from thence through Tower street, East cheape, and Candlewecke street
to London Stone, the middle point of that highway, then through Budge
row, Watheling street, and leaving Paul’s church on the right hand,
to Ludgate in the west; the next be Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Criplegate,
Aldersgate, Ludgate, and the Bridgegate over the Thames. Since the which
time hath been builded Newgate,” etc.--_1st edition_, p. 25.
[41] “Was never re-edified againe of stone, but an homely cottage, with
a narrow passage made of timber, lath and loame, hath beene in place
thereof set up, and so remaineth.”--_1st edition_, p. 25.
[42] Liber Trinitat.
[43] Matthew Paris.
[44] Radul. Coggeshall.
[45] W. Donthorn.
[46] “Now called Bednal Green.”--_1st edition_, p. 26.
[47] Liber Trinitat.
[48] Liber Custom. London.
[49] Abbo Floriacens, Burchardus.
[50] Liber S. Bartilmew.
[51] In a book, called _Beware of the Cat_.--_Stow._
[52] “About the raigne of Henry II. or Richard I.”--_1st edition_, p. 30.
[53] Close roll.
[54] Roger Wendover, Matthew Paris.
[55] “By unadvised folkes”--_1st edition._
[56] Record, Guildhall.
[57] Liber Horne. Liber S. Alban.
[58] Liber Trinitat. Liber S. Alban. Record, E. 3.
[59] “Weakly made.”--_1st edition_, p. 36.
[60] W. Duntherne.
[61] “The largest water-gate on the river of Thames, and therefore most
frequented.”--_1st edition_, p. 36.
[62] “Which is now of late most beautifully enlarged and built.”--_1st
edition_, p. 37.
[63] Matthew Paris.
OF TOWERS AND CASTLES
“The city of London (saith Fitzstephen) hath in the east a very great
and a most strong palatine Tower, whose turrets and walls do rise from
a deep foundation, the mortar thereof being tempered with the blood of
beasts. In the west part are two most strong castles, etc.” To begin
therefore with the most famous Tower of London, situate in the east,
near unto the river of Thames: it hath been the common opinion, and
some have written (but of none assured ground), that Julius Cæsar, the
first conqueror of the Britons, was the original author and founder, as
well thereof as also of many other towers, castles, and great buildings
within this realm; but (as I have already before noted) Cæsar remained
not here so long, nor had he in his head any such matter, but only to
dispatch a conquest of this barbarous country, and to proceed to greater
matters. Neither do the Roman writers make mention of any such buildings
created by him here; and therefore leaving this, and proceeding to
more grounded authority, I find in a fair register-book, containing
the acts of the Bishops of Rochester, set down by Edmond de Hadenham,
that William I., surnamed Conqueror, built the Tower of London; to wit,
the great white and square tower there, about the year of Christ 1078,
appointing Gundulph, then Bishop of Rochester, to be principal surveyor
and overseer of that work, who was for that time lodged in the house of
Edmere, a burgess of London; the very words of which mine author are
these: “_Gundulphus Episcopus mandato Willielmi Regis magni præfuit
operi magnæ Turris London. quo tempore hospitatus est apud quendam
Edmerum Burgensem London. qui dedit unum_ were _Ecclesiæ Rofen._”
Ye have before heard that the wall of this city was all round about
furnished with towers and bulwarks, in due distance every one from
other; and also that the river Thames, with his ebbing and flowing, on
the south side, had subverted the said wall and towers there. Wherefore
King William, for defence of this city, in place most dangerous, and
open to the enemy, having taken down the second bulwark in the east
part of the wall from the Thames, built this tower, which was the great
square tower, now called the White Tower, and hath been since at divers
times enlarged with other buildings adjoining, as shall be shown. This
tower was by tempest of wind[64] sore shaken in the year 1090, the 4th
of William Rufus, and was again by the said Rufus and Henry I. repaired.
They also caused a castle to be built under the said tower, namely, on
the south side towards the Thames, and also incastellated the same round
about.
Henry Huntingdon, libro sexto, hath these words: “William Rufus
challenged the investure of prelates; he pilled and shaved the people
with tribute, especially to spend about the Tower of London, and the
great hall at Westminster.”
Othowerus, Acolinillus, Otto, and Geffrey Magnaville, Earl of Essex,
were four the first constables of this Tower of London, by succession;
all which held by force a portion of land (that pertained to the priory
of the Holy Trinitie within Aldgate); that is to say, East Smithfield,
near unto the Tower, making thereof a vineyard,[65] and would not depart
from it till the 2nd year of King Stephen, when the same was abridged
and restored to the church. This said Geffrey Magnaville was Earl of
Essex, constable of the Tower, sheriff of London, Middlesex, Essex, and
Hertfordshire, as appeareth by a charter of Maud the empress, dated
1141. He also fortified the Tower of London against King Stephen; but
the king took him in his court at St. Albones, and would not deliver him
till he had rendered the Tower of London, with the castles of Walden and
Plashey in Essex. In the year 1153 the Tower of London and the castle
of Windsor were by the king delivered to Richard de Lucie, to be safely
kept. In the year 1155, Thomas Becket being chancellor to Henry II.,
caused the Flemings to be banished out of England,[66] their castles
lately built to be pulled down, and the Tower of London to be repaired.
About the year 1190, the 2nd of Richard I., William Longshampe, Bishop
of Elie, Chancellor of England, for cause of dissension betwixt him and
Earl John, the king’s brother that was rebel, inclosed the tower and
castle of London, with an outward wall of stone embattled, and also
caused a deep ditch to be cast about the same, thinking (as I have
said before) to have environed it with the river of Thames. By the
making of this inclosure and ditch in East Smithfield, the church of
the Holy Trinitie in London lost half a mark rent by the year, and the
mill was removed that belonged to the poor brethren of the hospital of
St. Katherine,[67] and to the church of the Holy Trinitie aforesaid,
which was no small loss and discommodity to either part; and the garden
which the king had hired of the brethren for six marks the year, for
the most part was wasted and marred by the ditch. Recompense was often
promised, but never performed, until King Edward coming after, gave to
the brethren five marks and a half for that part which the ditch had
devoured, and the other part thereof without he yielded to them again,
which they hold: and of the said rent of five marks and a half, they
have a deed, by virtue whereof they are well paid to this day.
It is also to be noted, and cannot be denied, but that the said
inclosure and ditch took the like or greater quantity of ground from the
city within the wall; namely, one of that part called the Tower Hill,
besides breaking down of the city wall, from the White Tower to the
first gate of the city, called the Postern; yet have I not read of any
quarrel made by the citizens, or recompense demanded by them for that
matter, because all was done for good of the city’s defence thereof,
and to their good likings. But Matthew Paris writeth, that in the year
1239, King Henry III. fortified the Tower of London to another end;
wherefore the citizens, fearing lest that were done to their detriment,
complained, and the king answered, that he had not done it to their
hurt, but (saith he) I will from henceforth do as my brother doth, in
building and fortifying castles, who beareth the name to be wiser than
I am. It followed in the next year, saith mine author, the said noble
buildings of the stone gate and bulwark, which the king had caused to
be made by the Tower of London, on the west side thereof, were shaken
as it had been with an earthquake, and fell down, which the king again
commanded to be built in better sort than before, which was done; and
yet again, in the year 1247, the said wall and bulwarks that were newly
built, wherein the king had bestowed more than twelve thousand marks,
were irrecoverably thrown down, as afore; for the which chance the
citizens of London were nothing sorry, for they were threatened that
the said wall and bulwarks were built, to the end that if any of them
would contend for the liberties of the city, they might be imprisoned;
and that many might be laid in divers prisons, many lodgings were made
that no one should speak with another: thus much Matthew Paris for
this building. More of Henry III., his dealings against the citizens
of London, we may read in the said author, in 1245, 1248, 1249, 1253,
1255, 1256, etc. But, concerning the said wall and bulwark, the same
was finished, though not in his time; for I read that Edward I., in
the second of his reign, commanded the treasurer and chamberlain of
the Exchequer to deliver out of his treasury unto Miles of Andwarp two
hundred marks, of the fines taken out of divers merchants or usurers
of London, for so be the words of the record, towards the work of the
ditch then new made, about the said bulwark, now called the Lion Tower.
I find also recorded, that Henry III., in the 46th of his reign, wrote
to Edward of Westminster, commanding him that he should buy certain
perie plants, and set the same in the place without his Tower of London,
within the wall of the said city, which of late he had caused to be
inclosed with a mud wall, as may appear by this that followeth: the
mayor and commonalty of London were fined for throwing down the said
earthen wall against the Tower of London, the 9th of Edward II. Edward
IV. in place thereof built a wall of brick. But now for the Lion Tower
and lions in England, the original, as I have read, was thus.
Henry I. built his manor of Wodstock, with a park, which he walled about
with stone, seven miles in compass, destroying for the same divers
villages, churches, and chapels; and this was the first park in England.
He placed therein, besides great store of deer, divers strange beasts to
be kept and nourished, such as were brought to him from far countries,
as lions, leopards, linces, porpentines,[68] and such other. More I
read, that in the year 1235, Frederick the emperor sent to Henry III.
three leopards, in token of his regal shield of arms, wherein three
leopards were pictured; since the which time those lions and others have
been kept in a part of this bulwark, now called the Lion Tower, and
their keepers there lodged. King Edward II., in the 12th of his reign,
commanded the sheriffs of London to pay to the keepers of the king’s
leopard in the Tower of London sixpence the day for the sustenance of
the leopard, and three-halfpence a day for diet for the said keeper, out
of the fee farm of the said city. More, in the 16th of Edward III., one
lion, one lioness, one leopard, and two cat lions, in the said Tower,
were committed to the custody of Robert, the son of John Bowre.
Edward IV. fortified the Tower of London, and inclosed with brick, as
is aforesaid, a certain piece of ground, taken out of the Tower Hill,
west from the Lion Tower, now called the bulwark. His officers also, in
the 5th of his reign, set upon the said hill both scaffold and gallows,
for the execution of offenders; whereupon the mayor and his brethren
complained to the king, and were answered that the same was not done in
derogation of the city’s liberties, and thereof caused proclamation to
be made, etc., as shall be shown in Tower street.
Richard III., repaired and built in this tower somewhat. Henry VIII.,
in 1532, repaired the White Tower, and other parts thereof. In the year
1548, the 2nd of Edward VI., on the 22nd of November, in the night, a
Frenchman lodged in the round bulwark, betwixt the west gate and the
postern, or drawbridge, called the warders’ gate, by setting fire on a
barrel of gunpowder, blew up the said bulwark, burnt himself, and no
more persons. This bulwark, was forthwith again new built.
And here, because I have by occasion spoken of the west gate of this
tower the same, as the most principal, is used for the receipt and
delivery of all kinds of carriages, without the which gate divers
bulwarks and gates, towards the north, etc. Then near within this west
gate, opening to the south, is a strong postern for passengers by the
ward-house, over a drawbridge let down for that purpose. Next on the
same south side, toward the east, is a large water-gate, for receipt
of boats and small vessels, partly under a stone bridge from the river
of Thames. Beyond it is a small postern, with a drawbridge, seldom let
down but for the receipt of some great persons, prisoners. Then towards
the east is a great and strong gate, commonly called the Iron gate, but
not usually opened. And thus much for the foundation, building, and
repairing of this tower, with the gates and posterns, may suffice. And
now somewhat of accidents in the same shall be shown.
In the year 1196, William Fitzosbert, a citizen of London, seditiously
moving the common people to seek liberty, and not to be subject to
the rich and more mighty, at length was taken and brought before the
Archbishop of Canterbury in the Tower, where he was by the judges
condemned, and by the heels drawn thence to the Elms in Smithfield, and
there hanged.
In 1214, King John[69] wrote to Geffrey Magnaville to deliver the Tower
of London, with the prisoners, armour, and all other things found
therein belonging to the king, to William, archdeacon of Huntingdon. In
the year 1216, the 1st of Henry III., the said Tower was delivered to
Lewis of France and the barons of England.[70]
In the year 1206 pleas of the crown were pleaded in the Tower; likewise
in the year 1220, and likewise in the year 1224, and again in the year
1243, before William of Yorke, Richard Passelew, Henry Brahe, Jerome of
Saxton, justices.
In the year 1222, the citizens of London having made a tumult against
the abbot of Westminster, Hubert of Burge, chief justice of England,
came to the Tower of London, called before him the mayor and aldermen,
of whom he inquired for the principal authors of that sedition; amongst
whom one, named Constantine Fitz Aelulfe, avowed that he was the man,
and had done much less than he ought to have done: whereupon the justice
sent him with two other to Falks de Brent, who with armed men brought
them to the gallows, where they were hanged.
In the year 1244, Griffith, the eldest son of Leoline, Prince of Wales,
being kept prisoner in the Tower, devised means of escape, and having
in the night made of the hangings, sheets, etc., a long line, he put
himself down from the top of the Tower, but in the sliding, the weight
of his body, being a very big and a fat man, brake the rope, and he fell
and brake his neck withall.
In the year 1253, King Henry III. imprisoned the sheriffs of London
in the Tower more than a month, for the escape of a prisoner out of
Newgate, as you may read in the chapter of Gates.
In the year 1260, King Henry, with his queen (for fear of the barons),
were lodged in the Tower. The next year he sent for his lords, and held
his parliament there.
In the year 1263, when the queen would have removed from the Tower by
water towards Windsor, sundry Londoners got them together to the bridge,
under the which she was to pass, and not only cried out upon her with
reproachful words, but also threw mire and stones at her, by which she
was constrained to return for the time; but in the year 1265, the said
citizens were fain to submit themselves to the king for it, and the
mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs were sent to divers prisons, and a custos
also was set over the city; to wit, Othon, constable of the Tower, etc.
In the year 1282, Leoline, prince of Wales, being taken at Bewlth
castle, Roger Lestrange cut off his head, which Sir Roger Mortimer
caused to be crowned with ivy, and set it upon the Tower of London.
In the year 1290, divers justices, as well of the bench as of the
assizes, were sent prisoners to the Tower, which with great sums of
money redeemed their liberty. Edward II., the 14th of his reign,
appointed for prisoners in the Tower, a knight twopence the day, an
esquire one penny the day, to serve for their diet.
In the year 1320, the king’s justices sat in the Tower, for trial of
matters; whereupon John Gifors, late mayor of London, and many others,
fled the city, for fear to be charged of things they had presumptuously
done.
In the year 1321, the Mortimers yielding themselves to the king, he sent
them prisoners to the Tower, where they remained long, and were adjudged
to be drawn and hanged. But at length Roger Mortimer, of Wigmore, by
giving to his keepers a sleepy drink, escaped out of the Tower, and his
uncle Roger, being still kept there, died about five years after.
In the year 1326, the citizens of London won the Tower, wresting the
keys out of the constable’s hands, delivered all the prisoners, and kept
both city and Tower to the use of Isabel the queen, and Edward her son.
In the year 1330, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, was taken and brought
to the Tower, from whence he was brought to the Elms, and there hanged.
In the year 1344, King Edward III., in the 18th of his reign, commanded
florences of gold to be made and coined in the Tower; that is to say,
a penny piece of the value of five shillings and eight pence, the
halfpenny piece of the value of three shillings and four pence, and a
farthing piece worth twenty pence; Percevall de Port of Lake being then
master of the coin. And this is the first coining of gold in the Tower,
whereof I have read, and also the first coinage of gold in England.
I find also recorded, that the said king in the same year ordained
his exchange of money to be kept in Serne’s Tower, a part of the
king’s house in Bucklesbury. And here to digress a little (by occasion
offered), I find that, in times before passed, all great sums were paid
by weight of gold or silver, as so many pounds or marks of silver, or
so many pounds or marks of gold, cut into blanks, and not stamped, as I
could prove by many good authorities which I overpass. The smaller sums
also were paid in starlings, which were pence so called, for other coins
they had none. The antiquity of this starling penny usual in this realm
is from the reign of Henry II., notwithstanding the Saxon coins before
the Conquest were pence of fine silver the full weight, and somewhat
better than the latter starlings, as I have tried by conference of the
pence of Burghrede, king of Mercia, Aelfred, Edward, and Edelred, kings
of the West Saxons, Plegmond, Archbishop of Canterbury, and others.
William the Conqueror’s penny also was fine silver of the weight of
the easterling, and had on the one side stamped an armed head, with a
beardless face,--for the Normans wore no beards,--with a sceptre in his
hand. The inscription in the circumference was this: “Le Rei Wilam;”[71]
on the other side, a cross double to the ring, between four rowals of
six points.
King Henry I. his penny was of the like weight, fineness, form of face,
cross, etc.
This Henry, in the 8th year of his reign, ordained the penny, which was
round, so to be quartered by the cross, that they might easily be broken
into halfpence and farthings.[72] In the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th of
King Richard I. his reign, and afterwards, I find commonly easterling
money mentioned, and yet ofttimes the same is called argent, as afore,
and not otherwise.
The first great sum that I read of to be paid in easterlings was in the
reign of Richard I., when Robert, Earl of Leicester, being prisoner
in France, proffered for his ransom a thousand marks easterlings,
notwithstanding the easterling pence were long before. The weight of the
easterling penny may appear by divers statutes, namely, of weights and
measures, made in the 51st of Henry III. in these words: “Thirty-two
graines of wheat, drie and round, taken in the middest of the eare,
shoulde be the weight of a starling penie, 20 of those pence should
waye one ounce, 12 ounces a pound Troy.” It followeth in the statute
eight pound to make a gallon of wine, and eight gallons a bushel of
London measure, etc. Notwithstanding which statute, I find, in the 8th
of Edward I., Gregorie Rokesley, mayor of London, being chief master
or minister of the Kinge’s Exchange, or mintes, a new coin being then
appointed, the pound of easterling money should contain as afore twelve
ounces; to wit, fine silver, such as was then made into foil, and
was commonly called silver of Guthurons lane,[73] eleven ounces, two
easterlings, and one ferling or farthing, and the other seventeen pence
ob. q.[74] to be alloy. Also, the pound of money ought to weigh twenty
shillings and three pence by account; so that no pound ought to be
over twenty shillings and three pence, nor less than twenty shillings
and two pence by account; the ounce to weigh twenty pence, the penny
weight twenty-four grains (which twenty-four by weight then appointed
were as much as the former thirty-two grains of wheat), a penny force
twenty-five grains and a half, the penny deble or feeble twenty-two
grains and a half, etc.[75]
Now for the penny easterling, how it took that name I think good briefly
to touch. It hath been said, that Numa Pompilius, the second king of the
Romans, commanded money first to be made, of whose name they were called
_nummi_; and when copper pence, silver pence, and gold pence, were made,
because every silver penny was worth ten copper pence, and every gold
penny worth ten silver pence, the pence therefore were called in Latin,
denarii, and oftentimes the pence are named of the matter and stuff of
gold or silver. But the money of England was called of the workers and
makers thereof; as the florin of gold is called of the Florentines, that
were the workers thereof, and so the easterling pence took their name of
the Easterlings which did first make this money in England, in the reign
of Henry II.
Thus have I set down according to my reading in antiquity of money
matters, omitting the imaginations of late writers, of whom some have
said easterling money to take that name of a star, stamped in the border
or ring of the penny; other some of a bird called a star or starling
stamped in the circumference; and other (more unlikely) of being coined
at Strivelin or Starling, a town in Scotland, etc.
Now concerning halfpence and farthings, the account of which is more
subtle than the pence, I need not speak of them more than that they were
only made in the Exchange at London, and nowhere else: first appointed
to be made by Edward I. in the 8th of his reign; and also at the same
time the said king coined some few groats of silver, but they were not
usual. The king’s Exchange as London was near unto the cathedral church
of St. Paul, and is to this day commonly called the Old Change, but in
evidences the Old Exchange.
The king’s exchanger in this place was to deliver out to every other
exchanger throughout England, or other the king’s dominions, their
coining irons, that is to say, one standard or staple, and two trussels
or puncheons; and when the same was spent and worn, to receive them
with an account what sum had been coined, and also their pix or bore
of assay, and deliver other irons new graven, etc. I find that in the
9th of King John, there was besides the mint at London, other mints
at Winchester, Excester, Chichester, Canterburie, Rochester, Ipswich,
Norwich, Linne, Lincolne, York, Carleil, Northampton, Oxford, St.
Edmondsbury, and Durham. The exchanger, examiner, and trier, buyeth the
silver for coinage, answering for every hundred pounds of silver bought
in bullion or otherwise, ninety-eight pounds fifteen shillings, for he
taketh twenty-five shillings for coinage.
King Edward I., in the 27th of his reign, held a parliament at
Stebenheth, in the house of Henry Waleis, mayor of London, wherein
amongst other things there handled, the transporting of sterling money
was forbidden.