Mention is made of a prison-house standing near the River Fleet as early
as the reign of Richard I.; and this was one of the oldest jails in
London, as its first wardens, whose names are on record, Nathaniel de
Leveland, and Robert his son, paid, in 1198, a fine of sixty marks for
its custody; affirming "that it had been their inheritance ever since
the Conquest, and praying that they might not be hindered therein by the
counter-fine of Osbert de Longchamp," to whom it had been granted by the
lion-hearted monarch.
The next warden of the Fleet, in the days of John, was Simon
Fitz-Robert, Archdeacon of Wells,--probably a near relative of Robert de
Leveland, as the wardship of the daughter of the said Robert, as well as
the custody of the jail, was also committed to him. The freehold of the
prison continued in the Leveland family for upwards of three centuries;
until, in the reign of Philip and Mary it was, sold to John Heath for
£2300--a large sum in those days, but not more than the value of the
property, which from the way it was managed produced a large revenue to
its possessor.
The joint wardens of the Fleet at the time of our history were Sir
Henry Lello and John Eldred; but their office was executed by deputy in
the person of Joachim Tunstall, by whom it was rented. As will naturally
be supposed, it was the object of every deputy-warden to make as much as
he could out of the unfortunate individuals committed to his charge; and
some idea of the infamous practices of those persons may be gathered,
from a petition presented to the Lords of the Council in 1586 by the
then prisoners of the Fleet. In this it is stated that the warden had
"let and set to farm the victualling and lodging of all the house and
prison of the Fleet to one John Harvey, and the other profits of the
said Fleet he had let to one Thomas Newport, the deputy there under the
warden; and these being very poor men, having neither land nor any trade
to live by, nor any certain wages of the said warden, and being also
greedy of gain, did live by bribing and extortion. That they did most
shamefully extort and exact from the prisoners, raising new customs,
fines, and payments, for their own advantage. That they cruelly used
them, shutting them up in close prisons when they found fault with their
wicked dealings; not suffering them to come and go as they ought to do;
with other abominable misdemeanours, which, without reformation, might
be the poor prisoners' utter undoing."
In consequence of this petition, a commission of inquiry into the
alleged abuses was appointed; but little good was effected by it, for
only seven years later further complaints were made against the warden,
charging him with "murders and other grave misdemeanours." Still no
redress was obtained; nor was it likely it would be, when the cries of
the victims of this abominable system of oppression were so easily
stifled. The most arbitrary measures were resorted to by the officers of
the prison, and carried out with perfect impunity. Their authority was
not to be disputed; and it has been shown how obedience was enforced.
Fines were inflicted and payment made compulsory, so that the wealthy
prisoner was soon reduced to beggary. Resistance to the will of the
jailers, and refusal to submit to their exactions, were severely
punished. Loaded with fetters, and almost deprived of food, the
miserable captive was locked up in a noisome subterranean dungeon; and,
if he continued obstinate, was left to rot there. When he expired, his
death was laid to the jail-fever. Rarely were these dark prison secrets
divulged, though frequently hinted at.
The moral condition of the prisoners was frightful. As the greater
portion of them consisted of vicious and disorderly characters, these
contaminated the whole mass, so that the place became a complete sink of
abomination. Drunkenness, smoking, dicing, card-playing, and every kind
of licence were permitted, or connived at; and the stronger prisoners
were allowed to plunder the weaker. Such was the state of things in the
Fleet Prison at the period of our history, when its misgovernment was
greater than it had ever previously been, and the condition of its
inmates incomparably worse.
During the rebellion of Wat Tyler, the greater part of the buildings
constituting the ancient prison were burnt down, and otherwise
destroyed; and, when rebuilt, the jail was strengthened and considerably
enlarged. Its walls were of stone, now grim and hoary with age; and on
the side next to the Fleet there was a large square structure,
resembling Traitor's Gate at the Tower, and forming the sole entrance to
the prison. To this gate state-offenders were brought by water after
committal by the Council of the Star-Chamber.
Nothing could be sterner or gloomier than the aspect of the prison on
this side--gray and frowning walls, with a few sombre buildings peeping
above them, and a black gateway, with a yawning arch, as if looking
ready to devour the unfortunate being who approached it. Passing through
a wicket, contrived in the ponderous door, a second gate was arrived at,
and this brought the captive to the porter's lodge, where he was
delivered up to the jailers, and assigned a room in one of the wards,
according to his means of paying for it. The best of these lodgings were
but indifferent; and the worst were abominable and noisome pits.
On entering the outer ward, a strange scene presented itself to the
view. Motley groups were scattered about--most of the persons composing
them being clad in threadbare doublets and tattered cloaks, and wearing
caps, from which the feathers and ornaments had long since disappeared;
but there were a few--probably new coiners--in somewhat better attire.
All these wore debtors. Recklessness and effrontery were displayed in
their countenances, and their discourse was full of ribaldry and
profanity. At one side of this ward there was a large kitchen, where
eating and drinking were constantly going forward at little tables, as
at a tavern or cookshop, and where commons were served out to the poorer
prisoners.
Near this was a large hall, which served as the refectory of the
prisoners for debt. It was furnished with side benches of oak, and had
two long tables of the same wood; but both benches and tables were in a
filthy state, and the floor was never cleansed. Indeed, every part of
the prison was foul enough to breed a pestilence; and the place was
seldom free from fever in consequence. The upper part of the refectory
was traversed by a long corridor, on either side of which were the
dormitories.
The arrangements of the inner ward were nearly similar, and differed
only from the outer, in so far that the accommodations were superior,
as they had need to be, considering the price asked for them; but even
here nothing like cleanliness could be found. In this ward was the
chapel. At a grated window in the gate stood the poor debtors rattling
their begging-boxes, and endeavouring by their cries to obtain alms from
the passers-by.
Below the warden's lodgings, which adjoined the gate, and which were now
occupied by the deputy, Joachim Tunstall, was a range of subterranean
dungeons, built below the level of the Fleet. Frequently flooded by the
river, these dungeons were exceedingly damp and unwholesome; and they
were reserved for such prisoners as had incurred the censure of the
inexorable Court of Star-Chamber. It was in one of the deepest and most
dismal of these cells that the unfortunate Sir Ferdinando Mounchensey
breathed his last.
Allusion has been previously made to the influence exercised within the
Fleet by Sir Giles Mompesson. Both the wardens were his friends, and
ever ready to serve him; their deputy was his creature, and subservient
to his will in all things; while the jailers and their assistants took
his orders, whatever they might be, as if from a master. Thus he was
enabled to tyrannize over the objects of his displeasure, who could
never be secure from his malice.
By the modes of torture he adopted through his agents, he could break
the most stubborn spirit, and subdue the strongest. It was matter of
savage satisfaction to him to witness the sufferings of his victims; and
he never ceased from persecution till he had obtained whatever he
desired. The barbarities carried out in pursuance of the atrocious
sentences of the Court of Star-Chamber were to him pleasant spectacles;
and the bleeding and mutilated wretches, whom his accusations had
conducted to the pillory, when brought back to their dungeons, could not
escape his hateful presence--worse to them, from his fiendish derision
of their agonies, than that of the executioner.