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, one of the noblest in London, possessed a spire, or _flèche_,
which, like that of the Sainte Chapelle of Paris, was the pride and
admiration of the whole city. Like all the churches of the Friaries,
it was for many years esteemed a specially holy place for burial.
Among those whose dust lies in this spot are Edmund, first son of Joan
the Fair, mother of Richard the Second; Humphrey Bohun, the founder;
Richard, Earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Warren; Sir Francis Courtenay;
the Earl of Pembroke; John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, beheaded 1463;
Edward, Duke of Buckingham, beheaded 1521; many of the Barons slain at
Barnet Field; and a long list of noble knights and dames besides. The
Austin Friars came over here in the year 1251; they found a welcome
not only in London, but elsewhere; they had, for instance, houses at
Oxford and many other places. The Augustines turned out many scholars;
among them the principal opponent of Wyclyf. The Order, in fact, unlike
that of St. Francis, was one which professed to cultivate learning.
The monastic dress of an Austin Friar was a long black gown with broad
sleeves and a fine cloth hood; a white habit and scapulary, with a
black leathern belt buckled with ivory.
This was never a rich House, but it always retained a certain steady
reputation, not only as a centre of learning and letters, but also
for a more scrupulous enforcement of discipline than was found among
several other branches.
Austin Friars was essentially a London House. Yet it was never so
popular as many other Houses. It appears by an examination of the
London Wills that the Austin Friars were not so much regarded by the
citizens as, for instance, the Grey Friars; or even as some of the
smaller Houses such as Elsyng Spital. It was customary with wealthy
and pious persons to leave money to all the orders of Friars in the
City, and even to every Friar individually. The Augustine Brotherhood
are not, it is true, omitted in these pious gifts, but there are few
bequests of any value; a tenement is named, here and there, certain
houses to be sold and divided between the Augustine Friars and others;
there is occasionally a gift of wax or some such small matter. One Will
in connection with this House is noticeable. It is that of William
Calley, Draper, dated 1515. He leaves to the Honourable Company of
Drapers, and to their successors, certain tenements in the Parish of
St. Margaret, Lothbury, so that the said Company shall keep an obit
within the “Frere Augustynes” of London for the benefit of his soul,
for the soul of Mawde his wife, and others named; the bequest being
also charged with certain charitable gifts. The Company and Wardens
of the Craft are to attend the said obit, and afterwards to take such
refection and repast as the said Freres “ordyn and prepaire.” And, by
a codicil, William Calley wishes to be buried in the church of the
Augustines, a privilege for which substantial fees were exacted by the
brethren.
[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF AUSTIN FRIARS
_Drawn and Engraved by John Coney._]
The references to this House are not voluminous, nor are they of
very great importance. A paper on the Church by Mr. G. H. Birch has
been published in the _St. Paul’s Eccles. Soc._, vol. i. Its piers,
he points out, are Perpendicular, its windows Late Decorated, the
arcades built probably in the latter part of the fifteenth century,
and the nave wider than that of any English cathedral except, perhaps,
Chichester. The roof, before the fire of 1862, was a waggon roof with
the beams belonging to the same date as the arcades.
It may be noted that in the construction of their own church the Friars
had to destroy the ancient parish church of St. Olave, Broad Street,
but they built on a site adjoining the church of St. Peter-le-Poor a
parish church in its place.
The House had four seals, one of the thirteenth century, two of the
fourteenth, and one of the fifteenth. The seal of the Prior-General of
the Order contains a figure of St. Catherine, crowned and holding a
wheel.
In the year 1895 the demolition of certain houses on the north of
the church brought to light what appeared to be the remains of the
Cloister, together with bosses, on one of which was represented,
apparently, a female figure carrying a wheel. A paper on this discovery
was communicated by Mr. Allen Walker to _The Builder_ (Feb. 29, Ap. 4,
1896). (See also _Midd. and Herts. N. and Q._, ii. pp. 86, 136.)
A good many references to this House belong to the period immediately
following the Dissolution. There is the petition of St. Peter-le-Poor
against the destruction of the _flèche_. (_L. and Midd._, i., ii., 17.)
On the surrender of Austin Friars its revenues were valued at £57: 0:
4. The brethren, of whom there were no more than thirteen, subscribed
to the acknowledgment of the Royal Supremacy in 1534. They were finally
dispersed on the 12th of November 1549. Although the revenues of the
House were then esteemed at so small a sum, we must remember that the
Friars did not profess to hold property; they were supposed to live
on the alms of the people. George Brown, one of those who signed the
Acknowledgment, was made Archbishop of Dublin; the rest received small
pensions. The site was granted in portions to Sir Thomas Wriothesley;
to Sir W. Paulett, afterwards Marquis of Winchester; and to Sir Richard
Rich. On the site of the House and the Cloister, Winchester House was
built; the splendid monuments of the church were broken up, and the
materials sold and carried away in cartloads for the sum of £100 in
all. The lovely spire was taken down in spite of the vehement protests
of the Mayor; the chancel and the transepts were destroyed, and only
the nave was left, and, in part, stands to this day. Some thirty years
ago this fragment was greatly injured by fire, but was restored after a
fashion, and at the present day, with its scanty congregation of Dutch,
by which congregation it has been used ever since the suppression, it
allows the visitor to understand of how large and spacious a church it
formed a portion.
In Wyngaerde’s map, and in Agas’s map (see end of _London in the Time
of the Tudors_), there is a rude sketch of this House as it stood
before the suppression, or immediately afterwards. In both there is a
manifest indication for the position of the cloisters. They stood on
the north of the church, the transept and the north wall of the nave
serving for two sides. The transept has long since gone—and on the site
stand modern houses. In the wall of one of these was found some years
ago a stone arch. This was noted by some antiquary, but nothing more
was done. In February 1896, however, during the demolition of this
House, the arch was found again, and before it was taken down its place
was marked and it was photographed, together with certain carved stones
lying in the ground. There is very little doubt from its position that
this arch was an entrance, perhaps from the Prior’s House, to the
eastern cloister.