life at that time, almost indispensable, they suffered many
disabilities. They were unable, from the very fact of their religion, to
enter the guilds founded on religious principles. Similarly they were
debarred from holding land, because their possession of would have put
into their hands spiritual benefices.
By the order of the Lateran Council of 1215 the Jews were compelled to
wear a distinctive mark on their clothing. In England this was made of
cloth in the shape of the two tables of the law.
The worst parts of the towns seem to have been devoted to the use of the
Jews. Thus, at Southampton there are Jews' houses built close against
the town wall. At Leicester the Jewry was situated quite close to the
town wall, and some of the residences appear to have been built against
the inside of the Roman wall there, a considerable portion of which
still remains. In London in the thirteenth century there was a Jewry, or
dwelling-place for Jews, within the liberty of the Tower of London. The
street now known as Old Jewry, leading northward from Cheapside to
Lothbury, had become deserted by the Jews, it is believed, before the
date of the expulsion in 1291, and the inhabitants had removed to a
quarter in the eastern part of the city afterwards indicated by the
street-names "Poor Jewry Lane" and "Jewry Street."
In several cases, therefore, it is evident that the pomerium, or the
space between the inhabited part of the town and the actual walls of its
outer defence, was devoted to the Jews, who took up their residence
there.
One circumstance which embittered the Church against the Jews was the
spread of Judaism among certain classes. One Jewish list of martyrs
includes twenty-two proselytes burnt in England, and even if the number
be exaggerated, there is other evidence of Jewish proselytism in this
country. To counteract the movement the Church founded a conversionist
establishment in "New Street" on the site of the present Record Office.
Here converts were supported for life, and the building continued to be
utilized for this purpose down to the time of Charles II.
[Illustration: OLD LONDON BRIDGE: SHOWING ITS WOODEN HOUSES WITH
PROJECTING STORIES.]
The classic pages of Sir Walter Scott's romances contain much which
illustrates the popular antipathy against the Jews. The pictures he
draws are, perhaps, somewhat over-coloured for the purpose of romance,
but that they were not without foundation in fact is evident from the
following curious incident relating to a Jew in London, narrated in the
_Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London_, under the date 1256:--
"Thys yere a Jew felle in to a drawte on a satorday, and he
wolde not be draune owte that day for the reverens of hys
sabbot day, and sir Richard Clare, that tyme beynge erle of
Gloucseter, seynge that he wolde not be drawne owte that day,
he wolde not suffer hym to be drawne owte on the sonday, for
the reverens of the holy sonday, and soo thus the false Jue
perished and dyde therein."
Although there was a good deal of prejudice against the Jews, there is
reason to think that the idea of anything approaching general
ill-treatment of the race is erroneous. The Jews were useful to the
King, and therefore, in all cases before the expulsion, excepting during
the reign of King John, they enjoyed royal patronage and favour.
The evil of clipping or "sweating" the coin of the realm grew to such an
extent during the latter half of the thirteenth century that strong
measures had to be taken for its suppression. In November, 1278, the
King gave orders for the immediate arrest of all suspected Jews and
their Christian accomplices. They were brought to trial, and the result
was that nearly three hundred Jews were found guilty and condemned to be
hanged. This was during the mayoralty of Gregory de Rokesle (probably
Ruxley, Kent), the chief assay master of King's mints, a great wool
merchant, and the richest goldsmith of his time. This Mayor passed a
series of ordinances against the Jews, including one to the effect that
the King's peace should be kept between Christians and Jews, another
forbidding butchers who were not freemen of the city buying meat from
Jews to resell to Christians, or to buy meat slaughtered for the Jews
and by them rejected. Still another ordinance provided that "No one
shall hire houses from Jews, nor demise the same to them for them to
live in outside the limits of the Jewry."
By the time of Edward I. the need for the financial aid of the Jews was
no longer felt, and from that moment their fate in England was fixed.
The canon law against usury was extended so as to include the Jews. They
were henceforth forbidden to lend money on interest, and, as has been
explained, owing to their religion they could not hold lands nor take up
any trade. The expulsion followed as a matter of course in a few years.
In order to rearrange the national finances, Italians who had no
religious difficulties were substituted for the Jews. Certain Jews, it
is known, from time to time returned to London disguised as Italians,
but it was not until the time of the Commonwealth, when Cromwell took a
more tolerant view of the outcast Jews, and when the State recognised
the legality of difference of creed, that the return of the Jews became
possible. This event is fixed with some precision by the lease of the
Spanish and Portuguese burial-ground at Stepney, which bears the date of
February, 1657.
LONDON AS A WALLED TOWN
It is not by any means easy to imagine the present London as a walled
town. The multiplicity of streets, the lofty and pretentious character
of its buildings, and the immense suburban area of bricks and mortar
which surrounds it, render it an extremely difficult task to picture in
the mind's eye what the ancient city looked like when all the houses
were enclosed by a lofty and substantial wall, largely of Roman masonry,
and when admission could only be obtained by strongly defended gateways,
approached by means of drawbridges spanning the encircling moat of City
Ditch.
[Illustration: OLD WOODEN HOUSES AT CRIPPLEGATE (RECENTLY DEMOLISHED).]
Whatever additions or reparations may have been made in the Middle Ages
to the wall of London, there is no reason to doubt that the area it
enclosed was that which its Roman builders had laid out, with the
exception of an extension at the south-western corner made to enclose
the house of the Black Friars. What happened to the wall of London when
the Roman occupation of Britain was determined by the withdrawal of the
legions is a matter which scarcely falls within the scope of this paper.
Whether the place was abandoned, like other Roman walled towns, such as
Silchester, etc., or whether it maintained a population throughout the
dark ages, are questions which have exercised the ingenuity and
imagination of several antiquarian authorities,[72] but it must be
confessed that the evidence is insufficient to enable one to settle it
conclusively.
Whatever may have been the early history of Londinium after the Romans
left it, the fact remains that the limits and bounds of the actual city
continued for many centuries afterwards. It is known that Alfred the
Great caused the walls to be repaired; but the precise significance of
this is not great, because he may have been merely carrying out a
long-needed work, and from the very solid character of the Roman wall
(judging from the fragments that remain) it seems scarcely conceivable
that his operations extended lower than the battlements of the wall,
unless indeed they comprised the freeing of the ditch and berme from
vegetation, obstructions, or other kinds of weakness.
What the houses of London were like when Alfred repaired the wall is not
known. Probably they were constructed of timber and were humble in size
and ornamentation. It is doubtful if anything of the nature of a house
built of masonry was constructed in London before the twelfth century.
No trace of such a structure is known to remain, but there is reason to
think that such buildings existed within the boundary of the city of
London.
What the twelfth century house was like is well seen in the charming
example standing close by the castle mound at Christchurch, Hampshire.
In plan it is an oblong of modest proportions. The lowest storey was
low-pitched and lighted by mere slits for windows. The first floor
contained the principal rooms, which were lighted by double-light,
round-headed windows. The whole idea was to obtain a residence which
would be sufficiently strong to keep out robbers and resist fire.
Many of the architectural peculiarities of the old city of London which
the Great Fire swept away may be attributed to the fact that the city
was bounded by a wall too small for the requirements of the population.
The problem of adequately housing the people of London must have become
acute at a comparatively early period, certainly before the time of the
dreadful pestilence commonly known as the Black Death (1348-1349).
The value of space within the city, and the jealousy with which the
rights of property were guarded, are shown by the narrowness and
crookedness of the streets and lanes. Every available inch was occupied
by houses and shops, and as little as possible was devoted to
thoroughfares. The sinuosity of the public ways indicates in another way
the great value of land, because it obviously arose from the existence
of individual properties, which were probably defined and occupied at an
earlier period than the making of the roads.
Another circumstance which points to the same early settlement of
property boundaries is the irregularity of the ground-plans of many of
the city churches. This is observable in the case of churches which from
their dedication or other reasons may be pronounced of Saxon foundation.
[Illustration: ALLEY NEAR THE CLOTH FAIR, SMITHFIELD.]
The economising of space was effected in two well-marked directions.
Houses and shops were erected on old London Bridge, and half-timbered
houses with many over-sailing storeys were very largely built in the
city. There is an excellent representation of old London Bridge with
its closely packed houses in Robert Prycke's bird's-eye view (here
produced).
It may be well to add a word or two here to explain what is implied by
the term half-timbered houses, popular ideas upon the subject being
somewhat vague.
There are, in fact, several different interpretations as to its
significance. One meaning of "half-timber" is trunks of wood split in
half; but this is used mainly in connection with shipbuilding. One
writer states that half-timber work is so called "because the timbers
which show on the face are about the same width as the spaces between."
Gwilt describes a half-timber building as "a structure formed of
studding, with sills, lintels, struts, and braces, sometimes filled in
with brick-work, and plastered over on both sides." Parker defines a
half-timber house as having "foundations and the ground floor only of
stone, the upper part being of wood." With these different definitions
there is no wonder that popular ideas as to what a half-timber house
actually is are rather hazy.
The point of most importance, however, is not the mere verbal
explanation adopted in technical handbooks, but the characteristics of
this kind of structure, differentiating it from those built up from the
foundations of one species of material, such as stone, or brick, or
what-not.
The following may be regarded as the essential features of half-timber
houses or timber-framed houses (for the terms are practically
synonymous):
(1) The foundations and the lower parts of the walls, sometimes up to
the sills of the ground-floor windows, are of stone or brickwork. Above
this the house is a timber structure as far as its main outline and its
sustaining parts are concerned, whatever may be the character of the
material with which the intervening spaces are filled.
(2) In old buildings of this kind each range or floor was made to
project somewhat beyond that below it, producing what are technically
termed over-sailing storeys. The advantages of this kind of construction
were manifold. It gave to rooms on the upper floor or floors greater
dimensions than those on the ground floor. It also imparted structural
balance, and afforded a convenient opportunity of strengthening the
whole structure by means of external brackets. Moreover, each
overhanging or over-sailing storey tended to shelter from the weather
the storey below it. The principle of over-sailing storeys was entirely
due to the use of timber in house construction.
(3) Perhaps the chief distinguishing mark of half-timber construction is
that the bases of the walls are always constructed of materials which
are not damaged by damp in the ground; whilst the upper part, comprising
the main body of the house, is constructed of dry timbers so arranged as
to be free from rain, and none of the timbers were near enough to the
ground to be injured by the dampness arising from it. The Anglo-Saxon
houses, which are believed to have been timber-built structures, were
probably not furnished with foundations and dwarf walls of stone or
brick, and for that reason their destruction, by the damp rising from
the ground through the interstices of the timbers, was rapid and
complete.
The use of half-timber work in the construction of London houses
indicates a desire to make the greatest possible use of the space at the
disposal of the builder. The repeated use of over-sailing storey above
over-sailing storey indicates quite clearly that the idea was not to
obtain structural stability so much as additional space.
[Illustration: THE CLOTH FAIR, SMITHFIELD.
_Looking to the south-west, and showing the south side of the street._]
There is no aspect of the ancient city of London more picturesque than
this constant multiplication of projecting storeys, and perhaps there
was no more unwholesome or insanitary plan possible than this, which
effectually excluded daylight and fresh air, keeping the streets damp
and muddy, and rendering the whole atmosphere unsavoury. Indeed, the
constant visitations London received in the form of pestilence is to be
referred to this source alone; and much as every one must regret the
loss of the picturesque old houses, with their projecting storeys, their
irregular gables, and their red roofs, it must be admitted that one of
the greatest blessings London ever received, in the direction of
sanitary improvement, was the Great Fire of 1666, which swept away the
great bulk of the wooden houses in the City.
After the fire, the original arrangement of the streets, as to their
general direction, was restored, but of course they were made wider and
more commodious. Indeed, it is not difficult to make out much of the
course of the ancient wall from an examination of the disposition of the
streets as they now exist. Such well-marked thoroughfares as London
Wall, Wormwood Street, Camomile Street, Bevis Marks, Jewry Street,
Houndsditch, Minories, and others indicate, internally and externally,
the course of the wall, and at some points, particularly Trinity Square,
London Wall, and Newgate, actual fragments are still visible. As has
already been explained, the wall is mainly of Roman workmanship, but its
embattled crest, of which a fragment _in situ_ may be seen, was built or
renewed in the Middle Ages.
In the wholesale destruction wrought by the Great Fire so much perished,
and, as a consequence, so much was rebuilt that one looks in vain for a
specimen of a mediaeval house constructed of wood within the bounds of
the city. It is because of this that Crosby Place, a domestic dwelling
of the fifteenth century and of the most important class, was so highly
valued, not alone by antiquaries, but by all who love mediaeval London.
Until a comparatively recent date there were some wooden houses covered
with weather-boarding at Cripplegate. These were examples of the type of
house erected immediately after the Great Fire. Others, somewhat less
picturesque, still remain between Cannon Street and the river.
A remarkable group of timber houses, presumably of about the same date,
exists in and immediately adjacent to the narrow street at Smithfield
known as the Cloth Fair. Although they present no particular feature of
architectural merit, they remain as an extremely interesting group of
old wooden houses with over-sailing storeys and picturesque gables. The
street, by reason of its very narrowness, looks old, and,
notwithstanding the various reparations and rebuildings which have been
carried out at the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, and in spite of
the many other changes which have been carried out in the neighbourhood,
the Cloth Fair remains to-day a veritable "bit" of old London as it was
pretty generally in the seventeenth century.
The accompanying views, reproduced from recent photographs, represent
the general appearance of the houses, although it is somewhat difficult
to get anything like a clear picture in such a dark and narrow street.
A little way out of the City we have the remarkably picturesque
half-timbered buildings of Staple Inn; and in the Strand, near the
entrance to the Temple, there was once a group of wooden houses, one of
which, popularly called Cardinal Wolsey's Palace, has been rescued from
destruction, thanks to the action of the London County Council.
[Illustration: THE CLOTH FAIR, SMITHFIELD.
_The north-east end of the street._]
OLD ST. PAUL'S
No account of mediaeval London, however brief and partial, could be
considered adequate which did not include some reference to Old St.
Paul's. One of the greatest glories of London in the old days was its
cathedral church, which, in contradistinction from the earlier edifice
and from that which has superseded it, we now familiarly designate "Old
St. Paul's."
It must have been a church calculated to inspire the admiration,
veneration, and pride of Londoners. Its lofty spire, covered with
ornamental lead, rose high above every other building near it. It
dominated the City and all the surrounding district. The spire itself
was over two hundred feet high, and, perched upon a lofty tower, it rose
about five hundred feet into the blue sky. The few old views which give
a picture of St. Paul's before the storm of 1561 clearly show the
magnificent proportions of the spire.
At the east end, a most beautiful and well-proportioned composition was
the famous rose-window, forty feet in diameter, referred to as a
familiar object by Chaucer.
The magnificent Norman nave, which well deserved admiration on account
of its architectural merit, acquired even greater celebrity under the
designation of Paul's Walk as a famous meeting-place and promenade of
fashionable folk.
Here bargaining and dealing were carried on openly and unchecked. Many
English writers refer to this extraordinary desecration of a consecrated
building, and from them we learn that the trading carried on in Paul's
Walk included simony and chaffering for benefices. Chaucer, in the
prologue to his _Canterbury Tales_, when describing the parson,
writes:--
"He sette not his Benefice to hire,
And lette his shepe accombred in the mire,
And ran unto London, unto S. Paules
To seken him a Chanterie for soules,
Or with a Brotherhede to be withold
But dwelt at home, and kept well his folde."
The expression "to dine with Duke Humphrey," applied to persons who,
being unable either to procure a dinner by their own money or from the
favour of their friends, walk about and loiter during the dinner-time,
had its origin in one of the aisles of St. Paul's, which was called Duke
Humphrey's Walk: not that there ever was in reality a cenotaph there to
the Duke's memory, who, as everyone knows, was buried at St. Albans, in
Hertfordshire, but because, says Stow, ignorant people mistook the fair
monument of Sir John Beauchamp, who died in 1358, and which was in the
south side of the body of the church, for that of Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester.
[Illustration: THE CLOTH FAIR SMITHFIELD.
_Looking to the south-west, and showing the north side of the
street._]
Perhaps one of the most vivid pictures, although it has certainly some
unnatural colouring, is that given in _The Gull's Horne-Booke_, a
satirical work published in London in 1609. Under the heading of "How a
Gallant should behave himselfe in Powles-Walkes," one of the chapters
gives some details of the place. The following extracts are perhaps the
most important:--
"Now for your venturing into the Walke, be circumspect and wary
what pillar you come in at, and take heede in any case (as you
love the reputation of your honour) that you avoid the
_Seruingmans_ logg, and approach not within five fadom of that
Piller; but bend your course directly in the middle line, that
the whole body of the Church may appeare to be yours; where, in
view of all, you may publish your suit in what manner you
affect most, either with the slide of your cloake from the one
shoulder, and then you must (as twere in anger) suddenly snatch
at the middle of the inside (if it be taffata at the least) and
so by that meanes your costly lining is betroyed, or else by
the pretty advantage of Complement. But one note by the way do
I especially wooe you to, the neglect of which makes many of
our Gallants cheape and ordinary, that by no meanes you be
seene above foure turnes; but in the fifth make yourselfe away,
either in some of the Sempsters' shops, the new tobacco-office,
or amongst the booke-sellers, where, if you cannot reade,
exercise your smoake, and enquire who has writ against this
divine weede, etc. For this withdrawing yourselfe a little,
will much benefite your suit, which else, by too long walking,
would be stale to the whole spectators: but howsoever if Powles
Jacks bee once up with their elbowes, and quarrelling to strike
eleven, as soone as ever the clock has parted them, and ended
the fray with his hammer, let not the Duke's gallery contain
you any longer, but passe away apace in open view.
* * * * *
"All the diseased horses in a tedious siege cannot show so many
fashions, as are to be seene for nothing, everyday, in _Duke
Humfryes walke_. If therefore you determine to enter into a
new suit, warne your Tailor to attend you in Powles, who, with
his hat in his hand, shall like a spy discover the stuffe,
colour, and fashion of any doublet, or hose that dare to be
seene there, and stepping behind a piller to fill his
table-bookes with those notes, will presently send you into the
world an accomplisht man: by which meanes you shall weare your
clothes in print with the first edition. But if Fortune favour
you so much as to make you no more than a meere gentleman, or
but some three degrees removd from him (for which I should be
very sorie, because your London experience wil cost you deere
before you shall have ye wit to know what you are) then take
this lesson along with you: The first time that you venture
into Powles, passe through the Body of the Church like a
Porter, yet presume not to fetch so much as one whole turn in
the middle Ile, no nor to cast an eye to _Si quis doore_ (pasted
and plaistered up with Servingmens _supplications_) before you
have paid tribute to the top of Powles _steeple_ with a single
penny: And when you are mounted there, take heede how you looke
downe into the yard; for the railes are as rotten as your
great-Grand father; and thereupon it will not be amisse if you
enquire how _Kit Woodroffe_ durst vault over, and what reason
he had for it, to put his neck in hazard of reparations.
* * * * *
"The great dyal is your last monument: there bestow some half
of the threescore minutes.... Besides, you may heere have fit
occasion to discover your watch, by taking it forth and setting
the wheeles to the time of Powles, which, I assure you, goes
truer by five notes than _S. Sepulchres_ Chimes. The benefit
that wil arise from hence is this yt you publish your charge in
maintaining a gilded clocke; and withall the world shall know
that you are a time-pleaser."
PAUL'S CROSS