Chapter XXII: Part 22

Next to this famous monastery is the king’s principal palace, of what antiquity it is uncertain; but Edward the Confessor held his court there, as may appear by the testimony of sundry, and, namely, of Ingulphus, as I have before told you. The said king had his palace, and for the most part remained there; where he also so ended his life, and was buried in the monastery which he had built. It is not to be doubted but that King William I., as he was crowned there, so he built much at his palace, for he found it far inferior to the building of princely palaces in France: and it is manifest, by the testimony of many authors, that William Rufus built the great hall there about the year of Christ 1097. Amongst others, Roger of Wendover and Mathew Paris do write, that King William (being returned out of Normandy into England) kept his feast of Whitsontide very royally at Westminster, in the new hall which he had lately built; the length whereof (say some) was two hundred and seventy feet, and seventy-four feet in breadth; and when he heard men say that this hall was too great, he answered and said, “This hall is not big enough by the one half, and is but a bed-chamber in comparison of that I mean to make.” A diligent searcher (saith Paris) might find out the foundation of the hall, which he was supposed to have built, stretching from the river of Thames, even to the common highway.

This palace was repaired about the year 1163 by Thomas Becket, chancellor of England, with exceeding great celerity and speed, which before was ready to have fallen down. This hath been the principal seat and palace of all the kings of England since the Conquest; for here have they in the great hall kept their feasts of coronation especially, and other solemn feasts, as at Christmas and such like, most commonly: for proof whereof, I find recorded, that in the year 1236, and the 20th of Henry, III., on the 29th of December, William de Haverhull, the king’s treasurer, is commanded, that upon the day of circumcision of our Lord, he caused six thousand poor people to be fed at Westminster, for the state of the king, the queen, and their children; the weak and aged to be placed in the great hall and in the lesser; those that were most strong, and in reasonable plight, in the king’s chamber; the children in the queen’s; and when the king knoweth the charge, he would allow it in the accounts.[296]

In the year 1238, the same King Henry kept his feast of Christmas at Westminster in the great hall; so did he in the year 1241, where he placed the legate in the most honourable place of the table, to wit, in the midst, which the noblemen took in evil part: the king sat on the right hand, and the archbishop on the left, and then all the prelates and nobles according to their estates; for the king himself set the guests. The year 1242 he likewise kept his Christmas in the hall, etc. Also, in the year 1243, Richard, earl of Cornewall, the king’s brother, married Cincia, daughter to Beatrice, countess of Province, and kept his marriage-feast in the great hall at Westminster, with great royalty and company of noblemen: insomuch that there were told (_triginta millia_) thirty thousand dishes of meats at that dinner.

In the year 1256, King Henry sate in the exchequer of this hall, and there set down order for the appearance of sheriffs, and bringing in of their accounts: there were five marks set on every sheriff’s head for a fine, because they had not distrained every person that might dispend fifteen pounds land by the year to receive the order of knighthood, as the same sheriffs were commanded. Also, the mayor, aldermen, and sheriffs of London, being accused of oppression and wrongs done by them, and submitting themselves in this place before the king sitting in judgment upon that matter, they were condemned to pay their fines for their offences committed, and further, every one of them discharged of assise and ward.

In the years 1268 and 1269, the same king kept his Christmas feasts at Westminster as before; and also in the same 1269 he translated with great solemnity the body of King Edward the Confessor into a new chapel, at the back of the high altar: which chapel he had prepared of a marvellous workmanship, bestowing a new tomb or shrine of gold; and on the day of his translation he kept a royal feast in the great hall of the palace. Thus much for the feasts of old time in this hall.

We read also, that in the year 1236, the river of Thames overflowing the banks, caused the marshes about Woolwitch to be all on a sea, wherein boats and other vessels were carried with the stream; so that besides cattle, the greatest number of men, women, and children, inhabitants there, were drowned: and in the great palace of Westminster men did row with wherries in the midst of the hall, being forced to ride to their chambers.

Moreover, in the year 1242, the Thames overflowing the banks about Lambhithe, drowned houses and fields by the space of six miles, so that in the great hall at Westminster men took their horses, because the water ran over all. This palace was (in the year 1299, the 27th of Edward I.) burnt by a vehement fire, kindled in the lesser hall of the king’s house: the same, with many other houses adjoining, and with the queen’s chamber, were consumed, but after that repaired.

In the year 1313, the 31st of Edward I., the king’s treasury at Westminster was robbed; for the which, Walter, abbot of Westminster, with forty-nine of his brethren and thirty-two other, were thrown into the Tower of London, and indicted of the robbery of a hundred thousand pounds; but they affirming themselves to be clear of the fact, and desiring the king of speedy justice, a commission was directed for inquiry of the truth, and they were freed.

In the year 1316, Edward II. did solemnize his feast of Penticost at Westminster, in the great hall; where sitting royally at the table, with his peers about him, there entered a woman adorned like a minstrel, sitting on a great horse, trapped as minstrels then used, who rode round about the tables, showing pastime, and at length came up to the king’s table, and laid before him a letter, and forthwith turning her horse, saluted every one, and departed. The letter being opened, had these contents:,--“Our soveraigne lord and king, hath nothing curteously respected his knights, that in his father’s time, and also in his owne, have put forth their persons to divers perils, and have utterly lost, or greatly diminished their substance, for honor of the said king, and he hath inriched abundantly such as have not borne the waight as yet of the busines, etc.”

This great hall was begun to be repaired in the year 1397 by Richard II., who caused the walls, windows, and roof, to be taken down, and new made, with a stately porch, and divers lodgings of a marvellous work, and with great costs; all which he levied of strangers banished or flying out of their countries, who obtained license to remain in this land, by the king’s charters, which they had purchased with great sums of money; John Boterell being then clerk of the works.

This hall being finished in the year 1398, the same king kept a most royal Christmas there, with daily justings and runnings at tilt; whereunto resorted such a number of people, that there was every day spent twenty-eight or twenty-six oxen, and three hundred sheep, besides fowl without number: he caused a gown for himself to be made of gold, garnished with pearl and precious stones, to the value of three thousand marks: he was guarded by Cheshire men, and had about him commonly thirteen bishops, besides barons, knights, esquires, and other more than needed; insomuch, that to the household came every day to meat ten thousand people, as appeareth by the messes told out from the kitchen to three hundred servitors.

Thus was this great hall, for the honour of the prince, oftentimes furnished with guests, not only in this king’s time (a prodigal prince), but in the time of other also, both before and since, though not so usually noted. For when it is said, the king held his feast of Christmas, or such a feast at Westminster, it may well be supposed to be kept in this great hall, as most sufficient to such a purpose.

I find noted by Robert Fabian (sometime an alderman of London), that King Henry VII., in the 9th of his reign (holding his royal feast of Christmas at Westminster), on the twelfth day, feasted Ralph Austry, then mayor of London, and his brethren the aldermen, with other commoners in great number, and after dinner dubbing the mayor knight, caused him with his brethren to stay and behold the disguisings and other disports in the night following, showed in the great hall, which was richly hanged with arras, and staged about on both sides; which disports being ended in the morning, the king, the queen, the ambassadors, and other estates, being set at a table of stone, sixty knights and esquires served sixty dishes to the king’s mess, and as many to the queen’s (neither flesh nor fish), and served the mayor with twenty-four dishes to his mess, of the same manner, with sundry wines in most plenteous wise: and finally, the king and queen being conveyed with great lights into the palace, the mayor with his company in barges returned and came to London by break of the next day. Thus much for building of this great hall, and feasting therein.

It moreover appeareth that many parliaments have been kept there; for I find noted, that in the year 1397, the great hall at Westminster being out of reparations, and therefore, as it were, new built by Richard II. (as is afore showed), the same Richard, in the mean time having occasion to hold a parliament, caused for that purpose a large house to be built in the midst of the palace-court, betwixt the clock tower and the gate of the old great hall. This house was very large and long, made of timber, covered with tile, open on both the sides and at both the ends, that all men might see and hear what was both said and done.

The king’s archers (in number four thousand Cheshire men) compassed the house about with their bows bent, and arrows knocked in their hands, always ready to shoot: they had bouch of court (to wit, meat and drink), and great wages of six pence by the day.

The old great hall being new built, parliaments were again there kept as before:[297] namely, one in the year 1399, for the deposing of Richard II. A great part of this palace at Westminster was once again burnt in the year 1512, the 4th of Henry VIII.; since the which time it hath not been re-edified: only the great hall, with the offices near adjoining, are kept in good reparations, and serveth as afore for feasts at coronations, arraignments of great persons charged with treasons, keeping of the courts of justice, etc. But the princes have been lodged in other places about the city, as at Baynarde’s castle, at Bridewell, and White hall, sometime called York place, and sometime at St. James’.

This great hall hath been the usual place of pleadings, and ministration of justice, whereof somewhat shortly I will note. In times past the courts and benches followed the king wheresoever he went, as well since the Conquest as before; which thing at length being thought cumbersome, painful, and chargeable to the people, it was in the year 1224, the 9th of Henry III., agreed that there should be a standing place appointed, where matters should be heard and judged, which was in the great hall at Westminster.

In this hall he ordained three judgment seats; to wit, at the entry on the right hand, the Common Pleas, where civil matters are to be pleaded, specially such as touch lands or contracts: at the upper end of the hall, on the right hand, or south-east corner, the King’s Bench, where pleas of the crown have their hearing; and on the left hand, or south-west corner, sitteth the lord chancellor, accompanied with the master of the rolls, and other men, learned for the most part in the civil law, and called masters of the chancery, which have the king’s fee. The times of pleading in these courts are four in the year, which are called terms: the first is Hillary term, which beginneth the 23rd of January, if it be not Sunday, and endeth the 12th of February; the second is Easter term, and beginneth seventeen days after Easter day, and endeth four days after Ascension day; the third term beginneth six or seven days after Trinity Sunday, and endeth the Wednesday fortnight after; the fourth is Michaelmas term, which beginneth the 9th of October, if it be not Sunday, and endeth the 28th of November.

And here it is to be noted, that the kings of this realm have used sometimes to sit in person in the King’s Bench; namely, King Edward IV., in the year 1462, in Michaelmas term, sat in the King’s Bench three days together, in the open court, to understand how his laws were ministered and executed.

Within the port, or entry into the hall, on either side are ascendings up into large chambers, without the hall adjoining thereunto, wherein certain courts be kept, namely, on the right hand, is the court of the Exchequer, a place of account for the revenues of the crown: the hearers of the account have auditors under them; but they which are the chief for accounts of the prince, are called barons of the Exchequer, whereof one is called the chief baron. The greatest officer of all is called the high treasurer.[298] In this court be heard those that are delators, or informers, in popular and penal actions, having thereby part of the profit by the law assigned unto them.

In this court, if any question be, it is determined after the order of the common law of England by twelve men, and all subsidies, taxes, and customs, by account; for in this office the sheriffs of the shire do attend upon the execution of the commandments of the judges, which the earl should do, if he were not attending upon the princes in the wars, or otherwise about him; for the chief office of the earl was to see the king’s justice to have course, and to be well executed in the shire, and the prince’s revenues to be well answered and brought into the treasury.

If any fines or amerciaments be extracted out of any of the said courts upon any man, or any arrerages of accounts of such things as is of customs, taxes, and subsidies, or other such like occasions, the same the sheriff of the shire doth gather, and is answerable therefore in the Exchequer: as for other ordinary rents of patrimonial lands, and most commonly of taxes, customs, and subsidies, there be particular receivers and collectors, which do answer it into the Exchequer. This court of the Exchequer hath of old time, and, as I think, since the Conquest, been kept at Westminster, notwithstanding sometimes removed thence by commandment of the king, and after restored again, as, namely, in the year 1209, King John commanded the Exchequer to be removed from Westminster to Northampton, etc.

On the left hand above the stair is the Duchy chamber, wherein is kept the court for the duchy of Lancaster by a chancellor of that duchy, and other officers under him. Then is there in another chamber the office of the receipts of the queen’s revenues for the crown: then is there also the Star chamber, where in the term time, every week once at the least, which is commonly on Fridays and Wednesdays, and on the next day after the term endeth, the lord chancellor, and the lords, and other of the privy council, and the chief justices of England, from nine of the clock till it be eleven, do sit.

This place is called the Star chamber, because the roof thereof is decked with the likeness of stars gilt: there be plaints heard of riots, routs, and other misdemeanors; which if they be found by the king’s council, the party offender shall be censured by these persons, which speak one after another, and he shall be both fined and commanded to prison.

Then at the upper end of the great hall, by the King’s Bench, is a going up to a great chamber, called the White hall, wherein is now kept the court of Wards and Liveries, and adjoining thereunto is the Court of Requests. Then is St. Stephen’s chapel, of old time founded by King Stephen. King John, in the 7th of his reign, granted to Baldwinus de London, clerk of his Exchequer, the chapelship of St. Stephen’s at Westminster, etc. This chapel was again since, of a far more curious workmanship, new built by King Edward III. in the year 1347, for thirty-eight persons in that church to serve God; to wit, a dean, twelve secular canons, thirteen vicars, four clerks, five choristers, two servitors, to wit, a verger and a keeper of the chapel. He built for those from the house of Receipt, along nigh to the Thames, within the same palace, there to inhabit; and since that there was also built for them, betwixt the clock-house and the wool staple, called the Wey house. He also built to the use of this chapel (though out of the palace court), some distance west, in the little sanctuary, a strong clochard of stone and timber, covered with lead, and placed therein three great bells, since usually rung at coronations, triumphs, funeral of princes, and their obits. Of those bells men fabuled that their ringing soured all the drink in the town: more, that about the biggest bell was written,--

“King Edward made me,
Thirtie thousand and three;
Take me downe and wey me,
And more shall ye find me.”

But these bells being taken down indeed, were found all three not to weigh twenty thousand. True it is, that in the city of Rouen, in Normandie, there is one great bell, that hath such inscription as followeth:--

“Je suis George de Ambois,
Qui trente cinq mil a pois,
Mes lui qui me pesera,
Trente six mil me trouera.

“I am George of Ambois,
Thirty-five thousand in pois;
But he that shall weigh me,
Thirty-six thousand shall find me.”

The said King Edward endowed this chapel with lands to the yearly value of five hundred pounds. Doctor John Chambers, the king’s physician, the last dean of this college, built thereunto a cloister of curious workmanship, to the charges of eleven thousand marks. This chapel, or college, at the suppression, was valued to dispend in lands by the year one thousand and eighty-five pounds ten shillings and five pence, and was surrendered to Edward VI.; since the which time the same chapel hath served as a parliament house.

By this chapel of St. Stephen was sometime one other smaller chapel, called our Lady of the Pew, to the which lady great offerings were used to be made: amongst other things, I have read, that Richard II., after the overthrow of Wat Tyler and other his rebels, in the 4th of his reign, went to Westminster, and there giving thanks to God for his victory, made his offering in this chapel; but as divers have noted, namely, John Piggot, in the year 1252, on the 17th of February, by negligence of a scholar appointed by his schoolmaster to put forth the lights of this chapel, the image of our lady, richly decked with jewels, precious stones, pearls, and rings, more than any jeweller could judge the price for, so saith mine author, was, with all this apparel, ornaments, and chapel itself, burnt; but since again re-edified by Anthonie, Earl Rivers, Lord Scales, and of the Isle of Wight, uncle and governor to the Prince of Wales, that should have been King Edward V., etc.

The said palace, before the entry thereunto, hath a large court, and in the same a tower of stone, containing a clock, which striketh every hour on a great bell, to be heard into the hall in sitting time of the courts, or otherwise; for the same clock, in a calm, will be heard into the city of London. King Henry VI. gave the keeping of this clock, with the tower called the clock-house, and the appurtenances, unto William Walsby, dean of St. Stephen’s, with the wages of six pence the day out of his Exchequer. By this tower standeth a fountain, which at coronations and great triumphs is made to run with wine out of divers spouts.

On the east side of this court is an arched gate to the river of Thames, with a fair bridge and landing-place for all men that have occasion. On the north side is the south end of St. Stephen’s alley, or Canon row, and also a way into the old wool staple; and on the west side is a very fair gate, begun by Richard III. in the year 1484, and was by him built a great height, and many fair lodgings in it, but left unfinished, and is called the high tower of Westminster. Thus much for the monastery and palace may suffice. And now will I speak of the gate-house, and of Totehill street, stretching from the west part of the close.

The gate-house is so called of two gates, the one out of the College court towards the north, on the east side whereof was the bishop of London’s prison for clerks’ convict; and the other gate, adjoining to the first, but towards the west, is a gaol or prison for offenders thither committed. Walter Warfield, cellarer to the monastery, caused both these gates, with the appurtenances, to be built in the reign of Edward III.

On the south side of this gate, King Henry VII. founded an alms-house for thirteen poor men; one of them to be a priest, aged forty-five years, a good grammarian, the other twelve to be aged fifty years, without wives: every Saturday the priest to receive of the abbot, or prior, four pence by the day, and each other two pence halfpenny by the day for ever, for their sustenance, and every year to each one a gown and a hood ready made; and to three women that dressed their meat, and kept them in their sickness, each to have every Saturday sixteen pence, and every year a gown ready made. More, to the thirteen poor men yearly eighty quarters of coal and one thousand of good faggots to their use, in the hall and kitchen of their mansion; a discreet monk to be overseer of them, and he to have forty shillings by the year, etc.; and hereunto was every abbot and prior sworn.

Near unto this house westward was an old chapel of St. Anne; over against the which the Lady Margaret, mother to King Henry VII., erected an alms-house for poor women, which is now turned into lodgings for the singing men of the college. The place wherein this chapel and alms-house standeth was called the Elemosinary, or Almonry, now corruptly the Ambry,[299] for that the alms of the abbey were there distributed to the poor. And therein Islip, abbot of Westminster, erected the first press of book printing that ever was in England, about the year of Christ 1471. William Caxton, citizen of London, mercer, brought it into England, and was the first that practised it in the said abbey; after which time, the like was practised in the abbeys of St. Augustine at Canterbury, St. Alban’s, and other monasteries.

From the west gate runneth along Totehil street, wherein is a house of the Lord Gray of Wilton; and on the other side, at the entry into Totehill field, Stourton house, which Gyles, the last Lord Dacre of the south, purchased and built new, whose lady and wife Anne, sister to Thomas, the Lord Buckhurst, left money to her executors to build an hospital for twenty poor women, and so many children, to be brought up under them, for whose maintenance she assigned lands to the value of one hundred pounds by the year, which hospital her executors have new begun in the field adjoining. From the entry into Totehill field the street is called Petty France, in which, and upon St. Hermit’s hill, on the south side thereof, Cornelius Van Dun (a Brabander born, yeoman of the guard to King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth,) built twenty houses for poor women to dwell rent-free: and near hereunto was a chapel of Mary Magdalen, now wholly ruinated.

In the year of Christ 1256, the 40th of Henry III., John Mansell, the king’s councillor and priest, did invite to a stately dinner the kings and queens of England and Scotland, Edward the king’s son, earls, barons, and knights, the Bishop of London, and divers citizens, whereby his guests did grow to such a number, that his house at Totehill could not receive them, but that he was forced to set up tents and pavilions to receive his guests, whereof there was such a multitude that seven hundred messes of meat did not serve for the first dinner.

The city of Westminster for civil government is divided into twelve several wards; for the which the dean of the collegiate church of Westminster, or the high-steward, do elect twelve burgesses, and as many assistants; that is, one burgess, and one assistant, for every ward; out of the which twelve burgesses two are nominated yearly, upon Thursday in Easter week, for chief burgesses to continue for one year next following, who have authority given them by the act of parliament, 27th Elizabeth, to hear, examine, determine, and punish, according to the laws of the realm, and lawful customs of the city of London, matters of incontinency, common scolds, inmates, and common annoyances; and likewise, to commit such persons as shall offend against the peace, and thereof to give knowledge within four-and-twenty hours to some justice of peace, in the county of Middlesex.

FOOTNOTES:

[291] “Which is a goodly house, lately builded nigh to Ivy bridge, over against the old Bedforde house, namely, called Russell house and Dacres house, now the house of Sir Thomas Cecile, Lorde Burghley; and so on the north side to a lane that turneth to the parish church of St. Martin in the Fielde, and stretcheth to St. Giles in the Fielde.”--_1st edition_, pp. 370-1.

[292] “I thinke custome.”--_1st edition_, p. 376.

[293] “Foundation of Westminster by Sebert, a Christian king, not onely in word, but in deed.”--_Stow._

[294] “One of her majesties chaplens.”--_1st edition_, p. 381.

[295] “Earle of Bridgewater.”--_1st edition_, p. 382.

[296] In the first edition, the passage relative to Henry II.’s command to Hugh Gifford and William Browne, to distribute alms “according to the weight and measure of the king’s children” (see ante, page 83), is inserted in this place.

[297] “I find of record, the 50th of Edward III., that the chapter-house of the abbot of Westminster was then the usual house for the commons in parliament.”--_Stow._

[298] “Of England.”--_1st edition_, p. 387.

[299] The corruption alluded to by Stow exists to the present day--the Almonry being styled by the lower classes in Westminster, the Ambry. The house said to have been Caxton’s is also, we believe, still remaining, though in a state of great dilapidation.

GOVERNORS OF THE CITY OF LONDON; AND FIRST OF ECCLESIASTICAL BISHOPS AND OTHER MINISTERS THERE

Having thus run through the description of these cities of London and Westminster, as well in their original foundations, as in their increases of buildings and ornaments, together with such incidents of sundry sorts as are before, both generally and particularly discoursed, it remaineth that somewhat be noted by me touching the policy and government, both ecclesiastical and civil, of London, as I have already done for Westminster, the order whereof is appointed by the late statute, even as that of London is maintained by the customs thereof, most laudably used before all the time of memory.

And first, to begin with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction: I read that the Christian faith was first preached in this island (then called Britaine) by Joseph of Arimathea, and his brethren, disciples of Christ, in the time of Aruiragus, then governor here under the Roman emperor; after which time, Lucius, king of the Britaines, sent his ambassadors, Eluanus and Meduvanus, two men learned in the Scriptures, with letters to Eleutherius,[300] bishop of Rome, desiring him to send some devout and learned men, by whose instruction he and his people might be taught the faith and religion of Christ. Eleutherius baptised those messengers, making Eluanus a bishop, and Meduvius a teacher, and sent over with them into Britain two other famous clerks, Faganus and Deruvianus, by whose diligence Lucius, and his people of Britaine, were instructed in the faith of Christ, and baptized, the temples of idols were converted into cathedral churches, and bishops were placed where Flammines before had been; at London, Yorke, and Carleon upon Uske, were placed archbishops, saith some. The epistle said to be sent by Eleutherius to king Lucius, for the establishing of the faith, ye may read in my _Annals_, _Summaries_, and _Chronicles_, truly translated and set down as mine author hath it, for some have curtailed and corrupted it, and then fathered it upon reverend Bede, who never wrote word thereof, or otherwise to that effect, more than this as followeth.

In the year 156, Marcus Aurelius Verus, the fourteenth emperor after Augustus, governed the empire with his brother Aurelius Comodus; in whose time, Glutherius, a holy man, being pope of the church of Rome, Lucius, king of Britaines, wrote unto him, desiring that by his commandment he might be made Christian; which his request was granted him; whereby the Britaines receiving then the faith, kept it sound and undefiled in rest and peace until Dioclesian the emperor’s time. Thus far Bede, which may suffice to prove the Christian faith there to be received here. And now of the London bishops as I find them.

There remaineth in the parish church of St. Peter upon Cornhill in London a table, wherein is written, that Lucius founded the same church to be an archbishop’s see, and metropolitan or chief church of his kingdom, and that it so endured the space of four hundred years, until the coming of Augustine the monk, and others, from Rome, in the reign of the Saxons. The archbishops’ names I find only to be set down by Joceline of Furnes, in his book of British bishops, and not elsewhere. Thean (saith he) was the first archbishop of London, in the time of Lucius, who built the said church of St. Peter, in a place called Cornhill in London, by the aid of Ciran, chief butler to King Lucius.

2. Eluanus was the second, and he built a library to the same church adjoining, and converted many of the Druids (learned men in the Pagan law) to the Christian faith.

3. Cadar was the third; then followed,

4. Obinus.

5. Conan.

6. Paludius.

7. Stephen.

8. Iltute.

9. Dedwin.

10. Thedred.

11. Hillary.

12. Guidelium.

13. Vodimus, slain by the Saxons.

14. Theanus, the fourteenth, fled with the Britaines into Wales, about the year of Christ 587.

Thus much out of Joceline of the archbishops; the credit whereof I leave to the judgment of the learned; for I read of a bishop of London (not before named) in the year of Christ 326, to be present at the second council, holden at Arles, in the time of Constantine the Great, who subscribed thereunto in these words: _Ex provinciæ Britaniæ Civitate Londiniensi Restitutus Episcopus_, as plainly appeareth in the first tome of the councils, he writeth not himself archbishop, and therefore maketh the matter of archbishops doubtful, or rather, overthroweth that opinion.

The Saxons being pagans, having chased the Britons, with the Christian preachers, into the mountains of Wales and Cornewall; and having divided this kingdom of the Britons amongst themselves, at the length, to wit, in the year 596, Pope Gregory, moved of a godly instinction (sayeth Bede), in the 147th year after the arrival of the Angles or Saxons in Britaine, sent Augustine, Miletus, Justus, and John, with other monks, to preach the Gospel to the said nation of the Angles: these landed in the isle of Thanet, and were first received by Ethelbert, king of Kent, whom they converted to the faith of Christ, with divers other of his people, in the 34th year of his reign, which Ethelbert gave unto Augustine the city of Canterbury.

This Augustine, in the year of Christ 604, consecrated Miletus and Justus bishops, appointing Miletus to preach unto the East Saxons, whose chief city was London; and there King Sebert, nephew to Ethelbert, by preaching of Miletus, received the Word of Life: and then Ethelbert king of Kent, built in the city of London St. Paul’s church, wherein Miletus began to be bishop in the year 619, and sat five years. Ethelbert, by his charter, gave lands to this church of St. Paul, so did other kings after him. King Sebert, through the good life, and like preaching of Miletus, having received baptism, to show himself a Christian, built a church to the honour of God and St. Peter, on the west side of London, which church is called Westminster; but the successors of Sebert being pagans, expelled Miletus out of their kingdoms.

Justus, the second bishop for a time, and then Miletus again; after whose decease the seat was void for a time. At length Sigebert, son to Sigebert, brother to Sebert, ruled in Essex; he became a Christian, and took to him a holy man named Cedde, or Chadde, who won many by preaching, and good life, to the Christian religion.

Cedde, or Chad, was by Finan consecrated bishop of the East Saxons, and he ordered priests and deacons in all the parts of Essex, but especially at Ithancaster and Tilberie.

This city of Ithancaster (saith Raph Cogshall) stood on the bank of the river Pante, that runneth by Maldun, in the hundred of Danesey, but now is drowned in Pante, so that nothing remaineth but the ruin of the city in the river Tilberie (both the west and east) standeth on the Thames side, nigh over against Gravesend.

Wina, expelled from the church of Winchester by Cenewalche the king, was adopted to be the fourth bishop of London, in the reign of Wolferus king of Mercia, and sat nine years.

Erkenwalde, born in the castle or town of Stallingborough in Lindsey, first abbot of Crotesey, was by Theodore archbishop of Canterbury appointed to be bishop of the East Saxons, in the city of London. This Erkenwalde, in the year of Christ 677, before he was made bishop, had built two monasteries, one for himself, being a monk, in the isle of Crote in Surrey, by the river of Thames, and another for his sister Edilburge, being a nun, in a certain place called Berching in Essex; he deceased at Berching in the year 697, and was then buried in Paul’s church, and translated into the new church of St. Paul in the year 1148.

Waldhere was bishop of London. Sebba king of the East Saxons at his hands received the habit of monk, for at that time there were monks in Paul’s church, as writeth Radulphus de Diceto, and others. To this bishop he brought a great sum of money, to be bestowed and given to the poor, reserving nothing to himself, but rather desired to remain poor in goods as in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven. When he had reigned thirty years he deceased at Paul’s, and was there buried, and lieth now in a coffin of stone, on the north side of the aisle next the choir.

Ingwaldus bishop of London was at the consecration of Tatwine archbishop of Canterbury; he confirmed the foundation of Crowland in the year 716, saith Ingulfus, and deceased in the year 744, as saith Hoveden.

746. Engulfe bishop of London.

754. Wichet, or Wigerus, bishop of London.

761. Eaderightus, or Edbrithe, bishop of London.

768. Eadgain, or Eadgarus, bishop of London.

773. Kenewallth bishop of London.

784. Eadbaldus bishop of London.

795. Heatbright bishop of London, deceased 802, saith Hoveden.

813. Osmond bishop of London; he was witness to a charter made to Crowland in the year 833, saith Ingulphus.

835. Ethelmothe bishop of London.

838. Elbertus, or Celbertus, bishop of London.

841. Caulfe bishop of London.

850. Swithulfus bishop of London; he likewise was witness to a charter of Crowland 851.

860. Edstanus bishop of London; witness to a charter to Crowland 860.

870. Ulsius bishop of London.

878. Ethelwardus bishop of London.

886. Elstanus bishop of London, died in the year 900, saith Asser; and all these, saith the author of _Flores Historiarum_, were buried in the old church of St. Paul, but there remaineth now no memory of them.

900. Theodricus bishop of London; this man confirmed King Edred’s charter made to Winchester in the year 947, whereby it seemeth that he was bishop of London of a later time than is here placed.

922. Welstanus bishop of London.

941. Brithelme bishop of London.

958. Dunstanus, abbot of Glastonberie, then bishop of Worcester, and then bishop of London; he was afterwards translated to Canterbury 960.

960. Ealfstanus bishop of London; the 28th in number.

981. Edgare bishop of London; he confirmed the grants made to Winchester and to Crowland 966, and again to Crowland 970, the charter of Ethelred, concerning Ulfrunhampton, 996.

1004. Elphinus bishop of London.

1010. Alwinus bishop of London; he was sent into Normandy in the year 1013, saith Asser.

1044. Robert, a monk of Gemerisins in Normandy, bishop of London seven years, afterwards translated from London to Canterbury.

1050. Specgasius, elected, but rejected by the king.

1051. William, a Norman chaplain to Edward the Confessor, was made bishop of London 1051, sate 17 years, and deceased 1070. He obtained of William the Conqueror the charter of liberties for the city of London, as I have set down in my _Summary_, and appeareth by his epitaph in Paul’s church. 1070. Hugh de Orwell bishop of London; he died of a leprosy when he had sitten fifteen years.

1085. Maurice bishop of London; in whose time, to wit, in the year 1086, the church of St. Paul was burnt, with the most part of this city; and therefore he laid the foundation of a new large church; and having sat twenty-two years he deceased 1107, saith Paris.

1108. Richard Beame, or Beamor, bishop of London, did wonderfully increase the work of this church begun, purchasing the streets and lanes adjoining with his own money; and he founded the monastery of St. Osyth in Essex. He sat bishop nineteen years, and deceased 1127.

1127. Gilbertus Universalis, a canon of Lyons, elected by Henry I.; he deceased 1141, when he had sat fourteen years.

1142. Robert de Segillo, a monk of Reading, whom Mawde the empress made bishop of London, where he sat eleven years. Geffrey de Magnavile took him prisoner at Fulham, and he deceased 1152.

1153. Richard Beames, archdeacon of Essex, bishop of London ten years, who deceased 1162.

1163. Gilbert Foliot, bishop of Hereford, from whence translated to London, sat twenty-three years, and deceased 1186.

1189. Richard Fitz Nele, the king’s treasurer, archdeacon of Essex, elected bishop of London at Pipwel, 1189. He sate nine years, and deceased 1198. This man also took great pains about the building of Paul’s church, and raised many other goodly buildings in his diocese.

1199. William S. Mary Church, a Norman, bishop of London, who was one of the three bishops that, by the pope’s commandment, executed his interdiction, or curse, upon the whole realm of England; but he was forced, with the other bishops, to flee the realm in 1208; and his castle at Stratford in Essex was by commandment of King John overthrown, 1210. This William, in company of the archbishop of Canterburie, and of the bishop of Elie, went to Rome, and there complained against the king, 1212, and returned, so as in the year 1215 King John, in the church of St. Paul, at the hands of this William, took upon him the cross for the Holy Land. He resigned his bishoprick of his own voluntary in the year 1221, saith Cogshall.

1221. Eustachius de Fauconbridge, treasurer of the exchequer (saith Paris), chancellor of the exchequer (saith Textor and Cogshall), bishop of London, 1223, whilst at Chelmesforde he was giving holy orders, a great tempest of wind and rain annoyed so many as came thither, whereof it was gathered how highly God was displeased with such as came to receive orders, to the end that they might live a more easy life of the stipend appointed to the churchmen, giving themselves to banquetting; and so with unclean and filthy bodies (but more unclean souls) presume to minister unto God, the author of purity and cleanness. Falcatius de Brent was delivered to his custody in the year 1224. This Eustachius deceased in the year 1228, and was buried in Paul’s church, in the south side, without, or above, the choir.

1229. Roger Niger, archdeacon of Colchester, made bishop of London. In the year 1230 (saith Paris), upon the feast day of the Conversion of St. Paul, when he was at mass in the cathedral church of St. Paul, a great multitude of people being there present, suddenly the weather waxed dark, so as one could scantly see another, and a horrible thunder-clap lighted on the church, which so shook it, that it was like to have fallen, and therewithal out of a dark cloud proceeded a flash of lightning, that all the church seemed to be on fire, whereupon such a stench ensued, that all men thought they should have died; thousands of men and women ran out of the church, and being astonied, fell upon the ground void of all sense and understanding; none of all the multitude tarried in the church save the bishop and one deacon, which stood still before the high altar, awaiting the will of God. When the air was cleansed, the multitude returned into the church, and the bishop ended the service.

This Roger Niger is commended to have been a man of worthy life, excellently well-learned, a notable preacher, pleasant in talk, mild of countenance, and liberal at his table. He admonished the usurers of his time to leave such enormities as they tendered the salvation of their souls, and to do penance for that they had committed. But when he saw they laughed him to scorn, and also threatened him, the bishop generally excommunicated and accursed all such, and commanded straitly that such usurers should depart farther from the city of London, which hither towards had been ignorant of such mischief and wickedness, least his diocese should be infected therewithal. He fell sick and died at his manor of Bishops hall, in the lordship and parish of Stebunheth, in the year 1241, and was buried in Paul’s church, on the north side of the presbytery, in a fair tomb, coped, of grey marble.

1241. Fulco Basset, dean of Yorke, by the death of Gilbert Basset, possessed his lands, and was then made bishop of London, deceased on the 21st of May, in the year 1259, as saith John Textor, and was buried in Paul’s church.

1259. Henry Wingham, chancellor of England, made bishop of London, deceased in the year 1262, saith Textor, and was buried in Paul’s church, on the south side, without or above the choir, in a marble monument, close at the head of Fauconbridge.

1262. Richard Talbot, bishop of London, straightways after his consecration deceased, saith Eversden.

1262. Henry Sandwich, bishop of London, deceased in the year 1273, the same author affirmeth.

1273. John Cheshul, dean of Paul’s, treasurer of the Exchequer, and keeper of the great seal, was bishop of London, and deceased in the year 1279, saith Eversden.

1280. Fulco Lovel, archdeacon of Colchester, elected bishop of London, but refused that place.

1280. Richard Gravesend, archdeacon of Northampton, bishop of London. It appeareth by the charter-warren granted to this bishop, that in his time there were two woods in the parish of Stebunhith pertaining to the said bishop. I have since I kept house for myself known the one of them by Bishops hall; but now they are both made plain of wood, and not to be discerned from other grounds. Some have fabuled that this Richard Gravesend, bishop of London, in the year 1392, the 16th of Richard II., purchased the charter of liberties to this city; which thing hath no possibility of truth, as I have proved, for he deceased in the year 1303, almost ninety years before that time.

1307. Raph Baldocke, dean of Paul’s, bishop of London, consecrated at Lyons by Peter, bishop of Alba, in the year 1307; he was a great furtherer of the new work of Paul’s; to wit, the east end, called our Lady chapel, and other adjoining. This Raph deceased in the year 1313, and was buried in the said Lady chapel, under a flat stone.

1313. Gilbert Segrave was consecrated bishop of London, and sat three years.

1317. Richard Newport, bishop of London, sat two years, and was buried in Paul’s church.

1318. Stephen Gravesend, bishop of London, sat twenty years.

1338. Richard Wentworth, bishop of London, and chancellor of England, and deceased the year 1339.

1339. Raph Stratford, bishop of London; he purchased the piece of ground called No Man’s land, beside Smithfield, and dedicated it to the use of burial, as before hath appeared. He was born at Stratford upon Avon, and therefore built a chapel to St. Thomas there: he sat fourteen years, deceased at Stebunhith.

1354. Michael Norbroke, bishop of London, deceased in the year 1361, saith Mirimouth, sat seven years.

1362. Simon Sudbery, bishop of London, sat thirteen years, translated to be archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1375.

1375. William Courtney, translated from Hereford to the bishoprick of London, and after translated from thence to the archbishoprick of Canterbury in the year 1381.

1381. Robert Breybrook, canon of Lichfield, bishop of London, made chancellor in the 6th of Richard II., sat bishop twenty years, and deceased in the year 1404: he was buried in the said Lady chapel at Paul’s.

1405. Roger Walden, treasurer of the exchequer, archbishop of Canterbury, was deposed, and after made bishop of London; he deceased in the year 1406, and was buried[301] in Paul’s church, Allhallowes altar.

1406. Richard Bubwith, bishop of London, treasurer of the exchequer, translated to Salisbury, and from thence to Bathe, and lieth buried at Wels.

1407. Richard Clifford, removed from Worcester to London, deceased 1422, as saith Thomas Walsingham, and was buried in Paul’s.

1422. John Kempe, fellow of Martin college in Oxford, was made bishop of Rochester, from whence removed to Chichester, and thence to London; he was made the king’s chancellor in the year 1425, the 4th of Henry VI., and was removed from London to York in the year 1426: he sat archbishop there twenty-five years, and was translated to Canterbury; he was afterwards made cardinal in the year 1452. In the bishop of London’s house at Fulham he received the cross, and the next day the pall, at the hands of Thomas Kempe, bishop of London. He deceased in the year 1454.

1426. William Gray, dean of York, consecrated bishop of London, who founded a college at Thele in Hartfordshire, for a master and four canons, and made it a cell to Elsing spittle in London; it had of old time been a college, decayed, and therefore newly-founded. He was translated to Lincoln 1431.

1431. Robert Fitzhugh, archdeacon of Northampton, consecrated bishop of London, sat five years, deceased 1435, and was buried on the south side of the choir of Paul’s.

1435. Robert Gilbert, doctor of divinity, dean of York, consecrated bishop of London, sat twelve years, deceased 1448.

1449. Thomas Kempe, archdeacon of Richmond, consecrated bishop of London at York house (now Whitehall), by the hands of his uncle John Kemp, archbishop of York, the 8th of February, 1449; he founded a chapel of the Trinity in the body of St. Paul’s church, on the north side; he sat bishop of London thirty-nine years and forty-eight days, and then deceased in the year 1489, was there buried.

1489. John Marshal, bishop of London, deceased in the year 1493.

1493. Richard Hall, bishop of London, deceased 1495, and was buried in the body of St. Paul’s church.

1496. Thomas Savage, first bishop of Rochester, then bishop of London five years, was translated to York 1501, where he sat archbishop seven years, and was there buried in the year 1507.

1502. William Warrham, bishop of London, made keeper of the great seal, sat two years, was translated to Canterbury.

1504. William Barons, bishop of London, sat ten months and eleven days, deceased in the year 1505.

1505. Richard Fitz James, fellow of Merton college in Oxford, in the reign of Henry VI., was made bishop of Rochester, after bishop of Chichester, then bishop of London; he deceased 1521, and lieth buried hard beneath the north-west pillar of the steeple in St. Paul’s, under a fair tomb of marble, over the which was built a fair chapel of timber, with stairs mounting thereunto: this chapel was burned with fire from the steeple 1561, and the tomb was taken down.

1521. Cuthbert Tunstal, doctor of law, master of the rolls, lord privy seal, and bishop of London, was thence translated to the bishopric of Durham in the year 1529.

1529. John Stokeley, bishop of London, sat thirteen years, deceased in the year 1539, and was buried in the Lady chapel in Paul’s.

1539. Edmond Boner, doctor of the civil law, archdeacon of Leycester, then bishop of Hereford, was elected to London in the year 1539, whilst he was beyond the seas, ambassador to King Henry VIII. On the 1st of September, 1549, he preached at Paul’s cross; for the which sermon he was charged before the council of King Edward VI., by William Latimer, parson of St. Lawrence Poltney, and John Hooper, sometime a white monk, and being convented before certain commissioners at Lambith, was for his disobedience to the king’s order, on the 20th day of the same month sent to the Marshalsey, and deprived from his bishopric.

1550. Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, elected bishop of London, was installed in Paul’s church on the 12th of April. This man by his deed, dated the twelfth day after Christmas, in the 4th year of Edward VI., gave to the king the manors of Branketrie and Southminster, and the patronage of the church of Cogshall in Essex, the manors of Stebunheth and Hackney, in the county of Middlesex, and the marsh of Stebunheth, with all and singular messuages, lands, and tenements, to the said manors belonging, and also the advowson of the vicarage of the parish church of Cogshall in Essex aforesaid; which grant was confirmed by the dean and chapter of Paul’s, the same day and year, with exception of such lands in Southminster, Stebunheth, and Hackney, as only pertained to them. The said King Edward, by his letters patents, dated the 16th of April, in the said 4th year of his reign, granted to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Lord Wentworth, lord chamberlain of the king’s household, for, and in consideration of his good and faithful service before done, a part of the late received gift, to wit, the lordships of Stebunheth and Hackney, with all the members and appurtenances thereunto belonging, in Stebunheth, Hackney way, Shoreditch, Holiwell street, Whitechappell, Stratford at Bow, Poplar, North street, Limehouse, Ratliffe, Cleve street, Brock street, Mile end, Bleten hall green, Oldford, Westheth, Kingsland, Shakelwell, Newinton street _alias_ Hackney street, Clopton, Church street, Wel street, Humbarton, Grove street, Gunston street, _alias_ More street, in the county of Middlesex, together with the marsh of Stebunhith, etc. The manor of Hackney was valued at sixty-one pounds nine shillings and fourpence, and the manor Stebunhith at one hundred and forty pounds eight shillings and eleven pence, by year, to be holden in chief, by the service of the twentieth part of a knight’s fee. This bishop, Nicholas Ridley, for preaching a sermon at Paul’s cross, on the 16th of July, in the year 1553, was committed to the Tower of London, where he remained prisoner till the 10th of April, 1554, and was thence sent to Oxford, there to dispute with the divines and learned men of the contrary opinion; and on the 16th of October, 1555, he was burned at Oxford for opinions against the Romish order of sacraments, etc.