palace, and passed through several changes of ownership. After the
suppression of the monastery the buildings were used as a storehouse for
the King's hales (that is, nets) and tents. John Brydges, yeoman, and
Thomas Hales were placed in charge of the King's property. This
arrangement, however, was of short duration, for in 1545 the King
presented the site to Sir Edward North, Brydges and Hales receiving L10
per annum by way of compensation. According to Bearcroft[67] the gift
was likely to have cost North dear. The historian tells the story on the
authority of one of North's attendants:
"Once, early in the morning, there came from the King to
Charterhouse, then the mansion of Sir Edward North, a
messenger, known to be a friend of his, to command his
immediate repair to the court, which message was delivered with
some harshness. This was so terrible in the suddenness and
other circumstances, as he observed his master to tremble at
the delivery of it, who yet, finding it dangerous to use the
least delay hasted thither, and was admitted speedily into the
King's presence with this his servant attendant on him. The
King was then walking, and continued doing so with great
earnestness, and every now and then cast an angry look upon
him, which was received with a still and sober carriage: at
last the King broke out into these words: 'We are informed that
you have cheated us of certain lands in Middlesex'; whereunto,
having received none other than a plain and humble negation,
after some little time he replied, 'How was it then? Did we
give these lands to you?' Whereunto Sir Edward answered, 'Yes,
Sire, your majesty was pleased to do so.' Whereupon, having
paused a little while, the King put on a milder countenance,
and calling him to a cupboard conferred privately with him a
long time. Whereby, said this servant, I saw the King could not
spare my master's service as yet."
The angry monarch was appeased, and North retained the lands. North lost
influence with the Protector and declared subsequently for the Princess
Mary, who, on her accession to the throne, created him Lord North.
Elizabeth, two days after her accession, rode from Hatfield and stayed
at the Charterhouse with this Lord North "many days," and again in 1561
stayed there for four days, as is recorded in Burleigh's diary:
"The Queen supped at my house in Strand (the Savoy) before it
was finished, and she came by the fields from Christ Church.
Great cheer was made until midnight, when she rode back to the
Charterhouse, where she lay that night."
In 1564 North died, leaving Charterhouse to his son, Roger, Lord North.
He, some months later, sold the main part of the buildings to the Duke
of Norfolk for L2,500, but retained the house which his father had built
about twenty years before, together with some two or three acres of
adjoining land. This was situated on the east side of the convent church
and on the east side of the great cloister.
The property has passed through various hands since that day. It
belonged to the Earls of Rutland during part of the seventeenth century,
and a reminiscence of their ownership remains in the name of the small
street called Rutland Place, issuing from the north-east corner of
Charterhouse Square. It was in this house that Sir William Davenant, in
the year 1656, was permitted to exhibit stage plays at a time when all
theatres were closed by the government. The land is now in the hands of
various owners--Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors' School, and others.
[Illustration: OLD PORCH, CHARTERHOUSE.
_From a drawing by J. P. Neale (1813), engraved by Owen._]
In providing himself with a residence on the property which he had
purchased, the Duke of Norfolk adopted a plan very different from that
of his predecessor. Instead of building for himself a new residence, he
adopted a common practice and determined to adapt to his own uses part
of the buildings which the Carthusians had left behind them. The part he
chose for this purpose was the little cloister, which had been built
probably about fifty years before, and was very easily converted into a
sufficiently stately mansion in accordance with the fashion of the day.
Fortunately, he was able to do this with a minimum of destruction of
the old work. The little cloister was, in fact, a house built round a
quadrangle. In adapting it to his own use the Duke did not interfere
with the outer walls or floors, which are very substantially built, but
merely rearranged the rooms inside. This was the more easy because the
inside rooms were probably divided from one another by wooden
partitions. The result is most interesting to the antiquary, for he
finds at Charterhouse not only an excellent specimen of monastic
building in the early sixteenth century, but also a very pure example of
the London house of a great nobleman of the same date. The Duke left
intact a smaller quadrangle opening out of the little cloister, which
had been built also in the sixteenth century for the use of the lay
brothers. He also beautified the large room which had been used for a
Guesten Hall, and perhaps raised the roof. He certainly built two
handsome rooms to the north of the Guesten Hall, on the first floor,
over what had been the prior's cell and a small part of the cloister
walk. To form an approach to these upper rooms he built a handsome
interior staircase, which may be seen in perfect condition at the
present day. A tradition exists that in order to give himself a little
more room he pulled down the east side of the little cloister, and
re-erected it in the same style, fourteen feet in the eastern direction.
These works were executed during the years 1565 to 1571, during part of
which time the Duke made the Charterhouse his residence.
In the year 1569 Norfolk was committed to the Tower for contemplating
marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of being implicated in a plot
against the throne and life of Elizabeth. He was released after some
months' imprisonment upon pledging himself to abandon all thoughts of
the contemplated union. This promise, however, he did not keep. A cypher
correspondence was discovered under the tiles of the roof of the house,
and other papers were found concealed under the mat outside his bed
chamber. For this he was arraigned on a charge of high treason, and
executed in 1571.
As the Duke was executed for high treason his land escheated to the
Crown. The Charterhouse, however, continued in the possession of his
sons. It was first held by the Earl of Arundel, and on his death it
passed to Lord Thomas Howard, his younger brother, when it became known
as Howard House. Whether this arose from the favour with which Elizabeth
was always disposed to treat her great nobility, or whether it was that
the Duke had granted leases to his sons, which leases protected the
property from "escheat," is not very clear. Certainly, however, the
Howards held the property until the younger son sold it for L13,000 to
Mr. Thomas Sutton in 1611, for the purpose of founding his "Hospital."
III.--THE HOSPITAL, 1611-1908
Of the early life and ancestry of Thomas Sutton little is recorded. He
was born in 1532, the son of Richard Sutton, a native of Knaith, in
Lincolnshire. His father died in 1558. Thomas Sutton went to Eton, but
there seems little reason to believe, as Bearcroft endeavours to prove,
that he proceeded to Cambridge. It is certain that he entered as a
student at Lincoln's Inn, but did not complete his studies. Shortly
afterwards he went abroad and travelled extensively, visiting Holland,
France, Italy, and Spain. He had inherited a modest competence from his
father.
On returning home Sutton entered the service of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk,
and later engaged himself in the capacity of secretary to the Earl of
Warwick. The Earl was Master of the Ordnance, and made Sutton assistant
to himself in this capacity for the district of Berwick-on-Tweed. Sutton
was active during the Popish reaction then taking place in the north.
He showed loyalty, valour, and wisdom, and was for this rewarded by
being made Master General of the Ordnance in the north in 1569. Two
cannons carved over the mantelpiece in the great hall still commemorate
Sutton's work in this capacity. When the country became quiet Sutton
embarked upon mercantile pursuits. He leased lands from the Bishop of
Durham and from the Crown, on which were rich and undeveloped coal
mines. In this way he laid the foundation of his subsequent fortune; so
that when he moved to London, in 1580, he was reputed worth L50,000, and
his purse, it was said, was fuller than Elizabeth's exchequer. In 1582
Sutton married Elizabeth, widow of John Dudley, of Stoke Newington. He
continued to amass wealth as his mercantile operations extended, and he
carried on a large trade with the Continent, where at one time he had as
many as thirty agents. He is reported to have fitted out a privateer at
his own charges to meet the navy of Philip, King of Spain. In 1594
Sutton resigned his post as Master General of the Ordnance, and there is
evidence to show that the question of a proper disposal of his wealth
began to occupy his mind. In 1602 Mrs. Sutton died, and the loss of his
wife no doubt tended to turn his thoughts in the same direction.
Fuller[68] says:--
"This I can confidently report from the mouth of a creditable
witness, who heard it himself and told it to me, that Mr.
Sutton used often to repair into a private garden, where he
poured forth his prayers to God, and amongst other passages was
frequently overheard to use this expression, 'Lord, Thou hast
given me a large and liberal estate, give me also a heart to
make use thereof.'"
He was at all times charitable and generous with his money, and many
begging letters are extant from those who desired to profit by his
liberality. There were others with wider ambitions, and amongst these
Sir John Harrington appears to have conceived the idea of inducing
Sutton to leave his large fortune to Charles, Duke of York, the King's
second son, afterwards Charles I. No doubt he thought that this scheme,
if successful, would further his interests at court.
Harrington hinted to the King that Sutton was contemplating this
disposal of his property, and suggested that a barony should be
conferred upon him. Sutton, however, had no ambitions in this direction,
and when he heard of the matter wrote to the Lord Chancellor and the
Earl of Salisbury declining the honour. He says: "My mynde in my younger
times hath been ever free from ambition and now I am going to my grave,
to gape for such a thing were mere dotage in me." Further, he prayed for
"free liberty to dispose of myne owne as other of his Majesty's loyal
subjects."
Sutton had already formed the intention of founding a hospital at
Hallingbury, in Essex, and had conveyed all his estates in Essex to the
Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Popham, the Master of the Rolls, and others
for this purpose.
In 1609 an Act was passed in the legislature for the creation of a
hospital at Hallingbury. Shortly after, however, Sutton changed his mind
with regard to the locality of the hospital, and determined to acquire
Howard House for the purpose. On June 22nd, 1611, he obtained letters
patent from King James, with license of mortmain, which set aside the
Act of 1609 and enabled him to carry out his altered intentions, and
found his hospital on the Charterhouse site. The letters patent set out,
at length, the purpose of the founder to establish a hospital for old
people, and a free school, and schedules the lands given for this
purpose, as well as the names of the sixteen original governors of the
institution. Amongst these were Launcelot Andrewes and Dean Overall.
Fuller says:--
[Illustration: CHARTERHOUSE HALL.]
"This is the masterpiece of Protestant English charity designed
(by the founder) in his life; completed after his death, begun,
continued and finished with buildings and endowments, solely at
his own charges, wherein Mr Sutton appears peerless in all
Christendom on an equal standard of valuation of revenue."
Sutton had hoped to become himself the first master of the new
establishment, to the foundation of which his latter years had been
devoted. This, however, was not to be, and the munificent donor died at
his house in Hackney on December 12th, 1611, at the age of seventy-nine
years.
The foundation of the hospital thus initiated was not carried through
without a legal struggle. Shortly after his death Sutton's nephew, Simon
Baxter, laid claim to the estates as next-of-kin to the founder, and in
this design obtained the support of Sir Francis Bacon, who acted as his
counsel. While the suit was still pending, this eminent but corrupt
lawyer wrote a lengthy and specious letter to King James, setting forth
objections to the proposed scheme, and hinting in effect that if the
will were set aside the King might himself obtain considerable influence
in the disposal of the property. The Courts decided against Baxter,
though this decision was not arrived at until after the governors had
made largesse to the King. They handed over to James the large sum of
L10,000, setting out that the grant was for the purpose of repairing
Berwick Bridge, then "much ruinated or rather utterly decayed." The King
received this offering, says Smythe, in a very delicate way.[69] It was,
in point of fact, nothing more nor less than a bribe, though entered by
the Treasury among "Sums of money extraordinarily raised since the
coming of His Majesty to the Crown." The whole transaction sheds a
sinister light on the customs of the period, for it is not likely that
Sutton's executors would have parted with so large a sum had they not
been apprehensive of losing the whole, a fear which no doubt quickened
their solicitude for the safety of Berwick Bridge. After this, the
organization of the foundation proceeded without further trouble, and on
December 12th, 1614, the body of Sutton was transferred from Christ
Church, Newgate Street, where it had rested since his death, to the
elaborate tomb prepared for it in the chapel of the new house where it
still rests.
The governors found much work ready to their hand. The buildings had to
be rendered suitable for the habitation of pensioners and scholars, and
a constitution for the institution had to be prepared. The buildings, as
we have seen, had been erected for an entirely different purpose. The
Duke of Norfolk's house, with the outbuildings, stables and farmyard,
were the materials which the governors had to utilise. It is a matter
for which the antiquary must be grateful, that in dealing with this mass
of sixteenth century building they did their best to preserve it, and
succeeded so well that it remains to the present day. Twenty-one
pensioners or "Pore Bretheren" were elected as the first recipients of
the charity, but in 1613 the number was raised to eighty, as
contemplated by Sutton. Forty scholars were also selected and placed
under the care of a schoolmaster and an usher. Those elected pensioners
were to be
"no rogues or common beggars, but such poor persons as could
bring good testimony of their good behaviour and soundness in
religion, and such as had been servants to the king's Majesty,
either decrepit or old; captains either at sea or land;
soldiers maimed or impotent; decayed merchants; men fallen into
decay through shipwreck, casualty of fire, or such evil
accident; those that had been captives under the Turks."
The hospital did not escape its share of the troubles attendant upon the
Civil War. Some of the governors were deposed from the government of the
foundation, the internal management of which was interfered with by the
Parliament. In 1643 an order was made for the "sequestering of the
minister's and preacher's and organist's place of the Charterhouse; and
that the master of the Charterhouse do permit such as the House shall
appoint to execute the said places; and that the receiver do pay the
profits belonging to the said places to such as this House shall appoint
to receive the same." About the same time Mr. Brooke, the schoolmaster,
was ejected from his office. It is alleged that he flogged some boys who
favoured the parliamentary cause.[70] With the restoration of the
monarchy some of the governors were restored to their positions, and Mr.
Brooke, though not reappointed schoolmaster, was given lodging and
commons in the house, and a pension of L30 per annum, to be paid by his
successor.
The history of the succeeding years is uneventful. From time to time
necessary reforms have been introduced into the management of the
institution, but the intentions of the founder have been faithfully
carried out. The wisdom of Sutton in entrusting his institution to the
management of governors, who have always been men of eminence in church
and state, rather than in attempting to lay down hard and fast rules for
its guidance, has been abundantly vindicated.
In the early part of the nineteenth century, Mr. Hale, who was first
preacher, and then master for more than thirty years, introduced various
necessary reforms, and abolished abuses which in course of time had
crept in. Archdeacon Hale, besides devoting his attention to the general
care and management of the institution, was responsible for much
rebuilding and alteration in the house itself. Between the years 1825
and 1830 the preacher's court and pensioners' court, now occupied by the
brothers' rooms and official residences, were built.
What the labours of Archdeacon Hale were to one Part of the institution,
the work of Dr. Haig Brown was to the school. In course of time the
locality, once outside the boundaries of the town and surrounded by
pleasant fields, had become built over and entirely changed in
character. In 1864 the Public School Commissioners recommended that the
school should be removed into the country. It was not easy, however, to
get those in authority to consent to so great a change. Sentiment was
aroused against a plan which broke long years of tradition, and it was
not till 1872 that the school was moved to its present site at
Godalming. The credit of this step, and the subsequent success which
attended it, must be given to Dr. Haig Brown, for thirty-four years the
headmaster, and subsequently, upon his retirement, master of the
Charterhouse. Dr. Haig Brown was appointed headmaster in 1863, and it
was owing to his clear-sightedness and energy that this migration was
accomplished. He had to struggle against the prejudices of officials,
the fears of the governing body, and the feeling which he himself could
not altogether dismiss--that a great experiment was being made, and a
serious risk run. A touch of comedy was not wanting, for the boys
themselves were strongly against the move, and complained loudly that
they were being badly treated in being forcibly removed from the
somewhat dingy habitation, which they loved so well, to the breezy
uplands of Godalming. By this time, no doubt, they are reconciled to the
change.
That part of the London site which was vacated by the removal of the
school was sold for L90,000 to the Merchant Taylors' Company, who
utilize it now for their school, for which purpose it is well adapted,
being intended for day scholars only. Charterhouse at Godalming rapidly
increased in numbers, and continues to be one of the leading public
schools in the country.
Thus, though now unavoidably severed, the two separate parts of Sutton's
foundation are still fulfilling the purposes of the founder. The London
Charterhouse remains--as Thackeray, in _The Newcomes_, depicts it--a
peaceful haven for those whose reverses in the struggle of life have
made them fit pensioners on Sutton's bounty; and the school equips, year
by year, scholars of a younger generation, who frequently attain to
posts of distinction in church and state.
"Floreat aeternum Carthusiana Domus."
FOOTNOTES:
[60] _Statuta Ordinis Cartusiensis a domino Guigone Priore Cartusiense._
Edita Basle, 1510.
[61] For an interesting and accurate account of the Carthusian order,
see an article in the _Yorkshire Archaeological Journal_, vol. xviii.,
pp. 241-252, by the Rev. H. V. Le Bas, Preacher of the London
Charterhouse, to whom I am indebted for much valuable information.
[62] For further details an article by Archdeacon Hale may be consulted.
_Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society_, vol.
iii., part x.
[63] Some interesting extracts from the archives of the Order bearing on
the London Charterhouse during this period may be found in _The London
Charterhouse_, by Laurence Hendriks, himself a Carthusian Father.
[64] _Historia aliquot Martyrum Anglorum maxime octodecim
Cartusianorum._
[65] P.R.O. _State Papers_, Henry VIII., abridged in _Letters and
Papers_, vol. viii., 566. Quoted by Hendriks, p. 141.
[66] See Hendriks in loc. as against Froude, who asserts that the trial
was concluded in one day.
[67] Bearcroft, _An Historical Account of Thomas Sutton, Esq., and of
his Foundation in Charterhouse_. In this work many original documents
here quoted may be found _in extenso_.
[68] Fuller's _Church History of Britain_, iv., 20, 21.
[69] _Historical Account of Charterhouse_, by Thomas Smythe, p. 201.
[70] W. Haig Brown, _Charterhouse Past and Present_, p. 144.
GLIMPSES OF MEDIAEVAL LONDON
BY GEORGE CLINCH, F.G.S.
Everything connected with mediaeval life in London offers a peculiarly
fascinating field for the author, the student, and the reader. It
reflects and epitomizes all that is most important and really worthy of
notice in the story of England during what one may properly call its
most picturesque period.
The story of mediaeval London presents much romance and poetry, as well
as strenuous activity; much religion and genuine piety, as well as
superstition and narrowness of vision. It would not, indeed, be
difficult to write lengthy volumes on such a subject, but it will of
course be quite understood that in the present brief chapter anything of
the nature of minute detail will be impossible. All that can be
attempted is to give one or two glimpses of mediaeval life in London from
points of view which may possibly be novel, or, at any rate, worthy of
the consideration of those who desire to study the past in its human
interests, and as something more than mere bricks and mortar.
THE JEWS IN LONDON
The association of the Jews with London forms an important and
interesting chapter of ancient history. As has been justly pointed
out,[71] the history of the Jews in England is divided into two marked
sections by the dates 1290 and 1656; at the former period they were
expelled, at the latter they began to be readmitted. No trace has been
found of Jews in England prior to the Norman Conquest. Soon after the
Conquest, however, the Jews came from Rouen by special invitation of
William. They were introduced as part of a financial experiment of the
Norman kings. The need of large sums of ready money such as the Jews,
and the Jews only, could furnish was specially felt at this time. The
system of barter was going out of fashion, and money was required for
commercial operations. Stone buildings, too, were taking the place of
those of wood, and the new works involved a large outlay.
Money-lending on interest among Christians was expressly forbidden by
the canon law, and it was therefore from the frugal and careful Jews
alone that large sums of ready money could be obtained when required.
The author of the interesting article just referred to writes:--
"Though it is a moot point how far the money lent by the Jews
was actually the King's in the first instance, there is no
doubt that the Exchequer treated the money of the Jews as held
at the pleasure of the King. There was a special Exchequer of
the Jews, presided over by special Justices of the Jews, and
all the deeds of the Jews had to be placed in charge of
Exchequer officers, or else they ceased to be legal documents.
The Jews thus formed a kind of sponge which first drained the
country dry owing to the monopoly of capitalist transactions
given them by the canon law, and then were squeezed into the
royal treasury."