Chapter IV: Part 4

Of the religious houses of which remains may be found in London, none perhaps is of greater interest than the Charterhouse. Here More and Colet kept retreat, and as a peaceful haven for pensioned age the place still retains something of its old monastic calm. Lying behind the markets of Smithfield, its secluded courts and gardens are barely penetrated by the roar of the great city. The history of Bruno, the original founder of the Carthusian order, and his six companions has often been told. It is related by Prior Guigo that the University of Paris, professors as well as scholars, were assembled at the funeral obsequies of one of the most learned and pious of their number. To the amazement of all, the dead man raised his head, and as he sank back again on the bier called out with a loud voice, "I have been accused at the just tribunal of God." Three times on three successive days this terrible occurrence took place. Amongst those present on this occasion who were struck with horror at the unexpected sentence of damnation was Bruno, a native of Cologne. He was a Canon of Rheims and professor of divinity. Five others with him, seized with a holy fear, consulted a hermit how they might escape the judgment of God. To them he gave the answer of the Psalmist, "Lo, I have prolonged my flight and remained in solitude." They, too, were fired with the love of solitude, and begged of Hugh Bishop of Grenoble that he would assign them a place suitable for a retreat. This the bishop did, and the order was established at La Chartreuse in the mountains of Savoy in the year 1084.[60]

_From an old print by Toms._]

The first Carthusian house in England was founded by Henry II. at Witham, in Somersetshire, about the year 1178, in fulfilment of his penitential vow taken at the tomb of Thomas Becket. Another house was founded at Hinton, also in Somersetshire, in 1227. An attempt to found a house in Ireland did not succeed, the institution only lasting forty years. A third house was founded at Beauvale, in Nottinghamshire, in 1343. The London Charterhouse, with which we are immediately concerned, was the fourth house of the order established in England. Before entering upon the details of its history it will be well to sketch the main features of the Carthusian order, since Carthusian houses in all their chief characteristics closely resemble one another. Its distinguishing marks are extreme severity and entire seclusion from the world. The fathers live alone, each in his cell built around the great cloister. The cell is, however, in reality a small house, and contains four rooms, two on each floor; adjoining these apartments is a small garden. From the great cloister strangers are entirely excluded, and the cell is never entered except by the father himself, the prior, or his deputy.

A walk, the "spatiamentum," taken once a week together, is the only occasion upon which the fathers leave the house; conversation is then enjoined. Upon Sundays and Chapter feasts the monks dine together, when some instructive book is read aloud by one of the fathers.

The Franciscans and Dominicans are preachers, the Benedictines maintain educational institutions, Trappists and Cistercians cultivate the soil; but the isolation of the Carthusian fathers is complete. They may not even leave the monastery to administer the Sacrament to the dying, unless assured that no other priest can be secured.

Their food is thrust into their cells through a small hatchway. They eat no meat, but fish, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, bread, pastry, fruit, and vegetables. The brethren or "conversi," who are laymen, occupy themselves with the manual labour of the monastery, but all that is necessary in the cell is done by the father himself. When death ends the solitary's life he is buried uncoffined in the cloister garth, "O beata solitudo! O sola beatitudo!"[61]

The history of the London Charterhouse may conveniently be divided into three periods--I., the Monastery; II., the Palace; III., the Hospital.

I.--THE MONASTERY, 1371-1537

The exact circumstances under which the house was founded are involved in some obscurity, for it would appear that at least three men were concerned at different times in the work. The share of the first of these, Ralph Stratford, Bishop of London, being but a slight one, may be briefly dismissed. In 1348-49 a terrible visitation of the black death devastated the country. The bishop, being concerned that many were being interred in unconsecrated ground, purchased three acres of land in West Smithfield outside the city boundaries, known as "no man's land," and consecrated it for purposes of burial, and erected also a mortuary chapel. The whole he called Pardon Churchyard and Chapel. It was situated adjoining the north wall of the garden of the monastery, and extended from St. John Street to Goswell Street. In 1349 additional ground was required, and Sir Walter de Manny bought thirteen acres and a rood from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, called the Spittle Croft, adjoining the land purchased by the bishop. Here he also built a chapel, from which building the Spittle Croft became known as New Church Haw. Stow asserts that more than 50,000 bodies were interred here. De Manny's original intention, as appears from a bull of Pope Urban VI. in 1378, was to endow a chantry with a superior and twelve chaplains. This project appears, however, subsequently to have been abandoned; for by letters patent, dated 6th February, 1371, the King licensed De Manny to found a house of Carthusian monks to be called the "Salutation of the Mother of God." In this work De Manny had the co-operation and sanction of Michael de Northburgh, successor to Ralph Stratford in the bishopric of London. It seems probable that when De Manny was summoned abroad on the King's wars Northburgh took up the work, and that to enable him to do so effectually the land De Manny had bought was transferred to him by a nominal sale.[62] The bishop died in 1361, and from his will it appears that he had acquired the land above mentioned, as well as the patronage of the chapel, from De Manny. Further, he left £2,000 and various lands and tenements to found a convent of Carthusians. De Manny and Bishop Northburgh thus share between them the credit of the foundation, although the allusion in the Papal Bull of Urban VI., "Conventum duplicem ordinis Carthusiensis," refers unquestionably not to the fact that there were two founders, but to the fact that the monastery was intended for twenty-four monks--double the usual number. Sir Walter de Manny, who may perhaps be regarded as the chief founder, was a native of Valenciennes, and was descended from the Counts of Hainault. Froissart, his fellow-countryman, is our chief authority for the events of his life, and has recorded at length his deeds of bravery and daring on many fields of battle. With these we are not concerned at length. It is sufficient to note that he first came to England in the train of Queen Philippa, distinguished himself in the Scottish wars, and was the recipient of many grants of land and other favours from Edward III. He was present at the battle of Sluys in 1359, and had conferred upon him the Order of the Garter. After an eventful career De Manny died in January, 1372. His will, dated November 30th, 1371, was proved at Lambeth, 13th April, 1372. He left directions that he should be buried in as unostentatious a manner as possible; but this being coupled with the provision that a penny should be paid to all poor persons coming to his funeral, it is not surprising to learn that the funeral procession was a large one. He was buried in the middle of the choir, and a fragment of the tomb was found in a wall which was being repaired in 1896, and may be seen to-day in the chapel of the Charterhouse. Various other benefactions were made to the house, and in particular a further grant of four acres of land from the hospital of S. John of Jerusalem in 1378. The relations existing between these two neighbouring institutions were always of a friendly character. John Luscote was appointed the first prior, and held office till shortly before his death, which took place in 1398. During many succeeding years the history of the foundation was uneventful, the peaceful life of the monks in their secluded home affording little of interest to the historian.[63]

Happy were the monks when they had no history. Troubles gathered thick around their successors of a later age, after the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne.

John Houghton was elected prior in 1531, and it is around his personality that the interest of the history now centres. "He was small," we are told, "in stature, in figure graceful, in countenance dignified. In manner he was most modest, in eloquence most sweet, in chastity without a stain." Such was the man who worthily upheld the traditions of his order during the Reformation troubles. For these and the succeeding events we have the authority of Maurice Chauncey, one of the fathers.[64]

In 1533 Henry obtained the sanction of Cranmer in the Archbishop's Court to his divorce from Catherine, and the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn was confirmed by Parliament. In 1534 the Royal Commissioners called upon the prior and monks of the Charterhouse to make formal approval of the marriage. Prior Houghton and the procurator Humphrey Middlemore were committed to the Tower, the Commissioners being dissatisfied with the nature of their answers. After a month's imprisonment they were induced to swear to the King's laws "as far as the law of God permitted," and were released and returned to the Charterhouse. The Commissioners extracted from the rest of the community a similar oath, by which the succession to the Crown was fixed upon the issue of Anne Boleyn to the exclusion of the Princess Mary. This, however, was but the beginning of troubles. The oath by which Henry was declared Head of the Church of England was a more serious matter. To deny him this title became high treason. Prior Houghton addressed the assembled fathers in a touching manner, and bid them prepare for death. The days were solemnly devoted to spiritual exercises. Their fears were only too well founded, and after interrogation Prior Houghton and Robert Lawrence were committed to the Tower by Cromwell. With them was arrested a third father, Augustine Webster, prior of the Charterhouse in Axholme. In the Tower they were visited by Cromwell and the Royal Commissioners, and memoranda of the interview remain.[65] John Houghton says that "he cannot take the King, our Sovereign, to be supreme head of the Church of England afore the Apostles of Christ's Church."

Robert Lawrence says that "there is one Catholic Church and one Divine, of which the Bishop of Rome is the head; therefore, he cannot believe that the King is supreme head of the Church." On 29th April, 1535, after a trial lasting two[66] days, the three Carthusians and Father Richard Reynolds were condemned to be drawn, hanged, and quartered. On their way to the scaffold they passed their fellow-prisoner, Sir Thomas More, who saw them from his prison cell. "Lo, dost thou not see, Meg," he said to his daughter Margaret, "that these blessed fathers be now as cheerfully going to their death as bridegrooms to their marriage." When the scaffold was reached Father Houghton preached a brief but touching sermon:

"I call to witness Almighty God and all good people, and I
beseech you all here present to bear witness for me in the day
of judgment, that being here to die, I declare it is from no
obstinate rebellious spirit that I do not obey the King, but
because I fear to offend the majesty of God. Our holy Mother
the Church has decreed otherwise than the King and parliament
have decreed, and therefore rather than disobey the Church I am
ready to suffer."

The cruel sentence was carried out on May 4th, 1535. Part of the mangled remains of Prior Houghton was fixed on the gateway of the Charterhouse. Three weeks after the prior's execution, three fathers, Exmew, Middlemore, and Newdigate, were thrown into the Marshalsea, where they were cruelly tortured, being bound upright to posts. They were brought to trial at Westminster, and executed on the 19th June with the same horrible mutilations as attended the execution of Houghton. For a period of two years after this no further executions are recorded; but Cromwell, exasperated by the firmness of the monks, adopted a new form of persecution. The King's Commissioners took charge of the monastery, which was placed in the charge of seculars. Pressure of every kind was brought to bear upon the religious, who were often deprived of food, robbed of their books, and made to listen to sermons in proof of the royal supremacy. Under the prolonged persecution of Cromwell's instruments, Whalley, Bedyll, and Fylott, some few of the monks gave way, but the major part remained firm.

In the early part of the year 1536 Cromwell took a new step. He appointed another prior, William Trafford, doubtless with the ulterior object of inducing the monks to transfer the property of the house to the King. At length he succeeded, and a large number--some twenty, both fathers and lay brothers--were persuaded to take the oath of supremacy. At least ten, however, refused to do so. These ten were cast into Newgate on 18th May, 1537, and here nine died of the cruel treatment they received. William Horn, the sole survivor, a lay brother, was transferred to the Tower and executed on 4th August, 1540. On the 10th June, 1537, a deed was executed, rendering up the monastery to the King. The monks remained till 15th November, 1538, when they were all expelled with a small pension of £5 per annum, with the exception of Trafford, who received £20. The yearly revenue of the house at its dissolution was valued at £642 4s. 6d. Thus the monastery was destroyed, though no accusation of immorality or wrong doing was ever brought against the unhappy men who perished with it. The monks were faithful to their vows, the house was well ordered. No record is to be found of any fault proved against the London Charterhouse: "Nunquam reformata quia nunquam deformata."

Though the old buildings have been largely swept away, or altered and added to, yet enough remains to enable us, with the help of a fifteenth-century plan, to constitute with some degree of exactness the arrangement of the old monastery. This plan, which is still preserved amongst the archives of the Charterhouse, is a vellum roll ten feet long, of four skins, showing the construction of a conduit by which the monastery was supplied with water from Islington. The waterpipe discharged into a conduit in the centre of the great cloister; from the conduit it was conveyed through the gardens into the cells of the monks. The playground of the Merchant Taylors' School occupies nearly the site of the great cloister, and on the east and the west side of it may be found traces of two of the cells. The lower part of the gatehouse served as entrance to the monastery, though the doors were probably renewed after the Carthusians had gone. The south and part of the east walls of the present chapel are those of the monks' church, and the lower part of the Tower was built by them probably in 1510-20. The charming little quadrangle, known as Wash House Court, was the habitation of the "conversi" or lay brothers, the servants of the convent. On the west external wall of this court are the letters J. H., which may possibly be the initials of the last Prior, John Houghton, and the wall itself of his building. Besides these remains there may also be seen a bit of the monastic refectory, now used as the brothers' library, though it has been thought by some that this is the site of the prior's cell.

II.--THE PALACE, 1545-1611

During the period from 1545-1611 the Charterhouse became a nobleman's 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 £10 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 £2,500, 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.

_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 £13,000 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 £50,000, 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:--

"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 £10,000, 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 £30 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 £90,000 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 Archæological 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 Archæological 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 MEDIÆVAL LONDON

BY GEORGE CLINCH, F.G.S.

Everything connected with mediæval 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 mediæval 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 mediæval 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."

Although the Jews were useful, and indeed, in the conditions of social 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.

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.

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.

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.