Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his delightful _Handbook of London_, says that
when the New Temple "passed to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, the
Inner and Middle Temple were leased to the Students of the Common Law; and
the OUTER TEMPLE to Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter:" and in describing
Essex House, by which name it {326} was afterwards known, he repeats the
same statement; as if the Outer Temple was part of the original property of
the Knights Templars.
I should be very glad to know what authority he has for this; because I
have very great doubt whether the "Outer Temple" ever belonged to the
Knights Templars or to the Knights of St. John, or was in any manner
comprehended within the property. The New Temple, as the whole property was
called, belonged to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, at the time of his
death, in June, 1323. The Council of Vienna, in 1324, bestowed all the
lands of the Knights Templars on the Knights of St. John. Since my letter
to you on the general subject of the Temple, and L. B. L.'s obliging answer
(Vol. ii., pp. 103. 123.), I have been kindly furnished by Mr. Joseph
Burtt, of the Chapter House, with a deed, dated June 28, 1324, by which the
Knights of St. John granted the _whole_ of the New Temple, "totum
messuagium nostrum vocatum Novum Templum," to Hugh le Despencer the
younger; describing it to be lying _between the house_ (hospicium) _of the
Bishop of Exeter_ towards the west, and the house of Hugo de Courteneye
towards the east. This shows manifestly that if the Bishop of Exeter's
house ever belonged to the Temple, it did not at that time; and I am not
aware of any earlier evidence proving that the Templars ever possessed it.
I believe, though I have not seen the record, that, in the grant to Sir
William Paget, temp. Henry VI., it is described as the "Outer Temple;" but
I am inclined to think, from various circumstantial testimonies, that it
was merely so called because it was situate on the _outside_ of the Temple.
If any of your correspondents could illustrate this question, or that more
curious one,--when the new Temple was first divided between Inner and
Middle,--I should feel infinitely obliged.