast drawing to a close. In April, 1546, he had
bestowed an endowment of 500 marks a year on the city poor-houses on
condition the citizens themselves found a similar sum.(1258) In January,
1547--a few days only before he died--he showed still further care for the
city poor by vesting in the Corporation, not only St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, thenceforth to be known as the House of the Poor in West
Smithfield, but also the house and church of the dissolved monastery of
the Grey Friars and the house and hospital of Bethlehem.(1259)
(M657)
The Corporation lost no time in getting their newly acquired property into
working order. On the 6th May the late king's conveyance was read before
the Court of Aldermen, and thereupon a committee, of which Sir Martin
Bowes was a prominent member, was deputed to make an abstract of the
yearly revenues and charges of the house of the Grey Friars and hospital
of little Saint Bartholomew, and to report thereon to the court with as
much speed as possible.(1260) From a purely monetary point of view the
City had made a bad bargain, and had saddled itself with an annual
expenditure out of the Corporation revenues to an extent little thought of
at the time.(1261)
(M658)
On the 28th January, 1547, Henry died "at hys most pryncely howse at
Westminster, comenly called Yorkeplace or Whytehall"--the palace which
Cardinal Wolsey built for himself, and which Henry appropriated, extending
its grounds and preserves in cynical contempt of public convenience and
utter disregard of the chartered rights of the citizens of London.(1262)
There his corpse remained until the 14th February, when it was removed at
8 o'clock in the morning to Sion House, near Richmond, and thence conveyed
to Windsor on the following day.
(M659)
In the meantime the mayor, Henry Huberthorne, or Hoberthorne,(1263) had
been sent for (31 Jan.) to attend the king's council at Westminster, where
he received orders to return to the city and cause himself and his brother
aldermen to be arrayed in their scarlet robes, in order to accompany the
heralds whilst they proclaimed the new king in various parts of the city.
This being done, the mayor took steps for securing the peace of the city,
and the citizens voted Edward a benevolence of a fifteenth and a
half.(1264)
(M660)
Edward on his part presented the mayor and aldermen with 104 gowns of
black livery, according to the precedent followed at the decease of Henry
VII. These gowns were distributed among the mayor and aldermen, the high
officers and certain clerks in the service of the Corporation. Ten
aldermen accompanied the remains of the late king on their way to Windsor,
riding forth in black coats with the rest of the mourners, the harness and
bridles of their horses being covered with black cloth. Two of the
aldermen, Sir William Laxton and Sir Martin Bowes, had each four servants
in their suite, whilst the rest of the aldermen had three, all in black
coats.(1265)