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diff --git a/19800-tei/19800-tei.tei b/19800-tei/19800-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1623a67 --- /dev/null +++ b/19800-tei/19800-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,21219 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!-- +The Project Gutenberg EBook of London and the Kingdom - Volume I by Reginald R. Sharpe + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: London and the Kingdom - Volume I + +Author: Reginald R. Sharpe + +Release Date: November 13, 2006 [Ebook #19800] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 +--> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>London and the Kingdom - Volume I</title> + <author>Reginald R. Sharpe</author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="1">Edition 1</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2006-11-13">November 13, 2006</date> + <idno type="etext-no">19800</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + <title>London and the Kingdom</title> + <author>Reginald R. Sharpe</author> + <imprint> + <pubPlace>London</pubPlace> + <pubPlace>New York</pubPlace> + <publisher>Longmans, Green & Co.</publisher> + <date>1898</date> + </imprint> + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + + <encodingDesc> + <classDecl> + <taxonomy id="lc"> + <bibl> + <title>Library of Congress Classification</title> + </bibl> + </taxonomy> + </classDecl> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en">English</language> + </langUsage> + <textClass> + <classCode scheme="lc"> + *** <!-- LoC Class (PR, PQ, ...) --> + </classCode> + <keywords> + <list> + <!-- <item></item> any keywords for PG search engine --> + </list> + </keywords> + </textClass> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2006-11-13">November 13, 2006</date> + <respStmt> + <name>Paul Murray<lb /></name> + <name>Joshua Hutchinson<lb /></name> + <name>The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries</name> + <name>Online Distributed Proofreading Team</name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg Edition</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + figure { text-align: center; page-float: 'htbp' } + .floatleft { float: left; margin-right: 2em } + .floatright { float: right; margin-left: 2em } + .w90 { } + .w50 { } + .w20 { } + .w05 { } + @media pdf { + .w90 { width: 90% } + .w50 { width: 50% } + .w20 { width: 20% } + .w05 { width: 5% } + } + </pgStyleSheet> +</pgExtensions> + + +<text> +<front> +<div> +<divGen type="pgheader" /> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<figure url="images/image01.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>CHARTER OF WILLIAM I TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: CHARTER OF WILLIAM I TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON.</figDesc> +</figure> + +<figure url="images/image02.png" rend="w90"> +<index index="fig" /> +<head>CHARTER OF WILLIAM I GRANTING LANDS TO DEORMAN.</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: CHARTER OF WILLIAM I GRANTING LANDS TO DEORMAN.</figDesc> +</figure> + +<p></p> +</div> + +<titlePage rend="page-break-before: right"> + <docTitle><titlePart type="main" rend="font-size: x-large">London and the Kingdom</titlePart><lb /><lb /> + <titlePart type="sub">A HISTORY—DERIVED MAINLY FROM THE ARCHIVES AT GUILDHALL IN THE CUSTODY OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF LONDON.</titlePart></docTitle> + <byline><lb /><lb />By <docAuthor>REGINALD R. SHARPE, D.C.L.,</docAuthor><lb /> + RECORDS CLERK IN THE OFFICE OF THE TOWN CLERK OF THE CITY OF LONDON; EDITOR OF "CALENDAR OF WILLS ENROLLED IN THE COURT OF HUSTING," ETC.<lb /><lb /> + IN THREE VOLUMES.<lb /><lb /> + VOL. I.<lb /><lb /></byline> + +<docImprint><hi rend="font-style: italic">PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CORPORATION UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE.</hi> +<lb /><lb />London<lb /> +LONGMANS, GREEN & Co.<lb /> +AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16TH STREET.<lb /><lb /></docImprint> +<docDate>1894</docDate> +</titlePage> + +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">London:<lb /> +Printed by Blades, East & Blades,<lb /> +23, Abchurch Lane, E.C.</hi></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="iii" /><anchor id="Pgiii" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>PREFACE.</head> + +<p>Of the numerous works that have been written +on London, by which I mean more especially +the City of London, few have been devoted to an +adequate, if indeed any, consideration of its political +importance in the history of the Kingdom. The +history of the City is so many-sided that writers +have to be content with the study of some particular +phase or some special epoch. Thus we have those +who have concentrated their efforts to evolving +out of the remote past the municipal organization +of the City. Their task has been to unfold the +origin and institution of the Mayoralty and Shrievalty +of London, the division of the City into wards with +Aldermen at their head, the development of the +various trade and craft guilds, and the respective +powers and duties of the Courts of Aldermen and +Common Council, and of the Livery of London +assembled in their Common Hall. Others have +devoted themselves to the study of the ecclesiastical +and monastic side of the City's history—its Cathedral, +its religious houses, and hundred and more parish<pb n="iv" /><anchor id="Pgiv" /> +churches, which occupied so large an extent of the +City's area. The ecclesiastical importance of the City, +however, is too often ignored. "We are prone," +writes Bishop Stubbs, "in examining into the municipal +and mercantile history of London, to forget +that it was a very great ecclesiastical centre." +Others, again, have confined themselves to depicting +the every-day life of the City burgess, his social condition, +his commercial pursuits, his amusements; whilst +others have been content to perpetuate the memory +of streets and houses long since lost to the eye, +and thus to keep alive an interest in scenes and +places which otherwise would be forgotten.</p> + +<p>The political aspect of the City's history has +rarely been touched by writers, and yet its geographical +position combined with the innate courage +and enterprise of its citizens served to give it no +small political power and no insignificant place in +the history of the Kingdom. This being the case, +the Corporation resolved to fill the void, and in +view of the year 1889 being the 700th Anniversary +of the Mayoralty of London—according to popular +tradition—instructed the Library Committee to prepare +a work showing "the pre-eminent position +occupied by the City of London and the important +function it exercised in the shaping and making of +England."</p> + +<pb n="v" /><anchor id="Pgv" /> + +<p>It is in accordance with these instructions that +this and succeeding volumes have been compiled. +As the title of the work has been taken from a +chapter in Mr. Loftie's book on London ("Historic +Towns" series, chap. ix), so its main features are +delineated in that chapter. "It would be interesting"—writes +Mr. Loftie—"to go over all the +recorded instances in which the City of London +interfered directly in the affairs of the Kingdom. +Such a survey would be the history of England +as seen from the windows of the Guildhall." No +words could better describe the character of the +work now submitted to the public. It has been +compiled mainly from the City's own archives. +The City has been allowed to tell its own story. +If, therefore, its pages should appear to be too +much taken up with accounts of loans advanced +by the City to impecunious monarchs or with +wearisome repetition of calls for troops to be raised +in the City for foreign service, it is because the +City's records of the day are chiefly if not wholly +concerned with these matters. If, on the other +hand, an event which may be rightly deemed of +national importance be here omitted, it is because +the citizens were little affected thereby, and the +City's records are almost, if not altogether, silent on +the subject.</p> + +<pb n="vi" /><anchor id="Pgvi" /> + +<p>The work does not affect to be a critical history +so much as a <hi rend="font-style: italic">chronique pour servir</hi>, to which the +historical student may have recourse in order to learn +what was the attitude taken up by the citizens of +London at important crises in the nation's history. +He will there see how, in the contest between +Stephen and the Empress Matilda, the City of +London held as it were the balance; how it helped +to overthrow the tyranny of Longchamp, and to +wrest from the reluctant John the Great Charter of +our liberties; how it was with men and money +supplied by the City that Edward III and Henry V +were enabled to conquer France, and how in after +years the London trained bands raised the siege of +Gloucester and turned the tide of the Civil War in +favour of Parliament. He will not fail to note the +significant fact that before Monk put into execution +his plan for restoring Charles II to the Crown, the +taciturn general—little given to opening his mind to +anyone—deemed it advisable to take up his abode +in the City in order to first test the feelings of the +inhabitants as to whether the Restoration would be +acceptable to them or not. He will see that the +citizens of London have at times been bold of speech +even in the presence of their sovereign when the +cause of justice and the liberty of the subject were at +stake, and that they did not hesitate to suffer for<pb n="vii" /><anchor id="Pgvii" /> +their opinions; that, "at many of the most critical +periods of our history, the influence of London +and its Lord Mayors has turned the scale in +favour of those liberties of which we are so justly +proud"; and that had the entreaties of the City +been listened to by the King and his ministers, the +American Colonies would never have been lost to +England.</p> + +<p>There are two Appendices to the work; one +comprising copies from the City's Records of letters, +early proclamations and documents of special interest +to which reference is made in the text; the other +consisting of a more complete list of the City's +representatives in Parliament from the earliest times +than has yet been printed, supplemented as it has +been by returns to writs recorded in the City's +archives and (apparently) no where else. The returns +for the City in the Blue Books published in +1878 and 1879 are very imperfect.</p> + +<p rend="text-align: right">R. R. S.</p> + +<p><hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">The Guildhall, London</hi>,<lb /> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">April, 1894.</hi></p> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<head>Contents</head> +<divGen type="toc" /> +</div> + +</front> + +<body> +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="001" /><anchor id="Pg001" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER I.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="THE PORT OF LONDON." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">The greatness of London. How far due to its geographical position.</note> + +<p>The wealth and importance of the City of London +are due to a variety of causes, of which its geographical +position must certainly be esteemed not the least. +The value of such a noble river as the Thames was +scarcely over-estimated by the citizens when, as the +story goes, they expressed to King James their comparative +indifference to his threatened removal of +himself, his court and parliament, from London, if +only their river remained to them. The mouth of the +Thames is the most convenient port on the westernmost +boundary of the European seaboard, and ships +would often run in to replenish their tanks with the +sweet water for which it was once famous.<note place="foot"><p>Strype remarks of Thames water that it "did sooner become fine +and clear than the New River water, and was ever a clearer water."—Strype, +Stow's Survey, ed. 1720, bk. i, p. 25. Another writer +speaks of "that most delicate and serviceable ryver of Thames."—Howes's +Chron., p. 938.</p></note></p> + +<p>After the fall of the Western Empire (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 476), +commercial enterprise sprang up among the free towns +of Italy. The carrying trade of the world's merchandise +became centred for a time in Venice, and +that town led the way in spreading the principles of +commerce along the shores of the Mediterranean, +being closely followed by Genoa, Florence, and Pisa. +The tide, which then set westward, and continued its +course beyond the Pillars of Hercules, was met in +later years by another stream of commerce from the<pb n="002" /><anchor id="Pg002" /> +shores of the Baltic.<note place="foot"><p>During Edgar's reign (958-975), the foreign trade of the City had +increased to such a degree, and notably with a body of German +merchants from the Eastern shores of the Baltic, called "Easterlings" +(subsequently known as the Hanse Merchants of the Steel-yard), that +his son and successor Ethelred drew up a code of laws for the purpose +of regulating it.</p></note> Small wonder, then, if the City +of London was quick to profit by the continuous +stream of traffic passing and repassing its very door, +and vindicated its title to be called—as the Venerable +Bede had in very early days called it the Emporium +of the World.<note place="foot"><p>"Et ipsa (<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> Lundonia) multorum emporium populorum terrâ +marique venientium."—Hist. Eccl., lib. ii, cap. iii.</p></note></p> + +<p>But if London's prosperity were solely due to its +geographical position, we should look for the same unrivalled +pre-eminence in commerce in towns like +Liverpool or Bristol, which possess similar local +advantages; whilst, if royal favour or court gaieties +could make cities great, we should have surely +expected Winchester, Warwick, York, or Stafford +to have outstripped London in political and commercial +greatness, for these were the residences of +the rulers of Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex, and +the scenes of witena-gemóts long before London +could boast of similar favours. Yet none of these +equals London in extent, population, wealth, or +political importance.</p> + +<note place="margin">The tenure of the City of London compared with other boroughs.</note> + +<p>We must therefore look for other causes of +London's pre-eminence, and among these, we may +reckon the fact that the City has never been subject +to any over-lord except the king. It never formed a +portion of the king's demesne (<hi rend="font-style: italic">dominium</hi>), but has +ever been held by its burgesses as tenants <hi rend="font-style: italic">in capite</hi> by +burgage (free socage) tenure. Other towns like<pb n="003" /><anchor id="Pg003" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY NOT IN DEMESNE." /> +Bristol, Plymouth, Beverley, or Durham, were subject +to over-lords, ecclesiastical or lay, in the person of +archbishop, bishop, abbot, baron or peer of the +realm, who kept in their own hands many of the +privileges which in the more favoured City of London +were enjoyed by the municipal authorities.</p> + +<p>In the early part of the twelfth century, the town +of Leicester, for instance, was divided into four parts, +one of which was in the king's demesne, whilst the +rest were held by three distinct over-lords. In course +of time, the whole of the shares fell into the hands of +Count Robert of Meulan, who left the town in +demesne to the Earls of Leicester and his descendants; +and to this day the borough bears on its shield the +arms of the Bellomonts.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., i, 409.</p></note> The town of Birmingham is +said, in like manner, to bear the arms of the barons +of that name; the town of Cardiff, those of the De +Clares; and Manchester, those of the Byrons. +Instances might be multiplied. But the arms of +the City of London and of free boroughs, like +Winchester, Oxford, and Exeter, are referable to no +over-lord, although the borough of Southwark still +bears traces in its heraldic shield of its former +ecclesiastical connection.</p> + +<note place="margin">The powers of an over-lord.</note> + +<p>The influence of an over-lord for good or evil, +over those subject to his authority, was immense. +Take for instance, Sheffield, which was subject, in the +reign of Elizabeth, to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The +cutlery trade, even in those days, was the main-stay of +the town, and yet the earl could make and unmake +the rules and ordinances which governed the Cutlers'<pb n="004" /><anchor id="Pg004" /> +Company, and could claim one half of the fines imposed +on its members.<note place="foot"><p>See ordinances made by the Earl (32 Eliz.).—Hunter's Hallamshire +(1819), p. 119.</p></note></p> + +<p>When, during the reign of Charles II, nearly +every municipal borough in the kingdom was forced +to surrender its charter to the king, the citizens of +Durham surrendered theirs to the Bishop, who, to +the intense horror of a contemporary writer, reserved +to himself and his successors in the See the power +of approving and confirming the mayor, aldermen, +recorder, and common council of that city.<note place="foot"><p>Luttrell, Diary, i, p. 314.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">London under the Roman Empire.</note> + +<p>The commercial greatness of London can be +traced back to the time of the Roman occupation of +Britain. From being little more than a stockaded fort, +situate at a point on the river's bank which admitted +of an easy passage by ferry across to Southwark, London +prospered under the protection afforded to its +traders by the presence of the Roman legions, but it +never in those days became the capital of the province. +Although a flourishing centre of commerce in the middle +of the first century of the Christian era, it was not +deemed of sufficient importance by Suetonius, the +Roman general, to run the risk of defending against +Boadicea,<note place="foot"><p>"At Suetonius mira constantia medios inter hostes Londinium +perrexit, cognomento quidem coloniæ non insigne, sed copia negotiatorum +et commeatuum maxime celebre."—Tacitus, Ann., xiv, 33.</p></note> and although thought worthy of the title of +Augusta—a name bestowed only on towns of exceptional +standing—the Romans did not hesitate to +leave both town and province to their fate as soon +as danger threatened them nearer home.</p> + +<pb n="005" /><anchor id="Pg005" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ROMAN OCCUPATION." /> + +<note place="margin">Roman highways.</note> + +<p>For military no less than for commercial purposes—and +the Roman occupation of Britain was +mainly a military one—good roads were essential, and +these the Romans excelled in making. It is remarkable +that in the Itinerary of Antoninus Pius, London +figures either as the starting point or as the terminus to +nearly one-half of the routes described in the portion +relating to Britain.<note place="foot"><p>For the direction of the various routes, see Elton's Origins of +Engl. Hist., p. 344 note.</p></note> The name of one and only one +of these Roman highways survives in the city at the +present day, and then only in its Teutonic and not +Roman form—the Watling or "Wathelinga" Street, +the street which led from Kent through the city of +London to Chester and York, and thence by two +branches to Carlisle and the neighbourhood of Newcastle. +The Ermin Street, another Roman road with +a Teutonic name, led from London to Lincoln, with +branches to Doncaster and York, but its name no +longer survives in the city.</p> + +<note place="margin">London bridge and the city wall.</note> + +<p>The same reasons that led the Romans to +establish good roads throughout the country led +them also to erect a bridge across the river from +London to Southwark, and in later years to enclose +the city with a wall. To the building of the bridge, +which probably took place in the early years of the +Roman occupation, London owed much of its youthful +prosperity; whenever any accident happened to +the bridge the damage was always promptly repaired. +Not so with the walls of the city. They were allowed +to fall into decay until the prudence and military +genius of the great Alfred caused them to be repaired +as a bulwark against the onslaughts of the Danes.</p> + +<pb n="006" /><anchor id="Pg006" /> + +<note place="margin">The departure of the Roman legions, and its consequences.</note> + +<p>"Britain had been occupied by the Romans, but +had not become Roman,"<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., i., 60.</p></note> and the scanty and superficial +civilization which the Britons had received +from the Roman occupation was obliterated by +the calamities which followed the northern invasions +of the fifth and following centuries. A Christian +city, as Augusta had probably been, not a vestige of +a Christian church of the Roman period has come +down to us.<note place="foot"><p>The church of St. Peter-upon-Cornhill claims a Roman origin, +but its claim is unsubstantiated by any proof.</p></note> It quickly lapsed into paganism. +Its very name disappears, and with it the names +of its streets, its traditions and its customs. Its inhabitants +forgot the Latin tongue, and the memories +of 400 years were clean wiped out. There remains to +us of the present day nothing to remind us of London +under the Roman empire, save a fragment of a wall, +a milestone, a few coins and statuettes, and some +articles of personal ornament or domestic use—little +more in fact, than what may be seen in the Museum +attached to the Guildhall Library. The long subjection +to Roman rule had one disastrous effect. It +enervated the people and left them powerless to cope +with those enemies who, as soon as the iron hand of +the Roman legions was removed, came forth from +their hiding places to harry the land.</p> + +<note place="margin">Appeal to Rome for aid against the Picts and Scots. <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A. D.</hi> 446.</note> + +<p>Thus it was that when the Picts and Scots again +broke loose from their northern fastnesses and threatened +London as they had done before (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 368), they +once more appealed for aid to the Roman emperor, by +whose assistance the marauders had formerly been +driven back. But times were different in 446 to<pb n="007" /><anchor id="Pg007" /><index index="toc" level1="THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND." /> +what they had been in 368. The Roman empire +was itself threatened with an invasion of the Goths, +and the emperor had his hands too full to allow him +to lend a favourable ear to the "groans of the +Britons."<note place="foot"><p>This appeal took the following form:—"The groans of the +Britons to Aetius, for the third time Consul [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 446]. The +savages drive us to the sea, and the sea casts us back upon the savages; +so arise two kinds of death, and we are either drowned or slaughtered."—Elton, +Origins of Engl. Hist., p. 360.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Meeting with refusal, the Britons call in the Saxons.</note> + +<p>Compelled to seek assistance elsewhere, the +Britons invited a tribe of warriors, ever ready to let +their services for hire, from the North Sea, to lend +them their aid. The foreigners came in answer to +the invitation, they saw, they conquered; and then +they refused to leave an island the fertility of which +they appreciated no less than they despised the +slothfulness of its inhabitants.<note place="foot"><p>"Postea vero explorata insulæ fertilitate et indigenarum inertia, +rupto fœdere, in ipsos, a quibus fuerant invitati arma verterunt."—Newburgh, +Hist. Rerum Anglic. (Rolls Series No. 82). Proœmium. +p. 13.</p></note> They turned their +weapons against their employers, and utterly routed +them at Crayford, driving them to take refuge within +the walls of London.</p> + +<note place="margin">The battle of the "Creegan Ford." <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 457.</note> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 457 (456). This year Hengist and Æsc +[Eric or Ash] his son fought against the Britons at +a place called Creegan-Ford [Crayford] and there +slew four thousand men, and the Britons then forsook +Kent, and in great terror fled to London."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 12.</p></note> +So runs the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, and this is the +sole piece of information concerning London it vouchsafes +us for one hundred and fifty years following +the departure of the Romans. The information,<pb n="008" /><anchor id="Pg008" /> +scant as it is, serves to show that London had not +quite become a deserted city, nor had yet been devastated +as others had been by the enemy. Its +walls still served to afford shelter to the terrified +refugees.</p> + +<note place="margin">London, the metropolis of the East Saxons.</note> + +<p>When next we read of her, she is in the possession +of the East Saxons. How they came there is a matter +for conjecture. It is possible that with the whole of +the surrounding counties in the hands of the enemy, +the Londoners were driven from their city to seek +means of subsistence elsewhere, and that when the +East Saxons took possession of it, they found houses +and streets deserted. Little relishing a life within a +town, they probably did not make a long stay, and, on +their departure, the former inhabitants returned and +the city slowly recovered its wonted appearance, +as the country around became more settled.</p> + +<note place="margin">Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 604.</note> + +<p>Christianity in the country had revived, and London +was now to receive its first bishop. It is the year +604. "This year," writes the chronicler, "Augustine +hallowed two bishops, Mellitus and Justus; Mellitus +he sent to preach baptism to the East Saxons, whose +king was called Seberht, son of Ricula, the sister of +Ethelbert whom Ethelbert had there set as king. +And Ethelbert gave to Mellitus a bishop's see at +London." This passage is remarkable for two +reasons:—(1) as shewing us that London was at this +time situate in Essex, the kingdom of the East Saxons, +and (2) that Seberht was but a <hi rend="font-style: italic">roi fainéant</hi>, enjoying +no real independence in spite of his dignity as ruler of +the East Saxons and nominal master of London, his +uncle Ethelbert, king of the Cantii, exercising a hegemony<pb n="009" /><anchor id="Pg009" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BISHOP OF LONDON." /> +over "all the nations of the English as far as +the Humber." <note place="foot"><p>"In qua videlicet gente tune temporis Sabertus, nepos Ethelberti +ex sorore Ricula, regnabat quamvis sub potestate positus ejusdem +Ethelberti, qui omnibus, ut supra dictum est, usque ad terminum +Humbræ fluminis, Anglorum gentibus imperabat."—Bede, Lib. ii, c. iii.</p></note></p> + +<p>Hence it is that London is spoken of by some as +being the <hi rend="font-style: italic">metropolis</hi> of the East Saxons,<note place="foot"><p>"Quorum [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, Orientalium Saxonum] metropolis Lundonia +civitas est."—Bede, Lib. ii, c. iii. So, again, another writer describes +London at the time it was devastated by the Danes in 851 as "Sita +in aquilonari ripa Tamesis fluminis in confinio East-Sæxum et Middel-Sæxum, +sed tamen ad East-Sæxum illa civitas cum veritate pertinet."—Flor. +Wigorn., (ed. by Thorpe, for Engl. Hist. Soc.), i, 72.</p></note> and by +others as being the principal city of the Cantii;<note place="foot"><p>Kemble. Saxons in England, ii, 556.</p></note> the +fact being that, though locally situate in Essex, it was +deemed the political capital of that kingdom which +for the time being happened to be paramount.</p> + +<note place="margin">St. Paul's Cathedral founded by Ethelbert.</note> + +<p>After the death of Seberht, the Londoners +became dissatisfied with their bishop and drove him +out. Mellitus became in course of time Archbishop +of Canterbury, whilst the Londoners again relapsed +into paganism.<note place="foot"><p>"Mellitum vero Lundonienses episcopum recipere noluerunt, +idolatris magis pontificibus servire gaudentes. Bede, Lib. ii, cap. vi.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> +Flor. Wigorn., i, 13.</p></note> Not only was the erection of a cathedral +in the city due to Ethelbert, but it was also at +his instigation, if not with his treasure, that Seberht, +the "wealthy sub-king of London," was, as is +believed, induced to found the Abbey of Westminster.<note place="foot"><p>"Ecclesiam ... beati Petri quæ sita est in loco terribili qui +ab incolis Thorneye nunenpatur ... quæ olim ... beati +Æthelberti hortatu ... a Sabertho prædivite quodam sub-regulo +Lundoniæ, nepote videlicet ipsius regis, constructa est."—Kemble, Cod. +Dipl., 555.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The rival Cities of London and Winchester.</note> + +<p>When the Saxon kingdoms became united under +Egbert and he became <hi rend="font-style: italic">rex totius Britanniæ</hi> (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 827),<pb n="010" /><anchor id="Pg010" /> +London began to take a more prominent place among +the cities of the kingdom, notwithstanding its having +been three times destroyed by fire between 674 and +801.<note place="foot"><p>Roger de Hoveden (Rolls Series No. 51), i, 8, 16, 18.</p></note> It became more often the seat of the royal +residence, and the scene of witena-gemóts; nevertheless +it was not the seat of government, much less the +capital. Then and for a long time to come it had a +formidable rival in Winchester, the chief town of +Egbert's own kingdom of Wessex. To Winchester +that king proceeded in triumph after completing the +union of the Saxon kingdoms, and thither he +summoned his vassals to hear himself proclaimed +their overlord. From Winchester, Alfred, too, promulgated +his new code of Wessex law—a part of the +famous <hi rend="font-style: italic">Domboc</hi>, a copy of which is said to have been +at one time preserved among the archives of the City +of London<note place="foot"><p>Norton, Commentaries on the City of London, 3rd ed., p. 53, &c.</p></note>—and the Easter gemót, no matter where +the other gemóts of the year were held, was nearly +always held at Winchester. When it came to a +question of trade regulation, then London took +precedence of Winchester. "Let one measure and +one weight pass, such as is observed at London and +at Winchester,"<note place="foot"><p>Thorpe, 114. The Troy weight was kept in the Husting of +London and known as the Husting-weight.—Strype, Stow's Survey +(1720), Bk. v., 369.</p></note> enacted King Edgar, whose system +of legislation was marked with so much success that +"Edgar's Law" was referred to by posterity as to the +old constitution of the realm.</p> + +<note place="margin">London in the hands of the Danes.</note> + +<p>In the meantime, the country had been invaded +by a fresh enemy, and the same atrocities which the +Briton had suffered at the hands of the Saxon, the<pb n="011" /><anchor id="Pg011" /><index index="toc" level1="THE DANES IN LONDON." /> +Saxon was made to suffer at the hands of the +Dane. London suffered with the rest of the +kingdom. In 839 we read of a "great slaughter" +there;<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 55.</p></note> in 851 the city was in the hands of the enemy, +and continued to remain at the mercy of the Danes, +so much so, in fact, that in 872 we find the Danish +army taking up winter quarters within its walls, as in +a city that was their own.<note place="foot"><p>"And in the same year [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> 851] came three hundred and fifty +ships to the mouth of the Thames, and landed, and took Canterbury +and London by storm."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 56.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Treaty of Wedmore, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 878.</note> + +<p>It was now, when the clouds were darkest, that +Alfred, brother of King Ethelred, appeared on the +scene, and after more than one signal success by land +and sea, concluded the treaty of Wedmore (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 878)<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 64, 65.</p></note> +by which a vast tract of land bounded by an imaginary +line drawn from the Thames along the river Lea to +Bedford, and thence along the Roman Watling Street +to the Welsh border, was ceded to the enemy under +the name of <hi rend="font-style: italic">Danelagh</hi>. The treaty, although it +curtailed the Kingdom of Wessex, and left London +itself at the mercy of the Danes, was followed by a +period of comparative tranquillity, which allowed +Alfred time to make preparations for a fresh struggle +that was to wrest from the enemy the land they had +won.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Danes expelled from London.</note> + +<p>The Danes, like the Angles and the Jutes before +them, set little store by fortifications and walled towns, +preferring always to defend themselves by combat in +open field, and the Roman wall of the City was +allowed to fall still further into decay. In the eyes of<pb n="012" /><anchor id="Pg012" /> +Alfred on the other hand, London, with its surrounding +wall, was a place of the first importance, and one to +be acquired and kept at all hazards. At length he +achieved the object of his ambition and succeeded in +driving out the Danes, (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 883 or 884).<note place="foot"><p>The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle—the existence of which in its present +form has been attributed to Alfred's encouragement of literature—seems +to convey this meaning, although it is not quite clear on the point. Henry +of Huntingdon (Rolls Series No. 44, pp. 148-149) ascribes the +recovery of London by Alfred to the year 886. The late Professor +Freeman (Norman Conquest, i., 56) does the same, and compares the +status of London at the time with that of a German free city, which +it more nearly resembled, than an integral portion of a kingdom.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Alfred "restores" London, 886-887.</note> + +<p>Whilst the enemy directed their attention to +further conquests in France and Belgium, Alfred bent +his energies towards repairing the City walls and +building a citadel for his defence—"the germ of that +tower which was to be first the dwelling place of +Kings, and then the scene of the martyrdom of their +victims."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 279.</p></note> To his foresight in this respect was it due +that the city of London was never again taken by +open assault, but successfully repelled all attacks whilst +the surrounding country was often devastated.</p> + +<p>Nor did Alfred confine his attention solely to +strengthening the city against attacks of enemies +without or to making it more habitable. He also laid +the foundation of an internal Government analagous +to that established in the Shires. Under the year <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> +886, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii., 67. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "Lundoniam civitatem honorifice +restauravit et habitabilem fecit quam etiam. Ætheredo Merciorum comitti +servandam commendavit."—Flor. Wigorn., i, 101.</p></note> records that "King +Ælfred restored London; and all the Anglo race +turned to him that were not in bondage of the +Danish men; and he then committed the burgh to<pb n="013" /><anchor id="Pg013" /><index index="toc" level1="ALFRED "RESTORES" LONDON." /> +"the keeping of the aldorman Æthelred." In course +of time the analogy between shire and city organization +became more close. Where the former had its +Shiremote, the latter had its Folkmote, meeting in St. +Paul's Churchyard by summons of the great bell. +The County Court found its co-relative in the Husting +Court of the City; the Hundred Court in the City +Wardmote.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., i, 405.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">An attack of the Danes in the absence of Alfred gallantly repelled by the Citizens, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 894.</note> + +<p>For the next ten years Alfred busied himself +founding a navy and establishing order in different +parts of the country, but in 896 he was compelled to +hasten to London from the west of England to assist +in the repulse of another attack of the Danes. Two +years before (894) the Danes had threatened London, +having established a fortification at Beamfleate or +South Benfleet, in Essex, whence they harried the +surrounding country. The Londoners on that occasion +joined that part of the army which Alfred had left +behind in an attack upon the fort, which they not only +succeeded in taking, but they "took all that there was +within, as well money as women and children, and +brought all to London; and all the ships they either +broke in pieces or burned, or brought to London or +to Rochester."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 71.</p></note> Nor was this all: Hasting's wife +and his two sons had been made prisoners, but were +chivalrously restored by Alfred.</p> + +<note place="margin">Successful strategy of Alfred against the Danes, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 896.</note> + +<p>The Danes, however, were not to be daunted by +defeat nor moved from their purpose by the generous +conduct of Alfred. In 896 they again appeared. +This time they erected a work on the sea, twenty +miles above London. Alfred made a reconnaissance<pb n="014" /><anchor id="Pg014" /> +and closed up the river so that they found it impossible +to bring out their ships.<note place="foot"><p>According to Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls Series No. 74. p. 150) +Alfred diverted the waters of the Lea that his enemy's ships were +stranded.</p></note> They therefore abandoned +their vessels and escaped across country, and "the men +of London" writes the chronicler, "brought away the +ships, and all those which they could not bring off +they broke up, and those that were <hi rend="font-style: italic">stalworth</hi> they +brought into London."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii. 71. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "Quarum navium Lundonienses quasdam Lundoniam +vehunt, quasdam vero penitus confringunt."—Flor. Wigorn., i, 115.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The London "frith-gild" under Athelstan, 925-940.</note> + +<p>The principle of each man becoming responsible +to the Government for the good behaviour of the +neighbour, involved in the system of frankpledge +which Alfred established throughout the whole of his +kingdom, subject to his rule, was carried a step further +by the citizens of London at a later date. Under +Athelstan (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 925-940) we find them banding +together and forming an association for mutual defence +of life and property, and thus assisting the executive +in the maintenance of law and order. A complete +code of ordinances, regulating this "frith" or peace +gild, as it was called, drawn up by the bishops and +reeves of the burgh, and confirmed by the members +on oath, is still preserved to us.<note place="foot"><p>Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ, Thorpe, 97, 103.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">First mention of a Guildhall in London.</note> + +<p>The enactments are chiefly directed against +thieves, the measures to be taken to bring them to +justice, and the penalties to be imposed on them, the +formation of a common fund for the pursuit of thieves, +and for making good to members any loss they may +have sustained. So far, the gild undertook duties of a +public character, such as are found incorporated among<pb n="015" /><anchor id="Pg015" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FRITH-GILD OF THE CITY." /> +other laws of the kingdom, but it had, incidentally, +also its social and religious side. When the ruling +members met in their gild-hall,<note place="foot"><p>This is the earliest mention of a guildhall in London; and the ale-making +which took place at the meeting of the officers of the frith-guild, +accounts in all probability for Giraldus Cambrensis (Vita Galfridi, +Rolls Series No. 21 iii., c. 8.) having described the Guildhall of London +as "Aula publica quæ a potorum conventu nomen accepit."</p></note> which they did once +a month, "if they could and had leisure," they enjoyed +a refection with ale-drinking or "byt-filling."</p> + +<note place="margin">The "frith-guild," something more than a mere friendly society.</note> + +<p>Some writers see in the "frith-gild" of Athelstan's +day, nothing more than a mere "friendly society," +meeting together once a month, to drink their beer +and consult about matters of mutual insurance and +other topics of more or less social and religious +character.<note place="foot"><p>"Notwithstanding the butt-filling and feasting, this appears to +have been a purely religious and social guild, and, although it may have +subsequently become a power in the city, so far, it is only of importance +as the first evidence of combination among the inhabitants of London +for anything like corporate action."—Loftie, Hist. of London, i, 68.</p></note> But there is evidence to show that the +tie which united members of a "frith-gild" was +stronger and more solemn than any which binds the +members of a friendly society or voluntary association. +The punishment of one who was guilty of breaking +his "frith" was practically banishment or death. +Such a one, in Athelstan's time, was ordered to abjure +the country, which probably meant no more than that +he was to leave his burgh or perhaps the shire in +which he dwelt, but if ever he returned, he might be +treated as a thief taken "hand-habbende" or one +taken with stolen goods upon him, in other words, +"with the mainour."<note place="foot"><p>Laws of Athelstan.—Thorpe, 93.</p></note> A thief so taken might lawfully +be killed by the first man who met him, and the +slayer was, according to the code of the "frith-gild,"<pb n="016" /><anchor id="Pg016" /> +"to be twelve pence the better for the deed."<note place="foot"><p>Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ.—Thorpe, 100.</p></note> +Under these circumstances, it is more reasonable to +suppose, that the "frith-gild" was not so much a +voluntary association as one imposed upon members +of the community by some public authority.<note place="foot"><p>Gross, The Gild Merchant, i, 178-179.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Encouragement given to London merchants.</note> + +<p>The commercial supremacy of London, not only +over Winchester but over every other town in the +kingdom, now becomes more distinct, for when Athelstan +appointed moneyers or minters throughout the +country, he assigned eight (the largest number of +all) to London, whilst for Winchester he appointed +only six, other towns being provided with but one or +at most two.<note place="foot"><p>Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Sax., p. 59.</p></note> The king, moreover, showed his +predilection for London by erecting a mansion house +for himself within the city's walls.</p> + +<p>The encouragement which Athelstan gave to +commercial enterprise by enacting, that any merchant +who undertook successfully three voyages across the +high seas at his own cost (if not in his own vessel) +should rank as a thane,<note place="foot"><p>"And if a merchant thrived so that he fared thrice over the wide +sea by his own means [cɲæƥte, craft] then was he thenceforth of thane-right +worthy." (Thorpe, 81.) The word cɲæƥte is similarly translated +in Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ; (ed. 1721, p. 71.) <hi rend="font-style: italic">per facultates suas</hi>; +but there seems no reason why it should not be taken to mean literally +a craft or vessel. The passage occurs in a list of "People's Rank" +which "formerly" prevailed, and is probably of Athelstan's time, even +if it did not form part of the Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ.—Wilkins, +<hi rend="font-style: italic">op. cit.</hi> p. 70 note.</p></note> must have affected the London +burgess more than those of any other town.</p> + +<note place="margin">Return of the Danes <hi rend="font-style: italic">temp.</hi> Ethelred the Unready, +991-994.</note> + +<p>Under Ethelred II, surnamed the "Unready" +or "redeless" from his indifference to the "rede" or +council of his advisers, the city would again have<pb n="017" /><anchor id="Pg017" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FIRST PAYMENT OF DANEGELT." /> +fallen into the hands of the Danes, but for the personal +courage displayed by its inhabitants and the +protection which, by Alfred's foresight, the walls were +able to afford them. In 994, Olaf and Sweyn sailed +up the Thames with a large fleet and threatened to +burn London. Obstinate fighting took place, but the +enemy, we are told, "sustained more harm and evil +than they ever deemed that any townsman could do +to them, for the Holy Mother of God, on that day, +manifested her mercy to the townsmen and delivered +them from their foes."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 105.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The first payment of Danegelt, 991.</note> + +<p>Matters might not have been so bad had not the +king already committed the fatal error of attempting +to secure peace by buying off the enemy. In 991, he +had, with the consent of his witan, raised the sum of +£10,000 with which he had bribed the Danish host. +This was the origin of the tax known as Danegelt, +which in after years became one of the chief financial +resources of the Crown and continued almost uninterruptedly +down to the reign of Henry II. The effect +of the bribe was naturally enough to induce the +enemy to make further depredations whenever in +want of money; and accordingly, a Danish fleet +threatened London the very next year (992) and +again in 994. On this last occasion, the same wretched +expedient was resorted to, and the Danes were again +bought off.</p> + +<note place="margin">The massacre of Danes 13th Nov., 1002.</note> + +<p>Nor was cowardice the only charge of which +Ethelred was guilty. To this must be added treachery +and murder. In the year 1002, when he married the +daughter of the Duke of Normandy, hoping thereby<pb n="018" /><anchor id="Pg018" /> +to win the Duke's friendship and to close the harbours +on the French coast against Sweyn, Ethelred issued +secret orders for a massacre of all Danes found in +England. In this massacre, which took place on the +Festival of St. Brice (13th Nov.), perished Gunhild, +sister of Sweyn. Under these circumstances, it can +scarcely be wondered at, that thenceforth the Danish +invasions became more frequent, more systematic, and +more extensive than ever.</p> + +<p>For four years they continued their depredations +"cruelly marking every shire in Wessex with burning +and with harrying." Then they were again bought +off with a sum of £36,000, and two years' respite +(1007-8) was gained.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, p. 114.</p></note> It was a respite and no more. +As soon as they had spent their money, they came +again, and in 1009 made several assaults on +London—"They often fought against the town of +London, but to God be praise that it yet stands +sound, and they have ever fared ill."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, p. 115.</p></note> Every year +they struck deeper into the heart of the country, and +carried their plundering expeditions from Wessex into +Mercia and East Anglia.</p> + +<note place="margin">The murder of Abp. Alphage, 1012.</note> + +<p>In 1011 Canterbury was taken and sacked, +Alphage, the Archbishop, being made prisoner, and +carried away by the Danish fleet to Greenwich. +Finding it impossible to extort a ransom, they brutally +murdered him (19th May, 1012), in one of their +drunken moods, pelting him in their open court or +"husting" with bones and skulls of oxen.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii. pp. 117, 118. Annal. Monast., Waverley (Rolls Series +No. 36), ii, p. 173.</p></note> The worthy +prelate's corpse was allowed to be removed to London<pb n="019" /><anchor id="Pg019" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON SUBMITS TO SWEYN." /> +where it was reverently interred in St. Paul's. A few +years later, Cnut caused it to be transferred with due +solemnity to the Archbishop's own metropolitan +church of Canterbury.</p> + +<note place="margin">Sweyn again attacks London, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1013.</note> + +<p>In the following year, Sweyn was so successful +in reducing the Northumbrians and the inhabitants of +the five boroughs,<note place="foot"><p>The towns of Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford, and +Derby, which for many years were occupied by the Danes, were so +called.</p></note> as well as the towns of Winchester +and Oxford, taking hostages from each as he went, +that he thought he might venture once more to attack +London itself; hoping for better success than had +attended him on previous occasions. He was the +more anxious to capture London, because Ethelred +himself was there, but he again met with such +determined resistance, and so many of his followers +were drowned in the Thames that for the fourth time +he had to beat a retreat.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, pp. 118, 119.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">London submits.</note> + +<p>Leaving London for a while, Sweyn proceeded to +conquer that part of England which still held out +against him, and having accomplished his purpose, +was again preparing to attack the one city which had +baffled all his attempts to capture, when the Londoners +themselves, finding further opposition hopeless, offered +their submission and left Ethelred to take care of +himself.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, p. 119. Henry +of Huntingdon (Rolls Series No 74), p. 180.</p></note> This he did by betaking himself to +Normandy, where he remained until Sweyn's death +in the following year (3rd Feb., 1014).</p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Cnut, 1014.</note> + +<p>Upon this event taking place, the crews of the +Danish fleet assumed the right of disposing of the<pb n="020" /><anchor id="Pg020" /> +English crown, and elected Sweyn's son, Cnut, to be +king. The English, however, compelled as they had +been by superior strength to submit to the father, +were in no mood to accept without a struggle the +sovereignty of his son. The whole of the Witan at +once declared in favour of sending for Ethelred, with +the assurance "that no lord was dearer than their +natural lord," if only he would promise to govern +them more justly than before.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, p. 120.</p></note> Ethelred sent word +by Edmund his son that "he would be to them a +kind lord, and amend all the things which they +eschewed, and all the things should be forgiven +which had been done or said to him, on condition +that they all, unanimously and without treachery, +would turn to him." Pledges were given and taken +on either side, and thenceforth a Danish king was to +be looked upon as an outlaw.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, p. 120. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "Ad hæc +principes se non amplius Danicum regem admissuros in Angliam +unanimiter spoponderunt."—Flor. Wigorn., i, p. 169.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Ethelred returns to London.</note> + +<p>When Ethelred arrived in England, he was accompanied +according to an Icelandic Saga,<note place="foot"><p>The Heimskringla or Chronicle of the kings of Norway, translated +from the Icelandic of Snorro Sturleson, ii. pp. 8-11.</p></note> by King Olaf, +of Norway, who assisted him in expelling the Danes +from Southwark, and gaining an entrance into the +city. The manner in which this was carried out, is +thus described. A small knot of Danes occupied a +stronghold in the City, whilst others were in possession +of Southwark. Between the two lay London Bridge—a +wooden bridge, "so broad that two waggons +could pass each other upon it"—fortified by barricades, +towers, and parapets, and manned by Danes. +Ethelred was naturally very anxious to get possession<pb n="021" /><anchor id="Pg021" /><index index="toc" level1="CNUT EXPELLED BY ETHELRED." /> +of the bridge, and a meeting of chiefs was summoned +to consult how it could be done. Olaf promised to +lay his fleet alongside the bridge if the English would +do the same. This was agreed upon. Having +covered in the decks of the vessels with a wooden +roof to protect the crew and fighting men, Olaf succeeded +in rowing light up to the bridge and laying +cables round its piers. This done, he caused his ships +to head down stream and the crews to row their +hardest. The result was that the piles were loosened +and the bridge, heavily weighted by the Danes who +were fighting upon it, gave way. Many were thrown +into the river, whilst others made good their retreat +to Southwark, which was soon afterwards stormed +and taken. This incident in connection with +Ethelred's return formed the subject of more than +one Scandinavian poem, of which the following +may serve as a specimen:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"London Bridge is broken down—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Gold is won and bright renown.</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Shields resounding,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> War-horns sounding,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Hildur shouting in the din!</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Arrows singing,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Mail-coats ringing—</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Odin makes our Olaf win!"</l> +</lg> + +<note place="margin">Drives Cnut out of England.</note> + +<p>For a short while after his return Ethelred displayed +a spirit of patriotism and courage beyond any +he had hitherto shown. He succeeded in surprising +and defeating the Danes in that district of Lincolnshire +known as Lindsey, and drove Cnut to take +refuge in his ships, and eventually to sail away to +Denmark.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 120.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="022" /><anchor id="Pg022" /> + +<note place="margin">Return of Cnut, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1015.</note> + +<p>It was not long before he again appeared; he was +then, however, to meet in the field Ethelred's son, +Edmund, whose valour had gained for him the name of +Ironside. This spirited youth, forming a striking contrast +to the weak and pusillanimous character of his +father, had collected a force to withstand the enemy, +but the men refused to fight unless Ethelred came +with them, and unless they had "the support of the +citizens of London."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 121.</p></note> A message was therefore +sent to him at London to take the field with such a +force as he could gather. Father and son thereupon +joined forces; but the king was in ill-health, and it +wanted but a whisper of treachery to send him back +to the security of London's walls. Thither, too, +marched Cnut, but before he arrived Ethelred had +died (23rd April, 1016).<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii., 122.</p></note> The late king was buried +in St. Paul's.<note place="foot"><p>Malmesbury, Gesta Regum (Rolls Series, No. 90), i, 215.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The laws of Ethelred regulating foreign trade.</note> + +<p>The city of London had by this time attained a +position higher than it had ever reached before. +"We cannot as yet call it the capital of the kingdom, +but its geographical position made one of the chief +bulwarks of the land, and in no part of the realm do +we find the inhabitants outdoing the patriotism and +courage of its valiant citizens."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 308.</p></note> Under Edgar +the foreign trade with the city had increased to such +an extent that Ethelred, his son, deemed it time to +draw up a code of laws to regulate the customs to be +paid by the merchants of France and Flanders as well +as by the "emperor's men," the fore-runners of those +"easterling" merchants, who, from their headquarters<pb n="023" /><anchor id="Pg023" /><index index="toc" level1="THE LAWS OF ETHELRED." /> +in the Steel-yard at Dowgate, subsequently became +known as merchants of the Steel-yard.<note place="foot"><p>Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes, 127, 128.</p></note></p> + +<p>Among the multitude of foreigners that in after-years +thronged the streets of the city bartering +pepper and spices from the far east, gloves and +cloth, vinegar and wine, in exchange for the rural +products of the country, might be seen the now +much hated but afterwards much favoured Dane.<note place="foot"><p>In course of time the natives of Denmark acquired the privilege +of sojourning all the year round in London—a privilege accorded to +few, if any other, foreigners. They enjoyed moreover the benefits of +the 'the law of the city of London' (<hi rend="font-style: italic">la lei de la citie de Loundres</hi>) in +other words, the right of resorting to fair or market in any place +throughout England.—Liber Cust. pt. i, p. 63.</p></note> +The Dane was again master of all England, except +London, and Ethelred's kingdom, before the close of +his reign, was confined within the narrow limits of the +city's walls; "that true-hearted city was once more +the bulwark of England, the centre of every patriotic +hope, the special object of every hostile attack."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 418.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Edmund Ironside by the Londoners, 1016.</note> + +<p>At Ethelred's death the Witan who were in +London united with the inhabitants of the city in +choosing Edmund as his successor. This is the first +recorded instance of the Londoners having taken a +direct part in the election of a king. Cnut disputed +Edmund's right to the crown, and proceeded to attack +the city. He sailed up the Thames with his fleet, +but being unable to pass the bridge, he dug a canal +on the south side of the river, whereby he was +enabled to carry his ships above bridge, and so invest +the city along the whole length of the riverside. To +complete the investment, and so prevent any of the +inhabitants escaping either by land or water, he<pb n="024" /><anchor id="Pg024" /> +ditched the city round, so that none could pass in +or out.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 122.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Cnut's attempts on London frustrated.</note> + +<p>This, as well as two other attempts made by Cnut +within a few weeks of each other to capture London +by siege, were frustrated by the determined +opposition of the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>"At oppidanis magnanimiter +pugnantibus repulsa."—Malmesbury, i, 216.</p></note> "Almighty God saved +it," as the chronicler piously remarks.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 123.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Victory of the Danes at Assandun, 1016.</note> + +<p>Nor was Cnut more successful in the field, being +worsted in no less than five pitched battles against +Edmund, until by the treachery of Edmund's brother-in-law, +Eadric, alderman of Mercia, he succeeded at +last in vanquishing the English army on the memorable +field of Assandun.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 121, 123. Henry of Huntingdon +relates that Eadric caused a panic on the field of battle by crying out +that Edmund had been killed. "Flet Engle, flet Engle, ded is +Edmund."</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Agreement between Edmund and Cnut for partition of the kingdom.</note> + +<p>After this Edmund reluctantly consented to a +conference and a division of the kingdom. The +meeting took place at Olney, and there it was agreed +that Edmund should retain his crown, and rule over +all England south of the Thames, together with East +Anglia, Essex and London, whilst Cnut should enjoy +the rest of the kingdom. "The citizens, beneath +whose walls the power of Cnut and his father had +been so often shattered, now made peace with the +Danish host. As usual, money was paid to them, +and they were allowed to winter as friends within +the unconquered city."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 437.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Cnut king of all England, 1016-1035.</note> + +<p>The partition of the kingdom between Edmund +and Cnut had scarcely been agreed upon before the +former unexpectedly died (30th Nov., 1016) and Cnut<pb n="025" /><anchor id="Pg025" /><index index="toc" level1="THE "LITHSMEN" OF LONDON." /> +became master of London and king of all England. +His rule was mild, beneficent and just, recognising no +distinction between Dane and Englishman, and +throughout his long reign of nearly twenty years +the citizens of London enjoyed that perfect peace so +necessary for the successful exercise of their commercial +pursuits.</p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Cnut's Successors. 1183.</note> + +<p>At the election of Cnut's successor which took +place at Oxford in 1035, the Londoners again played +an important part. This time, however, it was +not the "burhwaru or burgesses" of the City who +attended the gemót which had been summoned for +the purpose of election, but "lithsmen" of London.</p> + +<note place="margin">The lithsmen of London attend gemót at Oxford.</note> + +<p>As to who these "lithsmen" were, and how they +came to represent the City (if indeed they represented +the City at all) on this important occasion much +controversy has arisen. To some they appear as +nothing more than the "nautic multitude" or "sea-faring +men" of London.<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 538.</p></note> On the other hand, there +are those who hold that they were merchants who +had achieved thane right under the provisions of +Athelstan's day already mentioned;<note place="foot"><p>"The 'lithsmen' (ship-owners) of London, who with others +raised Harold to the throne, were doubtless such 'burg-thegns.'"—Gross, +The Gild Merchant, i, 186. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Lingard, i, 318. Norton +Commentaries, pp. 23-24.</p></note> whilst there are +still others who are inclined to look upon them as so +many commercial travellers who had made their way +to Oxford by river in the ordinary course of business, +and who happened by good fortune to have been in that +city at the time of a great political crisis.<note place="foot"><p>Green, Conquest of England, p. 462. Loftie, Hist. of London, +i, 73. "The Londoners who attended must have gone by +way of the river in their 'liths.'"—Historic Towns, London +(Loftie), p. 197.</p></note> The truth<pb n="026" /><anchor id="Pg026" /> +probably lies somewhere between these extremes. +The "lithsmen" may not themselves have been +thanes, although they are recorded as having been at +Oxford with almost all the thanes north of the +Thames;<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 129.</p></note> but that they were something more than +mere watermen, such as we shall see joining with the +apprentices of London at important political crises, +and that they were acting more or less as representatives +of the Londoners who had already acquired a +predominant voice in such matters, seems beyond doubt.</p> + +<note place="margin">Londoners desire for peace above all things.</note> + +<p>During the next thirty years London took no +prominent part in the affairs of the country, content if +only allowed to have leisure to mind its own business. +The desire for peace is the key-note to the action +of the citizens of London at every important crisis. +Without peace, commerce became paralyzed. Peace +could be best secured by a strong government, and +such a government, whether in the person of a king +or protector could count upon their support. "For +it they were ready to devote their money and their +lives, for commerce, the child of opportunity, brought +wealth; wealth power; and power led independence +in its train." The quarrels of the half-brothers, +Harold and Harthacnut, the attempt by one or both +of the sons of Ethelred and Emma to recover their +father's kingdom, and the question of the innocence or +guilt of Earl Godwine in connection with the murder +of one of them, affected the citizens of London only so +far as such disturbances were likely to impede the +traffic of the Thames or to make it dangerous for them +to convey their merchandise along the highways of +the country.</p> + +<pb n="027" /><anchor id="Pg027" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON THE CAPITAL." /> + +<note place="margin">Revival of Danegelt, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi>, 1040.</note> + +<p>The payment of Danegelt at the accession of +Harthacnut (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1040),<note place="foot"><p>At the death of Harold, Harthacnut was invited to accept the +crown by an embassy from England, of which the Bishop of London +was a member. He accepted the offer and crossed over from the +continent with a fleet of sixty ships, manned by Danish soldiers, and his +first act was to demand eight marks for each rower; an imposition that +was borne with difficulty. Anglo-Sax. Chron. ii, 132.</p></note> probably touched the feelings, +as it certainly did the pockets, of the Londoners, +more than any other event which happened during +this period.</p> + +<note place="margin">London the recognised capital, <hi rend="font-style: italic">temp.</hi> Edward, Confessor.</note> + +<p>Upon the sudden death of Harthacnut (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> +1042), who died in a fit "as he stood at his drink,"<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax Chron., ii, 132.</p></note> +the choice of the whole nation fell on Edward, his +half-brother—"before the king buried were, all folk +chose Edward to king at London."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, 2nd ed., ii. 5. But according to +Kemble (Saxons in England, ii, 259 note), Edward's election took +place at a hastily convened meeting at Gillingham.</p></note> The share that +the Londoners took in this particular election is not +so clear as in other cases. Nevertheless, the importance +of the citizens was daily growing, and by the time of +the accession of Edward the Confessor, the City was +recognised as the capital of the kingdom, the chief +seat for the administration of the law, and the place +where the king usually resided.<note place="foot"><p>"London, que caput est regni et legum. semper curia domini regis."—Laws +of Edward Confessor, Thorpe, p. 197 note.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Gemóts held in London.</note> + +<p>In early Saxon times the witan had met in any +town where the king happened at the time to be; +and although theoretically every freeman had a right +to attend its meetings, practically the citizens of the +town wherein the gemót happened at the time to be +held, enjoyed an advantage over freemen coming from +a distance. Alfred ordained that the witan should<pb n="028" /><anchor id="Pg028" /> +meet in London for purposes of legislation twice a +year.<note place="foot"><p>For a list of gemóts held in London from <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 790, see Kemble's +Saxons in England, ii, 241-261.</p></note> Athelstan, Edmund and Edgar had held +gemóts in London, the last mentioned king holding a +great gemót (<hi rend="font-style: italic">mycel gemót</hi>) in St. Paul's Church in 973.</p> + +<note place="margin">London declares for Godwine, 1052.</note> + +<p>During the reign of Edward the Confessor, at +least six meetings of the witan took place in London; +the more important of these being held in 1051 and +the following year. By the gemót of 1051, which +partook of the nature of a court-martial, Earl Godwine +was condemned to banishment; but before a twelve-month +had elapsed, he was welcomed back at a great +assembly or <hi rend="font-style: italic">mycel gemót</hi> held in the open air without +the walls of London.<note place="foot"><p>Malmesbury, i, 242-244. Freeman, ii, 148-332.</p></note> The nation had become +disatisfied owing to the king's increasing favour to +Norman strangers, but the earl desired to learn how +stood the City of London towards him, and for this +purpose made a stay at Southwark. He was soon +satisfied on this point. "The townsfolk of the great +city were not a whit behind their brethren of Kent +and Sussex in their zeal for the national cause. The +spirit which had beaten back Swend and Cnut, the +spirit which was in after times to make London ever +the stronghold of English freedom, the spirit which +made its citizens foremost in the patriot armies alike +of the thirteenth and of the seventeenth centuries, +was now as warm in the hearts of those gallant +burghers as in any earlier or later age. With a +voice all but unanimous, the citizens declared in +favour of the deliverer; a few votes only, the votes, +it may be, of strangers or of courtiers, were given<pb n="029" /><anchor id="Pg029" /><index index="toc" level1="EARL GODWINE AND THE CITIZENS." /> +against the emphatic resolution, that what the earl +would the city would."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, ii, 324.</p></note> Having secured the favour +of London his cause was secure. That the citizens +heartily welcomed the earl, going forth in a body to +meet him on his arrival, we learn also from another +source;<note place="foot"><p>Sed omnis civitas duci obviam et auxilio processit et præsidio +acclamantque illi omnes una voce prospere in adventu suo. "Life of +Edward Conf." (Rolls Series No. 3.), p. 406.</p></note> although, one at least of the ancient chroniclers +strongly hints that the favour of the citizens had +been obtained by bribes and promises.<note place="foot"><p>"Interim quosdam per internuntios, quosdam per se cives Lundonienses, +quos variis pollicitationibus prius illexerat, convenit, et ut omnes +fere quæ volebat omnino vellent, effecit."—Flor. Wigorn., i., 209.</p></note> The earl's +return was marked by decrees of outlawry against the +king's foreign favourites, whose malign influence he +had endeavoured formerly to counteract, and who had +proved themselves strong enough to procure the +banishment of himself and family.</p> + +<note place="margin">The dedication of Westminster Abbey, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1065.</note> + +<p>The last gemót held under Edward was one +specially summoned to meet at Westminster at the +close of the year 1065, for the purpose of witnessing +the dedication of the new abbey church which the +king loved so well and to which his remains were so +shortly afterwards to be carried.</p> + +<note place="margin">Death of Edward the Confessor.</note> + +<p>He died at the opening of the year, and the same +witan who had attended his obsequies elected Harold, +the late Earl Godwine's son, as his successor. This +election, however, was doomed to be overthrown by +the powerful sword of William the Norman.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="030" /><anchor id="Pg030" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER II.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">The landing of William, and Battle of Senlac, 1066.</note> + +<p>As soon as the news of Harold's coronation +reached William of Normandy, he claimed the crown +which Edward the Confessor had promised him. According +to every principle of succession recognised in +England, at the time, he had no right to the crown +whatever. When the Norman invader landed at +Pevensey, Harold was at York, having recently succeeded +in defeating his brother Tostig, the deposed +Earl of Northumbria, who, with the assistance of +Harold Hardrada, had attacked the northern earls, +Edwine and Morkere. On hearing of the Duke's +landing, Harold hastened to London. A general +muster of forces was there ordered, and Edwine and +Morkere, who were bound to Harold by family tie—the +King having married their sister—were bidden +to march southward with the whole force of their +earldoms. But neither gratitude for their late deliverance +at the hands of their brother-in-law, nor family +affection, could hurry the steps of these earls, and +they arrived too late. The battle of Senlac, better +known as the battle of Hastings, had been won and +lost (14th Oct., 1066), the Norman was conqueror, and +Harold had perished. For a second time within +twelve months the English throne was vacant.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 165-167.</p></note></p> + +<p>The times were too critical to hold a formal gemót +for the election of a successor to the throne; but the<pb n="031" /><anchor id="Pg031" /><index index="toc" level1="THE NORMAN CONQUEROR." /> +citizens of London and the sailors or "butsecarls" +(whom it is difficult not to associate with the "lithsmen" +of former days) showed a marked predilection in favour +of Edgar the Atheling, grandson of Edmund Ironside, +and the sole survivor of the old royal line. The +Archbishop, too, as well as the northern earls, were in +his favour, but the latter soon withdrew to their +respective earldoms and left London and the Atheling +to their fate.<note place="foot"><p>"Aldredus autem Eboracensis archiepiscopus et iidem Comites +cum civibus Lundoniensibus et butsecarlis, clitonem Eadgarum, Eadmundi +Ferrei Lateris nepotem, in regem levare volueren, et cum eo se +pugnam inituros promisere; sed dum ad pugnam descendere multi se +paravere, comites suum auxilium ab eis retraxere, et cum suo exercitu +domum redierunt."—Flor. Wigorn., i, 228.</p></note> Thus, "the patriotic zeal of the men +of London was thwarted by the base secession of the +northern traitors."</p> + +<note place="margin">William's March to London.</note> + +<p>After waiting awhile at Hastings for the country +to make voluntary submission, and finding that homagers +did not come in, William proceeded to make a +further display of force. In this he betrayed no haste, +but made his way through Kent in leisurely fashion, +receiving on his way the submission of Winchester +and Canterbury, using no more force than was +absolutely necessary, and endeavouring to allay all +fears, until at length he reached the suburbs of +London.<note place="foot"><p>Such is the description of William's march, as given by Malmesbury +(ii, 307). Another chronicler describes his march as one of +slaughter and devastation.—Flor. Wigorn., i, 228.</p></note></p> + +<p>He had been astute enough to give out that he +came not to claim a crown, but only a right to be put +in nomination for it. To the mind of the Londoner, +such quibbling failed to commend itself, and the +citizens lost no time in putting their city into a posture<pb n="032" /><anchor id="Pg032" /> +of defence, determined not to surrender it without a +blow.</p> + +<note place="margin">Sets fire to Southwark in hopes of terrifying the citizens.</note> + +<p>Upon William's arrival in Southwark, the citizens +sallied forth. They were, however, beaten back after +a sharp skirmish, and compelled to seek shelter again +within their city's walls. William hesitated to make +a direct attack upon the city, but hoped by setting +fire to Southwark to strike terror into the inhabitants +and bring them to a voluntary surrender. He failed +in his object; the city still held out, and William next +resorted to diplomacy.</p> + +<note place="margin">Negotiations between William and the City.</note> + +<p>The ruling spirit within the city at that time +was Ansgar or Esegar the "Staller" under whom, +as Sheriff of Middlesex, the citizens had marched +out to fight around the royal standard at Hastings. +He had been carried wounded from the field, and +was now borne hither and thither on a litter, encouraging +the citizens to make a stout defence of +their city. To him, it is said, William sent a private +message from Berkhampstead, asking only that the +Conqueror's right to the crown of England might be +acknowledged and nothing more, the real power of +the kingdom might remain with Ansgar if he so +willed. Determined not to be outwitted by the +Norman, Ansgar (so the story goes) summoned a +meeting of the eldermen (<hi rend="font-style: italic">natu majores</hi>) of the City—the +forerunners of the later aldermen—and proposed +a feigned submission which might stave off immediate +danger. The proposal was accepted and a +messenger despatched. William pretended to accept +the terms offered, and at the same time so worked +upon the messenger with fair promises and gifts that +on his return he converted his fellow citizens and<pb n="033" /><anchor id="Pg033" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON SUBMITS TO WILLIAM." /> +induced them by representations of the Conqueror's +friendly intentions and of the hopelessness of resistance, +to make their submission to him, and to throw +over the young Atheling.</p> + +<note place="margin">London submits to the Conqueror.</note> + +<p>Whatever poetic tinge there may be about the +story as told by Guy of Amiens, it is certain that the +citizens came to the same resolution, in effect, as that +described by the poet, nor could they well have done +otherwise. The whole of the country for miles +around London, had already tendered submission or +been forced into it. The city had become completely +isolated, and sooner or later its inhabitants must have +been starved out. There was, moreover, a strong +foreign element within its walls.<note place="foot"><p>The bishop was certainly Norman, and so probably was the port-reeve.</p></note> Norman followers +of Edward the Confessor were ever at hand to counsel +submission. London submitted, the citizens accepting +the rule of the Norman Conqueror as they had +formerly accepted that of Cnut the Dane, "from +necessity." An embassy was despatched to Berkhampstead, +comprising the Archbishop of York, the +young Atheling, the earls Edwine and Morkere, and +"all the best men of London," to render homage and +give hostages,<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron. ii, 168-169.</p></note> and thus it was, that within three +months of his landing, William was acknowledged as +the lawfully elected King of England, and, as such, he +crowned himself at Westminster, promising to govern +the nation as well as any king before him if they +would be faithful to him.</p> + +<note place="margin">His charter to the citizens of London.</note> + +<p>The conciliatory spirit of William towards the +Londoners is seen in the favourable terms he was +ready to concede them. Soon after his coronation—<pb n="034" /><anchor id="Pg034" /> +the precise date cannot be determined—he granted +them a charter,<note place="foot"><p>This charter is preserved in the Town Clerk's Office at the Guildhall. +A fac-simile of it and of another charter of William, granting lands +to Deorman, forms a frontispiece to this volume. The late Professor +Freeman (Norman Conquest, second edition, revised 1876, iv, 29) wrote +of this venerable parchment as bearing William's mark—"the cross traced +by the Conqueror's own hand"—but this appears to be a mistake. The +same authority, writing of the transcript of the charter made by the late +Mr. Riley and printed by him in his edition of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber Custumarum</hi> +(Rolls Series, pt. ii, p. 504), remarks that, "one or two words here look +a little suspicious"; and justly so, for the transcript is far from being +literally accurate.</p></note> by which he clearly declared his +purpose not to reduce the citizens to a state of +dependent vassalage, but to establish them in all the +rights and privileges they had hitherto enjoyed.</p> + +<p>The charter, rendered into modern English, runs +as follows:—</p> + +<p>"William, King, greets William, Bishop, and Gosfregdh, +Portreeve, and all the burgesses within London, +French and English, friendly. And I give you to +know that I will that ye be all those laws worthy +that ye were in King Eadward's day.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ego volo quod vos sitis omni lege illa digni qua fuistis +Edwardi diebus Regis.</hi>" These words appear in the xivth century Latin +version of William's Charter, preserved at the Guildhall.</p></note> And I will +that every child be his father's heir after his father's +day and I will not suffer that any man offer you any +wrong. God keep you."</p> + +<p>The terms of the charter are worthy of study. +They are primarily remarkable as indicating that the +City of London was, at the time, subject to a government +which combined the secular authority of the +port-reeve with the ecclesiastical authority of the +bishop. It was said, indeed, to have been greatly +due to the latter's intercession that the charter was<pb n="035" /><anchor id="Pg035" /><index index="toc" level1="WILLIAM'S CHARTER TO THE CITY." /> +granted at all, and, in this belief, the mayor and +aldermen were long accustomed to pay a solemn +visit to the bishop's tomb in St. Paul's church, there +to hear a <hi rend="font-style: italic">De profundis</hi> on the day when the new +mayor took his oath of office before the Barons of the +Exchequer.<note place="foot"><p>Liber Albus (Rolls Series i, 26).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The office of port-reeve.</note> + +<p>As regards the port-reeve—the <hi rend="font-style: italic">port-gerefa</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, +reeve of the port or town of London<note place="foot"><p>Opinions differ as to the derivation of the term port. Some, like +Kemble, refer it to the Lat. <hi rend="font-style: italic">portus</hi>, in the sense of an enclosed place +for sale or purchase, a market. ("Portus est conclusus locus, quo +importantur merces et inde exportantur. Est et statio conclusa +et munita."—Thorpe, i, 158). Others, like Dr. Stubbs (Const. +Hist., i, 404 n.), connect it with Lat. <hi rend="font-style: italic">porta</hi>, not in its restricted +signification of a gate, but as implying a market place, markets being +often held at a city's gates. The Latin terms <hi rend="font-style: italic">porta</hi> and <hi rend="font-style: italic">portus</hi> were in +fact so closely allied, that they both alike signified a market place or a +gate. Thus, in the will of Edmund Harengeye, enrolled in the Court +of Husting, London, we find the following: "Ac eciam lego et volo +quod illa tenementa cum magno portu vocato le Brodegate ... +vendantur per executores meos."—Hust. Roll, 114 (76).</p></note>—the nature and +extent of his duties and authority, much uncertainty +exists. Whilst, in many respects, his position in a +borough was analogous no doubt to the shire-reeve or +sheriff of a county, there were, on the other hand, +duties belonging to and exercised by the one which +were not exercised by the other. Thus, for instance, +the port-reeve, unlike the sheriff, exercised no judicial +functions in a criminal court, nor presided over court-leets +in the city as the sheriff did in his county by +<hi rend="font-style: italic">turn</hi>, the latter being held independently by the +alderman of each ward.<note place="foot"><p>Norton, Commentaries on the City of London, 3rd ed., pp. 258-259.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The foreign element already existing in the City.</note> + +<note place="margin">Its increase after the Conquest.</note> + +<note place="margin">The charter makes no new grant.</note> + +<p>In the next place the charter brings prominently +to our notice the fact that there was already existing +within the City's walls a strong Norman element, +existing side by side with the older English burgesses,<pb n="036" /><anchor id="Pg036" /> +which the Conqueror did well not to ignore. The +descendants of the foreign merchants from France +and Normandy, for whose protection Ethelred had +legislated more than half a century before, had continued +to carry on their commercial intercourse with +the Londoners, and were looking forward to a freer +interchange of merchandise now that the two countries +were under one sovereign. Their expectation +was justified. No sooner had London submitted to +the Norman Conqueror than, we are told, "many of +the citizens of Rouen and Caen passed over thither, +preferring to be dwellers in that city, inasmuch as it +was fitter for their trading, and better stored with +the merchandise in which they were wont to +traffic."<note place="foot"><p>"London and her election of Stephen," a paper read before the +Archæol. Inst. in 1866, by the late Mr. Green (p. 267).</p></note> But by far the most important clause in +the charter is that which places the citizens of London +in the same position respecting the law of the land as +they enjoyed in the days of their late king, Edward +the Confessor. Here there is distinct evidence that +the Conqueror had come "neither to destroy, nor to +found, but to continue."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, v, p. 55.</p></note> The charter granted +nothing new; it only ratified and set the royal +seal<note place="foot"><p>There appears to be no doubt that the charter preserved at the +Guildhall had a seal, but not a fragment remains.</p></note> to the rights and privileges of the citizens +already in existence.</p> + +<note place="margin">William's other charter granting the sheriffwick of London.</note> + +<p>It is recorded that William granted another +charter to the citizens of London, vesting in them the +City and Sheriffwick of London, and this charter the +citizens proffered as evidence of their rights over the +cloister and church of St. Martin le Grand, when those<pb n="037" /><anchor id="Pg037" /><index index="toc" level1="THE "DOOMSDAY" BOOK." /> +rights were challenged in the reign of Henry VI.<note place="foot"><p>"Et dicunt quod prefatus dominus conquestor ante fundacionem +ecclesie predicte et confeccionem carte sue de qua superius fit mencio +auctoritate parliament sui et per duas cartes suas quas dicti maior et +Cives hic proferunt scilicet per unam earam dimissit tunc civibus London' +totam dictam civitatem et vice-comitatum London' cum omnibus appendiciis +rebus et consuetudinibus eis qualitercumque pertinentibus.... +Et per alteram concessit et auctoritate supradicta confirmavit +eisdem civibus et successoribus suis quod haberent predicta ac omnes +alias libertates et liberas consuetudines suas illesas quas habuerunt tempore +dicti Sancti Regis Edwardi progenitoris sui."—Letter Book K, +fo. 120 b.</p></note> +This charter has since been lost.</p> + +<note place="margin">The strong government of William.</note> + +<p>The compact thus made between London and the +Conqueror was faithfully kept by both parties. Having +ascended the English throne by the aid of the citizens +of London, William, unlike many of his successors, +was careful not to infringe the terms of their charter, +whilst the citizens on the other hand continued loyal +to their accepted king, and lent him assistance to put +down insurgents in other parts of the kingdom. The +fortress which William erected within their city's +walls did not disturb their equanimity. It was sufficient +for them that, under the Conqueror's rule, the +country was once more peaceful, so peaceful that, according +to the chronicler, a young maiden could +travel the length of England without being injured +or robbed.<note place="foot"><p>"Tantaque pax suis regnavit temporibus, quod puella virguncula +auro onusta, indempnis et intacta Angliam potuit peragrare."—Mat. +Paris, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series No. 44), i, 29.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">"Doomsday" Book completed.</note> + +<p>The close of the reign of William the First witnessed +the completion of "Doomsday," or survey of +the kingdom, which he had ordered to be made for +fiscal purposes. For some reason not explained, +neither London nor Winchester—the two capitals, so to +speak, of the kingdom—were included in this survey. +It may be that the importance of these boroughs,<pb n="038" /><anchor id="Pg038" /> +their wealth and population, necessitated some special +method of procedure; but this does not account for +the omission of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, +and Durham, from the survey. We know +that Winchester was afterwards surveyed, but no +steps in the same direction were ever taken with respect +to London. The survey was not effected without +disturbances, owing to the inquisitorial power +vested in the commissioners appointed to carry it out.</p> + +<note place="margin">Death of William the Conqueror, and accession of his son, 1087.</note> + +<p>William died whilst on a visit to his duchy of +Normandy, and "he who was before a powerful +king, and lord of many a land, had then of all his +land, only a portion of seven feet."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, p. 187. Flor. Wigorn., ii, p. 19.</p></note> the same +which, to this day, holds his mortal remains in the +Abbey at Caen. He was succeeded by William his +son. The death of the father and accession of his +son was marked by fire, pestilence, and famine.<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, p. 187. Flor. Wigorn., ii, p. 19.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">St. Paul's destroyed by fire, 1087.</note> + +<p>A fire destroyed St. Paul's and the greater part +of the City. Maurice, Bishop of London, at once +set to work to rebuild the Cathedral on a larger and +more magnificent scale, erecting the edifice upon arches +in a manner little known in England at that time, but +long practised in France. The Norman Conquest was +already working for good. Not only the style of +architecture, but the very stone used in re-building St. +Paul's came from France, the famous quarries of Caen +being utilised for the purpose.<note place="foot"><p>Stow's Survey (Thoms's ed.), p. 121.</p></note></p> + +<p>There was already in the city, one church built +after the same manner, and on that account called +St. Mary of Arches or "le Bow." The object of<pb n="039" /><anchor id="Pg039" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ELECTION OF HENRY I." /> +setting churches and other buildings upon vaults was +to guard against fire. Whatever defence against fire +this method of building may have afforded, it was +certainly no defence against wind. In 1091, the roof +of St. Mary-le-Bow was clean blown off, huge baulks +of timber, 26 feet long, being driven into the ground +with such force that scarce 4 feet of them could +be seen.<note place="foot"><p>Malmesbury. ii, 375.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Tower strengthened and the bridge repaired, 1097.</note> + +<p>The reign of the new king was one of oppression. +Nevertheless, he continued to secure that protection +for life and property which his father had so successfully +achieved, so that a man "who had confidence in +himself" and was "aught," could travel the length and +breadth of the land unhurt, "with his bosom full of +gold."<note place="foot"><p>Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii, 189.</p></note> He also had an eye for the protection of +the city, and the advancement of its commerce, surrounding +the Tower of London by a wall, and repairing +the bridge which had been nearly washed +away by a flood.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 202.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Henry I by the Witan at Winchester, 1100.</note> + +<p>On the 2nd August, 1100, the Red King met his +death suddenly in the New Forest, and the next day +was buried at Winchester. According to a previous +agreement, the crown should have immediately +devolved upon his brother Robert. Crowns, however, +were not to be thus disposed of; they fell only +to those ready and strong enough to seize them. +Robert was far away on a crusade. His younger +brother Henry was on the spot, and upon him fell the +choice of such of the witan as happened to be in or +near Winchester at the time of the late king's death.<note place="foot"><p>"Those of the council who were nigh at hand."—Anglo-Sax. +Chron., ii, 204.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="040" /><anchor id="Pg040" /> + +<note place="margin">Their choice confirmed by the City of London.</note> + +<p>The two days that elapsed before his coronation +at Westminster (5th August), the king-elect spent in +London, where by his easy and eloquent manner, as +well as by fair promises, he succeeded in winning the +inhabitants over to his cause, to the rejection of the +claims of Robert. The election, or perhaps we should +rather say, the selection of Henry by the witan at +Winchester, was thus approved and confirmed by the +whole realm (<hi rend="font-style: italic">regni universitas</hi>), in the city of +London.</p> + +<p>The choice was made however on one condition, +viz.:—that Henry should restore to his subjects their +ancient liberties and customs enjoyed in the days of +Edward the Confessor.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series No. 44) i, 176.</p></note> The charter thus obtained +served as an exemplar for the great charter of liberties +which was to be subsequently wrung from King John.</p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's charter to the City of London.</note> + +<p>Another charter was granted by the new king—a +charter to the citizens of London—granted, as some +have thought, soon after his accession, and by way of +recognition of the services they had rendered him +towards obtaining the crown. This however appears +to be a mistake. There is reason for supposing that +this charter was not granted until at least thirty years +after he was seated on the throne.<note place="foot"><p>See Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville (p. 366), where the writer +conjectures the date of the charter to have been between 1130 and 1135, +and brings evidence in favour of it having been purchased by the +payment of a large sum of money.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The main features of the charter.</note> + +<p>The chief features of the grant<note place="foot"><p>Set out under fifteen heads in the City's <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber Albus</hi>. (Rolls +Series) i, 128-129.</p></note> were that the +citizens were thenceforth to be allowed to hold +Middlesex to farm at a rent of £300 a year, and to<pb n="041" /><anchor id="Pg041" /><index index="toc" level1="HENRY'S CHARTER TO THE CITY." /> +appoint from among themselves whom they would to +be sheriff over it; they were further to be allowed to +appoint their own justiciar to hold pleas of the +crown, and no other justiciar should exercise authority +over them; they were not to be forced to plead +without the city's walls; they were to be exempt +from scot and lot and of all payments in respect +of Danegelt and murder; they were to be allowed to +purge themselves after the English fashion of making +oath and not after the Norman fashion by wager of +battle; their goods were to be free of all manner of +customs, toll, passage and lestage; their husting court +might sit once a week; and lastly, they might resort +to "withernam" or reprisal in cases where their goods +had been unlawfully seized.</p> + +<note place="margin">The grant of Middlesex to ferm, and choice of sheriff.</note> + +<p>Touching the true import of this grant of Middlesex +to the citizens at a yearly rent, with the right of +appointing their own sheriff over it, no less than the +identity of the justiciar whom they were to be +allowed to choose for themselves for the purpose of +hearing pleas of the crown within the city, much +divergence of opinion exists. Some believe that +the government of the city was hereby separated +from that of the shire wherein it was situate, and that +the right of appointing their own justiciar which the +citizens obtained by this charter was the right of +electing a sheriff for the city of London in the place +of the non-elective ancient port-reeve. Others deny +that the charter introduced the shire organization into +the government of the city, and believe the justiciar and +sheriff to have been distinct officials.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., i, 404, 405. Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville. p. 356.</p></note> The latter appear +to hold the more plausible view. Putting aside<pb n="042" /><anchor id="Pg042" /> +the so-called charter of William the First, granting to +the citizens in express terms <hi rend="font-style: italic">civitatem et vice-comitatum +Londoniæ</hi>, as wanting in corroboration, a +solution of the difficulty may be found if we consider +(1) that the city received a shire organization and +became in itself to all intents and purposes a county +as soon as it came to be governed by a port-reeve, if +not as soon as an alderman had been set over it by +Alfred; (2) that the duties of the shrievalty in respect +of the county of the city of London were at this time +performed either by a port-reeve or by one or more +officers, known subsequently as sheriffs, and (3) that +for the right of executing these duties no rent or ferm +was ever demanded or paid.<note place="foot"><p>The sum of 100 marks of silver recorded (Pipe Roll, 31 Hen. I) +as having been paid for the shrievalty in 1130, appears to have been +more of the nature of a fine than a <hi rend="font-style: italic">firma</hi>.</p></note></p> + +<p>If this be a correct view of the matter, it would +appear that the effect of Henry's grant of Middlesex +to the citizens to farm, and of the appointment of a +sheriff over it of their own choice, was not so much +to render the city independent of the shire, as to +make the shire subject to the city. It must be borne +in mind that no sheriff (or sheriffs) has ever been +elected by the citizens for Middlesex alone, the +duties appertaining to the sheriff-wick of Middlesex +having always been performed by the sheriffs of the +city for the time being.<note place="foot"><p>"Whereas from time immemorial there have been and of right +ought to be two sheriffs of this city, which said two sheriffs during all +the time aforesaid have constituted and of right ought to constitute one +sheriff of the county of Middlesex...."—Preamble to Act of +Common Council, 7th April, 1748, <hi rend="font-style: italic">re</hi> Nomination and election of +Sheriffs. Journal 59, fo. 130b.</p></note> Hence it is that the shrievalty +of London and Middlesex is often spoken of as the +shrievalty of "London" alone, and the shrievalty of<pb n="043" /><anchor id="Pg043" /><index index="toc" level1="THE SHERIFF-WICK OF MIDDLESEX." /> +"Middlesex" alone (the same officers executing the +duties of both shrievalties) and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">firma</hi> of £300 +paid for the shrievalty of Middlesex alone is sometimes +described as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">firma</hi> of "London," sometimes +of "Middlesex," and sometimes of "London and +Middlesex."<note place="foot"><p>Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 357. Mr. Round's statements +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">op. cit.</hi>, Appendix P), that "this one <hi rend="font-style: italic">firma</hi> ... represents +one <hi rend="font-style: italic">corpus comitatus</hi>, namely Middlesex, inclusive of London," and +that "from this conclusion there is no escape," are more capable of +refutation than he is willing to allow.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The citizens' right to elect their own Justiciar.</note> + +<p>The right of electing their own justiciar granted +to the citizens by Henry resolves itself into little more +than a confirmation of the right to elect their own +sheriffs.<note place="foot"><p>"It is probable that whilst the Sheriff in his character of Sheriff +was competent to direct the customary business of the Court, it was in +that of <hi rend="font-style: italic">justitia</hi> that he transacted business under the King's writ."—Stubbs, +Const. History, i, 389, note.</p></note> Just as sheriffs are known to have held pleas +of the crown in the counties up to the time of the +Great Charter (although their duties were modified by +Henry I, and again by Henry II, when he appointed +Justices in eyre) so in the city of London, no one, +except the sheriffs of London could hold pleas of the +crown, and an attempt made by the Barons in 1258 +to introduce a justiciar into the Guildhall was persistently +challenged by the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>"Post hoc prædictus Justitiarius ... accessit ad Gildhalle +Londoniarum, et ibi tenuit placita de die in diem ... et incontinenti ... ilia +terminavit nullo juris ordine observato contra leges +civitatis et etiam contra leges et consuetudines cujuslibet liberi hominis +de regno Anglie. Quod vero cives semper calumpniaverunt, dicentes +quod nullus debet placitare in civitate de transgressionibus ibidem +factis nisi vicecomites Londoniarium."—Lib. de Ant. (Camd. Soc.), +p. 40.</p></note></p> + +<p>Even those who stedfastly maintain that in the +country the sheriff and justiciar grew up to be two +distinct officers, the one representing local interest and +the other imperial, are willing to allow that in the<pb n="044" /><anchor id="Pg044" /> +city of London such distinction was evanescent. The +office of justiciar in the city was twice granted <hi rend="font-style: italic">eo +nomine</hi> to Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and +it is twice mentioned as having been held by one +named Gervase, who (there is reason to believe) is +identical with Gervase de Cornhill, a Sheriff of London +in 1155 and 1156; but the office became extinct at +the accession of Henry II.<note place="foot"><p>Round. Geoffrey de Mandeville. pp. 107-113, 373, and Appendix K.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">London and the election of Stephen, 1135</note> + +<p>The events which followed Henry's decease +afford us another instance of the futility of all attempts +at this early period to settle the succession to the +crown before the throne was actually vacant. The +King's nephew, Stephen of Blois, and the nobility of +England had sworn to accept the King's daughter +Matilda, wife of Geoffery of Anjou, as their sovereign +on the death of her father; yet when that event took +place in 1135, Stephen, in spite of his oath, claimed +the crown as nearest male heir of the Conqueror's +blood.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris (Hist. Angl. i, 251), ascribes the incessant turmoil +of the latter part of the reign to the vengeance of the deity for this +breach of faith.</p></note></p> + +<p>There was no doubt of his popularity, whilst +Matilda on the other hand injured her cause by +marrying an Angevin. On the continent a bitter feud +existed between Norman and Angevin; in England +the Norman had steadily increased in favour, and +England's crown was Stephen's if he had courage +enough to seize it.</p> + +<p>Landing on the Kentish coast, his first reception +was far from encouraging. Canterbury and Dover, held +by the Earl of Gloucester, refused to acknowledge<pb n="045" /><anchor id="Pg045" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON'S ELECTION OF STEPHEN." /> +him and closed their gates on his approach. Undismayed +by these rebuffs, Stephen pushed on to London, +where he was welcomed by every token of good will. +The Londoners had been no party to the agreement +to recognise Matilda as Henry's successor; they had +become accustomed to exercising a right of sharing +in the choice of a king who should reign over them, +and they now chose Stephen. "It was their right, +their special privilege," said they, "on the occasion of +the king's decease, to provide another in his place."<note place="foot"><p>"Id quoque sui esse juris, suique specialiter privilegii, ut si rex +ipsorum quoquo moclo obiret, alius suo provisu in regno substituendus +e vestigio succederet."—Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series No. 82), iii, 5-6.</p></note> +There was no time to be lost, the country was in +danger, Stephen was at hand, sent to them, as they +believed, by the goodness of Providence. They could +not do better than elect him: and elected he was +by the assembled aldermen or eldermen (<hi rend="font-style: italic">majores +natu</hi>) of the City.</p> + +<p>Such is the story of Stephen's election as given +by the author of the "Gesta Stephani," one who +wrote as an eye-witness of what took place, but +whose statements cannot always be taken as those of +an independent chronicler of events. Informal as this +election may have been, it marks an important epoch +in the annals of London. Thenceforth the city +assumes a pre-eminent position and exercises a predominant +influence in the public affairs of the kingdom.<note place="foot"><p>"With the solemn independent election of a king, the great part +which London was to play in England's history had definitely begun."—Green, +London and her Election of Stephen.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Coronation of Stephen, December, 1135.</note> + +<p>From London Stephen went down to Winchester, +where he was heartily welcomed by his brother Henry,<pb n="046" /><anchor id="Pg046" /> +recently appointed papal legate. Next to London, it +was important that Stephen should secure Winchester, +and now that London had spoken, the citizens of +Winchester no longer hesitated to throw in their lot +with the king. Winchester secured, and Stephen put +in possession of the royal castle and treasury, he +returned to London, where all doubts as to the +validity or invalidity of his election were set at rest +by the ceremony of coronation (Dec. 1135).</p> + +<note place="margin">A great Council held in London, April, 1136.</note> + +<p>In the spring of the following year (April 1136), +a brilliant council of the clergy and magnates of the +realm was held in London,<note place="foot"><p>Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series No. 82). iii. 17.</p></note> reminding one of the +Easter courts of the days of the Conqueror which +latterly had been shorn of much of their splendour. +The occasion was one for introducing the new king to +his subjects as well as for confirming the liberties of +the church, and Stephen may have taken special care +to surround it with exceptional splendour as a set off +against the meagreness which had characterised the +recent ceremony of his coronation.<note place="foot"><p>Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 18.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Arrival of the Empress Matilda in England. 1139.</note> + +<p>In the meanwhile the injured Matilda appealed +to Rome, but only with the result that her rival +received formal recognition from the Pope. Three +years later (1139) she landed in England accompanied +by her brother, the Earl of Gloucester. She soon +obtained a following, more especially in the west; and +Winchester—the seat of the royal residence of the +queens of England since the time when Ethelred +presented the city as a "morning gift" to his consort at +their marriage—became her headquarters and rallying<pb n="047" /><anchor id="Pg047" /><index index="toc" level1="THE EMPRESS MATILDA." /> +point for her supporters, whilst London served in the +same way for Stephen.</p> + +<note place="margin">Attempted negotiations between Stephen and Matilda, May, 1140.</note> + +<p>After nine months of sieges and counter sieges, +marches and counter marches, in which neither party +could claim any decided success, Stephen, as was his +wont, withdrew to London and shut himself up in the +Tower, with only a single bishop, and he a foreigner, +in his train. Whilst safe behind the walls of that +stronghold, negotiations were opened between him and +the empress for a peaceful settlement of their respective +claims (May, 1140), Henry of Winchester +acting as intermediary between the rival parties.<note place="foot"><p>"Eodem anno in Pentecoste resedit rex Londoniæ in Turri, episcopo +tantum modo Sagiensi præsente: ceteri vel fastidierunt vel +timuerunt venire. Aliquanto post, mediante legato, colloquium indictum +est inter imperatricem et regem. si forte Deo inspirante pax reformari +posset."—Malmesbury, Hist. Nov. (Rolls Series No. 90.), ii, 564.</p></note> +The negotiations ended without effecting the desired +result.</p> + +<note place="margin">Matilda formally acknowledged "Lady of England," 1141.</note> + +<p>Matters assumed an entirely different aspect when +Stephen was made prisoner at Lincoln in the following +year (2nd Feb., 1141). Henry of Winchester forsook +his rôle of arbitrator, and entered into a formal +compact with the empress who arrived before Winchester +with the laurels of her recent success yet +fresh, agreeing to receive her as "Lady of England," +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">Domina Angliæ</hi>) and promising her the allegiance of +himself and his followers so long as she would keep +her oath and allow him a free hand in ecclesiastical +matters.<note place="foot"><p>"Juravit et affidavit imperatrix episcopo quod omnia majora negotia +in Anglia præcipueque donationes episcopatuum et abbatiarum ejus +nutum spectarent, si eam ipse cum sancta ecclesia in dominam reciperet +et perpetuam ei fidelitatem teneret.... Nec dubitavit episcopus +imperatricem in dominam Angliæ recipere, et ei cum quibusdam suis +affidare, quod, quamdiu ipsa pactem non infringeret ipse quoque fidem +ei custodiret."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.,</hi> ii, 573.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="048" /><anchor id="Pg048" /> + +<note place="margin">A synod at Winchester, 7th April, 1141.</note> + +<p>This compact was entered into on the 2nd March, +and on the following day the empress was received +with solemn pomp into Winchester Cathedral. It +remained for the compact to be ratified. For this +purpose an ecclesiastical synod was summoned to sit +at Winchester on the 7th April. The day was spent +by the legate holding informal communications with +the bishops, abbots, and archdeacons who were in +attendance, and who then for the first time in England's +history claimed the right not only of consecration, +but of election of the sovereign.<note place="foot"><p>"Ventilata est hesterno die causa secreto coram majori parte cleri +Angliæ ad cujus jus potissimum spectat principem eligere, simulque +ordinare."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 576.</p></note></p> + +<p>On the 8th April, Henry in a long speech announced +to the assembled clergy the result of the conclave of +the previous day. He extolled the good government +of the late king who before his death had caused fealty +to be sworn to his daughter, the empress. The delay +of the empress in coming to England (he said) had +been the cause of Stephen's election. The latter had +forfeited all claim to the crown by his bad government, +and God's judgment had been pronounced against him. +Lest therefore, the nation should suffer for want of a +sovereign, he, as legate, had summoned them together, +and by them the empress had been elected Lady of +England. The speech was received with unanimous +applause, those to whom the election did not commend +itself being wise enough to hold their tongue.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Londoners summoned to attend the synod.</note> + +<p>But there was another element to be considered +before Matilda's new title could be assured. What +would the Londoners who had taken the initiative in +setting Stephen on the throne, and still owed to them<pb n="049" /><anchor id="Pg049" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON AND THE SYNOD AT WINCHESTER." /> +their allegiance, say to it? The legate had foreseen the +difficulty that might arise if the citizens, whom he +described as very princes of the realm, by reason of the +greatness of their city (<hi rend="font-style: italic">qui sunt quasi optimates pro +magnitudine civitatis in Anglia</hi>), could not be won +over. He had, therefore, sent a special safe conduct +for their attendance, so he informed the meeting after +the applause which followed his speech had died away, +and he expected them to arrive on the following day. +If they pleased they would adjourn till then.</p> + +<note place="margin">They arrive and request the king's release, 9th April, 1141.</note> + +<p>The next day (9th April) the Londoners arrived, +as the legate had foretold, and were ushered before +the council. They had been sent, they said, by the so +called "commune" of London; and their purpose was +not to enter into debate, but only to beg for the release +of their lord, the king.<note place="foot"><p>"Missos se a communione quam vocant Londoniarum."—Malmesbury, +(Hist. Nov.), ii, 576. Exception may be taken to translating +<hi rend="font-style: italic">communio</hi> as 'commune'; but even if the municipal organization +represented by the French term <hi rend="font-style: italic">commune</hi> did not at this period exist in +the City of London in all its fulness, the "communal idea" appears +to have been there.—Stubbs, Const. Hist., i. 407.</p></note> The statement was supported +by all the barons then present who had entered the +commune of the city<note place="foot"><p>"Omnes barones qui in eorum coramunionem jamdudum recepti +fuerant."—Malmesbury, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ibid.</hi></p></note> and met with the approval of +the archbishop and all the clergy in attendance. +Their solicitations, however, proved of no avail. The +legate replied with the same arguments he had +used the day before, adding that it ill became +the Londoners who were regarded as nobles +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">quasi proceres</hi>) in the land to foster those who +had basely deserted their king on the field of battle, +and who only curried favour with the citizens in order +to fleece them of their money.</p> + +<pb n="050" /><anchor id="Pg050" /> + +<note place="margin">Their request backed up by a letter from the Queen.</note> + +<p>Here an interruption took place. A messenger +presented to the legate a paper from Stephen's queen +to read to the council. Henry took the paper, and +after scanning its contents, refused to communicate +them to the meeting. The messenger, however, not +to be thus foiled, himself made known the contents of +the paper. These were, in effect, an exhortation by the +queen to the clergy, and more especially to the legate +himself, to restore Stephen to liberty. The legate, +however, returned the same answer as before, and the +meeting broke up, the Londoners promising to communicate +the decision of the council to their brethren +at home, and to do their best to obtain their support.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Londoners after much hesitation receive the Empress +into their city, June, 1141.</note> + +<p>The next two months were occupied by the +empress and her supporters in preparing the way for +her admission into the city, the inhabitants of which, +had as yet shown but little disposition towards her. +But however great their inclination may have been to +Stephen, they at length found themselves forced to +transfer their allegiance and to offer, for a time at +least, a politic submission to the empress. Accordingly, +a deputation went out to meet her at St. Albans +(May 1141), and arrange terms on which the city +should surrender.<note place="foot"><p>"Proficiscitur inde cum exultatione magna et gaudio, et in monasterio +Sancti Albani cum processionali suscipitur honore et jubilo. +Adeunt eam ibi cives multi ex Lundonia, tractatur ibi sermo multimodus +de reddenda civitate."—Contin. Flor. Wigorn. (Thorpe), ii, 131.</p></note></p> + +<p>More delay took place; and it was not until +shortly before midsummer (1141), that she entered +the city. Her stay was brief. She treated the inhabitants +as vanquished foes,<note place="foot"><p>"Erecta est autem in superbiam intolerabilem, quia suis incerta +belli prosperavissent."—Hen. of Huntingdon (Rolls Series No. 74), p. 275.</p></note> extorted large sums of<pb n="051" /><anchor id="Pg051" /><index index="toc" level1="THE EMPRESS MATILDA IN LONDON." /> +money,<note place="foot"><p>"Infinitæ copiæ pecuniam, non simplici cum mansuetudine sed +cum ore imperioso ab eis exegit."—Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series +No. 82), iii, 75.</p></note> and haughtily refused to observe the laws +of Edward the Confessor they valued so much, preferring +those of the late king, her father.<note place="foot"><p>"Interpellata est a civibus, ut leges eis regis Edwardi observari +liceret, quia optimæ erant, non patris sui Henrici quia graves erant. +Verum illa non bono usa consilio, præ nimia austeritate non acquievit +eis, unde et motus magnus factus in urbe; et facta conjuratione adversus +eam quam cum honore susceperunt. cum dedecore apprehendere +statuerunt."—Contin. Flor. Wigorn. (Thorpe), ii, 132.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Empress forced to leave the city.</note> + +<p>The consequence was that, within a few days of +her arrival in London, the inhabitants rose in revolt, +drove her out of the city<note place="foot"><p>Malmesbury (Hist. Nov.), ii, 577-578. "Sed tandem a Londoniensibus +expulsa est in die Sancti Johannis Baptiste proximo sequenti"—Lib. +de Ant. (Camd. Soc), p. 197.</p></note> and attacked the Tower, of +which Geoffrey de Mandeville was constable, as his +father William had been before him.<note place="foot"><p>"Anno prædicto [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> 7 Stephen, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1141], statim in illa estate, +obsessa est Turris Lundoniarum a Londoniensibus, quam Willielmus +[<hi rend="font-style: italic">sic</hi>] de Magnaville tenebat et firmaverat."—Lib. de Ant. (Camd. +Soc.), p. 197. From this it would appear that the father still held +the office of constable. A charter of the empress, however, which +Mr. Horace Round prints in his book on Geoffrey de Mandeville +(pp. 88, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi>) points to the son as being constable at the time.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, and Constable of the Tower, won over by the Empress.</note> + +<p>This Geoffrey de Mandeville had been recently +created Earl of Essex by Stephen, in the hope and +expectation that the fortress over which Geoffrey +was governor, would be held secure for the royal +cause. The newly fledged earl, however, was one +who ever fought for his own hand, and was ready to +sell his fortress and sword to the highest bidder. The +few days that the empress was in the city, afforded +her an opportunity of risking a trial to win over the +earl from his allegiance. To this end she offered to +confirm him in his earldom and to continue him in his +office of Constable of the Tower, conferred upon him<pb n="052" /><anchor id="Pg052" /> +by Stephen; in addition to which, she was ready to +allow him to enjoy lands of the rent of £100 a year, +a license to fortify his castles, and the posts of sheriff +and justiciar throughout his earldom. The bait was +too tempting for the earl not to accept; and a charter +to the above effect was drawn up and executed.<note place="foot"><p>Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 88-95.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Forsakes the Empress for the Queen.</note> + +<p>Scarcely had the fickle earl consented to throw +in his lot with the empress before she had to flee the +city. The departure of the empress was quickly +followed by the arrival of her namesake, Matilda, the +valiant queen of the captured Stephen; and again the +earl proved false to his allegiance and actively supported +the queen in concert with the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>It is not to be supposed that the earl consented to assist the queen +without meeting with some return for his services, more especially as +the queen was prepared to go all lengths to obtain her husband's liberty. +See Round's Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 119.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Capture of Winchester, and release of Stephen, Sept., 1141.</note> + +<p>With his aid<note place="foot"><p>"Gaufrido de Mandevilla, qui jam iterum auxilio eorum cesserat, +antea enim post captionem regis imperatrici fidelitatem juraverat, et Londoniensibus +maxime annitentibus, nihilque omnino quod possent prætermittentibus +quo imperatricem contristarent."—Malmesbury (Hist. +Nov.), ii, 580.</p></note> and the aid of the Londoners,<note place="foot"><p>"Magnæ ex Lundoniis copiæ."—Newburgh, Hist. Rerum. Angl. +(Rolls Series No. 82.), i, 42. "Cumque invictâ Londoniensium +catervâ."—Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series No. 82), iii, 80. The Londoners +sacked Winchester mercilessly. "Londonienses, cum maxima +militum regalium parte, modis horrendis Wintoniensem civitatem expilavere."—Gesta +Stephani, iii, 84.</p></note> the +queen was enabled to reduce Winchester and to effect +the liberation of her husband by exchanging the Earl +of Gloucester, brother of the empress, for the captured +king.</p> + +<note place="margin">His second charter to Mandeville.</note> + +<p>After being solemnly crowned, for the second +time,<note place="foot"><p>The precedent thus set by Stephen, of submitting to the ceremony +of a second coronation after a period of captivity, was afterwards +followed by Richard I, on his return from captivity abroad.</p></note> at Canterbury, Stephen issued a second charter<pb n="053" /><anchor id="Pg053" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON HOLDS THE BALANCE." /> +(about Christmas time, 1141),<note place="foot"><p>This is the date assigned to the charter by Mr. Horace Round, +(Geoffrey de Mandeville, pp. 138-144). <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Appendix to 31st Report +of Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, p. 3.</p></note> to Geoffrey de Mandeville, +confirming and augmenting the previous grant by +the empress. Instead of sheriff and justiciar of his own +county of Essex merely, he is now made sheriff and +justiciar of London and Middlesex, as well as of +Hertfordshire.</p> + +<note place="margin">London holds the balance between the rival powers.</note> + +<p>But even these great concessions failed to secure +the earl's fidelity to the king. Again he broke away +from his allegiance and planned a revolt in favour of +the empress who recompensed him with still greater +dignities and possessions than any yet bestowed. +This second charter of the empress,<note place="foot"><p>The date assigned by Mr. Round to this charter is between +Christmas, 1141, and the end of June, 1142.</p></note> is remarkable for +a clause in which she promises never to make terms +with the Londoners without the earl's consent, +"because they are his mortal foes."<note place="foot"><p>"Et convenciono eidem Gaufredo Comiti Essex quod dominus +meus Comes Andegavie vel ego vel filii nostri nullam pacem aut +concordiam cum Burgensibus Lund[oniæ] faciemus, nisi concessu et +assensu præ-dicti Comitis Gaufredi quia inimici eius sunt mortales."—Round's +Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 168.</p></note> But the plans +of the earl were doomed to be frustrated. The +empress, tired of the struggle, soon ceased to be +dangerous, and eventually withdrew to the continent, +and Stephen was left free to deal with the rebel earl +alone. With the assistance of the Londoners, who +throughout the long period of civil dissension, were +generally to be found on the winning side, and held as +it were the balance between the rival powers, Stephen +managed after considerable bloodshed to capture +the fortifications erected by the Earl at Farringdon.<note place="foot"><p>Newburgh, Hist. Rerum Angl. (Rolls Series No. 82), i. 48. Henry +of Huntingdon (Rolls Series No. 74), p. 278.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="054" /><anchor id="Pg054" /> + +<note place="margin">Arrest of the earl, his freebooting life and death, September, 1143.</note> + +<p>The earl was subsequently treacherously arrested +and made to give up his castles. Thenceforth his +life was that of a marauding freebooter, until, fatally +wounded at the siege of Burwell, he expired in September, +1143.</p> + +<note place="margin">Arrival of Henry of Anjou in England, 1153</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding the absence of the empress and +the death of the faithless earl, a desultory kind of war +continued to be carried on for the next ten years on +behalf of Henry of Anjou, son of the empress. In +1153 that prince arrived in England to fight his own +battles and maintain his right to the crown, which the +king had already attempted to transfer to the head of +his own son Eustace. This attempt had been foiled +by the refusal of the bishops, at the instigation of the +pope, to perform the ceremony. The sudden death +of Eustace made the king more ready to enter into +negotiations for effecting a peaceful settlement.</p> + +<note place="margin">Peace concluded between Stephen and Henry at Winchester, November, 1153.</note> + +<note place="margin">Henry conducted to London.</note> + +<p>A compromise was accordingly effected at Winchester,<note place="foot"><p>Sometimes called the Treaty of Wallingford.</p></note> +whereby Stephen was to remain in undisputed +possession of the throne for life, and after his +death was to be succeeded by Henry. The news +that at last an end had come to the troubles which +for nineteen years had disturbed the country, was +received with universal joy, and Henry, conducted to +London by the king himself, was welcomed in a +manner befitting one who was now the recognised heir +to the crown.<note place="foot"><p>The general joy is depicted in glowing colours by Henry of +Huntingdon, (p. 289.) <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Anglo-Sax. Chron., ii., 235.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="055" /><anchor id="Pg055" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER III.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="FITZ-STEPHEN'S DESCRIPTION OF LONDON" /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Fitz-Stephen's description of London.</note> + +<p>Both London and Winchester had been laid in +ashes during Stephen's reign, the former by a conflagration—which +took place in 1136, again destroying +St. Paul's and extending from London Bridge to the +church of St. Clement Danes—the latter by the +burning missiles used in the conflict between Stephen +and the empress in 1141. Winchester never recovered +her position, and London was left without a rival. +Fitz-Stephen, who wrote an account of the city as it +stood in the reign of Henry II, describes it as holding +its head higher than all others; its fame was wider +known; its wealth and merchandise extended further +than any other; it was the capital of the kingdom +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">regni Anglorum sedes</hi>).<note place="foot"><p>Fitz-Stephen's Stephanides, Stow's Survey (Thoms's ed.), p. 208.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Thomas of London.</note> + +<p>It was through the mediation of an intimate +friend and fellow citizen of Fitz-Stephen that Archbishop +Theobald had invited Henry of Anjou over +from France in 1153. Thomas of London, better +known as Thomas Becket, although of foreign descent, +was born in the heart of the city, having first seen the +light in the house of Gilbert, his father, some time +Portreeve of London, situate in Cheapside on a site +now occupied by the hall and chapel of the Mercers' +Chapel. Having been ordained a deacon of the +Church, he became in course of time clerk or chaplain<pb n="056" /><anchor id="Pg056" /> +to the archbishop. Vigorous and active as he was, +Thomas soon made his influence felt, and it was owing +to his suggestion (so it is said<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, v., 325.</p></note>) that the bishops had +declined to be a party to the coronation of Eustace +during Stephen's lifetime.</p> + +<p>On the accession of Henry, Thomas passed from +the service of the archbishop, then advanced in years, +to the service of the young king. He was raised to +the dignity of chancellor, and became one of the +king's most trusted advisers. By their united efforts +order was once again restored throughout the kingdom. +The great barons, who had established themselves +in castles erected without royal licence, were +brought into subjection to the crown and compelled +to pull down their walls. Upon the death of the +archbishop, Thomas was appointed to the vacant See +(1162). From that day forward the friendship between +king and archbishop began to wane. Henry found +that all his attempts to establish order in his kingdom +were thwarted by exemptions claimed by the archbishop +on behalf of the clergy. He found that +allegiance to the Crown was divided with allegiance +to the Pope, and this state of things was likely to +continue so long as the archbishop lived. Becket's +end is familiar to us all. His memory was long +cherished by the citizens of London, who made many +a pilgrimage to the scene of his martyrdom and left +many an offering on his tomb in the cathedral of +Canterbury. It is hard to say for which of the two, +the father or the son, the citizens entertained the +greater reverence. For many years after his death it +was the custom for the Mayor of the City for the<pb n="057" /><anchor id="Pg057" /><index index="toc" level1="CHARTER OF HENRY II TO THE CITY." /> +time being, upon entering into office, to meet the +aldermen at the church of St. Thomas of Acon—a +church which had been erected and endowed in +honour of the murdered archbishop by his sister +Agnes, wife of Thomas Fitz-Theobald of Helles<note place="foot"><p>A cartulary of the Mercers' Company contains a copy of a grant +from Thomas Fitz-Theobald to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acon of +"all that land, with the appurtenances, which was formerly of Gilbert +Becket, father of the Blessed Thomas the Martyr, Archbishop of +Canterbury, where the said Blessed Thomas the Martyr was born +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">duxit originem</hi>), to build a church (<hi rend="font-style: italic">basilicam</hi>) in honour of +Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the same most +glorious martyr."—Watney, Account of the Hospital of St. Thomas +of Acon (privately printed 1892), pp. 9, 237.</p></note>—and +thence to proceed to the tomb of Gilbert +Becket, the father, in St. Paul's churchyard, there to +say a <hi rend="font-style: italic">De profundis</hi>; after which both mayor and +aldermen returned to the church of St. Thomas, and, +each having made an offering of two pence, returned +to his own home.<note place="foot"><p>Liber Albus (Rolls Series), i, pp. 26, 27.</p></note> St. Thomas's Hospital, in Southwark, +was originally dedicated to the murdered +archbishop, but after its dissolution and subsequent +restoration as one of the Royal Hospitals, its patron +saint was no longer Thomas the Martyr, but Thomas +the Apostle.</p> + +<note place="margin">Charter of Henry II to the City of London.</note> + +<p>Whilst the king and his chancellor were busy +settling the kingdom, establishing a uniform administration +of justice and system of revenue, and not only +renewing but extending the form of government which +had been instituted by Henry I, the citizens of London, +availing themselves of the security afforded by a strong +government, redoubled their energy in following commercial +pursuits and succeeded in raising the city, as +Fitz-Stephen has told us, to a pitch of prosperity far +exceeding that of any other city in the world.</p> + +<pb n="058" /><anchor id="Pg058" /> + +<p>They obtained a charter from Henry,<note place="foot"><p>This charter (with fragment of seal) is preserved at the Guildhall. +It bears no date, but appears to have been granted between 1154 and 1161.</p></note> although +of a more limited character than that granted to +them by his grandfather. The later charter, for +instance, although in the main lines following the +older charter, makes no mention of Middlesex being +let to ferm nor of any appointment of sheriff or justiciar +being vested in the citizens. It appears as if +Henry was determined to bring the citizens no less +than the barons of the realm within more direct and +immediate subservience to the crown. The concession +made by the king's grandfather had been ignored by +Stephen and the empress Matilda, each of whom in +turn had granted the shrievalty of London and Middlesex +to the Earl of Essex. For a time the appointment +of sheriffs was lost to the citizens. Throughout +the reigns of Henry II and his successor they were +appointed by the crown. Richard's charter to the +citizens makes no mention of the sheriffwick, nor +is it mentioned in the first charter granted by John. +When it was restored to the citizens (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1199), by +John's second charter, the office of sheriff of London +had lost much of its importance owing to the introduction +of the communal system of municipal government +under a mayor.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Inquest of sheriffs, 1170.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the sheriffs of the counties, who +had by reason of Henry's administrative reforms, risen +to be officers of greater importance and wider jurisdiction, +and who had taken advantage of their positions to +oppress the people during the king's prolonged absence +abroad, were also made to feel the power of the crown. +A blow struck at the sheriffs was calculated to weaken<pb n="059" /><anchor id="Pg059" /><index index="toc" level1="THE REVOLT OF THE BARONS" /> +the nobility and the larger landowners—the class from +which it had been the custom hitherto to select these +officers. Henry saw the advantage to be gained, and +on his return to England in 1170 deposed most of the +sheriffs and ordered a strict enquiry to be made, as to +the extortions they had committed in his absence. +Their places were filled for the most part by men of +lower rank, and therefore likely to be more submissive. +Some, however, were reinstated and became more cruel +and extortionate than ever.<note place="foot"><p>Contin. Flor. Wigorn., ii, 138.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The revolt of the barons, 1174.</note> + +<p>The last fifteen years of Henry's life were full of +domestic trouble. He had always found it an easier +matter to rule his kingdom than his household. His +sons were for ever thwarting his will and quarrelling +with each other. It was his desire to secure the +succession to the crown for his eldest son Henry, and +to this end he had caused him to be crowned by the +Archbishop of York (14th June, 1170), who was +thereupon declared excommunicated by his brother +of Canterbury. The son began to clamour for his +inheritance whilst his father still lived, and appealed +in 1173 to the French king, whose daughter he had +married, to assist him in his unholy enterprise. Whilst +Henry was engaged in defending his crown against +his own son on the continent, the great barons of +England rose in insurrection, and the king was obliged +to hasten home, where he arrived in July, 1174. The +rebellion was quickly put down, and the strife between +king and nobles for a time ceased.</p> + +<note place="margin">Disturbances in the city, 1174-1177.</note> + +<p>In the city there were occasional disturbances +caused by the younger nobility—the young bloods of<pb n="060" /><anchor id="Pg060" /> +the city<note place="foot"><p>"De filiis et parentibus nobilium civitatis" and again "filii et +nepotes quorundam nobilium civium Londoniarum."—Benedict of +Peterborough (Rolls Series No. 49), ii, 155.</p></note>—who infested the streets at night, broke +into the houses of the rich and committed every +kind of excess. In 1177 the brother of the Earl +of Ferrers was waylaid and killed, and for some time +the streets were unsafe at night. The chronicler records +a singular outrage perpetrated three years before, by +these sprigs of nobility. They forcibly entered the +house of a wealthy citizen whose name has not come +down to us, he is simply styled the <hi rend="font-style: italic">pater-familias</hi>. +Of his courage we are left in no doubt, for we are +told that he slipt on a coat of mail, armed his house-hold, +and awaited the attack. He had not long to +wait. The leader of the band—one Andrew Bucquinte +soon made his appearance, and was met by +a pan of hot coals. Swords were drawn on both +sides and <hi rend="font-style: italic">pater-familias</hi>, whose coat of mail served +him well, succeeded in cutting off the right hand of +his assailant. Upon the cry of thieves being raised, +the delinquents took to their heels, leaving their +leader a prisoner. The next day, being brought +before the king's justiciar, he informed against his +companions. This cowardly action on the part of +Bucquinte led to many of them being taken, and +among them one who is described by the chronicler +as the noblest and wealthiest of London citizens, but +to whom the chronicler gives no other name than +"John, the old man" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Johannes Senex</hi>). An offer was +made to John to prove his innocence by what was +known as the ordeal by water,<note place="foot"><p>By a strange anomaly, a man who underwent ordeal by water +was only adjudged innocent if he sank to the bottom and was drowned. +Hence the old man's caution!</p></note> but the offer was<pb n="061" /><anchor id="Pg061" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHARD I AND HIS CHANCELLOR." /> +declined, and he was eventually hanged. The whole +story looks suspicious.</p> + +<note place="margin">The last days of Henry II. 1177-1189.</note> + +<p>Having settled the succession of the crown of +England upon his eldest son, the king put his second +son, Richard, into possession of the Duchy of Aquitaine, +and provided for his third son, Geoffrey, by +marriage with the heiress of Brittany. There was +yet another son, John, who was too young to be provided +for just now, and who being without any territory, +assigned to him, acquired the name of Lackland. +Both Richard and Geoffrey had taken the part of their +brother Henry in 1173, and in 1177 the three brothers +were again quarrelling with their father and with each +other. After the deaths of Henry and Geoffrey, the +quarrel was taken up by the surviving brothers, +Richard and John.</p> + +<p>In all these—more or less—petty wars with his +sons, the king had always to deal with the ruler of +France. At last, in 1189, the loss of Le Mans—his +own birth-place—and the unexpected discovery that +his youngest and best beloved son, John, had turned +traitor towards him, left the king nothing to live for, +and after a few days suffering he died, ill and worn +out, at Chinon.</p> + +<note place="margin">Accession of Richard I, and administration of Longchamp, 1189-1190.</note> + +<p>Richard had scarcely succeeded to the throne, +before he set out on a crusade, leaving the government +of his country in the hands of William Longchamp, +Bishop of Ely, as chancellor.<note place="foot"><p>Roger de Hoveden (Rolls Series No. 51), iii, 28. According to +Richard of Devizes (Rolls Series No. 82, iii, 387), Longchamp obtained +the chancellorship by bribery.</p></note> With him was associated +in the government, Hugh de Puiset, or Pudsey, +Bishop of Durham, but Longchamp soon got the<pb n="062" /><anchor id="Pg062" /> +supreme control of affairs into his own hands, and +commenced to act in the most tyrannical fashion. He +increased the security of the Tower of London, which +had been committed to his charge, by surrounding it +with a moat,<note place="foot"><p>Benedict (Rolls Series No. 49). ii, 106.</p></note> and having got himself nominated papal +legate, made a progress through the country committing +the greatest extortion.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 143.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Longchamp opposed by Prince John, 1191.</note> + +<note place="margin">Arrival of Longchamp in London; the citizens divided, 7th October, 1191.</note> + +<p>Report of the Chancellor's conduct having reached +the ears of Richard, he despatched the Archbishop +of Rouen to England with a new commission, but +the worthy prelate on arrival (April, 1191), was afraid +to present the commission, preferring to let matters +take their course.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 158.</p></note> Already a fierce rivalry had +sprung up between the chancellor and John, the +king's brother, who, for purposes of his own, had espoused +the cause of the oppressed. Popular feeling +at length became so strong, that Longchamp feared +to meet John and the bishops, and, instead of going +to Reading, where his attendance was required, he +hastened to London. Arriving there (7 Oct.), he +called the citizens together in the Guildhall, and prayed +them to uphold the King against John, whom he denounced +as aiming plainly at the Crown. The leading +men in the city at the time were Richard Fitz-Reiner +and Henry de Cornhill. These took opposite sides, +the former favouring John, whilst the latter took the +side of the chancellor.<note place="foot"><p>Preface to Roger de Hoveden, iii, p. lxxvii. Girald. Cambr. +Vita Galfridi (Rolls Series No. 21). iv, 397.</p></note> John's party proving the +stronger of the two, Longchamp thought it safest to +seek refuge in the Tower.<note place="foot"><p>Richard of Devizes, iii, 414. Benedict, ii, 213.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="063" /><anchor id="Pg063" /> + +<index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND ITS "COMMUNE."" /> + +<note place="margin">John admitted into the city.</note> + +<p>As soon as John found that the chancellor had +gone to London instead of Reading, he too hastened +thither. On his arrival he was welcomed and hospitably +entertained by Richard Fitz-Reiner who gave +him to understand on what terms he might expect the +support of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Ralph de Diceto (Rolls Series No. 68), ii, 99. Girald. Cambr. +(Vita Galfridi). iv, 397-398. Roger de Hoveden, iii. 140.</p></note> As to terms, John was ready to +accede to any that might be proposed.</p> + +<note place="margin">A meeting of barons and citizens in St. Paul's, 8 Oct., 1191.</note> + +<note place="margin">Longchamp deposed and John recognised as head of the kingdom.</note> + +<p>The next day (8 Oct.), a meeting of the barons +of the realm, as well as of the citizens of London, +was convened in St. Paul's Church, to consider the +conduct of the chancellor, and it was thereupon +decided that Longchamp should be deposed from +office. The story, as told by different chroniclers,<note place="foot"><p>Richard of Devizes. (Rolls Series No. 82), iii. 415. Benedict, +213. Girald. Cambr. (Vita Galfridi), iv, 405.</p></note> +varies in some particulars, but the main features are +the same in all. The king's minister was set aside, +John was recognised as the head of the kingdom, +and new appointments made to judicial, +fiscal, and military offices. The Archbishop of +Rouen, who attended the council, seeing the turn +affairs had taken, no longer hesitated to produce the +letters under the king's sign manual appointing a new +commission for the government of the kingdom.</p> + +<note place="margin">John grants or confirms to the citizens their commune.</note> + +<p>The same day that witnessed the fall of Longchamp +was also a memorable one in the annals of the +City of London; for immediately after judgment had +been passed on the chancellor, John and the assembled +barons granted to the citizens "their commune," +swearing to preserve untouched the dignities of the +city during the king's pleasure. The citizens on<pb n="064" /><anchor id="Pg064" /> +their part swore fealty to King Richard, and declared +their readiness to accept John as successor to the +throne in the event of his brother dying childless.<note place="foot"><p>"Johannes comes frater regis et archiepiscopus Rothomagensis, +et omnes episcopi, comites et barones regni qui aderant, concesserunt +civibus Lundoniarum communam suam, et juraverunt quod ipsi eam et +dignitates civitatis Lundoniarum custodirent illibatas, quandiu regi +placuerit. Et cives Lundoniarum et epispcopi et comites et barones +juraverunt fidelitates regi Ricardo, et Johanni comiti de Meretone fratri +ejus salva fidelitate, et quod illum in dominum suum et regem reciperent, +si rex sine prole decesserit."—Benedict of Peterborough +(Rolls Series No. 49), ii, 214. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Roger de Hovedene (Rolls Series +No. 51), iii, 141; Walter de Coventry (Rolls Series No. 58), ii, 5-6.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Change of name from port-reeve to mayor.</note> + +<p>This is the first public recognition of the citizens +of London as a body corporate; but so far from +granting to them something new, the very words +<hi rend="font-style: italic">their</hi> commune (<hi rend="font-style: italic">communam suam</hi>) imply a commune +of which they were <hi rend="font-style: italic">de facto</hi>, if not <hi rend="font-style: italic">de jure</hi> already in +enjoyment. How long the commune may have been +in existence, unauthorised by the crown, cannot be +determined; but that the term <hi rend="font-style: italic">communio</hi> in connection +with the city's organization was known half a century +before, we have already seen;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Supra</hi> p. 49.</p></note> and, according to +the opinion of Giraldus Cambrensis, there is no valid +distinction between the words <hi rend="font-style: italic">communio</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">communa</hi> +and <hi rend="font-style: italic">communia</hi>.<note place="foot"><p>"In crastino vero convocatis in unum civibus, communione, vel +ut Latine minus vulgariter magis loquamur, communa seu communia +eis concessa et communiter jurata."—Vita Galfridi, iv, 405.</p></note> Bishop Stubbs, however, hesitates +to translate <hi rend="font-style: italic">communio</hi> as "commune," the latter being +essentially a French term for a particular form of +municipal government. He prefers to render it "commonalty," +"fraternity," or "franchise," although he +goes so far as to allow that the term "suggests +that the communal idea was already in existence as +a basis of civic organization" in Stephen's reign, an +idea which became fully developed in the succeeding<pb n="065" /><anchor id="Pg065" /><index index="toc" level1="SUBSTITUTION OF MAYOR FOR PORT-REEVE." /> +reign.<note place="foot"><p>Const. Hist., i, 407.</p></note> He is also in favour of dating the foundation of +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">communa</hi> in London from this grant by John and +the barons,<note place="foot"><p>Referring to the year 1191, he writes, "we have the date of the +foundation of the commune."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 629.</p></note> and in this view he is supported by +Richard of Devizes, who distinctly states that the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">communia</hi> of London was instituted on that occasion, +and that it was of such a character that neither +King Richard nor Henry his father would have conceded +it for a million marks of silver, and that a +<hi rend="font-style: italic">communia</hi> was in fact everything that was bad. It +puffed up the people, it threatened the kingdom, and +it emasculated the priesthood.<note place="foot"><p>"Concessa est ipsa die et instituta communia Londoniensium, in +quam universi regni magnates et ipsi etiam ipsius provinciæ episcopi +jurare coguntur. Nunc primum in indulta sibi conjuratione regno +regem deesse cognovit Londonia quam nec rex ipse Ricardus, nec +prædecessor et pater ejus Henricus, pro mille millibus marcarum +argenti fieri permisisset. Quanta quippe mala ex conjuratione proveniant +ex ipsa poterit diffinitione perpendi, quæ talis est—communia +tumor plebis, timor regni, tepor sacerdotii."—Chron. Stephen, Hen. +II, Ric. I (Rolls Series No. 82), iii, 416.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Change of name from port-reeve to mayor.</note> + +<p>With the change from a shire organization to +that of a French <hi rend="font-style: italic">commune</hi>, whenever that happened +to take place, there took place also a change in the +chief governor of the city. The head of the city was +no longer a Saxon "port-reeve" but a French "mayor," +the former officer continuing in all probability to perform +the duties of a port-reeve or sheriff of a town +in a modified form. From the time when this "civic +revolution"<note place="foot"><p>"It is impossible to avoid a suspicion," writes Bishop Stubbs, +"that the disappearance of the port-reeve and other changes in the +municipal government, signify a civic revolution, the history of which +is lost."—Const. Hist., i, 406n.</p></note> occurred, down to the present day, the +sheriff's position has always been one of secondary +importance, being himself subordinate to the mayor.</p> + +<pb n="066" /><anchor id="Pg066" /> + +<note place="margin">When did the change take place?</note> + +<p>The earliest mention of a mayor of London in a +formal document is said to occur in a writ of the reign +of Henry II.<note place="foot"><p>Merewether and Stephens, Hist. of Boroughs (1835), i, 384. +No authority, however, is given for this statement.</p></note> The popular opinion, however, is that +a change in the name of the chief magistrate of the +City of London took place at the accession of +Richard I. What gave rise to this belief is hard to +say, but it is not improbable that it arose from a statement +to be found in an early manuscript record still +preserved among the archives of the Corporation, and +known as the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber de Antiquis Legibus</hi>.<note place="foot"><p>The entire MS. was published in Latin by the Camden Society +in 1846; and a translation of the original portion of the work was +afterwards made by the late Mr. H. T. Riley, under the title "Chronicles +of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1188 to <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1274."</p></note> The +original portion of this manuscript purports to be a +chronicle of mayors and sheriffs from 1188 down to +1273, noticing briefly the chief events in each year, +and referring to a few particulars relative to the year +1274.</p> + +<p>After naming the sheriffs who were appointed at +Michaelmas, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1188, "the first year of the reign of +King Richard,"<note place="foot"><p>"The correct date of the accession of Richard has never been +ascertained. No records appear to be extant to fix the commencement +of the reign of any king before the accession of John."—Nicholas, +Chronology of Hist., p. 285.</p></note> it goes on to say that "in the +same year Henry Fitz-Eylwin of Londenestane was +made mayor of London, who was the first mayor of +the city, and continued to be such mayor to the end +of his life, that is to say, for nearly five and twenty +years." That Henry Fitz-Eylwin was mayor in +the first year of Richard's reign is stated no less +than three times in the chronicle.<note place="foot"><p>Fos. 45, 63 and 63b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="067" /><anchor id="Pg067" /><index index="toc" level1="CHRONICLE OF ARNALD FITZ-THEDMAR." /> + +<note place="margin">Arnald Fitz-Thedmar, the compiler of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber de Antiquis</hi>.</note> + +<p>The compiler of the chronicle is supposed to have +been Arnald or Arnulf Fitz-Thedmar,<note place="foot"><p>Or simply Thedmar.</p></note> an Alderman +of London, although it is not known over which ward +he presided. Particulars of his life are given in the +volume itself, from which we gather that he was a +grandson on the mother's side of Arnald de Grevingge<note place="foot"><p>It is thus that Riley reads the word which to me appears to be +capable of being read "Grennigge."</p></note> +a citizen of Cologne; that his father's name was +Thedmar, a native of Bremen; that he was born on +the vigil of St. Lawrence [10 August] <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1201, his +mother being forewarned of the circumstances that +would attend his birth in a manner familiar to biblical +readers; that he was deprived of his aldermanry by +the king, but was afterwards restored; that he became +supporter of the king against Simon de Montfort and +the barons, and that he was among those whom +Thomas Fitz-Thomas, the leader of the democratic +party and his followers, had "intended to slay" +on the very day that news reached London of the +battle of Evesham, which crushed the hopes of Montfort +and his supporters. The date of his death cannot +be precisely determined, but there can be but little +doubt that it took place early in the third year of +the reign of Edward the First, inasmuch as his +will was proved and enrolled in the Court of +Husting, London, held on Monday, the morrow of +the Feast of St. Scolastica [10 Feb.] of that year +(<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1274-5).<note place="foot"><p>Calendar of Wills. Court of Husting, London, part. I., p. 22. +From another Will, that of Margery, relict of Walter de Wynton, and +one of Fitz-Thedmar's sisters—she is described as daughter of +"Thedmar, the Teutonic"—it appears that other sisters of Fitz-Thedmar +married into the well-known city families of Eswy and Gisors.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, +part i, p. 31.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="068" /><anchor id="Pg068" /> + +<p>Setting aside the statement—namely that mention +is made of a mayor of London, in a document of the +reign of Henry II—as wanting corroboration, the +first instance known at the present day of any such +official being named in a formal document occurs +in 1193 when the Mayor of London appears among +those who were appointed treasurers of Richard's +ransom.<note place="foot"><p>"Ibi etiam dispositium est, penes quem pecunia collata debeat +residere: scilicet sub custodia Huberti Walteri Cantuariensis electi, et +domini Ricardi Lundoniensis episcopi, et Willelmi comitis de Arundel +et Hamelini comitis de Warenna et majoris Lundoniarum."—Roger +de Hoveden (Rolls Series No. 51), iii, 212.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The title of Mayor, first mentioned in a Royal Charter of 1202.</note> + +<p>Richard's first charter to the City (23 April, 1194)<note place="foot"><p>Preserved at the Guildhall.</p></note> +granted a few weeks after his return from abroad +makes no mention of a mayor, nor does the title +occur in any royal charter affecting the City until the +year 1202, when John attempted to suppress the guild +of weavers "at the request of our mayor and citizens +of London." A few years later when John was ready +to do anything and everything to avoid signing the +Great Charter which the barons were forcing on him, +he made a bid for the favour of the citizens by granting +them the right to elect annually a mayor, and thus their +autonomy was rendered complete.</p> + +<note place="margin">Richard's return from captivity, March, 1194.</note> + +<p>When Richard recovered his liberty and returned +to England he was heartily welcomed by all except +his brother John. One of his first acts was to visit +the City and return thanks for his safety at St. Paul's.<note place="foot"><p>Ralph de Diceto (Rolls Series No. 68), ii, p. 114.</p></note> +The City was on this occasion made to look its brightest, +and the display of wealth astonished the foreigners +in the King's suite, who had been led to believe that<pb n="069" /><anchor id="Pg069" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY'S CLAIM AT CORONATION BANQUETS." /> +England had been brought to the lowest stage of +poverty by payment of the King's ransom.<note place="foot"><p>"Denique ad ingressum principis ita ornata est facies amplissimæ +civitatis ut Alemanni nobiles qui cum ipso venerant et redemptione +regia exinanitam bonis Angliam credebant opum magnitudine obstupescerent."—William +of Newburgh (Rolls Series No. 82), i, p. 406.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Is crowned for the second time.</note> + +<note place="margin">The custom of the Mayor assisting the Chief Butler at coronation banquets.</note> + +<p>In order to wipe out the stain of his imprisonment, +he thought fit to go through the ceremony of coronation +for the second time. His first coronation had +taken place at Westminster (3 Sept., 1189,) soon after +his accession, and the citizens of London had duly +performed a service at the coronation banquet—a +service which even in those days was recognised as an +"ancient service"—namely, that of assisting the chief +butler, for which the mayor was customarily presented +with a gold cup and ewer. The citizens of the rival +city of Winchester performed on this occasion the +lesser service of attending to the viands.<note place="foot"><p>"Cives vero Lundonienses servierunt de pincernaria, et cives +Wintonienses de coquina."—Roger de Hoveden (Rolls Series No. +51), iii, 12.</p></note></p> + +<p>The second coronation taking place at Winchester +and not at Westminster, the burgesses of the former +city put in a claim to the more honourable service +over the heads of the citizens of London, and the +latter only succeeded in establishing their superior +claim by a judicious bribe of 200 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Brit. Mus., Harl. MS. 3,504, fo. 248.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Heavy taxation.</note> + +<p>Richard was ever in want of money, and cared +little by what means it was raised. He declared himself +ready to sell London itself if a purchaser could +be found.<note place="foot"><p>"Si invenissem emptorem Londoniam vendidissem."—Richard of +Devizes (Rolls Series No. 82), iii, 388.</p></note> The tax of Danegelt, from which the +citizens of London had been specially exempted by<pb n="070" /><anchor id="Pg070" /> +charter of Henry I, and which had ceased to be +exacted under Henry II, mainly through the interposition +of Thomas of London, was practically +revived under a new name. The charter already +mentioned as having been granted to the citizens by +Richard after his return from captivity was probably +purchased, for one of the king's regular methods of +raising money was a lavish distribution of charters to +boroughs, not from any love he had for municipal +government, but in order to put money in his purse. +As soon as Richard had collected all the money he +could raise in England, he again left the country, +never to return.</p> + +<note place="margin">The rising in the city under Longbeard. 1196.</note> + +<p>The pressure of taxation weighed heavily on the +poor, and occasioned a rising in the city under the +leadership of William Fitz-Osbert. The cry was that +the rich were spared whilst the poor were called upon +to pay everything.<note place="foot"><p>"Frequentius enim solito . . imponebantur eis auxilia non modica +et divites, propriis parcentes marsupiis volebant ut pauperes solverent +universa."—Roger de Hoveden (Rolls Series No. 51), iv. 5. "Ad +omne edictum regium divites, propriis fortunis parcentes, pauperibus +per potentiam omne onus imponerent."—Newburgh, (Rolls Series +No. 82), ii. 466.</p></note> Accounts of the commotion differ +according as the writer favoured the autocratic or +democratic side. One chronicler, for instance, finds +fault with Fitz-Osbert's personal appearance, imputing +his inordinate length of beard—he was known as +"Longbeard"—to his desire for conspicuousness, +and declares him to have been actuated by base +motives.<note place="foot"><p>Newburgh, ii., 466.</p></note></p> + +<p>Others describe him as a wealthy citizen of the +best family, and yet as one who ever upheld the cause<pb n="071" /><anchor id="Pg071" /><index index="toc" level1="INSURRECTION UNDER LONGBEARD." /> +of the poor against the king's extortions.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 57. A similar character is given him by +Roger de Hoveden. Dr. S. R. Gardiner describes him as an +alderman of the city, and as advocating the cause of the poor artisan +against the exactions of the wealthier traders.—Students' History of +England, i, 169.</p></note> Whatever +may have been the true character of the man and the +real motive of his action, it is certain that he had a +large following. When Hubert Walter, the justiciar, +sent to arrest him, "Longbeard" took refuge in the +church of St. Mary-le-Bow. Thither he was followed +by the king's officers—described by a not impartial +chronicler as men devoid of truth and piety and +enemies of the poor.<note place="foot"><p>"Pauperum et veritatis ac pietatis adversarii."—Mat. Paris, ii. 57.</p></note>—who with the aid of fire +and faggot soon compelled him to surrender. On his +way to the Tower, he was struck at and wounded by +one whose father (it was said) he had formerly killed;<note place="foot"><p>Newburgh, ii, 470.</p></note> +but this again may or may not be the whole truth. +A few days later he and a number of his associates +were hanged.<note place="foot"><p>"And for the time," adds Dr. Gardiner, "the rich tradesmen +had their way against the poorer artisans."—Students' History of +England, i, 170.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard's so-called second charter ordering the removal of wears in the Thames, 14 July, 1197.</note> + +<p>Two years before his death at Chaluz, Richard, +with the view of aiding commerce, caused the wears +in the Thames to be removed, and forbade his wardens +of the Tower to demand any more the toll that had +been accustomed. The writ to this effect was dated +from the Island of Andely or Les Andelys on the +Seine, the 14th July, 1197, in the neighbourhood of +that fortress which Richard had erected, and of +which he was so proud—the Château Gaillard +or "Saucy Castle," as he jestingly called it. The reputation +which the castle enjoyed for impregnability<pb n="072" /><anchor id="Pg072" /> +under Richard, was lost under his successor on the +throne.</p> + +<note place="margin">First mention of a deliberative municipal body in the city, 1200.</note> + +<p>Soon after John's accession we find what appears +to be the first mention of a court of aldermen as a +deliberative body. In the year 1200, writes Thedmar +(himself an alderman), "were chosen five and twenty +of the more discreet men of the city, and sworn to +take counsel on behalf of the city, together with +the mayor."<note place="foot"><p>Chronicles of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 2.</p></note> Just as in the constitution of the realm, +the House of Lords can claim a greater antiquity than +the House of Commons, so in the city—described by +Lord Coke as <hi rend="font-style: italic">epitome totius regni</hi>—the establishment +of a court of aldermen preceded that of the common +council.</p> + +<note place="margin">The council held at St. Paul's, 25th Aug., 1213.</note> + +<p>When, after thirteen years of misgovernment, +during which John had enraged the barons and +excited general discontent by endless impositions, +matters were brought to a climax by his submission +to the pope, it was in the city of London that the +first steps were taken by his subjects to recover their +lost liberty. On the 25th August, 1213, a meeting of +the clergy and barons was held in the church of +St. Paul; a memorable meeting, and one that has +been described as "a true parliament of the realm, +though no king presided in it."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, v, 709.</p></note> Stephen Langton, +whose appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury +had so raised John's ire, took the lead and produced +to the assembly a copy of the Charter of Liberties, +granted by Henry I, when that king undertook to +put an end to the tyranny of William Rufus. If +the barons so pleased, it might (he said) serve as a<pb n="073" /><anchor id="Pg073" /><index index="toc" level1="THE GOLDEN BULL." /> +precedent. The charter having been then and there +deliberately read, the barons unanimously declared +that for such liberties they were ready to fight, and, +if necessary, to die.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 143. Roger of Wendover (Rolls Series No. 84), +ii, 83-87.</p></note></p> + +<p>The clergy and people who had hitherto supported +the king against the barons, having now engaged themselves +to assist the barons against the tyranny of the +king, John found himself with but one friend in the +world, and that was the Pope. "Innocent's view of +the situation was very simple," writes Dr. Gardiner, +"John was to obey the Pope, and all John's subjects +were to obey John." Within a few weeks of the +council being held at St. Paul's, the same sacred +edifice witnessed the formality of affixing a golden <hi rend="font-style: italic">bulla</hi> +to the deed—the detestable deed (<hi rend="font-style: italic">carta detestabilis</hi>)—whereby +John had in May last resigned the crown +of England to the papal legate, and received it again +as the Pope's feudatory.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 146.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Meeting of the barons at Bury St. Edmunds, 1214.</note> + +<p>In the following year (1214), whilst the king was +abroad, the barons met again at Bury St. Edmunds, +and solemnly swore that if John any longer delayed +restoring the laws and liberties of Henry the First, +they would make war upon him. It was arranged +that after Christmas they should go in a body and +demand their rights, and that in the meantime they +should provide themselves with horses and arms, with +the view of bringing force to bear, in case of refusal.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> ii, 153.</p></note> +The citizens at the same time took the opportunity of +strengthening their defences by digging a foss on the +further side of the city wall.<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Bermondsey (Rolls Series No. 36), in, 453.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="074" /><anchor id="Pg074" /> + +<note place="margin">Open hostility between John and the barons, 1215.</note> + +<p>Christmas came and a meeting between John +and the barons took place in London at what was +then known as the "New" Temple. The result, +however, was unsatisfactory, and both parties prepared +for an appeal to force, the barons choosing as their +leader Robert Fitz-Walter, whom they dubbed +"Marshal of the army of God and of Holy Church."<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 154-156.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Robert Fitz-Walter, castellain of London.</note> + +<p>This Fitz-Walter was Baron of Dunmow in Essex, +the owner of Baynard's Castle in the City of London, +and lord of a soke, which embraced the whole of the +parish known as St. Andrew Castle Baynard. He +moreover enjoyed the dignity of castellain and chief +bannerer or banneret of London. The rights and +privileges attaching to his soke and to his official +position in time of peace were considerable, to judge +from a claim to them put forward by his grandson +in the year 1303. Upon making his appearance in +the Court of Husting at the Guildhall, it was the +duty of the Mayor, or other official holding the court, +to rise and meet him and place him by his side. +Again, if any traitor were taken within his soke or +jurisdiction, it was his right to sentence him to death, +the manner of death being that the convicted person +should be tied to a post in the Thames at the Wood +Wharf, and remain there during two tides and two +ebbs.<note place="foot"><p>As to the services and franchises of Fitz-Walter, both in time of +peace and war, see Lib. Cust., (Rolls Series), part i, pp. 147-151.</p></note></p> + +<p>In later years, however, upon an enquiry being +held by the Justiciars of the Iter (a° 14 Edward II, +<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> 1321), the claimant was obliged to acknowledge +that he had disposed of Baynard's Castle in the time<pb n="075" /><anchor id="Pg075" /><index index="toc" level1="FITZ-WALTER THE CITY'S CASTELLAIN." /> +of Edward I, but had especially reserved to himself +all rights attaching to the castle and barony, although +he very considerately declared his willingness to forego +the right and title enjoyed by his ancestor of drowning +traitors at Wood Wharf.<note place="foot"><p>Introd. to Lib. Cust, p. lxxvii.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Duties of the castellain of the City in time of war.</note> + +<p>But it was in time of war that Fitz-Walter +achieved for himself the greatest power and dignity. +It then became the duty of the castellain to proceed +to the great gate of St. Paul's attended by nineteen +other knights, mounted and caparisoned, and having +his banner, emblazoned with his arms, displayed before +him. Immediately upon his arrival, the mayor, aldermen, +and sheriffs, who awaited him, issued solemnly +forth from the church, all arrayed in arms, the +mayor bearing in his hand the city banner, the +ground of which was bright vermilion or gules, with +a figure of St. Paul, in gold, thereon, the head, feet, +and hands of the saint being silver or argent, and +in his right hand a sword.<note place="foot"><p>The sword of St. Paul, emblematic possibly of his martyrdom, +still remains in the City's coat of arms. It has often been mistaken for +the dagger with which Sir William Walworth is said to have killed +Wat Tyler.</p></note> The castellain, advancing +to meet the mayor, informed him that he had +come to do the service which the city had a right +to demand at his hands, and thereupon the mayor +placed the city's banner in his hands, and then, attending +him back to the gate, presented him with a charger of +the value of £20, its saddle emblazoned with the +arms of Fitz-Walter, and its housing of cendal or silk, +similarly enriched.</p> + +<p>A sum of £20 was at the same time handed to +Fitz-Walter's chamberlain to defray the day's expenses.<pb n="076" /><anchor id="Pg076" /> +Having mounted his charger, he bids the Mayor to +choose a Marshal of the host of the City of London; +and this being done, the communal or "mote-bell" is +set ringing, and the whole party proceed to the Priory +of Holy Trinity at Aldgate. There they dismount, +and entering the Priory, concert measures together for +the defence of the city. There is one other point +worthy of remark, touching the office of chief banneret, +and that is that on the occasion of any siege +undertaken by the London forces, the castellain was +to receive as his fee the niggardly sum of one hundred +shillings for his trouble, and no more.</p> + +<note place="margin">Feud between Fitz-Walter and King John.</note> + +<p>It is not improbable that Fitz-Walter's election +as leader of the remonstrant barons was in some +measure due to his official position in the city. It is +also probable, as Mr. Riley has pointed out, that the +unopposed admission of the barons into the city, on +the 24th May, 1215, may have been facilitated by +Fitz-Walter's connexion, as castellain, with the Priory +of Holy Trinity, situate in the vicinity.</p> + +<p>But there were other reasons for selecting Fitz-Walter +as their leader at this juncture. If the story +be true, Fitz-Walter had good reason to be bitterly +hostile to King John, for having caused his fair +daughter Maude or Matilda to be poisoned, after +having unsuccessfully made an attempt upon her +chastity.<note place="foot"><p>The story is told in Mr. Riley's Introduction to the Liber Custamarum +(p. lxxix), on the authority of the Chronicle of Dunmow.</p></note> This is not the only crime of the kind laid +to the charge of this monarch,<note place="foot"><p>He is said to have made a similar attempt upon the wife of +Eustace de Vesci, a leading baron.—(Blackstone, Introd. to Magna +Carta, pp. 289, 290).</p></note> and there appears to +be too much reason for believing most of the charges<pb n="077" /><anchor id="Pg077" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON AND THE GREAT CHARTER." /> +against him to be true. It is certain that Fitz-Walter +was one of the first to entertain designs against John, +and that he and Eustace de Vesci, on whose family +the king is said to have put a similar affront, were +forced to escape to France. The story how Fitz-Walter +attracted John's notice by his prowess at a tournament +in which he was engaged on the side of the French, +and was restored to the King's favour and his own +estates, is familiar to all.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Barons admitted into the City, May, 1215.</note> + +<p>After a feeble attempt to capture Northampton, +the barons, with Fitz-Walter at their head, accepted +an invitation from the citizens of London to enter the +city. They made their entry through Aldgate.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 156. A different complexion, however, is put on +this event by another chronicler. According to Walter de Coventry +(Rolls Series, No. 58, ii, 220) the barons made their way into the City +by stealth, scaling the walls at a time when most of the inhabitants +were engaged in divine service, and having once gained a footing +opened all the City gates one after another.</p></note></p> + +<p>The concession which John had recently made to +the citizens, viz.:—the right of annually electing their +own mayor<note place="foot"><p>By charter, date 8th May, 1215, preserved at the Guildhall.</p></note>—had failed to secure their allegiance. +The city became thenceforth the headquarters of the +barons,<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 159, 161, 164, 186.</p></note> and the adhesion of the Londoners was +followed by so great a defection from the King's party +(including among others that of Henry de Cornhill), +that he was left without any power of resistance.<note place="foot"><p>Roger of Wendover (Rolls Series No. 84), ii, 117.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city and Magna Carta, 15th June, 1215.</note> + +<p>The citizens met their reward for fidelity to the +barons when John was brought to bay at Runnymede. +In drafting the articles of the Great Charter the barons, +mindful of their trusty allies, made provision for the +preservation of the city's liberties, and the names of<pb n="078" /><anchor id="Pg078" /> +Fitz-Walter and of the mayor of the city appear +among those who were specially appointed to see that +the terms of the charter were strictly carried out.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Select Charters, p. 298.</p></note></p> + +<p>By way of further security for the fulfilment of +the articles of the charter the barons demanded and +obtained the custody of the City of London, including +the Tower, and they reserved to themselves the right +of making war upon the king if he failed to keep his +word. For a year or more the barons remained in +the city, having entered into a mutual compact with +the inhabitants to make no terms with the king without +the consent of both parties.<note place="foot"><p>"Moram autem faciebant barones in civitate Londoniæ per annum +et amplius cum civibus confœderati, permittentes se nullam pacem +facturos cum rege nisi assensu utriusque partis."—Annals of Waverley +(Rolls Series No. 36), ii, 283.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Open war between John and the barons.</note> + +<p>The right of resistance thus established was soon +to be carried into execution. Before the year was +out, John had broken faith, and was besieging Rochester +with the aid of mercenaries. An attempt to raise +the siege failed, owing to the timidity (not to say +cowardice) of Fitz-Walter, who, like the rest of the +barons, was inclined to be indolent so soon as the +struggle with the king was thought to have ended.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 161, 165.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">London under an interdict.</note> + +<p>The Pope supported his vassal king. For a +second time during John's reign London was placed +under an interdict. The first occasion was in 1208, +when the whole of England was put under an interdict, +and for six years the nation was deprived of all +religious rites saving the sacraments of baptism and +extreme unction.<note place="foot"><p>Contin. Flor. Wigorn. ii, 167, 171. Chron. of Mayors and +Sheriffs, p. 3.</p></note> It was then the object of Innocent<pb n="079" /><anchor id="Pg079" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF KING JOHN." /> +to stir up resistance against John by inflicting sufferings +on the people, now his purpose was to punish +the people for having risen against John.</p> + +<note place="margin">The arrival of the Dauphin, May, 1216.</note> + +<note place="margin">Death of John, 19th October, 1216.</note> + +<p>The barons saw no other course open to them +but to invite Louis the Dauphin to come and undertake +the government of the kingdom in the place of +John. On the 21st May, 1216, Louis landed at +Sandwich and came to London, where he was welcomed +by the barons. Both barons and citizens paid +him homage, whilst he, on his part, swore to restore +to them their rights, to maintain such laws of the +realm as were good, and to abolish those (if any) +that were bad.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, p. 179.</p></note> Suspicion, however, had been aroused +against Louis by the confession of a French nobleman +who had come over in his train, and who had solemnly +declared on his deathbed that his master had sworn +when once on the throne of England to banish all +John's enemies.<note place="foot"><p>Confession of the Vicomte de Melun.—Mat. Paris, ii, 187.</p></note> Just when matters seemed to be +approaching a crisis and the barons were wavering in +their allegiance, John died (19th October, 1216).</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="080" /><anchor id="Pg080" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER IV.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">The barons desert Louis.</note> + +<p>Although London remained faithful to Louis after +John's death, the barons began to desert him, one by +one (<hi rend="font-style: italic">quasi stillatim</hi>),<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 200.</p></note> and to transfer their allegiance +to John's eldest son, a boy of nine years of age, who +had been crowned at Gloucester soon after his father's +death, the disturbed state of the country not allowing +of his coming to London for the ceremony.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 4.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Defeat of Louis at Lincoln, 20th May, 1217.</note> + +<p>After his defeat at Lincoln (20th May, 1217), by +William the Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, one of Henry's +guardians, Louis beat a hasty retreat to London and +wrote to his father, the French king, to send him +military assistance, for without it he could neither +fight nor get out of the country.</p> + +<note place="margin">Fitz-Walter and Muntfichet made prisoners.</note> + +<p>Among the prisoners taken at Lincoln were +Robert Fitz-Walter, and a neighbour of his in the +ward of Castle Baynard, Richard de Muntfichet, who, +like Fitz-Walter, had also suffered banishment in 1213. +The tower or castle of Muntfichet lay a little to the +west of Baynard's Castle, and was made over in 1276 +by Gregory de Rokesle, the mayor, and citizens of +London to the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the +purpose of erecting a new house for the Dominican +or Black Friars, in place of their old house in Holborn.<note place="foot"><p>Strype, Stow's Survey, 1720, Bk. i, p. 62. They had settled +in Holborn soon after their arrival in 1220.</p></note> +We hear little of Fitz-Walter after this, beyond the<pb n="081" /><anchor id="Pg081" /><index index="toc" level1="THE TREATY OF LAMBETH." /> +facts that he soon afterwards obtained his freedom, +that he went on a crusade, and continued a loyal +subject to Henry until his death in 1235. He is said +to have been in the habit of wearing a precious stone +suspended from his neck by way of a charm, which +at his last moments he asked his wife to remove in +order that he might die the easier.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 385.</p></note></p> + + +<note place="margin">London invested by the Earl Marshal.</note> + +<p>A French fleet which had been despatched in +answer to Louis was defeated off Dover by Hubert de +Burgh, who had gallantly held that town for John, +and continued to hold it now for Henry. London +itself was invested by the Marshal, and threatened +with starvation; but before matters came to extremes, +Louis intimated his willingness to come to terms.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 218, 220.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Treaty of Lambeth, 11th Sept., 1217.</note> + +<p>A meeting was held on the 11th of September +(some say at Kingston,<note place="foot"><p>Liber de Ant. fol. 38. According to this authority (fol. 38b), +the peace was ratified 23rd September, at Merton.</p></note> others at Staines<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 222.</p></note>), and a +peace concluded.<note place="foot"><p>Often spoken of as the Treaty of +Lambeth (Rymer's Fœdera, i, 148.)</p></note> Louis swore fealty to the Pope +and the Roman Church, for which he was absolved +from the ban of excommunication that had been +passed on him, and surrendered all the castles and +towns he had taken during the war. He, further, +promised to use his influence to obtain the restoration +to England of the possessions that had been lost +beyond the sea.</p> + +<note place="margin">Departure of Louis after borrowing a sum of money from the citizens.</note> + +<p>Henry, on his part, swore to preserve to the barons +and the rest of the kingdom, all those liberties which +they had succeeded in obtaining from John. Everything +being thus amicably settled, Louis went to London,<pb n="082" /><anchor id="Pg082" /> +and, after borrowing a large sum of money from his +former trusty supporters, betook himself back to his +native country.<note place="foot"><p>The sum mentioned by Matthew Paris (ii. 224) is £5,000 sterling, +but according to a marginal note in the Liber de Ant. (fol. 39) it +would appear to have been only £1,000, which, according to the compiler +of that record, Louis repaid the Londoners as soon as he arrived +home, out of pure generosity (<hi rend="font-style: italic">mera liberalitate sua</hi>). On the other +hand, Matthew Paris (ii, 292) under the year 1227, narrates that Henry +extorted from the citizens of London 5,000 marks of silver, on the +ground that that was the sum paid by the Londoners to Louis on his +departure, to the king's prejudice.</p></note> The general pardon which was +granted by the young king extended to the Londoners, +who became reconciled and received back their lands,<note place="foot"><p>Walter of Coventry. (Rolls Series No. 58), ii, 239.</p></note> +but did not extend to the clergy, who were left to the +tender mercy of the papal legate.</p> + +<note place="margin">Attempt by Constantine Fitz-Athulf or Olaf, to raise a cry in favour of Louis, 1222.</note> + +<p>For some years to come there remained a party in +the city who cherished the memory of Louis, and the +cry of "Mountjoy!" the war-cry of the French king—was +sufficient to cause a riot as late as 1222, when +Constantine Fitz-Athulf or Olaf, an ex-sheriff of +London, raised the cry at a tournament, in order to +test the feeling of the populace towards Louis. Any +serious results that might have arisen were promptly +prevented by Hubert de Burgh, the justiciar, who very +quickly sought out the ringleader, and incontinently +caused him and two of his followers to be hanged at +the Elms in Smithfield. Whilst the halter was round +his neck, Fitz-Athulf offered 15,000 marks of silver for +his life. The offer was declined. He was not to be +allowed another chance of stirring up sedition in the +city.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 251, 252.</p></note></p> + +<p>A more circumstantial account of this event is +given us by another chronicler,<note place="foot"><p>Roger of Wendover, (Rolls Series No. 84), ii, 265, 267.</p></note> who relates that the<pb n="083" /><anchor id="Pg083" /><index index="toc" level1="TUMULT RAISED BY CONSTANTINE." /> +wrestling match which took place on the festival of +Saint James (25th July),—the same as that mentioned +by Matthew Paris—was held at Queen Matilda's +hospital in the suburbs,<note place="foot"><p>Probably Saint Giles in the Fields, a hospital founded by Matilda, +wife of Henry I.</p></note> and was a match between +the citizens of London and those outside; that victory +declared itself in favour of the Londoners, and that their +opponents, and among them the steward of the Abbot +of Westminster, thereupon left in high dudgeon. With +thoughts of revenge in their hearts, the latter caused +invitations to be issued for another match to be held +at Westminster, on the following feast of Saint Peter +ad Vincula (1st August).</p> + +<p>It was at this second and later match that the +trouble began. The steward was not content with +collecting the most powerful athletes he could find, +but caused them to seize weapons and to attack the +defenceless citizens who had come to take part in the +games. The Londoners hurried home, bleeding with +wounds, and immediately took counsel as to what +was best to be done. Serlo, the mercer, who had +held the office of mayor of the city for the past five +years, and was of a peaceable disposition, suggested +referring the matter to the abbot; and it was then that +Constantine, who had a large following, advocated an +attack upon the houses of the abbot and of his steward. +No sooner said than done, and many houses had already +suffered before the justiciar appeared upon the scene +with a large force. As to the seizure of Constantine +and his subsequent execution, the chroniclers agree.</p> + +<p>Constantine's fellow citizens were very indignant +at the indecent haste with which the justiciar had<pb n="084" /><anchor id="Pg084" /> +caused his execution to be carried out, and did not +fail to bring the matter up in judgment against him, +when, some ten years later, Hubert de Burgh himself +fell into disgrace.<note place="foot"><p>"Cives autem Londonienses, qui eundem H[ubertum] propter suspendium +Constantini oderant, lætati sunt de tribulalionibus suis, et +ilico conquesti sunt de eo, quod concivem suum injuste suspendit, et +absque judicio."—Mat. Paris, ii, 345.</p></note> The result was, that the +justiciar took refuge in the Priory of Merton. When +the citizens received the king's orders to follow +him there, and to take him dead or alive, they +obeyed with unconcealed joy. They allowed little +time to elapse, but set out at once, 20,000 strong, +ready to tear him limb from limb; but luckily they +were stopped in time by another message from the +king, and Hubert obtained a respite.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 346, 347. Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 6, 7.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The foreign element in the country.</note> + +<p>At the time of Constantine's execution, there was +real danger to be anticipated from raising the cry in +favour of any foreigner. The land was already +swarming with foreigners, and in that very year +(viz. 1222), the archbishop had been under the necessity +of summoning a council of bishops and nobles to +be held in London, owing to dissensions that had +arisen between the Earl of Chester, William of Salisbury, +the king's uncle, and Hubert de Burgh, and to a +rumour that had got abroad, that foreigners were +inciting the Earl of Chester to raise an insurrection.<note place="foot"><p>"Dicebabur enim ... quod alienigenæ qui plus regni perturbationem +desiderabant quam pacem, præfatum comitem Cestriæ ad +domini sui regis infestationem et regni inquietationem inducere conarentur."—Walter +of Coventry, ii, 251.</p></note></p> + +<p>A few years later, the country was over-run by a +brood of Italian usurers who battened on the inhabitants, +reducing many to beggary. When attempts<pb n="085" /><anchor id="Pg085" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KINGDOM OVER-RUN BY FOREIGNERS." /> +were made to rid the city of these pests, they +sheltered themselves under the protection of the +Pope.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 382, 384, iii, 90.</p></note></p> + +<p>Throughout the reign of Henry III, there was +one continuous struggle against foreign dominion, +either secular or ecclesiastical. In this struggle, +none took a more active part than the citizens of +London, and "when [in 1247], the nobles, clergy, and +people of England put forth their famous letter +denouncing the wrongs which England suffered at +the hands of the Roman bishop, it was with the seal +of the city of London, as the centre of national life +that the national protest was made."<note place="foot"><p>Freeman, Norman Conquest, v, 469, 470. "Et quia communitas +nostra sigillum non habet, præsentes literas signo communitatis +civitatis Londoniarum vestræ sanctitati mittimus consignatas."—Mat. +Paris, iii, 17.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin"> The city's struggle against encroachment by the king.</note> + +<p>Side by side with this struggle another was being +carried on, a struggle for the liberty of the subject +against the tyranny and rapacity of the king. More +especially was this the case with the city. Henry +was for ever invading the rights and liberties of the +citizens. Thus in 1239, he insisted upon their admitting +to the shrievalty one who had already been +dismissed from that office for irregular conduct, and +because they refused to forego their chartered right of +election and to appoint the king's nominee, the city +was deprived of a mayor for three months and more.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 7, 8.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city "taken into the king's hand" on the most frivolous pretences.</note> + +<p>The substitution of a <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> or warden appointed +by the king for a mayor elected by the citizens, and +of bailiffs for sheriffs,—a procedure known as "taking +the city into the king's hands,"—was frequently<pb n="086" /><anchor id="Pg086" /> +resorted to both by Henry and his successors, and +notably by Edward I, in whose reign the city was +deprived of its mayor, and remained under government +of a <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> for thirteen consecutive years +(1285-1298).<note place="foot"><p>French Chronicle (Camden Soc., No. 28), ed. by Aungier (Riley's +translation), pp. 241-244.</p></note></p> + +<p>Any pretext was sufficient for Henry's purpose. +If the citizens harboured a foreigner without warrant, +not only was the city taken into the king's hand, but +the citizens were fined £1,000,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 11.</p></note> a sum equal to at +least £20,000 at the present day. A widow brings an +action for a third part of her late husband's goods in +addition to her dower. The case goes against her in +the Court of Husting, and is heard on appeal before +the king's justiciar sitting at St. Martin's-le-Grand. +The verdict is not set aside, but some flaw is discovered +in the mode of procedure; the explanation +of the citizens is deemed insufficient, and the mayor +and sheriffs are forthwith deposed, to be reinstated +only on the understanding that they will so far forego +their chartered right—viz.: of not impleading nor being +impleaded without the walls of their city—as to consent +to attend the king's court at Westminster, where +finally, and after considerable delay, they are acquitted.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 13, 14, 16.</p></note></p> + +<p>Take another instance. The king had shown an +interest in the Abbey Church of Westminster, and +had caused a new chapel to be built in 1220, he himself +laying the first stone. Thirty years later, or +thereabouts, he made certain concessions to the Abbot +of Westminster—what they were we are not told—but +it is certain that they, in some way or other,<pb n="087" /><anchor id="Pg087" /><index index="toc" level1="TAKEN INTO THE KING'S HAND." /> +infringed the rights of the citizens of London in the +County of Middlesex. The king promised to compensate +them for the loss they would sustain; but +failing to get their consent by fair promises, he +resorted to his favourite measure of taking the city +into his own hands. For fifteen years the dispute +between the citizens and the Abbot as to their +respective rights in the County of Middlesex was kept +alive, and was at last determined by a verdict given +by the barons of the exchequer, which completely +justified<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 16, 17, 61. Mat. Paris, iii., +62, 80-81.</p></note> the attitude taken up by the citizens of +London.</p> + +<note place="margin">Money extorted from the Jews as well as the citizens for +payment of the king's tradesmen.</note> + +<p>In 1230 he extorted a large sum of money from +the citizens at a time when he was meditating an +expedition to the continent for the purpose of +recovering lost possessions. The citizens, however, +were not the only sufferers. The religious houses +were heavily mulcted, as were also the Jews, who, +whether they would or not, were made to give up +one third of their chattels.<note place="foot"><p>Mat. Paris, ii, 323.</p></note> Again in 1244, the +citizens of London and the Jews were made to open +their purse-strings that the king might the better be +able to pay his wine merchant, his wax chandler, and +his tailor; but even then his creditors were not paid +in full.<note place="foot"><p>"Quia dominus rex obligabatur de debitis non minimis erga +mercatores de vino, de cera, de pannis ultramarinis, a civibus pecuniam +multam extorsit et Judæis, nec tamen inde mercatores plenam pacationem +receperunt."—Mat. Paris, ii, 496.</p></note></p> + +<p>Only once does it appear that the king's conscience +pricked him for the extortions he was continually +practising on the citizens. This was in 1250, when<pb n="088" /><anchor id="Pg088" /> +he called the citizens together at Westminster, and +begged their forgiveness for all trespasses, extortions +of goods and victuals under the name of "prises," and +for forced loans or talliages. Seeing no other way +out of it, the citizens acceded to his request.<note place="foot"><p>"Cives tanien videntes aliud sibi non expedire, omnia benigne +remiserunt."—Mat. Paris, iii, 72.</p></note> As +recently as the previous year (1249) he had exacted +from them a sum of £2,000.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, iii, 43.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The coronation of king and queen, 1236.</note> + +<p>Henry had been crowned at Gloucester soon after +his accession.<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Worcester (Rolls Series No. 36), iv., 407.</p></note> Nevertheless he was again crowned—this +time in London in 1236, after his marriage with +Eleanor of Provence. The city excelled itself in doing +honour to the king and queen as they passed on their +way to Westminster: but the joy of the citizens was +damped by the king refusing to allow Andrew Bukerel +the mayor to perform the customary service of +assisting the chief butler at the coronation banquet. +It was not a time for raising questions of etiquette, so +the mayor pocketed the affront, preferring to settle +the question of the city's rights at some more convenient +time, rather than damp the general joy of the +company by pressing his claim.<note place="foot"><p>"Unde, ne exorta contentione lætitia nuptialis nubilaretur, salvo +cujuslibet jure, multa ad horam perpessa sunt, quæ in tempore +opportuno fuerant determinanda."—Mat. Paris, Hist. Angl., ed. 1684, +P. 355. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> City Records, Liber Ordinationum, fo. 193 b. Brit. Mus. +Cotton MS. Vespasian, C. xiv. fos. 113-114.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's custom of formally taking leave of his citizens +before going abroad.</note> + +<p>Yet, notwithstanding his manifestly unjust treatment +of the citizens of London, and the cynical +contempt with which he looked upon their ancient +claim to the title of "barons," he usually went through +the formality of taking leave of them at Paul's Cross<pb n="089" /><anchor id="Pg089" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON SUPPORTS THE BARONS." /> +or at Westminster, before crossing the sea to Gascony<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 9, 20, 45, 53.</p></note> +and was not above making use of them when compelled +to sell his plate and jewels to satisfy his debts. In +1252, he even went so far as to grant them a charter +of liberties, but for this concession the citizens had to +pay 500 marks.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 21.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Mad Parliament, 11th June, 1258.</note> + +<p>It is scarcely to be wondered at if, when the +crisis arrived, and king and barons found themselves +in avowed hostility, the citizens of London joined the +popular cause. By the month of June, 1258, the +barons had gained their first victory over Henry. +He was forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, +passed by the Mad Parliament,<note place="foot"><p>An early instance of this parliament being so designated is found +in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber de Antiquis</hi> of the City's Records (fol. 75b.) where the +words <hi rend="font-style: italic">insane parliamentum</hi> occur.</p></note> as it came to be called +in derision. The Tower of London was transferred +to the custody of the barons, and they were for the +future to appoint the justiciar. Towards the end of +July, a deputation from the barons waited upon the +mayor and citizens to learn if they approved of the +agreement that had been made with the king.<note place="foot"><p>This agreement between the king and barons is termed a "Charter" +by Fitz-Thedmar, who says it bore the seals of the king and of many +barons.—Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 41.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Citizens throw in their lot with the Barons.</note> + +<p>The mayor, aldermen, and citizens, after a hasty +consultation, gave their assent, but with the reservation +"saving unto them all their liberties and customs," +and the city's common seal was set to the so-called +"charter" which the deputation had brought.</p> + +<note place="margin">Hugh Bigod the baron's justiciar in the city, 1258.</note> + +<p>It was not long before the city discovered that +the barons were as little likely to respect its liberties +as the king himself. Hugh Bigod, whom they had<pb n="090" /><anchor id="Pg090" /> +appointed justiciar gave offence by the way he +exercised his office. In spite of all remonstrance he +insisted upon sitting at the Guildhall to hear pleas, +a jurisdiction which belonged exclusively to the +sheriffs. He summoned the bakers of the city to +appear before him, and those who were convicted of +selling bread under weight he punished, in a way that +was not in conformity with city usage.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 43.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king takes leave of the citizens. November, 1259.</note> + +<p>In November of the following year (1259), Henry +took occasion of his departure for the continent to +make some popular concessions to the citizens. He +appeared at a Folkmote, which was being held at +Paul's Cross, and, before taking leave, he announced +that in future the citizens should be allowed to plead +their own cases (without employing legal aid) in all +the courts of the city, excepting in pleas of the +crown, pleas of land, and of wrongful distress. On +the same day John Mansel who had been one of +the king's justiciars in 1257, when the city was "taken +into the king's hand," and Fitz-Thedmar had been +indicted and deprived of his aldermanry for upholding +the privileges of the citizens<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 33-39.</p></note>—publicly acknowledged +on the king's behalf the injustice of Fitz-Thedmar's +indictment, and announced that Henry not only +recalled him to favour, but commanded that he should +be restored to his former position.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 45, 46.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's return from abroad, April, 1260.</note> + +<p>During the king's absence abroad, the barons' +cause was materially strengthened by the support +afforded Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, by +the king's son. Upon hearing of the defection +of his son, Henry hurried back to England.<pb n="091" /><anchor id="Pg091" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AT THE MERCY OF THE KING." /> +A consultation took place in the city as to the attitude +which the citizens ought to take up, with the result +that when Henry appeared (April, 1260), both he and +the Earl of Gloucester were admitted into the city, +whilst the Earl of Leicester and "Sir Edward," as +the chronicler styles the king's son, had to find +accommodation in the suburbs.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 47.</p></note></p> + +<p>Henry was now master of the situation. The +city was his, and he determined that it should remain +so. Strict watch was kept over the gates, which for +the most part, were kept shut night and day in order +to prevent surprise. Every inhabitant of the age of +twelve years and upwards was called upon to take an +oath of allegiance before the alderman of his ward, +and those of maturer age were bound to provide +themselves with arms. The king, who now ruled +again in his own way, stirred the anger of the barons, +by presuming to appoint Philip Basset, his chief +justiciar, without first asking their assent; and the +barons retaliated by removing the king's sheriffs, and +appointing "wardens of the counties" in their stead.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 52.</p></note> +In June 1261, Henry produced a Bull of Alexander IV, +annulling the Provisions of Oxford, and freeing him +from his oath.<note place="foot"><p>The Bull was confirmed by Alexander's successor Pope Urban IV. +and the later Bull was read at Paul's Cross, by the king's orders in the +following year (1262), <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 53.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king summoned to observe the Provisions of Oxford. 1263.</note> + +<p>For eighteen months the king reigned supreme. +The barons could do nothing, and the Earl of Leicester, +finding their cause hopeless, withdrew in August (1261) +to France, and remained there until the spring of +1263, when he returned as the unquestioned head of<pb n="092" /><anchor id="Pg092" /> +the baronial party, to take up arms against the king. +The citizens professed loyalty to Henry, who was residing +in the Tower, and bound themselves by oath to +acknowledge his son Edward as heir to the crown.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 56.</p></note> +At Whitsuntide, the barons sent a letter to the king +requiring him to observe the Provisions of Oxford, +and shortly afterwards, addressed another letter to the +citizens "desiring to be certified by them whether +they would observe the said ordinances and statutes +made to the honour of God in fealty to his lordship +the king, and to his advantage of all the realm, or +would, in preference, adhere to those who wished +to infringe the same."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 57.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Arrangements made between the king, the barons, and +the city, July, 1263.</note> + +<p>Before sending a reply, the citizens had an interview +with the king in the Tower, to whom they +showed the barons' letter. The result was, that +Henry availed himself of their services to mediate +between him and the barons. A deputation of citizens +accordingly travelled to Dover, where an understanding +was arrived at between the hostile parties. +The citizens were prepared to support the barons, +subject to their fealty to the king and saving their +own liberties; whilst the king promised to dismiss his +foreign supporters—the real cause of all the mischief. +Hugh le Despenser, whom Henry had deposed, was +again installed justiciar of all England in the Tower; +and the king and his family left the city for Westminster, +the day after the barons entered it. "Thus +was a league made between the barons and the +citizens with this reservation—'saving fealty to his +lordship the king.'"<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 58.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="093" /><anchor id="Pg093" /><index index="toc" level1="ORGANIZATION OF CRAFT GUILDS." /> + +<note place="margin">Organization of the Craft Guilds under Fitz-Thomas +the Mayor. 1262.</note> + +<p>Whilst the commons of England were thus +winning their way to liberty, the commons of the city +were engaged in a similar struggle with the aristocratic +element of the municipal government. The craft +guilds cried out against the exclusiveness of the more +wealthy and aristocratic trade guilds, the members of +which monopolized the city's rule. They found an +able champion of their cause in the person of Thomas +Fitz-Thomas, the mayor for the time being (1261-1265). +The mayor's action in the matter disgusted +Fitz-Thedmar, the city alderman and chronicler, who +complains that he "so pampered the city populace," +that they styled themselves the "commons of the +city," and had obtained the first voice in the city. +The mayor would ask them their will as to whether +this or that thing should be done; and if they +answered "ya" "ya," it was done, without consulting +the aldermen or chief citizens, whose very existence +was ignored.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 59. "A similar uprising of +the middle class of citizens was taking place about this period in other +towns. They are spoken of by chroniclers of the same stamp as Fitz-Thedmar +as ribald men who proclaimed themselves 'bachelors,' and +banded themselves together to the prejudice of the chief men of the +towns (<hi rend="font-style: italic">majores urbium et burgorum</hi>)"—Chron. of Thomas Wykes +(Rolls Series No. 36), iv, 138.</p></note> It is not surprising that, under a mayor +so thoroughly in sympathy with the people, opportunity +was taken by the citizens to rectify abuses from +which they had so long suffered. Their trade had +been prejudiced by the number of foreigners which +the king had introduced into the city, and accordingly +we read of an attack made on the houses of some +French merchants. Rights of way which had been +stopped up, were again opened, and where land +had been illegally built upon, the buildings were +abated.</p> + +<pb n="094" /><anchor id="Pg094" /> + +<p>The chronicler complains of the populace acting +"like so many justices itinerant." It was in vain that +the king addressed a letter to the mayor and citizens, +setting forth that the dissensions between himself and +the barons had been settled, and commanding his peace +to be kept as well within the city as without.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 59-60.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The movement favoured by the barons.</note> + +<p>The popular movement received every encouragement +from the barons. Let those who were disaffected +put their complaints into writing, and the barons +would see that the matter was duly laid before the +king, and that the city's liberties were not diminished. +Fortified with such promises, the mayor set to work +at once to organize the craft guilds. Ordinances +were drawn up "abominations" Fitz-Thedmar calls +them<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 60.</p></note> for the amelioration of the members, and +everything was done that could be done to better +their condition.</p> + +<note place="margin">The queen insulted by the citizens, 13th July, 1263.</note> + +<p>A few days before Henry and the barons had +concluded a temporary peace, the citizens had been +greatly excited by an action of the king's son. Henry +was, as usual, in want of money, and had failed to raise +a loan in the city. His son came to his assistance and +seized the money and jewels lying at the Temple (29th +June). The citizens were so exasperated at this high-handed +proceeding on the part of the prince that they +vented their spleen on the queen, and pelted her with +mud and stones, calling her all kinds of opprobrious +names, as she attempted to pass in her barge under +London Bridge on her way from the Tower to +Windsor. (13th July).<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Dunstaple (Rolls Series No. 36). iii. 222-223. Chron. +of Thos. Wykes (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ibid</hi>) iv, 136. Rishanger (Rolls Series No. 28, ii, 18), +places this event after the Mise of Amiens (23rd Jan., 1264).</p></note></p> + +<pb n="095" /><anchor id="Pg095" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MISE OF AMIENS." /> + +<p>Such conduct very naturally incensed the king +and his son against the citizens. Henry was angry +with them, moreover, for having admitted the barons +contrary to his express orders.<note place="foot"><p>Annales Londonienses.—Chron. Edward I and II (Rolls Series +No. 76) i, 60.</p></note> It is not surprising, +therefore, that when Fitz-Thomas presented himself +before the Barons of the Exchequer to be admitted to +the mayoralty for the third year in succession, they +refused to admit him by the king's orders, Henry +"being for many reasons greatly moved to anger +against the city."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 62.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Mise of Amiens. 23rd Jan., 1264</note> + +<p>Before the end of the year (1263), both king and +barons agreed to submit to the arbitration of the +King of France. The award known as the Mise of +Amien—from the place whence it was issue—which +Louis made on the 23rd Jan., 1264, proved of so one-sided +a character that the barons had no alternative but +to reject it. However unjustifiable such repudiation +on the part of the barons may have been from a moral +point of view, it was a matter of necessity. Many +of them, moreover, including those of the Cinque Ports, +as well as the Londoners, and nearly all the middle +class of England, had not been parties to the arbitration, +and therefore, were not pledged to accept the +award.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 64, 65.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">League between the citizens of London and the barons.</note> + +<p>The citizens and the barons now entered into +solemn covenant to stand by each other "saving however +their fealty to the king." A constable and a +marshal were appointed to command the city force, +which was to stand prepared night and day to muster +at the sound of the great bell of St. Paul's. The<pb n="096" /><anchor id="Pg096" /> +manor of Isleworth, belonging to Richard, King of +the Romans, the king's brother, was laid waste, and +Rochester besieged, but, disturbances again breaking +out at home, Leicester had to hurry back to restore +order and prevent the city being betrayed to the +king's son.<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Dunstaple. iii, 230, 231.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Battle of Lewes, 14th May, 1264.</note> + +<p>In May the earl set out again with a force of +Londoners<note place="foot"><p>The number of Londoners who accompanied Leicester to Lewes +is not given. Thomas Wykes mentions it to have been very large, +for the reason that the number of fools is said to be infinite! +"Quo comperto comes Leycestriæ glorians in virtute sua, congregata +baronum multitudine copiosa, Londoniensium innumerabili agmine +circumcinctus, quia legitur stultorum infinitus est numerus."—(Rolls +Series No. 36), iv, 148.</p></note> to meet the king, who was threatening +the Cinque Ports. In the early morning of the 14th +he came upon the royal army at Lewes. Prince +Edward himself led the charge against the Londoners—he +had not forgotten the insult they had recently +offered to his mother—and succeeded in driving them +off the field. They scarcely indeed awaited his onslaught, +so unpractised in warfare had they become of +recent years, but turned their backs and sped away +towards London, followed in hot pursuit by Edward. +When he returned he found that, owing to his absence, +the day was lost, and that his father and brother had +been made prisoners.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 66; Ann. of Dunstaple, iii, 232; +Thos. Wykes, iv, 149, 150; Rishanger (Rolls Series No. 28), 27.</p></note> In spite of his own success, he +also had to surrender.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Mise of Lewes.</note> + +<p>The barons returned to the city in triumph, bringing +the king and Richard, king of the Romans, in their +train. Edward had been placed in custody in Dover +Castle, pending negotiations. Henry was lodged in +the Bishop's Palace, whilst Richard was committed to<pb n="097" /><anchor id="Pg097" /><index index="toc" level1="SIMON DE MONTFORT'S PARLIAMENT." /> +the Tower. An agreement was drawn up which +secured the safety of the king, and left all matters +of dispute to be again referred to arbitration.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 67.</p></note> This +treaty formed the basis of a new system of government, +and led to the institution of Simon de Montfort's +famous Parliament.</p> + +<p>The short respite—for it proved to be no more—from +civil war was welcomed by the Londoners. The +city had been drained of a large part of its population +in order to increase the Earl of Leicester's army, and +business had been seriously disturbed. For the past +year no Court of Husting had been held, and therefore +no wills or testaments had received probate; whilst all +pleas of land, except trespass, had to stand over until +the country became more settled.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 74.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Meeting of Simon de Montfort's Parliament, 20th Jan., 1265.</note> + +<p>The parliament which Leicester summoned to +meet on the 20th January, 1265, marked a new era +in parliamentary representation. It was the first +parliament in which the merchant and the trader +were invited to take their seats beside the baron and +bishop. Not only were the shires to send up two +representatives, but each borough and town were to +be similarly privileged.<note place="foot"><p>Fitz-Thedmar gives the number of representatives of each city +and borough as four: "De qualitet civitate et burgo iiii homines."—Chron. +of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 75.</p></note></p> + +<p>Terms of reconciliation between king and barons +were arranged, and once more the mayor and aldermen +did fealty to Henry in person in St. Paul's church. +Fitz-Thomas, who for the fourth time was mayor, was +determined to lose nothing of his character for independence; +"My lord," said he, when taking the oath,<pb n="098" /><anchor id="Pg098" /> +so long as you are willing to be to us a good king and +lord, we will be to you faithful and true."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 77. This anecdote is inserted +in the margin of Fitz-Thedmar's chronicle, the writer expressing his +horror at the "wondrous and unheard of" conduct of "this most +wretched mayor."</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Jealousy between the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester.</note> + +<p>Peace was not destined to last long. Dissensions +quickly broke out between Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, +and Simon de Montfort, owing in a great measure to +jealousy. Gloucester insisted that the Mise of Lewes +and the Provisions of Oxford had not been properly +observed, hinting unmistakably at the foreign birth +and extraction of his rival. Endeavours were made +to arrange matters by arbitration, but in vain; and by +Whitsuntide the two earls were in open hostility. +Gloucester was joined by Edward, who had succeeded +by a ruse in escaping from Hereford, where he was +detained in honourable captivity.<note place="foot"><p>The story is told by Thos. Wykes. (Rolls Series No. 36), iv, 163.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Battle of Evesham, 4th August, 1265.</note> + +<p>With their combined forces they fell on Earl +Simon at Evesham and utterly defeated him (4 Aug.). +Simon himself was killed, and his body barbarously +mutilated.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. de. Ant. fo. 94b.</p></note> The king, who was in the earl's camp, +only saved himself by crying out in time "I am Henry +of Winchester, your king." Whilst the battle was +raging the city was visited with a terrible thunderstorm—an +evil omen of the future.</p> + +<p>If credit be given to every statement made by +the city alderman and chronicler, Fitz-Thedmar, we +must believe that the battle of Evesham took place +just in time to prevent a wholesale massacre of the +best and foremost men of the city, including the +chronicler himself, which was being contrived by the<pb n="099" /><anchor id="Pg099" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BATTLE OF EVESHAM AND ITS RESULTS." /> +mayor, the popular Thomas Fitz-Thomas, the no +less popular Thomas de Piwelesdon or Puleston, and +others.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 119. Circumstantially as the +chronicler relates the story, he appears only to have inserted it as an +after-thought. Mr. Loftie (Hist, of London, i, 151), suggests that +possibly the news of Fitz-Thomas' death might have been the occasion +of its insertion.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city taken into the king's hands from 1265 to 1270.</note> + +<p>The citizens of London were soon to experience +the change that had taken place in the state of affairs. +The day after Michaelmas, the mayor and citizens +proceeded to Westminster to present the new sheriffs +to the Barons of the Exchequer; but finding no one +there, they returned home. The truth was that the +king had resorted to his favourite measure of taking +the city into his own hands for its adherence to the +late Earl of Leicester; and for five years it so +remained, being governed by a <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> or warden +appointed by the king, in the place of a mayor elected +by the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's Transl.), p. 235.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Threat of the king to subdue the city by force.</note> + +<p>There had been some talk of the king meditating +an attack upon the city, and treating its inhabitants as +avowed enemies.<note place="foot"><p>"His lordship the king had summoned to Wyndleshores all the +earls, barons, [and] knights, as many as he could, with horses and arms, +intending to lay siege to the City of London [and] calling the citizens +his foes."—Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 81.</p></note> The very threat of such a proceeding +was sufficient to throw the city into the +utmost state of confusion. Some there were "fools +and evil-minded persons," as our chronicler describes +them—who favoured resisting force by force; but the +"most discreet men" of the city, and those who had +joined the Earl under compulsion, would have none +of it, preferring to solicit the king's favour through +the mediation of men of the religious orders. Henry<pb n="100" /><anchor id="Pg100" /> +still remained unmoved, and the fear of the citizens +increased to such an extent that it was finally resolved +that the citizens as a body should make humble +submission to the king; and that the same should +be forwarded to him at Windsor under the common +seal of the city. Whilst the deputation bearing this +document was on its way it was met by Sir Roger +de Leiburn, who turned it back on the ground that he +himself was on his way to the city for the express +purpose of arranging terms of submission.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 82.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Fitz-Thomas and others summoned to Windsor.</note> + +<p>That night Sir Roger lodged at the Tower, and +the next morning he went to Barking Church, on the +confines of the city,<note place="foot"><p>At one time the parish of All Hallows Barking is spoken of as +being in the County of Middlesex, at another as being within the City—Hust. +Roll. 274, (10), (12).</p></note> where he was met by the mayor +and a "countless multitude" of the citizens. The +advice he had to give the citizens was that if they +wished to be reconciled to the king, they would have +to submit their lives and property unreservedly to his +will. Letters patent were drawn up to that effect +under the common seal, and taken by Sir Roger +himself to Windsor. The citizens had not long to +wait for an answer. The king's first demand was +the removal of the posts and chains which had been +set up in the streets as a means of defence. His next +was that the mayor—his old antagonist Fitz-Thomas—and +the principal men of the city should come in +person to him at Windsor, under letters of safe conduct. +Trusting to the royal word, the mayor and about +forty of the more substantial men of the city proceeded +to Windsor, there to await a conference with +the king. To their great surprise, the whole of the<pb n="101" /><anchor id="Pg101" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FATE OF FITZ-THOMAS, MAYOR." /> +party were made to pass the night in the Castle keep. +They were practically treated as prisoners.</p> + +<note place="margin">The fate of Fitz-Thomas unknown.</note> + +<p>Some regained their liberty, but of Fitz-Thomas +nothing more is heard. From the time that he entered +Windsor Castle, he disappears from public view. That +he was alive in May, 1266, at least in the belief of his +fellow-citizens, is shown by their cry for the release +of him and his companions "who are at Windleshores." +They would again have made him Mayor, if they +could have had their own way. "We will have no +one for mayor" (they cried) "save only Thomas +Fitz-Thomas."<note place="foot"><p>In narrating this, Fitz-Thedmar again discloses his aristocratic +proclivities by remarking, "Such base exclamations did the fools of the +vulgar classes give utterance to" on this occasion, viz., the election of +William Fitz-Richard as Sheriff of Middlesex and Warden of London.—Chron. +of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 90, 91.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city taken into the king's hand, 1265.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the king had himself gone to +London and confiscated the property of more than +sixty of the citizens, driving them out of their house +and home. Hugh Fitz-Otes, the Constable of the +Tower, had been appointed warden of the city in the +place of the imprisoned mayor; bailiffs had been +substituted for sheriffs, and the citizens made to pay a +fine of 20,000 marks. Then, and only then, did the +king consent to grant their pardon.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 83, 85.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">London Bridge bestowed on the queen.</note> + +<p>Queen Eleanor, who had interceded for the Londoners,<note place="foot"><p>"Regina etiam rogavit pro Londoniensibus de quibus rex plures +recepit ad pacem suam."—Ann. of Winchester (Rolls Series, No. 36), +ii, 103.</p></note> +was presented by the king with the custody +of London Bridge, the issues and profits of which +she was allowed to enjoy. She allowed the bridge, +however, to fall into such decay, that she thought she<pb n="102" /><anchor id="Pg102" /> +could not do better than restore it to its rightful +owners. This she accordingly did in 1271, but soon +afterwards changed her mind, and again took the +bridge into her charge.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 146, 147.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Earl of Gloucester master of the city, April, 1267.</note> + +<p>At Easter, 1267, the Earl of Gloucester, who had +constituted himself the avowed champion of those +who had suffered forfeiture, and become "disinherited" +for the part they had taken with the Earl of Leicester, +sought admission to the city. The citizens hesitated +to receive him within their gates, although according +to some, he was armed with letters patent of the +king addressed to the citizens on his behalf.<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Dunstaple. (Rolls Series, No. 36), iii, 245.</p></note> Under +pretence of holding a conference with the papal legate +at the Church of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, he gained +admission for himself and followers: and there he +remained, having made himself master of the city's +gates.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 95. The citizens appear +to have been divided, as indeed they often were, on the question of +admitting the Earl.</p></note> Thereupon many citizens left the city, fearing +the wrath of the king, and once more the city was in +the hands of the populace. The leading citizens were +placed under a guard; the aldermen and bailiffs were +deposed to make way for the earl's own supporters, +and, for better security, a covered way of timber was +made from the city to the Tower.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 95, 97.</p></note></p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the actual part played +by the legate in admitting the disinherited into the +city, he soon showed his dissatisfaction at the state of +things within its walls, by leaving the Tower, to join +<pb n="103" /><anchor id="Pg103" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MAYORALTY RESTORED." /> +the king at Ham, and placing the disinherited—"the +enemies of the king"—under an interdict.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 96.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Terms arranged between Gloucester and the king, 16th June, 1267.</note> + +<p>At length the king and the Earl of Gloucester +came to terms (16 June). The earl was to have his +property restored to him, and the city was to be +forgiven all trespasses committed against the king +since the time that the earl made his sojourn within +its walls. The earl gave surety in 10,000 marks for +keeping the peace, and the citizens paid the king of +the Romans 1,000 marks for damages they had +committed three years before in his manor of +Isleworth.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 97, 100.</p></note> Not a word about the imprisoned mayor, +Fitz-Thomas!</p> + +<note place="margin">Charter of Henry III, 26th March, 1268.</note> + +<p>The king's letters patent granting forgiveness to +the citizens for harbouring the Earl of Gloucester<note place="foot"><p>Dated "Est Ratford," 16th June, 1267. Chron. of Mayors and +Sheriffs, pp. 98-100.</p></note> +were followed in the spring of the following year +by another charter to the city.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 26th March, 1268. The original is preserved at the +Guildhall (Box No. 3). A copy of it, inserted in the Lib. de Ant. +(fo. 108b), has the following heading:—"Carta domini regis quam +fecit civibus Lond', <hi rend="font-style: italic">sub spe inveniendi ab eo meliorem gratiam</hi>," the +words in italics being added by a later hand.</p></note> But inasmuch as this +charter did not restore the mayoralty, the citizens +had little cause to be thankful and looked upon it as +only an instalment of favours to come.</p> + +<note place="margin">The city recovers its rights to elect mayor and sheriffs, 1270.</note> + +<p>Towards the end of this year or early in the next +(1269), the city was committed by the king to his +son Edward, who ruled it by deputy, Sir Hugh Fitz-Otes +being again appointed Constable of the Tower, +and warden of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 113. Ann. of Waverley (Rolls +Series No. 36), ii, 375.</p></note> It was through the good<pb n="104" /><anchor id="Pg104" /> +offices of the prince, that the citizens eventually +recovered the right to elect their mayor, so long withheld. +"About the same time, that is to say, +Pentecost, 1270," writes Fitz-Thedmar, "at the +instance of Sir Edward, his lordship the king +granted unto the citizens that they might have a +mayor from among themselves in such form as they +were wont to elect him."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 129.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The sheriff's ferm increased to £400.</note> + +<p>He further allowed them to choose two sheriffs +who should discharge the duties of sheriff, (<hi rend="font-style: italic">qui +tenerent vicecomitatem</hi>) of the City and Middlesex, +as formerly; but instead of the yearly ferm of +£300 in pure silver (<hi rend="font-style: italic">sterlingorum blancorum</hi>), +formerly paid for Middlesex, they were thenceforth to +pay an annual rent of £400 in money counted +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">sterlingorum computatorum</hi>.)<note place="foot"><p>Lib. de Ant., fo. 120.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Election of John Adrian, Mayor, 1270.</note> + +<p>The citizens lost no time in exercising their +recovered rights. Their choice fell upon John Adrian +for the mayoralty, whilst Philip le Taillour and +Walter le Poter were elected sheriffs. After they +had been severally admitted into office—the mayor +before the king himself on Wednesday, the 16th July, +and the sheriffs at the Exchequer two days later—the +king restored the city's charters, and the citizens +acknowledged the royal favour by a gift of 100 marks +to the king, and 500 marks to Prince Edward, who +had proved so good a friend to them, and who was +about to set out for the Holy Land.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 129-130.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Hervy, 1272, disputed.</note> + +<p>Adrian was succeeded in the mayoralty by +Walter Hervy, who had already served as sheriff or<pb n="105" /><anchor id="Pg105" /><index index="toc" level1="WALTER HERVY RE-ELECTED MAYOR." /> +bailiff on two occasions, once by royal appointment. +He made himself so popular with the "commons" of +the city during his year of office, that when October, +1272, came round and the aldermen and more +"discreet" citizens were in favour of electing Philip +le Taillour as his successor, the commons or "mob of +the city"—as the chronicler prefers to style them—cried +out, "Nay, nay, we will have no one for mayor +but Walter Hervi."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 153.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Appeal made by both parties to the king's council.</note> + +<p>The aldermen finding themselves in a minority, +appealed to the king and council at Westminster. +Hervy did the same, being accompanied to Westminster +by a large number of supporters, who took +the opportunity of the aldermen laying their case +before the council to insist loudly, as they waited in +the adjacent hall, upon their own right of election +and their choice of Hervy. It was feared that the +noise might disturb the king who was confined to his +bed with what proved to be his last illness. All +parties was therefore dismissed, injunction being laid +upon Hervy not to appear again with such a following, +but to come with only ten or a dozen supporters +at the most.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's illness and death, 16th November, 1272.</note> + +<p>Hervy paid no heed to this warning, but continued +to present himself at Westminster every day +for a fortnight, accompanied by his supporters in full +force, expecting an answer to be given by the council. +At length the council resolved to submit the whole +question to arbitration, the city in the meanwhile +being placed in the custody of a warden. Before the +arbitrators got to work, the king died (16 Nov.),<pb n="106" /><anchor id="Pg106" /> +and rather than the city should continue to be +disturbed at such a crisis, the aldermen agreed to a +compromise, and Hervy was allowed to be mayor +for one year more.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 154, 159.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="107" /><anchor id="Pg107" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER V.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="FITZ-THEDMAR'S PREJUDICE AGAINST HERVY." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Fitz-Thedmar's prejudice against Hervy.</note> + +<p>Although the aldermen had been prevailed upon +to give their assent to Hervy's election to the +mayoralty, his democratic tendencies made him an +object of dislike, more especially to Fitz-Thomas. +When, therefore, that chronicler records that throughout +Hervy's year of office he did not allow any +pleading in the Husting for Pleas of Land except very +rarely, for the reason that the mayor himself was +defendant in a suit brought against him by Isabella +Bukerel,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 164.</p></note> we hesitate to place implicit belief in his +statement.<note place="foot"><p>The series of Husting Rolls for Pleas of Land, preserved at the +Guildhall, commence in the mayoralty of Hervy's successor.</p></note> We are inclined, moreover, to give less +credit to anything that Fitz-Thedmar may say against +the mayor when we bear in mind that the former +had a personal grievance against the latter.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 205-208.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Hervy's so-called "charter" to the guilds.</note> + +<p>Hervy was a worthy successor to Fitz-Thomas, +and, under his government, the craft guilds improved +their position. Fresh ordinances for the regulation of +various crafts were drawn up, and to these the mayor, +on his own responsibility, attached the city seal.<note place="foot"><p>What Fitz-Thedmar means when he says (Chron. of Mayors and +Sheriffs, p. 171), that "only one part of the seal of the Commonalty +of London" was appended to Hervy's so-called "charter" is hard to +determine. The common seal of the city was at this period in the +custody of the mayor for the time being. Under Edward II, it was for +the first time entrusted to two aldermen and two commoners for safe +keeping.—City Records, Letter Book D, fo. 145b. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Ordinances +of Edward II, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1319.</p></note><pb n="108" /><anchor id="Pg108" /> +When Hervy's year of office expired—these so-called +"charters" were called in question as having been +unauthorised by the aldermen of the city and as +tending to favour the richer members of the guilds +to the prejudice of the poorer. After a "wordy and +most abusive dispute" carried on in the Guildhall +between the ex-mayor and Gregory de Rokesley who +acted as spokesman for the body of aldermen, Hervy +left the hall and summoned the craft-guilds to meet +him in Cheapside. There he told them that it was the +wish of Henry le Galeys (or Waleys) the mayor and +others to infringe their charters, but that if they could +stand by him he would maintain those charters in all +their integrity.</p> + +<p>Fearing lest a riot might follow, the chancellor—Walter +de Merton, through whose mediation Hervy +had been at last accepted as mayor by the aldermen—ordered +his arrest. This was on the 20th December, +1273. Hervy was, accordingly, attached but +released on bail, and early in the following January +(1274), his charters were duly examined in the +Husting before all the people, and declared void. +Thenceforth, every man was to enjoy the utmost +freedom in following his calling, always provided that +his work was good and lawful.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 169-171.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Dispute between Hervy and the Mayor, 1274.</note> + +<p>When the mayor removed certain butchers' and +fishmongers' stalls from Cheapside, in order that the +main thoroughfare of the city might present a creditable +appearance to the king on his return from abroad, +the owners of the stalls, who complained of being +disturbed in their freeholds—"having given to the +sheriff a great sum of money for the same"—found<pb n="109" /><anchor id="Pg109" /><index index="toc" level1="CHARGES AGAINST WALTER HERVY." /> +a champion in Hervy. Their cause was pleaded at +the Guildhall, and such "a wordy strife" arose +between Hervy and the mayor, that the session had +to be broken up, and Hervy's conduct was reported to +the king's council. The next day, upon the resumption +of the session, a certain roll was produced and +publicly read, in which "the presumptuous acts and +injuries, of most notorious character" which Hervy +was alleged to have committed during his mayoralty +were set forth at length.</p> + +<note place="margin">Charges against Hervy for acts done during his mayoralty.</note> + +<note place="margin">Is discharged from his aldermanry.</note> + +<p>The charges against him were eight in number, +of which some at least appear to be in the last degree +frivolous. He had on a certain occasion borne false +witness; he had failed on another occasion to attend +at Westminster upon a summons; he had failed to +observe all the assizes made by the aldermen and had +allowed ale to be sold in his ward for three halfpence +a gallon; he had taken bribes for allowing corn and +wine to be taken out of the city for sale, and he had +misappropriated a sum of money which had been +raised for a special purpose. Such was the general +run of the charges brought against him, in addition to +which were the charges of having permitted the +guilds to make new statutes to their own advantage +and to the loss of the city and all the realm, as +already narrated, and of having procured "certain +persons of the city, of Stebney, of Stratford, and of +Hakeneye" to make an unjust complaint against the +mayor, "who had warranty sufficient for what he had +done, namely, the council of his lordship the king." +This last charge had reference to the recent removal +of tradesmen's stalls from Chepe. No defence +appears to have been allowed Hervy. The charges<pb n="110" /><anchor id="Pg110" /> +were read, and he was then and there declared to be +"judicially degraded from his aldermanry and for +ever excluded from the council of the city"; a precept +being at the same time issued for the immediate +election of a successor, to be presented at the next +court.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 173-5.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The after-results of the policy of Hervy and Fitz-Thomas.</note> + +<p>From this time forward nothing more is heard +of Hervy. The same cloud envelopes his later +history, that gathered round the last years of his +predecessor and political tutor Thomas Fitz-Thomas. +The misfortune of both of these men was that they +lived before their age. Their works bore fruit long +after they had departed. The trade or craft guilds, as +distinguished from the more wealthy and influential +mercantile guilds, eventually played an important +part in the city. Under Edward II, no stranger +could obtain the freedom of the city (without which, +he could do little or nothing), unless he became a +member of one of these guilds, or sought the suffrages +of the commonalty of the city, before admission to +the freedom in the Court of Husting.<note place="foot"><p>"Et quod nullus alienigena in libertatem civitatis prædictæ +admittatur nisi in Hustengo ... et si non sint de certo mestero, +tune in libertatem civitatis ejusdem non admittentur sine assensu communitatis +civitatis illius."—Lib. Custumarum (Rolls Series), pt. 1, +pp. 269-270.</p></note></p> + +<p>The normal and more expeditious way of obtaining +the freedom was thus through a guild. If Hervy +or Fitz-Thomas lived till the year 1319, when the +Ordinances just cited received the king's sanction, he +must have felt that the struggle he had made to raise +the lesser guilds had not been in vain. The mercantile +element in the city, which had formerly overcome<pb n="111" /><anchor id="Pg111" /><index index="toc" level1="THE RESULTS OF HERVY'S POLICY." /> +the aristocratic element,<note place="foot"><p>"The establishment of the corporate character of the city under +a mayor marks the victory of the communal principle over the more +ancient shire organisation, which seems to have displaced early in the +century the complicated system of guild and franchise. It also marks +the triumph of the mercantile over the aristocratic element."—Stubbs, +Const. Hist., i, 630, 631.</p></note> in its turn gave way to the +numerical superiority and influence of the craft and +manufacturing element. Hence it was that in 1376—when +the number of trade or craft guilds in the +city compared with the larger mercantile guilds was +as forty to eight—the guilds succeeded in wresting for +a while from the wards the right of electing members +of the city's council.<note place="foot"><p>"The guilds continued to elect until 1384, when the right of +election was again transferred to the wards." City Records, Letter +Book H, fos. 46b, 173.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Arrival of Edward I, in London, 18th August, 1274.</note> + +<p>In the meantime, King Edward I, arrived in +London (18th August, 1274), where he was heartily +welcomed by the citizens,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. (Rolls Series No. 76), i, 84. Chron. +of T. Wykes (Rolls Series No. 36) iv, p. 259.</p></note> and was crowned the +following day. He had expected to have returned +much earlier, and had addressed a letter to the mayor, +sheriffs, and commonalty of the City of London, +eighteen months before, informing them of his purposed +speedy return, and of his wishes that they +should endeavour to preserve the peace of the realm.<note place="foot"><p>Dated from "Caples in the land of Labour" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Caples in terra +laboris</hi>) or Capua, 19th January, 1273. This letter was publicly read +in the Guildhall on the 25th March following.—Chron. of Mayors and +Sheriffs, p. 163.</p></note> +He was, however, detained in France.</p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's hereditary right to the crown clearly acknowledged.</note> + +<p>Edward's right to succeed his father was never +disputed. For the first time in the annals of England, +a new king commences to reign immediately after the +death of his predecessor. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Le Roi est mort, vive le</hi><pb n="112" /><anchor id="Pg112" /> +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Roi</hi>! Within a week of his father's decease, a writ +was issued, in which the hereditary right of succession +was distinctly asserted as forming Edward's title to +the crown.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 161.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Four citizens to be sent to confer with Edward at Paris, +3rd April, 1274.</note> + +<p>Before setting sail for England, Edward despatched +a letter (3rd April), "to his well-beloved, the mayor, +barons, and reputable men of London," thanking +them for the preparations he understood they were +making for the ceremony of his coronation, and bidding +them send a deputation of four of the more discreet +of the citizens, to him at Paris, for the purpose +of a special conference.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 172.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The object of the conference.</note> + +<p>The difficulty which gave rise to this conference +and to the signal mark of distinction bestowed upon +the citizens of London, proved to be of a commercial +character, and, as such, one upon which the +opinions of the leading merchants of London would +be of especial value. Ever since the year 1270, the +commercial relationship between England and Flanders +had been strained. The Countess of Flanders +had thought fit to lay hands upon the wool and other +merchandise belonging to English merchants found +within her dominions, and to appropriate the same to +her own use. Edward's predecessor on the throne +had thereupon issued a writ to the mayor and sheriffs +of London, forbidding in future the export of wool to +any parts beyond sea whatsoever,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">.Id</hi>, pp. 132, 140-2.</p></note> but this measure +not having the desired effect, he shortly afterwards +had recourse to reprisals.</p> + +<p>On the 28th June, 1270, a writ had been issued to +the same parties ordering them to seize the goods of<pb n="113" /><anchor id="Pg113" /><index index="toc" level1="INTERRUPTION OF TRADE WITH FLANDERS." /> +all Flemings, Hainaulters, and other subjects of the +Countess, for the purpose of satisfying the claims of +English merchants; and all subjects of the Countess, +except those workmen who had received express permission +to come to England for the purpose of making +cloth, and those who had taken to themselves English +wives, and had obtained a domicile in this country, were +to quit the realm by a certain date.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 143-4.</p></note> Those Flemings +who neglected this injunction were to be seized and +kept in custody until further orders, and the same +measures were to be taken with those who harboured +them. In the meantime, an inquisition was ordered +to be made as to the amount and value of the goods +seized by the Countess, and the English merchants were +to lodge their respective claims for compensation.</p> + +<note place="margin">Interruption of trade between England and Flanders.</note> + +<p>The interruption of trade between England—at +that time the chief wool-exporting country in the +world—and Flanders where the cloth-working industry +especially flourished, caused much tribulation; +and the King of France, the Duke of Brabant, and +other foreign potentates, whose subjects began to feel +the effect of this commercial disturbance, addressed +letters to the King of England, requesting that their +merchants might enter his realm and stay, and traffic +there as formerly. They had never offended the King +or his people; the Countess of Flanders was the sole +offender, and she alone ought to be punished. The +matter having received due consideration, the embargo +on the export of wool was taken off with respect to +all countries, except Flanders, with the proviso that +no wool should be exported out of the kingdom without +special license from the king.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 145, 146.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="114" /><anchor id="Pg114" /> + +<p>By the month of October, 1271, the inquisitors, +who had been appointed to appraise the goods and +chattels of Flemings in England, were able to report +to parliament that their value amounted to £8,000 +"together with the king's debt," whilst the value of +merchandise belonging to English merchants and seized +by the countess amounted to £7,000, besides chattels +of other merchants. Parliament again sat in January +of the new year to consider the claims of English +merchants, when those whose goods had been taken +in Flanders, "and the Londoners more especially," +appeared in person. Each stated the amount of his +loss and the amount of goods belonging to Flemings +which he had in hand, and a balance was struck. An +inquisition was, at the same time, taken in each of +the city wards, as to the number of merchants who +bought, sold, exchanged, or harboured the goods of +persons belonging to the dominion of the Countess; +and also as to who had taken wools out of England +to the parts beyond the sea, contrary to the king's +prohibition.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 147, 148.</p></note> Many Flemings, still lurking in the city, +were arrested, and only liberated on condition they +abjured the realm so long as the dispute between +England and Flanders should continue. Nearly six +months elapsed before any further steps were taken by +either party in the strife. The Countess then showed +signs of giving way. Envoys from her arrived in +England. She was willing to make satisfaction to all +English merchants for the losses they had sustained, +but this was to be subject to the condition that the +king should bind himself to discharge certain alleged +debts, which had been the cause of all the mischief from<pb n="115" /><anchor id="Pg115" /><index index="toc" level1="FLEMINGS EXPELLED FROM ENGLAND." /> +the outset, within a fixed time. In the event of the +king failing to discharge these claims, the justice of +which he never recognised, the Countess was to be +allowed to distrain all persons coming into her country +from England by their bodies and their goods, +until satisfaction should be made for arrears. This +haughty message only made matters worse. The king +and his council became indignant, and contemptuously +dismissed the envoys, commanding them to leave +England within three days on peril of life and limb.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 149, 150.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Writ for the expulsion of all Flemings, 8th Sept., 1273.</note> + +<p>Time went on; Henry died, and before his son +Edward arrived in England from the Holy Land to +take up the reins of government, his chancellor, +Walter de Merton, had caused a proclamation to be +made throughout the city, forbidding any Fleming to +enter the kingdom, under penalty of forfeiture of +person and goods. The proclamation was more than +ordinarily stringent, for it went on to say that if perchance +any individual had received special permission +from the late king to sojourn and to trade within the +realm, such permission was no longer to hold good, +but the foreigner was to pack up his merchandise, +collect his debts, and leave the country by Christmas, +1273, at the latest.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 165.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Negotiations opened with Edward at Paris for peace with +Flanders.</note> + +<p>The Countess had probably hoped that a change +of monarch on the English throne would have +favoured her cause. This proclamation was sufficient +to show her the character of the king with whom she +had in future to deal, and destroyed any hope she +may have entertained in this direction. She therefore +took the opportunity of Edward's passing through +Paris to London, to open negotiations for the purpose<pb n="116" /><anchor id="Pg116" /> +of restoring peace between England and Flanders; +and it was to assist the king in conducting these +negotiations, that he had summoned a deputation of +citizens of London to meet him at Paris.</p> + +<note place="margin">Particulars of the four citizens sent to confer with the king at Paris.</note> + +<p>The choice of the citizens fell upon Henry le +Waleys, their mayor for the time being, one who was +known almost as well in France as in the city of +London, if we may judge from the fact of his filling +the office of Mayor of Bordeaux in the following year. +With him were chosen Gregory de Rokesley who, +besides being a large dealer in wool, was also a goldsmith +and financier, and as such was shortly to be +appointed master of the exchange throughout +England;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1279. "Eodem anno escambia et novæ monetæ extiterunt +levata apud turrim Londoniensem; et Gregorius de Roqesle major +monetæ per totam Angliam."—Chron. Edw. I and II. (Rolls Series +No. 76. i. 88).—Aungier Fr. Chron. (Transl.) p. 239.</p></note> John Horn, whose name bespeaks his +Flemish origin,<note place="foot"><p>The name of John Horn with the addition. "Flemyng" occurs in +the 14th cent.—Hust. Roll. 64 (67), 81 (74).</p></note> and who may on that account have +been appointed, as one who was intimate with both +sides of the question under discussion; and Luke de +Batencurt, also of foreign extraction, who was one of +the Sheriffs of London this same year.</p> + +<note place="margin">Peace concluded between England and Flanders, July, 1274.</note> + +<p>These four accordingly set out to confer with the +king at Paris, having previously seen to the appointment +of wardens over the city, and of magistrates to +determine complaints which might arise at the fair to +be held at St. Botolph's, or Boston, in Lincolnshire, +during their absence.<note place="foot"><p>For one month after the Feast of St. Botolph the Abbot [17 June], +the Court of Husting in London was closed, owing to the absence of +citizens attending the fair. The right of appointing their own officers to +settle disputes arising at the fair was granted to the citizens of London at +the close of the Barons' War.—Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 176.</p></note> The deputation were absent<pb n="117" /><anchor id="Pg117" /><index index="toc" level1="ARRIVAL OF EDWARD I IN ENGLAND." /> +a month. On the 19th July, Gregory de Rokesle and +certain others whose names are not mentioned again +set out in compliance with orders received from the +king; the object of their journey being, as we are +expressly told, to treat of peace between the king and +the Countess of Flanders at Montreuil.<note place="foot"><p>Peace was signed before the end of July.—Rymer's Fœdera, +(ed. 1816), vol. i. pt. 2, p. 513.</p></note> A month +later Edward himself was in England.</p> + +<note place="margin">Strong Government of the city under Edward I.</note> + +<p>The king ruled the city, as indeed he ruled the +rest of the kingdom, with a strong hand. Londoners +had already experienced the force of his arm and his +ability in the field, when he scattered them at Lewes; +they were now to experience the benefit of his powers +of organization in time of peace. Fitz-Thedmar's +chronicle now fails us, but we have a new source of +information in the letter books<note place="foot"><p>A series of MS. books extending from <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> 1275 to 1688, +deriving their title from the letters of the alphabet with which they are +distinguished, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A, B, C,</hi> &c, <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">AA, BB, CC,</hi> &c. We are further aided by +chronicles of the reigns of Edward I and II, edited by Bishop Stubbs +for the Master of the Rolls. A portion of these chronicles the editor +has fitly called "Annales Londonienses." There is even reason for +believing them to have been written by Andrew Horn, citizen and +fishmonger, as well as eminent jurist of his day. He died soon after +the accession of Edward III. and by his will, dated 9th Oct., 1328, +(Cal. of Wills, Court of Husting, i, 344) bequeathed to the city many +valuable legal and other treatises, only one of which (known to this +day as "Liber Horn,") is preserved among the archives of the +Corporation.</p></note> of the Corporation.</p> + +<note place="margin">The necessity for an immediate supply of money.</note> + +<p>The first and the most pressing difficulty which +presented itself to Edward, was the re-organization +of finance. Without money the barons could not be +kept within legitimate bounds. Having won their +cause against the usurpations of the crown, they +began to turn their arms upon each other, and it +required Edward's strong hand not only to impose +order upon his unruly nobles, but also, to bring<pb n="118" /><anchor id="Pg118" /> +Scotland and Wales into submission. The country +was flooded with clipt coin. This was called in, and +new money minted at the Tower, under the supervision +of Gregory de Rokesley as Master of the +Exchange.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, p. 239.</p></note> Parliament made large grants to the +king; and he further increased his resources by imposing +knighthood upon all freeholders of estates +worth £20 a year.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Select Charters, p. 447.</p></note> When the Welsh war was +renewed in 1282, the city sent him 6,000 marks by +the hands of Waleys and Rokesley.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, (Rolls Series). Introd. vol. i, p. xxxiii.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The so-called Parliament at Shrewsbury. 1283.</note> + +<p>In 1283 an extraordinary assembly—styled a +parliament by some chroniclers—was summoned to +meet at Shrewsbury to attend the trial of David, +brother of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales. To this so-called +parliament the city sent no less than six +representatives, viz.: Henry le Waleys, the mayor, +Gregory de Rokesley, Philip Cissor, or the tailor, +Ralph Crepyn, Joce le Acatour, or merchant, and +John de Gisors.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 92.</p></note> Their names are worthy of record, +inasmuch as they are the first known representatives +of the city in any assembly deserving the name of a +parliament, the names of those attending Simon de +Montfort's parliament not having been transmitted to +us. David was convicted and barbarously executed, +his head being afterwards carried to London, and set +up on the Tower, where his brother's head, with a +mock crown of ivy, had recently been placed.<note place="foot"><p>Contin. Flor. Wigorn., ii, 229. 230. Tho. Wykes (Ann. Monast. +Rolls Series No. 36), iv, 294. Ann. of Worcester (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ibid</hi>), iv, 486. +Walter de Heminburgh (Eng. Hist. Soc.), ii, 13.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="119" /><anchor id="Pg119" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MURDER OF LAURENCE DUKET." /> + +<note place="margin">Ralph Crepyn and Laurence Duket.</note> + +<p>Of Ralph Crepyn, one of the city's representatives +at Shrewsbury, a tragic story is told. Meeting, one +day, Laurence Duket, his rival in the affections of a +woman known as "Alice atte Bowe," the two came to +blows, and Crepyn was wounded. The affray took +place in Cheapside, and Duket, fearing he had killed +his man, sought sanctuary in Bow Church. Crepyn's +friends, hearing of the matter, followed and having +killed Duket, disposed of their victim's body in such +a way as to suggest suicide. It so happened, however, +that the sacrilegious murder had been witnessed by a +boy who informed against the culprits and no less +than sixteen persons were hanged for the part they +had taken in it. Alice, herself, was condemned to be +burnt alive as being the chief instigator of the murder; +others, including Ralph Crepyn, were sent to the +Tower, and only released on payment of heavy fines.<note place="foot"><p>They were, in the language of Stow, "hanged by the purse." +(Survey, Thoms' ed., p. 96). <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "He was hanged by the nek and +nought by the purs." (Chaucer, Cook's Tale. l. 885). The story is recorded +in Aungier's French Chron. (Riley's translation), p. 240; and +in Chron. Edward I and II (Rolls Series i, 92-93).</p></note> +The church was placed under interdict, the doors and +windows being filled with thorns until purification +had been duly made. Duket's remains, which had +been interred as those of a suicide, were afterwards +taken up and received the rights of Christian burial in +Bow Churchyard.</p> + +<note place="margin">Legislative enactments of 1285.</note> + +<p>The year 1285 was a memorable one both for +London and the kingdom. It witnessed the passing +of two important statutes. In the first place the +statute <hi rend="font-style: italic">De Donis</hi> legalised the principle of tying up +real estate, so as to descend, in an exclusive perpetual +line; in other words, it sanctioned entails, and its<pb n="120" /><anchor id="Pg120" /> +effect is still experienced at the present day in every +ordinary settlement of land. In the next place the +Assise of Arms of Henry II was improved so as to +secure for the king a national support in the time of +danger. In every hundred and franchise each man's +armour was to be viewed twice a year; and defaults +reported to the king "who would find a remedy." +The gates of walled towns were to be closed from +sun-set to sun-rise, and watch and ward were to be +kept as strictly as in times past, "that is to wit, from +the day of the Ascension until the day of S. Michael, +in every city by six men at every gate; in every +borough, twelve men; every town, six or four, +according to the number of the inhabitants of the +town, and they shall watch the town continually all +night from the sun-setting unto the sun-rising."<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Select Charters, pp. 472-474.</p></note> +Three years previous to the passing of this statute the +mayor, alderman and chamberlain had made very +similar provisions for the keeping of the City of +London, the city's gates, and the river Thames.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 52. Riley's Memorials, p. 21.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The justiciars at the Tower, 1285</note> + +<p>For the city, the year was a memorable one, +owing to the suspension of its franchise. The +circumstances which caused the loss of its liberties +for a period of thirteen years (1285-1298) were these. +The king's justiciars were sitting at the Tower, where +the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of the city had +been summoned to attend. Owing to some informality +in the summons, Gregory de Rokesley, the +Mayor, declined to attend in his official capacity, but +formally "deposed himself" at the Church of All +Hallows Barking—the limit of the city jurisdiction—<pb n="121" /><anchor id="Pg121" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ITER AT THE TOWER." /> +by handing the city's seal to Stephen Aswy or Eswy, +a brother alderman. On entering the chamber where +sat the justiciars, the mayor excused his unofficial +appearance on the ground of insufficient notice. This +was not what the justiciars had been accustomed to. +On the contrary, the citizens had usually shown studied +respect towards the justiciars whenever they came to +the Tower for the purpose of holding pleas of the +crown.</p> + +<note place="margin">The customary procedure when the citizens waited on the justices at the Tower.</note> + +<p>The rules of procedure on such occasions are +fully set out in the city's "Liber Albus,"<note place="foot"><p>Rolls Series, i, 51-60. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Lib. Ordinationum, fos. 154b, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi></p></note> and they +contain, curiously enough, a provision expressly made +for cases where the full notice of forty days had not +been given. In such an event the prescribed rule was +to send some of their more discreet citizens to the +king and his council to ask for the appointment of +another day. Whether Rokesley had taken this step +before resorting to the measures he did we are not +told. It was also the custom on such occasions for +the citizens to gather at Barking Church, clothed in +their best apparel, and thence proceed in a body to +the Tower. A deputation was appointed—selected +members of the common council—who should also +proceed to the Tower for the purpose of giving an +official welcome to the justiciars on behalf of the +citizens. It was not thought to be in any way derogatory +to secure the goodwill of the king's justiciars +by making ample presents. It had been done time +out of mind. The sheriffs and aldermen were to +attend with their respective sergeants and beadles, +the benches at the Tower were to be examined +beforehand and necessary repairs carried out, all shops<pb n="122" /><anchor id="Pg122" /> +were to be closed and no business transacted during +the session. In a word, everything was to be done +that could add to the dignity of the justiciars and +the solemnity of the occasion. In contrast with all +this, Rokesley's conduct was indeed strange, and leads +us to suppose that his action was caused by some +other and stronger reason than the mere omission +to give the usual notice of the coming of the king's +justiciars.</p> + +<note place="margin">The city declared to be taken into the king's hand.</note> + +<p>Be this as it may, the king's treasurer, who may +possibly have been forewarned of what was about to +take place, at once decided what course to take. He +declared the city to be there and then taken into the +king's hands, on the pretext that it was found to be +without a mayor, and he summoned the citizens to +appear on the morrow before the king at Westminster. +When the morrow came, the citizens duly appeared, +and about eighty of them were detained. Those who +accompanied Rokesley to Barking Church on the +previous day were confined in the Tower, but after a +few days they were all set at liberty, with the exception +of Stephen Aswy, who was removed in custody +to Windsor.<note place="foot"><p>The circumstances of Rokesley's visit to the justices at the Tower +are set out in the city's "Liber Albus" (i, 16), from a MS. of Andrew +Horn, no longer preserved at the Guildhall. The story also appears +in Chron. Edward I and II (Rolls Series No. 76), i, 94.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">For thirteen years the city governed by a <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> instead of a mayor.</note> + +<p>The king appointed Ralph de Sandwich <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> or +warden of the city, enjoining him at the same time +to observe the liberties and customs of the citizens, +and for the next thirteen years (1285-1298) the city +continued to be governed by a warden in the person +of Sandwich or of John le Breton, whilst the sheriffs<pb n="123" /><anchor id="Pg123" /><index index="toc" level1="THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS." /> +were sometimes appointed by the Exchequer and +sometimes chosen by the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>In 1293 the king appointed Elias Russell and Henry le Bole his +"improvers" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">appropriatores</hi>) in the city:—Chron. Edward I and II, +(Rolls Series No. 76, i, 102). Their duties were practically identical +with those of sheriffs, and Bishop Stubbs places a marginal note over +against the appointment,—"Sheriffs appointed by the king." Walter +Hervy is recorded as having removed certain stones near Bucklersbury +when he was "improver" of the city (Letter Book A, fo. 84. +Riley's Memorials, p. 25). This was probably done in 1268, when the +city was in the king's hand, and Hervy and William de Durham were +appointed bailiffs "without election by the citizens."—Chron. Mayors +and Sheriffs, pp. 112, 113.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Both the king and the city in straits for money, 1289-1290.</note> + +<p>In May, 1286, the king went to Gascony, leaving +the country in charge of his nephew, Edmund, Earl +of Cornwall, and did not return until August, 1289. +He was then in sore straits for money, as was so +often the case with him, and was glad of a present of +£1,000 which the citizens offered by way of courtesy +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">curialitas</hi>). The money was ordered (14th October) +to be levied by poll,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book A, fo. 132b.</p></note> but many of the inhabitants +were so poor that they could only find pledges for +future payment, and these pledges were afterwards +sold for what they would fetch.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 110.</p></note> A twelve-month +later (October, 1290) when Edward visited London, +he was fain to be content with the smaller sum of +1,000 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 98.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's difficulties increased by the expulsion of the Jews, 1290.</note> + +<p>The expulsion of the Jews in 1290 increased +Edward's difficulties, for on them he chiefly depended +for replenishing his empty exchequer. Their expulsion +was not so much his own wish as the wish of his +subjects, who, being largely in debt to the Jews, +regarded them as cruel tyrants. The nation soon +discovered that it had made a mistake in thus getting +rid of its creditors, for in the absence of the Jews,<pb n="124" /><anchor id="Pg124" /> +Edward was compelled to resort to the Lombard +merchants. It may possibly have been owing to +some monetary transactions between them that the +king was solicitous of getting a life interest in the +city's Small Beam made over to a lady known as +Jacobina la Lumbard. No particulars are known +of this lady, but to judge from her name she probably +came of a family of money-lenders, and if so, the +king's action in writing from Berwick (28th June, +1291) to the warden and aldermen of the city—at a +time when he was completely in the hands of the +Italian goldsmiths and money-lenders—soliciting for +her a more or less lucrative post is easily intelligible.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book A, fo. 95. Riley's Memorials, p. 26.</p></note> +The king's request was refused, notwithstanding the +city being at the time in charge of a <hi rend="font-style: italic">custos</hi> of his own +choice instead of a mayor elected by the citizens +themselves. Such requests produced friction between +the king and the city, and the former's financial +relations with the foreign merchants were fraught +with danger to himself and to his son.<note place="foot"><p>"From the very day of his accession, Edward was financially in +the hands of the Lombard bankers; hence arose, no doubt, the +difficulty which he had in managing the City of London; hence came +also the financial mischief which followed the banishment of the Jews; +and hence an accumulation of popular discontent, which showed itself +in the king's lifetime by opposition to his mercantile policy, and, after +his death, supplied one of the most efficient means for the overthrow +of his son."—Chron. Edward I and II. Introd. vol. i, pp. c, ci.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's domestic troubles of 1290.</note> + +<p>Edward's anxiety was in the meanwhile increased +by domestic troubles. In 1290 he suffered a bitter +disappointment by the death of a Scottish princess +who was affianced to his son, the Prince of Wales, +and thus a much-cherished plan for establishing +friendly relations between the two countries was +frustrated. But this disappointment was quickly<pb n="125" /><anchor id="Pg125" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF QUEEN ELEANOR." /> +cast in the shade by the more severe affliction he +suffered in the loss of his wife. In November Queen +Eleanor died. Her corpse was brought from Lincoln +to Westminster, and the bereaved husband ordered a +memorial cross to be set up at each place where +her body rested. One of these crosses was erected +at the west end of Cheapside. After the Reformation +the images with which the cross was ornamented, +like the image of Becket set over the gate +of the Mercers' Chapel, roused the anger of the +iconoclast, who took delight in defacing them.</p> + +<note place="margin">Seizure of treasure in monastries and churches, 1294.</note> + +<p>Time only increased the king's pecuniary difficulties. +In February, 1292, all freeholders of land of +the annual value of £40 were ordered to receive +knighthood, and in the following January the estates +of defaulters were seized by the king's orders.<note place="foot"><p>Writ to the Sheriff of Middlesex, dated 2nd Jan., 1293. Letter +Book B, fo. 25. Contin. Flor. Wigorn., ii, 266.</p></note> In +June, 1294, war was declared against France. Money +must be had. Every monastery and every church +throughout England was ransacked for treasure, and +the sum of £2,000, found in St. Paul's Church, was +appropriated for the public service.<note place="foot"><p>Ann. of Dunstaple (Rolls Series No. 36), iii, 390. The chronicler +acquits the king of complicity in this sacrilege.</p></note> The dean was +seized with a fit (<hi rend="font-style: italic">subita percussus passione</hi>) and died +in the king's presence.<note place="foot"><p>Contin. Flor. Wigorn., ii, 274.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city furnishes ships and men for the defence of the coast 1295, 1296.</note> + +<p>Instead of invading France, Edward found his +own shores devastated by a French fleet, whilst at +the same time his hands were full with fresh difficulties +from Scotland and Wales. In the summer of +1295, the city furnished the king with three ships, +the cost being defrayed by a tax of twopence in<pb n="126" /><anchor id="Pg126" /> +the pound charged on chattels and merchandise. +John le Breton, then warden, advanced the sum of +£40, which the aldermen and six men of each ward +undertook to repay.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C. fo. 20.</p></note> In the following year (1296) +the city agreed, after some little hesitation, to furnish +forty men with caparisoned horses, and fifty arbalesters +for the defence of the south coast, under +the king's son, Edward of Carnarvon.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 21b, 22. (Riley's Memorials, pp. 31-33). Liber Custum., +i, 72-76.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The subjection of Scotland, 1296.</note> + +<p>Edward again turned his attention to Scotland, +and, having succeeded in reducing Balliol to submission, +he carried off from Scone the stone which +legend identifies with Jacob's pillow, and on which +the Scottish kings had from time immemorial been +crowned,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Walter de Hemingburgh (Eng. Hist. Soc.), ii. 108, 109.</p></note> By Edward's order the stone was enclosed +in a stately seat, and placed in Westminster Abbey, +where it has since served as the coronation chair of +English sovereigns.</p> + +<note place="margin">The parliament of Bury St. Edmund's, 3rd Nov., 1296.</note> + +<p>From Berwick Edward issued (26 Aug., 1296,) +writs for a Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, +in the following November. The constitution of +this Parliament was the same as that which had +met at Westminster in November of the previous +year (1295) and which was intended to serve as a +model parliament, a pattern for all future national +assemblies. The city was represented by two aldermen, +namely, Sir Stephen Aswy, or Eswy, who had +been confined in Windsor Castle ten years before for +his conduct towards the king's justiciars at the Tower, +and Sir William de Hereford.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 22b.</p></note> From this time forward<pb n="127" /><anchor id="Pg127" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KING IN DIFFICULTIES." /> +down to the present day we have little difficulty in +discovering from one source or another the names of +the city's representatives in successive parliaments. +Edward, of course, wanted money. The barons and +knights increased their former grants; so also did the +burgesses. The clergy, on the other hand, declared +themselves unable to make any grant at all in the +face of a papal prohibition,<note place="foot"><p>By the bull <hi rend="font-style: italic">Clericis Laicos</hi>, Boniface VIII had recently forbidden +the clergy to pay taxes to any layman.—Chron. of Walter de Hemingburgh +(Eng. Hist. Soc.), ii, 113-116.</p></note> and the king was at last +driven to seize the lay fees of the clergy of the +province of Canterbury. In the spring of the following +year he proceeded to seize all the wool of the +country, paying for it by tallies, and to levy a supply +of provisions on the counties. The act was only +justifiable on the plea of necessity, and led to +measures being taken to prevent its repetition.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 130, 131, 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's altercation with Roger Bigod, Feb., 1297.</note> + +<p>It was an easier matter for Edward to raise +money than to get the barons to accompany him +abroad. To leave them behind was to risk the peace +of the country. He therefore spared no efforts to +persuade them to join in a projected expedition, and +when persuasion failed tried threats. It was his +desire that the barons should go to Gascony, whilst +he took the command in Flanders. This was not at +all to the taste of the barons, who declined to go +abroad, except in the personal retinue of the king +himself. "With you, O king," said Roger Bigod, "I +will gladly go; as belongs to me by hereditary right, +I will go in front of the host, before your face;" but +without the king he positively declined to move. +"By God, earl," cried the king, fairly roused by the<pb n="128" /><anchor id="Pg128" /> +obstinacy of his vassal, "you shall either go or +hang;" to which the earl replied, with equal determination, +"By the same token, O king, I will neither +go nor hang."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Walter de Hemingburgh, ii, 121.</p></note></p> + +<p>Nothing daunted, the king issued writs (15 May) +for a military levy of the whole kingdom for service +abroad, to meet at London on the 7th July, a +measure as unconstitutional as the seizure of wool +and the levying of taxes without the assent of +Parliament. On the day appointed, the barons, who +had received a large accession of strength from the +great vassals, appeared with their forces at St. Paul's; +but instead of complying with the king's demands—or +rather requests, for the king had altered his tone—they +prepared a list of their grievances.</p> + +<note place="margin">The "Confirmatio Cartarum," Oct. 1297.</note> + +<p>With difficulty civil war was avoided, and in +August Edward set sail for Flanders. No sooner was +his back turned, than the barons and the Londoners +made common cause in insisting upon a confirmation +and amplification of their charters.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 126, 127.</p></note> Prince Edward, +the king's son, who had been appointed regent in his +father's absence, granted all that was asked, and on +the 10th October (1297), the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Confirmatio Cartarum</hi>, +as it was called, was issued in the king's name.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 149, 151.</p></note> +Thenceforth, no customs duties were to be exacted +without the consent of parliament.</p> + +<note place="margin">The mayoralty restored to the city, 11th April, 1298.</note> + +<p>In view of the king's return to England in March +(1298), the warden of the city, Sir John Breton, the +aldermen, and a deputation from the wards met +together and resolved that every inhabitant of the<pb n="129" /><anchor id="Pg129" /><index index="toc" level1="RISING OF THE SCOTS UNDER WALLACE." /> +city, citizen and stranger, should pay to the king's +collectors the sum of sixpence in the pound of all +their goods up to £100.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book B, fo. xxxvii (101b).</p></note> In the following month +Edward issued letters patent (11th April), restoring +to the citizens their franchises and the right of again +electing their mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Preserved among the City Archives (Box 26). <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Letter Book +C, fo. xxiv, b.</p></note> The choice of the citizens fell +upon Henry le Waleys, who was duly admitted by the +Barons of the Exchequer after presentation to the +king.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book B, fo. 93.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Suppression of the Scottish rising under Wallace, 1298, 1304.</note> + +<p>In the summer Edward marched to Scotland for +the purpose of putting down the rising under Wallace. +An account of the battle of Falkirk, fought on the +22nd July, was conveyed to the mayor, aldermen, +and "barons" of London, by letter from Walter +Langton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, or, as he +was then styled, Bishop of Chester, who wrote as an +eye-witness, if not indeed as a partaker in that day's +work.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 24. (Riley's Memorials, 37).</p></note> It was the first battle of any consequence in +which the English long-bow was brought into prominence. +Edward's victory was complete. The enemy's +loss was great, the number that perished, according to +the bishop's information, being two hundred men-at-arms +and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Edward +was unable, however, to follow up his success for +want of supplies, and so retreated. In 1304, he again +marched northward, notwithstanding the defection of +many nobles. He had previously resorted once more +to the questionable practice of talliaging the city of<pb n="130" /><anchor id="Pg130" /> +London,<note place="foot"><p>Strictly speaking, a talliage could only be charged on the king's +demesnes, and these did not include the City of London.</p></note> levying from the citizens the fifteenth penny +of their moveable goods and the tenth penny of their +rents.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II (Rolls Series), i, 132.</p></note> The campaign was eminently successful. +Sterling surrendered after a siege of two months, and +Wallace himself shortly afterwards fell into his hands, +having refused the terms of an amnesty which Edward +had generously offered.</p> + +<note place="margin">Wallace brought to London, 22 Aug., 1305.</note> + +<p>He was carried to London, where a crowd of men +and women flocked out to meet one, of whose gigantic +stature and feats of strength they had heard so much. +He was lodged in the house of William de Leyre, an +alderman of the city, situate in the parish of All +Hallows at the Hay or All Hallows the Great. +Having been tried at Westminster and condemned to +death on charges of treason, sacrilege and robbery, +he was hanged, drawn, and quartered, and his head +set up on London Bridge.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's Transl.), 247. Chron. Edward I +and II (Rolls Series), i, 139.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Knighthood conferred on John le Blound, the mayor, and others, May 1306.</note> + +<p>No sooner was Wallace disposed of than another +claimant to the Scottish crown appeared in the person +of Bruce. Before Edward took the field against the +new foe, he conferred knighthood upon his son and +nearly three hundred others, including John le Blound +the mayor. The number of knights within the small +compass of the city was reckoned at that time to be +not less than a thousand.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II (Rolls Series), i, 146. Hemingburgh +ii, 248.</p></note> Knighthood, as we have +seen, was one of the means Edward resorted to for +raising money, and on this occasion the citizens of<pb n="131" /><anchor id="Pg131" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF EDWARD I." /> +London are said to have made him a free gift of +£2,000, in recognition of the honour bestowed on +their mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's Transl.), 247 n.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Death of the king, 7th July, 1307.</note> + +<p>In the summer of 1307, Edward set out to +execute the vow of vengeance against Bruce that he +had made on the occasion of the knighthood of his +son, but the hand of death was upon him, and before +lie reached the Scottish border he died (7th July).</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="132" /><anchor id="Pg132" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VI.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">The accession of Edward II.</note> + +<p>The new king's character, differing as it did so +much from that of his father, was not one to commend +itself to the citizens of London. With them he never +became a favourite. The bold and determined character +of Queen Isabel, the very antipodes of her +husband, was more to their liking, and throughout +the contests that ensued between them, the citizens +steadily supported her cause. At her first appearance, +as a bride, in the city, the streets were compared with +the New Jerusalem, so rich were they in appearance;<note place="foot"><p>"Tunc visa est Londonia quasi nova Jerusalem monilibus ornata."—Chron. +Edward I and II (Rolls Series No. 76), i, 152.</p></note> +whilst at the coronation ceremony, which took place +a month later (25th February, 1308), she and her +husband were escorted by the mayor and aldermen +in their most gorgeous robes, quartered with the arms +of England and France, and were served at the banquet +as custom commanded.<note place="foot"><p>"Ad quam coronationem major, aldermanni et cives Londoniarum +induti samiteis et sericeis vestimentis et ex armis Angliæ et Franciæ +depictis, coram rege et regina Karolantes, et servi civium ad illud festum, +ut moris est, de cupa servientes, omnibus intuentibus inauditum proviserunt +gaudium."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id. ibid.</hi></p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's foreign favourites.</note> + +<p>But even thus early in Edward of Carnarvon's +reign the presence of foreigners—to whom the king +was even more addicted than his father—was likely +to prove a source of trouble; and it was necessary to +make special proclamations forbidding the carrying of<pb n="133" /><anchor id="Pg133" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ORDAINERS AND THEIR WORK." /> +arms on the day of the coronation and enjoining +respect for foreigners attending the ceremony.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 93 (Riley's Memorials, p. 64).</p></note> The +king's foreign favourites proved his ruin, and contributed +in no small degree to the eventual defection of +the city. They were for ever desiring some favour of +the citizens. At one time it was Piers de Gavestone +who wanted a post for his "valet";<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fo. 96 (Memorials, pp. 69-71).</p></note> at another it +was Hugh le Despenser who desired (and obtained) a +lease of the Small Beam for a friend.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 97 b (Memorials, p. 69).</p></note> The friend +only held the Beam for little more than six months, +and then, at the urgent request of the queen herself, +it was given to another.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fo. 104 (Memorials, pp. 72-74).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Ordainers and their work, 1308-1311.</note> + +<p>The barons were especially irritated at being +supplanted by the king's favourites, and in 1308 +succeeded in getting Edward to send Gaveston out +of England. In the following year, however, he was +recalled, and the barons became so exasperated that +in 1310, when the king summoned an assembly of +bishops and barons, the latter appeared, contrary to +orders, in full military array. The king could not do +otherwise than submit to their dictation. Ordainers +were appointed from among the barons for the purpose +of drawing up ordinances for the government of +the kingdom. These ordinances were promulgated +in their complete form in 1311, when they received +the sanction of a parliament assembled at the House +of the Black Friars, in the month of August, and were +afterwards publicly proclaimed in St. Paul's Churchyard,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Mayors and Sheriffs, pp. 224-225.</p></note> +special precautions being taken at the time to<pb n="134" /><anchor id="Pg134" /> +safeguard the gates of the city by night and +day.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fo. 147b.</p></note> Gaveston was condemned to banishment for +life.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City's gift of 1,000 marks to assist the king against Scotland, March, 1311.</note> + +<p>In the meantime, whilst the Ordainers were engaged +on their work, Edward had put himself at the +head of his army and marched against the Scots, who +were rapidly gaining ground under Bruce. He remained +on the border until July, 1311, trying every +means to raise money. In March of that year the +city sent him one thousand marks, by the hands of +Roger le Palmere and William de Flete, the mayor, +Richer de Refham, contributing no less than one +hundred pounds of the whole sum. The money was +despatched on horseback, tied up in baskets covered +with matting and bound with cords, and the cost of +every particular is set out in the city's records.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 125b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richer de Refham, Mayor, 1310-1311.</note> + +<p>Refham was a mayor of the popular type. He +had already suffered deprivation of his aldermanry for +some reason or another, but was reinstated in 13O2.<note place="foot"><p>"Eodem anno (<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> 1302), die Lunæ iv<hi rend="vertical-align: super">to</hi> Kalendas Februarii, +restitutus est Richerus de Refham in honore aldermanniæ Londoniarum, +et factus est aldermannus de Warda de Basseishawe."—Chron. Edward +I and II, i, 104.</p></note> +No sooner was he chosen mayor than he caused a +collection to be made of the ancient liberties and +customs of the city, from the books and rolls preserved +in the city's Chamber, and having assembled +the aldermen and best men of the city, he caused +them to be publicly read. This having been done, +he next proceeded to ask the assembly if it was their +will that these ancient customs and liberties, which +had so often been infringed by the removal of mayors<pb n="135" /><anchor id="Pg135" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHER DE REFHAM, MAYOR." /> +and sheriffs, should be for the future maintained. Their +answer being given unanimously in the affirmative, +he at once took steps to obtain the king's writ of +confirmation, and caused them to be proclaimed +throughout the city. He made a perambulation of +the city and abated all nuisances and encroachments. +He went further than this. For some time past the +streets had been rendered unsafe to pass after dark +by bands of rioters who at that day were known by +the <hi rend="font-style: italic">sobriquet</hi> of "roreres." A few years later, the +same class went under the name of "riffleres." They +were the precursors of the "Muns," the "Tityre Tus," +the "Hectors," and the "Scourers,"—dynasties of +tyrants, as Macaulay styles them, which domineered +over the streets of London, soon after the Restoration, +and at a later period were superseded by the "Nickers," +the "Hawcubites," and the still more dreaded "Mohawks," +of Queen Anne's reign. By whatever name +they happened at the time to be known, their practice +was the same, viz.:—assault and robbery of peaceful +citizens whose business or pleasure carried them +abroad after sundown.</p> + +<p>During Refham's mayoralty, a raid was made on +all common nightwalkers, "bruisers" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">pugnatores</hi>), +common "roreres," <hi rend="font-style: italic">wagabunds</hi> and others, and many +were committed to prison, to the great relief of the +more peaceably disposed.<note place="foot"><p>Among those who were called to account was a woman remarkable +for her name—"Sarra la Bredmongesterre." A selection of the cases +enquired into is printed in Riley's Memorials, pp. 86-89.</p></note></p> + +<p>His strictness and impartiality were such as to +raise up enemies, and an excuse was found for removing +him not only from the office of mayor, but<pb n="136" /><anchor id="Pg136" /> +once again from his aldermanry.<note place="foot"><p>"Sed quia idem Richerus fuerat austerus et celer ad justitiam +faciendam nulli parcendo, et quia fecit imprisonare Willelmum de +Hakford, mercer, ideo dictus W, et sui complices insurrexerunt in ipsum +et ideo depositus fuit ab officio majoris et postea aldermanniæ suæ."—Chron. +Edw. I and II, i, 175-176.</p></note> On this point, +however, the city archives are altogether silent, they +only record the appointment of his successor to the +mayoralty chair at the usual time and in the usual +manner.</p> + +<note place="margin">The fall of Gaveston.</note> + +<p>In January, 1312, the king returned to the north, +and as soon as he had arrived at York ignored the +ordinance touching Gaveston, and instead of sending +his favourite into exile, received him into favour and +restored his forfeited estates. Foreseeing the storm +that he would have to meet from the barons, the king +wrote from Knaresborough (9th Jan.) to Refham's +successor, John de Gisors, enjoining him to put the +city into a state of defence, and not allow armed men +to enter on any pretext whatever.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fo. 142.</p></note> On the 21st he +wrote again, not only to the mayor, but to nineteen +leading men of the city, exhorting them to hold the +city for him.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 142b-143b (Memorials pp. +93-98.)</p></note> Other letters followed in quick succession—on +the 24th and 31st January and the 8th +February—all couched in similar terms.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 142b, 143b, 145b.</p></note> When, +however, he saw how hopeless his case was, Edward +sent word to the mayor and sheriffs that the barons +might be admitted provided the city was still held for +the king. Accordingly the barons were admitted +without bloodshed, and held consultation at St. Paul's +as to what was best to be done.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 203.</p></note> Gaveston's days +were numbered. On the 12th June he was forced to<pb n="137" /><anchor id="Pg137" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FALL OF GAVESTON." /> +surrender unconditionally to the Earl of Warwick, +and that day week was beheaded without the semblance +of a trial.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. de Antiq., fo. 43b. Aungier's Fr. Chron. (Riley's Transl.), +p. 250.</p></note></p> + +<p>The influence he had exercised over the king had +been remarkable from their youth. The son of a +Gascon knight, he had been brought up with Edward +as his foster brother and playfellow, and in course of +time the strong will of the favourite gained a complete +mastery over the weaker will of the prince. But his +arrogant behaviour soon raised such a storm among +the nobles at Court that he was forced to leave +England. When Edward succeeded to the throne, one +of his first acts was to recall Gaveston, to whom he +gave his own niece in marriage, after having bestowed +upon him the Earldom of Cornwall. The king seemed +never tired of heaping wealth upon his friend. Among +other things, he bestowed upon his favourite (28th +Aug., 1309) the sum of 100 shillings payable out of +the rent of £50 due from the citizens of London for +Oueenhithe, to be held by him, his wife, and the heirs +of their bodies.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 45.</p></note></p> + +<p>Both of them had friends and enemies in +common. As Prince of Wales, Edward had made +an attempt to encroach upon some woods belonging +to Walter Langton, Bishop of Chester. This caused +a breach between father and son, and the prince +was banished from Court for a whole half-year. +Gaveston also bore the same bishop a grudge, for +it was owing in a great measure to Langton's influence +as treasurer to Edward I that he was in the first +instance forced into exile. When the prince succeeded<pb n="138" /><anchor id="Pg138" /> +his father, there came a day of retribution for the +bishop; his property was handed over to Gaveston, +and he himself carried prisoner from castle to castle +by the now all powerful favourite. A proclamation +was also issued at the instance of Gaveston, inviting +complaints against the bishop.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book C, fo. 92b (Memorials p. 63).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Parliament at London. August, 1312.</note> + +<p>Edward had purposed holding a parliament at +Lincoln towards the end of July, 1312, but the turn +that affairs had taken induced him to change his mind, +and he summoned it to meet at Westminster.<note place="foot"><p>The city chose as its representatives, Nicholas de Farendone, John +de Wengrave, and Robert de Kelleseye. Letter Book D. fos. 149b, +151, 151b.</p></note> It was +important that he should secure the city, if possible, +in his favour. In this he was successful; so that +when the barons appeared to threaten London, having +arrived with a large force at Ware, they found the +city's gates strongly guarded.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 151b, 152 (Memorials pp. 102-104.)</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The birth of a prince, 13 Nov., 1312.</note> + +<p>In November (1312), the queen gave birth to a +son, who afterwards ascended the throne as Edward III. +Isabel herself informed the citizens of the auspicious +event by letter sent by the hands of John de Falaise, +her "taillur."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 168 (Memorials, pp. 105-106).</p></note> The news had already reached the +city, however, before the queen's own messenger +arrived, and he signified his disappointment at being +forestalled by declining to accept a sum of £10 and a +silver cup of 32 ozs., which the city offered him by +way of gratuity, as being inadequate to his deserts. +As nothing further is recorded of the matter, it is +probable that the offended tailor had reason to repent +of his folly. For more than a week the city was +given up to merry-making, in honour of the birth of<pb n="139" /><anchor id="Pg139" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITIZENS RESIST A TALLIAGE." /> +an heir to the crown. The conduits ran with wine; +a solemn mass was sung at St. Paul's, and the mayor +and aldermen rode in state to Westminster, accompanied +by members of the fraternities of drapers, +mercers, and vintners of London, in their respective +liveries, to make offering, returning to dine at the +Guildhall, which was hung with tapestry as befitted +the occasion.</p> + +<note place="margin">The question of the king's rights to talliage the city, 1312-1314.</note> + +<p>After the death of Gaveston, his old enemy +Walter Langton again found favour and resumed his +office as treasurer. The city had little reason to be +gratified at his return to power; for it was by his +advice that the king in December of this year (1312), +issued orders for a talliage, which the great towns, +and especially London, objected to pay. Early in the +following January (1313), the mayor and aldermen +were summoned to attend the royal council, sitting at +the house of the White Friars. The question was +there put to them—would they make fine for the +talliage, or be assessed by poll on their rents and +chattels? Before making answer, the mayor and +aldermen desired to consult the commons of the city. +An adjournment accordingly took place for that +purpose. When next the mayor and aldermen +appeared before the council, they resisted the talliage +on the following grounds:<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fos. 164, 164b.</p></note>—In the first place, because, +although the king might talliage cities and boroughs +that were of his demesne, he could not, as they +understood, talliage the City of London, which +enjoyed exemption from such an imposition by +charter. In the next place, there were prelates and +barons, besides citizens, who enjoyed rents and<pb n="140" /><anchor id="Pg140" /> +tenements in the city, and their consent would first +have to be obtained before the municipal authorities +could levy such a tax. Thirdly, the citizens held the +city by grant of former kings, at a fee ferm for all +services payable into the exchequer, and on that +account ought not to be talliaged. Under these circumstances +the council was asked to delay the talliage +until Parliament should meet.</p> + +<p>This request the king and council expressed +themselves as ready to comply with on condition that +the city made an immediate advance of 2,000 marks. +The city refused, and the king's assessors appeared at +the Guildhall, and read their commission. They were +on the point of commencing work, when the city +obtained a respite until the meeting of Parliament +by a loan of £1,000. More than eighteen months +elapsed, and at last a Parliament was summoned to +meet at York (Sept. 1314); but the country was +in such a disturbed state, owing to the renewal of +the war with Scotland, that the talliage question was +not discussed. Nevertheless the king's officers +appeared again in the city to make an assessment, +and again they were bought off by another loan of +£400. The king took the money and broke his word, +and the record of pledges taken from citizens for +"arrears of divers talliages and not redeemed," is +significant of the hardship inflicted by this illegal +exaction on a large number of inhabitants of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book E, fo. 18. (Memorials, pp. 108-110).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The renewal of the war with Scotland, 1314.</note> + +<p>Out of this sum of £400, nearly one-half (£178 +3<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>), was allowed the city for the purpose of +furnishing the king with a contingent of 120<pb n="141" /><anchor id="Pg141" /><index index="toc" level1="DISSENSION IN THE CITY." /> +arbalesters, fully equipped for the defence of Berwick. +Edward had been defeated by the Scots at Bannockburn +(24 June, 1314), and Berwick was threatened. +On the 21st November, Edward wrote from Northampton, +asking for 300 arbalesters if the city could +provide so many; but the city could do no more +than furnish him with 120.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book D, fo. 165.</p></note> The fall of Berwick was +only postponed. In 1318 the great border fortress +against Scotland was captured by Bruce. Edward was +forced soon afterwards to come to terms with the +Earl of Lancaster and the barons with whom he +had so long been in avowed antagonism, and a general +pacification ensued, which received the sanction of +Parliament sitting at York in November.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, ii, 55, 56.</p></note> On the +4th December, the king sent home the foot soldiers +which the city had furnished, with a letter of thanks +for the aid they had afforded him. They were +immediately paid off and disbanded.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book E, fo. 84. (Memorials, pp. 128-129).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Dissension in the city, 1318-1319.</note> + +<p>It was not long before the king and Lancaster +were preparing to join forces for the recovery of +Berwick. In the meantime, the Barons of the +Exchequer appeared at the Guildhall (25th February, +1319), and summoned the mayor, sheriffs and aldermen +to answer for certain trespasses. Several holders +of office, and among them Edmund le Lorimer, Gaoler +of Newgate, for whom Hugh le Despenser had solicited +the Small Beam, were deposed: a proceeding +which gave rise to much bickering between mayor, +aldermen and commons. Disputes, moreover, had +arisen in the city touching the election and removal +of the mayor, sheriffs and aldermen of the city, which<pb n="142" /><anchor id="Pg142" /> +required some pressure from the Earl Marshal and +other of the king's ministers, sitting in the Chapter-house +of St. Paul's, before peace could be restored.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 285.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Articles for the better government of the city confirmed +by the king, 8th June, 1319.</note> + +<p>According to the writer of the French Chronicle, +to which reference has frequently been made,<note place="foot"><p>Aungier's French Chron. (Riley's translation), p. 252.</p></note> the +dissension in the city was mainly attributable to John +de Wengrave, the mayor. The citizens had lately been +busy drawing up certain "points" for a new charter. +Wengrave, who was at the time, or until quite recently, +the city's Recorder, had contrived, in 1318, to force +himself into the mayoralty having served as mayor +the two years preceding—"against the will of the +commons." He had shown no little opposition to +the "points" of the proposed charter, possibly because +one of the points precluded the mayor, for the time +being, from drawing or hearing pleas, saving only +"those pleas which, as mayor, he ought to hear, +according to the custom of the city."<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust. (Rolls Series) i, 269.</p></note> If this +received the king's approval, Wengrave's occupation +as Recorder, at least so long as he was mayor, was +gone. However this may be, the mayor's opposition +was rendered futile, and the articles were confirmed +by the king's letters patent.<note place="foot"><p>Dated York, 8th June, 1319. These letters patent are preserved +at the Guildhall (Box No. 4). Ten days later [18th June] Edward +granted an ample inspeximus charter to the city, the original of which +does not appear among the archives. <hi rend="font-style: italic">See</hi> Lib. Cust. i, pp. 255-273.</p></note> Their main feature has +already been alluded to; thenceforth the direct way +to the civic franchise was to be through membership +of one of the civic guilds. A foreigner or stranger, +not a member of a guild, could only obtain it by +appealing to the full body of citizens before admission<pb n="143" /><anchor id="Pg143" /><index index="toc" level1="PROCEEDINGS AT THE ITER OF 1321." /> +through the Court of Husting. Conscious of their +newly acquired importance, the guilds began to array +themselves in liveries, and "a good time was about +to begin."<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's translation), p. 253.</p></note> Edward did not give his assent to these +articles without receiving a <hi rend="font-style: italic">quid pro quo</hi>. The citizens +were mulcted in a sum of £1,000 before the king's +seal was set to the letters patent.<note place="foot"><p>In this year [1318-19] the new charter was confirmed by the +king, and cost £1,000. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 252.</p></note> They did not +mind this so much as they did the annoyance caused +by the king's justiciars eighteen months later.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Iter at the Tower of 1321.</note> + +<p>Early in 1321 commenced a memorable Iter at +the Tower which lasted twenty-four weeks and three +days. No such Iter had been held before, although +the last Iter held in 1275 had been a remarkable one +for the courageous conduct of Gregory de Rokesle, +the mayor. This was to surpass every other session +of Pleas of the Crown in its powers of inquisition, and +was destined to draw off many a would-be loyal +citizen from the king's side. Its professed object was +to examine into unlawful "colligations, confederations, +and conventions by oaths," which were known (or +supposed) to have been formed in the city.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, Introd., vol. ii, p. lxxxiv.</p></note> The +following particulars of its proceedings are gathered +from an account preserved in the city's records and +supervised, if not compiled, by Andrew Horn, the +city's Chamberlain, an able lawyer who was employed +as Counsel for the city during at least a portion of the +Iter.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust. (Rolls Series) i, 285-432.</p></note> The annoyance caused by this Iter, the general +stoppage of trade and commerce, the hindrance of +municipal business, is realised when we consider that<pb n="144" /><anchor id="Pg144" /> +for six months not only the mayor, sheriffs and +aldermen for the time being, but everyone who had +filled any office in the city since the holding of +the last Iter—a period of nearly half a century—as +well as twelve representatives from each ward, +were called upon to be in constant attendance. All +charters were to be produced, and persons who had +grievances of any kind were invited to appear. Great +commotion prevailed among the citizens upon receiving +the king's writ, and they at once addressed themselves +to examining the procedure followed at former Iters. +It is probable, as Mr. Riley suggests, that for this +purpose they had resort to the "Ordinances of the +Iter" already mentioned as set out in the city's Liber +Albus.<note place="foot"><p>Rolls Series i, 51-60. Copies of the Ordinances are also to be +found in the Liber Horn (fos. 209, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi>) and Liber Ordinationum (fos. +154b <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi>) of the city's archives.</p></note> When the dreaded day arrived and the +justiciars had taken their seat at the Tower, the mayor +and aldermen, who, according to custom, as already +seen in Rokesley's day, were assembled at the church +of All Hallows Barking, sent a deputation to welcome +them, and to make a formal request for a safe conduct +to the citizens on entering the Tower. This favour +being granted, the king's commission was read.</p> + +<note place="margin">Complaint of negligence of duty by the sheriffs.</note> + +<p>The opening of the Iter did not augur well for the +city. Fault was found, at the outset, by Geoffrey le +Scrop, the king's sergeant-pleader, because the sheriffs +had not attended so promptly as they should have done. +The excuse that they had only acted according to custom +in waiting for the grant of a safe conduct was held +unsatisfactory, and nothing would please him but that +the city should be at once taken into the king's hand.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust. i, 289, 308.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="145" /><anchor id="Pg145" /><index index="toc" level1="CLAIMS PUT FORWARD BY THE CITY." /> + +<note place="margin">The city claims to record its custom by mouth of the Recorder.</note> + +<p>Again, when the citizens claimed to record their +liberties and customs by word of mouth without being +compelled to reduce them into writing, as the justices +had ordered, the only reply they got was that they +did so at their own peril.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust., i, 296.</p></note> Three days were consumed +in preliminary discussion of points of etiquette +and questions of minor importance.</p> + +<note place="margin">the 4th day of the Iter.</note> + +<p>On the fourth day the mayor and citizens put in +their claim of liberties, which they supported by +various charters.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 308-322.</p></note> The justiciars desired answers on +three points, which were duly made,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 322-324.</p></note> and matters +seemed to be getting forward when there arrived orders +from the king that the justiciars should enquire as to +the ancient right of the aldermen to record their +liberties orally in the king's courts. Having heard +what the citizens had to say on this point, the +justiciars were instructed to withhold their judgment; +and this and other questions touching the +liberties of the city were to be postponed for future +determination.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 324-325.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The 9th day of the Iter.</note> + +<p>On the ninth day of the Iter, a long schedule, +containing over 100 articles upon which the Crown +desired information, was delivered to each ward of +the city.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 347-362.</p></note> Days and weeks were consumed in considering +various presentments, besides private suits +and pleas of the Crown. Suits were determined in +the Great Hall of the Tower facing the Thames, +whilst pleas of the Crown were heard in the Lesser +Hall, beneath the eastern tower. The justiciars +occasionally protracted their sittings till dusk, much +to the disgust of the citizens, whose business was<pb n="146" /><anchor id="Pg146" /> +necessarily at a stand-still, and as yet no indictments +had been made.<note place="foot"><p>"Et fuit illo die post horam vesperarum antequam Justiciarii et +duodenæ perfiniebant; sed neminem eodem die indictaverunt."—Lib. +Cust., i, 366.</p></note> These were to come.</p> + +<note place="margin">Indictment against a late mayor.</note> + +<p>On the thirty-fourth day of the Iter, John de +Gisors was indicted for having during his mayoralty +(1311-1313), admitted a felon to the freedom of the +city, and fraudulently altered the date of his admission. +The question of criminality turned upon this date. Had +the felony been committed before or after admission? +The accused declared in his defence that admission to +the freedom had taken place before the felony; a jury, +however, came to the opposite conclusion, and not +only found that admission had taken place after an +indictment for the felony, but that the mayor at the +time was aware of the indictment. The judges +therefore ordered Gisors into custody. He was soon +afterwards released on bail, but not without paying +a fine of 100 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust., i, 371-374.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city taken into the king's hand.</note> + +<p>A similar indictment against his son Anketin, as +having participated in his father's offence, failed. +Within a week of Gisors's indictment, the mayor for +the time being, Nicholas de Farndon, was deposed, +and the city placed in the hands of Sir Robert de +Kendale, the king's commissioner.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 378. Chron. Edward I and +II, i, 291. Aungier, Fr. Chron., p. 253.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Adjournment of the Iter over Easter.</note> + +<p>For nine weeks in succession the citizens had +suffered from the inconveniences of the Iter, when a +brief adjournment over Easter took place. In the +meantime, an assay was held at the Guildhall of the +new weights and measures which Walter Stapleton, +Bishop of Exeter, had, in his capacity as the king's<pb n="147" /><anchor id="Pg147" /><index index="toc" level1="CONTINUATION OF THE ITER." /> +treasurer, caused to be issued throughout the country. +One result of the trial was that whilst the city's +weight of eight marks was discovered to be slightly +deficient, the city's bushel was found to be more true +than the king's.</p> + +<note place="margin">Sudden change in the attitude of the judges after Easter.</note> + +<p>After Easter the sittings of the justiciars were +resumed. A great change, however, had come over +them during the recess. They no longer behaved +"like lions eager for their prey; on the contrary, they +had become very lambs."<note place="foot"><p>"Qui cum quasi leones parati ad prædam ante Pascham extitissent, +nunc, versa vice, quasi agni vicissim facti sunt."—Lib. Cust., i, +383-384.</p></note> The reason for this sudden +change, we are told, was the insurrection in Wales, +under the Earl of Hereford, the king's brother-in-law.</p> + +<note place="margin">Andrew Horn appears as counsel for the City.</note> + +<p>The chief questions discussed before the justices +were the right of the weavers of London to hold their +guild, and the right of the fishmongers of Fish-wharf +to sell their fish at their wharf by retail instead +of on their vessels or at the city markets. The claim +of the fishmongers was opposed by Andrew Horn, +himself a fishmonger by trade, as well as an eminent +lawyer, who acted on this occasion as leading counsel +for the City.</p> + +<note place="margin">The indictment brought against the Constable of the Tower.</note> + +<p>When Whitsuntide was approaching, an indictment +was brought by the city wards against their old +enemy John de Crombwelle, the Constable of the +Tower. He had already made himself obnoxious to +the citizens by attempting to enclose a portion of the +city's lands;<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 216, 272.</p></note> and now he was accused of seizing a +small vessel laden with tiles, and converting the same +to his own use, and further, with taking bribes for<pb n="148" /><anchor id="Pg148" /> +allowing unauthorised "kidels" to remain in the +Thames. The judges, having heard what he had to +say in defence, postponed the further hearing until +after Trinity Sunday (14th June). In the meantime, +the citizens had the gratification of seeing the +constable removed from office, for allowing the +Tower to fall into such a dilapidated state, that the +rain came in upon the queen's bed, while giving birth +to a daughter, afterwards known as Joanna of the +Tower,<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust., i, 408, 409.</p></note> and destined to become the wife of David +the Second, King of Scotland.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Iter brought to a sudden termination. 4 July, 1321.</note> + +<p>On the judges resuming their sittings after +Trinity Sunday, they sat no longer in the Great Hall +or the Lesser Hall, "as well by reason of the queen +being in childbed there, as already mentioned, as of +the fortifying of the Tower, through fear of the +Earl of Hereford and his accomplices, who were in +insurrection on every side." Temporary buildings +had to be found for them. A fortnight later there +were signs of the Iter being brought to an abrupt +termination, the citizens having represented that they +could not possibly keep proper watch and ward owing +to disturbances consequent to the holding of the +Iter;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 425.</p></note> and within a week, viz., on 4th July, it was +actually closed.</p> + +<note place="margin">The mayoralty restored to the city.</note> + +<p>It was the bursting of the storm which had long +been gathering against the king's new favourites, the +Despensers, father and son, that caused the sudden +termination of the Iter, and it was the fear lest he +should lose the support of the city against Lancaster +and his allies that caused the king quickly to restore<pb n="149" /><anchor id="Pg149" /><index index="toc" level1="HAMO DE CHIGWELL, MAYOR." /> +to the citizens their Mayor. Hamo de Chigwell took +the place of the deposed Farndon.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 291. The precise date of his election +is not known. Bishop Stubbs, in his introduction to the Chronicle +cited (i, p. lxxxii), states it to have taken place in January. This can +hardly have been the case, inasmuch as the city had not been taken +into the king's hands before the middle of February—forty-one days +after the commencement of the Iter. See Lib. Cust. i, p. 378.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City promises to support the king, July, 1321.</note> + +<p>Within a few hours of the closing of the Iter +Chigwell and the aldermen were summoned to +Westminster to say whether they would be willing +to support the king and to preserve the city of London +to his use in his contest with the barons. Edward +and his council received for answer that the mayor +and his brethren "were unwilling to refuse the safe +keeping of the city," but would keep it for the king +and his heirs. They were thereupon enjoined to prepare +a scheme for its defence for submission to the +king's council, and this was accordingly done.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book E, fos. 119b-120 (Memorials, pp. 142-144).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from the Earl of Hereford and the City's reply.</note> + +<p>The city was, however, wavering in its support; +Chigwell did his best to hold the balance between +king and baron, and to hold a middle course, avoiding +offence as far as was possible to one side and the +other. After the lapse of a few days, a letter came +from the Earl of Hereford, addressed to the mayor, +sheriffs, aldermen and commonalty of the city, asking +for an interview. It was then decided, after due deliberation +in the Court of Husting, to ask Edward's advice +on the matter before returning an answer. At first +the king was disinclined to allow the interview, +but when the lords approached nearer London, and +resistance would have been hopeless, he gave way, +and a deputation was appointed to meet the lords at +the Earl of Lancaster's house in Holborn. To them<pb n="150" /><anchor id="Pg150" /> +the earl explained the aim and object of himself and +his confederates. They were desirous of nothing so +much as the good of the realm and the overthrow of +the Despensers, father and son, who led the king astray +and had caused the Iter to be held at the Tower in +order to injure the city. Having listened to the earl's +statement, the recorder, on behalf of the deputation, +asked for a few days' delay in order to consult with +the mayor and commonalty. The matter was laid +before an assembly which comprised representatives +from each ward (30th July), and again it was resolved +to ask the king's advice. At length a reply was sent +to the lords to the effect that the citizens would +neither aid the Despensers nor oppose the lords, but +the city would in the meantime be strongly guarded +for the preservation of order. With this the lords +were satisfied.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 293, 296.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Terms arranged between the king and the lords, 14 August.</note> + +<p>A fortnight later (14th August) the king, moved +by the intercession of the Earl of Pembroke, the +bishops, and his queen, yielded to the lords, and an +agreement between them was reduced to writing and +publicly read in Westminster Hall.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 297.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Chigwell continued in the mayoralty.</note> + +<p>Chigwell's conduct throughout met with so much +favour from the citizens as well as from the king that +when the latter issued letters patent<note place="foot"><p>Dated, Boxle, 25 October. Patent Roll 15, Edward II, Part 1, +m. ii.</p></note> granting a free +election of a mayor in October of this year, it was +decided to continue Chigwell in office without a fresh +election.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, p. 298. Re-elected "by the commons +at the king's wish."—Aungier Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), p. 254.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="151" /><anchor id="Pg151" /><index index="toc" level1="MILITARY SERVICE OF LONDONERS." /> + +<note place="margin">The queen insulted by Lady Badlesmere.</note> + +<p>Such popularity as the king had for a time +achieved by his concession to the demands of the +lords, however unwillingly made, was enhanced by +another circumstance. An insult had been offered to +the queen by Lady Badlesmere, who had refused to +admit her into her castle at Ledes, co. Kent, when on +her way to Canterbury. The queen was naturally +indignant, and the unexpected energy displayed by +Edward in avenging the insult gave fresh strength to +his cause. With the assistance of a contingent sent +by the citizens of London, the king beseiged the +castle, and, having taken it, hanged the governor.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, pp. 298-299.</p></note> +Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere, the owner of the +castle, was afterwards taken and put to death at +Canterbury.</p> + +<note place="margin">Attempt to issue a "charter of service."</note> + +<p>Elated with his success, the king forthwith proceeded +to issue "a charter of service"—<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, a charter +binding the citizens to serve him in future wars—which +he wished the good people of London to have +sealed, "but the people of the city would not accede +to it for all that the king could do."<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron., pp. 254, 255.</p></note> In the place +of this charter, however, he was induced to grant +the citizens one of a diametrically opposite nature, +whereby it was provided that the aids granted by the +citizens upon this occasion should not be prejudicial +to the mayor and citizens, nor be looked upon as +establishing a precedent.<note place="foot"><p>The charter, dated Aldermaston, 12th December, 15 Edward II +[<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1321], with seal (imperfect) attached, is preserved at the Guildhall +(Box No. 4.)</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Londoners at Boroughbridge, 16 March, 1322.</note> + +<p>Having thus secured an acknowledgment of their +rights, the citizens were ready enough to waive them<pb n="152" /><anchor id="Pg152" /> +when occasion required. The battle of Boroughbridge +(16 March, 1322) was won for the king by the aid +of Londoners. We know, at least, that when he +started from London at the close of 1321 he was +accompanied by five hundred men at arms from the +city, and one hundred and twenty more were sent +after him on the 3rd March.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 301.—Aungier. Fr. Chron. (Riley's +transl.). p. 255.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The character of the citizen soldier in the field.</note> + +<p>The Londoners were by no means to be despised +in the field. Froissart describes them as being very +dangerous when once their blood was up, and slaughter +on the battle field only gave them fresh courage.<note place="foot"><p>"Car c'est le plus perilleux peuple [sc. the English] qui soit au +monde et plus outrageux et orgueilleux et de tous ceux d' Angleterre les +Londriens sont chefs ... ils sont fors durs et hardis et haux en +courage; tant plus voyent de sang respandu et plus sont cruels et moins +ebahis."—Froissart's Hist. (ed. Lyon, 1559), pp. 333-334.</p></note> +A late writer<note place="foot"><p>Macaulay, Hist., cap. iii.</p></note> who was pleased to describe the +city's military force as "an army of drapers' apprentices +and journeymen tailors, with common councilmen +for captains and aldermen for colonels," gave +it credit, nevertheless, for natural courage, which, combined +with befitting equipment and martial discipline, +rendered the force a valuable ally and a formidable +enemy.</p> + +<note place="margin">Defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, March, 1322.</note> + +<p>The Earl of Lancaster, who was made prisoner +at Boroughbridge, and afterwards executed before his +own castle at Pomfret, had come to be a great +favourite with the Londoners, in whose eyes he +appeared as the champion of the oppressed against +the strong. His memory was long cherished in the +city, and miracles were believed to have taken place—the +crooked made straight, the blind receiving sight<pb n="153" /><anchor id="Pg153" /><index index="toc" level1="ESCAPE OF MORTIMER FROM THE TOWER." /> +and the deaf hearing—before the tablet he had set up +in St. Paul's commemorative of the king's submission +to the Ordinances. Edward ordered the removal of +the tablet, but it was again set up as soon as all +power had passed from his hands.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier. Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), pp. 257, 264.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward again despotic, 1322-1323.</note> + +<p>Edward, again a free ruler, lost no time in revoking +these Ordinances. The elder Despenser he +raised to the earldom of Winchester.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 303.</p></note> This was in +May, 1322; a year later (April, 1323), he deposed +Chigwell, who had again been re-elected to the +mayoralty in the previous October, and put in his +place Nicholas de Farndon,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i. 305. Aungier. Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), p. 257.</p></note> thus reversing the order +of things in 1321, when Farndon had been deposed +and his place taken by Chigwell.</p> + +<p>The deposed mayor, however, was ordered to +keep close attendance on the Court, as were also +three other London citizens, viz.: Hamo Godchep, +Edmund Lambyn, and Roger le Palmere; and in the +following November he recovered his position,<note place="foot"><p>By the king's writ, dated Ravensdale, 29 Nov., Letter Book E. +fo. 148. According to the French Chronicle (Aungier, p. 258) Chigwell +recovered the mayoralty on the feast of St. Nicholas [6 Dec.]. +On the 7th Dec. he was admitted and sworn into office.</p></note> and +held it for the rest of Edward's reign.</p> + +<note place="margin">Escape of Roger Mortimer from the Tower. Aug. 1323.</note> + +<p>The king's triumph was destined to be short-lived. +In August, 1323, Roger Mortimer, a favourite +of the queen, effected his escape from the Tower, +where he had lain prisoner since January, 1322. The +divided feeling of the citizens which had been more +or less apparent since the year of the great Iter, now +began to assert itself. Mortimer's escape had taken<pb n="154" /><anchor id="Pg154" /> +place with the connivance, if not active assistance, of +a leading citizen, Richard de Betoyne, and he took +sanctuary on the property of another leading citizen, +John Gisors.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 301, 305, 318 n.</p></note> In November the citizens thought fit +to close their gates, to prevent surprise.<note place="foot"><p>"Propter insidiantes domini regis et aliorum malorum hominum."—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, +i, 306.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A feud between the Weavers and the Goldsmiths, 1324.</note> + +<p>In the following year (1324), a quarrel broke out +between two of the city guilds, the weavers and the +goldsmiths. Fights took place in the streets and +lives were lost.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 307.</p></note> How far, if at all, such a quarrel +had any political significance it is difficult to say, but +it is not unlikely, at a time when the guilds were +winning their way to chartered rights, that occasionally +their members took sides in the political +struggle that was then being carried on.</p> + +<note place="margin">Departure of the queen for France, 9 March, 1324.</note> + +<p>Edward, in the meanwhile, was threatened with +war by France, unless he consented to cross the sea +and do homage to the French king for the possessions +he held in that country. This the Despensers +dared not allow him to do. A compromise was therefore +effected. Queen Isabel, who was not sorry for +an opportunity of quitting the side of a husband who +had seized all her property, removed her household, +and put her on board wages at twenty shillings +a day,<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron., p. 259.</p></note> undertook, with the king's assent, to revisit +her home and to bring about a settlement. +Accordingly, on the 9th March,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 308. Easter is given as the date of +her departure by the Fr. Chron. (p. 259), Easter Day falling on the +15th April in that year.</p></note> 1324, she crossed +over to France, where she was afterwards joined by +Mortimer and her son.</p> + +<pb n="155" /><anchor id="Pg155" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY LOST TO EDWARD II." /> + +<note place="margin">Her return to England, 24 September, 1326.</note> + +<p>Once on the continent, the queen threw off the +mask, and immediately began to concert measures +against the king and the Despensers. By negotiating +a marriage for her son with the daughter of the +Count of Hainault, she contrived to raise supporters +in England, whilst by her affected humility and +sorrow, displayed by wearing simple apparel as one +that mourned for her husband, she won the sympathy +of all who beheld her.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), p. 260.</p></note> The king, on the +other hand, publicly forbade any one holding correspondence +with her, caused provisions to be laid up in +the Tower in case of emergency, and prepared a +fleet to prevent her landing.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City lost to Edward.</note> + +<p>It was all in vain. The majority of the citizens +had made up their mind to give him no more +support. On the 24th September, 1326, Isabel, in +spite of all precautions, effected a landing near +Harwich; and Edward, as soon as he was made +aware of her arrival in England, took fright and left +London for the west. The queen, who was accompanied +by her son and her "gentle Mortimer," gave +out that she came as an avenger of Earl Thomas, +whose memory was yet green in the minds of the +citizens, and as the enemy of the Despensers.<note place="foot"><p>See her proclamation issued at Wallingford, 15th Oct. Rymer's +Fœdera, vol. ii, part 1, pp. 645, 646.</p></note> Adherents +quickly came in from all sides, and with +these she leisurely (<hi rend="font-style: italic">quasi peregrinando</hi>) followed up +the king.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 314, 315.</p></note></p> + +<p>In the meantime a letter had been despatched to +the city in her name and that of her son, desiring its<pb n="156" /><anchor id="Pg156" /> +assistance in destroying "the enemies of the land." +To this letter, we are told, no answer was sent +"through fear of the king." Another letter was therefore +sent to the same effect, in which Hugh Despenser +was especially named as one to be destroyed, and an +immediate answer was requested.<note place="foot"><p>Dated Baldock, 6 Oct., 1326. City's Records, Pleas and +Memoranda, Roll A I, membr. x (12).</p></note> This letter was +affixed to the cross in Cheapside and copies circulated +through the city.</p> + +<p>On the 15th October, the city broke out into +open rebellion. The mayor and other leading men +had gone to the house of the Blackfriars to meet the +Bishops of London and Exeter. The mob, now fairly +roused by the queen's second letter, hurried thither +and forced them to return to the Guildhall, the timid +Chigwell "crying mercy with clasped hands," and +promising to grant all they required. A proclamation +was made shortly afterwards to the effect that "the +enemies to the king and the queen and their son" +should depart the city.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier. Fr. Chron. (Riley's translation), pp. 262, 263.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The murder of Bishop Stapleton, 15 October, 1326.</note> + +<p>One unfortunate man, John le Marchall, suspected +of being employed by Hugh Despenser as a spy, +was seized and incontinently beheaded in Cheapside. +The mob, having tasted blood, hastened to sack the +house of Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, who as +Edward's treasurer, had confiscated the queen's property. +It so happened, that the bishop himself, +attended by two esquires, was riding towards the city +intending to have his midday meal at his house in Old +Dean's Lane (now Warwick Lane), before proceeding +to the Tower. Hearing cries of "Traitor!" he<pb n="157" /><anchor id="Pg157" /><index index="toc" level1="MURDER OF BISHOP STAPLETON." /> +guessed that something was wrong, and made for +sanctuary in St. Paul's. He was caught, however, +just as he was about to enter the north door, dragged +from his horse, carried to Chepe, and there put to +death in the same way as John le Marchall had been +executed a short hour before.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 315, 316. Aungier, Fr. Chron., p. 263.</p></note></p> + +<p>The bishop's two attendant esquires also perished +at the hands of the mob. Their bodies were allowed +to lie stark naked all that day in the middle of Chepe. +The head of the bishop was sent to the queen at +Gloucester,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, ii, 310. Murimuth, Chron. (Eng. Hist. +Soc.), p. 48.</p></note> but his corpse was reverently carried into +St. Paul's after vespers by the canons and vicars of the +cathedral. It was not allowed, however, to remain +there long; for hearing that the bishop had died under +sentence of excommunication, the authorities caused +it to be removed to the church of St. Clement Danes, +near which stood the bishop's new manor house of +which we are reminded at the present day by Exeter +Hall. The parish church was in the gift of the +Bishop of Exeter for the time being, and John Mugg, +then rector, owed his preferment to Stapleton. He +was, therefore, guilty of gross ingratitude when he +refused to take in the corpse of his patron, or to allow +it the rites of burial. Certain poor women had more +compassion; they at least cast a piece of old cloth +over the corpse for decency's sake and buried it out of +sight, although without any attempt to make a grave +and "without any office of priest or clerk." Thus, +it remained till the following month of February, +when it was disinterred and taken to Exeter. The<pb n="158" /><anchor id="Pg158" /> +treatment of Bishop Stapleton caused other prelates to +look to themselves, and many of them, including the +primate himself, began to make overtures of submission +to Queen Isabel.</p> + +<p>After the Bishop's murder there was no pretence +of government in the city. The mob did exactly as +they liked. They sacked the houses of Baldock, the +Chancellor, and carried off the treasure he had laid +up in St. Paul's. The property of the Earl of Arundel, +recently executed at Hereford, which lay in the +Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, shared the same +fate. The banking house of the Bardi, containing the +wealth accumulated by the younger Despenser, was +sacked under cover of night. The Tower was entered, +the prisoners set free, and new officers appointed.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 321, ii, 310. Aungier, Fr. Chron. +(Riley's translation), p. 264. Murimuth (Eng. Hist. Soc.), pp. 48, 49.</p></note> +All this was done in the face of a proclamation, calling +upon the citizens to sink their differences and to +settle their disputes by lawful means.<note place="foot"><p>The proclamation is headed, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Proclamacio prima post decessum +episcopi Exoniensis et ipsius decollacionem.</hi>—City's Records, Pleas and +Memoranda, Roll A 1, membr. 2 dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The queen confirms to the citizens their right to elect their mayor, Nov., 1326.</note> + +<note place="margin">Betoyne elected mayor.</note> + +<p>When the Feast of St. Simon and Jude again +came round, and Chigwell's term of office expired by +efflux of time, no election of a successor took place, +but on the 15th November, the Bishop of Winchester +paid a visit to the Guildhall, where, after receiving +the freedom of the city, and swearing "to live and +die with them in the cause, and to maintain the +franchise," he presented a letter from the queen, +permitting the citizens freely to elect their mayor as +in the days before the Iter of 1321, for since that time +no mayor had been elected, save only by the king's<pb n="159" /><anchor id="Pg159" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF THE KING." /> +favour.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron., p. 265.</p></note> They at once elected Richard de Betoyne, +whom the queen had that day appointed Warden of +the Tower, conjointly with John de Gisors.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 318.</p></note> Thus +were these two aldermen recompensed for the +assistance they had rendered Mortimer in his escape +from the Tower.</p> + +<note place="margin">Public declaration in favour of the queen and the City's rights. 13 Jan., 1327.</note> + +<p>On the 13th January, 1327—exactly one week +before the king met his wretched end in Berkeley +Castle—Mortimer came to the Guildhall with a large +company including the Archbishop of Canterbury and +several bishops, and one and all made oath to +maintain the cause of the queen and of her son, and +to preserve the liberties of the City of London. This +was solemnly done in the presence of the mayor, the +chamberlain, Andrew Horn, and a vast concourse of +citizens. The Archbishop, who had offended many +of the citizens by annulling the decree of exile passed +against the Despensers in 1321, now sought their +favour by the public offer of a gift to the commonalty +of 50 tuns of wine.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 323. Pleas and Memoranda, Roll +A 1, memb. 2.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="160" /><anchor id="Pg160" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VII.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">Edward's charter to the city, 6 March, 1327.</note> + +<p>Edward III was only fourteen years of age when +he succeeded to the throne. For the first three years +of his reign the government of the country was practically +in the hands of Mortimer, his mother's paramour; +and it was no doubt by his advice and that of the +queen-mother that the young king rewarded the +citizens of London, who had shown him so much +favour, by granting them not only a general pardon<note place="foot"><p>Dated 28 February, 1326-7. Chron. Edward I and II, i, +325-326.</p></note> +for offences committed since he set foot in England +in September, 1326, but also a charter confirming and +enlarging their ancient liberties.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 6 March, 1326-7. Preserved at the Guildhall (Box No. 5).</p></note></p> + +<p>This latter charter, which has been held to be of +the force of an Act of Parliament,<note place="foot"><p>In <hi rend="font-style: italic">re</hi> Islington Market Bill, 3 Clk, 513. See also Stat. 5 and 6, +William IV, cap. cxi, ss. 46 <hi rend="font-style: italic">et seq.</hi></p></note> established (among +other things) the ferm of the Sheriffwick of London +and Middlesex at the original sum of £300 per annum, +instead of the increased rental of £400 which had +been paid since 1270;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Vide sup.</hi>, p. 104.</p></note> it appointed the mayor one of +the justices at the gaol delivery of Newgate, as well as +the king's escheator of felon's goods within the city; +it gave the citizens the right of devising real estate +within the city; it restored to them all the privileges +they had enjoyed before the memorable Iter of the<pb n="161" /><anchor id="Pg161" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY MARKET MONOPOLY." /> +last reign; and granted to them a monopoly of markets +within a circuit of seven miles of the city.<note place="foot"><p>According to the common law of the land, no market could be +erected so as to be a "nuisance" to another market within a less distance +than six miles and a half and a third of another half.—Bracton +"De Legibus Angliæ" (Rolls Series No. 70), iii, 584.</p></note> These +two charters—the charter of pardon and the charter +of liberties—together with another charter<note place="foot"><p>Dated 4 March, 1326-7.</p></note> releasing +the citizens from all debts due to the late king, were +publicly read and explained in English to the citizens +assembled at the Guildhall by Andrew Horn, the +Chamberlain, on the 9th March.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 325.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City sends a contingent to assist the king against the Scots.</note> + +<p>Scarcely was he knighted and crowned king +before necessity compelled him to take the field +against the Scots. The Londoners were, as usual, +called upon to supply a contingent towards the forces +which had been ordered to assemble at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.<note place="foot"><p>The king's letters asking for assistance were dated from Nottingham, +29 April and 2 May.—City's Records, Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, +membr. iv dors, and ix.</p></note> +They responded to the king's appeal +by sending 100 horsemen fully equipped, each one +supplied with the sum of 100 shillings at least for +expenses, and a further contingent of 100 foot-men. +They made their rendezvous at West Smithfield, +whence they proceeded to "la Barnette."<note place="foot"><p>The names of the troopers are set out in full, under the several +wards, in Pleas and Memoranda, Roll A I, memb. ix. The compiler +of the "Annales Paulini" (Chron. Edward I and II, i. 333), gives the +number of the City contingent as 100 men, adding feelingly "sed proh +pudor! nil boni ibi facientes sine honore revertuntur."</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">This act not to be made a precedent.</note> + +<p>Whilst furnishing this aid to the king the citizens +were anxious that their liberality should not be +misconstrued, or tend to establish a precedent in +derogation of their chartered privileges. Their fears<pb n="162" /><anchor id="Pg162" /> +on this score were set at rest by the receipt of letters +patent from the king declaring that their proceedings +on this occasion should not be to their prejudice.<note place="foot"><p>Dated Topclyf, 10 July.—Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. +ii (4).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City's representatives at the Parliament at Lincoln, Sept., 1327.</note> + +<p>A parliament held in September, at Lincoln, in +which the citizens were represented by Benedict de +Fulsham and Robert de Kelseye,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. iii.</p></note> granted the king an +aid of a twentieth to defray expenses; and Hamo de +Chigwell, among others, was appointed by the king +to collect the tax from the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>Writ dated Lincoln, 23 September.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. v +(7) dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Petition against removing the courts and the exchequer to York.</note> + +<p>The City's representatives were accompanied to +Lincoln by the mayor, Richard de Betoyne, who was +the bearer of letters under the seal of the commonalty +addressed to the king, the queen, and members of the +king's council praying that the courts of King's Bench +and Exchequer might not be removed from Westminster +to York.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1. memb. iii.—In July, 1323, the Exchequer had been +transferred from York to Westminster, "and great treasure therewith."—Aungier's +Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), p. 258.</p></note> The removal was inconvenient to +the city merchants, whatever advantage might accrue +to those dwelling in the north of England. Negotiations +between the City and the king on this subject +were protracted for some weeks; the king at length +promising that the courts should return to Westminster +as soon as the country was in a more settled +state.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1. membr. iii, and v (7).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Peace with Scotland, 1328.</note> + +<p>The campaign against the Scots brought little +credit to either side, and terminated in a treaty, the +terms of which were for the most part arranged by<pb n="163" /><anchor id="Pg163" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CORONATION STONE." /> +Mortimer and the queen-mother. One of the articles +of peace stipulated for the surrender of all proofs of +the subjection of Scotland; and accordingly the abbot +of Westminster received orders to deliver up the +stone of Scone to the Sheriffs of London for transmission +to Isabel, who was in the north.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Memoranda, Roll A 1. membr. xxii.</p></note> This the +abbot refused to do—"for reasons touching God and +the church,"—without further instructions from the +king and his council.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1. membr. xxii, dors.—According to the Chronicle of +Lanercost (Bannatyne Club, p. 261), it was the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Londoners</hi> who refused +to give up the stone.</p></note></p> + +<p>When negotiations were opened in 1363 for the +union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, it +was proposed that Edward should be crowned king +at Scone on the royal seat (<hi rend="font-style: italic">siége roial</hi>) which he +should cause to be returned from England. These +negotiations, however, fell through, and the stone +remains in Westminster Abbey to this day.<note place="foot"><p>Rymer's Fœdera (1830), Vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 716. Stanley's +Memorials of Westminster Abbey (2nd ed.), pp. 60-64.</p></note></p> + +<p>The treaty which had been arranged at Edinburgh +(17 March, 1328), was afterwards confirmed by a +Parliament held at Northampton, in which the city +was represented by Richard de Betoyne and Robert +de Kelseye.<note place="foot"><p>Rymer's Fœdera (1821) Vol. ii, pt. ii, pp. 734, 740. Pleas +and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. xx dors. Chron. Edward I and II, +i. 339-340.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The revolt of the Earl of Lancaster, Oct., 1328.</note> + +<p>When the terms of this treaty of Northampton +(as it was called) came to be fully understood, the +nation began to realise the measure of disgrace which +they involved, and Mortimer and the queen became +the objects of bitter hatred. Henry, Earl of Lancaster,<pb n="164" /><anchor id="Pg164" /> +the king's nominal guardian, had grown weary of his +false position, and of serving only as Mortimer's tool. +Determined to throw off the yoke, he refused to attend +a parliament which met at Salisbury in October +(1328),<note place="foot"><p>The city was represented by Stephen de Abyndon and Robert de +Kelseye. The writ was dated Clipston, 28 August, and the return +made the 10th October.—Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1. membr. xxiii-xxiv.</p></note> unless certain changes in the government and +in the king's household were first made. In the meantime, +Bishop Stratford of Winchester and Thomas, +Lord Wake, two of his supporters, had paid a visit to +the city and had endeavoured to rouse the citizens to +action. The king, hearing of this, wrote to the municipal +authorities for an explanation. They frankly +acknowledged, in reply, that the bishop had been in +the city for the purpose of discussing the ill state of +affairs, and themselves expressed a hope, amid vows +of the utmost loyalty, that the king would redress +the grievances under which the nation suffered.<note place="foot"><p>Letter dated 27 September.—Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, +membr. xxiii (27) dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The earl's letter to the City, 5 Nov., 1328.</note> + +<p>Instead of attending the parliament at Salisbury, +the earl marched in full force to Winchester. On the +5th November he wrote to the citizens from Hungerford, +to the effect that he had made known to parliament +his honourable intentions, but had received no +reply; that the parliament had been adjourned to +London; that he had been informed of certain matters +about which he could not write, but which the bearer +would communicate to them; and he concluded with +assuring them that he desired nothing so much as the +king's honour and the welfare of the kingdom, and +declaring his implicit confidence in their loyalty.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. xxiv (28) dors.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="165" /><anchor id="Pg165" /><index index="toc" level1="JOHN DE GRANTHAM ELECTED MAYOR." /> + +<note place="margin">The election of John de Grantham, mayor, in place of Chigwell.</note> + +<p>The mayor of the city at this time was John de +Grantham. His election had taken place but recently, +and was the result of a compromise. Chigwell, who had +again been chosen mayor at the expiration of Betoyne's +year of office in 1327, was a decided favourite with the +citizens, notwithstanding a certain want of firmness of +character, and he was again put up as a candidate for +the mayoralty in October, 1328. He had enemies, of +course. Towards the close of his last mayoralty he +was ill-advised enough to sit in judgment upon a +brother alderman on a charge of having abused him +two years previously. During the troublous times of +1326, John de Cotun, alderman of Walbrook ward, +was alleged to have described Chigwell, who was +then mayor, as "the vilest worm that had been in +the city for twenty years," adding that the city would +know no peace so long as Chigwell was alive, and that +it would be a blessing if he lost his head.<note place="foot"><p>"Quod dictus Hamo fuit pessimus vermis qui venit in civitate jam +xx annis elapsis et amplius, et quod nunquam foret bona pax in civitate +dum viveret et quod bonum esset valde si capud ejus a corpore truncatur."—Pleas +and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. xxiii dors.</p></note> After some +hard swearing on both sides, leading to the discovery +of bad blood existing between the informer and the +alderman, the charge was dismissed.</p> + +<p>At the outset it appeared that Chigwell's reelection +was assured; but the city as well as the +country was in a disturbed state, and political reasons +may have led to an endeavour to force another candidate +in the person of Benedict de Fulsham over his +head. Be that as it may, it is certain that when +Chigwell's name was proposed to the assembled +citizens at the Guildhall, the cry was raised of +"Fulsham! Fulsham!" So high did party spirit run,<pb n="166" /><anchor id="Pg166" /> +that the election had to be postponed, and eventually +it was thought best that both candidates should be +withdrawn. This having been done, the choice of the +electors fell on John de Grantham, a pepperer.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 29.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king desires a deputation from the city to meet him at Windsor, Nov., 1328.</note> + +<p>On the 8th November the new mayor despatched +a letter to the king, expressing the joy of the city at +the news of a proposed visit, and the prospect of the +next parliament being held in London. His majesty +might be assured of the city's loyalty.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. 29 dors.</p></note> Four days +later (12 November), Edward despatched a messenger +from Reading with a letter to John de Grantham, +bidding him cause a deputation to be nominated for +the purpose of proceeding to Windsor. The messenger +arrived late on Sunday evening, and the deputation +was to be at Windsor on the following Tuesday. A +meeting was therefore summoned on Monday, when +six aldermen and six commoners were nominated to +meet the king. On Thursday the deputation returned +and reported the result of the interview. It appears +that Edward had complained to the deputation of +armed men having left the city to join the earl at +Winchester. He was also desirous to know if the city +was in a proper state of defence and the king's peace +preserved therein. On these points the mayor endeavoured +to satisfy him by letter of the 18th +November. As to armed men having left the city +for Winchester, his majesty was informed that none +had so left with the knowledge of the municipal +authorities, and if any should be found to have done +so, they would most assuredly be punished.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">ibid.</hi>—Notwithstanding this disavowal, +it is said that no less than 600 Londoners assisted the Lancastrian +cause.—Chron. Edward I and II. Introd. Vol. i, p. cxx.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="167" /><anchor id="Pg167" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KING AND THE EARL OF LANCASTER." /> + +<note place="margin">The king pays a short visit to London, Dec., 1328.</note> + +<p>Early in December the king and queen came to +London, accompanied by the queen-mother and Mortimer, +and took up their quarters at Westminster. +The whole of the city went forth to welcome them, +and they were made the recipients of valuable gifts. +Their stay, however, lasted but one short week.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 343.—Letter Book E, fo. 179b. +(Memorials, pp. 170-171).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's letter from Gloucester to the Mayor, &c., of London. 16 Dec., 1328.</note> + +<p>By the 16th the king was at Gloucester, where +he wrote to the Mayor of London, enclosing a copy +of particulars of all that had passed between himself +and the Earl of Lancaster—the charges made by the +earl and his own replies—in order, as he said, that +the citizens might judge for themselves of the rights +of the quarrel between them. These particulars, the +mayor was desired to have publicly read at the Guildhall.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 31.</p></note> +This was accordingly done (20 Dec.), in the +presence of some of the earl's supporters, who +took the opportunity of explaining the earl's position.<note place="foot"><p>See letter from the mayor, &c., to the king informing him that his +wishes had been carried out.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1. membr. xxviii (32).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The bishops and barons in the city.</note> + +<p>Whilst notifying the king that his wishes had +been complied with, the mayor and commonalty +besought him that all measures of hostility between +himself and the barons might be suspended until +parliament should meet. The city became the headquarters +of the dissatisfied bishops and nobles. The +Sunday before Christmas, the pulpit in St. Paul's was +occupied by the primate, who was equally anxious +with the civic authorities that matters should be left +to be adjusted by parliament.<note place="foot"><p>At Christmas, both the primate and the city despatched letters to +Edward, who was then at Worcester, to that effect.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1. +memb. xxviii (32).</p></note></p> + +<pb n="168" /><anchor id="Pg168" /> + +<note place="margin">Failure of Lancaster to raise a confederation against the king. 2 Jan., 1329.</note> + +<p>The barons in the city, in the meanwhile, awaited +the arrival of the Earl of Lancaster. On New Year's +day he came, and on the 2nd January (1329) a conference +of bishops and barons took place at St. Paul's.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 343-344.</p></note> +The futility of an attempt to form a confederation +soon became apparent. The city stood fast to the +king; some of the barons wavered, and nothing was +left to Lancaster but to make the best terms he +could. Edward had already offered pardon to all +who should submit before the 7th January, with certain +exceptions.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1. membr. xxviii (32).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial at the Guildhall of those implicated with Lancaster. Feb., 1329.</note> + +<p>Now that the king, or rather, we should say, +Mortimer, was once more master of the situation, the +citizens who had favoured the constitutional party +became the objects of retribution. On Sunday, the +22nd January (1329), the mayor and twenty-four +citizens were ordered to meet the king at St. Albans. +They returned on the following Thursday with instructions +to see if the city was prepared to punish those +who had favoured Lancaster. No sooner were the +king's wishes made known, than an enquiry was at +once set on foot. On Wednesday (1st February), the +deputation returned to the king, who was then at +Windsor, to report the sense of the city; and on the +following Sunday (4th February), the king's justices +commenced to sit at the Guildhall for the trial of +those implicated in the late abortive attempt to overthrow +Mortimer. Three days were consumed in preliminary +proceedings; and it was not until Wednesday +(8th February) that the real business of the session +commenced. By that time the king himself had<pb n="169" /><anchor id="Pg169" /><index index="toc" level1="TRIAL OF HAMO DE CHIGWELL." /> +come to London, and had taken up his headquarters +at the Tower, having passed through the city accompanied +by his consort, the queen-mother, and many +of the nobility.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 242-243.</p></note> It does not appear that Mortimer +came with them.</p> + +<note place="margin">Trial of Hamo de Chigwell, 13 Feb., 1329.</note> + +<p>Among those who were brought to trial at the +Guildhall was Chigwell. He was accused of being +implicated in the abduction of the Abbot of Bury St. +Edmunds, and of feloniously receiving two silver +basins as his share of the plunder. Being convicted, +he claimed the benefit of clergy, and the Bishop of +London, after some delay, was allowed to take possession +of him on the ground that he was a clerk. His +life was thus saved and he was conveyed to the +episcopal prison amid general regret, although, as we +have already seen, he was not a universal favourite. +"Many said, he is a good man; others, nay, but he +deceiveth the people."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 245, 346.</p></note> He was kept for some +months in honourable confinement at the bishop's +manor of Orset, co. Essex, and early in 1330 was admitted +to purgation. Thus encouraged, he hastened +once more to return to the city. He was still popular +with a large body of the citizens, who, on hearing of +his approach, flocked to meet him, his re-entry into +the city being made to resemble a triumphal progress. +Both Isabel and her son were seized with alarm; and +a writ was forthwith issued for his arrest.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i. 246-247.</p></note> He was, +however, forewarned, and able to make his escape. +Little is known of his subsequent career; Stow places +his death in or about 1328, but this must be a mistake. +By his will dated 1332, he left some real estate in the<pb n="170" /><anchor id="Pg170" /> +city to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral +for the maintenance of a chantry.<note place="foot"><p>The will is enrolled in the records of the Court of Husting, +Roll 61 (17). His devise to St. Paul's was challenged by John de +Pulteney, and execution stayed.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Execution of Mortimer, 29 Nov., 1330.</note> + +<p>Mortimer's vengeance was not confined to a few +leading citizens. Lancaster's life was spared, but he +was mulcted in a heavy fine. Many of his associates +took refuge in flight. The Earl of Kent, the king's +uncle, was shortly afterwards charged with treason, +into which he had been drawn by the subtlety of +Mortimer, and made to pay the penalty with his +head. This, more than anything else, opened the +king's eyes to Mortimer's true character, and at length +(Oct., 1339,) he caused him to be privily seized in the +castle of Nottingham.<note place="foot"><p>According to the compiler of the "Annales Paulini" (Chron. +Edward I and II, i, 352), Mortimer was taken "in camera Isabelle +reginæ."</p></note> Thence he was carried to +London, and hanged at the Elms in Smithfield.</p> + +<note place="margin">The queen retires into privacy.</note> + +<p>Queen Isabel, who witnessed the seizure of her +favourite and whose prayers to spare the "gentle +Mortimer" were of no avail, was made to disgorge +much of the wealth she had acquired during her +supremacy, and was put on an allowance. The rest +of her life, a period of nearly thirty years, she spent +in retirement. Before her death<note place="foot"><p>She died in 1357. and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, +in the city.</p></note> she gave the sum +of forty shillings to the Abbess and Minoresses of +Aldgate of the Order of St. Clare, for the purpose of +purchasing for themselves two pittances or doles on +the anniversaries of the decease of her husband the +late king and of Sir John de Eltham his son.<note place="foot"><p>"The last days of Queen Isabella."—Archæol., vol. xxxv, p. 464.</p></note> The<pb n="171" /><anchor id="Pg171" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON MERCHANTS AND THE STAPLES." /> +removal of Mortimer corresponded very closely with +the king's coming of age. He was now eighteen years +old, and thenceforth he "ruled as well as reigned."</p> + +<note place="margin">Increase of trade with Flanders.</note> + +<p>The king's marriage with Philippa of Hainault, +which had taken place at York on the 30th January, +1328, had been popular with the city<note place="foot"><p>On her first arrival in London she was conducted by a cavalcade +of citizens to the Bishop of Ely's house in Holborn, and after her +marriage, was made the recipient of a present of gold and silver and a +great store of all kinds of provisions. Her coronation, which took place +two years later (Feb., 1330), was also made the occasion for a further +display of their loyalty and affection.—Chron. Edward I and II, i, +338, 339, 349.</p></note> as tending to +open up trade with Flanders. Hitherto nearly all the +wool produced by this country had been sent to +Flanders for manufacture, the export trade being so +large that the king is said to have received more than +£30,000 in a single year from duties levied on this +commodity alone.<note place="foot"><p>Green, Hist. of the English People, i, 410. Imposts on wool, +writes Bishop Stubbs, became of such importance at this period that +"the merchants again seemed likely to furnish the realm with a new +estate."—Const. Hist., ii. 379.</p></note> We have already seen how, in +order to punish the Countess of Flanders for injuries +inflicted upon English merchants, the king's grandfather +resorted, in 1270, to the expedient of forbidding +all export of wool to her country.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Supra</hi>, pp. 112-115.</p></note> The misery which +her half-starved people were then compelled to suffer +soon induced the Countess to come to terms. It was +also in no small measure owing to the fear of a similar +stoppage by the intervention of the French fleet, that +the Flemings laid aside their neutrality in 1339, and +openly assisted Edward in his war with France.</p> + +<note place="margin">The establishment of staples in England.</note> + +<p>Towards the close of the last reign the "staples" +or market towns for the sale of certain commodities,<pb n="172" /><anchor id="Pg172" /> +but more especially of wool, had been removed from +the continent and established at various places in England, +Ireland and Wales.<note place="foot"><p>"Eodem anno (<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, 1326) post Pascha dominus rex habuit consilium +apud Westmonasterium; et ordinatum fuit ibi quod mercatores +emerent lanas. corias et plumbum, in certis locis Angliæ, Walliæ et +Hyberniæ, et illa loca vocantur Stapel."—Chron. Edward I and II, +i, 312. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 15.</p></note> London was one of those +places. No wool was to be exported abroad until it +had remained at one or another of the staples for a +period of forty days. This rule appears however to +have been relaxed by Edward II, in favour of all +staple towns but London; merchants being allowed to +remove their goods from other staples after a stay of +only fifteen days. The London merchants, therefore, +were under the disadvantage of finding the market +always forestalled. Edward III had not long been +on the throne before they took the opportunity of +submitting this hardship not only to the king, but +also to the queen-mother, and prayed that the relaxation +of the rule touching the forty days with respect +to other staples might be withdrawn.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 23 April, 1327. Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. i +(3) dors.</p></note> Their prayer, +however, would seem to have had but little effect, +for within a week of the petition to the king we find +that monarch issuing an order to the collector of +customs on wool, leather and wool-fells in the port +of London, to enforce the delay of forty days before +goods could be removed.<note place="foot"><p>Dated Nottingham, 30 April (1327). Rymer's Fœdera. Vol. ii, +pt. ii. p. 705.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A new tax on wool, leather, and wool-fells.</note> + +<p>Nor was this the only grievance that the London +merchants had. In order to raise money to put down +the rebellion of the Scots which had broken out soon<pb n="173" /><anchor id="Pg173" /><index index="toc" level1="A NEW TAX ON WOOL." /> +after his accession, he had recourse to an extra tax +upon wool, leather, and wool-fells. The money thus +raised was to be considered a loan, receipts being +given to the merchants under the king's seal, known +as "Coket," and the merchants in return were to be +allowed absolute free trade from the 2nd July, 1327, +the date of the writ, up to the following Christmas.<note place="foot"><p>Writ to the collector of dues in the port of London and other +places on both sides of the Thames as far as Gravesend. Dated Overton, +2 July, 1 Edward III (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> 1327). Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, +membr. 7 dors (cedula).</p></note> +The Londoners objected altogether to this impost, on +the grounds that they had never been consulted on +the matter, and had never given their assent.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. 7 dors.</p></note></p> + +<p>A compromise was subsequently effected. In +consideration of the good service which the citizens +of London had already done to the king in times +past, and for the good service which they were prepared +to render again in the future, they were released +of arrears of the tax due from 2nd July to the +23rd September, provided they were willing to pay it +for the remainder of the term.<note place="foot"><p>Letters patent, dated Lincoln, 23 Sept., 1 Edward III (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> +1327). <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. 7 dors.</p></note> After Christmas the +restrictions upon free trade were again enforced.<note place="foot"><p>Writ to sheriffs to see the restrictions carried out, dated York, +1 March, 2 Edward III (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">a.d.</hi> 1327-8). <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. 24 +dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proposal to remove the Staple to the continent, Feb., 1328.</note> + +<p>On the 11th December (1327), Edward issued a +writ<note place="foot"><p>Dated from Coventry. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. 18 dors.</p></note> to the Sheriffs of London to choose two representatives +to attend on behalf of the citizens at a +parliament to be held at York, on Sunday next after +the Feast of the Purification (2 Feb., 1328). Instead, +however, of sending only two members as directed, +the citizens appear on this occasion to have sent no<pb n="174" /><anchor id="Pg174" /> +less than four, viz.: Richard de Betoyne, Robert de +Kelseye, John de Grantham, and John Priour the +Younger.<note place="foot"><p>Return to writ, dated 12 January, 1 Edward III (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1327-8).—Pleas +and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 20.</p></note></p> + +<p>One of the questions to be determined was the +advisability of again removing the Staple from +England to the continent. On this question, there +appears to have arisen some difference of opinion +among the city representatives. Betoyne, who had +formerly enjoyed the office of Mayor of the Staple +beyond the seas, favoured a return to the old order of +things, whilst his colleagues were opposed to any +such proceeding. Notification of Betoyne's disagreement +with his colleagues was made to the mayor and +commonalty of the City by letter from the mayor +and commonalty of York, to which reply was made +that Betoyne's action was entirely unauthorised.<note place="foot"><p>Letter from the Mayor, &c., of York, to the City of London, +dated 29 January, and reply.—Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. +xix (23).</p></note> A +letter was sent the same day to Betoyne himself, +enjoining him to do nothing in the matter opposed +to the wish of the commonalty of London<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id. ibid.</hi></p></note>; and +another to Betoyne's colleagues informing them of +the City's action, and bidding them to exert themselves +to the utmost to keep the Staple in England.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 1, membr. xvii (20) dors. The letter was sent in +reply to one from the City's representatives, Grantham and Priour, +asking for instructions.</p></note></p> + +<p>The account of Betoyne's difference with his +colleagues, as related in the letter from the City of +York, was subsequently found to require considerable +modification, when a letter was received by the Mayor +of London from two of his colleagues, Grantham<pb n="175" /><anchor id="Pg175" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHARD DE BETOYNE, MAYOR OF THE STAPLE." /> +and Priour.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. xix (23) dors.</p></note> Their account of what had actually +taken place was to the effect that Betoyne had been +publicly requested by a number of representatives +from various towns, assembled in the Chapter House +at York, to resign his mayoralty (of the Staple) and +to deliver up the charters which had been acquired at +no little expense. Betoyne replied that the charters +were in the possession of John de Charleton,<note place="foot"><p>He had been an intimate favourite of Edward II. and had been +removed, with others, from that king's service in 1311. Notwithstanding +this, he appears as the king's Chamberlain in 1316. Ten +years later, when the city was in the hands of an infuriated mob, and +the king confined at Kenilworth, John de Charleton took the Earl of +Arundel prisoner and caused him to be beheaded. In 1329 the citizens +received peremptory orders from Edward III, not to harbour him in the +city.—Chron. Edward I & II. i, 247.</p></note> who +refused to give them up, but that he had himself, four +years since, caused a transcript of the charters to be +made, which he was prepared to give up to them if +they so wished. Thereupon, there suddenly appeared +upon the scene the Mayor of York, hand in hand with +John de Charleton himself, and followed by a number +of burgesses of York. The appearance of John de +Charleton was eminently distasteful to Betoyne, and +he got up and left the room, declining to take any +further part in the discussion so long as Charleton was +present. That was practically all that had occurred, +and the writers expressed themselves as much hurt if +anything more than this had been reported from the +mayor and commonalty of York, for in their opinion +Betoyne had never shown himself otherwise than +diligent in his duty. The letter concluded with a +report of general news, the chief item being the +announcement of the death of the King of France, and +the writers expressed a wish that the same publicity<pb n="176" /><anchor id="Pg176" /> +might be given to their letter as was given to the +letter received from the Mayor of York.</p> + +<note place="margin">Betoyne's own account of his disagreement with his colleagues.</note> + +<p>Betoyne on the same day sent home his own +account of what had taken place at York.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 24.</p></note> It agrees +in the main with the account sent by his colleagues, +but contains some particulars of interest not mentioned +in the latter. He relates how he had been +asked to retire from the Mayoralty of the Staple +beyond the seas, and to give up the charters and other +muniments which the several towns had obtained at +considerable cost. To this he had replied that many +charters he had left behind on the continent, but he +had brought over with him the charters of the franchises +of the staples which had been purchased of the +late king. These were in the hands of John de +Charleton, who refused to give them up. He had +himself, however, gone to Dover in the eighteenth +year of Edward II, when the king himself was there, +and had caused a duplicate of the charters to be made, +which he had expressed his readiness to show them. +He encloses a copy. As a proof of the bad feeling +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">la malencolye</hi>) which the burgesses of York entertained +towards him, he proceeds to relate how the +Mayor of York, maliciously and without any warning, +had appeared at the assembly with four or five of his +suite, accompanied by John de Charleton, clothed in +the mayor's livery, and by a crowd of citizens, to +the terror of the assembled merchants. Thereupon, +Bretoyne had declared that he would not sit nor +remain where Charleton was, and had left the meeting; +for, said he, he would never make peace with +Charleton except with the assent of the Mayor and<pb n="177" /><anchor id="Pg177" /><index index="toc" level1="BETOYNE'S CONDUCT AT YORK APPROVED." /> +Commonalty of London. He concluded by asking +that his character might not be allowed to suffer by +anything which the Mayor of York may have written. +By a postscript he informs the Mayor of London, that +on the eve of the Purification (the day fixed for the +re-assembly of parliament) the Mayor of York had +come to his hostel, accompanied by many others, and +had accused him of having come to the city for the +express purpose of annoying their fellow-burgess John +de Charleton, which he had denied. This insult, he +is advised, touches not only himself, but the Corporation +of London whose representative he was.</p> + +<note place="margin">Betoyne's action approved by the citizens, 19 Feb., 1328.</note> + +<p>Both these letters were laid before the commonalty +of London assembled at the Guildhall on the +19th February, when Betoyne's action was approved, +and on the following day a letter was addressed to +him to that effect. The Mayor and Commonalty of +York received also a missive in which their late conduct +to Betoyne was severely criticised.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, membr. 24.</p></note> Betoyne's +recent services were recognized by the grant, at his +own request, of a handsome coverlet furred with +minever, in part payment of his expenses incurred in +attending the parliament at York.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book E, fo. 183. (Memorials, p. 169.)</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Temporary abolition of Staples. Aug., 1328.</note> + +<p>The king, finding that the opposition to the removal +of the staple displayed not only by London +but by York, Winchester, Bristol and Lincoln was too +great to be overcome, abolished staples altogether +(August, 1328), and re-established free-trade.<note place="foot"><p>"In 1333 they were again established in England, but merchants +ignored them, and in the following year they were abolished. From +1344 onwards they are frequently discussed in parliament and assemblies +of the merchants; and by the statute of 1353 the system was consolidated."—Stubbs, +Const. Hist., ii, 412.</p></note> He<pb n="178" /><anchor id="Pg178" /> +even invited Flemish weavers to settle in England so +as to give a stimulus to the manufacture of woollen +fabrics. These he took under his special protection,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G. fos. 35b, 76.</p></note> +for the native looked askance upon all foreigners, +traders or craftsmen.</p> + +<note place="margin">England and France, 1329-1331</note> + +<p>One of the last political acts of Mortimer had +been to send Edward over to France to do homage to +Philip of Valois, the new king, for his possessions in +that country. This homage Edward paid in 1329, +but subject to certain reservations.<note place="foot"><p>Rymer's Fœdera (1821), vol. ii, pt. ii. p. 765.</p></note> In 1330 he +was making preparations for war, and took the +opportunity of the presence of Stephen de Abyndone +and John de Caustone, the City's representatives in +the parliament held that year at Westminster, to ask +them what assistance the City would be likely to +afford him. The City members asked leave to consult +the commonalty on the matter. Eventually the +sum of 1,000 marks was offered, a sum so trifling +that Edward consented to accept it only as a free +gift, and plainly intimated that he looked for more +substantial aid in the future.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 247, 249.</p></note></p> + +<p>In July, he summoned the mayor and twenty-four +of the leading citizens to attend him at Woodstock. +The mayor (Simon de Swanlonde) would +have had them excused on the ground of the disturbed +state of the city, but the king was not to be denied. +Substitutes were appointed for the mayor during his +absence, and he and seven aldermen and sixteen +commoners went to Woodstock, where they gave<pb n="179" /><anchor id="Pg179" /><index index="toc" level1="EXPIRATION OF TREATY OF NORTHAMPTON." /> +assurances of the City's loyalty.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II. i, 249, 251.</p></note> In 1331, after +Mortimer's fall, when Edward was his own master, +lie again visited France, and a peace was concluded +between the two kings.<note place="foot"><p>Rymer's Fœdera (1821), vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 815.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The war with Scotland, 1332-1335.</note> + +<p>From 1332 to 1335 the king was chiefly occupied +with Scotland. It was part of the policy of Philip of +Valois to encourage disturbance in the north of +England, as a means of recovering his lost possessions +in France.<note place="foot"><p>Rex Franciæ subtiliavit viis et modis quibus potuit qualiter deturbaret +regem Angliæ et repatriare faceret ne tantum destrueret et debellaret +regnum Scotiæ.—Knighton (Rolls Series No. 76), i, 476.</p></note> The period of four years during which +peace had been assured by Edward with Scotland by +the treaty of Northampton had now elapsed,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, i, 461.</p></note> and +active operations on both sides re-commenced. In +1334 the city voted 1,000 marks, afterwards raised to +1,200, for raising 100 horsemen and as many men-at-arms +to assist the king for a period of forty days.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book E, fos. 1-4—(Memorials, pp. 187-190).</p></note></p> + +<p>A spy was also despatched to Normandy and +Brabant to see how matters were going there, and +gifts were made to the courts of Juliers and Namur +to secure their favour. The parliament which sat at +York in May, 1335,<note place="foot"><p>John de Grantham was allowed 60 shillings for a horse which he +lost whilst going to this parliament on the city's business. (Letter Book +F, fo. 9b.) It is, however, not clear that Grantham attended the +parliament as a city member.</p></note> having decided in favour of a +fresh expedition to Scotland,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, ii. 122.</p></note> the king sent orders +to the City to hold its forces in readiness to march +under the leadership of two of its aldermen, John de<pb n="180" /><anchor id="Pg180" /> +Pulteney and Reginald de Conduit.<note place="foot"><p>Letter patent, dated 12 August.—Pleas and Mem., Roll A 1, +membr. 35.</p></note> A commission +to seize ships in the port of London to the king's use, +resulted in the detention of six ships.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id. ibid.</hi></p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for war with France, 1337.</note> + +<p>At length, the friendly attitude which Philip of +Valois had taken up towards Scotland, much to +Edward's prejudice, determined the latter to go in +person to France for the purpose, not only of defending +his possessions there, but also of enforcing his +claim to the French crown. The year 1337 was devoted +to active preparations for the struggle. The +City of London, in spite of its franchise, was called +upon to furnish 500 men at arms, and to send them +to Portsmouth by Whitsuntide.<note place="foot"><p>Letter patent, dated Westm., 24 March.—Letter Book F., fo. 6.</p></note> The date was subsequently +altered to Trinity Sunday.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 6b.</p></note> The king took +occasion to find fault with the city's dilatoriness in +executing his demands, as well as with the physique +of the men that were being supplied. At the request +of the mayor, Sir John de Pulteney (he had recently +received the honour of knighthood<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, i, 366.</p></note>), the number of +men to be furnished was reduced to 200, the rest to +be supplied on further notice.<note place="foot"><p>The king's letter, dated Stamford, 1 June, 1337.—Letter Book F, +fo. 6b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Charter, 26 March, 1337.</note> + +<p>When Parliament met in London in February, +the City made presents of money to the king, the +queen, the chancellor, the treasurer, and others,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 4-5.</p></note> for +no other purpose apparently, but to win their favour. +In the following month the City obtained a charter<pb n="181" /><anchor id="Pg181" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KING'S MONOPOLY OF WOOL." /> +declaring its liberties and customs to be unaffected +by the recent statute establishing free trade,<note place="foot"><p>Charter dated Westminster, 26 March, 1337, preserved at the +Guildhall (Box No. 5). The king made frequent attempts to annul +this charter.—Letter Book F, fo. 197; Letter Book G, fos. 11b, 41b.</p></note> when +presents in money or kind were again made to the +officers of state.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 9.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The services of John de Pulteney, Mayor.</note> + +<p>The services which the mayor had done the city +in the work of obtaining this charter were acknowledged +by a gift of two silver basins and the sum of +£20 from his fellow citizens.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 9b. (Memorials, p. 197).</p></note> It was by Pulteney's +influence that the king consented to allow a sum of +1,000 marks to be taken into account at a future +assessment for a fifteenth, instead of insisting upon its +being a free gift from the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 10b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king monopolises the wool of the country.</note> + +<p>In March, 1337, a statute forbade the importation +of wool, as a preliminary to the imposition of an +additional custom, and in the following year parliament +granted the king half the wool of the kingdom.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 380.</p></note> +The Londoners having no wool of their own, paid a +composition,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 42.</p></note> and were often reduced to sore straits. +Thus in April, 1339, an assessment had to be made in +the several wards of the City to discharge a debt to +the king of 1,000 marks. The men of Aldersgate +ward refused to pay their quota of £9. A precept +was thereupon issued to the sheriffs to levy the larger +sum of £16 10s., on the lands, tenements, goods, and +chattels of the ward, and pay the same into the +Chamber of the Guildhall by a certain day.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 3 and 3 dors.</p></note> The +citizens of London, and the nation generally, would<pb n="182" /><anchor id="Pg182" /> +the more willingly have borne these exactions if any +adequate good had resulted from them. But Edward's +first campaign resulted in nothing more than the +assumption by him of the name and arms of the +King of France, at a cost of £300,000.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 380-381.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Naval and military preparations in the City.</note> + +<p>Among the ships which had been prepared for +the king's expedition to France, three were known as +"La Jonette," of London; "La Cogge," of All +Hallows; and "La Sainte Marie Cogge." The last +mentioned belonged to William Haunsard,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 3, 3b.</p></note> an ex-sheriff +of London, who subsequently did signal service +in the great naval battle of Sluys. Prior to the +king's departure, measures were taken for the safe +custody of the city during his absence.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 14b. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 18b.</p></note> The City had +difficulties in raising a contingent of soldiers, for many +of the best men had joined the retinue of nobles, and +all that could be mustered amounted to no more than +100 men, viz: 40 men-at-arms, and 60 archers.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 5, membr. 3 dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city put into a posture of defence after the king's departure, July, 1338.</note> + +<p>After the king's departure (12 July, 1338) the +City laid in provisions for transmission abroad, 500 +quarters of corn and 100 carcases of oxen to be salted +down. In addition to which it purchased 1,000 horseshoes +and 30,000 nails.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, membr. 5 dors.</p></note> In October steps were taken +to protect London from attack by sea and land. +Piles were driven into the bed of the river to prevent +the approach of a hostile fleet; the wharves were +"bretasched" with boards, and springalds set at +different gates and posterns.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, membr. 6. On the 23 October, the Duke of Cornwall, +whom the king had nominated regent during his absence abroad, wrote +to the Mayor, &c., of London, bidding him put the city into a posture +of defence.—Letter Book F, fo. 19.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="183" /><anchor id="Pg183" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY PREPARES TO DEFEND ITSELF." /> + +<note place="margin"> Orders for city to provide more ships and men, Feb., 1339.</note> + +<p>In February, 1339, the citizens received the king's +orders to furnish four ships with 300 men, and four +scummars<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Skumarii</hi>: a scummar, a rover. Skeats' Glossary to the Bruce +(Early Eng. Text Soc. <hi rend="font-style: italic">s. v.</hi>)</p></note> with 160 men, victualled for three months, +to proceed to Winchester. Upon some demur being +made to this demand, the number of ships was reduced +to two, well equipped with men and arms. Pursuant +to these orders each ward was assessed for the purpose +of levying 110 men armed with haketon, plates, +bacinet with aventail, and gloves of plate; and sixty +men armed with only haketon and bacinet. The pay +of the men was to be threepence a day each for two +months. The vessels were to be joined by ships from +various other ports, and proceed to sea in charge of Sir +William Trussel by the middle of March to intercept, +if possible, the enemy's fleet.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 22b-23.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin"> A threatened invasion up the Thames, Easter, 1339.</note> + +<p>By Easter time the danger appeared more imminent, +and the mayor and aldermen met hurriedly in the +Guildhall, on Easter Sunday afternoon after dinner. +An immediate attack up the Thames was expected. +The mayor and aldermen agreed to take it in turns +to watch the river night and day. On the following +Wednesday, each alderman was ordered to enquire +as to the number of arbalesters, archers, and men +capable of bearing arms in his ward. A number of +carpenters were sworn on the same day to safe-guard +the engines of war laid up in the new house near +Petywales.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 1.</p></note> This new house appears to have been +known as "La Bretaske," and was used for storing +springalds, quarels, and other war material.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fly leaf. (Memorials, p. 204.)</p></note></p> + +<pb n="184" /><anchor id="Pg184" /> + +<note place="margin"> Implements of war stored at the Guildhall.</note> + +<p>At this period there were kept in the chamber +of the Guildhall six instruments called "gonnes," +which were made of latten, a metal closely resembling +brass, five "teleres" or stocks for supporting +the guns, four cwt. and a half of pellets of lead, and +thirty-two pounds of gunpowder by way of ammunition.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fly-leaf. The passage was printed by the late +Mr. Riley, although somewhat inaccurately, in his Memorials (p. 205). +The original MS. runs thus: "Item in Camera Gildaule sunt sex Instrumenta +de Laton vocata Gonnes cum quinque teleres ad eadem. +Item pelete de plumbo pro eidem Instrumentis que ponderant iiij<hi rend="vertical-align: super">c</hi> li et +dj. Item xxxij li de pulvere pro dictis instrumentis."</p></note> +The mention of "teleres" and the small +amount of ammunition favours the assumption that the +instruments were rather hand-guns than heavy pieces, +as has been supposed.<note place="foot"><p>The late Mr. Riley misread "roleres" for "teleres" (the writing +is not very legible), and therefore thought the passage referred to heavy +ordnance.</p></note> A "telere" or tiller was a +common name for the stock of a cross-bow,<note place="foot"><p>Richard Hastinges bequeaths by will in 1558 his bows and arrows, +with "tyllers" &c.—Calendar of Wills, Court of Hust., London, ii, +670.</p></note> and the +earliest hand-guns or fire-arms known consisted of a +simple tube of metal with touch-hole, fixed on a +straight stick or shaft, which when used was passed +under the arm so as to afford a better grip of the +weapon.</p> + +<note place="margin"> The king's return, Feb., 1340.</note> + +<p>The danger blew over, and before the close of the +year the king was expected to return to England.<note place="foot"><p>Congregacio Maioris Aldermannorum et unius hominis cujuslibet +warde civitatis pro negociis communitatem tangentibus die veneris +proxima post festum Sancte Katerine Virginis (25 Nov.) anno xiij<hi rend="vertical-align: super">c</hi> +contra adventum domini regis et regine de partibus transmarinis.—Pleas +and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 10.</p></note> +He did not return however before February, 1340, +having intimated his intention to the mayor of London, +by letter from Sluys, dated Sunday the 20th.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 30b.</p></note><pb n="185" /><anchor id="Pg185" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BATTLE OF SLUYS." /> +Notwithstanding his long absence, he had accomplished +little or nothing.</p> + +<note place="margin">A City loan of £5,000.</note> + +<p>He had come to the end of his resources and was +in want of money to carry on the war. The City was +asked to lend him £20,000. It offered 5,000 marks. +This was contemptuously refused, and the municipal +authorities were bidden to re-consider the matter, or +in the alternative to furnish the king with the names +of the wealthier inhabitants of the City. At length +the City agreed to advance the sum of £5,000 for a +fixed period, and this offer the king was fain to accept.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 32b. (Memorials, pp. 208-210.)</p></note> +At the close of 1339, the chief towns of Flanders had +entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with +Edward, and an arrangement was made for paying +the sum of £1,500 out of the £5,000 to Jacques van +Arteveldt, the king's agent at Bruges.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 12 dors.</p></note> Three aldermen +and nine commoners were appointed to make +the necessary assessment for the loan, for the repayment +of which John de Pulteney was one of the king's +sureties.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 34b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king again sets sail, June, 1340.</note> + +<p>Provided with this and other money supplied by +parliament, Edward again set out for the continent +(June, 1340). With him went a contingent of 283 +men-at-arms, furnished by the City, 140 of them being +drawn from that part of the city which lay on the +east side of Walbrook, and 143 from the western side. +It had been intended to raise 300 men, and the better +class of citizens had been called upon to supply each +a quota, or in default to serve in person; but eleven +had failed in their duty and, on that account, had<pb n="186" /><anchor id="Pg186" /> +been fined 50 shillings each, whilst six others, making +up the deficit, had set out in the retinue of Henry +Darcy, the late mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 39.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The battle of Sluys, 24 June, 1340.</note> + +<p>The names of the transport ships and the number +of men-at-arms supplied by each city, the number +of mariners and serving-men (<hi rend="font-style: italic">garzouns</hi>), which were +about to take part in the great battle fought off Sluys +(24 June), are on record.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 20-21. Letter Book F, fo. 37b.</p></note> Although the French fleet +was superior to his own in numbers and equipment, +Edward did not hesitate to attack. The struggle was +long and severe, lasting from noon on one day until +six o'clock the next morning. If any one person was +more conspicuous for valour on that occasion than +another, it was William Haunsard, an ex-sheriff of +London, who came with "a ship of London" and +"did much good."<note place="foot"><p>A cedula inserted between membranes 19 and 20 of Pleas and +Mem., Roll A 3.</p></note></p> + +<p>An account of the battle was despatched by the +king to his son the Prince Regent, dated from +his ship, the "Cogg Thomas," the 28th June.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier, Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), 277.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="187" /><anchor id="Pg187" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER VIII.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="THE KING'S UNEXPECTED RETURN, 30 NOV., 1340." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">The king's unexpected return, 30 Nov., 1340.</note> + +<p>It was one of the conditions of the Flemish +alliance, mentioned at the close of the last chapter, +that the campaign of 1340 should open with the siege +of Tournay, and it was with this object specially in +view that Edward had set out from England. After +his brilliant victory over the French fleet which +opposed his passage Edward marched upon Tournay. +Its siege, however, proved fruitless, and, disappointed +and money-less, he slipt back again to England and +made his appearance unexpectedly one morning at +the Tower<note place="foot"><p>Murimuth, Contin. Chron. (Rolls Series No. 93), p. 116. Avesbury +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ibid</hi>), p. 323.</p></note> (30 Nov.).</p> + +<note place="margin">Dismisses ministers and orders an enquiry as to collection of revenue.</note> + +<note place="margin">The justices at the Tower, March-April. 1341.</note> + +<p>The king attributed the failure of the war to the +remissness of his ministers in sending money and +supplies. Scarcely had he landed before he sent for +the chancellor, the treasurer, and other ministers who +were in London, and not only dismissed them from +office, but ordered them each into separate confinement. +John de Pulteney was one of those made to +feel the king's anger, and he was relegated to the +castle of Somerton, but as soon as Edward's irritability +had passed off he and others obtained their freedom.<note place="foot"><p>Aungier's Fr. Chron. (Riley's transl.), pp. 283-285. Murimuth, +p. 117.</p></note> +A searching enquiry was instituted in the spring of<pb n="188" /><anchor id="Pg188" /> +the following year (1341) as to the way in which the +king's revenues had been collected in the city. +Objection was raised to the judges holding their +session within the city and they sat at the Tower. +Great tumult prevailed, and the citizens refused to +answer any questions until the judges had formally +acknowledged the City's liberties. A special fund was +raised for the purpose of defending the City's rights.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 22.</p></note> +From the 5th March to the 17th March the justices +sat, and then an adjournment was made until the +16th April. On resumption of the session another +adjournment immediately took place owing to parliament +sitting at Westminster, and when the judges +should have again sat, the Iter was suddenly determined +by order of the king.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 45b-49. Murimuth, pp. 118, 119.</p></note> The king showed much +annoyance at the attitude taken up by the citizens, +or at least by a certain portion of them, with respect +to this enquiry, and endeavoured to procure the names +of the ringleaders.<note place="foot"><p>Murimuth, p. 119.</p></note> Failing in this, and not wishing +to make an enemy of the city on which he largely +depended for resources to carry out his military +measures, he bestowed a general pardon on the citizens, +and promised that no Iter should be held at the +Tower for a period of seven years.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 49.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Charter to the city, dated 26 March, 1341.</note> + +<p>As a further mark of favour he granted to the +City, soon after the abrupt termination of the Iter, a +charter confirming previous charters; allowing the +citizens in express terms to vary customs that might +in course of time have become incapable of being put<pb n="189" /><anchor id="Pg189" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY'S RIGHT TO VARY CUSTOMS." /> +into practice, and declaring the city's liberties not +subject to forfeiture through non-user.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 26 May, 1341. This charter, which was granted with +the assent of parliament, is preserved at the Guildhall (Box No. 5.)</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city called upon to furnish the king with 26 ships.</note> + +<p>In August (1341) the citizens met to consider the +question of levying a sum of £2,000, of which 2,000 +marks was due to certain citizens in part payment of +the £5,000 lent to the king, and 1,000 marks was +required for the discharge of the city's own debts. A +certain number of aldermen and commoners were at +the same time appointed to confer with the king's +council touching the sending of ships of war beyond +the seas. The result of the interview was made +known to the citizens at a meeting held later on in +the same month. A further grievous burden (<hi rend="font-style: italic">vehemens +onus</hi>) was to be laid upon them; they were +called upon to provide no less than twenty-six ships, +fully equipped and victualled at their own cost.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 3, membr. 25 dors.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's expedition to Brittany, Oct., 1342.</note> + +<p>The ships were probably wanted for conveying +forces over to Brittany under the command of Sir +Walter de Maunay, in the following year. The king +himself made an expedition to that country in October, +1342, having previously succeeded in borrowing +the sum of £1,000 from the citizens. He had asked +for £2,000, but was fain to be content with the lesser +sum, security for repayment of which was demanded +and granted.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Roll A 5. +membr. 17.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A truce with France for three years.</note> + +<p>In March, 1343, Edward returned to England, +having made a truce with France for three years.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 392 note. Aungier's Fr. Chron. (Riley's +transl.), 290.</p></note> +He was beginning to learn the value of the English<pb n="190" /><anchor id="Pg190" /> +longbow and the cloth-yard shaft in the field of +battle. Hitherto he, like others before him, had +placed too much reliance on charges by knights on +horseback. What the longbow could effect, under +proper management, had been experienced at Falkirk +in 1298. It had proved a failure at Bannockburn in +1314 through bad strategy, but at Halidon Hill twenty +years later (1333) it was again effective. It was destined +soon to work a complete reform in English +warfare; and the yeoman and archer were to supersede +the noble and knight. The London burgess and +apprentice were especially apt with the weapon from +constant practice in Finsbury fields. Edward realised +the necessity of fostering the martial spirit of the +Londoners, and on one occasion (January, 1344) +invited the wives of the burgesses to witness a tournament +at Windsor, where they were entertained right +royally.<note place="foot"><p>Murimuth, 155.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Renewal of the war in 1345.</note> + +<p>Before the expiration of the truce Edward was +busy with preparations for a renewal of the war. +Four hundred London archers were to be got ready by +Midsummer of 1344, as the king was soon to cross the +sea; and 100 men-at-arms and 200 horsemen were to +be despatched to Portsmouth.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 81-84b.</p></note> In 1345, a royal commission +was issued for the seizure for the king's use +of all vessels lying in the river.<note place="foot"><p>Commission, dated Windsor, 20th March, 1345. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> fo. 98b.</p></note> A further contingent +of 160 archers was ordered to Sandwich by Whitsuntide, +and in August the city received another order for +yet more archers.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> fos. 99, 109, 110.</p></note> In September, the king informed +the mayor by letter that, owing to the defective<pb n="191" /><anchor id="Pg191" /><index index="toc" level1="EDWARD AGAIN SETS SAIL FOR FRANCE." /> +state of his fleet and the prevalence of contrary +winds, he had postponed setting sail for a short time; +the civic authorities were to keep their men-at-arms +and archers ready to set out the morrow after the +receipt of orders to march.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 111.</p></note> Six months elapsed, +during which the citizens were kept under arms waiting +for orders, when, on the 18th March, 1346, another +letter was sent by the king to the effect that he had +now fully made up his mind to set sail from Portsmouth +a fortnight after Easter. The men-at-arms, the horsemen, +and the archers, were to be ready by a certain +day on pain of losing life, limb, and property. On the +28th March, the archers mustered in "Totehull" or +Tothill Fields, near Westminster.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 116b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Expedition to France sets sail, 10 July, 1346.</note> + +<p>The expedition did not actually sail from Portsmouth +until the 10th July, the fleet numbering 1,000 +vessels more or less.<note place="foot"><p>Murimuth (Rolls Series, No. 93, p. 198) states that the number +of vessels great and small amounted to 750; whilst in another Chronicle +the same writer says that they numbered more than 1,500 (Chron. ed. +for Eng. Hist. Soc., p. 164.)</p></note> Previous to his departure, +Edward caused proclamation to be made in the city +and elsewhere, to the effect that the assessments +that had been made throughout the country for the +purpose of equipping the expedition, should not be +drawn into precedent.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F. fo. 119. Murimuth (Rolls Series), p. 198.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">News of the king's arrival and success in Normandy, 3 Aug.</note> + +<p>On the 3rd August the regent forwarded to the +city a copy of a letter he had received from the king, +giving an account of his passage to Normandy and +of the capture of various towns, and among them of +Caen. There he had discovered a document of no +little importance. This was none other than an<pb n="192" /><anchor id="Pg192" /> +agreement made in 1338, whereby Normandy had +bound itself to assist the king of France in his proposed +invasion and conquest of England.<note place="foot"><p>Murimuth (Rolls Series), pp. 205-211.</p></note> This +document the king transmitted to England by the +hands of the Earl of Huntingdon, who was returning +invalided, and it was publicly read in St. Paul's +Churchyard, with the view of stirring the citizens to +fresh exertions in prosecuting the war. The king's +own letter was also publicly read in the Husting by +the regent's order.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 120b.</p></note> The City was exhorted to have +in readiness a force to succour the king, if need be. +Every effort was made to raise money, and the regent +did not hesitate to resort to depreciation of the coinage +of the realm in order to help his father. The City +made a free gift to the king of 1,000 marks and lent +him 2,000 more.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 121-125b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The battle of Creçy, 26 Aug., 1346.</note> + +<p>On the 26th August the battle of Creçy was won +against a force far outnumbering the English army. +The victory was due in large measure to the superiority +of the English longbow over the crossbow used +by the Genoese mercenaries; but it was also a victory +of foot soldiers over horsemen. The field of Bannockburn +had shown how easy a thing it was for a body +of horsemen to crush a body of archers, if allowed to +take them in the flank, whilst that of Halidon Hill +had more recently taught the king, from personal +experience, that archers could turn the tide of battle +against any direct attack, however violent. Edward +profited by the experience of that day. He not only +protected the flank of his archers, but interspersed +among them dismounted horsemen with levelled<pb n="193" /><anchor id="Pg193" /><index index="toc" level1="SURRENDER OF CALAIS." /> +spears, the result being that the French were driven +off the field with terrible slaughter.</p> + +<note place="margin">Siege and surrender of Calais, 1346-1347.</note> + +<p>Flushed with victory Edward proceeded to lay +siege to Calais. His forces, which had been already +greatly reduced on the field of Creçy, suffered a further +diminution by desertion. The mayor and sheriffs of +London were ordered to seize all deserters, whether +knights, esquires, or men of lower order, found in +the city, and to take steps for furnishing the king +with fresh recruits and store of victuals.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 127, 127b, 130.</p></note> By Easter +of the following year, the City was called upon to +furnish two vessels towards a fleet of 120 large ships, +which the council had decided to fit out. All ships +found in the port of London were pressed into the +king's service.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 132b-133b.</p></note></p> + +<p>In July (1347) the king was in need of more +recruits and provisions.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 139, 140.</p></note> Calais still held out, although +both besiegers and besieged were reduced to sore +straits. At last it surrendered (4 Aug.). Edward +spared the lives of its principal burgesses at the intercession +of his queen, but he cleared the town of +French inhabitants, and invited Londoners and others +to take up their abode there, offering them houses at +low rents and other inducements.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 140 b.</p></note> A truce with +Philip was agreed on, and Edward returned home. +For a time England was resplendent with the spoils +of the French war—"A new sun seemed to shine," +wrote Walsingham.<note place="foot"><p>Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series No. 28), i, 272. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Chron. Angliæ +(Rolls Series No. 64). p. 26.</p></note> Every woman of position went +gaily decked with some portion of the plunder of the<pb n="194" /><anchor id="Pg194" /> +town of Caen or Calais; cupboards shone with silver +plate, and wardrobes were filled with foreign furs and +rich drapery of continental workmanship. The golden +era was of short duration.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Black Death, 1348-1349.</note> + +<p>In August, 1348, the pestilential scourge, known +as the Black Death,<note place="foot"><p>It was the first of the three pestilences (the others occurring in +1361 and 1369) which served occasionally as land marks in history for +dating conveyances and other records.—See Bond's Handy-book for +verifying dates, p. 311.</p></note> appeared in England, and reached +London in the following November. The number of +victims it carried off in the city has been variously +computed,<note place="foot"><p>Stow extravagantly conjectures that no less than 50,000 perished +within a year, all of whom were buried in Walter Manny's cemetery, +near the Charterhouse. Another chronicler states that 200 were buried +there alone between February and April, 1349.—Avesbury (Rolls +Series No. 93), p. 407.</p></note> but all conjectures of the kind must be +received with caution. All that is known for certain +is that the mortality caused a marked increase in the +number of beggars, and, at the same time, raised the +price of labour and provisions within the city's walls +to such a degree that measures had to be taken to +remedy both evils.<note place="foot"><p>Whilst the king forbade the encouragement of beggars by gifts +of charity, the municipal authorities fixed the price of labour.—Letter +Book F. fos. 163, 168, 169, 181. At the close of the year (1349) +a statute—known as the Statute of Labourers—was passed, fixing the +scale of wages at the rate prevalent before the Black Death, and ordering +punishment to be inflicted on those who demanded more.</p></note> Besides the losses by death, the +population of the city and the country generally was +sensibly diminished by the flight of numbers of inhabitants +to the continent, with the hope of escaping +the ravages of the plague. The king's treasury +threatened soon to become empty, and the country +left defenceless, if this were allowed to go on unchecked; +he therefore ordered the sheriffs of London +to see that no men-at-arms, strangers or otherwise, left<pb n="195" /><anchor id="Pg195" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BLACK DEATH." /> +the kingdom, with the exception of well-known merchants +or ambassadors, without the king's special +order.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fo. 168.</p></note> Pilgrimages to Rome or elsewhere were made +an excuse for leaving England, at a time when the +king's subjects could ill be spared. The king endeavoured +to limit this drain upon the population of +the kingdom by allowing none to cross the sea +without his special licence. The city authorities having +negligently executed his orders in this respect, received +a rebuke in October, 1350, and were told to be more +strict in their observance for the future.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 191b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A fresh truce with France, commencing 13 June, 1350.</note> + +<p>On the night which ushered in New Year's day, +1350, an abortive attempt had been made by the +French to recapture Calais. This ill success rendered +Philip the more willing to agree to a further prolongation +of the truce with England. Notification of this +cessation of hostilities was duly sent to the sheriffs of +London.<note place="foot"><p>By writ, dated 1 July. Letter Book F, fo. 185b.</p></note> Before the truce had come to an end +Philip of Valois had ceased to live, and had been succeeded +on the throne of France by John II.</p> + +<note place="margin">Measures taken for the suppression of piracy, July, 1350.</note> + +<p>The city had scarcely recovered from the ravages +of the late pestilence, before it was called upon (24 +July, 1350) to furnish two ships to assist the king +in putting down piracy. These were accordingly +fitted out; the ship of Andrew Turk being furnished +with 40 men-at-arms and 60 archers, whilst that of +Goscelin de Cleve had on board 30 men-at-arms and +40 archers.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 187b, 188b.</p></note> With their aid, Edward succeeded in +utterly defeating a Spanish fleet which had recently +inflicted much damage on the Bordeaux wine fleet,<pb n="196" /><anchor id="Pg196" /> +and capturing 24 large ships laden with rich merchandise.<note place="foot"><p>Avesbury (Rolls Series No. 93), p. 412.</p></note> +The citizens had further to submit to a +tax on wool and wine, in order to maintain the king's +vessels engaged in putting down piracy.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book F, fos. 174, 176.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Charter relative to the City's gold mace, 10 June, 1354.</note> + +<p>In 1354 an exception was made by special +charter of the king in favour of the City of London, +and its sergeants were permitted to carry maces of +gold or silver, or plated with silver, and bearing the +royal arms. Ten years before the commons of +England had petitioned the king (<hi rend="font-style: italic">inter alia</hi>) not to +allow any one to carry maces tipped with silver in +city or borough, except the king's own officers. All +others were to carry maces tipped with copper only +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">virolez de cuevere</hi>), with staves of wood as formerly. +The petition was granted saving that the sergeants +of the City of London might carry their mace within +the liberties of the city and before the mayor in the +king's presence.<note place="foot"><p>Rot. Parl., ii, 155.</p></note> This same year (1354), moreover, +the king with the assent of parliament had again +forbidden the carrying of gold or silver maces. +Thenceforth, maces were to be of iron, brass or +tin, or staves tipped with latten, and not to bear +representations of the royal arms, but the arms or +signs of the city using them. Again exception was +made in the case of London; two sergeants of the +City as well as of the City of York being permitted to +carry gold or silver maces, but they were not to be +surmounted with the royal arms. This led to a +humble remonstrance from the whole body of the +citizens of London, presented to the chancellor and<pb n="197" /><anchor id="Pg197" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BATTLE OF POITIERS." /> +the council by their mayor, Adam Fraunceys, and +within a month the charter above mentioned was +granted. That the charter originated or authorized +the title of "Lord" Mayor, as some have supposed, +is extremely improbable.</p> + +<note place="margin">Renewal of war with France, 1355.</note> + +<p>In 1355, all efforts to convert the truce into a +final peace having failed, war with France was renewed. +Edward was soon called home by fresh +troubles in Scotland. Having recovered Berwick, +which had been taken by surprise, and formally received +the crown of Scotland from Edward Baliol, he +prepared to rejoin his son, the Black Prince, in France, +and in March, 1356, ordered the city to furnish him +with two vessels of war.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 47.—Their cost, amounting to nearly £500, was +assessed on the wards.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Battle of Poitiers, 19 Sept., 1356</note> + +<p>News of the battle of Poitiers (19 September, +1356), and of the defeat and capture of the French +king, was received in the city by letter from the +Prince of Wales, dated 22nd October.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 53b. (Memorials, pp. 285-289).</p></note> Again the +English longbow, combined with superior tactics, +gained the day. The prince, on his return, made a +triumphal entry into the city, passing over London +Bridge on his way to Westminster, with the captive +king and the king's son in his train.<note place="foot"><p>Walshingham (Rolls Series No. 28), i, 283. Chron. Angliæ +(Rolls Series No. 64), p. 37.</p></note> The streets +were almost impassable for the multitude that +thronged them; and for the moment the citizens forgot +at what cost to themselves the victory had been +gained. A truce—a welcome truce—for two years +followed.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fos. 65-67.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="198" /><anchor id="Pg198" /> + +<note place="margin">Grievances of the city laid before the king.</note> + +<p>Only a few weeks before the prince's return the +citizens had laid before the king a list of their +grievances and prayed for redress.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 60.</p></note> They had complained +of being charged taxes and talliages in excess +of any other of the commons. They had lent the +king at Dordrecht no less a sum than £60,000, and +had incurred further loss by the discrepancy between +the weight for weighing wool at Dordrecht and that +of England. They had lent the king further sums of +£5,000 and £2,000 on two separate occasions, which +had not been repaid. The sum of £40,000 had been +advanced to the king's merchants at Calais and elsewhere, +and this, together with other sums lent +(amounting to over £30,000), was still outstanding to +the grievous hurt of many citizens. They had, moreover, +been called upon to undergo more charges than +others with respect to the king's expeditions to Scotland, +Flanders and France, and in providing men-at-arms, +archers and ships, in aid of his wars. Nor did +their complaints stop here. The king's purveyors had +been accustomed to seize the carriages, victuals and +merchandise of citizens without offering payment for +the same, in direct contravention of the king's first +charter to the city. Owing, moreover, to deaths by +the plague, so much property had come into mortmain +that the city had become impoverished, and +one-third part of it rendered void of inhabitants. +These points they had desired the king to consider, +inasmuch as the city had always been loyal and peaceful, +setting an example to the whole country. The +petition wound up with the usual complaint against +the privileges allowed foreign merchants, and a request<pb n="199" /><anchor id="Pg199" /><index index="toc" level1="THE PEACE OF BRETIGNY." /> +that the king would grant them letters patent under +the great seal, such as they might show to the purveyors +whenever they attempted to take anything +without payment.<note place="foot"><p>Relief on this point was afforded by the king in February, 1359, +by the issue of a writ to the effect that the names of his purveyors +should be handed to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, and that the +purveyors shall not seize any victuals until they had shown and read +their commission.—Letter Book G, fo. 74.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's last invasion of France, 1359-1360.</note> + +<p>After the expiration of the truce Edward again +set out for France. That country, however, had +suffered so much during the last two years at the +hands of freebooters, that Edward experienced the +greatest difficulty in finding sufficient provisions for +his army. Whilst he was traversing France in search +of a force with which to try conclusions in the field, +a Norman fleet swept down upon the south coast and +sacked Winchelsea. The news of this disaster so +incensed the king that he determined to march direct +on Paris. The Londoners, in the meantime, assisted +in fitting out a fleet of eighty vessels, manned with +14,000 men, including archers, in order to wipe out +this disgrace, but the enemy contrived to make good +their escape.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, i, 288.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The peace of Bretigny, 1360.</note> + +<p>At length Edward was induced to accede to the +terms offered by France, and the peace of Bretigny +was concluded (8th May, 1360). The terms were +very favourable to England, although Edward consented +to abandon all claim to the French crown. +King John was to be ransomed, but the price set on +his release was so high that some years elapsed before +the money could be raised, and then only with the +assistance of a few of the livery companies of the city,<pb n="200" /><anchor id="Pg200" /> +which showed their sympathy with the captured king +by contributing to the fund being raised for the purpose +of restoring him to liberty.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 133.</p></note> It was John's high +sense of honour that kept him in captivity in England +until his death in 1364. He had in fact been liberated +and allowed to return to France soon after the conclusion +of peace, on payment of part of his ransom, +hostages being accepted for payment of the remainder. +In 1363 one of the hostages broke his pledge and fled, +and John, shocked at such perfidy, returned Regulus-like +to England. Hence it was that he appears as one +of the four kings whom Picard, the mayor, entertained +that same year at a banquet, followed by play at dice +and hazard.<note place="foot"><p>Stow's Survey (Thom's ed. 1876), pp. 41, 90.—If we include +David, King of Denmark (as some do), the number of kings entertained +on this occasion was five, and to this day the toast of "Prosperity to +the Vintners' Company" is drunk at their banquets with five cheers in +memory of the visit of the five crowned heads.—See a pamphlet entitled +<hi rend="font-style: italic">The Vintners' Company with Five</hi>, by B. Standring, Master of the +Company in 1887.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">England at peace, 1360-1369.</note> + +<p>The citizens now enjoyed a period of leisure which +they were not slow to turn to account. The years +which followed the peace of Bretigny, until war broke +out afresh in 1369, witnessed the re-organisation of +many of the trade and craft guilds. Some of these, +like the Goldsmiths, the Tailors or Linen-Armourers, +and the Skinners, had already obtained charters from +Edward soon after his accession, so had also the Fishmongers, +although the earliest extant charter of the +company is dated 1363. The Vintners date their +chartered rights from the same year; the Drapers from +1364; whilst the more ancient company of Weavers +obtained a confirmation of their privileges in 1365.<pb n="201" /><anchor id="Pg201" /><index index="toc" level1="RENEWAL OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE." /> +Minor guilds, like the Founders, the Plumbers, the +Fullers and others, had to content themselves with +the recognition of their ordinances by the civic +authorities alone between 1364 and 1369.</p> + +<p>The king's favour was purchased in 1363 by a +gift of nearly £500, to which the livery companies +largely contributed.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 133.—The list of subscribers, as printed in +Herbert's Introduction to his History of the Twelve Great Livery +Companies (p. 32), is very inaccurately transcribed.</p></note> The amount of each subscription +varied from half-a-mark to £40, the latter sum being +contributed by the Mercers, the Fishmongers, the +Drapers, and the Skinners respectively. The Tailors +subscribed half that amount, being outdone by the +Vintners, who contributed £33 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi></p> + +<note place="margin">The renewal of the war, 1369.</note> + +<p>With the renewal of the war, a change comes over +the pages of the City's annals. The London bachelor +and apprentice is drawn off from his football and +hockey, with which he had beguiled his leisure hours, +and bidden to devote himself to the more useful pursuits +of shooting with arrow or bolt on high days and +holidays.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 158.</p></note> Once more we meet with schedules of +men-at-arms and archers provided by the City for +service abroad, and of assessments made on the City's +wards to pay for them.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 225b, 226b, 235b, 236b.</p></note> Every inducement in the +shape of plunder was held out to volunteers for enlistment, +and public proclamation was made to the effect +that the spoils of France should belong to the captors +themselves.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 228b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City loans, 1370-1371.</note> + +<p>It was an easier matter for the City to provide the +king with money than men. In 1370 it advanced a<pb n="202" /><anchor id="Pg202" /> +sum of £5,000,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 247b.—The money was advanced on the +security of Exchequer bills. The names of the contributors and the +several sums contributed, covering three folios of the Letter Book, have +been for some reason erased.</p></note> and in the following year a further +sum of £4,000, and more was subscribed by the +wealthier citizens, among whom were William Walworth, +who contributed over £200, Adam Fraunceys, +Simon de Mordon, and others.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 263, 270.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">New form of taxation, 1371.</note> + +<p>Still the expenses of the war exceeded the supply +of money, and resort was had to a new form of +taxation, by which it was hoped that a sum of +£50,000 might be realised. By order of parliament, +made in March, 1371, the sum of 22<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 3<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> was to be +levied on every parish in the kingdom, the number +of parishes being reckoned as amounting to 40,000. +It soon became apparent that the number of existing +parishes throughout the country had been grossly +miscalculated. There were not more than 9,000, and +the amount of assessment had to be proportionately +raised. It was necessary to summon a council at +Westminster in June, to remedy the miscalculation +that had been made in March. Half of the representatives +of the late parliament were summoned to meet +the king, and among them two of the city's members, +Bartholomew Frestlyng and John Philipot—"the +first Englishman who has left behind him the reputation +of a financier."<note place="foot"><p>Fasciculi Zizaniorum (Rolls Series No. 5), introd., p. xxviii.</p></note> The mistake was rectified, +the charge of 22<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 3<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> was raised to 116<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> and the city +was called upon to raise over £600.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fos. 274b-275.</p></note></p> + +<p>In the meantime the civic authorities had, in +answer to the king's writ,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 268.</p></note> prepared a return of the<pb n="203" /><anchor id="Pg203" /><index index="toc" level1="ASSESSMENT ON CITY PARISHES." /> +number of parish churches, chapels and prebends +within the city.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fos. 268b, 270.</p></note> It was found that within the city +and suburbs there were 106 parish churches<note place="foot"><p>The number of parishes is elsewhere given as 110.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 275. +A list of London benefices, under date 31 Edward I [1302-3], is given +in the City's Liber Custumarum (i, 228-230), the number being 116.</p></note> and +thirty prebends, but only two of the latter were within +the liberties. There was also the free chapel of St. +Martin's-le-Grand, which embraced eleven prebends, +all within the liberty of the city, and there were, +moreover, two other chapels within the liberty. +Besides these (the return stated) there were none +other.</p> + +<note place="margin">The city as an ecclesiastical centre.</note> + +<p>The bare fact that there existed over 100 parishes, +each with its parish church, within so small an area +as that covered by the city and its suburbs, is of itself +sufficient to remind us that, besides having a municipal +and commercial history, the city also possesses an +ecclesiastical. The church of St. Paul, the largest +foundation in the city, with its resident canons exercising +magnificent hospitality, was a centre to which +London looked as a mother, although it was not +strictly speaking the metropolitan cathedral. That +title properly applies to the Minster at Canterbury; +but the church of Canterbury being in the hands of +a monastic chapter left St. Paul's at the head of the +secular clergy of southern England.<note place="foot"><p>Ralph de Diceto (Rolls Series No. 68), pref. vol. i, p. lvi.</p></note> Besides the +hundred and more churches there were monastic establishments +and colleges which covered a good fourth +part of the whole city. The collegiate church of St. +Martin's-le-Grand almost rivalled its neighbour the<pb n="204" /><anchor id="Pg204" /> +cathedral church itself in the area of its precinct. The +houses of the Black Friars and Grey Friars in the +west were only equalled by those belonging to the +Augustine and Crossed Friars towards the east; while +the Priory of St. Bartholomew found a counterpart in +the Priory of Holy Trinity. The church was everywhere +and ruled everything, and its influence manifests +itself nowhere more strongly than in the number of +ecclesiastical topics which fill the pages of early +chronicles in connection with London.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Edward I and II, introd., vol. i., p. xli.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The prosecution of the war, 1371-1375.</note> + +<p>The war brought little credit or advantage in +return for outlay. In January, 1371, the Black Prince +had returned to England with the glory of former +achievements sullied by his massacre at Limoges, and +the City of London had made him a present of +valuable plate.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 271. (Memorials, pp. 350-352).</p></note> The conduct of the war was transferred +to his eldest surviving brother, John of Gaunt, +Duke of Lancaster. In 1372 the king himself set out +with the flower of the English nobility, and accompanied +by a band of London archers and crossbow +men.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 289b.</p></note> The expedition, which had for its object the +relief of Rochelle, and which is said to have cost no +less than £900,000, proved disastrous, and Edward +returned after a brief absence.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, i, 315.</p></note> In 1373 the city +furnished him with a transport barge called "The +Paul of London." The barge when it left London +for Southampton was fully supplied with rigging and +tackle; nevertheless, on its arrival at the latter port, +it was found to be so deficient in equipment that it<pb n="205" /><anchor id="Pg205" /><index index="toc" level1="PROCEEDINGS OF THE GOOD PARLIAMENT." /> +could not proceed to sea. The only explanation that +the master of the barge could give of the matter was +that a certain number of anchors and cables had been +lost on the voyage. The City paid twenty marks to +make up the defects.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fos. 297, 298, 304b, 306b, 307.</p></note> The year was marked by a +campaign under Lancaster which ended in the utmost +disaster. The French avoided a general action; the +English soldiers deserted, and as the winter came on +the troops perished from cold, hunger and disease. +By 1374 the French had recovered nearly all of their +former possessions. England was tired of the war +and of the ceaseless expenditure it involved. It was +with no little joy that the Londoners heard, in July, +1375,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book G, fo. 312b. Letter Book H, fos. 17-19b.</p></note> that peace had been concluded.</p> + +<note place="margin">Charges against city aldermen, 1376.</note> + +<p>In April, 1376, a parliament met, known as the +Good Parliament,<note place="foot"><p>The parliament was originally summoned for the 12th February, +but did not meet before the 28 April. The city members were John +Pyel and William Walworth, Aldermen, William Essex and Adam +Carlile, commoners.—Letter Book H. fos. 28. 29.</p></note> and before granting supply it +demanded an account of former receipts and expenditure. +No less than three city aldermen were charged +with malversation. Richard Lyons, of Broad Street +ward, was convicted with Lord Latimer of embezzling +the king's revenue, and sentenced to imprisonment +and forfeiture of goods.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ (Rolls Series No. 64), 78, 79.</p></note> Adam de Bury, of Langbourn +ward, who had twice served the office of mayor, was +charged with appropriating money subscribed for the +ransom of the French king and fled to Flanders to +avoid trial;<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham i, 321. Higden's Polychron (Rolls Series No. 41), +viii, 385. Chron. Angliæ (Rolls Series No. 64), pp. 94, 392.</p></note> whilst John Pecche of Walbrook ward<pb n="206" /><anchor id="Pg206" /> +was convicted of an extortionate exercise of a monopoly +of sweet wines and his patent annulled. All +three aldermen were deposed from their aldermanries +by order of an assembly of citizens composed of representatives +from the various guilds and not from the +wards.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 45b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A new system of election by the guilds, instead of the wards, introduced, 1376.</note> + +<p>The guilds, indeed, were now claiming a more +direct participation in the government of the city +than they had hitherto enjoyed, and their claim had +given rise to so much commotion that the king himself +threatened to interpose.<note place="foot"><p>See the king's letter, dated "Haddele" Castle, 29 July, 1376.—Letter +Book H, fo. 44.</p></note> The threat was not +liked, and the citizens hastened to assure him that no +disturbance had occurred in the city beyond what +proceeded from reasonable debate on an open question, +and that to prevent the noise and tumult arising +from large assemblies, they had unanimously decided +that in future the Common Council should be chosen +from the guilds and not otherwise.<note place="foot"><p>The names of the representatives of the guilds forming the first +Common Council of the kind are placed on record.—Letter Book H, +fos. 46b, 47.</p></note> This reply was +sent to the king by the hands of two aldermen—William +Walworth and Nicholas Brembre—and six +commoners, and the following day (2 August) the +king sent another letter accepting the explanation +that had been offered, and expressing a hope that the +city would be so governed as not to require his personal +intervention.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 44b.</p></note></p> + +<p>Not only was the common council to be selected +in future by the guilds, but the guilds were also to elect +the mayor and the sheriffs. The aldermen and the<pb n="207" /><anchor id="Pg207" /><index index="toc" level1="THE COMMON COUNCIL CHOSEN FROM THE GUILDS." /> +commons were to meet together at least once a +quarter,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 46.</p></note> and no member of the common council was +to serve on inquests, nor be appointed collector or +assessor of a talliage. This last provision may have +been due to the recent discoveries of malversation, but, +however that may be, it was found to work so well that +it was more than once re-enacted.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 47, 161; Journal 11, fo. 89.</p></note> These changes in +the internal administration of the city were avowedly +made by virtue of Edward's charter, which specifically +gave the citizens a right to remedy hard or defective +customs.<note place="foot"><p>Charter, dated 26 May, 15 Edward III, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Supra</hi> p. 188.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The old system of election by wards reverted to in 1384.</note> + +<p>The power of the guilds in the matter of elections +to the common council was not of long duration. +Before ten years had elapsed representation was +made that the new system had been forced on the +citizens, and in 1384 it was resolved to revert to the +old system of election by and from the wards.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 173.—The names of those elected by the +wards to the Common Council two years later (9 Ric. II), are inserted +on a cedula between membranes, 15 and 16, of Pleas and Memoranda, +Roll A 27.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proceedings against Alice Perers, the king's mistress, 1376.</note> + +<p>Encouraged by the success which had so far +attended their efforts of reform, the good parliament +next attacked Alice Perers, the king's mistress. Of +humble origin, and not even possessing the quality of +good looks, this lady, for whom the mediæval chroniclers +have scarcely a good word to say,<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, i, 327. Chron. Angliæ, pp. 142, 143. Modern +writers, however, have discovered some good qualities in this lady.—See +Notes and Queries, 7th Series, vol. vii, pp. 449, <hi rend="font-style: italic">et seq.</hi></p></note> nevertheless +gained so complete a mastery over the king as to +favour the popular belief that she indulged in magic. +At length her barefaced interference in public affairs<pb n="208" /><anchor id="Pg208" /> +led to an award against her of banishment and forfeiture. +Upon the dissolution of the good parliament +(6 July, 1376), and the meeting of a new parliament, +elected under the direct influence of the Earl of Lancaster, +who once more gained the upper hand now +that the Black Prince was dead, Alice Perers was +allowed to return.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 130.</p></note> She was again in disgrace soon +after Richard's accession, when her property, much of +which consisted of real estate in the City,<note place="foot"><p>See Hust., Rolls, 95, (130) (13O); 97, (9); 98, (73) (74) +(82); 109, (6) (7) (8); also Will of William Burton—Calendar of +Wills, Court of Hust., London, ii, 301.</p></note> became +escheated, and the citizens of London were promised +redress for any harm she might have done them.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 77b.</p></note> +She was afterwards married to Sir William de Windsor, +who, in 1376, had got himself into trouble over a +disturbance in Whitefriars<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 47b.</p></note>—a quarter of the city +which, under the name of Alsatia, became afterwards +notorious for riots, and as the resort of bad characters. +Towards the close of 1379 her sentence of banishment, +never strictly enforced, was revoked and pardon +extended to her and her husband.<note place="foot"><p>Pat. Roll, 3 Ric. II, part 1.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Charter forbidding free trade to merchant strangers, 4 Dec., 1376.</note> + +<p>In December, 1376, the citizens obtained a charter +from the king, with the assent of parliament, granting +that no strangers (<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> non-freemen) should thenceforth +be allowed to sell by retail within the city and suburbs. +This had always been considered a grievance, +ever since free trade had been granted to merchant +strangers by the parliament held at York in 1335.</p> + +<note place="margin">Hostility between the City and Lancaster.</note> + +<p>The last year of Edward's reign was one of serious +opposition between the City and the selfish and unprincipled<pb n="209" /><anchor id="Pg209" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE DUKE OF LANCASTER." /> +Lancaster. In so far as the duke, with the +assistance of Wycliffe, meditated a reform among the +higher clergy, he might, if he would, have had the +city with him. The citizens, like the great reformer +himself, were opposed to the practice of the clergy +heaping up riches and intermeddling with political +matters. The duke, however, went out of his way +to hurt the feelings of the citizens, by proposing to +abolish the mayoralty and otherwise encroach upon +their liberties.<note place="foot"><p>"Ut de cetero non major, antiquo more, sed capitaneus Londoniis +haberetur, et quod Marescallus Angliæ in illa civitate, sicut alibi, reos +arestare valeret; cum multis petitionibus quæ; manifeste obviabant urbis +libertatibus et imminebant civium detrimento."—Chron. Angliæ, p. 120.</p></note> Not content with this he took the +occasion when Wycliffe was summoned to appear at St. +Paul's (19 Feb., 1377), to offer violence to Courtenay, +their bishop. This so incensed the citizens that the +meeting broke up in confusion. The next day the +mob, now thoroughly roused, hastened to the Savoy +where the duke resided. He happened, however, to be +dining in the city at the time, with a certain John de +Ypre. The company had scarcely sat down to their +oysters before a soldier knocked at the door and +warned them of the danger. They forthwith jumped +up from the table, the duke barking his shins (we +are told) in so doing, and, making their way to the +riverside, took boat for Kennington, where the duke +sought protection in the house of the Princess of +Wales. Thanks to the intervention of the bishop, +who appeared on the scene, the mob did but little +serious harm, beyond ill-using a priest and some of +the duke's retainers whom they happened to come +across.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, pp. 123-125, 397; Walsingham, i, 325.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="210" /><anchor id="Pg210" /> + +<note place="margin">Interview between the king and the citizens to explain matters.</note> + +<p>The civic authorities were naturally anxious as to +what the king might say and do in consequence of +the outbreak, and desired an interview in order to +explain matters. Lancaster was opposed to any such +interview taking place. The London mob had seized +upon an escutcheon of the duke, displayed in some +public thoroughfare, and had reversed it by way of +signifying that it was the escutcheon of a traitor.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, pp. 125, 398.</p></note> +This had particularly raised his anger. Nevertheless, +in spite of his efforts to prevent it, an interview was +accorded to a deputation from the city, of which John +Philipot acted as spokesman. After drawing the +king's attention to the threatened attack on the +privileges of the city, and the proposed substitution of +a "captain" for a mayor, Philipot offered an apology +for the late riot. It had taken place, he said, without +the cognisance of the civic authorities. Among a large +population there were sure to be some bad characters +whom it was difficult to restrain, even by the authority +of the mayor, when once excited. A mob acted after +the manner of a tornado, flying hither and thither, +bent on committing havoc at anybody's expense, even +its own, but, thank God! the duke had suffered no +harm nor had any of his retinue been hurt. The king +having listened to the deputation, assured them in +reply, that so far from wishing to lessen the privileges +of the city, he had a mind to enlarge them. They +were not to alarm themselves, but to go home and +endeavour to preserve peace. On leaving the presence +the deputation met the duke, with whom they interchanged +courtesies.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 127, 128.</p></note> In the meanwhile lampoons on +the duke were posted in the city. The duke became<pb n="211" /><anchor id="Pg211" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN REMOVED." /> +furious and demanded the excommunication of the +authors. The bishops hesitated through fear of the +mob, but at last the Bishop of Bangor was induced by +representations made to him by leading citizens, who +wished it to be known that they did not approve of +such libels, to execute the duke's wishes.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 129.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Another interview with the king at Shene.</note> + +<p>The duke was determined to have his revenge, and +again the citizens were summoned to appear before +the king, who was lying at Shene. This time they did +not get off so easily. The mayor, Adam Stable, was +removed, and Nicholas Brembre appointed in his +place. A fresh election of aldermen took place,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 58, 59.</p></note> and +the City did penance for the recent insult to the duke's +escutcheon by offering, at the king's confidential suggestion, +a wax taper bearing the duke's arms in St. +Paul's. Even that did not satisfy him; nay, it was +adding insult to injury (he said), for such an act was +an honour usually paid to one who was dead! The +citizens were in despair, and doubted if anything would +satisfy him, short of proclaiming him king.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's death, 21 June, 1377.</note> + +<p>One of the last acts of Edward was to restore the +Bishop of Winchester to the temporalities of which +he had been deprived by the duke, and this restitution +was made at the instance and by the influence of +Alice Perers,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 129.</p></note> who within a few weeks robbed her +dying paramour of his finger rings and fled.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 136-137, 142-143.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="212" /><anchor id="Pg212" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER IX.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.</note> + +<p>Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a +deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of +Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as +spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the +country had recently sustained, and recommending +the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the +prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a +reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised +to do, and a few days later the deputation again +waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where +preparations were being made for the late king's +obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king +kissing each member of the deputation, and promising +to be their friend, and to look after the City's +interests as if they were his own.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, pp. 146-149. The chronicler expresses the utmost +joy and astonishment at the sudden change in the duke's manner. It +was (he says) nothing less than a miracle that one who had so recently +demanded a present of precious stones and 100 tuns of wine, as the +price of his favour, should now appear so complacent.</p></note> Formal announcement +of the reconciliation was afterwards made at +Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner +in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of +the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 150, 151.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.</note> + +<p>At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the +"Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the +habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the<pb n="213" /><anchor id="Pg213" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHARD THE "LONDONERS' KING."" /> +reason that he had ascended the throne more by the +assistance of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">bourgeois</hi> Londoner than of the +nobility<note place="foot"><p>"Londonienses præcipue obloquebantur, dicentes jam perpaucorum +proceruin corda fore cum Rege, eos solos sibi fideles esse; quorum +Rex licet ironice, vocabatur a nonnullis proceribus, eo quod ipsi multum +juvissent eum in coronatione sua."—Walsingham i, 370; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Chron. +Angliæ, p. 200.</p></note>—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence +he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. +Great preparations were made in the city to +tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional +splendour. The claim of the mayor and +citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was +discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice +of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that +they might be of service in washing up the pots and +pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. +They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous +arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to +the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to +Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting +wine.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 153.</p></note> This was enough; the Londoners gained the +day, and were allowed to perform their customary +services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold +cup.<note place="foot"><p>Lib. Cust. ii, 467, 468. It appears from the City Records, that +the king's butler in ordinary could claim the office of Coroner of the +city.—See Letter Book H, fos. 68, 77b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.</note> + +<p>Richard was only eleven years of age when +raised to the throne. A council was therefore +appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke +of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were +elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt +retired into comparative privacy. The task of the +council was not easy. The French plundered the<pb n="214" /><anchor id="Pg214" /> +coast,<note place="foot"><p>The Isle of Wight had been surprised and taken, Rye had been +captured, Hastings had been destroyed by fire, and Winchelsea would +have fallen into the hands of the enemy but for the bold defence made +by the Abbot of Battle.—Walsingham i, 340-342; Chron. Angliæ, +pp. 151, 166, 167.</p></note> and the Scots plundered the borders. Money +was sorely needed. The City consented to advance +the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs +of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 76-77, 83.</p></note> +and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a +liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which +was to be collected without delay, on the understanding +that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend +the due application of the money.<note place="foot"><p>Et deputati sunt ad hujus pecuniæ custodiam duo cives Londonienses, +scilicet Willelmus Walworthe et Johannes Philipot.—Chron. +Angliæ, p. 171. Eight other citizens, viz., Adam Lovekyn, William +Tonge, Thomas Welford, Robert Lucas, John Hadley, John Northampton, +John Organ, and John Sely, were appointed collectors of the +two fifteenths.—Letter Book H, fo. 90.</p></note> The two +treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens +of note, namely, William Walworth and John +Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has +already been made.</p> + +<note place="margin">Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.</note> + +<p>Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to +a new charter to the City.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 4 Dec, 1377. Preserved at the Guildhall (Box No. 9).</p></note> Foreigners (<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> non-freemen) +were again forbidden to traffic in the city +among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises +were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance +was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, +caused its main provisions to be published throughout +the city.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 82.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.</note> + +<p>Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate +part in the government of the kingdom. As<pb n="215" /><anchor id="Pg215" /><index index="toc" level1="JOHN PHILIPOT." /> +a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, +after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of +the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the +hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although +these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable +conduct in the execution of their public +trust.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, p. 194: Walsingham i, 367. It was stated before +parliament, in 1378, that Walworth and Philipot had laid out every +penny of the subsidy.—Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 445 note.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.</note> + +<p>The energetic John Philipot soon found other +work to do. The English coast had recently become +infested with a band of pirates, who, having already +made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were +now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a +fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded +in capturing the ringleader,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. Angliæ, pp. 199, 200. Philipot again showed his patriotism +in 1380, by providing money and arms for an expedition sent to assist +the Duke of Brittany.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 266. He died in the summer of 1384.—Walsingham, +ii, 115.</p></note> a feat which rendered +him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke +of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens +showed their appreciation of his character by electing +him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October +(1378).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 95.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.</note> + +<p>The citizens were, however, split up into factions, +one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining +a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst +another, under the leadership of Walworth and John +de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions +were continually plotting and counter-plotting one +against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke +had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of<pb n="216" /><anchor id="Pg216" /> +escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,<note place="foot"><p>"Et idcirco locum illum elegerant præmeditato facinori; ne Londonienses, +si Londoniis fuisset Parliamentum prædictum, sua auctoritate +vel potentia eorum conatus ullatenus impedirent."—Walsingham, i, 380.</p></note> +Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having +connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack +made on the house of the duke's younger brother, +Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and +although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the +earl and his party continued to use threats, and +Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented +to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was +reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), +that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing +for certain that it was for no demerits +of his own, but for the preservation of the +liberties of the city, and for the extreme love +which he bore it, that he had undergone such +labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he +had disbursed.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 101b. (Memorials, p. 427).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.</note> + +<p>In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded +in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. +At present they contented themselves with damaging +the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving +the city <hi rend="font-style: italic">en masse</hi> and withdrawing their custom. The +result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially +to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic +authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city +by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" +was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a +fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the +list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. +Six others, among them being Brembre (the<pb n="217" /><anchor id="Pg217" /> +<index index="toc" level1="A CITY LOAN OF £5,000." /> +earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively +£5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying +from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum +being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of +famous memory.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 109b, 110.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.</note> + +<p>The grants made to the king by the parliament +at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and +recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, +1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. +They were told that the king's necessities +demanded an immediate supply of money, and that +the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility +had consented to contribute. What would the City +do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and +aldermen suggested that the usual course should be +followed and that they should be allowed to consult +the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. +Eventually the City consented to advance another +sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but +any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was +to be taken as a set off.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 107, 108, 109.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The poll-tax of 1379.</note> + +<p>At the session of parliament held in April and +May (1379), the demand for further supply became +so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated +scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten +marks or £6 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> imposed on a duke, to a groat or +four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon +to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, +was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, +£2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted +to less than £700,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 111b, 113.</p></note> and the whole amount levied on<pb n="218" /><anchor id="Pg218" /> +the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short +of what had been anticipated.</p> + +<note place="margin">Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.</note> + +<p>In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence +to the old method of raising money, but +this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again +resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted +was not less than three groats, and was payable on +everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age +of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus +raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 128, 132.</p></note> +The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial +character, and led to serious consequences.</p> + +<note place="margin">The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.</note> + +<p>The country was already suffering under a general +discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck +down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an +indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This +was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one +end of England to the other, not only against payment +of this particular tax, but against taxes and +landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces +with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence +marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers +within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on +the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the +wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, +the rebels, more mad than drunk (<hi rend="font-style: italic">non tam ebrii quam +dementes</hi>), stirred up the populace to make a raid +upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. +This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They +next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards +upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at<pb n="219" /><anchor id="Pg219" /><index index="toc" level1="THE POLL-TAX AND PEASANTS' REVOLT." /> +Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were +gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known +as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At +Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king +himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, +accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on +horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn +vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all +traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, +and having done so returned to the city to take up +his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, +whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's +word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found +Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he +and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest +of the day and the whole of the next were given up +to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets +were choked with corpses. Among those who perished +at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the +deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of +Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to +Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, +and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with +Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part +returned home), an altercation happened to arise between +Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were +about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, +and summarily executed the king's order to +arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal +blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob +became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the +mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, +whence he quickly returned with such a force that the<pb n="220" /><anchor id="Pg220" /> +rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. +The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, +and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but +also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert +Launde.<note place="foot"><p>The story of the insurrection under Wat Tyler, and of his death +at the hands of Walworth, as told in Letter Book H, fo. 133b (Memorials, +pp. 449-451), varies in some particulars from that given by Walsingham +(i, 454-465), and in the Chronicon Angliæ (pp. 285-297).</p></note> The same day a royal commission was +issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the +offenders to account.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.</note> + +<p>Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman +to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in +turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person +entered the city, except those who declared on oath +that they were about to join the king's expedition +against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen +were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their +several wards.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 134b.</p></note> In a list, containing nearly 200 names +of divers persons of bad character, who had left the +city by reason of the insurrection,<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 24, membr. 9.</p></note> there appear the +names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." +The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps +be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of +it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who +led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and +compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, i, 467-484; ii, 23.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Confession made by "Jack Straw."</note> + +<p>"Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, +was induced by promises of masses for the good of his +soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the +rioters, which were to use the king's person as a<pb n="221" /><anchor id="Pg221" /><index index="toc" level1="REFORMS UNDER JOHN DE NORTHAMPTON." /> +stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and +eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout +the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed +to be at the bottom of the insurrection,<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 13.</p></note> were +alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king +of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar +positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor +sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head +was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's +already figured.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, ii, 9, 10.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.</note> + +<p>The discontent which had given rise to the +peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made +by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle +clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among +the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, +and after its suppression the Lollards were made the +object of much animadversion. Their preaching was +forbidden,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 149b, 150.</p></note> and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his +country parsonage, where he continued to labour with +his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until +his death in 1384.</p> + +<note place="margin">Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.</note> + +<p>The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines +of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to +carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real +sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make +use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise +with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, +a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the +mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. +Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies +allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those<pb n="222" /><anchor id="Pg222" /> +above him, nor bending to his inferiors,<note place="foot"><p>"Homo duri cordis et astutus, elatus propter divitias et superbus, +qui nec inferioribus adquiescere, nec superiorum allegationibus sive +monitis flecti valeret quin quod inceperat proprio ingenio torvo proposito +ad quemcunque finem perducere niteretur."—Walsingham, ii, 65.</p></note>—many +reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.</p> + +<p>The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in +their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's +vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they +were, undertook the work of reform within the city's +walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. +The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, +whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to +be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that +could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the +priest was bound to give change for a half-penny +when requested or forego his fee.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 144. (Memorials, p. 463).</p></note> Steps were taken +at the same time to improve the morality of the +city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious +men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits +of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of +having their hair cropt for future identification, and +then conducted with rough music through the public +thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women +to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were +made to abjure the City altogether.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 146b.</p></note> It was during +Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the +citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of +the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or +baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they +were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account +were calculated to defraud the purchaser.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 153-154.</p></note> But,<pb n="223" /><anchor id="Pg223" /><index index="toc" level1="NICHOLAS EXTON, ALDERMAN, DEPOSED." /> +although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, +greater power in the municipal government than now, +we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of +attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the +time being what was really the action of the citizens +as a body corporate.</p> + +<note place="margin">Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.</note> + +<p>In October, 1382, Northampton was elected +mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, +either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 71. From the City's Records it appears that early +in 1383, William Baret was alderman of Philipot's ward (Cornhill); but +in the following year, when Brembre succeeded to his mayoralty, and +the so-called "king's party" was again in the ascendant, Philipot again +appears as alderman of his old ward, continuing in office until his death +(12 Sept., 1384), when he was succeeded by John Rote.—Letter +Book H, fos. 163, 174.</p></note> +His re-election was at the king's express wish. On +the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons +of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to +leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election +of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if +their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first +Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards +consented to serve another year on receiving a written +request from the king.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 155b.</p></note> His hesitation was probably +due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and +Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, +Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had +recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious +words used to Northampton during his first +mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court +of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself +being present, and seeing the turn affairs were +taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the<pb n="224" /><anchor id="Pg224" /> +court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his +office, declaring at the same time that he had offered +a large sum of money to be released at his election in +the first instance. The court wishing for further time +to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting +a similar petition was again presented, but the +court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence +of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next +Common Council. When the court met again, it was +found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment +was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he +was deprived of his aldermancy.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 154.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.</note> + +<p>At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty +(Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas +Brembre,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 168. Three years later, "the folk of the +Mercerye of London" complained to parliament that Brembre and his +"upberers" had on this occasion obtained his election by force—"through +debate and strenger partye."—(Rot., Parl. iii, 225). There +is no evidence of this in the City's Records, although there appears to +have been a disturbance at his re-election in 1384. It may be to this +that the Mercers' petition refers. It is noteworthy that at the time of +his election in 1383, Brembre was not an alderman, although in the previous +year, and again in the year following his election, he is recorded as +Alderman of Bread Street Ward.—Letter Book H, fos. 140, 163, 174.</p></note> and a general reversal of the order of things +took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their +ancient privileges,<note place="foot"><p>Breve quod piscenarii libertatis civitatis Londoniæ exerceant +artem suam ut consueverunt. Dated 27 Nov., 1383.—Letter Book H, +fo. 172.</p></note> and the judgment passed upon +Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon +another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 154-154b, 176-177.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.</note> + +<p>Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed +the City's liberties by charter,<note place="foot"><p>Dated 26 Nov., 7 Ric. II. Preserved at the Guildhall (Box +No. 9).</p></note> which had the assent +of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had<pb n="225" /><anchor id="Pg225" /><index index="toc" level1="PROCEEDINGS AGAINST JOHN DE NORTHAMPTON." /> +besought the newly-married queen to use her interest +with Richard to that end.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 27, membr. 3 dors.</p></note> Her good offices, as well +as the fact that the City had recently advanced to +the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security +of the royal crown and other things,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 166, 167.</p></note> may have been +instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh +confirmation of their rights.</p> + +<note place="margin">Proceedings against Northampton.</note> + +<p>In January (1384) Northampton was bound over +to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 27, membr. 3.</p></note> but in the +following month he was put under arrest (together +with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and +another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and +sent to Corfe Castle.<note place="foot"><p>Writ dated 9 February; Letter Box H, fo. 173b.</p></note> For Northampton's arrest, as +well as for the summary execution of a certain +John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted +of taking a leading part in the disturbance, +Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the +king.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 173b, 174b.</p></note> The riot had one good effect. It roused +public opinion against monopolies and restriction of +trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards +caused the city to be opened freely to all +foreigners <hi rend="font-style: italic">(i.e.</hi>, non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or +other victuals.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 174.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial of Northampton at Reading.</note> + +<p>In August (1384) the opinion of each individual +member of the Common Council was taken on oath, +as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage +of the city if Northampton were allowed to +return; and it was unanimously found that his return<pb n="226" /><anchor id="Pg226" /> +would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 179.</p></note> +Armed with this <hi rend="font-style: italic">plébiscite</hi> the mayor and a number +of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, +attended a council at Reading for the purpose of +determining the fate of Northampton. The accused +contented himself with objecting to sentence being +passed against him in the absence of his patron the +Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him +nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment +in Tintagel Castle.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 179b; Walsingham, ii, 116.</p></note> Another authority<note place="foot"><p>Hidgen, Polychron. (Rolls Series No. 41), ix, 45 <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi></p></note> states +that the mayor brought with him to the council a +man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by +the way, does not appear in the list which the king +forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of +charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far +forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a +liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were +not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in +passing sentence upon him in the absence of the +Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with +anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to +sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, +and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, +and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would +have been earned out but for the timely intercession +of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet +and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer +was granted, and Northampton was condemned to +perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. +Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed<pb n="227" /><anchor id="Pg227" /><index index="toc" level1="NORTHAMPTON CONFINED IN TINTAGEL CASTLE." /> +to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, +John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, +recently arrested, were lodged.</p> + +<note place="margin">Is committed to Tintagel Castle.</note> + +<p>The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any +steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already +been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter +lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, +however, on this score were easily set aside, and on +the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced +to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was +sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la +Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the +king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that +there lives would be spared, but that they would be +imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. +They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; +Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury +to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and +all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of +fishmongers.<note place="foot"><p>"Hæc autem omnia sibi fieri procurarunt æmuli piscarii, ut +dicebabur, quia per illos stetit quod ars et curia eorum erant destructæ."—Higden, +ix, 49.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.</note> + +<p>When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty +in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in +Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always +been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when +Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the +mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, +the occasion being one of those trade disputes so +frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths +and pepperers had come to loggerheads in +St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the<pb n="228" /><anchor id="Pg228" /> +mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the +compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like +Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. +Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and +for his pains got arrested himself.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 92. (Memorials, pp. 415-417).</p></note> It was felt that +the election would be hotly contested and might +lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept +issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who +were not specially summoned,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 182. The names of those specially summoned +are set out in Pleas and Mem., Roll A 27, membr. 15.</p></note> the king took the +precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to +the Guildhall to see that the election was properly +conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a +disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were +afterwards bound over to keep the peace.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 27, membr. 4, 5 and 6.</p></note> It is +said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men +in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that +when he found the election going against him, he +signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were +compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election +was won.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 50, 51.</p></note> Nothing of this appears in the City's +Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the +manner of the day.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 182.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.</note> + +<p>In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and +continued in office until October, 1386, when he was +succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. +This was the fourth and last time Brembre was +mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster +and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the +release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,<pb n="229" /><anchor id="Pg229" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BOOK CALLED "JUBILEE."" /> +More and Northbury, on the understanding that they +were not to come near the City, and Brembre again +took the opinion of the aldermen and commons +severally as to the probable effect of the release of +the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it +was unanimously resolved that danger would result +to the city if Northampton was allowed to come +within 100 miles of it.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 198b.</p></note> The resolution caused much +annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable +and outrageous, and led to some heated +correspondence.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A 27, membr. 26.</p></note> It had, however, the desired effect +of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.<note place="foot"><p>Letters patent of pardon received the king's sign manual on the +3 June, 1386 (Letter Book H, fo. 216), but the prisoners were not +released before April in the following year.—See Higden, Polychron. +ix, 93.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of +mayor, Exton, March, 1387.</note> + +<p>A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's +place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor +raised a commotion by ordering a book called +"Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have +compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better +government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall +yard.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 214. (Memorials, p. 494).</p></note> The cordwainers of London, staunch +supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot +which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a +cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. +The book, said they, " comprised all the good +articles pertaining to the good government of the +City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn +to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices +had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the +annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and<pb n="230" /><anchor id="Pg230" /> +customs of the City.<note place="foot"><p>Rot. Parl. iii, 227, cited by Riley in his "Memorials," p. 494, +note.</p></note> The book had already been +subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre +was mayor;<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 176b.</p></note> it was now utterly destroyed.</p> + +<note place="margin">Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.</note> + +<p>In 1387 efforts were again made to secure +Northampton's release, and this time with success. +On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common +Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in +canvassing the king for the release of Northampton +and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously +resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf +of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to +desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty +to the king even unto death.<note place="foot"><p>This letter, which was dated the 27 April, was delivered to Lord +Zouche at his house by John Reche, Common Pleader, and Ralph +Strode and John Harwell, Sergeants-at-Arms.—Letter Book H, fo. 215b.</p></note> It also resolved to +send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was +at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and +to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had +already given to the citizens, more especially as touching +the release of the prisoners in question.</p> + +<note place="margin">Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.</note> + +<p>On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, +reported to the Common Council assembled in the +upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the +interview with the king. The deputation had been +received most graciously, and the mayor had been +particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the +dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king +and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton +and his friends. The king had replied that he +would take good precautions for himself before he<pb n="231" /><anchor id="Pg231" /><index index="toc" level1="EFFORTS TO OBTAIN NORTHAMPTON'S RELEASE." /> +granted them their liberty;<note place="foot"><p>"Super quo dominus Rex respondit quod licet in sua potestate +fuerat cum ipsis, Johanne, Johanne et Ricardo agere graciose bene +tamen sibi provideret priusquam foret eis graciam concessurus."—Letter +Book H, fo. 215b.</p></note> and with this answer +the citizens had to be content. The answer was an +evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, +that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor +had informed the citizens of the intervention of +Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon +and been restored to his property.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 93.</p></note> His friends remained +still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for +more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard +ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city +against any further entreaties being made to him on +the subject.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 222.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.</note> + +<p>Two days before the order for this proclamation, +the king was informed by letter of the nature of a +fresh oath of allegiance<note place="foot"><p>The oath as set out in the letter to the king differs from another +copy of the oath, which immediately precedes the letter in Letter Book H, +fos. 220b, 221; a clause having been subsequently added to the latter +to the effect that the swearer abjured the opinions of Northampton and +his followers, and would oppose their return within the bounds and limits +set out in the king's letters patent.</p></note> that had been taken by the +mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He +was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what +Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state +and government of the city, since there was no one +better informed than Brembre on the subject.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's reply, 7 Oct.</note> + +<p>To this the king sent a gracious reply.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 222.</p></note> He had +learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of +the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would<pb n="232" /><anchor id="Pg232" /> +continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying +a visit to the city in person. He had heard that +the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he +expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a +mayor they would choose one of whom he could +approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the +mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade +any further entreaties to be made to him touching +Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned +enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. +He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance +with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the +chief witness against Northampton) to the office of +under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment +should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens +were not slow to take the hint about the election of a +new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 223b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Parliament of 1386.</note> + +<p>Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the +country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without +any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had +been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. +A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and +found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, +the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, +the parliament which assembled on the 1st +October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's +ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional +government which ended in a threat of deposition +unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at +the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity +of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated +a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,<pb n="233" /><anchor id="Pg233" /><index index="toc" level1="DISAFFECTION TOWARDS THE KING." /> +whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his +difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have +received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke +into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and +there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. +The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity +in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life +also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to +have anything to do with it.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 150.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Appointment of a Commission of Regency.</note> + +<note place="margin">The Commission declared illegal.</note> + +<note place="margin">Richard applies to the City for assistance.</note> + +<p>Before the end of the session, parliament had +appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, +to regulate the government of the country and the +king's household. This very naturally excited the +wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to +work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In +August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration +from five of the justices to the effect that the +commission was illegal. On the 28th October he +sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk +into the city to learn whether he could depend upon +the support of the citizens. The answer could not +have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th +November, the king paid a personal visit to the city +and was received with great ceremony.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 104.</p></note> On the +following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the +aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their +several wards, to see that they were suitably armed +according to their rank and estate, and to make a +return of the same in due course.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 223b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.</note> + +<p>On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the +king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the<pb n="234" /><anchor id="Pg234" /> +Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice +Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London +knight," with treason.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 106; Walsingham, ii, 166.</p></note> The king retaliated by causing +proclamation to be made to the effect that he had +taken these same individuals under his own protection, +and that no one should harm them save at his +own peril. This protection was extended also to the +king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of +Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.</p> + +<note place="margin">The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.</note> + +<p>On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were +summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult +upon certain matters very weighty (<hi rend="font-style: italic">certeines +treschargeauntes matirs</hi>).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 223b. (Memorials, p. 449.)</p></note> The City's archives contain +no record of what took place at the interview, but it +appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain +how many men-at-arms the city would be likely +to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by +the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were +merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for +the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway +asked the king's permission to resign his office.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 108-109.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard obliged to submit.</note> + +<note place="margin">Flight of the accused.</note> + +<p>Finding that he could not rely on any assistance +from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as +fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and +at another time with the king<note place="foot"><p>"Londonienses ... mobiles erant ut arundo, et nunc cum +Dominis, nunc cum Rege, sentiebant, nusquam stabiles sed fallaces."—Hist. +Angliæ, ii, 161.</p></note>—Richard was driven +to temporise. He had already promised that in the +next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be +called to account, but long before parliament met<pb n="235" /><anchor id="Pg235" /><index index="toc" level1="THE LORDS APPELLANT IN THE CITY." /> +(3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made +good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone +was taken.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 108; Walsingham, ii, 169.</p></note> He had anticipated the blow by making +over all his property at home and abroad to certain +parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no +doubt, upon a secret trust.<note place="foot"><p>Pleas and Mem., Roll A, membr. 7.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the +citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave +Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would +be safer there, and less subject to the dominating +influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of +Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected +to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. +As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, +from having been associated in appealing against +Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened +to London, and drawing up their forces outside +the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some +little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, +defending his action to the king by declaring that they +were his true liege men and friends of the realm.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 111-114; Walsingham, ii, 170, 171; Engl. Chron. +(Camd. Soc. No. 64), p. 5.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.</note> + +<p>On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at +the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the +Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The +Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of +allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, +deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement +of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been +indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some<pb n="236" /><anchor id="Pg236" /> +among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, +but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could +not say. That would be decided by parliament. In +the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the +trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one +body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. +The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the +proffered mediation.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 117, 118.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.</note> + +<p>When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable +indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against +the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone +appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up +by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to +answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged +against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's +advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his +cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole +company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, +flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they +"seemed like snow on a winter's day."<note place="foot"><p>Howell's State Trials, i, 115.</p></note> But the +lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such +a case. When the trial was resumed on the following +day, so much opposition arose between the king, who +spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, +that it was decided to leave the question of the +prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, +who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority +of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. +Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The +lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts +of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even<pb n="237" /><anchor id="Pg237" /> +so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At +last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of +the aldermen (<hi rend="font-style: italic">seniores</hi>) to learn what they had to say +about the accused.</p> + +<note place="margin">Conviction and sentence of death.</note> + +<p>One would have thought that with Nicholas +Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, +Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if +he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, +however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as +to their <hi rend="font-style: italic">opinion</hi> (not as to their knowledge), whether +Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they +gave it as their <hi rend="font-style: italic">opinion</hi> that Brembre was more +likely to have been cognisant of them than not. +Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him +how stood the law in such a case? To which he +replied, that a man who knew such things as were +laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to +reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as +this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, +and condemned to be executed.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 168.</p></note> He was drawn on a +hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself +very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray +for him. At the last moment he confessed that his +conduct towards Northampton had been vile and +wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's +son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner +cutting his throat, he died."<note place="foot"><p>State Trials, i, 118, 119.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.</note> + +<p>If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of +Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman +and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving +at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which<pb n="238" /><anchor id="Pg238" /> +involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is +recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force +at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and +massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to +effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having +entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number +of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head +of the government of the city, the name of which he +proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 165-174.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.</note> + +<p>Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured +during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, +and hanged on the 19th. Another to share +the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one +of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was +sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, +and died asseverating to the last that he had done +Northampton no injury, but that every word he had +deposed against him the year before was absolutely +true.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 167-169.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.</note> + +<p>The lords appellant, who were now complete +masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings +of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents +called it, being ratified by oath administered to +prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as +to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every +town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a +writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the +administration of this oath to those aldermen and +citizens of London who had not been present in +parliament when the oath was administered there.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 228.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="239" /><anchor id="Pg239" /><index index="toc" level1="RE-APPEARANCE OF NORTHAMPTON." /> + +<note place="margin">Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the continued jealousy existing +among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, +Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and +Vintners taking any part in the government of the +city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as +such forbidden by an ordinance passed when +Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal +office<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo, 161.</p></note>—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free +trade throughout the kingdom.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.,</hi> fo. 126; Higden ix, 179.</p></note> A party in the city +tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the +mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at +the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. +The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in +office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., +1388).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fos. 234, 234b.</p></note> Although Twyford belonged to the party of +Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre +and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, +such as had been anticipated. When he went out of +office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the +city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens +voted William Venour, a grocer, into the +mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by +the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who +ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam +Bamme, a goldsmith.<note place="foot"><p>Higden ix, 217.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.</note> + +<p>Some months before the close of Twyford's +mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his +independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by +Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence +abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, +by permitting him once more to return to London,<pb n="240" /><anchor id="Pg240" /> +although only as a stranger.<note place="foot"><p>Higden ix, 238, 239.</p></note> This was in July. +In December, letters patent granting him a free +pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.<note place="foot"><p>Letters patent, date, 2 Dec, 1390.—Letter Book H, fo. 255; +Higden ix, 243.</p></note> +His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived +the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had +succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient +to forbid all discussion of the rights and the +wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and +Brembre on pain of imprisonment.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 259. (Memorials, p. 526.).</p></note> Four more +years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in +the freedom of the city.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 300.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.</note> + +<p>For some years Richard governed not unwisely. +In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early +in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose +property for the last three years was worth £40 in +land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of +knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John +Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and +rents in the city were held of the king <hi rend="font-style: italic">in capite</hi> as +fee burgage at a fee farm (<hi rend="font-style: italic">ad feodi firmam</hi>); that +by reason of the value of tenements varying from +time to time, and many of them requiring repair from +damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value +could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was +impossible to make a return of those who possessed +£40 of land or rent as desired.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 270.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.</note> + +<p>This answer was anything but agreeable to the +king. But he had other cause just now for being<pb n="241" /><anchor id="Pg241" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY REFUSES A LOAN TO RICHARD." /> +offended with the city. Being in want of money, he +had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security +for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on +the plea that they were not so well off as they used +to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the +same privileges in the city as themselves. Having +failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a +Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; +but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so +obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant +by the very citizens who had refused to lend it +to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 270. According to Walsingham (Hist. Angl. ii, 208), +the Lombard failed to get the money from the citizens, who nearly +killed him when they learnt his purpose.</p></note> and +he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the +aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens<note place="foot"><p>The names of the citizens chosen for the occasion are given by +Higden (Polychron. ix, 269, 270), and in Letter Book H, fo. 270.</p></note> of the +City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They +accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, +and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government +of the city being left in the meanwhile in the +hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared +before the lords of the council, when the +chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little +attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and +complained of the defective manner in +which the city was governed.<note place="foot"><p>The reason given in the City Records for the dismissals which +followed is stated to be "certain defects in a commission under the +common seal and other causes."—Letter Book H, fo. 270b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.</note> + +<p>He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, +committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were +likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,<pb n="242" /><anchor id="Pg242" /> +and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest +of the citizens were ordered to return home.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, Polychron. ix, 272; Walsingham, ii, 208-209.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.</note> + +<p>At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, +Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, +and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, +read the king's commissions appointing him +warden of the city and the king's escheator. The +deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, +or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in +office, by the king's appointment,<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 273; Letter Book H, fo. 270b.</p></note> until the end of +the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the +warden and the other by the citizens.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 275b.</p></note> Dalyngrigge +was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden +by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 273.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.</note> + +<p>By way of inflicting further punishment upon the +citizens, Richard had already removed the King's +Bench and Exchequer from London to York;<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 269b; Higden, ix, 267. Walsingham (ii, 213) +suggests that this was done at the instance of the Archbishop of York, +the Chancellor.</p></note> but the +removal proved so much more prejudicial to the +nation at large than to the City of London that the +courts were soon brought back.<note place="foot"><p>"Putabant isti officiarii per hoc non modicum damnificare civitatem +Lundoniæ, sed potius hoc multo majora damna intulerunt regi et +hominibus regni quam jam dictæ civitati."—Higden, ix, 267-268.</p></note> He would even +have waged open war on them had he dared.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 210.</p></note> +Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned +the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 273.</p></note> +and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).<pb n="243" /><anchor id="Pg243" /><index index="toc" level1="FARRINGDON WARD—WITHIN AND WITHOUT." /> +In August the king notified his intention of passing +through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. +The citizens embraced the opportunity of +giving him a magnificent reception, which the king +acknowledged in the following month by restoring to +them their liberties and setting free their late mayor +and sheriffs.<note place="foot"><p>Letters Patent of pardon, dated Woodstock, 19 September, 1392. +Preserved at the Guildhall (Box No. 6).</p></note> The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, +as well as other moneys which the king considered to +be due to him from the city, were also remitted.<note place="foot"><p>Higden. ix, 274, 276, 278; Letter Book H, fos. 271b, 272, 274. +Notwithstanding these remissions, the city was mulcted, according to +Waisingham (ii, 211), in no less a sum than £10,000 before it received +its liberties.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Chron. of London, 1089-1483 (ed. by Sir H. Nicolas, +sometimes called "Tyrrell's Chronicle," from a City Remembrancer of +that name), p. 80.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Municipal reforms, 1393.</note> + +<p>Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens +in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, +effected a reform in the internal government +of the city which the increasing population had +rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within +and Without had increased so much in wealth and +population that it was deemed advisable to divide it +into two parts, each part having its own alderman. +Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew +Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, +whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon +Without. A more important reform effected at the +same time was the appointment of aldermen for life +instead of for a year only.<note place="foot"><p>Stat. 17, Ric. II, c. 13; Letter Book H, fos. 290b, 291.; Bohun, +"Privilegia Londini" (ed. 1723), p. 57.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.</note> + +<p>In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne +of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly +disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing<pb n="244" /><anchor id="Pg244" /> +to her intercession that Richard had restored its +liberties.<note place="foot"><p>Higden, ix, 274.</p></note> Her death removed one good influence +about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of +character.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., ii, 489-490.</p></note> His second marriage in 1396 did not improve +matters. In that year the mayor, Adam +Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the +citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon +them Richard Whitington.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 314.</p></note> He arrested the Duke of +Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, +and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise +doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was +afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; +but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising +money.<note place="foot"><p>Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc. No. 64), p. 12.</p></note> Like Edward II, he borrowed money from +anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional +measures to fill his purse. He made the +nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques +for him to fill up at his pleasure.<note place="foot"><p>"Also this yere (1397-8), by selying of blank chartres, the Citie +of London paied to the kyng a m<hi rend="vertical-align: super">l</hi> li."—Chron. of London (ed. by Sir +H. Nicolas); p. 83.</p></note> These cheques, or +"charters" as they were called, were afterwards +burnt by order of his successor on the throne.</p> + +<note place="margin">The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.</note> + +<p>A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of +Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on +the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," +succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed +upon to return to England and strike a blow for the +recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. +Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune<pb n="245" /><anchor id="Pg245" /> +moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he +made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by +again granting them permission to rule the fish trade +according to ancient custom.<note place="foot"><p>Letters Patent, dat. 9 May, 1399.—Letter Book H, fo. 326. +Richard set sail on the 29th.</p></note> It was too late; they +had already resolved to throw in their lot with +Henry of Lancaster.</p> + +<p>As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th +July) a special messenger was despatched to the city +with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he +hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's +arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go +and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to +send for him," was the resolution of those to whom +the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly +Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in +October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to +meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The +day that Henry entered the city was kept as a +holiday, "as though it had been the day for the +celebration of Easter."</p> + +<note place="margin">Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.</note> + +<p>When Richard heard of Henry's landing he +hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke +with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, +fully armed and horsed.<note place="foot"><p>"Douze cent hommes de Londres, tous armés et montés à +cheval."—Froissart (ed. Lyon, 1559), vol. iv, c. 108, p. 328. In Lord +Berner's translation of Froissart (iv, 566), the number is wrongly given +as 12,000.</p></note> Finding resistance hopeless, +the king made submission, craving only that he might +be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, +bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, +secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover<pb n="246" /><anchor id="Pg246" /> +of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of +misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. +Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he +gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, +were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. +Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and +Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title +of King Henry IV.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="247" /><anchor id="Pg247" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER X.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="DOUBTFUL REPORTS AS TO THE LATE KING'S DEATH." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.</note> + +<p>The sentence passed on the late king proved his +death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and +he died at Pontefract the following year. According +to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. +There were many, however, who believed him to +have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst +others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death +had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the +fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to +public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to +London.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 245, 246.</p></note> This belief that Richard was still alive was +fostered by many, and, among others, by William +Serle. He had been at one time the late king's +chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard +being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting +the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. +Serle was eventually arrested in the north +of England and brought to London, to be executed +at Tyburn.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 262-264. Serle's Christian name is given elsewhere +as John.—Eng. Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 30. The writ +for his execution is dated 5 August, 1404.—Letter Book I, fo. 31b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.</note> + +<p>Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas +Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late +king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the +throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans<pb n="248" /><anchor id="Pg248" /> +Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do +with the plot, which was hatched within the city's +liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. +The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors +were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the +other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 180b. (Memorials, pp. 638-641). Walsingham, +ii, 317.</p></note> +In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, +two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, +endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. +The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. +Bryan had time to escape from the house of William +Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and +his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to +hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed +in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. +Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington +and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, +adding, that the question of identity had become +immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some +time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a +man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to +prison.<note place="foot"><p>City Records Journal, I, fo. 83b. We have now a series of MS. +Volumes among the City's archives known as "Journals" to assist us. +They contain minutes of proceedings of the Court of Common Council, +just as the "Repertories" (which we shall have occasion to consult +later on), contain a record of the proceedings of the Court of Aldermen. +The Letter Books may now be regarded as "fair copies" of the more +important of the proceedings of both Courts.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proceedings against the Lollards.</note> + +<p>In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and +Lollardry had become only another name for general +discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to +suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked +the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these<pb n="249" /><anchor id="Pg249" /><index index="toc" level1="THE STATUTE OF HERESY." /> +"tares" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">lolium aridum</hi>) that had sprung up amidst the +wheat which remained constant to church and king, +and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the +city to use their interest with Richard to the same +end.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book H, fo. 307b. The Lollards are said to have derived +their name from a low German word <hi rend="font-style: italic">lollen</hi>, to sing or chant, from their +habit of chanting, but their clerical opponents affected to derive it from +the Latin <hi rend="font-style: italic">lolium</hi>, as if this sect were as tares among the true wheat of +the church.</p></note> Besides seeking the support of the commonalty +against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the +support of the church, and he had not been long on +the throne before he issued commissions for search to +be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of +all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of +Lollardry (<hi rend="font-style: italic">semen pestiferum lollardrie</hi>).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 125b-132.</p></note> Early in +1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain +and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise +known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was +made in the city, that any one giving information +which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded +with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing +him to be arrested should receive double that amount, +whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or +borough who should take and produce him before +the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, +tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 130b.</p></note> Not only +were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed +to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at +night or before five o'clock in the morning.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ibid.</hi></p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The statute of heresy, 1401.</note> + +<p>Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical +courts could condemn men as heretics, but +they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a +statute was passed this year (1401), known as the<pb n="250" /><anchor id="Pg250" /> +statute of heresy (<hi rend="font-style: italic">de hæretico comburendo</hi>), authorising +the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil +powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing +after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of +being publicly burnt before the people.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 11b.</p></note> It was the +first English law passed for the suppression of religious +opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one +William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.<note place="foot"><p>He appears, however, to have burnt by a special order of the king, +before the passing of the statute.—See Fasc. Zizan. (Rolls Series No. 5), +Introd. p. lxix.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's other troubles.</note> + +<p>Henry had other difficulties to face besides +opposition from the nobles. France had refused to +acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded +the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of +eleven. The Scots<note place="foot"><p>A curious story is told of boys in the streets playing at England +and Scotland at this time, with the result that what began in play +ended in fighting and loss of life.—See Chron. Mon. S. Albani (Rolls +Series No. 28, 3), p. 332.</p></note> and the Welsh were on the point +of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was +imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the +Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a +paltry loan of 4,000 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 16.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.</note> + +<p>As time went on, Henry had to try new methods +for raising money. The parliament which met at the +opening of 1404, granted the king a 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> in the +pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides +20<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> for every knight's fee. The money so raised +was not, however, to be at the disposal of the +king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the +hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of +war (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Guerrarum Thesaurarii</hi>). The names of the<pb n="251" /><anchor id="Pg251" /> +treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John +Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and +Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 27; Chron. Mon. S. Albani (Rolls Series +No. 28, 3), p. 379.</p></note> Three of +these were citizens of note. Hadley had already +served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same +office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst +Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in +1409 and 1417.</p> + +<note place="margin">More city loans in 1409 & 1412.</note> + +<p>It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that +the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 +marks,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 89b.</p></note> to enable him to complete the reduction of +Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had +already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced +a further sum of 10,000 marks.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 113.</p></note> At the beginning of +that year a commission was addressed by Henry to +Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop +of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to +Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late +mayor, instructing them to make a return of the +amount of land and tenements held in the city and +suburbs, with the view of levying 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> on every +£20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the +late parliament.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 108b.</p></note> A return was made to the effect +that it was very difficult to discover the true value of +lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to +absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and +water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, +and the names of men, women and other persons +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum</hi>) mentioned +in the commission were forwarded by them in<pb n="252" /><anchor id="Pg252" /> +the following a, b, c (<hi rend="font-style: italic">in sequenti a, b, c</hi>). What lands +and tenements the "men, women and other persons" +had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 112b.</p></note> +The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City +Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer +Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record<note place="foot"><p>Exchequer Roll, Lay Subsidy, 144-20.—See Archæological +Journal, vol. xliv, 56-82.</p></note> +Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and +the sum paid into the exchequer at 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> for every +£20, under the provisions of the act amounted to +£70 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> The mayor and commonalty of the city +are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents +of an annual value of no more than £150 9<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 11<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, +whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at +£148 15<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 3<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths +appear as the owners of the largest property, +their rental of city property amounting to +£46 10<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 1/2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, the Merchant Tailors following them +closely with £44 3<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 7<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> The Mercers had but a +rental of £13 18<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> whilst the Skinners had +£18 12<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> Robert Chichele, the mayor, was +already a rich man, with an annual rental of +£42 19<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, derived from city property, or nearly +double the amount (£25) with which Richard +Whitington was credited.</p> + +<note place="margin">Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.</note> + +<p>Whitington had already three times occupied the +mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a +king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his +fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election +a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into +the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large<pb n="253" /><anchor id="Pg253" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHARD WHITTINGTON, MAYOR." /> +body of commoners attending the service at the +Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 54. (Memorials pp. 563-564.)</p></note> +The custom which then sprang up continues in a +modified form to this day, the election of a +mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its +origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to +the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found +much favour with the citizens.</p> + +<p>The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing +was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, +and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and +afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of +the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael +in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with +having purchased and presented to the corporation +the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon +Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from +the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted +by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, +and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, +together with the advowsons of the several churches +of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret +Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor +and commonalty of the City of London and their +successors.<note place="foot"><p>License, dated Westminster, 29 May, 12 Henry IV (<hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">A.D.</hi> 1411).—Letter +Book I, fo. 103b. In 1417 the mayor and aldermen ordained +that the rector of St. Peter's for the time being should in future take +precedence of the rectors of all other city churches, on the ground +that Saint Peter's was the first church founded in the city of London, +having been built in 199 by King Lucius, and for 400 years or more +held the metropolitan chair.—Letter Book I, fo. 203. (Memorials, +pp. 651-653.) <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Journal 1, fo. 21b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.</note> + +<p>On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, +whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent<pb n="254" /><anchor id="Pg254" /> +bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,<note place="foot"><p>"Eminentissima turris Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ et pugil invictus +Dominus Thomas de Arundelia."—Hist. Angl. ii, 300.</p></note> +renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured +to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish +this he caused him to be arrested. The bold +defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his +judges, gained additional weight from the reputation +he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless +he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against +him. A formal sentence of excommunication was +passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty +days in the hope that at the expiration of that time +he might be found willing to retract. This, however, +was not to be.</p> + +<note place="margin">Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.</note> + +<p>He contrived to make his escape from prison,<note place="foot"><p>A certain William Fyssher, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">parchemyner</hi> or parchment-maker +of London, was afterwards (1416) convicted of assisting in Oldcastle's +escape, and was executed at Tyburn.—Letter Book I, fo. 181b. (Memorials, +p. 641.)</p></note> +and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a +number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment +was felt at not receiving the assistance +that had been expected from city servants and +apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than +5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, +from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, +had not the king taken precautions to secure the +gates. As soon as it was discovered that the +young king had made ample preparations to meet +attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, +failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty +paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 292-299; Fasc. Zizan. (Rolls Series No. 5), +433-449; Chron. of London (ed. by Sir H. Nicolas), p. 97.</p></note><pb n="255" /><anchor id="Pg255" /> +Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the +number of the persons who were prepared to assist +the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable +City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment +than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest +and other ministers of religion, and this the civic +authorities were determined to rectify as far as in +them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some +sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery +and clapt into prison by ward beadles.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fos. 286-290.</p></note> Nevertheless +the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, +continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes +spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting +and frequenting taverns.</p> + +<note place="margin">The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.</note> + +<p>The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave +rise to another Statute against the Lollards,<note place="foot"><p>2 Hen. V. Stat. i, c. 7.</p></note> by which +the secular power, no longer content with merely +carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by +ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the +initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the +determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand +in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted +against them.<note place="foot"><p>It was not, however, the last occasion upon which parliamentary +action was attempted. In 1422, and again in 1425, the Lollards were +formidable in London, and parliament on both occasions ordered that +those who were in prison should be delivered at once to the Ordinary, +in accordance with the provisions of this Statute.—Stubbs, Const. +Hist., iii, 81, 363.</p></note> He had died a few months before +parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry +Chichele.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.</note> + +<p>Early in the following year (1415) the king made +an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, +if he would come in and make submission before<pb n="256" /><anchor id="Pg256" /> +Easter.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 147.</p></note> Instead of accepting so generous an offer, +Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising +to take place as soon as the king should have set sail +on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes +again appeared on the doors of the London +churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country +for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the +most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 306, 307.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.</note> + +<p>In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone +by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. +Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, +the civic authorities having taken the initiative +according to the provisions of the recent Statute, +and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. +The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and +testified as to the nature of certain books found in +Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the +most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, +who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">quidam inveteratus Lollardus</hi>), adds, with his usual +acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused +had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and +have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on +the occasion when his wife should have gone to +church, after rising from childbed.<note place="foot"><p>Hist. Angl., ii, 307.</p></note> Having been +convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the +prisoner was again delivered over to the secular +authorities for punishment.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fol. 154.</p></note> Both he and his books +were burnt.<note place="foot"><p>See letter from the mayor to the king, giving an account of Cleydon's +trial, 22nd August, 1415.—Letter Book I, fo. 155. (Memorials, +p. 617). Foxe, "Acts and Monuments," iii, 531-534.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="257" /><anchor id="Pg257" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MAYOR'S PRECEDENCE IN THE CITY." /> + +<note place="margin">Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.</note> + +<p>Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in +Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly +declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; +he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself +would soon rise again from the dead.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 327, 328.</p></note> He was sentenced +to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a +sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.<note place="foot"><p>Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 46; Chron. of London +(Nicolas), p. 106.</p></note> +Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and +the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any +historical or political significance.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii., 363, 364.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.</note> + +<p>Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the +old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the +old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making +preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather +to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim +was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces +together at Southampton. On the 10th March he +informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing +over to France to enforce his claim and of his +need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, +comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of +Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, +Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the +Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall +to consider the matter.</p> + +<note place="margin">A question of precedence in the city.</note> + +<p>A question arose as to order of precedence, and it +was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative +in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having +the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his<pb n="258" /><anchor id="Pg258" /> +right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers +on his left.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 150. This "very antient memorandum" of +the Lord Mayor's precedence in the City was submitted to Charles II +in 1670, when that monarch insisted upon Sir Richard Ford, the Lord +Mayor of the day, giving "the hand and the place" to the Prince of +Orange (afterwards William III of England), on the occasion of the +prince being entertained by the City.—Repertory, 76, fos. 28b, 29.</p></note> This question having been settled, the +meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took +place is not recorded in the City's archives. We +know, however, that in June the king pledged his +jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 158b. (Memorials, p. 613).</p></note> and +that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to +set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on +the security of the customs.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 157.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.</note> + +<p>On the 15th June the king, who was then on his +way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic +authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. +He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" +during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing +and saying "Cryste save London."<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron. (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 17), pp. 108-109. +Gregory was an alderman of the City, and an eye-witness of much that +he relates.</p></note> Arriving at +Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to +place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of +Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself +should have set sail. The traitors were seized and +executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king +a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of +the plot.<note place="foot"><p>Letter dated 2nd August—the day on which Sir Thomas Grey, +one of the chief conspiritors was executed.—Letter Book I, fo. 180.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.</note> + +<p>A few days later (12th August) he sailed for +France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he<pb n="259" /><anchor id="Pg259" /><index index="toc" level1="BATTLE OF AGINCOURT." /> +laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, +and it was not until the 18th September that the +town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long +account of the siege and capture to the mayor and +citizens of London, bidding them render humble +thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing +a hope of further success in the near future.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 143. (Memorials, p. 619).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.</note> + +<note place="margin">Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.</note> + +<p>Early in October the king caused proclamation +to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, +esquires and valets who were willing to go with him +to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle +Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of +England, who would pay them their wages. By the +same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men +were invited to take up their residence in +the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses +would be assigned to them, and where they should +enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they +had always been accustomed.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 177.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.</note> + +<note place="margin">The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.</note> + +<p>The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th +October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in +England on or before the 28th, on which day—the +Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, +the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at +the Guildhall according to custom. On the following +day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large +number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage +on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout +thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and +then proceeded to present the new mayor before the +Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City<pb n="260" /><anchor id="Pg260" /> +records to explain that the procession went on this +occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of +marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his +Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, +who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news +which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on +foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others +succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding +in state which had been customary on such occasions.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 159. (Memorials, pp. 620, 622).</p></note> +The reception given to the king by the Londoners on +his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied +a character, that one chronicler declares that a description +of it would require a special treatise.<note place="foot"><p>"Quali gaudio, quali tripudio, quali denique triumpho, sit acceptus +a Londoniensibus, dicere prætermitto. Quia revera curiositas apparatumn, +nimietas expensarum, varietates spectaculorum, tractatus exigerent +merito speciales."—Walsingham, ii, 314.</p></note> On the +16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded +towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor +and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in +their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and +his train of French prisoners through the City to +Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from +the City waited upon Henry and presented him with +the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half +that sum.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of London (Nicolas), p. 103.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.</note> + +<p>During the next eighteen months succeeding the +battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to +making preparations at home for renewing active +military operations. He had intended at midsummer, +1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief +of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently<pb n="261" /><anchor id="Pg261" /><index index="toc" level1="MORE CITY LOANS." /> +delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation +was publicly made in the city by order of the +king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular +knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or +annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton +by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, +for the purpose of joining the expedition.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 178b. Other proclamations on the same subject +are recorded in the same place, most of which will be found in +"Memorials" (pp. 627-629).</p></note> In 1417 +France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry +seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st +February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London +for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms +and archers the City knights could furnish.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 190b.</p></note> In +March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner +for victualling the navy which was to +rendezvous at Southampton.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 188, 188b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City loans, 1417.</note> + +<p>In the same month the City advanced the king +the sum of 5,000 marks,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 191b.</p></note> and in the following June a +further sum was advanced by private subscription +among the wealthier citizens on the security of a +Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the +estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged +with the subscribers on the understanding that they +would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 218b. In May, 1419, the sword was surrendered, +and the security changed to one on wool, woolfells, &c.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, +fo. 227b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.</note> + +<note place="margin">Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.</note> + +<p>On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to +the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the +City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in<pb n="262" /><anchor id="Pg262" /> +Normandy and of his success in making himself +master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 229. (Memorials, p. 654.)</p></note> +To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the +28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the +peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September +an order went forth from the Common Council of +the City that each alderman should immediately +instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds +and warn all soldiers they might come across, to +vacate the City and set out on the king's service +before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 1, fo. 30b.</p></note> +Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the +5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by +letter,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 200b. (Memorials, p. 657.)</p></note> of the capture of Caen, excepting only the +citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by +the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless +relief should have previously arrived for the besieged +from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the +Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke +of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, +notifying the extraordinary success which had followed +the king. So many towns and fortresses had been +taken that the only fear was that there were not +sufficient men to keep guard over them.<note place="foot"><p>Letter, dated Caen, 11 September.—Letter Book I, fo. 200b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.</note> + +<note place="margin">Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.</note> + +<p>In order to keep the English force in Normandy +better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, +who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, +caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all +persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for<pb n="263" /><anchor id="Pg263" /><index index="toc" level1="HENRY'S CONQUEST OF NORMANDY." /> +Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues +on their giving security that the victuals should be +sent to Caen and not elsewhere.<note place="foot"><p>Writ, dated 18th Oct.—Letter Book I, fo. 203.</p></note> Bedford, who was +learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, +had he been allowed to practice in after years, might +have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii, 89.</p></note>—presided +in the parliament, which met in +November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament +granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. +No time was lost in taking measures for collecting +these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners +for the City of London being issued the day +following.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 222.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.</note> + +<p>In Paris matters were going on from bad to +worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the +mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege +to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in +London for reinforcements to join the king, either at +Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fos. 211b, 212b, 217. Proclamations made by the +civic authorities at this time were subscribed "Carpenter"—the name +of the Common Clerk or Town Clerk of the City. The custom of the +Town Clerk of London for the time being, signing official documents +of this kind with his surname alone, continues at the present day.</p></note> This was in +April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the +Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the +mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the +expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 215b.</p></note> from which +latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August +Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them +of his having sat down before Rouen and of the<pb n="264" /><anchor id="Pg264" /> +straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and +more especially of "drink." He begged them to +send as many small vessels as they could, laden +with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could +make their way up the Seine to Rouen.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 216. (Memorials, p. 664).</p></note> In less +than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from +Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing +Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale +and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and +that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising +ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten +of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. +With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the +king's "host" to drink out of.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 216. On the 15th September the question of +payment to the brewers, wine drawers and turners of the cups was +considered.—Journal I, fo. 48. (Memorials, pp. 665, 666).</p></note> In the meantime, the +besieged received no such relief from the pains of +hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, +they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron. (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 17), 1222.</p></note> +The war continued throughout the year (1419), +all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. +Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry +and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to +London. The duke took the opportunity of asking +that the freedom of the City might be conferred on +his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the +citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no +reference to his request.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fos. 236, 236b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.</note> + +<p>On the 17th August the king wrote again to the +mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking<pb n="265" /><anchor id="Pg265" /><index index="toc" level1="THE TREATY OF TROVES." /> +them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," +which they had granted of their own free will, therein +setting a good example to others, and prayed them to +follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should +give them respecting their proffered assistance. The +bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at +Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded +from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 237. (Memorials, p. 674).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.</note> + +<p>The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a +partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this +time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with +England in the hope of avenging his father's death;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 241b.</p></note> +and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, +was content to make peace. By the treaty of +Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited +in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised +as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed +to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 252.</p></note> The +marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the +14th a solemn procession was made in London and +a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the +event.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 335.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.</note> + +<note place="margin">The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.</note> + +<p>On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from +Mant to the corporation of London informing them +of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order +to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being +threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy +had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, +lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition +proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the +siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.<pb n="266" /><anchor id="Pg266" /> +To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty +seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon +his success, and assuring him that there was no city +on earth more peaceful or better governed than his +City of London.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 263.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The queen's coronation.</note> + +<p>On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, +the Guardian of England in the king's absence, +ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the +queen's coronation would take place at Westminster +on the third Sunday in Lent.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 259. According to Walsingham (ii, 336), the +ceremony took place on the <hi rend="font-style: italic">first</hi> Sunday in Lent.</p></note> The king and queen +landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, +and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, +entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome +and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up +their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted +on the day appointed for the coronation to +Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.<note place="foot"><p>Walsingham, ii, 336, 337.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.</note> + +<p>Henry had not been at home six months before +he again left England, never to return.<note place="foot"><p>Parliament voted a fifteenth and a tenth to assist the king in +his necessities; John Gedney, alderman, John Perneys, John Bacon, +grocer, and John Patesley, goldsmith, being appointed commissioners to +levy the same within the City.—Letter Book I, fo. 277b.</p></note> The hopes +that he entertained of reforming and governing his +possessions in France, and his ambition to have +headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have +stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered +the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to +be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near +Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child<pb n="267" /><anchor id="Pg267" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF KING HENRY V." /> +nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor +who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When +the body of the late king was brought over from +France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens +showed it every token of respect in its passage through +London. The streets of the city, as well as of the +borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. +The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied +by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns +and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the +king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar +in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. +Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. +The next day they accompanied the corpse +to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. +Representatives of the various wards were told off to +line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being +marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains +stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in +their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and +chanted the <hi rend="font-style: italic">venite</hi> and incensed the royal remains as +they passed. The livery companies provided amongst +them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city +chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material +or "blanket" (<hi rend="font-style: italic">de blanqueto</hi>), at the "cost of the +commonalty." <note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 1b.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="268" /><anchor id="Pg268" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XI.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">Rivalry between Bedford and Gloucester, 1422.</note> + +<p>At the death of Henry V the administration of +affairs fell into the hands of his two brothers, John, +Duke of Bedford, and Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. +On the 29th September a writ was issued from +Windsor, in the name of the infant on whom the +crown of England had devolved, summoning four +citizens of London to attend a parliament to be held +at Westminster at Martinmas,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 282b.</p></note> and two days afterwards +another was addressed to the sheriffs of London, +enjoining them to make proclamation for the keeping +the king's peace, and authorising them to arrest and +imprison rioters until the king and his council should +determine upon their punishment.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book I, fo. 282b; Letter Book K, fo. 12.</p></note> The precise wishes +of the late king as to the respective parts which Bedford +and Gloucester were to undertake in the government +of the realm are not clearly known, but it is +generally thought that he intended the former to +govern France, whilst the latter was to act as his +vicegerent in England. An attempt to carry out the +arrangement was doomed to failure.</p> + +<p>As soon as parliament met (9 Nov.) it took +into consideration the respective claims of the two +dukes. Bedford had already (26 Oct.) despatched +a letter from Rouen, addressed to the civic authorities,<pb n="269" /><anchor id="Pg269" /><index index="toc" level1="RIVAL CLAIMS OF BEDFORD AND GLOUCESTER." /> +setting forth his right to the government of the +realm, as elder brother of the deceased sovereign +and as the party most interested in the succession +to the crown. Without mentioning Gloucester by +name, he warned the citizens against executing orders +derogatory to himself. He professed to do this, not +from any ambitious designs of his own, but from a +wish to preserve intact the laws, usage and customs +of the realm.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 2.</p></note> After some hesitation, parliament +resolved to appoint Bedford protector as soon as he +should return from France, but that during his absence +Gloucester should act for him.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii, 97.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">An expedition to start for France, 1 March, 1423.</note> + +<p>On the 8th February of the new year (1423), +the sheriffs of London received orders to make proclamation +for all soldiers who were in the king's pay +to assemble at Winchelsea by the 1st day of March, +as an expedition was to set sail from that port for +the purpose of defending the town and castle of +Crotoye. The business was pressing and necessitated a +repetition of the order to the sheriffs a fortnight later +(22 Feb.).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fos. 10, 10b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sir John Mortimer.</note> + +<p>On the 23rd February William Crowmere, the +mayor, William Sevenoke, William Waldene, and +John Fray were appointed commissioners to enquire +into cases of treason and felony within the city; and +two days later they found Sir John Mortimer, who +was charged with a treasonable design in favour of +the Earl of March, guilty of having broken prison.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 15b.</p></note> +He was subsequently convicted of treason both by +lords and commons, and sentenced to death.</p> + +<pb n="270" /><anchor id="Pg270" /> + +<note place="margin">The debts of Henry IV.</note> + +<p>On the 5th June (1423) the hearts of the citizens +were gladdened with the news that they were likely +to be repaid some of the money they had advanced +to the king's grandfather. Orders were given for all +persons to whom Henry IV was indebted at the time +of his decease, and who had not yet received from +his executors a moiety of the sums due, to send in +their bills and tallies to Sir John Pelham and John +Leventhorp, two of the king's executors, sitting at +the Priory of Saint Mary, Southwark, by the Monday +next after Midsummer-day.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fos. 10-18.</p></note> We can believe that +few orders ever met with readier response from the +inhabitants of the city.</p> + +<note place="margin">Gloucester and Beaufort, 1425-1428.</note> + +<p>At home as well as abroad Gloucester soon made +enemies; among them was his own uncle, the Chancellor, +Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, a +wealthy and ambitious prelate. During Gloucester's +absence on the continent, whither he had gone to +recover the estates of his newly-married wife, the +ill-fated Jacqueline of Hainault, Beaufort garrisoned +the Tower with creatures of his own. When Gloucester +returned mutual recriminations took place, and +the mayor was ordered (29 Oct., 1425) to prevent +Beaufort entering the city. A riot ensued in which +the citizens took the part of the duke, and the bishop +had to take refuge in Southwark. The quarrel was +patched up for awhile until Bedford, who was sent +for, should arrive to act as arbitrator.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. London (Nicolas), p. 114; Gregory's Chron. (Camd. Soc., +N.S., No. 17), p. 159; Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 64), pp. 53, 54.</p></note> He arrived in +London on the 10th January, 1426. The citizens, +who had more than once been in communication with<pb n="271" /><anchor id="Pg271" /> +the duke<note place="foot"><p>See two letters from the mayor.—Letter Book K, fos. 18b, 21.</p></note> during his absence abroad, presented him +with a pair of basins, silver-gilt, containing 1,000 +marks. The gift, however, does not appear to have +been so graciously received as it might have been, +for a London alderman records that the donors, for +all their liberality, "hadde but lytylle thanke."<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 160.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">End of the quarrel between Gloucester and Beaufort.</note> + +<p>The two brothers had not met since the death of +Henry V. After prolonged negotiations, a <hi rend="font-style: italic">modus +vivendi</hi> between the parties was arrived at, and +Gloucester and the bishop were induced to shake +hands. Beaufort left England soon afterwards with +the Duke of Bedford, on the plea of making a pilgrimage, +and did not return until September, 1428, +by which time he had been made a cardinal and +appointed papal legate in England. Notwithstanding +his legatine authority being unacknowledged by +Gloucester and others, the citizens received him on +his return "worthily and loyally," riding out to +meet him and escorting him into London.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 162.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Gloucester loses the favour of the citizens.</note> + +<p>Gloucester had always been a favourite with the +Londoners, until his conduct to his Flemish wife, +whom he left behind on the continent to fight her +own battles as best as she could, and the undisguised +attention he paid to Eleanor Cobham, a lady in his +wife's suite, whom he eventually married, estranged +their favour. In August, 1424, the Common Council +had voted the duke a gift of 500 marks; and two +years later—viz., in April, 1426—the citizens raised a +sum, variously stated to have been £1,000 and 1,000 +marks, for the benefit of his duchess.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 2, fos. 22b, 64b (new pagination).</p></note> The female<pb n="272" /><anchor id="Pg272" /> +portion of the community were specially incensed +against the duke, and a number of women went the +length of presenting themselves before parliament in +1427, with a letter complaining of his behaviour towards +his wife. In March of the next year (1428) +the citizens themselves followed suit, and drew the +attention of parliament, through the mouth of John +Symond, their Recorder, to the wretched straits to +which the duchess had been reduced, as witnessed her +own letters. They begged parliament to consider the +best means for recovering for her the lands of Hainault, +Holland and Zeeland, which had always been +places of sure refuge for the English merchant, and +the rulers of which had ever been friendly to the king +of England. The citizens finally avowed themselves +ready to take upon themselves their share in any +undertaking the lords and commons of the realm might +decide upon.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 50b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The siege of Orleans, 1428-1429.</note> + +<p>In the meantime matters had not gone well with +the English in France. In July, 1427, the Earl of +Salisbury came over to London for reinforcements.<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 161.</p></note> +In September of the following year he was able to +inform the City of the success that had attended his +recruited army.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 55b.</p></note> He was then within a short distance +of Orleans, before which town he shortly afterwards +met his death. Bedford continued the siege, but the +town held out until May, 1429, when it was relieved +by the Maid from the little village of Domremi, and +the English army was compelled to retreat.</p> + +<note place="margin">Famine in London, 1429.</note> + +<p>Whilst Bedford was conducting the siege of +Orleans, and Jeanne Darc was meditating how best to<pb n="273" /><anchor id="Pg273" /><index index="toc" level1="RELIEF OF ORLEANS." /> +relieve the town, the citizens of London were suffering +from a severe dearth. At length the Common +Council resolved (22 July, 1429) to send agents +abroad for the purpose of transmitting all the corn +they could lay their hands on to England. The +assistance of Bedford, who had by this time been +compelled to raise the siege of Orleans, was invoked.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fos. 62, 63b; Gregory's Chron., p. 164.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Beaufort joins Bedford in France.</note> + +<p>Bedford had recently been joined by Beaufort, +who had become more than ever an object of hatred +to Gloucester, and had lost to a certain extent the +goodwill of the nation by the acceptance of a +cardinal's hat. He had set out on the 22nd June +(1429), carrying with him a small force which he was +allowed to raise for the avowed object of prosecuting +a Hussite crusade in Bohemia, but which was +eventually sent to France.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 66b; Gregory's Chron., p. 164.</p></note> The question of his +position in parliament and the council, now that he +was a cardinal, was decided by the parliament which +met on the 22nd September.</p> + +<note place="margin">Allowances made to those representing the City in parliament, 1429.</note> + +<p>Members of parliament representing the City of +London had hitherto been allowed a certain amount +of cloth and fur trimming at the City's expense, +wherewith to dress themselves and their personal +attendants in a manner suitable to the position they +held. Those who had from time to time been elected +members appear to have abused this privilege—where +a yard had been given, they had literally taken +an ell—and it was now thought to be high time to +take steps to check the abuse in future. Accordingly +it was ordained by the mayor and aldermen, on the +12th August of this year (and the ordinance met with<pb n="274" /><anchor id="Pg274" /> +the approval of the commoners on the 29th day of +the same month), that for the future no alderman +elected to attend parliament should take out of the +chamber or of the commonalty more than ten yards +for gown and cloak, at 15<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> the yard, and 100<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> +for fur if the alderman had already served as +mayor, otherwise he was to have no more than five +marks. Commoners were to be content with five +yards of cloth and 33<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> for fur. Each alderman, +moreover, was to be allowed eight yards of cloth +at 28 pence a yard for two personal attendants, +and each commoner four yards of the same for one +attendant, if the parliament was sitting in London or +the neighbourhood, and eight yards for two attendants +if parliament was sitting in some more remote place, +"as was formerly ordained during the mayoralty of +John Michell" (1424-5).<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 68b. In 1443 the Common Council agreed +to allow the City members their reasonable expenses out of the +chamber (Journal 5, fo. 129b), but when parliament met at Coventry +in 1459, the City members were allowed 40<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> a day, besides any disbursements +they might make in the City's honour (Journal 6, fo. 166b), +and the same allowance was made in 1464, when parliament sat at +York (Journal 7, fos. 52, 54).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The coronation of Henry VI, 6 Nov., 1429.</note> + +<p>The condition of France necessitated the early +coronation of the young king, whose right to the +French crown had been established by the Treaty of +Troyes. At his accession to the throne of England +Henry VI was but a child of nine months. He was +now eight years old. Before he could be crowned +King of France, it was necessary that he should first +be crowned King of England. Proclamation was +accordingly made that he would be crowned on the +6th November following, and that all claims to services +should be forthwith laid before the lord steward.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 69b.</p></note><pb n="275" /><anchor id="Pg275" /><index index="toc" level1="CORONATION OF HENRY VI." /> +Gregory, to whose chronicle we have had frequent +occasion to refer, writing as an eye-witness, gives +a full account<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., pp. 164-168.</p></note> of what took place at the ceremony +of coronation in Westminster Abbey, and of +the banquet that followed; but omits to mention +that the citizens put in their usual claim, in accordance +with the above proclamation, to serve the king +at the banquet as butler. That the claim was actually +made we learn from other sources.<note place="foot"><p>City Records, Liber Dunthorn, fo. 61b; Letter Book K, fo. 70.</p></note> We also know +that William Estfeld, the recently-elected mayor, +received the customary gold cup and ewer used on +the occasion, which he afterwards bequeathed to his +grandson.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. of Wills, Court of Husting, London, ii, 509.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sets out for France, April, 1430.</note> + +<note place="margin">And is crowned in Paris, Dec., 1431.</note> + +<p>In April, 1430, the young king left England for +France, and remained abroad for nearly two years. +On the 10th November he wrote to the mayor and +citizens, urging them to advance him the sum of +10,000 marks, as that sum might do him more ease +and service at that particular time than double the +amount at another. The letter was dated from +Rouen, where the court afterwards established itself +for a considerable time.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 84.</p></note> On Sunday, the 12th December, +1431, he made his entry into Paris with great +ceremony, and was duly crowned.<note place="foot"><p>A long account of his entry into the French capital, and of the +pageantry in honour of the occasion, is set out in full in the City's +Records.—Letter Book K, fos. 101b-103.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The citizens welcome him on his return, 1432.</note> + +<p>On his return to England early in the following +year, he was met by John Welles, the mayor, the +aldermen, the sheriffs, and more than 12,000 citizens<pb n="276" /><anchor id="Pg276" /> +of London, who rode out on Thursday, the 20th +February, as far as Blackheath, and was there presented +with the following address:—</p> + +<p rend="display"><hi rend="font-style: italic">"Sovereign lord as welcome be ye to your noble +Roialme of Englond, and in especial to your notable +Cite London oþerwise called your Chambre, as ever +was cristen prince to place or people, and of the good +and gracioux achevyng of your Coronne of Fraunce, +we thank hertlich our lord almyghty which of his +endles mercy sende you grace in yoye and prosperite +on us and all your other people long for to regne."</hi></p> + +<note place="margin">The mayor and aldermen present him with a gift of £1,000.</note> + +<p>After hearing the address the king rode to +Deptford, where he was met by a procession of 120 +rectors and curates of the city, in the richest copes, +and 500 secular chaplains in the whitest of surplices, +with whom were a like number of monks bearing +crosses, tapers and incense, and chanting psalms +and antiphons in grateful thanks for his safe return. +Thence the royal cavalcade passed through Southwark +to the city, where pageants appeared at every +turn. The fulsome adulation bestowed upon a lad +scarcely ten years of age was enough to turn his +young brain. Passing through Cornhill and Chepe, the +procession eventually reached St. Paul's. There the +king dismounted, and being met by the Archbishop +of Canterbury and ten other bishops in their pontifical +robes, was led by them to the high altar. Prayers +were said and the sacred relics kissed. The king +then remounted his horse and made his way to his +palace of Westminster, the streets being hung with +tapestry and the houses thronged to their roofs with +crowds of onlookers, and was there allowed a brief +day's rest. On the following Saturday a deputation<pb n="277" /><anchor id="Pg277" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KING'S RETURN FROM FRANCE." /> +from the city, headed by the mayor and aldermen, +went to the palace and presented Henry with £1,000 +of the purest gold, in a gold casket, with these +words:—</p> + +<p>"<hi rend="font-style: italic">Most cristen prince the good folk of youre notable +Cite of London, otherwise cleped your Chambre, besechen +in her most lowely wise that they mowe be recomanded +un to yo<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> hynesse, ant þ<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi> can like youre noble grace to +resceyve this litell yefte yoven with as good will and +lovyng hertes as any yefte was yoven to eny erthly +prince.</hi>"</p> + +<p>The king having graciously acknowledged the +gift, the deputation returned to the city.<note place="foot"><p>A full descriptive account of Henry's reception on his return from +France is set out in the City Records (Letter Book K, fos. 103b-104b). +It purports to be an account sent by John Carpenter, the Town Clerk, +to a friend, and has been printed at the end of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber Albus</hi> (Rolls +Series); <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Gregory's Chron., pp. 173-175.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Gloucester's attacks on Beaufort and Bedford, 1432-1433.</note> + +<p>Beaufort, who had returned home in time for +the coronation, had again set out for France with +the king, and Gloucester took advantage of their +absence to renew his attack on his rival. Letters of +<hi rend="font-style: italic">prœmunire</hi> were drawn up in anticipation of the cardinal's +return, and additional offence was given by the +seizure of the cardinal's plate and jewels at Dover. +On learning of Gloucester's schemes, Beaufort determined +to give up a projected visit to Rome, and to +return home in time for the opening of parliament +(12th May, 1432).<note place="foot"><p>He informed the City of his intention by letter, dated from Ghent +the 13th April.—Letter Book K, fo. 105.</p></note> He desired to learn why he had +been thus "strangely demeened" contrary to his +deserts. When parliament met and the cardinal +asked who were his accusers, Gloucester held his<pb n="278" /><anchor id="Pg278" /> +tongue, and the king expressed his confidence in the +cardinal's loyalty. In the following year (1433) +Bedford appeared before parliament and announced +that he had come home to defend himself against +false accusations. He understood that the recent +losses that had occurred in France were attributed to +his neglect. He desired his accusers, of whom he +shrewdly suspected Gloucester to be one, to stand +forth and prove their charges. Again there was +silence, and the duke, like the cardinal, had to rest +satisfied with the king's assurance of loyalty.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii, 114-117.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Financial reform, 1433.</note> + +<p>The finances of the country were at this time +(1433) in the most deplorable condition. It was +necessary to exercise the strictest economy. Bedford +was the first to set an example of self-denial +by offering to discharge the duties of counsellor at a +reduced salary. Gloucester followed his brother's +example. The archbishops, the cardinal, and the +bishops of Lincoln and Ely agreed to render their +services without payment. Parliament showed its +good will by voting a fifteenth and tenth, but out of +the sum thus realised £4,000 was to be applied to +the relief of poor towns. The amount of relief +which fell to the share of the poorer wards of the +City of London was £76 15<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 6-1/4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, which was +apportioned among eighteen wards. The largest sum +allotted was £20, which went to Cordwainer Street +Ward, whilst Lime Street Ward received the magnificent +relief afforded by the odd farthing.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 137b.</p></note> The +mayor, sheriffs and aldermen were called upon to +attend in person before the chancellor, in April, 1434, +to make oath that they would duly observe a certain<pb n="279" /><anchor id="Pg279" /><index index="toc" level1="CALAIS APPEALS TO LONDON." /> +article (<hi rend="font-style: italic">quendam articulum</hi>) which the late parliament +had agreed to, but what this article was does not +appear in the City's archives.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 138.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The death of Bedford, 14 Sept., 1435.</note> + +<p>Bedford was prevailed upon to remain in England +and undertake the office of chief counsellor, but +differences again arising between him and Gloucester, +which the personal interference of the young king +could with difficulty calm, he again set sail for France +(June, 1434). His career was fast drawing to an end. +Burgundy was intending to desert him as he knew +full well, and the knowledge accelerated his end. +His death took place at Rouen on the 14th September +of the following year (1435).<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 177.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Calais appeals to London for assistance, 27 June, 1436.</note> + +<p>With his death England's supremacy in France +began to decline, and Henry VI was to lose in that +country all or nearly all that had been gained by his +doughty predecessor. The defection of Burgundy +was followed by the loss of Paris. The chief event +of 1436 was the raising of the siege of Calais, which +had been invested by the Duke of Burgundy. On +the 27th June the mayor and aldermen of Calais, +being anxious to get help from the government at +home, and finding that according to precedent they +could only do so through the mediation of the City of +London, addressed a letter to the mayor and aldermen +of London imploring them, as the head of "the +principal of all the cities of the realm of England," to +move the king to send the requisite aid.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 148.</p></note></p> + +<p>In answer to this appeal Henry Frowyk, the +mayor, consulted the livery companies, and by their<pb n="280" /><anchor id="Pg280" /> +advice sent a contingent to the relief of the town.<note place="foot"><p>"And that same yere (1437), the Mayre of London sende, by the +good a-vyse and consent of craftys, sent sowdyers to Calys, for hyt was +sayde that the Duke of Burgone lay sege unto Calis."—Gregory's +Chron. p. 178.</p></note> +The king, too, had been very urgent that the City +should raise a force to oppose "the man who stiled +himself Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders," +whilst he took pains to conciliate such Flemings as +were living in the city and were ready to take an oath +of allegiance.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fos. 160-162.</p></note> Gloucester had been appointed captain +of Calais for a term of nine years, but before he +set sail for its relief the siege had been raised by +Edmund Beaufort, Count of Mortain.<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron. p. 179.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A tax imposed on aliens, 1439.</note> + +<p>An attempt was made in 1439 to bring about a +peace, but it failed, and a new tax—a tax upon aliens—had +to be imposed for the purpose of raising money +in addition to the usual supplies. Every alien householder +was called upon to pay sixteen pence, and +every alien who was not a householder sixpence, towards +the expenses of the country.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K. fo. 183b. The tax was found to be so successful +that it was subsequently renewed. In 1453 it was renewed for the +king's life.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 280b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The penance of Eleanor Cobham, Gloucester's wife, 1441.</note> + +<p>The streets of the city have witnessed few sadder +sights than the penance inflicted on Eleanor +Cobham, at one time the mistress, and afterwards—on +the dissolution of his marriage with Jacqueline—the +wife of Gloucester. The new duchess was aware +that in the event of the king's death her husband was +next in succession to the throne, and was inclined to +anticipate matters. It was a superstitious age, and +the duchess invoked the aid of witchcraft to accomplish +her wishes. In 1441 her operations, innocent as<pb n="281" /><anchor id="Pg281" /><index index="toc" level1="THE PENANCE OF ELEANOR COBHAM." /> +they were in themselves, however bad their intent, +were discovered, and she was condemned to do public +penance followed by imprisonment for life. For three +days the wretched lady was made to walk the streets, +taper in hand and bare-foot (it was November), in the +sight of all the citizens, who were forbidden to show +her any respect, but, at the same time, were ordered +not to molest her.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 3, fo. 103b.</p></note> The latter they were little likely +to do. Nay! on each day as she landed at the +Temple, at the Swan or at Oueenhithe, the mayor +and sheriffs went forth to attend her, accompanied by +members of the livery companies.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of London (Nicolas), p. 129.</p></note> Yet, not a finger +did her husband raise in her defence! He either +could not or would not save her.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's charter to the City, 26 Oct., 1444.</note> + +<p>By charter, dated the 26th day of October, 1444, +the king confirmed the mayor, recorder and certain +aldermen as justices of the peace, and, among other +things, granted to the corporation the soil of the +Thames within the City's liberties.<note place="foot"><p>The validity as well as the effect of this charter (which is preserved +in the Town Clerk's office) has been made the subject of much controversy, +some contending that it is in effect a grant of the soil of the river +from Staines to Yantlet, that being the extent of the City's liberties on +the Thames, whilst others restrict the grant to the City's territorial +limits, <hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, from Temple Bar to the Tower.</p></note> This grant was +not made without some little opposition from the +inhabitants of the neighbouring county of Surrey.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 220b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's marriage with Margaret of Anjou, 22 April, 1445.</note> + +<p>The king was now under the influence of William +de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, by whose intervention a +truce with France had been concluded on the 28th +May of this year (1444), to last until the 1st April, +1446. In order to strengthen the truce, a marriage<pb n="282" /><anchor id="Pg282" /> +was arranged between Henry and Margaret of Anjou. +The princess came over to England early in the following +year, and was married on the 22nd April (1445). +The match was not altogether a popular one; nevertheless, +when Margaret passed through the city on +her way to be crowned at Westminster, she was received +"in the most goodly wise, with alle the +citezines on horseback ridyng ayenst hir to the +Blackheth in blew gownes and rede hodes."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of London (Nicholas), p. 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Jack Cade's rebellion, 1450.</note> + +<p>The truce was renewed, and Suffolk increased in +popularity. After the deaths of Gloucester and +Cardinal Beaufort, within a few weeks of each other, +in 1447, he became the king's chief adviser, and continued +to be so until the loss of the French provinces +three years later (1450) raised so much opposition +against him that the king was compelled to order his +banishment. This was not thought a sufficient +punishment by his enemies, and he was taken on the +high seas and brutally murdered (2 May). After his +death an attack was made on his supporters. Again +the men of Kent rose in revolt; this time under the +leadership of an Irish adventurer—Jack Cade—who +called himself Mortimer, and gave out that he was an +illegitimate son of the late Earl of March. They +mustered on Blackheath 30,000 strong (1 June), and +then awaited the king's return from Leicester, where +parliament had been sitting. Henry on his arrival +sent to learn the reason of the gathering, and in +reply received a long list of grievances which the +rebels intended to amend.<note place="foot"><p>See "Historical Memoranda," by Stow, printed in "Three +Fifteenth Cent. Chron." (Camd. Soc., N.S., No. 28), pp. 94-99.</p></note> Notwithstanding the<pb n="283" /><anchor id="Pg283" /> +boldness of this answer, the king had only to make +proclamation that all his true and liege subjects should +"a-voyde the fylde," for the whole force to disperse +in the course of one night. The danger, indeed, +seemed to be over. A week later, however, the +royal force met a number of the rebels near Sevenoaks, +by whom it was put to rout. Encouraged by this +success, the rebels returned and took up their +quarters in Southwark. The unhappy king had by +this time retired to Kenilworth, notwithstanding the +offer made by the citizens of London to stand by him.<note place="foot"><p>"And the Meire of London with the comynes of the city came +to the kynge besekynge him that he wolde tarye in the cite, and they +wolde lyve and dye with him, and pay for his costes of householde an +halff yere; but he wold nott, but toke his journey to Kyllyngworthe."—"Three +Fifteenth Cent. Chronicles" (Camd. Soc.), p. 67.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city prepares to defend itself.</note> + +<p>The city authorities had, in the meantime, taken +steps to put the city into a state of defence. A Common +Council met on the 8th June, when it decided +that an efficient guard should be placed night and day +upon all gates, wharves and lanes leading to the +Thames. An enclosure recently erected at "le Crane" +on the riverside belonging to John Trevillian, was +ordered to be abated. Balistic machines (<hi rend="font-style: italic">fundibula</hi>) +of all kinds were to be collected on the wharves, +whilst the sale of weapons or armour or their +removal out of the city was restricted. Lastly, it +was agreed to represent to the king the advisability +of limiting the number of his nobles coming into the +city, owing to the scarcity of provisions.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fo. 36b.</p></note> On the +26th June the Common Council again met, and it +was then decided to send two mounted men to reconnoitre +Cade's position, and to learn, if possible, his<pb n="284" /><anchor id="Pg284" /> +movements.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fo. 39.</p></note> Three days later (29 June) orders were +given for four men to be selected from each ward to +assist the aldermen in preserving the peace. Anyone +refusing to do his duty in keeping watch was to be +sent to prison. In spite of all precautions, Cade and +his followers succeeded in gaining a footing in the city +(3 July), their first action being to sack the house of +Philip Malpas.<note place="foot"><p>He had been admitted alderman of Lime Street ward in 1448, +at the king's special request, and had only recently been discharged.—Journal +4, fo. 213b; Journal 5, fo. 38b. In 1461 he left England, +but was captured at sea by the French and put to ransom for 4,000 +marks.—Fabyan, p. 638.</p></note> Cade himself encouraged rather +than restrained the excesses of his men. "Now is +Mortimer lord of the City," he cried as he struck with +his sword the old Roman mile-stone known as +London stone.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 224.</p></note> It is clear that the rebels had friends +in the city, otherwise they would never have effected +an entrance so easily—"They had othyr men with +hem as welle of London as of there owne party."<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 192.</p></note> +The matter was made the subject of investigation by +the Common Council. Evidence was given by +Thomas Geffrey, a barber, to the effect that on +Friday, the 3rd July, the keys of the bridge had been +given up, but by whom he knew not. William +Reynold also deposed that Richard Philip, a grocer, +had told him that unless the wardens of the bridge +opened the gates, the Kentish captain threatened to +set fire to the bridge and the city, and that thereupon +Thomas Godfrey, a "sporyour," clad in russet, +brought the keys and opened the gates.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fo. 40b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Mock trials held by the rebels at the Guildhall.</note> + +<p>On Saturday, the 4th of July, the rebels, who +had retired for the night, returned to the city.<pb n="285" /><anchor id="Pg285" /><index index="toc" level1="CAPTURE AND DEATH OF CADE." /> +Robert Horne, alderman of Bridge Ward, who had +rendered himself especially obnoxious to the rebels, +was made prisoner and sent to Newgate. Sir James +Fiennes, the Lord Say, was brought from the Tower +to the Guildhall, where the rebels were holding mock +trials on those who were unfortunate enough to fall +into their hands, and, after a hasty examination, was +conveyed to the Standard in Chepe and there executed. +His head, together with those of two others who had +that day suffered a similar fate, was set up on London +Bridge.</p> + +<note place="margin">Cade apprehended.</note> + +<p>By the next evening (Sunday) the citizens had +managed to recover their presence of mind, and +sallied out at ten o'clock at night, under the leadership +of Lord Scales and another, across the bridge. +Before they had arrived on the Southwark side of the +river they were met by the rebels, and a severe fight +took place between the parties on the bridge itself, +lasting until eight o'clock the next morning. At last +the rebels were defeated, and the city freed from their +presence. Offers of pardon were made and accepted, +and the rebels dispersed. Cade, however, continued +to plunder and ravage the country, until a price having +been put upon his head, he was apprehended by the +Sheriff of Kent,<note place="foot"><p>Alexander Iden, who appears to have pursued Cade beyond the +limits of his own jurisdiction, as Sheriff of Kent, into the neighbouring +county of Sussex, where the rebel was apprehended in a garden at +Heathfield.—"Three Fifteenth Cent. Chron.," preface, p. vii.</p></note> and died the same night from injuries +received at his capture. His head was subsequently +set up on London Bridge.</p> + +<note place="margin">The question of the succession to the throne.</note> + +<p>The king had now been married some years, and +no heir had appeared. Great uncertainty prevailed<pb n="286" /><anchor id="Pg286" /> +as to the right of succession to the throne, and gave +rise to much rivalry and mutual mistrust between +Richard, Duke of York, who now for the first time +becomes a conspicuous figure on the stage, and +Edmund Beaufort, recently created Duke of Somerset. +Both of them could claim to be the king's nearest kinsmen, +both of them being descendants of Edward III, +the one tracing his descent, on his father's side, +through Edmund Langley, and on his mother's side, +through Lionel, Duke of Clarence, whilst the other +was the surviving representative of John of Gaunt.</p> + +<note place="margin">Rivalry between the Dukes of York and Somerset, 1450.</note> + +<p>The king's incapacity to govern without a strong +minister at his back, as evinced by his conduct +during the recent outbreak, induced both of these +nobles to throw up their appointments, the one in +Ireland and the other in France, and to hasten home. +The Duke of York was the first to reach England, +and, in spite of measures which had been taken to +intercept him, made his way to London. He was +anxious in the first place to clear himself of suspicion +of having been implicated in Cade's rebellion,<note place="foot"><p>The exclusion of the Duke and other nobles from the king's +council had been made an express ground of complaint by the Kentish +insurgents.</p></note> and to +this end sought and obtained an interview with the +king. Having satisfied Henry on this point, he next +proceeded to demand the reform of certain abuses in +the government. A short session of parliament, which +met on the 6th November, opened with an altercation +between the rival dukes. On the 1st December +Somerset was placed under arrest; and on the following +day his lodgings at the Black Friars were broken +into and pillaged. An example was made of one of<pb n="287" /><anchor id="Pg287" /><index index="toc" level1="RIVALRY BETWEEN YORK ANS SOMERSET." /> +the men convicted of being concerned in the breaking +into the Black Friars, and he was beheaded at the +Standard in Chepe. The Duke of York made a personal +visit to the city, and caused proclamation to +be made of the heavy pains and penalties which +should follow any attempt at robbery. As a further +demonstration against lawlessness, the king himself +rode through the city a few days later, accompanied +by his lords in full panoply, the route being kept by +a line of armed citizens on either side of the way. +Alderman Gregory, whose chronicle affords us a vivid +picture of contemporary events, and who was called +upon to serve the office of mayor of the city the +following year, confesses that the procession on this +occasion would have been a gay and glorious sight, +"if hit hadde ben in Fraunce, but not in Ingelonde," +for it boded little good.<note place="foot"><p>Chron., p. 196.</p></note></p> + +<p>The Duke of Somerset did not long remain in +prison, for immediately after Christmas he was appointed +captain of Calais. In 1451 the disasters +which followed the English arms in France, when +Calais was again threatened, were made an occasion +for another attempt by York to crush his rival. He +openly avowed his determination to proceed against +Somerset, and, joined by the Earl of Devonshire +and Lord Cobham, marched to London (Jan., 1452). +Henry at once prepared to march against his cousin. +The duke had hoped that through the influence of his +party within the city, the gates would have been +flung open on his approach. In this he was disappointed. +The majority of the citizens were still +loyal to Henry, and by his orders entrance was denied<pb n="288" /><anchor id="Pg288" /> +the duke, who thereupon withdrew to Dartford, whilst +the king's forces encamped at Blackheath.</p> + +<note place="margin">Civil war averted.</note> + +<p>For a time civil war was avoided, the king +promising that Somerset should be again committed +to custody until he should answer such charges as York +should bring against him. The king, however, failed +to keep his word. Somerset was allowed to remain +in power, and York was only allowed his liberty after +he had consented to swear public allegiance to the +king in St. Paul's Church. Any stronger measures +taken against him would probably have provoked +disturbance in the city.<note place="foot"><p>"And so thei brought (the duke) ungirt thurgh London bitwene +ij bisshoppes ridyng unto his place; and after that made hym swere at +Paulis after theire entent, and put him frome his good peticions which +were for the comoen wele of the realme."—Chron. of London (Nicolas), +p. 138.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's illness, 1453.</note> + +<p>Henry's mind had never been strong, and in the +following year (1453) it entirely gave way. In +October the queen bore him a son, after eight years +of married life, but though the infant was brought to +his father, Henry gave no signs of recognising his +presence. The illness of the king, and the birth of an +heir to the crown, were events which materially +affected the fortunes of the Duke of York. In November +the civic authorities prepared for emergencies; +every citizen was to provide himself with armour, but +he was strictly enjoined to be guarded in his conversation, +and not to provoke tumult by showing favour +to this or that lord. Even a proposal that the mayor +and aldermen should pay a visit of respect to the +Duke of York was rejected as impolitic at the present +juncture.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fos. 131, 132b, 133b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="289" /><anchor id="Pg289" /> + +<note place="margin">The City again called upon to assist in the defence of Calais, 1453-1454.</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding liberal grants made by parliament +for the defence of Calais, that town was still in +danger. On the 29th November, 1453, a letter was +read before the Common Council of the City, emanating +from the Lord Welles and the Lord Ryvers, +asking for assistance towards putting Calais into a +state of defence. Further consideration of the matter +was adjourned until the following 4th December. By +the 7th day of the same month the Council had consulted +the commons, who had declared that owing to +their numerous burdens and expenses they could contribute +nothing to that end.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fos. 134b, 135b, 136.</p></note> This did not prevent a +further application being made early in 1454, for contributions +towards the defence of Calais if that town +were besieged.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 148.</p></note> Again the commons were consulted, +and again they pleaded the excessive burdens they +were already called upon to bear, and the losses they +had sustained by seizure of their ships and merchandise +by the Duke of Burgundy, rendering them unable for +the present to undertake any further charges unless +steps were taken for the recovery of their goods.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 152.</p></note> An +answer to this effect was accordingly delivered by the +Common Sergeant on behalf of the citizens, who declared +themselves willing at the same time to bear their +share with the rest of the realm.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 152b.</p></note> An appeal made in +August of the same year (1454), for the sum of £1,200 +for the same purpose, met with similar failure.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 183, 184.</p></note></p> + +<p>The plea of poverty was no idle one, if we may +judge from the fact that when, in November of this +year, an assessment of half a fifteenth was made on +the city wards, eleven out of twenty-five wards were<pb n="290" /><anchor id="Pg290" /> +in default.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fo. 206.</p></note> Between the years 1431 and 1451 the +citizens had advanced large sums of money to the +king, of which more than £3,000 remained in the +latter year due to the city.<note place="foot"><p>Report of City Chamberlain to the Court of Common Council.—Journal +5, fos. 227-228b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Duke of York and his supporters take up their quarters in the city, 1454.</note> + +<p>A crisis, in the meanwhile, was fast approaching. +The birth of an heir to the throne urged the Duke of +York to take prompt action. Although the majority +of the nobles were opposed to him, he had on his side +the powerful family of the Nevills, having married +Cicely Nevill, sister of Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury, +the head of the family, and father of the still +more powerful Earl of Warwick. Towards the end of +January (1454) the Duke of York, the Earls of Salisbury +and Warwick, and others of the duke's supporters, +entered the city, each followed by a large force of retainers +fully armed. With them came also York's eldest +son, the Earl of March, afterwards King Edward IV.<note place="foot"><p>News-letter of John Stodeley, 19 Jan., 1454; Paston Letters +(Gairdner), i, 265, 266.</p></note></p> + +<p>The Common Council were anxious lest the presence +of these nobles in the city should lead to a disturbance. +A strict neutrality was ordered to be observed +both by the mayor and aldermen, as well as by +the inhabitants of the city at large. The <hi rend="font-style: italic">waytes</hi>, or +watchmen, were ordered to perambulate the streets +every night with their minstrels to keep the citizens in +good humour (<hi rend="font-style: italic">pro recreacione hominum</hi>), and prevent +robbery. Nevertheless, there is evidence to show +that disturbances did occasionally arise between the +inhabitants and those in the suite of the nobles.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fos 143, 145b, 152, 152b-160b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="291" /><anchor id="Pg291" /><index index="toc" level1="THE DUKE OF YORK NOMINATED PROTECTOR." /> + +<note place="margin">The Duke of York nominated protector, 1454.</note> + +<p>The king's continued illness necessitated sooner +or later the appointment of a regent. For a brief +space there seemed a possibility of the regency being +claimed by the queen. The City, in the meanwhile, +paid court to both parties, the mayor and aldermen +one day paying a solemn visit to the queen, attired in +their gowns of scarlet, and a few days later paying a +similar compliment to the Duke of York.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fo. 150.</p></note> At length +the duke was nominated protector (3 April). Some +correspondence ensued between the City, the Duke +of York, the queen, and the Earl of Salisbury, on +what subject we know not,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 162, 162b.</p></note> but on the 13th May +the mayor and aldermen waited upon the duke to +thank him for his favour and goodwill.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 164b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The first battle of St. Albans, 22 May, 1455.</note> + +<p>So long as the king remained an imbecile York +was supreme, his rival, Somerset, having been committed +to prison at his instigation in December, 1453. +Henry, however, soon recovered from his illness, +although his convalescence proved of equally short +duration, and York's protectorate came to an end. +With Henry's restoration came the release of Somerset, +and York determined to try conclusions with his +rival in the field. At the first battle of St. Albans, +fought on the 22nd May, 1455, victory declared for +York and Somerset was killed. After the battle +York accompanied the king to London and lodged +him in the bishop's palace in St. Paul's churchyard. +The excitement caused Henry a relapse, and York was +for the second time named protector; but in the +spring of 1456 he had again to retire upon the king's +recovery.</p> + +<pb n="292" /><anchor id="Pg292" /> + +<note place="margin">A rising against the Lombards in the city, May, 1456.</note> + +<p>Just when the country was settling down to enjoy +a period of comparative quiet, there occurred (May, +1456) in the city one of those sudden outbreaks +against the "merchant stranger" residing within the +city's walls which too often appear in the annals of +London. On this occasion the young mercers of the +city rose against the Lombards; why or wherefore +we are not told. We only know that these foreigners +received such bad treatment that they meditated +leaving the city in a body and setting up business +elsewhere. The fault was not altogether with the +citizens, it appears; for two Lombards were ordered +to be hanged.<note place="foot"><p>Booking to Paston, 15 May; Paston Letters (Gairdner), i, 387; +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Chron. of London (Nicolas), p. 139; Gregory's Chron., p. 199.</p></note></p> + +<p>The king, who was at the time at Coventry—whither +the queen had caused him to be removed, +owing to her suspicion that the Londoners were in +favour of the Yorkist party—sent for alderman +Cantelowe,<note place="foot"><p>William Cantelowe, alderman of Cripplegate and Billingsgate +wards, from the latter of which he was discharged in October, 1461, on +the score of old age and infirmity (Journal 6, fo. 81b). He appears in +his time to have had financial dealings with the crown, on one occasion +conveying money over sea for bringing Queen Margaret to England, +and on another supplying gunpowder to the castle of Cherbourg, when +it was in the hands of the English. He is thought by some to be +identical with the William Cantelowe who afterwards (in 1464) captured +Henry VI in a wood in the North of England.—"Three Fifteenth +Cent. Chron." (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 28), Preface, p. viii.</p></note> a mercer, and promptly committed him +to Dudley Castle for safe keeping, as having been +implicated in the attack on the houses of the Italian +merchants.</p> + +<p>This outbreak was followed by another "hurlynge" +between the mercers of the city and those +Lombards who had consented to remain in the city on +the understanding that they should be allowed to ply<pb n="293" /><anchor id="Pg293" /> +their business without molestation until the council or +parliament should determine otherwise. In consequence +of this second outbreak no less than 28 mercers +were arrested and committed to Windsor Castle.<note place="foot"><p>Short English Chron. (Camd. Soc., N.S., No. 28), p. 70.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from the king for safe-guarding the city, 3 Sept., 1456.</note> + +<p>On the 3rd September, 1456, the king wrote from +Lichfield to the Mayor, reminding him of the dangers +which had recently threatened the city—"the king's +chamber"—the government whereof ought to serve as +an example to the rest of the kingdom, and enjoining +him that thenceforth he should allow no one to enter +the city but such as came peaceably, and with +moderate retinue, according to his estate and degree, +and should take precautions against gatherings of +evil disposed persons which might lead to a breach +of the peace.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book K, fo. 287.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The citizens offer to man and victual ships to punish France, 1457.</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding the precautions taken to protect +the coast, the French made a descent in 1457, +and plundered Sandwich and Fowey, capturing over +30 ships, great and small, and doing much damage. +The citizens of London, to whom the protection of +their commerce in the "narrow sea," as the channel +was then frequently called, was everything, thereupon +took counsel among themselves, and made a proposal +to the king and to Bishop Waynflete, the chancellor, +to find 2,000 men and provisions for certain ships then +lying in the Thames, at their own expense, to join an +expedition to punish the enemy for their boldness. +The king thanked them for their patriotic spirit and +gave orders for a naval force to join the city contingent +from Hull.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 288b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="294" /><anchor id="Pg294" /> + +<note place="margin">A general reconciliation at St. Paul's, 25 March, 1458.</note> + +<p>In 1458 Henry tried his hand at effecting a +reconciliation between the two rival sections of the +nobility, and to this end ordered a great council to +meet in St. Paul's on the 27th January. Warwick +left his post at Calais, and came over to London to +attend the meeting; but he did not arrive until more +than a month after the appointed day, and when he +came it was with a body of 600 men at his back, +"all apparyled in reed jakkettes, with whyte ragged +stavis."<note place="foot"><p>Cotton MS., Vitell. A, xvi, fo. 114.</p></note> He took up his quarters within the city, +where he found the Duke of York and the Earl of +Salisbury. The young Duke of Somerset and other +lords, who, like him, had lost their fathers at the +battle of St. Albans, were refused an entrance to the +city for fear of a breach of the peace, and had to find +accommodation outside the city's walls.<note place="foot"><p>Engl. Chron., 1377-1461 (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 77.</p></note> During the +conference the mayor patrolled the streets by day, +whilst at night a force of 3,000 men was kept in +readiness to assist the aldermen in preserving the +king's peace.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, Chron. (ed. 1811), p. 633; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Chron. of London (Nicolas), +p. 139.</p></note> The times were critical, but at length +all ended well. A grand pacification took place in +March, and was solemnized by an imposing procession +to St. Paul's, in which York led the queen by the +hand. The reconciliation thus effected was more +apparent than real, and neither party relaxed their +efforts to prepare for renewed hostility.</p> + +<note place="margin">Warwick implicated in a riot, Nov., 1458.</note> + +<note place="margin">Seeks refuge in the city.</note> + +<note place="margin">Leaves for Calais.</note> + +<p>In August the civic companies were warned +against furnishing the confederate lords with any war +material, but were to keep their arms and harness at the<pb n="295" /><anchor id="Pg295" /><index index="toc" level1="A GENERAL RECONCILIATION AT ST. PAUL'S." /> +disposal of the king alone.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fos. 138, 138b, 139.</p></note> It wanted very little to +kindle the smouldering embers of dissatisfaction into +a flame, and this little was soon forthcoming. In +November<note place="foot"><p>Engl. Chron., 1377-1461 (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 78; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Fabyan, +p. 633; Holinshed, iii, 249.</p></note> a riot occurred at Westminster, in which +the Earl of Warwick was implicated. A yeoman in +his suite picked a quarrel with one of the king's +servants and wounded him. Thereupon others of the +king's household, finding their fellow-servant wounded +and his enemy escaped, way-laid the earl and his +attendants as they left the council to take barge on +the river. By dint of hard hitting, the earl managed +to embark and to make his way to the city. But the +affray was not without bloodshed, and Warwick found +it convenient to withdraw soon afterwards to his post +at Calais, which thenceforth became the head-quarters +of the disaffected lords.</p> + +<note place="margin">Riot between citizens and Templars, April, 1459.</note> + +<p>In the following April (1459) another affray +broke out. This time it was between inhabitants of +the city and certain members of the Inns of Court, +and the riot was so dangerous as to result in loss of +life. The king hearing of this sent for William +Tayllour, the alderman of the ward, and kept him in +confinement at Windsor until the election of the new +mayor, William Hewlyn, in October, by whose intercession +he regained his freedom.<note place="foot"><p>Short Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc., N.S., No. 28), p. 71; Chron. +of London (Nicolas), p. 140.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The battle of Blore Heath, 23 Sept., 1459.</note> + +<p>By this time the country was again divided into +two hostile camps. A crisis came in September, when +the Earl of Salisbury, the king's most inveterate +enemy, marched upon Ludlow with a large force.<pb n="296" /><anchor id="Pg296" /> +Lord Audley, sent by the queen to arrest him, was +defeated by the earl at Blore Heath (23 Sept., 1459). +Later on, however, the earl and the Yorkist army +were themselves compelled to seek security. The +Duke of York took refuge in Ireland, and the +Earl of Warwick, who had crossed from France to join +his father, returned to Calais, taking the Earl of Salisbury +with him.</p> + +<note place="margin">Parliament at Coventry, 20 Nov., 1459.</note> + +<p>On the 9th October the king issued his writ for +a parliament to be held at Coventry on the 20th +November. The usual writ was sent to the City +of London, but the names of the aldermen and commoners +elected to represent the citizens do not appear +in the City's records.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 166.</p></note> The business of the session +was the attainder of the Duke of York and his +followers, and judgment was passed upon the duke, +the Nevills, father and son, the young Earls of +March and Rutland, and others. Two days after the +date of this writ, the Common Council decided to send +a deputation to wait upon the king and assure him of +the City's allegiance and of the steps taken for its +safe custody.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 145.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king loses favour.</note> + +<p>The citizens had previously (Oct., 1459) displayed +their willingness to assist the king by a gift of 1,000 +marks.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 163.</p></note> This gift must have been the more welcome, +inasmuch as Henry's debts had been rapidly +on the increase, whilst his creditors remained unpaid. +The queen, on the other hand, into whose hands the +government of the kingdom had been drawn, was +"gaderyng riches innumerable." The imposition of +taxes, talliages and fifteenths, whilst harassing the<pb n="297" /><anchor id="Pg297" /><index index="toc" level1="COMMISSIONS OF ARRAY." /> +king's subjects, seemed to make him not a whit the +richer, the issues and profits being frittered away. +They would have forgiven him had he maintained a +household in regal style or spent their money on +maintaining the country's honour in the field. As +matters were, Henry, by misgovernment, was rapidly +losing the hearts of his people, and "theyre blessyng +was turned in to cursyng."<note place="foot"><p>English Chron., 1377-1461 (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 179.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Unconstitutional conduct of the king in issuing commissions to raise an army, Jan., 1460.</note> + +<note place="margin">A deputation from the City waits upon the king at Northampton.</note> + +<note place="margin">The City's liberties not to be prejudiced.</note> + +<p>On the 14th January, 1460, the king issued a +commission to the mayor, aldermen and sheriffs for +collecting men-at-arms and archers to resist the <hi rend="font-style: italic">late</hi> +Duke of York and the <hi rend="font-style: italic">late</hi> Earls of March, Warwick, +Salisbury and Rutland.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 224b.</p></note> Similar commissions were +addressed to every township,<note place="foot"><p>William Paston, writing to his brother John, under date 28th January, +1460, remarks, "Item, the kyng cometh to London ward, and, as +it is seyd, rereth the pepyll as he come; but it is certayn ther be comyssyons +made in to dyvers schyres that every man be redy in his best aray +to com when the kyng send for hem."—Paston Letters (Gairdner), +i, 506.</p></note> and did much harm to +the royal cause, now tottering to its fall, as being +unconstitutional. They formed the subject of one of +the set of articles of complaint drawn up by the Earls +of March, Warwick and Salisbury, and addressed by +them, on behalf of themselves and the Duke of York, +to the archbishop and the commons of England.<note place="foot"><p>Paston Letters (Gairdner), Introd., p. cxl.</p></note> +Such commissions the lords declared to be an imposition +which, if continued, would be "the heaviest +charge and worst example that ever grew in England." +The city authorities appear to have rested their opposition +to the king's commission, not so much on the +grounds that they were unwilling to raise a force for his<pb n="298" /><anchor id="Pg298" /> +assistance, as that a demand for military aid in such a +form might derogate from the city's franchise and +liberties. A deputation, consisting of two aldermen, +Thomas Urswyk, the Recorder, and one of the under-sheriffs, +was sent to Northampton to wait upon the +king and council and to explain the views of the +citizens in that respect. The interview was of a satisfactory +character; and the deputation returned bearing +a gracious letter from the king declaring that the City's +franchise and liberties should in no way be prejudiced +by the commission.<note place="foot"><p>The king's letter, dated 2 Feb., was read before the Common +Council on the 5 Feb.—Letter Book K, fo. 313b; Journal 6, fo. 196b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Military precautions taken by the City, Feb., 1460.</note> + +<p>The citizens deemed it time to look to their own +safety, and place their city into a better posture +of defence. The master and wardens of the livery +companies were exhorted (14 Feb., 1460), on account +of the disturbed state of the kingdom, to raise contributions +towards the purchase of accoutrements +for the safeguard of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 197b.</p></note> The king himself was +shortly coming into the city, and measures were taken +(28 Feb.) for placing a proper guard over the several +gates.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 203b.</p></note> On the 11th May the masters and wardens +were summoned, on behalf of the king, to appear +before the mayor and aldermen at the Guildhall, to +hear a royal proclamation read touching the preservation +of the king's peace.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 158.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Landing of the confederate earls.</note> + +<p>The Yorkist Earls of Salisbury, Warwick and +March, encouraged by the reports of the state of +affairs in England, at length made up their minds to +return and strike a blow for the recovery of their<pb n="299" /><anchor id="Pg299" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE YORKISTS." /> +estates, which had become forfeited to the king. They +set sail from Calais (26 June), and landing at Sandwich +made their way without opposition through +Kent to London.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Common Council determine to oppose their entrance to the city, 27 June, 1460.</note> + +<p>On the 27th June, by which time news of their +arrival must have reached the city, a Common +Council was held, when the commoners who were present +solemnly promised to stand by the mayor and +aldermen in safe-guarding the city, and resist with all +their might the rebels against the lord the king who +were about to enter the city contrary to the king's +orders. The civic companies somewhat tardily gave +their adhesion to the royal cause, and agreed to +defend the city. The gates were ordered to be +manned, and no one was to be allowed to enter without +first saying who and what he was. Strict +enquiry was to be made as to the character of +strangers residing within each of their wards.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 237.</p></note> On +the following day the Common Council met again +and gave orders that the drawbridge of London +Bridge should be always kept down, so that victuallers +and others might have ready access to the City, +but the gateway on the drawbridge was to be kept +closed, whilst <hi rend="font-style: italic">le wikett</hi> was to be constantly open. +A strict watch was to be kept on the new tower<note place="foot"><p>It had been destroyed by fire during the Kentish outbreak.—Gregory's +Chron., p. 193.</p></note> +above the bridge by men-at-arms stationed there, +who should also be ready to let down <hi rend="font-style: italic">le port Colyce</hi> +when occasion required.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 237b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Meeting of Common Council on Sunday, 29 June.</note> + +<p>A deputation, moreover, was appointed to set +out to meet the Earls of March and Warwick on<pb n="300" /><anchor id="Pg300" /> +their way to Northampton, for the purpose of inducing +them, if possible, to turn aside and not approach +the city. The members were instructed to inform +the lords of the king's commands to the citizens +to hold the city for him, and to oppose the lords' +entry under heavy penalty. This instruction to the +deputation was given, we are told, with the approval +of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops +of Norwich, Ely and Exeter, and of the Prior of St. +John's, Clerkenwell. The mayor, aldermen and commonalty +agreed to stand by any terms which the +deputation might be compelled to make. They had +not taken this step without first consulting the Lords +Scales and Hungerford, and Sir Edmund Hampden, +who held the Tower of London for King Henry. +The bridge gate was ordered to be closed between +nine and ten o'clock on the night of the 28th, and to +remain closed till the morning. Even the portcullis +was to be kept down if necessary, whilst the mayor +and sheriffs, with a certain number of armed men, +patrolled the city, and the aldermen kept watch in +their several wards.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 238.</p></note> Notwithstanding the next day +being Sunday, the critical state of affairs necessitated +a meeting of the Common Council. It was then +agreed that if any messenger should arrive from Warwick, +no communication should be held with him. +Special watches were appointed for the bridge and +for Billingsgate by night and day, and so anxious +were the authorities to avail themselves of the +service of every abled citizen on that Sunday, that +no one was allowed to attend Divine Service at St. +Paul's.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 238b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="301" /><anchor id="Pg301" /> + +<note place="margin">The Yorkist earls admitted into the city, 2 July, 1460.</note> + +<p>Up to this point the citizens had shown themselves +loyal to Henry. They now began to waver. +Early in the morning of the 30th June the mayor +and aldermen appear to have changed their minds. +The earls had sent them a letter and they resolved +to receive it. The contents of this letter are not +recorded. On the following day (1 July) another +communication from the earls was received. Here +again we are left in the dark as to its purport—the +City's journals at this period being very imperfect,—we +only know that they declined to accede to the request +to keep at a distance from London, for the very next +day (2 July) they were admitted into the city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fos. 239, 239b; Eng. Chron., 1377-1461 (Camd. Soc. +No. 64), p. 94.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Tower holds out.</note> + +<p>The city was thus lost to the king; but the Tower +still held out, and no amount of eloquence on the +part of certain doctors of divinity, whom the Common +Council had appointed to try and arrange matters so +as to avoid bloodshed, would induce Lord Scales and +his companions to surrender it, although the garrison +was hard pressed for victuals.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 252b.</p></note> Nothing was left but +to starve them out, and this the Earl of Salisbury +proceeded to do, with the aid of the citizens and the +boatmen on the river, by whom the Tower was +strictly invested by land and water. The Common +Council appear to have felt some qualms of conscience +in joining in this proceeding, for they caused it to be recorded—as +if by way of excuse for their action—that +"there seemed to be no other way of preserving the +city."<note place="foot"><p>Eo quod nullus alius modus videtur esse tutus pro civitate.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, +fo. 251.</p></note> A resolution, moreover, that each alderman +should subscribe the sum of £5 towards raising a<pb n="302" /><anchor id="Pg302" /> +force to intercept victuals on their way to the Tower +was rescinded.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 251b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Tower surrendered, 19 July.</note> + +<note place="margin">Murder of Lord Scales.</note> + +<p>By the 10th July matters had become so serious +with the beleaguered garrison, that a letter was sent +to the Common Council, signed by the Earl of Kendal, +Lord Scales, Lord Hungerford, Lord Lovell and Sir +Edmund Hampden, asking why war was thus being +made upon them. To this the Council replied that +the lords had brought it upon themselves by firing +on the citizens in the first instance, and taking provisions +from them without payment.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 250b.</p></note> At last the +garrison could hold out no longer, and the Tower was +surrendered (19th July). Lord Scales endeavoured to +take sanctuary at Westminster, but was seized by +river boatmen and barbarously murdered.<note place="foot"><p>Eng. Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 64), p. 98. The Thames boatmen +and sailors were almost as powerful and troublesome a body of men as +the London apprentices. The Common Council had recently (11th +July) endeavoured to subdue their turbulent spirit by the distribution +among them of a large sum of money (£100).—Journal 6, fo. 254.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Battle of Northampton, 10 July, 1460.</note> + +<p>Meanwhile the Duke of York had managed to +raise a sum of money in the city;<note place="foot"><p>On the 4th July the Common Council voted the earls the sum of +£1,000 by way of loan.—Journal 6, fo. 253.</p></note> the battle of +Northampton had been won and lost (10th July), +and Henry had been brought a prisoner to London +(16th July). On the same day that the king arrived +in London, the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of +the City entered into an agreement, under the Common +Seal, to abide by any arrangement made between +the Earl of Salisbury and the beleaguered lords in the +Tower for the surrender of that stronghold.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 256. By some inadvertence two copies of the +agreement were sealed, one of which was returned to the mayor to be +cancelled.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="303" /><anchor id="Pg303" /><index index="toc" level1="THE DUKE OF YORK CLAIMS THE CROWN." /> + +<note place="margin">Measures for restoring confidence in the city.</note> + +<p>On the 21st July the king, or the Earl of Warwick, +in his name, attempted to restore quiet in the city by +promising that those who had offended against the +king's highness and the common weal of the realm, +and had been committed to the Tower, should forthwith +receive ample justice. In the meantime all +conventicles, assemblies or congregations in breach of +the peace were strictly forbidden, and every man was +exhorted to repair to his own house, and wait upon +his lord or master in whose service he might happen +to be.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 257.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Parliament of 7 Oct., 1460.</note> + +<note place="margin">The Duke of York's claim to the throne allowed.</note> + +<note place="margin">The Livery Companies declare their allegiance to the king.</note> + +<p>In October the Duke of York attended parliament +and boldly asserted his right to the throne. +After hearing arguments for and against his claim, +parliament arrived at a compromise by which the +reversion of the crown was settled on the duke, and +to this the king himself was forced to give his assent.<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 208; Engl. Chron., pp, 99-100; Short Engl. +Chron., p. 75.</p></note> +It was otherwise with the proud and defiant Queen +Margaret. She was determined to acquiesce in no +such arrangement. Whilst she was collecting a force +in the north, wherewith to strike one blow for the +crown of which her son appeared likely to be robbed, +the mayor and aldermen held an extraordinary meeting +of the wardens of the livery companies. The +king wished to be assured of the temper of the citizens. +Would they as a body support him and his council, +protect his royal person, and defend the city against +those who were raising disturbances in divers parts of +the realm? To each and all of these questions the wardens +are recorded as having given satisfactory replies,<pb n="304" /><anchor id="Pg304" /> +and it was then and there agreed that each alderman +should make enquiry as to the number of strangers +residing in his ward, and the reasons for their being +in the city. Watch was to be kept by night in every +ward, a lantern hung outside every dwelling-house, +and the city's gates were to be closed every night and +guarded by men-at-arms.<note place="foot"><p>The interview with the wardens of the companies took place at +a Common Council held on the 13th December, 1460.—Journal 6, +fo. 282b.</p></note> Although these measures +were avowedly taken on behalf of King Henry, they +were, in reality, so many precautions for securing the +government in the hands of his rival the Duke of +York.</p> + +<note place="margin">The battle of Wakefield, 29 Dec., 1460.</note> + +<p>The struggle which hitherto had been between +two unequal sections of the nobility, each avowing its +loyalty to the king, now became a struggle between +the two rival Houses of Lancaster and York. +Richard, Duke of York, did not live to enjoy the +crown, his right to the reversion of which had recently +been acknowledged by parliament. Just as the year +was drawing to a close he met his death at Wakefield +in the first clash with the House of Lancaster, and his +head in mockery was set up on one of the city's +gates from which he derived his ducal title.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Off with his head, and set it on York's gates;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4">So York may overlook the town of York."</l> +</lg> + +<note place="margin">The second battle of St. Albans, 17 Feb., 1461.</note> + +<p>When Henry was once restored to liberty and to +his queen, after the second battle of St. Albans +(17 Feb., 1461), York's son, Edward, Earl of March, +who became by his father's death heir to the crown, +was immediately proclaimed traitor in the city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 13.</p></note> The<pb n="305" /><anchor id="Pg305" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON FORSAKEN BY HENRY." /> +queen wished for victuals to be sent from the city to +her forces at St. Albans, but the carts were seized +before they left the city by a mob which refused to +let them go in spite of the mayor's entreaties and +threats. Margaret's army consisted for the most part +of rude northern followers who threatened to sack +the city if once allowed within its walls, and the +majority of the inhabitants were unwilling to supply +the queen with provisions until she had removed her +half-disciplined force to a distance from London. +With a civilized army at her back it might have been +possible for Margaret to have gained a footing in the +city.<note place="foot"><p>The governing body in the city was still Lancastrian at heart. On +the 13th Feb. the Common Council had voted Henry, at that time in +the hands of Warwick, a loan of 1,000 marks, and a further sum of 500 +marks (making in all £1,000) for the purpose of <hi rend="font-style: italic">garnysshyng</hi> and safeguarding +the city. On the 24th a certain number of aldermen and +commoners were deputed to answer for the safe custody of the Tower, +and on the following day (25 Feb.) the mayor forbade, by public +proclamation, any insult being offered to Sir Edmund Hampden and +others, who had been despatched by the king and queen to London for +the purpose of ascertaining "the true and faithful disposition" of the +city.—Journal 6, fos. 35, 35b, 40.</p></note> As matters stood, she deemed it best to accede +to the request thus made to her, and to draw off her +army.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Earls of March and Warwick admitted into the city, Feb., 1461.</note> + +<p>It was a fatal mistake, for it gave time for Edward +and Warwick to join forces and march on London. +The civic authorities, finding how hopeless it was to +place further dependence upon Henry, and desiring +above all things a stronger government than they +could look for under the king, now surrendered the +city to his opponents. They had not forsaken the +king—he had forsaken them. They would no more +of him.</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"He that had Londyn for sake,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 4"> Wolde no more to hem take."<note place="foot"><p>Gregory's Chron., p. 215.</p></note></l> +</lg> + +<pb n="306" /><anchor id="Pg306" /> + +<note place="margin">Edward's claim to the crown recognised, 1 March, 1461.</note> + +<p>On the 1st March the chancellor called a general +assembly of the citizens at Clerkenwell, and explained +to them the title by which Edward, Duke of York, +laid claim to the crown.<note place="foot"><p>Stubbs, Const. Hist., iii, 189.</p></note> His title was thereupon +acknowledged with universal applause, and on the +4th he proceeded to Westminster Palace, accompanied +by many of the nobility and commons of the realm,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 6, fo. 37b.</p></note> +and was there proclaimed king by the name of +Edward IV.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="307" /><anchor id="Pg307" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XII.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="CHARTERS OF EDWARD IV TO THE CITY." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">The accession of King Edward IV, March, 1461.</note> + +<p>The new king made himself very popular with +the citizens. He was not less a favourite with them +because he joined their ranks and became a trader +like themselves, or because he took a wife from among +his own subjects and made her a sharer of his crown. +At the coronations, both of Edward and his queen, +which took place after an interval of three years, +the City was fully represented, and its claim +to services at the king's coronation banquet duly +acknowledged.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book L, fo. 4; Lib. Dunthorn, fo. 62; Journal 7, fo. 98.</p></note> At the latter ceremony no less than +four citizens, among them being Ralph Josselyn, +the mayor, were created Knights of the Bath.<note place="foot"><p>Short English Chron. (Camd. Soc., N.S., No. 28), p. 80.</p></note> The +citizens had previously shown their respect to Elizabeth +Woodville by riding forth to meet her and escorting +her to the Tower on her first arrival to London, and by +presenting her with a gift of 1,000 marks or £750.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fos. 97b, 98.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's first charter to the city, 26 Aug., 1461.</note> + +<p>If the young and handsome prince who now ascended +the throne occasionally carried his familiarity +with the wives of city burgesses beyond the limits of +strict propriety, much could be forgotten and forgiven +for the readiness he showed to confirm and enlarge +the City's privileges and to foster the trade of the +country. Before he had been on the throne many +months he granted the citizens, by charter, the right<pb n="308" /><anchor id="Pg308" /> +of package and scavage, as well as the office of gauger +of wines.<note place="foot"><p>Charter, dat. Winchecombe, 26 Aug., 1461. Preserved at the +Guildhall (Box No. 28).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Second charter of Edward IV, 25 March, 1462.</note> + +<p>In the following March (1462) he confirmed the +charter granted to the City by Henry IV, whereby the +citizens obtained the right of taking toll and custom +at Billingsgate, Smithfield and elsewhere, as well as +the right of <hi rend="font-style: italic">tronage</hi> or weighing wool at the Tron.<note place="foot"><p>Inspeximus charter, dated Westminster, 25 March, 1462. Preserved +at the Guildhall (Box No. 13).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City Loans, 1462.</note> + +<p>In August, 1462 Calais was again in danger, and +the king wanted money. The Earl of Worcester and +others of the council were sent into the city to ask +for a loan of £3,400. After considering the matter, +the civic authorities agreed to lend him £1,000. The +money was to be raised by assessment on the wards, +but Dowgate ward being at the time very poor, was +not to be pressed.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fo. 8.</p></note> In the following October the City +again came to the king's assistance with a further loan +of 2,000 marks,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 15.</p></note> and on the 9th November the City +obtained (in return, shall we say?) a charter confirming +its jurisdiction over the Borough of Southwark,<note place="foot"><p>See Inspeximus charter 15 Charles II.</p></note> +originally granted by Edward III. Again, the coincidence +of a charter granted by the king to the City, +with a loan or gift from the City to the king, is remarkable.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's reception in the city on his return from the North, Feb., 1463.</note> + +<p>When Edward returned in February, 1463, from +the North, where he had succeeded with the assistance +afforded him by the Londoners in re-capturing most +of the castles which the restless Margaret had taken,<pb n="309" /><anchor id="Pg309" /> +the City resolved to give him a befitting reception. +Preparations were made for the mayor, aldermen and +commons to ride forth to meet him in their finest +liveries, but the king having expressed his intention of +coming from Shene to the city by water, the citizens +went to meet him in their barges, with all the pomp +and ceremony of a Lord Mayor's day.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fo. 21b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Estrangement of Warwick, 1464-1468.</note> + +<p>Edward now gave himself up to a life of luxury +and pleasure. In 1464 he married the young widow +of Sir John Grey, better known by her maiden name +of Elizabeth Woodville. His marriage to her gave +offence to the nobility, more especially to the Earl of +Warwick, who was planning at the time a match with +France or Burgundy, and to whom the news of the +marriage with one so beneath the king in point of +dignity came as an unpleasant surprise. The earl +was still more offended when he learnt that the young +king had secretly effected a marriage treaty between +his sister Margaret (whom Warwick had destined for +one of the French princes) and the Duke of Burgundy. +These matrimonial alliances, combined with the inordinate +favour Edward displayed towards his wife's +family, led to an estrangement between the king and +his powerful subject.</p> + +<note place="margin">Alliance between England and Burgundy, 1468.</note> + +<p>The proposed alliance with Burgundy was far +from being distasteful to the merchants of the city, +inasmuch as it was likely to open up trade with those +states of the Low Countries which the Burgundian +dukes had consolidated as a barrier against France. +When the Princess Margaret was about to start (June, +1468) for her future husband's dominions, the mayor<pb n="310" /><anchor id="Pg310" /> +and aldermen of London testified their appreciation +of the alliance by presenting her with a pair of silver +gilt dishes, weighing 19 lbs. 8 oz., besides the sum of +£100 in gold, by way of a wedding gift.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fo. 175.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Renewal of the civil war, 1469.</note> + +<p>Disgusted with the king's unhandsome conduct +towards him, Warwick found an ally in Clarence, the +king's brother, gave him one of his daughters in marriage, +and even encouraged him to hope for the +succession to the crown. Edward's extravagant and +luxurious life had lost him much of his popularity. +He had ceased, moreover, to possess the goodwill of +the citizens for having allowed the arrest of Sir Thomas +Cooke or Coke,<note place="foot"><p>Ancestor of Lord Bacon and others of the nobility.—See Orridge +"Citizens and their Rulers," p. 222.</p></note> an alderman of the city, on a false +charge of treason. Notwithstanding his acquittal, +Cooke had been committed to prison and only +regained his liberty on payment of an extortionate +fine to the king and queen.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, p. 656. He was deprived of his aldermanry (Broad Street +Ward) by the king's orders.—Journal 7, fo. 128.</p></note> Warwick and Clarence +made use of the general discontent that prevailed to +further their own designs, and the civil war was +renewed. The City endeavoured to steer a middle +course. In June (1469) it lent the king the sum of +£200, but in the following month it lent Warwick and +Clarence just five times that amount on the sole +security of some jewels of little value.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fos. 196, 198, 199.</p></note> In May, 1470, +when there seemed little hope of the jewels being +redeemed, as Warwick and Clarence had been obliged +to flee to France, the Common Council entertained +the thought of selling them for what they were worth.<pb n="311" /><anchor id="Pg311" /><index index="toc" level1="RENEWAL OF THE CIVIL WAR." /> +The sale did not take place, however, but they were +kept some in the "Treasury," and some in the custody +of William Taillour, late mayor, on the express understanding +that he was not to be held responsible in the +event of their being stolen or taken by force.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fos. 215b, 222b.</p></note> In +February, 1471, when the wheel of fortune had once +more placed Henry VI on the throne from which +he had been driven by Edward, and Warwick and +Clarence were again in power, the mayor and aldermen +caused it to be placed on record that the +loan on the jewels had been made by agreement of +the whole court, with the assistance of certain commoners +who had been called in to contribute. What +their object was in so doing is not clear. Perhaps +they felt some qualms as to what Edward might say +or do in respect of the loan, should he again return to +power. They, at the same time, extended the time +for the repayment of the loan, at the desire of the +dukes of Clarence and Warwick. If the jewels were +not redeemed by Whitsuntide at the latest, they were +to be sold.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 229b, 230b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Flight of Edward and restoration of Henry VI, Oct., 1470.</note> + +<p>Whilst Warwick and Clarence were in France in +1470, they concerted measures with Queen Margaret +for effecting another revolution. By September +matters were ready for execution. On the 13th +Warwick landed in England; and before the end of +the month the Kentish men so threatened the City +and Westminster, that the newly-elected sheriffs had +to be escorted by an armed force in order to be sworn +in at the Exchequer, whilst a constant patrol was kept +in the streets.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 222b.</p></note> On the 1st October it was made +known in the city that the king had taken flight.<pb n="312" /><anchor id="Pg312" /> +His queen took sanctuary at Westminster, leaving the +Tower in the hands of the mayor and aldermen and +members of the council of Warwick and Clarence. +The unfortunate Henry was quickly removed from +the wretched cell in which he had so long been confined +to a commodious and handsomely furnished +apartment which the queen herself, being <hi rend="font-style: italic">enceinte</hi> at +the time, purposed occupying when she should be +brought to bed. A garrison was placed in the Tower +by order of the Common Council, sitting, for safety's +sake, in the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook. On the +5th October Archbishop Nevill, Warwick's brother, +entered the city with a strong force and relieved the +civic authorities of the custody of the Tower, and on +the following day Warwick himself appeared, accompanied +by Clarence and a large following, and removed +Henry from the Tower to the Bishop of London's +palace.<note place="foot"><p>A record of what took place in the city between the 1st and 6th +October is set out in Journal 7, fo. 223b.</p></note> Two days later (9 Oct.) he obtained from +the Common Council the sum of £1,000 for the +defence of his stronghold, Calais, besides a loan of +£100 from the aldermen of the city for his own +private use.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 225.</p></note> On the 18th the Earl of Worcester, +Edward's constable and minister of his cruelties,<note place="foot"><p>He had, after Warwick's flight to France in March of this year, +put to death and impaled twenty of the earl's followers.—Warkworth's +Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 10), p. 9.</p></note> was +beheaded on Tower Hill, the ground being kept by +the Sheriffs of London and a contingent from the +several wards.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fo. 225.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sir Thomas Cooke or Coke, late alderman.</note> + +<p>In November Henry was made to hold a parliament, +and Sir Thomas Cooke, the deposed alderman,<pb n="313" /><anchor id="Pg313" /><index index="toc" level1="HENRY VI RESTORED TO THE CROWN." /> +lost no time in presenting a bill for the restoration of +his lands, which had been seized by the queen's father, +Lord Rivers. He would probably have been successful +had fortune continued to favour King Henry, for, +besides being a member of parliament, he was, writes +Fabyan (a brother alderman), "a man of great boldnesse +in speche, and well spoken and syngulerly +wytted and well reasoned."<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan Chron., p. 660.</p></note> John Stokton had +recently been elected mayor, but there is reason for +believing that he, like other aldermen, preferred +Edward on the throne, licentious and extravagant +as he was, to an imbecile like Henry. He fell ill, +or, as Fabyan puts it, feigned sickness and took +to his bed, and Cooke assumed the duties of the +mayoralty. At Edward's restoration Cooke had to +seek refuge in France, but he was taken at sea before +he could reach the continent. The same fate might +have awaited Stokton had he shown himself less +cautious at that critical time.</p> + +<note place="margin">Edward recovers the throne, April, 1471.</note> + +<p>That the aldermen and the better class of citizens +favoured Edward, is shown by the ease with which +he effected an entry into the city when he returned +to England in the spring of the following year (1471). +The gates, we are told, were opened to him by +Urswyk, the Recorder, and certain aldermen (their +names are not mentioned), who took advantage of +the inhabitants being at dinner to let in Edward.<note place="foot"><p>Warkworth's Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 10), p. 15.—According to the +chronicler, the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commons</hi> of the city were still loyal to Henry, whom +Archbishop Nevill had carried through the streets, weak and sickly as +he was, in the hope of exciting the sympathy of the burgesses. Had +the archbishop been a true man, "as the Commons of London were," +Edward would not have gained an entry into the city until after the +victory of Barnet-field.</p></note> +Two days later, having recruited his forces, Edward<pb n="314" /><anchor id="Pg314" /> +marched out of the city, with Henry in his train, to +meet Warwick. He encountered him on Easter Day +(14 April) at Barnet, and totally defeated him, both +the earl and his brother being left dead on the field. +By this time Margaret had landed with a fresh army; +but a crushing defeat inflicted upon her at Tewkesbury +(4 May) left Edward once more master of the +kingdom.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Kentish rising under "bastard" Fauconberg, May, 1471.</note> + +<note place="margin">Attack made on the City.</note> + +<p>For a short time the city lay in some peril whilst +Edward was engaged with Warwick and Margaret. +The men of Kent again became troublesome. They +affected not to believe that Warwick had actually +fallen at Barnet. Under the leadership of Thomas +Fauconberg or Falconbridge, generally spoken of as +the "bastard," being a natural son of William Nevill, +first Lord Fauconberg, Earl of Kent, they marched to +London, with the intention of releasing Henry from +confinement and placing him again on the throne. +Fauconberg, who had been made a freeman of the +City in 1454,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 5, fos. 152, 175.</p></note> assumed the title of captain of King +Henry's people in Kent, and on the 8th May wrote +from Sittingbourne to inform the inhabitants of the +city that he had undertaken the cause of Henry +against the "usurper" Edward, and to ask to be +allowed to pass through the city with his followers, +whom he promised to hold in restraint and prevent +doing any mischief. He had written to the mayor +and aldermen to the same effect, and had desired to +have a reply sent to him at Blackheath by a certain +day and hour. To this letter the mayor and aldermen +sent an answer on the following day, to the effect +that when Edward left the city, after the battle of<pb n="315" /><anchor id="Pg315" /><index index="toc" level1="THE "BASTARD" FAUCONBERG." /> +Barnet, to follow the movements of Margaret and +endeavour to bring about an action before she could +completely rally her forces, he had charged them on +their allegiance to hold the city of London for him, +and for none other. For that reason they dared not, +neither would they, suffer him to pass through the +city. They hesitated to accept his assurance as to +the peaceable behaviour of his followers, judging from +past experience. As for the statement he had caused +to be published, that he held a commission as captain +of the Navy of England and men of war by sea and +land under the Earl of Warwick, whom he still supposed +to be alive, they assured him that the earl was +dead, and that his corpse, as well as the corpse of +Montague, the earl's brother, had been exposed to +view for two days in St. Paul's. They gave him the +names of some of the chief men who had fallen at +Tewkesbury, obtained, they assured him, not from +hearsay but from eye-witnesses—special war correspondents, +whom the City had despatched for the +express purpose of reporting on the state of the field, +and they concluded by exhorting him to do as they +themselves had done, and to acknowledge Edward IV +as the rightful king. They would even plead for royal +favour on his behalf, but as to letting him and his host +pass through the city, that was out of the question.<note place="foot"><p>The "bastard's" letter and the reply of the mayor and aldermen +are set out in Journal 8, fos. 4b-6b, and Letter Book L, fo. 78.</p></note> +Having despatched this answer to Fauconberg, the +civic fathers at once set to work to fortify the river's +bank from Castle Baynard to the Tower, where lay +the rebels' fleet. On Sunday, the 12th May, the +Kentish men tried to force London Bridge and set<pb n="316" /><anchor id="Pg316" /> +fire to some beer-houses near Saint Katherine's +Hospital. The attack was renewed on the following +Tuesday, whilst portions of the rebel force, amounting +it was said to 5,000 persons, were told off to try and +force the gates of Aldgate and Bishopsgate. There, +however, they were repulsed, and nearly 300 of them +met their death, either in actual fight or in their +endeavours to get on board their boats at Blackwall. +Urswyk, the city's Recorder, as well as Robert Basset, +alderman of Aldgate Ward, showed conspicuous valour +in the fight which took place in that quarter.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 323; Fabyan, p. 662.—According to Warkworth +(p. 19), the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Commons</hi> would willingly have admitted the rebels had +the latter not attempted to fire Aldgate and London Bridge.</p></note> The +city was never again troubled by Fauconberg. After +much wandering he was taken prisoner at Southampton, +and thence conveyed to Middleham, in Yorkshire, +where he was beheaded. His head was afterwards +sent to London and set up on London Bridge, "looking +into Kentward."<note place="foot"><p>Paston Letters, iii, 17.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward's return to London, and death of Henry VI, May, 1471.</note> + +<p>On the night after Edward's return<note place="foot"><p>The 21st May is the day usually given as that on which Edward +returned. The City's Journal, however, gives the day as the Eve of the +Ascension, that festival falling on May the 23rd.—Journal 8, fo. 7.</p></note> in triumph +to London, Henry VI ended his life in the Tower, +murdered, in all probability, at the instance of the +Duke of Gloucester, the king's brother, afterwards +King Richard III. His remains lay in state at St. +Paul's and at the Blackfriars a short while, and were +then carried to Chertsey to be buried.<note place="foot"><p>Warkworth's Chron., p. 21.</p></note> Edward distributed +honours among his supporters in the city with +a lavish hand. Not only did the Lord Mayor—the +cautious Stokton—receive the honour of knighthood,<pb n="317" /><anchor id="Pg317" /><index index="toc" level1="RESTORATION OF EDWARD IV." /> +but the aldermen<note place="foot"><p>Namely, Richard Lee, Matthew Philip, Ralph Verney, John +Young, William Tailour, George Irlond, William Hampton, Bartholomew +James, Thomas Stalbrok, and William Stokker.—Journal 8, fo. 7.</p></note> besides, whilst the city's doughty +Recorder was soon afterwards raised to be Baron of +the Exchequer. The City was so pleased with its +Recorder that it voted him a pipe of wine annually, +but the gift was not to be drawn into precedent.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 7, fo. 246.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Birth of Edward V.</note> + +<p>The rest of Edward's reign was undisturbed by +any attempt to unseat the new dynasty, and his position +was rendered the more secure by the birth of +a son (afterwards Edward V) in the sanctuary of Westminster, +whither his wife Elizabeth had fled for refuge. +Before the young Prince of Wales was five years old +he received the honour of knighthood at Westminster. +The mayor and aldermen went to meet him on his +way from the city to Westminster on that occasion, +clad in scarlet robes, whilst the streets from Bishopsgate +to Saint Paul's were thronged with the commons in +their livery.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, 8, fo. 98.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The invasion of France, 1475.</note> + +<p>Edward was now free to carry out his foreign +policy. Parliament voted supplies to enable him to +make war with France, but these were not sufficient, +and he had recourse to a system of "benevolences" +or free gifts, which few, however, dared to refuse. On +the 30th May, 1475, he left the Bishop of London's +palace in St. Paul's Church-yard, and, passing through +Cheapside to London Bridge, took boat to Greenwich +for the purpose of crossing over to France. The +livery companies turned out to do him honour.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 101.</p></note> The +expedition ended without a blow, Edward allowing<pb n="318" /><anchor id="Pg318" /> +himself to be bought off with a sum of 75,000 crowns +paid down and a pension of 50,000 more. On his +return he was met at Blackheath by the mayor +and aldermen in scarlet gowns, with their servants in +gowns of "musterdevilers," accompanied by more than +600 members of the companies in gowns of bright +murrey.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 8, fo. 110b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Edward and the citizens.</note> + +<p>By resorting again to benevolences and exacting +money from the City in return for charters, Edward +avoided the necessity of summoning parliament between +the years 1478 and 1483. On the 25th May, +1481, the king granted the City a general pardon,<note place="foot"><p>Preserved at the Guildhall (Box No. 28).</p></note> and +in the following month the City returned the compliment +by a loan of 5,000 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 8, fo. 244.</p></note> This loan was not +only repaid, but the king in the next year extended +his hospitality to the City by giving a large number of +citizens a day's hunting in Waltham forest, and afterwards +regaling them and their wives with venison and +wine.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, p. 667.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A famine threatened, 1482.</note> + +<p>The close of the year 1482 witnessed such a +dearth of cereals that the exportation of wheat or +other grain was absolutely forbidden. It was feared +that a famine might arise in the City of London, so +vast had its population become, both from the influx +of nobles who had taken up their quarters within its +walls as well as of strangers from foreign lands. +Merchants were therefore encouraged to send their +grain to London by a promise that it should not be +intercepted by the king's purveyors.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated 21 Nov., 22 Edw. IV.—Letter Book L, fo. +281b; Journal 9, fo. 2.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="319" /><anchor id="Pg319" /><index index="toc" level1="ACCESSION OF EDWARD V." /> + +<note place="margin">Edward's last parliament, 1483.</note> + +<p>The names of the City's representatives who +attended the parliament which met in January, 1483, +are not recorded, but we have the names of four +aldermen and five commoners, who were appointed +in the previous month of December to confer with +the City members on matters affecting the City.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 12.</p></note> In +addition to parliamentary grants of a fifteenth and +tenth, and a renewal of the tax on aliens, the +citizens agreed to lend the king the sum of £2,000, +each alderman to lay down 50 marks and 80 commoners +to subscribe £15 a piece.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 14.</p></note> Some difficulty +was experienced in raising the money, and the names +of eleven persons who had refused to contribute were +forwarded to the king.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 14b.</p></note> A little more than a month +elapsed and Edward was dead.</p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for the coronation of Edward V.</note> + +<p>The coronation of the young prince who now +succeeded to his father's throne, only to occupy it however +for a few weeks, was fixed to take place on the first +Sunday in May; and on the 19th April the City was +busy making arrangements for the prince's reception. +It was decided that the mayor and aldermen should +ride forth to meet the king, clad in gowns of scarlet, +their attendants being provided with gowns of the +colour of lion's-foot (<hi rend="font-style: italic">pied de lyon</hi>), at the public cost. +Five sergeants-at-mace belonging to the mayor, and +nineteen sergeants-at-mace in the service of the +sheriffs, were also to ride out to meet the king, clad +in gowns of the last-mentioned colour. The sword-bearer +was to be provided with a gown of murrey, and +a deputation from the civic guilds, to the number of +410 persons, clad in gowns of the same colour, was to +join the cavalcade.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 18, 18b.</p></note> On the 14th May they rode out<pb n="320" /><anchor id="Pg320" /> +to Hornsey, where they met the prince and his uncle, +the Duke of Gloucester, and escorted them to the +city. The duke was the same day appointed Protector, +to the great disappointment of the queen, who again +took sanctuary at Westminster. She was induced +shortly afterwards to give up possession of her younger +son, the Duke of York, and he and Prince Edward +were lodged in the Tower by order of Gloucester, who +took up his quarters at Crosby Palace, the mansion +house of Sir John Crosby, in Bishopsgate Street.</p> + +<p>Although preparations had been made for the +coronation, and the City had appointed representatives +from the livery companies to assist the chief butler at +the banquet<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 21b.</p></note> according to custom, that ceremony +never took place. Gloucester feared that if once the +young king was crowned, the project which he had +already begun to entertain of transferring the crown +to his own head would be less capable of realization. +Although he took an oath of allegiance to the new +king,<note place="foot"><p>The oath taken by Gloucester to King Edward V, as well as the +oath which he was willing to take to the queen, if she consented to quit +Westminster, were read before the Common Council on the 23rd March.—Journal +9, fo. 23b.</p></note> it was not long before he determined to feel the +pulse of the citizens as to their feelings towards himself +as a claimant of the crown.</p> + +<note place="margin">Shaw's sermon at Paul's Cross, Sunday, 22 June, 1483.</note> + +<p>In order to do this he called to his assistance +Dr. Shaw, an eminent preacher, whose brother, Sir +Edmund Shaa, or Shaw, happened to be mayor at the +time. Acting upon instructions from Gloucester, +Shaw preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on Sunday, +the 22nd June (1483), in which he charged the late +king with bigamy, Edward IV having, as he declared,<pb n="321" /><anchor id="Pg321" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER." /> +made a contract of marriage with one of his mistresses +before he married Elizabeth Woodville, and this being +the case the late king's children by her were illegitimate, +and Gloucester was the rightful heir to the +throne. It was arranged that at this point in his +discourse Gloucester himself should appear on the +scene, coming up, as if by chance, from his lodgings +at Castle Baynard. By some mischance the duke +failed to appear at the proper moment, and the effect +was lost. The citizens sat stolidly silent, not a single +cry being raised in favour of Gloucester.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Duke of Buckingham at the Guildhall, 24 June, 1483.</note> + +<p>Nothing daunted by this dismal failure, Gloucester +made another and more successful attempt to win over +the citizens. On the following Tuesday (24 June) he +sent the Duke of Buckingham to harangue the citizens +at the Guildhall. The duke began by reminding his +hearers of the danger to which their wives and +daughters had been exposed under the late king; of +the undue influence exercised at court by Jane Shore,<note place="foot"><p>Wife of Matthew Shore, a respectable goldsmith of Lombard +Street:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"In Lombard-street, I once did dwelle,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">As London yet can witness welle;</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Where many gallants did beholde</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">My beautye in a shop of golde."</l> +</lg> + +<p rend="text-align: right">(<hi rend="font-style: italic">Percy Reliques</hi>).</p> + +<p>She had recently been made to do penance by Gloucester in a white +sheet for practising witchcraft upon him; but her unhappy position, as +well as her well-known charity in better days, gained for her much +sympathy and respect.</p></note> +one only of a number of respectable women whom +Edward, he said, had seduced; of the excessive taxes +and illegal extortions by way of "benevolences" they +had recently suffered, and of the cruel treatment of +their own alderman, Cooke. He then went on to +repeat the remarks of Dr. Shaw touching the illegitimacy +of the princes, and spoke of the dangers of<pb n="322" /><anchor id="Pg322" /> +having a boy king on the throne, concluding by saying +that although it were doubtful if Gloucester would +accept the crown if asked, he would certainly be +greatly influenced by any request proceeding from +the "worshipful citizens of the metropolis of the +kingdom."<note place="foot"><p>The duke's speech, interesting as it is, as showing the importance +attached to gaining the favour of the City, cannot be regarded as historical.—Stubbs, +Const. Hist., iii, 224 note.</p></note> Buckingham's eloquence was lost on the +citizens, who were as little influenced by what their +new Recorder, Thomas Fitz-William, had to say on +the matter. At length the duke lost patience and +plainly told them that the matter lay entirely with +the lords and commons, and that the assent of the +citizens, however desirable in itself, was not a necessity. +By this time the back of the hall was packed +with Gloucester's partisans, so that when Buckingham +put the question pointedly to the assembly—would +they have the Protector assume the crown?—a +cry of assent arose from this quarter and was taken up +by a few lads and apprentices. This was enough; the +voice of the few was accepted as the voice of the +many, and the citizens were bidden to attend on the +morrow to petition Gloucester to accept the crown.</p> + +<note place="margin">The deposition of Edward V, 26 June, 1483.</note> + +<p>Accordingly, on the morrow, a deputation from +the city waited on the Duke of Gloucester at Baynard's +Castle and invited him to accept the crown. +After a considerable show of affected reluctance, +Richard assented, and, having assented, lost no time +in carrying out his pre-conceived purpose. The very +next day he hastened to Westminster and, seating +himself on the throne, declared himself king by inheritance +and election.</p> + +<pb n="323" /><anchor id="Pg323" /><index index="toc" level1="CORONATION OF RICHARD III." /> + +<note place="margin">The coronation of Richard III, 6 July, 1433.</note> + +<p>On the 6th July the last Angevin king that +reigned over England was crowned—crowned with +his wife Anne, widow of Prince Edward, killed at +Tewkesbury, but after the battle not in it, and of +whose blood Richard himself is thought to have been +guilty. The City accepted the position and made +the new king and queen a present of £1,000; two-thirds +for the king and the remainder for the queen. +The money was raised in the city by way of a +fifteenth; the poor were not to be called upon to contribute, +and the gift was not to form a precedent.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 27.</p></note> +The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the +chief butler at the coronation banquet was made and +allowed,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 33b. The names of the citizens selected for that +honour are recorded.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 21b. The names also of those who +attended coronations in the same capacity down to the time of George +IV are, with one exception (the coronation of Charles I), entered in the +City's archives.—(See Report on Coronations, presented to Co. Co., +18 Aug., 1831. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Printed</hi>.)</p></note> the king, sitting crowned in <hi rend="font-style: italic">le Whitehawle</hi>, +presented to the mayor and aldermen who were present +on that occasion a gold cup set with pearls and +precious stones, to be used by the commonalty at +public entertainments in the Guildhall.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 43.</p></note> Concerning +this cup there is the following curious entry made in +the City's Records, under date 13th July, 1486, when +Hugh Brice was mayor:—<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 114b.</p></note></p> + +<p rend="display">"Item it is aggreed this day by the Court that +where Hugh Brice Mair of this Citie, hathe in his +Kepyng a Cuppe of gold, garneised with perle and +precious stone of the gifte of Richard, late in dede +and not of right, Kyng of Englond, which gifte was +to thuse of the Cominaltie of the said Citee, that if +the saide Cuppe be stolen or taken away by thevys<pb n="324" /><anchor id="Pg324" /> +oute of his possession, or elles by the casualtie of +Fire hereafter it shall hapne the same Cuppe to be +brent or lost, that the same Hugh Brice hereafter +shall not be hurt or impeched therfore."</p> + +<p>This extract is interesting as showing that the +coronation cup presented to the mayor of the City +by way of <hi rend="font-style: italic">honorarium</hi> was, at this period at least, +looked upon as a gift made to the City's use, and +that the mayor could not claim it as his own perquisite, +as mayors had been in the habit of doing in +days gone by, and as they continued to do afterwards. +William Estfeld, who, as mayor, attended the coronation +of Henry VI (6 Nov., 1429), and received the +customary gold cup and ewer, appropriated the gift +to his own use, and, as we have already mentioned, +bequeathed them to his grandson.</p> + +<note place="margin">Rebellion of the Duke of Buckingham, 1483.</note> + +<note place="margin">His execution, 2 Nov.</note> + +<p>Richard had scarcely been seated three months +on the throne before the Duke of Buckingham, who +had been rewarded for his late services by being +appointed lord high constable, was in open rebellion, +and Henry, Earl of Richmond, long an exile in France, +was meditating an invasion. Buckingham's conspiracy +proved a failure, and he paid for his rashness with his +head. The Earl of Richmond was detained in France +by stress of weather, and danger from that quarter +was averted at least for a time.</p> + +<note place="margin">The king's reception in the city, Nov., 1483.</note> + +<note place="margin">Bold speech of the Londoners.</note> + +<p>On Richard's return to London after putting +down his enemies, he was welcomed by over 400 +members of the various civic companies, who rode +out to meet him in gowns of murrey.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 39.</p></note> His policy +was one of conciliation, and he lent a ready ear to a<pb n="325" /><anchor id="Pg325" /><index index="toc" level1="BOLD SPEECH OF THE CITIZENS." /> +Petition which the citizens presented to him setting +forth the wrongs which they had suffered: "We be +determined" said the citizens in forcible language, +"rather to adventure and to commit us to the peril +of our lives and jeopardy of death, than to live in +such thraldom and bondage as we have lived some +time heretofore, oppressed and injured by extortions +and new impositions against the laws of God and +man, and the liberty and laws of this realm wherein +every Englishman is inherited."<note place="foot"><p>Green, Hist. of the English People, ii, 63.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard's Parliament, Jan., 1484.</note> + +<p>Richard met this appeal by summoning parliament +to meet in January (1484), when various acts +were passed affecting the trade and commerce of the +city and the country, and among them one which +forbade aliens keeping any foreign apprentices or +workpeople to assist them in their occupation, and +otherwise imposed great restrictions upon the merchant +stranger.<note place="foot"><p>Stat. 1 Richard III, c. 9.</p></note> This statute was scarcely less welcome +to the citizens of London than that which +declared the practice of exacting money under the +guise of benevolences to be unconstitutional.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, c. 2.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Expected invasion of Henry of Richmond, 1484.</note> + +<p>In the summer he was welcomed wherever he +went, yet he knew that danger threatened. Richmond +was preparing for an invasion and the nobles were not +to be trusted. The citizens, too, were aware of the +danger, and had in the early part of the year appointed +a joint committee of aldermen and commoners to survey +the city's ordnance, and to supply guns and gunpowder +in place of that which had recently been +destroyed by a fire.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 43b.</p></note> In August they had promised<pb n="326" /><anchor id="Pg326" /> +Richard a loan of £2,400, each alderman contributing +£100;<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 56.</p></note> and in the following November the mayor +and aldermen rode out to Kennington to meet him +and escort him to the Wardrobe, near Blackfriars.<note place="foot"><p>Cotton MS. Vitellius A, xvi, fo. 140.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard defeated and slain at Bosworth, 22 Aug., 1485.</note> + +<p>Matters became more serious as time went on. +In June, 1485, the City advanced another sum of +£2,000 to assist Richard against the "rebels," who +were daily expected to land in England.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fos. 78b, 81. Richard issued a proclamation against +Henry "Tydder" on the 23 June, calling upon his subjects to defend +themselves against his proposed attack.—Paston Letters (Gairdner), iii, +316-320.</p></note> Extraordinary +precautions were taken to guard the city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fos. 81b-83b.</p></note> At +last the blow fell. On the 7th August Henry landed +at Milford Haven, and on the 22nd the battle of +Bosworth was fought and Richard killed.</p> + +<note place="margin">Henry VII escorted to the city.</note> + +<p>From Bosworth field Henry set out for London. +He was met at Shoreditch by a deputation from the +City, accompanied by the Recorder, and was presented +with a gift of 1,000 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fos. 84, 85b, 86b; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> "Materials illustrative of the +reign of Henry VII" (Rolls Series, No. 60), i, 4-6.</p></note> The standards taken on +the field of battle were deposited with much pomp +and ceremony in St. Paul's Church, where a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Te Deum</hi> +was sung, and for a few days Henry took up his residence +in the bishop's palace in St. Paul's Churchyard.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 479.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The sweating sickness, Sept.-Oct., 1485.</note> + +<p>A cloud soon overshadowed the rejoicings which +followed Henry's accession. An epidemic hitherto unknown +in England, although visitations of it followed +at intervals during this and the succeeding reign, made +its appearance in the city towards the close of September. +The "sweating sickness," as this deadly<pb n="327" /><anchor id="Pg327" /> +pestilence was called, carried off two mayors and six +aldermen within the space of a week<note place="foot"><p>Hecker's "Epidemics of the Middle Ages," p. 168.</p></note>—so sudden and +fatal was its attack. Sir Thomas Hille, who was +mayor at the time of its first appearance, fell a victim +to it on the 23rd September, and was succeeded by +William Stocker, appointed on the following day.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 87b.</p></note> +Within four days Stocker himself was dead. There +remained little more than a month before the regular +day of election of a mayor (28 Oct.)<note place="foot"><p>The day for election of mayor varied; at one time it was the +Feast of the Translation of S. Edward (13 Oct.), at another the Feast of +SS. Simon and Jude (28 Oct.).</p></note> for the year +ensuing, and John Warde was called upon to take office +during the interval.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 88.</p></note> He appears to have entertained +but little affection for the city, and the civic authorities +had some difficulty in getting him to reside in London,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 78b.</p></note> +where his duties required his presence. When the +mayoralty year expired he was not put in nomination +for re-election. He probably went back into +the country, glad to get away from the pestilential +city, and Hugh Brice was elected in his stead.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 89b.</p></note> +Fortunately for the city, the epidemic departed as +suddenly and unexpectedly as it came. By the end +of October it had entirely disappeared, and allowed +of Henry's coronation taking place on the 30th of +that month.</p> + +<note place="margin">A City loan of £2,000.</note> + +<p>Within a fortnight of his arrival in London +Henry issued a writ of summons for his first parliament. +It was not so much for the purpose of obtaining +supplies that he was anxious that parliament should +meet at the earliest opportunity; he was desirous of<pb n="328" /><anchor id="Pg328" /> +obtaining as soon as possible a parliamentary title to +the crown. As for his immediate necessities, he preferred +to apply to the City. He asked for a loan of +6,000 marks, or £4,000; but the citizens would not +advance more than half that sum. The loan was repaid +the following year—"every penie to the good +contentation and satisfying of them that disbursed it."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 482, 483; Cotton MS. Vitellius A, xvi, fo. 141b. +According to Fabyan (p. 683), the Mercers, Grocers and Drapers +subscribed nearly one half of the loan.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's marriage with Elizabeth of York, Jan., 1486.</note> + +<p>In January, 1486, Henry married the Princess +Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, and heiress of the +Yorkist family. He had previously taken the precaution +of committing to the Tower the Earl of +Warwick, son of Clarence, for fear lest he might set +up a title to the crown.<note place="foot"><p>Pol. Verg., 717; "Materials illustrative of the reign of Henry +VII" (Rolls Series, No. 60), i, 3.</p></note> After his marriage he set +out on a progress through the country, and on his +return to London, in June, was met by the mayor and +citizens at Putney, and escorted by them down the +river to Westminster.<note place="foot"><p>Gairdner's "Henry the Seventh" (Twelve English Statesmen +Series), p. 47. No record of this appears in the City's archives.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The insurrection of Lambert Simnel, 1487.</note> + +<note place="margin">City gifts to the king, June and July, 1487.</note> + +<p>A rumour that the Earl of Warwick had escaped +from the Tower gave an opportunity for an imposter, +Lambert Simnel, to personate the earl. In order to +satisfy the Londoners that the rumour of Warwick's +escape was a fabrication, Henry caused his prisoner to be +paraded through the streets of the city, and exposed to +public view at St. Paul's. After Simnel's defeat (16 June, +1487), the Common Council agreed (28 June) to send +a deputation, consisting of two aldermen, the recorder, +and four commoners, with a suite of 24 men, to meet<pb n="329" /><anchor id="Pg329" /><index index="toc" level1="VISIT OF HENRY VII TO THE CITY." /> +the king at Kenilworth, and at the same time voted +the king a present of £1000.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fos. 150b, 151.</p></note> This gift was quickly +followed (11 July) by the grant of another loan of +£2,000 to be levied on the civic companies as before.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 151.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king escorted to London, Oct., 1487.</note> + +<note place="margin">The City's gift to the queen at her coronation, 25 Nov., 1487.</note> + +<p>In October Henry was expected in London,<note place="foot"><p>He arrived on the 3rd Nov.—Gairdner, p. 57.</p></note> and +the Common Council again showed their loyalty by +agreeing that the mayor and aldermen should ride +forth to meet his highness, clad in cloaks of scarlet, +and accompanied by a suite of servants clothed in +medley, at the cost of the "Chamber." With them +also rode a contingent from the various civic guilds, +clothed in violet, and numbering over 400 horsemen. +The Mercers, the Grocers, the Drapers, the Fishmongers, +and the "Taillours," each sent 30 mounted +representatives of their guild; the Goldsmiths sent 24, +whilst the rest sent contingents varying from one to +twenty.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fos. 157b, 158.</p></note> On the occasion of the queen's coronation, +which took place the following month (25 Nov.), she +was made the recipient of a gift of 1,000 marks by +the City.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 161.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry VII and Brittany, 1488-1492.</note> + +<p>The king would willingly have remained at peace +if he were allowed, from motives of economy if for no +other reason. England, however, could not sit still +and see Brittany overwhelmed by the French king. +Before assistance could be sent to the Duchess Anne, +it was imperative that money should be raised. At +the close of 1488 the Common Council voted the king +a loan of £4,000. The money was ordered to be +raised by assessment on the companies, but the practice +was not to be drawn into precedent. The king,<pb n="330" /><anchor id="Pg330" /> +like a good paymaster as he always was, whatever +other defects he may have had, repaid the money in +the following year.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 223b; Cotton MS. Vitellius A, xvi, fo. 142b; +Fabyan, p. 683; Holinshed, iii, 492.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Parliamentary supplies and City loans.</note> + +<p>Early in the following year parliament<note place="foot"><p>Henry's second parliament was summoned to meet the 9th Nov., +1487. The names of the City's representatives have not come down to +us, but we know that William White, an alderman, was elected one or +the members in the place of Thomas Fitz-William, who was chosen +member for Lincolnshire, and we have the names of six men chosen to +superintend the City's affairs in this parliament (<hi rend="font-style: italic">ad prosequendum in +parliamento pro negociis civitatis</hi>), viz:—William Capell, alderman, +Thomas Bullesdon, Nicholas Alwyn, Simon Harrys, William Brogreve, +and Thomas Grafton.—Journal 9, fo. 224.</p></note> granted +large supplies which enabled Henry to despatch 6,000 +Englishmen to Anne's assistance, but which caused +much discontent among the "rude and beastlie" +people of Yorkshire and Durham.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 492.</p></note> In June, 1491, +another loan of £3,000 was raised, this time by assessment +on the wards;<note place="foot"><p>Journal 9, fo. 273b.</p></note> and in October Henry declared +to parliament his intention of invading France in +person. A grant of two fifteenths and two tenths was +immediately made to assist him in his expedition by +parliament; whilst the City contributed a "great benevolence," +the fellowship of Drapers contributing +more than any other fellowship, and every alderman +subscribing, whether he wished it or no, the sum of +£200. The amount contributed by the commonalty +exceeded £9,000.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, p. 684.</p></note> Thus furnished with supplies, the +king crossed over to Calais on the 6th October, 1492. +The campaign, however, had scarcely opened before +Henry gladly accepted the liberal terms offered him +by the French king, and peace was signed at Etaples +(3 Nov.).</p> + +<pb n="331" /><anchor id="Pg331" /><index index="toc" level1="THE PERKIN WARBECK CONSPIRACY." /> + +<note place="margin">Perkin Warbeck conspiracy, 1496-1497.</note> + +<p>The success which, brief as it was, had attended +Simnel's enterprise was sufficient to encourage a hope +that a better planned project might end in overturning +the throne. A report was accordingly blazed abroad +that Richard, Duke of York, brother of King Edward V, +was yet alive, not having been murdered in the Tower, +as had been supposed; and a man called Perkin Warbeck +or Warboys, a native of Tournay, assumed the +name of Richard Plantagenet and succeeded in getting +a large number of people in Ireland and Scotland to +believe that in his person they in fact saw Richard, +Duke of York, the rightful heir to the crown. +James IV of Scotland not only gave him in marriage +the lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of +Huntley, but led an army into England in hopes that +the appearance of the pretended prince might raise +an insurrection in the northern counties. Instead, +however, of joining the invaders the English prepared +to repel them, and James retreated into his own +country. This took place in 1496. Parliament granted +large supplies to enable the king to meet the danger, +but the inhabitants of Cornwall, sick of the constant +demands made of them for money, and aware of the +large treasure which Henry had already amassed, +openly resisted any attempt at further taxation and +determined to march on London.</p> + +<note place="margin">The city put into a state of defence.</note> + +<p>The Londoners, who not only abstained from +opposing the new demand for money, but volunteered +a loan to the king (15 Nov.) of £4,000,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fos. 80b, 83; Repertory 1, fos. 10b, 13. The +"Repertories"—containing minutes of the proceedings of the Court of +Aldermen, distinct from those of the Common Council—commence in +1495.</p></note> lost no time +in putting their city into a state of defence. Six<pb n="332" /><anchor id="Pg332" /> +aldermen and a number of representatives from the +livery companies were deputed to attend to the city's +ordnance.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fo. 19b.</p></note> The mayor was to be allowed twelve +armed men in addition to his usual suite, and the +sheriffs forty sergeants and forty valets in order to +assist them in keeping the peace within the city. +Communication was to be kept up at least once in +the day between the mayor and the Lord Chancellor. +Houses which had been set up on the city's walls, or +within sixteen feet of them, were to be abated. John +Stokker, who filled the not unworthy office of Common +Hunt,<note place="foot"><p>Two years later, when the post was held by Arnold Babyngton, +complaint being made of the noisome smell arising from the burning of +bones, horns, shavings of leather, &c., in preparing food for the City's +hounds, near Moorgate, the Common Hunt was allowed a sum of 26<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> +in addition to his customary fees for the purpose of supplying wood for +the purpose.—Repertory 1, fo. 70. The office was maintained as late as +the year 1807, when it was abolished by order of the Common Council.—Journal +84, fo. 135b.</p></note> was ordered daily to ride out to learn the +king's pleasure and report thereon to the mayor and +aldermen. Among those appointed to guard the city's +gates and Temple Bar was Alderman Fabyan, the +chronicler.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fo. 20b.</p></note> The state of anxiety which prevailed in +the city at this crisis is illustrated by "Jesus Mercy" +at the head of one side of the page of the City's record, +on which the above orders are entered, whilst on the +other side are the words <hi rend="font-style: italic">vigilie temporis turbacionis</hi>.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 20, 20b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The rebels defeated at Blackheath, 22 June, 1497.</note> + +<note place="margin">Perkin Warbeck in Cornwall.</note> + +<note place="margin">Surrenders to the king's forces and is brought prisoner to London, Oct., 1498.</note> + +<note place="margin">Is executed at Tyburn, 1499.</note> + +<p>By the 22nd June, 1497, all immediate danger had +passed, the rebels being on that day utterly defeated +at Blackheath. Their leaders were taken and executed; +the rest were for the most part made prisoners, but were +soon afterwards dismissed without further punishment. +The leniency displayed towards them by Henry was<pb n="333" /><anchor id="Pg333" /><index index="toc" level1="DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF WARBECK." /> +ill-repaid by their afterwards flocking to the standard +of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">soi-disant</hi> Richard IV, King of England, who +availed himself of their mutinous disposition and +appeared in their midst at Bodmin. The news of +Perkin Warbeck having arrived in Cornwall from +Ireland was brought to the mayor and aldermen of +the City of London by letter from the king, which was +read to the Common Council on Saturday, the 16th +September.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fo. 104b.</p></note> The rebels made an unsuccesful attempt +to get possession of Exeter, but hearing of the approach +of the king's forces, Perkin Warbeck withdrew to +Taunton, leaving his followers to take care of themselves. +From Taunton he went to "Mynet" (Minehead) +accompanied by less than sixty adherents,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 105.</p></note> and +by the 12th October the king was able to inform +the Mayor that Peter "Warboys" had voluntarily +submitted himself and had confessed to his being +a native of Tournay.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 108.</p></note> The king had him conveyed +to London and paraded through the streets +on horseback, in a species of mock triumph, and +caused his confession to be printed and scattered over +the country that people might see the real character +of the man. For a time he appears to have been +detained in lax custody about the court, but after he +had made an attempt to escape and reach the sea-coast, +and been re-captured, he was sent to the Tower. +There he got into communication with the unfortunate +Earl of Warwick, and entered into a plot for effecting +his own and the earl's liberty. A charge was formulated +against the earl on the most trivial grounds, of a +conspiracy to seize the Tower, and Warbeck was +indicted as an accomplice. The former, being found<pb n="334" /><anchor id="Pg334" /> +guilty by his peers, was beheaded on Tower Hill, +while Perkin and three of his accomplices were hanged +at Tyburn.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, p. 687.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Visit of Henry VIII as a boy to the city, 30 Oct., 1498.</note> + +<p>In the meantime Prince Henry, who afterwards +succeeded his father on the throne as King Henry VIII, +but was at the time a child of seven years, paid a visit +to the city (30 Oct., 1498), where he received a hearty +welcome and was presented by the Recorder, on behalf +of the citizens, with a pair of gilt goblets. In reply to +the Recorder, who in presenting this "litell and powre" +gift, promised to remember his grace with a better at +some future time, the prince made the following short +speech:—<note place="foot"><p>Cotton MS. Vitellius A, xvi, fo. 176.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">His speech.</note> + +<p rend="display"><hi rend="font-style: italic">"Fader Maire, I thank you and your Brethern +here present of this greate and kynd remembraunce +which I trist in tyme comyng to deserve. And for asmoche +as I can not give unto you according thankes, +I shall pray the Kynges Grace to thank you, and for +my partye I shall not forget yo<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> kyndnesse."</hi></p> + +<p>In anticipation of the prince's visit, a proclamation +had been made by the civic authorities with the view +of purging the city of infectious disease, to the +effect that all vagabonds and others affected with the +"greate pockes" should vacate the city on pain of +imprisonment.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fo. 41b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Negotiations for a marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.</note> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for reception of the princess, Nov., 1499.</note> + +<p>The removal of Warwick—"the one judicial +murder of Henry's reign"—if not suggested by Spain, +was an act which could not be otherwise than grateful +to the Spanish king. For five years past negotiations<pb n="335" /><anchor id="Pg335" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE ARTHUR." /> +had been proceeding for a marriage between Prince +Arthur and Catherine of Aragon. Warwick's death +cleared away the last of Henry's serious competitors, +and "not a doubtful drop of royal blood" remained +in the kingdom to oppose Arthur's claim to the +succession. The princess was expected shortly to +arrive in England, and a committee composed of +aldermen and commoners was appointed (Nov. 1499) +to consult with the king's commissioners as to the +preparations to be made for her reception.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fo. 62.</p></note> Nearly +two years, however, elapsed before she set foot in +England. In May, 1500, there were again rumours +of her approach, and the Common Council voted a +sum of money to be levied on the wards to defray +the expenses of her reception.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fo. 187b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Death of an infant prince, June, 1500.</note> + +<p>The "garnysshyng of the pagents" for the festive +occasion<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fo. 190b.</p></note> was interrupted by the death of Edmund, +the king's infant son. On the 19th June the members +of the various craft guilds were ordered to line the +streets of Old Bailey and Fleet Street, through which +the funeral procession was to pass on its way to +Westminster. The mayor and aldermen were to +stand, clad in their violet gowns, near Saint Dunstan's +Church, and the next morning to go to Westminster +by barge to attend the solemn requiem.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 191.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The marriage of Prince Arthur with Catherine of Aragon, 14 Nov., 1501.</note> + +<p>There was no necessity for hurry in regard to +the pageants. More than a twelvemonth was yet to +elapse before they were wanted. At length—on the +2nd October,<note place="foot"><p>This is the date given by Gairdner (p. 198). According to +Fabyan (p. 687) she arrived on the 4th Oct.</p></note> 1501—the princess landed at Plymouth,<pb n="336" /><anchor id="Pg336" /> +and five days later the City received notice from the +king of her approach to London. The marriage was +solemnized at St. Paul's on the 14th November, the +princess being presented with silver flagons by the +City in honour of the occasion.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fos. 238, 238b.</p></note> Five months later +(2 April, 1502) the bride was a widow, Prince Arthur +having died at the early age of fifteen.</p> + +<note place="margin">More rejoicings in the city, March, 1503</note> + +<p>In 1503 the streets of the city were again put +into mourning, for in February of that year Henry +lost his queen. A long account of the manner of +"receyvyng of the corps of the most noble princes +Quene Elizabeth" is given in the City's Archives.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fos. 122b-126. The account will be found in Archæol., +vol. xxxii, p. 126.</p></note> +In the following month the streets presented a +very different appearance, the occasion being the +solemnization of the league made between Henry and +the King of the Romans. Bonfires were ordered to be +lighted at nine different places, and at each of them +was to be placed a hogshead of wine, with two +sergeants and two sheriffs' yeomen to prevent disturbance; +but seeing that it was the Lenten season +and that the queen had so recently died, there was to +be no minstrelsy. The City Chamberlain was instructed +to provide a certain quantity of "Ipocras," +claret, Rhenish wine and Muscatel, besides comfits +and wafers, and two pots of "Succade" and green +ginger, to be presented on the City's behalf to the +ambassadors of the King of the Romans, lying at +"Pasmer Howse"; a similar gift being presented the +following day on behalf of the sheriffs.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fos. 130, 130b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="337" /><anchor id="Pg337" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY'S CONTROL OVER THE COMPANIES." /> + +<note place="margin">Charter of Henry VII to the Tailors of London, 6 June 1503.</note> + +<p>Henry's chief merit was that he established order, +and for this the citizens were grateful. This improvement +on the weak government of his immediate predecessors +had only been carried out, however, at the +cost of extension of royal power, and the City was +made to suffer with the rest of the kingdom. In +1503 the civic authorities were deprived by statute +of their control over the livery companies,<note place="foot"><p>By Stat. 19 Henry VII, c. 7, annulling Stat. 15 Henry VI, c. 6.</p></note> and in the +same year the Tailors of London obtained a charter +which gave umbrage to the mayor and aldermen of +the City, as ousting them of their jurisdiction. The +Tailors maintained their independence, and their wardens +are expressly mentioned as refusing to join the +Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths +and other fraternities in a petition to parliament +(1512) for placing them formally under the rule of +the mayor and aldermen, from which they were frequently +breaking away.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 146.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's charter to the City, 23 July, 1505.</note> + +<p>It was not until 1505 that the City succeeded in +getting its charter<note place="foot"><p>Charter dated 23 July, 1505, preserved at the Guildhall (Box +No. 15).</p></note> from Henry, and then only on +payment of the sum of 5,000 marks. The terms of +the charter, moreover, were far from satisfactory, and +an attempt was made to get them altered and obtain +an abatement of the fine,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 1, fo. 175.</p></note> but to no purpose.</p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's high-handed policy towards the City, 1506-1509.</note> + +<p>Henry continued his high-handed policy towards +the City up to the day of his death, and thereby +greatly increased his treasure. His chief instruments +were Empson and Dudley, who took up their residence +in the city, occupying two houses in Walbrook,<pb n="338" /><anchor id="Pg338" /> +whence each had a door into a garden of the Earl of +Oxford's house in St. Swithin's Lane.<note place="foot"><p>Strype, Stow's "Survey" (1720), bk. ii, p. 193.</p></note> There they +used to meet and concert measures for filling the +king's purse and their own. In 1506 Henry removed +Robert Johnson, a goldsmith, from the shrievalty +within three days of his election, and put William +Fitz-William in his place. Johnson took the matter +so much to heart that he died.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fos. 12, 14; Grey Friars Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. +53), p. 29.</p></note> In the same year +Thomas Kneseworth, the late mayor, was committed +to the Marshalsea, together with the sheriffs who had +served under him, and only regained his liberty on +payment of a large sum of money.<note place="foot"><p>The sum mentioned by Holinshed (iii. 539), is £1,400; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Fabyan, +p. 689.</p></note> In 1507 Sir +William Capel, Alderman of Walbrook Ward, who +had already fallen a victim to Empson and been +heavily fined under an obsolete statute, was again +attacked and fined £2,000 for supposed negligence +during his mayoralty. Rather than submit to such +extortion he went to prison, and remained there +until the king's death, when he obtained his freedom +and was soon afterwards re-elected mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Baker, in his Chronicle (ed. 1674), p. 248, puts Capel's fine at +£1,400; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Fabyan, p. 689; Holinshed, iii, 530; Journal 11, fo. 94.</p></note> +Lawrence Aylmer, another mayor, was also a victim +of Henry's tyranny, and was committed to the +compter, where he remained for the rest of the +reign.<note place="foot"><p>Fabyan, p. 690.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Marriage of the Princess Mary, Dec., 1508.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the Archduke Philip happened +to fall into Henry's hands (Jan., 1506). Whilst +crossing the sea to claim the kingdom of Castile<pb n="339" /><anchor id="Pg339" /><index index="toc" level1="MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS MARY." /> +in right of his wife, he was driven by stress of +weather into Weymouth. Henry was too shrewd a +politician not to make the most of so lucky an event, +and detained him in a species of honourable captivity, +until Philip had promised him the hand of his sister +Margaret with a large dower. This marriage alliance +was destined never to be realised. Another scheme, +however, was subsequently proposed and met with +more success. This was a marriage of Henry's own +daughter with Philip's son Charles, Prince of Castile. +News of their engagement was conveyed to the +mayor and aldermen of the City by a letter from the +king himself (25 Dec., 1507), in which he expatiated +on the benefits, political and commercial, likely to +arise from the match.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book M, fo. 138; Journal 11, fo. 28.</p></note></p> + +<p>This letter was followed by another from the king, +dated from Greenwich, the 23rd June following, in +which the Corporation was informed that for the assurance +of execution of the marriage treaty both parties +had given pledges, and that the City of London was, +among other cities and towns, included in letters +obligatory to that effect, which letters he begged +should be sealed without delay with the Common Seal +of the City.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fos. 37-39.</p></note> And so, after the manner of the times, +the boy of eight was married (by proxy) to the girl of +twelve, amid great rejoicings in London (17 Dec., 1508).<note place="foot"><p>Gairdner's "Henry the Seventh," p. 206.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's taste for the fine arts.</note> + +<p>If Henry amassed wealth, it was not from any +miserly motive. He well knew the value of the +money, and that peace at home was never better +secured than by a full treasury. He made, moreover, +a princely use of his money, encouraging scholarship,<pb n="340" /><anchor id="Pg340" /> +music, and architecture, and dazzled the eyes of foreign +ambassadors with the splendour of his receptions. That +he had a fine taste in building no one can deny who has +once seen the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, or +the chapel that bears his name at Westminster.</p> + +<note place="margin">The King's Chapel and Chantry at Westminster.</note> + +<p>Originally intended by Henry as a resting place +for the remains of his uncle, Henry VI, the last mentioned +edifice was diverted from its purposes and became +the chantry as well as the tomb of Henry VII +himself. Anxiety for his soul caused him to bind the +Abbot of Westminster by heavy penalties to the due +observance of his obit. These penalties were set out +in six books or deeds, sealed with the Common Seal of +the City of London, and formally delivered to the king +by a deputation of the mayor and aldermen, who received +in return a seventh book to remain in their +custody. In 1504—the year that Pope Julius sanctioned +the removal of the remains of Henry VI from +Windsor to Westminster—the mayor and citizens +formally sealed the "books" before the Master of the +Rolls at the Guildhall. Two years later certain livery +companies undertook to keep the king's obit on the +day that the mayor for the time being went to take +his oath at the Exchequer.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 10, fos. 318, 318b; Repertory 2, fos. 10b-11b. A list of +"such places as have charged themself and promysed to kepe the yerely +obit" of Henry VII, as well as a copy of indentures made for the +assurance of the same obit, with schedule of sums paid to various +religious houses for the observance of the same, are entered in the City's +Records.—Repertory 1. fo. 167b; Letter Book P, fo. 186b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's death, 22 April, 1509.</note> + +<p>The king died at his palace of Shene, recently renamed +in his honour "Richmond," on the 22nd April,<note place="foot"><p>The generally accepted day of his death, although the City's +Archives in one place record it as having taken place on the 21st.—Journal +2, fo. 67b; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Fabyan, 690.</p></note><pb n="341" /><anchor id="Pg341" /><index index="toc" level1="LAST DAYS OF HENRY VII." /> +1509. Just before his death he granted a general +pardon and paid the debts of prisoners committed to +the compters of London and to Ludgate for debts +amounting to forty shillings or less.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 541.</p></note> His corpse was +conveyed from Richmond to St. Paul's on the 9th +May, being met on its way at St. George's Bar, in +Southwark, by the mayor, aldermen and a suite of +104 commoners, all in black clothing and all on horseback. +The streets were lined with other members of +the companies bearing torches, the lowest craft occupying +the first place. Next after the freemen of the +city came the "strangers"—Easterlings, Frenchmen, +Spaniards, Venetians, Genoese, Florentines and +"Lukeners"—on horseback and on foot, also bearing +torches.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fos. 67b-69.</p></note> These took up their position in Gracechurch +Street. Cornhill was occupied by the lower crafts, +ordered in such a way that "the most worshipful +crafts" stood next unto "Paules." A similar order +was preserved the next day, when the corpse was +removed from Saint Paul's to Westminster. The +lowest crafts were placed nearest to the Cathedral, +and the most worshipful next to Temple Bar, where +the civic escort terminated. The mayor and aldermen +proceeded to Westminster by water, to attend the +"masse and offering." The mayor, with his mace in +his hand, made his offering next after the Lord +Chamberlain; those aldermen who had passed the +chair<note place="foot"><p>"Aldermen barons and presenting barons astate whiche hath been +Maires."</p></note> offered next after the Knights of the Garter, +and before all "knights for the body"; whilst the +aldermen who had not yet served as mayor made +their offering after the knights.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 2, fo. 69.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="342" /><anchor id="Pg342" /> + +<p>When King Henry VIII was about to make an +expedition to France in 1544, the Court of Aldermen +gave notice to the Bishop of London that the obit +of Henry VII would be kept on Friday, the 16th May, +on which day there would be a general procession, +and that the observance would be continued until the +king departed out of the realm, and then on every +Friday and Wednesday until his return.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 68b.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="343" /><anchor id="Pg343" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XIII.</head> + +<p></p> +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="PROCEEDINGS AGAINST EMPSON AND DUDLEY." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Proceeding against Empson and Dudley and their agents.</note> + +<p>One of the first acts of the new king was to +grant Letters Patent absolving the City of all trespasses +committed before the date of his accession,<note place="foot"><p>Letters Patent, dated 9 June, 1509, preserved at the Guildhall +(Box No. 29).</p></note> +and to offer restitution to all who had suffered at the +hands of Empson and Dudley or their agents. Empson +and Dudley were themselves committed to the +Tower and afterwards executed. In the meantime +an enquiry was opened in the city as to recent proceedings +against Capel and others.</p> + +<p>It was found that six men, whose names were +John Derby, <hi rend="font-style: italic">alias</hi> Wright, a bowyer, Richard Smyth, +a carpenter, William Sympson, a fuller, Henry Stokton, +a fishmonger, Thomas Yong, a saddler, and +Robert Jakes, a shearman—all of whom had more +than once been convicted of perjury, and on that +account been struck off inquests—had contrived to get +themselves replaced on the panel, and had been the +chief movers in the recent actions against the late +mayor and other officers of the city. They had, +moreover, taken bribes for concealment of offences of +forestalling and regrating. Being found guilty, on +their own confession, of having brought false charges +against many of the aldermen, the Court of Common +Council adjudged the whole of the accused to be +disfranchised. Three of them, who were found more<pb n="344" /><anchor id="Pg344" /> +guilty than the rest, were sentenced to be taken from +prison on the next market day, on horseback, without +saddles, and with their faces turned towards the horses' +tails, to the pillory on Cornhill. There they were to +be set "their heddes in the holys" until proclamation +of their crime and sentence was read. The lesser +offenders were spared the pillory, but were condemned +to attend on horseback at Cornhill, whence all the +offenders were conducted to the Standard in Fleet +Street "by the most high ways," where the proclamation +was again read. The culprits were then taken +back to prison and made to abjure the city on pain of +imprisonment at the pleasure of the mayor and +aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book M, fo. 159; Journal 11, fo. 74b.</p></note> Among the charges brought against +Derby was one to the effect that being on a jury he +had received the sum of ten shillings and "a quarter +of ffisshe for his howsehold," a bribe which a suitor +had tendered by the advice and counsel of Thomas +Yong, saddler, who was apparently acting as Derby's +accomplice.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 68.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City gift on occasion of the king's coronation, 24 June, 1509.</note> + +<p>On the occasion of the king's coronation, which +took place on Midsummer-day soon after his marriage +with Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, the +citizens presented the king and queen with the sum +of £1,000 or 1,500 marks. Two-thirds of the gift +was given expressly to the king, the remaining one-third +being a tribute of respect to the queen. The +money was to be raised in the city by way of a +fifteenth, but the poor were not to be assessed.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fos. 80, 81b, 82; Letter Book M, fo. 160.</p></note> The +procession from the Tower to Westminster was equal<pb n="345" /><anchor id="Pg345" /><index index="toc" level1="CORONATION OF HENRY VIII." /> +to, if it did not surpass, any spectacle that had yet +been witnessed in the city for its gorgeousness and +pomp. The streets were railed and barred from +Gracechurch Street to Cheapside at the expense of +the livery companies who lined the way,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fo. 80.</p></note> "beginning +with base and meane occupations and so +ascending to the worshipful crafts." The Goldsmiths +of London were especially conspicuous for their marks +of loyalty on that day. Their stalls, which were +situate by the Old Change at the west end of Chepe, +were occupied by fair maidens dressed in white and +holding tapers of white wax, whilst priests in their +robes stood by with censers of silver and incensed the +king and queen as they passed.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 547.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The war with France, 1512-1513.</note> + +<p>After three years of indolent and luxurious ease +Henry became embroiled in continental troubles. In +1511 a holy league had been formed for the purpose +of driving the French out of the Milanese, and +Henry's co-operation was desired. A parliament was +summoned to meet early in the following year.<note place="foot"><p>According to Holinshed (iii, 567), Parliament opened on the +25th Jan., 1512. The Parliamentary Returns give the date as the +4th Feb. with "no returns found." The names of the City's members, +however, are recorded in the City's Archives. They were Alderman Sir +William Capell, who had suffered so much at the close of the last reign, +Richard Broke, the City's new Recorder, William Cawle or Calley, +draper, and John Kyme, mercer, commoners.—Journal 11, fo. 147b; +Repertory 2, fo. 125b.</p></note> +After granting supplies<note place="foot"><p>The Act for levying the necessary subsidy ordained that every +alien made a denizen should be rated like a native, but that aliens who +had not become denizens should be assessed at double the amount at +which natives were assessed.—See "Historical Introd. to Cal. of +Denizations and Naturalizations of Aliens in England, 1509-1603." +(Huguenot Soc.), viii, 7.</p></note> it unanimously agreed that +war should be proclaimed against France. The campaign +of 1512 ended ingloriously, and the French<pb n="346" /><anchor id="Pg346" /> +king threatened to turn the tables on Henry and to +invade England. Henry rose to the occasion and at +once set about strengthening his navy. On the +30th January, 1513, he addressed a letter to the Corporation +of London desiring them to furnish him +with 300 men, the same to be at Greenwich by the +15th February at the latest.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fo. 1.</p></note> Proclamation was +thereupon made in the city for all persons who were +prepared to join the war to appear at the Guildhall +any time before the 10th February, where, if approved, +they would be furnished with sufficient harness and +weapons, without any charge, and also with sufficient +wages at the king's cost.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 1b.</p></note></p> + +<p>The city was suffering at the time from great +scarcity of wheat, and each alderman was called upon +to contribute the sum of £5 towards alleviating the +distress which prevailed. A contract was made with +certain Hanse merchants to furnish the city with 2,000 +quarters of wheat and rye respectively by Midsummer-day, +whilst the royal purveyors were forbidden to +lay hands on wheat, malt or grain entering the port +of London.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fo. 171; Repertory 2, fos. 150b, 172.</p></note> Under the circumstances it could have +been no great hardship, but rather an advantage to rid +the city of 300 mouths. On the 1st February, 1513, +the aldermen were instructed to enquire in their +respective wards as to the number of men each ward +could furnish, and two days later the livery companies +were ordered to find the sum of £300 to defray the +expense connected with fitting out the men. If more +than £300 were needed they were to draw on the +Chamber, but any money not expended out of that<pb n="347" /><anchor id="Pg347" /><index index="toc" level1="SOLDIERS FURNISHED BY THE CITY." /> +sum was to be paid into the Chamber.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fos. 151b-152.</p></note> The companies +raised the sum of £405, the Mercers contributing +£35, the Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers and Goldsmiths +respectively £30, and the rest sums of smaller +amount.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fo. 2.</p></note> There was some difference of opinion as to +the nature of the uniform to be worn by the city's +contingent. At length it was settled that the soldiers' +coats should be white, with a St. George's cross and +sword, together with a rose, at the back and the same +before. Their shoes were to be left to the discretion +of the muster-masters.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 153.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Battle of Spurs, 16 Aug., 1513.</note> + +<p>Henry himself now crossed over to France. The +campaign proved more successful than the last, for +the French being attacked at Guinegate, were seized +with so great a panic that Henry achieved a bloodless +victory. From the hasty flight of the French cavalry, +the engagement came to be known as the Battle of +Spurs. This victory secured the fall of Terouenne +and was followed shortly afterwards by the capture +of Tournay.</p> + +<note place="margin">Peace with France, 1514.</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding these successes, however, Henry +found it necessary to make peace in the following +year. His allies had got what they wanted, and the +conquest of France was as far off as ever. It +remained only to make as good a bargain as he could. +The French king consented to the payment of a large +sum of money, in return for which he was given +Henry's sister Mary in marriage, although she was +already affianced, if not married, to Prince Charles +of Castile. This was the work of the king's new +minister, Wolsey.</p> + +<pb n="348" /><anchor id="Pg348" /> + +<note place="margin">The New Learning.</note> + +<p>To the apostles of the New Learning—as the +revival of letters which commenced in the last reign +came to be called—to Erasmus, to Archbishop +Warham, to More and to Colet, the war at its outset +had been eminently distasteful. With the accession +of Henry VIII to the throne they had hoped for +better things. War was to be for ever banished and +a "new order" was to prevail.</p> + +<note place="margin">Thomas More.</note> + +<p>Of its connection with More and Colet the City +is justly proud. At the opening of Henry's reign the +future lord chancellor was executing the duties of the +comparatively unimportant post of under-sheriff or +judge of the Poultry Compter, a post which he continued +to hold until 1517.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book M., fo. 257; Repertory 3, fo. 221. In July, 1517, +the Fellowship of Saddlers of London consented, on the recommendation +of Archbishop Warham, to refer a matter of dispute between it +and the parishioners of St. Vedast to the Recorder and Thomas More, +gentleman, for settlement (Repertory 3, fo. 149); and in Aug., 1521, +"Thomas More, late of London, gentleman," was bound over, in the +sum of £20, to appear before the mayor for the time being, to answer +such charges as might be made against him.—Journal 12, fo. 123.</p></note> He had received his +education in the city at St. Antony's School in Threadneedle +Street, a school which had already achieved a +great reputation and afterwards reckoned among its +pupils the famous Whitgift. Later in life he shut +himself up for four years in the Charterhouse of +London, living a life of devotion and prayer, but +without taking any vow.<note place="foot"><p>Roper's Life of Sir Thomas More, pp. 3, 5, 6.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Dean Colet.</note> + +<p>The father of John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, had +taken an active part in municipal life. Henry Colet +had been alderman first of Farringdon Ward Without +and afterwards of the Wards of Castle Baynard and +Cornhill,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 8, fo. 144; Journal 9, fos. 13, 142b.</p></note> and as alderman of the last mentioned ward<pb n="349" /><anchor id="Pg349" /><index index="toc" level1="EDUCATION IN THE CITY." /> +he had died towards the close of 1505. He had +served as sheriff in 1477 and as mayor in 1486.</p> + +<note place="margin">Education in the city.</note> + +<p>Up to the time of Henry VI education had been +carried on in the city chiefly by means of schools +attached to the various city churches and religious +houses. By order of Henry VI, and at the instigation +of four city ministers,<note place="foot"><p>William Lichfield, rector of All Hallows the Great, Gilbert +Worthington, rector of St. Andrew's, Holborn, John Cote, rector of St. +Peter's, Cornhill, and John Nigel or Neel, master of the hospital of St. +Thomas de Acon and parson of St. Mary Colechurch.—Rot. Parl. v, 137.</p></note> grammar schools were established +in several parishes. The school of St. Antony +attached to the hospital of the same name, of which +Dr. John Carpenter was at the time master, received +an endowment from Henry VI for the maintenance of +scholars at Oxford. The school continued to flourish +some time after the dissolution of the hospital. There +was also a school attached to the hospital of St. +Thomas of Acon, as famous in its day as that of +St. Antony, but of which little is known until after the +suppression of the religious houses by Henry VIII, +when it passed into the hands of the Mercers' Company +and became known, as it is to this day, as the Mercers' +School.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City of London School.</note> + +<p>The Dr. John Carpenter just mentioned must not +be confounded with the Town Clerk of that name, +the compiler of the famous <hi rend="font-style: italic">Liber Albus</hi> and the +founder of the City of London School. There is little +known of the foundation of this latter school beyond +the statement made by Stow a century and a-half +later, that he "gave tenements to the city for the +finding and bringing up of four poor men's children +with meat, drink, apparel, learning at the schools in +the universities, etc., until they be preferred, and<pb n="350" /><anchor id="Pg350" /> +then others in their places for ever."<note place="foot"><p>Stow's Survey (Thoms's ed., 1876), p. 42.</p></note> Within the +last few years the City Chamberlain's accounts—touching +"the lands of Mr. John Carpenter, sometyme +commen clarke of this cittie"—have been brought +to light, and serve to supplement in a small way +Stow's meagre but valuable statement. The rental +or amount with which the Chamberlain charged +himself for the year 1565 or 1566 is there set down +as £41 0<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, and the discharge—embracing a quit +rent due to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, +and expenses incurred in overseeing, clothing and +feeding four poor children "being founde at scoole +and lerning by the bequeste of the sayde Master +Carpenter"—amounted to £19 12<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, leaving a +balance to the City of £21 7<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi><note place="foot"><p>Chamber Accounts (Town Clerk's office), i, fos. 202b, 203.</p></note> From so modest +a beginning arose the school which, situate on the +Thames Embankment, now numbers over 700 scholars.</p> + +<note place="margin">St. Paul's School.</note> + +<p>There was a school attached to St. Paul's long +before Colet's day, just as there is one now, independent +of the school of Colet's foundation, and devoted +mainly to the instruction of the Cathedral choristers. +Soon after Colet's appointment to the Deanery in +1505 he experienced no little dissatisfaction with +the Cathedral School, where great laxity prevailed, +more especially in the religious education of the +"children of Paul's," and so, about the year 1509—the +year of Henry's accession—having recently come +into a considerable estate by the death of his father, +he set about acquiring a small property situate at the +east end of St. Paul's Church for the purpose of +establishing another school which would better realise<pb n="351" /><anchor id="Pg351" /><index index="toc" level1="DEAN COLLET AND ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL." /> +his own ideal of what a school should be than the +existing Cathedral School. Colet's School grew apace. +In 1511 he was in negotiation with the Court of +Aldermen for the purchase "of a certen grounde of +the citie for an entre to be hadde into his new +gramer scole."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fos. 121b, 123.</p></note> By January of the next year (1512) +he had succeeded in obtaining the assent both of the +Court of Aldermen and Common Council to the +purchase by him of a "certen grounde in the Olde +Chaunge for the inlargyng of his gramer scole in +Powly's Churcheyerd" for the sum of £30.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 126b; Journal 11, fo. 147b.</p></note> The +property was conveyed to him by deed, dated the +27th September, which deed was sealed with the +common seal on the 7th October following.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 11, fo. 163; Repertory 2, fos. 133b, 142.</p></note> The +question as to whom he should entrust the management +of his school caused Colet no little anxiety. +He eventually decided to confide its revenues and +management entirely to the Mercers' Company, and +when asked the reason for his so doing replied that +"though there was nothing certain in human affairs +he yet found the least corruption in them."<note place="foot"><p>Letter of Erasmus to Justus Jonas quoted in Lupton's Life of +Colet, pp. 166, 167.</p></note></p> + +<p>Considerable rivalry existed among the various +grammar schools of the city, more especially between +the boys of Colet's School and the boys of the more +ancient foundation of St. Antony, which, for a long +time, had the reputation for turning out the best +scholars. Public disputations were held in the open +air. The St. Paul's boys meeting St. Antony's boys +would derisively call them St. Antony's pigs, that +saint being generally represented with a pig following<pb n="352" /><anchor id="Pg352" /> +him, and challenge them to a disputation; the latter +would retaliate by styling their rivals "pigeons of +St. Paul's," from the bird which then, as now, frequented +St. Paul's Churchyard. From questions of +grammar, writes Stow,<note place="foot"><p>Survey (Thoms's ed., 1876), p. 28.</p></note> they usually fell to blows +"with their satchels full of books, many times in +great heaps, that they troubled the streets and +passengers." After the decay of St. Antony's School +the rivalry was taken up, but in a more friendly way, +by the later foundation of the Merchant Taylors' +School.</p> + +<note place="margin">Provincial grammar schools founded by citizens of London.</note> + +<p>But the citizens of London did not limit their +efforts in the cause of education to their own city. +Throughout the country there are to be found +grammar schools which owe their establishment to +the liberal-mindedness and open-handed generosity of +the city merchant.<note place="foot"><p>"The number of grammar schools, in various parts of the country, +which owe their foundation and endowment to the piety and liberality +of citizens of London ... far exceeds what might be supposed, +approaching as it does nearly to a hundred."—Preface to Brewer's Life +of Carpenter, p. xi.</p></note> Their existence bears testimony +to the kindly feeling which men who had grown rich +in London still bore to the provincial town or village +which gave them birth and which they had left in +early life to seek their fortune in the great metropolis.</p> + +<p>To take but a few instances: Sir John Percival, +a merchant-tailor, who in 1487 filled the subordinate +office of Lord Mayor's carver, performing his duties +so well that the mayor, Sir Henry Colet, nominated +him one of the sheriffs for the year ensuing by the +time honoured custom of drinking to him at a public +dinner, founded a school at Macclesfield. Stephen<pb n="353" /><anchor id="Pg353" /><index index="toc" level1="PROVINCIAL SCHOOLS FOUNDED BY CITIZENS." /> +Jenyns, another merchant-tailor, did the same thing at +Wolverhampton. Sir Thomas White, another member +of the same company, founded two schools in the +provinces, one at Reading and another at Bristol, +besides the College of St. John at Oxford. Sir +William Harper, yet another merchant-tailor, established +a school at Bedford.</p> + +<p>The Mercers' Company rivalled the Merchant-Taylors' +in the number of schools established in the +country through the liberality of its members. Sir +John Gresham founded one at Holt, in Norfolk; Sir +Rowland Hill, an ancestor of the originator of the +Penny Postal scheme, another at Drayton, in Shropshire; +whilst schools at Horsham, in Sussex, and +West Lavington, in Wiltshire, were erected by two +other mercers, Richard Collier and William Dauntsey. +There exist at the present day at least four schools +which owe their foundation to wealthy members of +the Grocers' Company, the well known school at +Oundle, co. Northampton, upon which the Company +have expended on capital account the sum of +£35,000, having been founded by Sir William Laxton; +another at Sevenoaks, in Kent, by William Sevenoke, +a native of the place, who rose from very humble +circumstances to the chief magistracy of the city; +another at Witney, in Oxfordshire, by Henry Box, +and another at Colwall, co. Hereford, by Humphry +Walwyn. Sir Andrew Judd, a member of the Skinners' +Company, established a school at Tonbridge, whilst +Sir Wolstan Dixie, another skinner, performed the +same charitable act at Market Bosworth. Lastly, +Sir George Monoux and Thomas Russell, both of +them members of the Drapers' Company, founded<pb n="354" /><anchor id="Pg354" /> +schools at Walthamstow and at Barton-under-Needwood, +co. Stafford, respectively.</p> + +<note place="margin">Birth of the Princess Mary, Feb., 1516.</note> + +<p>On the Feast of St. Matthew (21 Sept.), 1515, a +messenger arrived in the city from Wolsey desiring +the mayor and aldermen to attend that evening at +St. Paul's to return thanks to Almighty God for the +queen, who was quick with child. The summons was +obeyed,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 46.</p></note> and in the following February (1516) the +Princess Mary was born.</p> + +<note place="margin">The city and Cardinal Wolsey, 1516.</note> + +<p>By this time Wolsey had risen to be a great +power in the State. In 1514 he had been made +Archbishop of York, and in the following year a +cardinal. His high position as a prince of the Church, +as well as his authority with the king, rendered it +desirable for the citizens to keep well with him. On +the 6th March, 1516, it was resolved to send a deputation +to the cardinal for the purpose of securing his +favour. No expense was to be spared in the matter, +and all costs and charges were to be paid by the +Chamber.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 70b, 71.</p></note> In the following June the cardinal handed +to the mayor a list of abuses in the city which required +reform. Sedition was rife there; the commons were +disobedient, the statute of apparel was ignored, vagabonds +and masterless folk resorted there and unlawful +games were allowed in houses. The king's council +required an answer on these points within a few days, +and an answer was accordingly given, but the purport +of it is not recorded, although it was read to the +Court of Aldermen before being despatched.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 86, 86b, 88.</p></note></p> + +<p>In November of the same year (1516) the City +was in difficulties with the recently erected Court of<pb n="355" /><anchor id="Pg355" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY BEFORE THE STAR CHAMBER." /> +Star Chamber, and Wolsey, who practically kept the +whole business of government in his own hands, came +to the City's assistance with advice. It appears that +a subsidy was due on the 21st of this month and the +City had not paid its quota. The mayor and aldermen +were cited to appear before the cardinal and other lords +of the council in the Star Chamber at Westminster. +Being asked if they had "sworne for their assayng," +to the king's subsidy, the Recorder answered on their +behalf that such procedure was contrary to Act of +Parliament. The cardinal thereupon advised them to +agree to give the king £2,000 in order to be discharged +of their oaths "or ells every of theym to be sworn of +and uppon the true value of their substance within +the sum of 100 marks." This took place on Saturday, +the 22nd, and the mayor and aldermen were to give +an answer to the Star Chamber by the following +Wednesday. On Tuesday, the 25th, the Court of +Aldermen met to consider what was best to be done +under the circumstances. The decision they arrived +at was that as the present assessment was less than +the last, they would, in consideration of the king's +letters, make up the sum then payable so that it +should equal the last assessment.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fos. 116, 116b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Evil Mayday, 1517.</note> + +<p>The seditious "brutes" or riots of which Wolsey +had complained as daily occurring in the city were +soon to assume a serious form. They were occasioned +for the most part by the jealousy with which everybody +who was not a freeman of the city was looked +upon by the free citizen. The influx of strangers and +foreigners has been daily increasing, notwithstanding +the limitations and restrictions placed upon their<pb n="356" /><anchor id="Pg356" /> +residence and mode of trading,<note place="foot"><p>Wares bought and sold between strangers—"foreign bought and +sold"—were declared forfeited to the City by Letters Patent of Henry +VII, 23 July. 1505, confirmed by Henry VIII, 12 July, 1523.</p></note> whilst the tendency +of freemen had been to leave the city for the +country.<note place="foot"><p>In 1500, and again in 1516, orders were issued for all freemen to +return with their families to the city on pain of losing their freedom.—Journal +10. fos. 181b, 259.</p></note></p> + +<p>Whilst the civic authorities were doing all they +could to prevent the possibility of a disturbance +arising on the coming May-day<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fos. 141b, 142.</p></note>—a day kept as a +general holiday in the city—occasion was taken by +a minister of the church, whose duty it was to preach +the usual Spital sermon on Easter Tuesday (14 April), +to incite the freemen to rise up against the foreigner +and stranger.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 618.</p></note> When the 1st May arrived all might +have been well, had not a city alderman allowed his +zeal to outrun his discretion. It happened that John +Mundy,<note place="foot"><p>Or Munday; the name is said to appear in twenty-seven different +forms. He was a goldsmith by trade, and was appointed (among +others) by Cardinal Wolsey to report upon the assay of gold and silver +coinage in 1526.—Journal 13, fo. 45b; Letter Book O, fo. 71b. He +served sheriff, 1514; and was mayor in 1522.</p></note> Alderman of Queenhithe Ward, came across +some youngsters playing "at the bucklers" at a time +when by a recent order they should have been within +doors, and he commanded them to desist. This they +showed no disposition to do, and when force was +threatened raised the cry for 'prentices and clubs. A +large crowd quickly assembled and the alderman had +to beat a hasty retreat. The mob, now thoroughly +roused, proceeded to set free the prisoners in Newgate +and the compters, and to attack the strangers and<pb n="357" /><anchor id="Pg357" /><index index="toc" level1="EVIL—MAY-DAY." /> +foreigners quartered at Blanchappleton<note place="foot"><p>In 1462 the Common Council ordered basket-makers, gold wire-drawers, +and other foreigners plying a craft within the city, to reside +at Blanchappleton—a manor in the vicinity of Mark Lane—and not +elsewhere.</p></note> and elsewhere. +Rioting continued throughout the night, but early the +following morning they were met by a large force which +the mayor in the meantime had collected, and 300 of +them were made prisoners, so that by the time that +assistance arrived from the court quiet had been +restored. A commission of Oyer and Terminer was +opened at the Guildhall to try the offenders. John +Lincoln, who had not so long ago been appointed +surveyor of goods bought and sold by foreigners,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 55b.</p></note> was +charged with being the instigator of the riot, and being +found guilty was hanged in Cheapside, whilst twelve +others were hanged on gallows in different parts of +the city. Others received the king's pardon with +halters round their necks in token of the fate they +deserved.<note place="foot"><p>For an account of the riot and subsequent proceedings, see +Holinshed, iii, 621-623, and the Grey Friars Chron. (Camd. Soc., +No. 53). p. 30.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City anxious to regain the king's lost favour.</note> + +<p>The civic authorities were not unnaturally anxious +to make their peace with the king, and to disclaim +any complicity in the late outbreak. The Court of +Aldermen met on the 11th May to consider how +best to approach his majesty on so delicate a subject. +It was decided to send a deputation to the lord +cardinal to "feel his mind" as to the number of +persons that should appear before the king. The +next day eight aldermen and the Recorder were +nominated by the court "to go the Kinges grace and +to knowe his plesure when the Mayr and Aldremen<pb n="358" /><anchor id="Pg358" /> +and diverse of the substancyall commoners of this +citie shall sue to beseche his grace to be good and +gracious lord un to theym and to accept theym +nowe beyng most sorrowful and hevye for thees +late attemptates doon ayeynst their wylles."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fos. 143, 143b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A deputation attends the king at Greenwich, 11 May, 1517.</note> + +<note place="margin">Wolsey and other lords to be bought over with gifts.</note> + +<note place="margin">The king's pardon obtained, 22 May.</note> + +<p>The deputation forthwith proceeded, clothed in +gowns of black, to Greenwich, whither the king had +gone on the 11th May. The Recorder as usual acted +as spokesman, and humbly prayed the royal forgiveness +for the negligence displayed by the mayor in not +keeping the king's peace within the city. The king +in reply told them plainly his opinion that the civic +authorities had winked at the whole business, and +referred them to Cardinal Wolsey, his chancellor, +who would declare to them his pleasure.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 624.</p></note> With +this answer the deputation withdrew and reported +what had taken place to the mayor, who had wisely +kept away. It was clear that above all things the +favour of the cardinal had to be obtained. For this +purpose a committee was appointed, whose duty it +was to "devise what thinges of plesur shalbe geven +to my lord Cardynall and to other of the lordes as +they shall thynk convenient for their benevolences +doon concernyng this last Insurreccioun."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 144b.</p></note> By the +22nd May matters had evidently been accommodated. +On that date the king sat at Westminster Hall in +great state, surrounded by the lords of his council and +attended by the cardinal. The mayor and aldermen +and chief commoners of the city, chosen from the +leading civic companies,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 143b.</p></note> had arrived by nine o'clock +in the morning clad in their best liveries, "according<pb n="359" /><anchor id="Pg359" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY OBTAINS THE KING'S PARDON." /> +as the cardinal had commanded them."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, 624.</p></note> Wolsey +knew the king's weakness for theatrical display. At +Henry's command all the prisoners were brought +into his presence. They appeared, to the number of +400 men and eleven women, all with ropes round +their necks. After the cardinal had administered a +rebuke to the civic authorities for their negligence, +and had declared that the prisoners had deserved +death, a formal pardon was proclaimed by the king, +the cardinal exhorting all present to loyalty and +obedience. It was some time before the effects of +the late outbreak disappeared. Compensation for +losses had to be made;<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 145b.</p></note> some were bound over to +keep the peace;<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 145.</p></note> and counsel were employed to +draw up a statement of the points of grievance between +the citizens and merchant strangers for submission +to the king.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 165.</p></note> In September there were +rumours of another outbreak, but the civic authorities +were better prepared than formerly, and effectually +stopt any such attempt by putting suspected persons +into prison.</p> + +<p>Lest any unfavourable report should reach the +cardinal, the Recorder and another were ordered to +ride in all haste to Sion, where Wolsey was thought to +be, and if they failed to find him there, to follow him +to Windsor and to report to him the active measures +that had been taken to prevent any further insurrection +in the city.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 166.</p></note> "Evil May-day" was long remembered +by the citizens, who raised objection to Thomas +Semer or Seymer, who had been sheriff at the<pb n="360" /><anchor id="Pg360" /> +time, being elected mayor ten years later.<note place="foot"><p>"Thys yere was much a doo in the yelde-halle for the mayer for +the comyns wold not have had Semer, for be cause of yell May-day."—Grey +Friars Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 53), p. 33.</p></note> In May, +1547, all householders were straitly charged not to permit +their servants any more to go maying, but to keep +them within doors.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 351b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The epidemic of 1518.</note> + +<p>With gibbets all over the city, each bearing a +ghastly freight, and the summer approaching, it is +scarcely surprising that the city should soon again be +visited with an epidemic. "At the city gates," wrote +an eye-witness, "one sees nothing but gibbets and the +quarters of these wretches"—the wretches who had +been hanged for complicity in the late disturbance—"so +that it is horrible to pass near them."<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers, For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. ii, +pt. i, Pref., p. ccxxi.</p></note> The +"sweating sickness," which had again made its appearance +in 1516, and had never really quitted the +city (except for a few weeks in winter), now raged +more violently than ever, accompanied by measles +and small-pox. The king ordered all inhabitants of +infected houses to keep indoors and hang out wisps +of straw, and when compelled to walk abroad to carry +white rods.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 1276.</p></note> This order, however, was badly received +in the city and gave rise to much murmuring and +dissatisfaction.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fos. 184b, 189b, 191, 192.</p></note> The civic authorities did what they +could to mitigate the evil by driving out beggars +and vagabonds, and removing slaughter-houses outside +the city walls,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book N, fo. 95b.</p></note> as well as by administering relief to the +poorer classes by the distribution of tokens or licences<pb n="361" /><anchor id="Pg361" /><index index="toc" level1="AN EPIDEMIC IN THE CITY." /> +to solicit alms. These tokens consisted of round +"beedes" of white tin, bearing the City's arms in +the centre, to be worn on the right shoulder.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fos. 192, 194; Letter Book N, fos. 63b, 74.</p></note> In +the midst of so much real suffering, there were +not wanting those who took advantage of the charitable +feeling which the crisis called forth and were not +ashamed to gain a livelihood by simulating illness. +Such a one was Miles Rose, who on the 11th March, +1518, openly confessed before the Court of Aldermen +that he had frequently dissembled the sickness of +the "fallyng evyle" (or epilepsy) in divers parish +churches in the city, on which occasions "jemewes" +of silver, called cramp rings, would as often as not +be placed on his fingers by charitable passers-by, with +which he would quickly make off, pocketing at the +same time many a twopence which had been bestowed +upon him.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 3, fo. 197.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Marriage of the infant Princess Mary with the Dauphin, 5 Oct., 1518.</note> + +<p>The city could scarcely have recovered its wonted +appearance after the ravages of the pestilence before +its streets were enlivened with one of those magnificent +displays for which London became justly famous, +the occasion being an embassy from the French king +sent to negotiate a marriage treaty between Henry's +daughter Mary, a child but two years of age, and +the still younger Dauphin of France. The City +Records, strange to say, appear to be altogether +silent on this subject, and yet the embassy, for +magnificent display, was such as had never been seen +within its walls before. We can understand that the +embassy was not acceptable to the thrifty middle-class +trading burgess, when we read that it was accompanied<pb n="362" /><anchor id="Pg362" /> +by a swarm of pedlars and petty hucksters who +showed an unbecoming anxiety to do business in +hats, caps and other merchandise, which under colour +of the embassy had been smuggled into the country +duty free.<note place="foot"><p>Hall's Chron., pp. 593, 594.</p></note> The foreign retail trader was at the best of +times an abomination to the free burgess, and this sharp +practice on the part of the Frenchmen, coming so soon +after the recent outburst against strangers on Evil +May-day, only served to accentuate his animosity—"At +this dooing mannie an Englishman grudged, but +it availed not."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 632.</p></note> The ambassadors were lodged at +the Merchant Taylors' Hall, which, owing to the +ill-timed action of the French pedlars, had the look of +a mart. On Sunday, the 3rd October, the king, with +a train of 1,000 mounted gentlemen richly dressed, +attended by the legates and foreign ambassadors, went +in procession to St. Paul's to hear mass; after which +the king took his oath—a ceremonial which the French +admiral declared to be "too magnificent for description." +On the following Tuesday (5 Oct.) the marriage +ceremony—so far as it could be carried out +between such infants—was celebrated at Greenwich, +and a tiny gold ring, in which was a valuable diamond, +placed upon Mary's finger.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers, For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. ii. +pt. i, Pref., pp. clx, clxi.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations for the reception of the legate in the city, July, 1519.</note> + +<p>In the following year (July, 1519) the streets +witnessed another scene of gaiety. This time it was +a visit of the legate, Cardinal Campeggio, for which +the civic authorities made great preparations.<note place="foot"><p>"An order devysed by the Mayer and hys brethrern the aldremen +by the Kynges commandment for a Tryumphe to be done in the Citie of +London at the Request of the Right honorable ambassadors of the +Kynge of Romayns."—10 July, Journal 12, fo. 9.</p></note> In<pb n="363" /><anchor id="Pg363" /><index index="toc" level1="RECEPTION OF CARDINAL CAMPEGGIO." /> +the first place the mayor and aldermen, in their gowns +and cloaks of scarlet, were ordered to take up their +position at 9 o'clock on the morning of Relic Sunday +(<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, the third Sunday after Midsummer Day) at St. +Paul's stairs (<hi rend="font-style: italic">the stayers w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi>in poulys</hi>). Next to them +were to stand the Skinners, then the Mercers and +other worshipful crafts in their order, clothed in their +last and best livery. In this manner the street was +to be lined on either side from the west door of St. +Paul's down to Baynard's Castle. Upon the arrival +of the lord cardinal and other lords at the Cathedral +the mayor and aldermen were to head the procession +and seat themselves in the choir to hear <hi rend="font-style: italic">Te Deum</hi> +sung. Bonfires or "pryncypall fyres" were to be +lighted at St. Magnus corner, Gracechurch, Leadenhall, +the conduit on Cornhill, St. Thomas "of Acres," +the Standard and little conduit in Cheap, the Standard +in Fleet Street, and in Bishopsgate Street; whilst +cresset lights and small fires "made after the manner +of Midsummer-night" were to add to the gaiety of the +scene. Men-at-arms, well harnessed and apparelled, +were to keep certain streets, whilst the aldermen and +their constables were to keep watch and ward in their +best array of harness. The ambassadors, who were to +be lodged in Cornhill, were to be escorted home at night +by the aldermen with torches, and to await their commands. +There was one other, perhaps not unnecessary, +direction to be followed, which was to the effect that +if by any chance the strangers should be overcome +by the hospitality of the city, or, in the words of the +record—"yf eny oversyght be w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi> moche drynke of +the strangers"—the citizens were to "lett theym +alone and no Englishemen to medyle w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi> theym."</p> + +<pb n="364" /><anchor id="Pg364" /> + +<note place="margin">The legate lands at Deal, 23 July, 1519.</note> + +<note place="margin">A story told of his passage through the city.</note> + +<p>The legate landed at Deal on the 23rd July, and +by slow stages was conducted with every mark of +respect to London. His passage through the city +was associated with an episode of a decidedly comic +character if we are to believe the chronicler. A story +is told<note place="foot"><p>Hall, pp. 592, 593.</p></note> that the night before Campeggio entered +London, Wolsey sent him twelve mules with (empty) +coffers, in order to give a semblance of wealth to the +legate and his retinue. In Cheapside one of the mules +turned restive and upset the chests, out of which +tumbled old hose, shoes, bread, meat, and eggs, with +"muche vile baggage," at which the street boys cried +"See, see my lord legate's treasure!" The story, +however, is on good authority deemed more malicious +than probable.</p> + +<note place="margin">The contest for the empire, 1519.</note> + +<p>In January, 1519, the Emperor Maximilian died +and left the imperial crown to be contested for by the +kings of France and Spain. It eventually fell to the +latter, and Charles V of Spain was elected Emperor +Charles I, the event being celebrated by a solemn +mass and <hi rend="font-style: italic">Te Deum</hi> at St. Paul's, followed by a +banquet at Castle Baynard.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 639.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The emperor's visit to the city, 1522.</note> + +<p>Both France and Germany were eager to secure +the co-operation of Henry. Charles anticipated the +meeting which was to take place between Henry and +Francis on the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold by +coming over in person to England (May, 1519) and +having a private conference with his uncle. The +young emperor did not visit the city on this occasion; +but in 1522, when war had broken out between him +and Francis and he was again in England, he was<pb n="365" /><anchor id="Pg365" /><index index="toc" level1="THE EMPEROR CHARLES VISITS THE CITY." /> +escorted to the city with great honour and handsomely +lodged in the palace of Bridewell. Nearly £1,000 +was raised to meet the expenses of his reception and +of furnishing a body of 100 bowmen for the king's +service.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 125, 172b, 173b; Letter Book N, fo. 194b.</p></note></p> + +<p>The king and his guest and ally were met at St. +George's Bar in Southwark by John Melborne,<note place="foot"><p>Knighted the next day at Greenwich.—Repertory 5, fo. 295.</p></note> the +mayor, accompanied by the high officers of the city, +clothed in gowns of "pewke," each with a chain of +gold about his neck.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fo. 294.</p></note> A "proposicioun" or address +was made by Sir Thomas More, now under-treasurer +of England, who was afterwards presented by the +City with the sum of £10 towards a velvet gown,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> 4, fo. 134b.</p></note> +whilst other speeches made in the course of the +procession were composed by Master Lilly,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> 5, fo. 293.</p></note> of +Euphues fame, the first high master of Colet's School.</p> + +<note place="margin">Pestilence and famine, 1519-1522.</note> + +<p>Between the first and second visits of the emperor +the citizens had witnessed some strange sights and +had gone through much suffering and privation. The +city had scarcely ever been free from sickness, and +famine and pestilence had followed one another in +quick succession. In September, 1520, the fellowships +or civic companies subscribed over £1,000 for +the purchase of wheat<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 75b-76; Letter Book N, fos. 142-143.</p></note> to be stored at the Bridgehouse, +where ovens were fitted up.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 30; Repertory 4, fo. 71b.</p></note> Mills for grinding +corn already existed in the Thames hard by.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fos. 1b, 12, 13.</p></note> The +following year the plague raged to such an extent<pb n="366" /><anchor id="Pg366" /> +that every house attacked was ordered to be marked +with St. Antony's cross, "otherwise called the syne +of Tav,"<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 136.</p></note> and citizens were forbidden to attend the +fair at Windsor for fear of carrying infection to the +court.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 144.</p></note></p> + +<p>Again a scarcity of corn was feared, and the +Bridge-masters were authorised by the Court of Common +Council to purchase provisions, the corporation +undertaking to give security for the repayment of all +monies advanced by the charitably disposed for the +purpose of staving off famine.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 158, 161, 163b; Letter Book N, fos. 187b, 190b.</p></note> Early in 1522 (15 Jan.) +died Fitz-James, Bishop of London, carried off with +many others by "a great death in London and other +places of the realm."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 675.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Execution of the Duke of Buckingham, 1521.</note> + +<p>The citizens had also in the meanwhile witnessed +the arrest and execution of the Duke of Buckingham, +son of the duke who figured so prominently before the +citizens when the crown was offered to Richard III +at Baynard Castle. He was seized one day whilst +landing from his barge at the Hay Wharf, on a +number of charges all more or less frivolous. His +attendants were dismissed to the duke's "Manor of +the Rose," in the parish of St. Laurence Pountney<note place="foot"><p>Shakespere mentions the Duke's manor thus:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"Not long before your highness sped to France,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">The duke being at the Rose, within the parish</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">St. Laurence Poultney, did of me demand</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">What was the speech among the Londoners</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Concerning the French journey."</l> +</lg> + +<p rend="text-align: right">—Henry VIII, act 1, sc. 2.</p></note>—on +the site of which recently stood Merchant Taylors' +School—whilst he himself was conducted to the Tower +(16 April, 1521). An indictment was laid against<pb n="367" /><anchor id="Pg367" /><index index="toc" level1="TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF BUCKINGHAM." /> +him at the Guildhall before Sir John Brugge, lord +mayor, and others (8 May). After a trial at Westminster +which lasted some days, he was found guilty +of high treason, and condemned to be hanged, drawn +and quartered, and to suffer such other atrocities as +usually accompanied the death of a traitor in those +days. The king, however, satisfied with his condemnation, +spared him these indignities, and the duke +was allowed to meet his death at the block. His +corpse was reverently carried from the Tower to the +Church of the Austin Friars by six poor members of +that Order.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers, For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. iii, +pt. i, Pref., pp. cxxv, cxxvi, cxxxv, cxxxvi.</p></note></p> + +<p>The duke had other friends in the city besides +these poor religious men, who thus requited in the only +way they could many acts of kindness done to their +Order by Buckingham in his life time, and his death +gave rise to much disaffection and seditious language +for some time afterwards.<note place="foot"><p>On the 5th July steps were taken by the Court of Aldermen for +putting a stop to the mutinous and seditious words that were current in +the city "concerning the lamenting and sorrowing of the death of the +duke"—men saying that he was guiltless—and special precautions were +taken for the safe custody of weapons and harness for fear of an outbreak. +The scribe evinced his loyalty by heading the page of the +record with <hi rend="font-style: italic">Lex domini immaculata: Vivat Rex Currat L</hi>.—Repertory +5, fo. 204.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City loan of £20,000 to assist the king against France, 1522.</note> + +<p>Before the emperor left England he succeeded in +committing Henry to an invasion of France. In order +to carry out his object the king needed money, and +the City was asked to furnish him with the sum of +£100,000.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fo. 288.</p></note> Ten days later (26 May) the City +agreed to advance £20,000. The livery companies +were to be called upon to surrender their plate, and<pb n="368" /><anchor id="Pg368" /> +foreigners as well as citizens were to be made to +contribute.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 187b, 188b, 195; Letter Book N, fos. 203b, 204, 208.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The aldermen to be assessed with the commoners and not to be severed.</note> + +<p>The question arose whether the aldermen should +be jointly assessed with the commoners or by themselves. +The mayor and aldermen were willing to +contribute the sum of £3,000,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fo. 292.</p></note> but this offer the +Common Council "nothyng regarded," but sent the +common sergeant to talk the matter over with them. +After long consultation the mayor and aldermen sent +back word that it was more "convenient" that they +should be assessed with the commoners and not to be +severed.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 187b.</p></note></p> + +<p>In the meantime a hasty valuation had been made +by the command of Wolsey of the plate of the livery +companies, and of the ready money lying in their +halls, the whole value of which was estimated to be +£4,000. This, together with the sum of £10,000 +which the Court of Aldermen purposed raising among +the wealthier class of citizens, was all that the cardinal +was given to expect from the City.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fos. 289, 290.</p></note> On the 24th +May the deputation, which had ridden with all speed +after the cardinal in order to make this report, returned +to the city and reported to the Court of Aldermen +that his grace was in no wise satisfied with the City's +offer, and that he expected the City to furnish the king +with at least £30,000, of which £10,000 was to be +ready within three days.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 291.</p></note> The matter was compromised +by the City consenting to advance £20,000.</p> + +<p>In June the Recorder had an interview with Wolsey +respecting the security to be given for repayment<pb n="369" /><anchor id="Pg369" /><index index="toc" level1="LIVERY COMPANIES TO SURRENDER THEIR PLATE." /> +of the loan. The cardinal refused to allow that +certain abbots, abbesses and priors, who had been +named, should enter into bond, and the citizens were +obliged to be content with the personal securities of +the king and Wolsey himself. Touching the plate of +the halls, the cardinal wished only to take it in case +of absolute necessity, and then only at a fair price. +He desired the owners to bring it to the Tower, "there +to be coyned and they [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi>, the government] to pay +the seyd money that so shalbe coyned." The result +of the Recorder's interview was reported to the Court +of Aldermen the 17th June.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fos. 296b, 297.</p></note> A committee had +already (2 June) to take an account of the plate +brought in and to enter its true weight in a book.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 294.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A further loan of 4,000 marks.</note> + +<note place="margin">Letter of thanks from Wolsey, 3 Sept., 1522.</note> + +<p>The recent loan of £20,000 had scarcely been +raised<note place="foot"><p>A portion remained unpaid on 16 August.—Journal 12, fo. 195.</p></note> before the citizens found it necessary to make +a further advance of 4,000 marks. Their liberality +was repaid by a gracious letter from Wolsey himself, +in which he promised to see the money repaid in a +fortnight,<note place="foot"><p>Letter dated 3 Sept.—Journal 12, fo. 196b. On 28 Sept. Wolsey +asked for more time to repay the loan.—Repertory 5, fo. 326.</p></note> and to extend to them his favour. What +vexed the citizens more than anything was being +compelled to make oath before the cardinal's deputy +sitting in the Chapter House of St. Paul's as to the +amount each was worth in money, plate, jewels, +household goods and merchandise,—a system of +inquisition recently introduced.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 200.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City makes a stand against further loans. Nov., 1522.</note> + +<note place="margin">Others follow its example.</note> + +<p>As if all this were not enough Wolsey demanded +another loan before the end of the year. This was +too much even for the patient and open-handed<pb n="370" /><anchor id="Pg370" /> +London burgess. The Common Council determined +(4 Nov.) to put a stop to these extortionate demands, +and resolved that, "As touchyng the Requeste made +by my lorde cardynalles grace for appreste or +aloone of more money to the kynges grace, they +can in no wise agre thereto, but they ar and wilbe +well contendid to be examyned uppon their othes +yf it shall please his grace so to do."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 210.</p></note> The stand +thus made by the citizens against illegal exactions +gave courage to others. The king's commissioners +were forcibly driven out of Kent, and open rebellion +was threatened in other counties.<note place="foot"><p>See Green's "Hist. of the English People," ii, 121. 122.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Appeal to parliament, April, 1523.</note> + +<p>There was only one course left open to Henry, +and that was to summon a parliament. For nearly +eight years no parliament had sat. It was now +summoned to meet on the 15th April, 1523, not at +Westminster, but at the house of the Blackfriars.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 31.</p></note> +The names of the city's representatives are on record. +The aldermen elected one of their body, George +Monoux, and with him was associated "according +to ancient customs," the city's Recorder, William +Shelley; whilst the commons elected John Hewster, +a mercer, and William Roche, a draper<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fo. 144; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Repertory 6, fo. 20b; Letter Book N, +fo. 222.</p></note></p> + +<p>A few days after the election a committee of +fourteen members was nominated to consider what +matters should be laid before parliament as being for +the welfare of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fo. 145b.</p></note> Sir Thomas More was<pb n="371" /><anchor id="Pg371" /><index index="toc" level1="PARLIAMENT THREATENED BY WOLSEY." /> +chosen Speaker. The enormous sum of £800,000 +was demanded. Expecting some hesitation on the +part of the Commons, Wolsey himself determined to +argue with them, and suddenly made his appearance +in state. Finding that his speech was received in grim +silence, he turned to More for a reply. The Speaker, +falling on his knees, declared his inability to make +any answer until he had received the instructions of +the House, and intimated that perhaps the silence of +the Commons was due to the cardinal's presence. +Wolsey accordingly departed discomforted.<note place="foot"><p>Roper's "Life of More," pp. 17-20.</p></note> His +attempt to overawe parliament marks the beginning +of his downfall. He still kept well with the city, +however, and rendered it several small services.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City and Wolsey, 1523.</note> + +<p>Emboldened by their recent success the citizens +determined to make a stand against other exactions, +and when in May, 1523, another demand was made +for one hundred bowmen, as in the previous year, +they sent their charter to the cardinal and begged +that the article touching citizens not being liable to +foreign service might remain in force. A similar +demand was made in the following November, and +again the assistance of Wolsey was called in.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fos. 152, 168; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Repertory 6, fo. 38.</p></note> The +City on the other hand had recently conferred a +favour on the cardinal by discharging Robert Amadas, +his own goldsmith, from serving as alderman when +elected in March of this year.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fos. 144b, 145, 146, 150; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Repertory 6, fos. 22b, +29, 32b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king and queen of Denmark in the city.</note> + +<p>In June the king and queen of Denmark paid a +visit to the city and attended mass at St. Paul's,<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron. pp. 30, 31.</p></note><pb n="372" /><anchor id="Pg372" /><index index="toc" level1="LONDON AND THE KINGDOM." /> +when the Court of Aldermen made them a present of +two hogsheads of wine, one of white and another of +claret, and two "awmes" of Rhenish wine, two fresh +salmon, a dozen great pike, four dozen of "torchettes," +and eight dozen of "syses."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fos. 153b-154; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Repertory 6, fo. 42.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">England invaded by the Scots. 1523.</note> + +<p>The joint attack of Henry and the emperor +against France in 1523 proved as great a failure as +that of 1522. In the midst of the campaign Henry +was threatened with danger nearer home. The Scots +marched southward, and created such a panic in the +city that a solemn procession, in which figured +Cuthbert Tunstal, Bishop of London (successor to the +unfortunate Fitz-James), the mayor and aldermen, all +the king's justices, and all the sergeants-at-law, took +place every day for a week.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 6, fo. 61b.</p></note> After a futile attack +upon Wark Castle the invaders withdrew and all +danger was over.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 692, 693.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Monoux refuses to accept the mayoralty a second time, Oct., 1523.</note> + +<p>When the Feast of St. Edward (13 Oct.) came +round, George Monoux, alderman and draper, who +had already (1514-15) once filled the office of mayor +of the city, was re-elected; but refusing to accept the +call of his fellow-citizens he was fined £1,000. It +was thereupon declared by the Court of Aldermen +that anyone who in future should be elected mayor, +and refused to take up office, should be mulcted in a +like sum.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 249-250.</p></note> Monoux's fine was remitted the following +year, and he was discharged from attendance, +although keeping his aldermanry, on account of ill +health. In return for this favour he made over to the<pb n="373" /><anchor id="Pg373" /><index index="toc" level1="DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUE." /> +Corporation his brewhouse situate near the Bridgehouse +in Southwark.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fos. 287-288.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king pledges himself to repay the City loan of £20,000.</note> + +<p>Before the close of the year (3 Dec., 1523) the +king pledged himself by letters patent to repay the +loan of £20,000 which the City had advanced for his +defence of the realm and maintenance of the wars +against France and Scotland.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 276.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Formation of a league against France.</note> + +<p>The disappointment experienced by Wolsey in +not being selected to fill the Papal chair on the death +of Adrian VI induced him to take measures for transferring +his master's power from the imperial court +to the court of France. In the meantime a league +was formed between Henry, the emperor, and Charles, +Duke of Bourbon, for the conquest and partition of +France. During the formation of this league some +correspondence between England and the Continent +appears to have been lost in a remarkable manner, to +judge from the following proclamation,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 284.</p></note> made the +10th July, 1524:—</p> + +<note place="margin">Proclamation for the recovery of lost letters, 10 July, 1524.</note> + +<p rend="display"><hi rend="font-style: italic">"My lorde the maire streitly chargith and commaundith +on the king or soveraigne lordis behalf that +if any maner of person or persons that have founde a +hat with certeyn lettres and other billes and writinges +therin enclosed which lettres been directed to o<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> said +soveraigne lorde from the parties of beyond the see let +hym or theym bryng the said hat lettres and writinges +unto my said lorde the maire in all the hast possible and +they shalbe well rewarded for their labour and that no +maner of person kepe the said hat lettres and writinges +nor noon of them after this proclamacioun made uppon +payn of deth and God save the king."</hi></p> + +<pb n="374" /><anchor id="Pg374" /> + +<note place="margin">The king of France made prisoner at Pavia, 24 Feb., 1525.</note> + +<note place="margin">Rejoicing in the city.</note> + +<p>The news of the defeat and capture of the +French king at Pavia (24 Feb., 1525) was hailed by +Henry with great delight. The crown of France was +now, he thought, within his grasp. On Saturday, the +11th March, a triumph was made in the city to +celebrate "the takynge of the Frenche kyng in +Bataill by Themporer and his alies."<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book N, fo. 280; Journal 12, fo. 329.</p></note> Bonfires +were lighted at different places, one being in Saint +Paul's Churchyard near the house where lay the +foreign ambassadors. The Chamberlain was ordered +to provide a hogshead of wine at every fire. The +city minstrels filled the air with music, and the parish +clerks attended with their singing children, who sat +about the bonfires and sang ballads and "other +delectable and joyfull songs." On the Sunday +following the king and queen and officers of state +attended a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Te Deum</hi> at St. Paul's, the legate himself +pronouncing the benediction.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 32.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Amicable Loan, 1525.</note> + +<p>Henry's first impulse was to take advantage of +the French king's misfortune; the cardinal, on the +other hand, saw danger in the predominating influence +of Charles in Europe, and would gladly have seen his +master join hands with Francis against the emperor. +He was nevertheless bound to carry out the king's +wishes as if they were his own, and money was +necessary for the purpose. Instead of resorting to +a benevolence—a mode of raising money already +declared by parliament to be illegal—he suggested +that the people should be asked for what was called +an Amicable Loan, on the old feudal ground that +the king was about to lead an expedition in person.<pb n="375" /><anchor id="Pg375" /><index index="toc" level1="THE AMICABLE LOAN." /> +The citizens were among the first to whom Wolsey +made application. Were they of opinion, he asked, +that the king should undertake the expedition to +France in person? If so, he could not go otherwise +than beseemed a prince, and this he could not do +without the city's aid. The sum they were asked to +subscribe did not, he said, amount to half their substance, +which the king might very well have demanded. +When it was objected that trade had been bad, +Wolsey lost his temper and declared that it was +better that some citizens should suffer rather than +that the king should be in want, and that if they +refused to pay it might "fortune to cost some their +heddes."<note place="foot"><p>Hall's Chron., p. 695.</p></note> At length the citizens agreed to grant +the king a sixth part of their substance, which Henry +graciously acknowledged by letter (25 April),<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 331; Letter Book N. fo. 278.</p></note> saying +that it was not his wish to overburden them, for he +valued their prosperity more than ten such realms as +France. The letter was read, by Wolsey's express +wish, to the Common Council on the 28th, when it +was agreed to ask for a fortnight's grace before +sending an answer to so important a missive.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 331b.</p></note> A +deputation was forthwith despatched to Hampton +Court to solicit the cardinal's mediation, but not +being able to obtain an interview they returned, and +steps were taken to raise the money required.</p> + +<p>When the cardinal was informed later on that +the alderman of each ward was holding an enquiry as +to the means of the inhabitants he affected to be very +angry. "They had no right to examine anyone," he +said; "I am your commissioner, I will examine you<pb n="376" /><anchor id="Pg376" /> +one by one myself." The mayor (Sir William +Bailey) thereupon threw himself at the cardinal's feet +beseeching him that since it was by Act of Common +Council that the aldermen had sat in their respective +wards for the purpose of taking the benevolence—a +procedure which he now perceived to be against the +law—the Act should by the Common Council be revoked. +"Well," said Wolsey "I am content," and he +then proceeded to ask how much the mayor and +aldermen then present were prepared to give. When +the mayor incautiously remarked that if he made any +promise there and then it might perhaps cost him his +life, Wolsey again became furious. What! the mayor's +life threatened for obeying the king's orders! He +would see to that.</p> + +<p>In the country the loan met with so much +opposition that a rebellion was feared. At length, +finding it was impossible to collect the money, Wolsey +sent (19 May) for the mayor and aldermen and +informed them that the king had given up all +thoughts of his expedition to France, and that they +were pardoned of all that had been demanded of +them.<note place="foot"><p>Hall's Chron., p. 701.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A truce between England and France.</note> + +<note place="margin">French ambassadors lodged in the city, 1527.</note> + +<p>Before many weeks elapsed Wolsey saw with +satisfaction a truce made between Henry and the +queen regent of France.<note place="foot"><p>The truce was to last from 14 August to 1 December.—Letter +Book N, fos. 291, 293; Journal 12, fos. 300, 305.</p></note> Early in 1526 the French +king regained his liberty by virtue of a treaty which +he at once repudiated, and war between him and the +emperor was renewed, but England remained virtually +at peace. In the following year (1527) the cardinal<pb n="377" /><anchor id="Pg377" /><index index="toc" level1="A TRUCE WITH FRANCE." /> +himself paid a visit to the French king and superintended +the drawing up of articles for a permanent +peace. By September all was settled, and Wolsey +returned to England. Ambassadors from France +shortly afterwards arrived, and were lodged in the +Bishop of London's palace in St. Paul's Churchyard. +The City made them valuable presents at the +instance of the lord cardinal.<note place="foot"><p>"Item in lyke wyse the Chamberleyn shall have allowance of and +for suche gyftes and presentes as were geven presentyd on Sonday laste +passyd at the Bysshoppes palace at Paules to the Ambassadours of +Fraunce devysed and appoynted by my lorde Cardynalles Grace and +most specyally at his contemplacioun geven for asmoch as lyke +precedent in so ample maner hath not afore tyme be seen; the presents +ensue etc."—Repertory 7, fo. 225.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Troubles over Wythypol's election as alderman, 1527-1528.</note> + +<note place="margin">Wythypol again summoned to take office.</note> + +<note place="margin">Committed to Newgate, 6 Feb., 1528.</note> + +<note place="margin">Again summoned to take office, 22 May.</note> + +<p>The election of Paul Wythypol,<note place="foot"><p>He had been one of the commoners sent to confer with Wolsey +touching the amicable loan (Journal 12, fo. 331b). He attended the +coronation banquet of Anne Boleyn in 1533 (Repertory 9, fo. 2), and +was M.P. for the city from 1529-1536 (Letter Book O, fo. 157). His +daughter Elizabeth married Emanuel Lucar, also a merchant-tailor.—Repertory +9, fos. 139. 140.</p></note> a merchant-tailor, +as alderman of the Ward of Farringdon Within, +in 1527, again brought Henry and the citizens into +variance. The king desired Wythypol's discharge, at +least for a time. The Court of Aldermen hesitated +to accede to the request and consulted Wolsey.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 7, fos. 171b, 172, 174b, 179.</p></note> He +recommended them an interview with the king at +Greenwich. To Greenwich they accordingly went +(24 Feb.) by water, where they arrived in time to +give a formal reception to the cardinal, who landed +soon afterwards from his barge. After a few words +had passed between the cardinal and the municipal +officers, the former entered the palace, whilst the +latter waited in the king's great chamber till dinner +time. When that hour arrived they were bidden to go +down to the hall, where the mayor was entertained<pb n="378" /><anchor id="Pg378" /> +at the lord steward's mess, and the aldermen received +like attention from the comptroller and other officers +of state. The city's Counsel who had accompanied +the mayor and aldermen were entertained at the +table of "master coferer." Dinner over, the company +returned to the great chamber, where they +were kept waiting till the evening. At length the +mayor and aldermen were bidden to the king's +presence in his secret chamber. What took place +there the writer of the record declares himself unable +to say,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 7, fos. 179b, 180.</p></note> and, although the mayor afterwards made a +report of the matter to the court, no particulars are +recorded in the City's archives. The practical outcome +of the interview appears to have been that +Wythypol was left unmolested for a whole twelve-month. +When that time had elapsed he was again +summoned before the Court of Aldermen either to +accept office or take the oath prescribed.<note place="foot"><p>To the effect that he was not worth £1,000.—Journal 7, fo. 198.</p></note> Refusing +both these propositions he was committed to Newgate.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 7, fos. 238b, 240, 240b.</p></note> +This took place on the 6th February, 1528. On the +3rd March he appeared in person before the Court of +Aldermen and desired a respite from office, or to be +allowed to pay a fine. Being asked the amount of +fine he was prepared to pay, he offered £40, and at +the same time asked to be discharged from office for +a period of three years. This offer was declined, +and Wythypol was again ordered to take the oath +prescribed for his discharge.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 243b.</p></note> Nearly three months +were allowed to elapse before any further steps +were taken, when, on the 22nd May, the court<pb n="379" /><anchor id="Pg379" /><index index="toc" level1="PAUL WYTHYPOL, MERCHANT-TAILOR." /> +again ordered Wythypol to appear at its next +meeting, and to take up office, or else take the +oath, or pay such fine as should be assessed by the +mayor, aldermen and common council.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 7, fo. 206. The Common Council assessed the fine at +£100.—Journal 13, fo. 61b; Letter Book O, fo. 80b.</p></note> It is +certain that he did not take office, so the conclusion +must be that he availed himself of one or other of +the alternatives open to him. John Brown was +elected alderman of Farringdon Within shortly afterwards, +but he was discharged by the Common +Council, and the aldermanry was subsequently filled +by John Hardy being translated to it from Aldersgate +Ward.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 7, fo. 264.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A great dearth in the city, 1529.</note> + +<p>In addition to an epidemic of sickness,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 13, fo. 184b.</p></note> the city +was threatened the following year with a famine, +notwithstanding the fact that large quantities of grain +had been stored up in various parts of the city by +order of the municipal authorities. The country had +suffered recently by heavy rains, and large tracts of +land had been inundated. In anticipation of trouble, +a large stock of wheat had been laid in, but when it +came to the point of disposing of it, the bakers of the +city and the bakers of Stratford-at-Bow declined to +take it except at their own price, until compelled by +threats and, in some cases, imprisonment.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fos. 88b, 89b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The legatine court at the Blackfriars, 1529.</note> + +<p>For some years past Henry had been meditating +a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his brother's +widow, but it was not until 1529 that the assent of +the Pope was at last obtained to try the validity of +the marriage. The legatine court sat in the city at<pb n="380" /><anchor id="Pg380" /> +the house of the Blackfriars, where every arrangement +was made to add dignity to the proceedings. At its +head sat the two cardinals, Campeggio and Wolsey, +on chairs covered with cloth of gold, and on their +right sat Henry himself.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. iv, +Introd., p. cccclxv.</p></note> The sudden suspension of +all proceedings after the court had sat for some weeks, +and the revocation of the cause to the Court of Rome, +led to Wolsey's downfall. In October the seals were +taken from him and given to Sir Thomas More, his +furniture and plate were seized, and he himself ordered +to remove from London.</p> + +<note place="margin">The lord mayor's banquet, 28 Oct., 1529.</note> + +<p>A few days after Wolsey's disgrace a banquet +was held at the Guildhall on the occasion of the +swearing in of Ralph Dodmer, the newly-elected +mayor. It is the first lord mayor's banquet of which +any particulars have come down to us, and they are +interesting as recording the names of the chief guests. +The mayor's court, the scene of the feast, was +boarded and hung with cloth of Arras for the occasion. +One table was set apart for peers of the realm, at the +head of which sat the new lord chancellor and at the +bottom the lords Berkeley and Powis. At either side of +the table sat nine peers, among whom were the dukes +of Norfolk and Suffolk, the one being the treasurer and +the other the marshal of England, Sir Thomas Grey, +Marquis of Dorset, the Earl of Oxford, high chamberlain, +and the Earl of Shrewsbury, lord steward of +England, Tunstal, Bishop of London, Sir Thomas +Boleyn, Lord Rochford, whose daughter Anne was +shortly to experience the peril of sharing Henry's +throne, Lord Audley, and others. At two other<pb n="381" /><anchor id="Pg381" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FALL OF WOLSEY." /> +tables, placed between the court of orphans and the +mayor's court, were entertained a number of knights +and other gentlemen, whose names are not recorded.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fos. 174b-175; Journal 13, fo. 180b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The fall of Wolsey, 1529-1530.</note> + +<p>It was not long before further proceedings were +taken against the king's late minister. On the 3rd +November (1529), after the lapse of six years, parliament +met in the city at the palace of Bridewell. +The City was represented by Thomas Seymer, an +alderman and ex-mayor, John Baker, the City's Recorder, +John Petyte, grocer, and Paul Wythypol,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fo. 157.</p></note> the +merchant-tailor whose election as alderman had recently +created no little trouble. Among other members +was Thomas Cromwell,<note place="foot"><p>About the year 1522 Cromwell was living in the city, near Fenchurch, +combining the business of a merchant with that of a money-lender. +He sat in the parliament of 1523, and towards the close of +that year served on a wardmote inquest for Bread Street Ward. In 1524 +he entered Wolsey's service.—Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. +(Henry VIII.), vol. iii, pt. i, Introd., pp. cclvi, cclvii.</p></note> a friend of Wolsey, and destined +soon to take his place as the king's chief adviser. A +bill for disabling the cardinal from being restored to +his former dignities was carried by the Lords and sent +down to the Commons (1 Dec.). There it is said to +have met with the strenuous opposition of Cromwell. +Of this, however, there is some doubt, as it is uncertain +whether the bill provoked any discussion, parliament +being shortly afterward prorogued (17 Dec.) +and the unhappy cardinal left in suspense as to what +fate was in store for him.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. iv, +Introd., pp. dliii-dlvi.</p></note> At Christmas he fell ill, +and the king's heart became so far softened towards +his old favourite that early in the following year +(Feb., 1530) he was restored to the archbishopric of<pb n="382" /><anchor id="Pg382" /> +York with all its possessions except York-place +(Whitehall) in Westminster, which Henry could not +bring himself to surrender. His colleges were seized; +the college he had founded at Ipswich was sold; but +his college at Oxford, known as Cardinal College, was +afterwards re-established under the name of Christ +Church. He himself was not allowed to rest long in +peace. He was summoned to London on a charge of +treason, for which there was little or no foundation, +but the troubles of the last two years had rendered +him so infirm that he died on the way.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="383" /><anchor id="Pg383" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XIV.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND THE CLERGY." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">The House of Commons and the Clergy, 1529.</note> + +<p>Although Wolsey was no more, his works followed +him. He it was, and not Henry, who first conceived +the idea of church reform, towards which some steps +had been taken in Wolsey's lifetime. It was left for +Henry to carry out the design of his great minister. +When the king laid his hand on the monasteries, he +only followed the example set by the cardinal in 1525, +when some of the smaller religious houses in Kent, +Sussex and Essex were suppressed for his great foundation +of Oxford. To assist him in carrying out his design +he turned to parliament. Relieved as they now were +of the oppression of the great nobles, the Commons +were ready to use their newly-acquired independence +against the clergy, who exacted extravagant fees and misused +the powers of the ecclesiastical courts. Acts were +passed regulating the payment of mortuary fees and +the fees for probate, whilst another Act restricted the +holding of pluralities and the taking of ferms by church-men.<note place="foot"><p>Stat. 21, Henry VIII, caps. 5, 6 and 13.</p></note> +The clergy threatened to appeal to Rome, +but were warned that such action would be met +with pains and penalties as opposed to the royal +prerogative.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, 12 Sept., 1530.—Letter Book O, fo. 199b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Disputes touching tithes payable to city clergy, 1527-1534.</note> + +<p>In the city the question of tithes payable to the +clergy had been always more or less a vexed question. +Before the commencement of the thirteenth century +the city clergy had been supported by casual dues in<pb n="384" /><anchor id="Pg384" /> +addition to their glebe land. These casual payments +were originally personal, but subsequently became +regulated by the amount of rent paid by parishioners +for their houses. A question arose as to whether the +citizens were also liable to pay personal tithes on +their gains, and it was eventually decided that they +were so liable.<note place="foot"><p>Burnell, "London (City) Tithes Act, 1879," Introd., pp. 1, 2.</p></note></p> + +<p>On the 31st August, 1527, a committee, which +had been specially appointed to enquire into matters +concerning the city's welfare, reported, among other +things, upon the tithe question as it then stood in the +city.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fos. 47, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi></p></note> The "curates," they said, had purchased a +Bull of Pope Nicholas, on the 6th August, 1453, and +this Bull had been confirmed by Act of Common +Council on the 3rd March, 1475. Not only was the +amount of the tithe payable fixed by the Bull, but the +Bull itself was to be publicly read by the curates four +times a year, so that no doubt should exist in the minds +of the parishioners. This the curates had failed to do, +and had caused their parishioners heavy legal expenses +in disputing demands for tithes. One man was known +to have spent as much as £100 in his own defence. +The committee suggested that the whole question +should be referred to the Bishop of London, and that +a translation of the Bull should be exhibited in every +church. The citizens were the more aggrieved because +many parsonages and vicarages were let to ferm.<note place="foot"><p>A list of these, comprising seven churches, was submitted to the +Court of Aldermen, 23 Feb., 1528.—Repertory 8, fo. 21.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The curates' book of articles.</note> + +<p>The curates made their defence in a book of +eighteen articles touching tithes and other oblations,<pb n="385" /><anchor id="Pg385" /><index index="toc" level1="TITHES PAYABLE IN THE CITY." /> +the chief point being that every householder, time out +of mind, had been bound to pay to God and the +Church one farthing out of every 10<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> of rent, a half-penny +out of 20<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> and so forth, on 100 days of the +year; amounting in all to 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> for every 10<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> rent +<hi rend="font-style: italic">per annum</hi>. This manner of payment proving tedious, +the curates and their parishioners came to an agreement +that 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> should be paid on every 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> +or noble, and this sum the curates had been receiving +time out of mind, none reclaiming or denying. But, +inasmuch as this payment by occupiers of houses was +only ordained for a "dowry" to the parish churches +of London which had no glebe lands, the curates +demanded that all merchants and artificers, with other +occupiers of the city, should pay personal tithes of +their "lucre or encrece" according to the common +law, and as "well conscyoned" men had been in the +habit of paying in times past.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fos. 140b, 141b.</p></note> The book of articles +was laid before the Court of Common Council on +the 16th February, 1528, by Robert Carter and six +other priests, on behalf of their entire body. On +the following 16th March the Court of Aldermen +for themselves agreed to pay tithe at the forthcoming +Easter according to the Bull of Pope Nicholas, and +not after the rate of 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> on the noble,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 8, fo. 27b.</p></note> whilst +four days later the Common Council decided that, +for the sake of convenience, bills should be posted +in every parish church within the city showing +the number of offering days (viz., eighty-two) and +the amount to be offered by inhabitants of the +city.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book O, fos. 145, 145b; Journal 13, fo. 125b.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="386" /><anchor id="Pg386" /> + +<p>So matters continued until, early in 1534, it was +agreed to submit the whole question to the lord +chancellor and other members of the council, who +made their award a few days before Easter.<note place="foot"><p>Letter book P, fos. 31, 34, 41b; Journal 13, fo. 417b.</p></note> It +decreed that at the forthcoming festival every subject +should pay to the parson or curate of his parish after +the rate of 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 9<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> in the pound, and 16 pence +half-penny in the half-pound, and that every man's +wife, servant, child and apprentice receiving the +Holy Sacrament should pay two pence. These payments +were to continue to be paid "without grudge +or murmur" until such time as the council should +arrive at a final settlement.<note place="foot"><p>This order was confirmed by stat. 27, Henry VIII, cap. 21. Ten +years later a decree was made pursuant to stat. 37, Henry VIII, +cap. 12, regulating the whole subject of tithes, but owing to the decree +not having been enrolled in accordance with the terms of the statute, +much litigation has in recent times arisen.—Burnell, "London (City) +Tithes Act, 1879," Introd., p. 3.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Elsing Spital and Holy Trinity Priory surrendered to the king, 1530-1531.</note> + +<p>In the meanwhile the city had been made to +feel the heavy hand of the king and of his new +minister, Thomas Cromwell. In May, 1530, Elsing +Spital, a house established by William Elsing, a +charitable mercer, for the relief of the blind, but +which had subsequently grown into a priory of +Augustinian canons of wealth and position, was confiscated +by the Crown. What became of the blind +inmates is not known. In the following year (1531) +the Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, shared the same +fate. The priory had existed since the time of +Henry I and the "good queen" Matilda,<note place="foot"><p>The well-known and somewhat romantic account of the origin of +the priory and of its connection with the city cnihten-guild is given in +Letter Book C, fos. 134b, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi>; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Liber Dunthorn, fo. 79.</p></note> and its +prior enjoyed the singular distinction of being <hi rend="font-style: italic">ex<pb n="387" /><anchor id="Pg387" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE GREAT BEAM." /> +officio</hi> an alderman of the city. The canons were +now removed to another place and the building and +site bestowed by Henry upon his chancellor, Sir +Thomas Audley.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron. (Camd. Soc., No. 53), p. 35. Three years later +(30 March, 1534) the Court of Aldermen resolved to wait upon the +chancellor "to know his mind for the office concerning the lands" +belonging to the late priory.—Repertory 9, fo. 53b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Great Beam reconveyed to the City after the lapse of ten years, 1531.</note> + +<p>Between 1531 and 1534 the City enjoyed some +respite from attack. It even recovered some of its +lost privileges. In 1521 Henry had deprived the +City of its right to the Great Beam, and of the issues +and profits derived from it, and had caused a conveyance +of it to be made to Sir William Sidney. +In 1531 the beam was re-conveyed to the City.<note place="foot"><p>By letters patent dated 13 April, 1531 (preserved at the Guildhall, +Box No. 16).</p></note> The +Grocers' Company were scarcely less interested in +the beam than the City, for to them was deputed the +choice of weighers, who were afterwards admitted +and sworn before the Court of Aldermen. Both the +City and the company used their best endeavours to +recover their lost rights, the former going so far as +to sanction the distribution of the sum of £23 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> +between the king's sergeant, the king's attorney, and +one "Lumnore,"<note place="foot"><p>Henry Lumnore, Lumnar or Lomner, a grocer by guild as well as +calling (see Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. iii, +pt. ii, p. 879), was associated with Sidney in holding the beam. The +City offered to buy him out either by bestowing on him an annuity of +£10 during the joint lives of himself and Sidney, or else by paying him +a lump sum of £100.—Repertory 8, fo. 218b.</p></note> a servant of "my lady Anne,"<note place="foot"><p>Anne Boleyn.</p></note> with +the view of gaining their object the easier.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 8, fo. 131.</p></note> A compromise +was subsequently effected by which Sir +William Sidney continued to hold the beam at an +annual rent payable to the City,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 142b. 202b.</p></note> until, in 1531, he<pb n="388" /><anchor id="Pg388" /> +consented to a surrender, and it became again vested +in the Corporation.</p> + +<note place="margin">Feeling in the city at Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, 1533.</note> + +<p>Finding it hopeless to obtain the Pope's sanction +to his divorce from Catherine, Henry at last lost +all patience, and on the 25th January, 1533, was +privately married to Anne Boleyn. The match was +unpopular with the citizens, who took occasion of a +sermon preached on Easter-day to show their dissatisfaction. +According to Chapuys, the Spanish +ambassador, who sent an account of the affair to the +emperor, the greater part of the congregation got up +and left the church when prayers were desired for the +queen. When Henry heard of the insult thus offered +to his new bride he was furious, and forthwith sent +word to the mayor to see that no such manifestation +should occur again. Thereupon, continues Chapuys, +the mayor summoned the guilds to assemble in their +various halls and commanded them to cease murmuring +against the king's marriage on pain of +incurring the royal displeasure, and to order their +own journeymen and servants, "and, a still more +difficult task, their own wives," to refrain from +speaking disparagingly about the queen.<note place="foot"><p>Chapuys to the emperor.—Cal. State Papers (Spanish), vol. iv., +pt. ii, p. 646.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The queen's passage from the Tower to Westminster, 31 May, 1533.</note> + +<p>It was perhaps on this account that the civic +authorities excelled themselves in giving the queen a +suitable reception as she passed from the Tower to +Westminster on the 31st May. The Court of Aldermen +directed (14 May) the wardens of the Haberdashers +to prepare their barge as well as the "bachelers" +barge for the occasion. Three pageants were to be +set up, one in Leadenhall and the others at the<pb n="389" /><anchor id="Pg389" /><index index="toc" level1="ANNE BOLEYN AND THE CITY." /> +Standard and the little Conduit in Cheapside. The +Standard was to run with wine. A deputation was +appointed to wait upon the king's council to learn its +wishes, and enquiry was to be made of the Duke of +Norfolk whether the clergy should take part in the +day's proceedings, and whether the merchants of the +Steelyard or other strangers should be allowed to +erect pageants.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fo. 1b. There is a fine drawing at Berlin by +Holbein which is thought to be the original design for the triumphal +arch erected by the merchants of the Steelyard on this occasion.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City's gift of 1,000 marks.</note> + +<p>The Court of Common Council had on the previous +day (13 May) voted a gift of 1,000 marks to +be presented to the queen at her coronation, and a +further sum to be expended in the city "for the honor +of the same."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 13, fo. 371b. According to Wriothesley (Camd. Soc., +N.S., No. 11, p. 19) the present to the queen was made to her in a +purse of cloth of gold on the occasion of her passing through the city +on the 31st May, the day before her coronation.</p></note> Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn +were the only queens of king Henry VIII who were +crowned, and on both occasions the citizens of London +performed the customary services.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 70b; Repertory 9, fo. 2.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Act of Succession, 1534.</note> + +<p>In September (1533) Anne gave birth to a +daughter, who afterwards ascended the throne as +Queen Elizabeth. In the following spring (1534) +parliament passed an Act of Succession, which not +only declared Elizabeth (and not Mary, the king's +daughter by Catherine of Aragon) heir to the crown, +but required all subjects to take an oath acknowledging +the succession. Commissioners were appointed +to tender the oath to the citizens,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fos. 37-37b; Journal 13, fo. 408b.</p></note> and by the 20th +April the "most part of the city was sworn to the<pb n="390" /><anchor id="Pg390" /> +"king and his legitimate issue by the queen's grace +now had and hereafter to come."<note place="foot"><p>Letter to Lord Lisle.—Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. +(Henry VIII), vol. vii, p. 208.</p></note> A fortnight later +deeds under the common seals of the livery companies +"concernyng the suretye state and succession" of +the king were delivered to Henry in person at Greenwich +by a deputation of aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fo. 57b. "Allso the same day [20 April] all the +craftes in London were called to their halls, and there were sworne on +a booke to be true to Queene Anne and to believe and take her for lawfull +wife of the Kinge and rightfull Queene of Englande, and utterlie +to thincke the Lady Marie, daughter to the Kinge by Queene Katherin, +but as a bastarde, and thus to doe without any scrupulositie of conscience."—Wriothesley's +Chron., i, 24.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proceedings against those objecting to subscribe to the Act of Succession.</note> + +<p>The oath, nevertheless, met with much opposition, +more especially among the clergy and the religious +orders. Elizabeth Barton, known as the "holy maid +of Kent," and some of her followers, among them +being Henry Gold, rector of the church of St. Mary +Aldermary, were executed at Tyburn for daring to +speak against the king's marriage.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 37. In November of the last year they had +been made to do penance at Paul's Cross and afterwards at Canterbury.</p></note> The friars proved +extremely obstinate, and Henry sent commissioners +to seek out and suppress all those friaries that refused +to submit.</p> + +<note place="margin">The monks of the Charterhouse, 1534-1535.</note> + +<p>The inmates of the London Charterhouse, who +might well have been left to enjoy their quiet seclusion +from the world, were startled by a visit from the king's +commissioners calling upon them to take the oath. +The manner of their reception by John Houghton, +the prior, and his brethren and subsequent proceedings +are graphically described by Maurice Chauncy,<note place="foot"><p>"Historia aliquot nostri sæculi martyrum," 1583. Much of it is +quoted by Father Gasquet in his work on "Henry VIII and the +English Monasteries" (cap. vi), and also by Mr. Froude ("Hist. of +England," vol. ii, cap. ix).</p></note> one<pb n="391" /><anchor id="Pg391" /><index index="toc" level1="THE COMMISSIONERS AND THE CHARTERHOUSE." /> +of the inmates, who was more compliant than his +brethren to the king's wishes, and thereby saved his +life. The prior and Humphrey Middlemore, the procurator +of the convent, were committed to the Tower +for counselling opposition to the commissioners. There +they were visited by the Archbishop of York and the +Bishop of London, who persuaded them at last that +the question of the succession was not a cause in +which to sacrifice their lives for conscience sake. The +result was that after a while Houghton and his companion +declared their willingness to submit. On the +29th May the commissioners received oaths of fealty +from Prior Houghton and five other monks, and on +the 6th June Bishop Lee and Sir Thomas Kitson, +one of the sheriffs, received similar oaths from a +number of priests, professed monks and lay brethren +or <hi rend="font-style: italic">conversi</hi> belonging to the house.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. vii, +p. 283.</p></note> The oaths of +obedience to the Act were given under reservation +"so far as the law of God permitted," and for a time +the monks were left in comparative quiet, some few +of them, of whom Cromwell entertained the most +hope of submission, being sent, by his direction, to +the convent of Sion.<note place="foot"><p>This convent—the most virtuous house of religion in England—was +of the Order of St. Bridget, and received an annual visit from the +mayor and aldermen of the City of London at what was known as +"the pardon time of Sion," in the month of August. In return for +the hospitality bestowed by the lady abbess on these occasions the +Court of Aldermen occasionally made her presents of wine (Repertories +3, fo. 94b; 7, fo. 275). In 1517 the court instructed the chamberlain +to avoid excess of diet on the customary visit. There was to be no +breakfast on the barge and no swans at dinner (Repertory 3, fo. 154b). +In 1825 the Court of Common Council decreed (<hi rend="font-style: italic">inter alia</hi>) that "as +tonchyng the goyng of my lord mayre and my masters his brethern +the aldermen [to] Syon, yt is sett at large and to be in case as it was +before the Restreynt" (Journal 12, fo. 302). It was suppressed +25 Nov., 1539.—Wriothesley's Chron., i, 109.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="392" /><anchor id="Pg392" /> + +<note place="margin">The Act of Supremacy, 1534.</note> + +<note place="margin">Execution of Houghton and others, 1535.</note> + +<p>The exhortations of the "father confessor" were +not without some measure of success, several of the +Carthusians being induced to alter their opinions as to +the king's demands. The seal of doom, however, was +fixed on the order by the passing of the Act which called +upon its members to renounce the Pope and acknowledge +the royal supremacy.<note place="foot"><p>The Act of Supremacy was passed in 1534, but the king's new +title as Supreme Head of the Church was not incorporated in his style +before the 15 Jan., 1535.</p></note> Fisher and More denied +the king's title of Supreme Head of the Church, and +were committed to the Tower. At this crisis there +came to London two priors of Carthusian houses +established, one in Nottinghamshire and the other +in Lincolnshire. They came to talk over the +state of affairs with Houghton. An interview +with Cromwell, recently appointed vicar-general +or king's vicegerent in matters ecclesiastical, was +resolved on. The king might possibly be prevailed +upon to make some abatement in his demands. +Cromwell, however, no sooner discovered the object +of their visit than he committed them to the Tower +as rebels and would-be traitors. As they still refused +to acknowledge the king's supremacy in the Church, +in spite of all efforts of persuasion, they were brought +to trial, together with Father Reynolds of Sion, on a +charge of treason. A verdict of guilty was, after some +hesitation on the part of the jury, found against them, +and they were executed at Tyburn (4 May, 1535), +glorying in the cause for which they were held worthy +to suffer death. Houghton's arm was suspended over +the gateway of the London Charterhouse, in the fond +hope that the rest of the brethren might be awed +into submission. This atrocious act of barbarism had,<pb n="393" /><anchor id="Pg393" /><index index="toc" level1="EXECUTION OF FISHER AND MORE." /> +however, precisely the opposite effect to that desired. +The monks were more resolute than ever not to +submit, and not even a personal visit of Henry himself +could turn them from their purpose.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. viii, +p. 321.</p></note> Three of +them were thereupon committed to prison, where +they were compelled to stand in an upright position +for thirteen days, chained from their necks to their arms +and with their legs fettered.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 354.</p></note> They were afterwards +brought to trial on a charge of treason, convicted and +executed (19 June).</p> + +<p>The fate of the remaining monks is soon told. +In May, 1537, the royal commissioners once more +attended at the Charterhouse, when they found +the majority of its inmates prepared to take the oath +prescribed. Ten of them, however, still refused, and +were committed to Newgate and there left to be +"dispatched by the hand of God," in other words to +meet a painful and lingering death from fever and +starvation. The following month the remnant of the +community made their submission, and the London +Charterhouse, as a monastic institution, ceased to +exist.</p> + +<note place="margin">Execution of Fisher and More, 1535.</note> + +<p>Fisher and More were now brought from the +Tower, where they had lain six months and more, +and convicted on a similar charge of treason. Their +sentence was commuted to death by beheading. Fisher +was the first to suffer (19 June, 1535). His head was +set up on London Bridge and his body buried in the +churchyard of All Hallows, Barking. More suffered +a few weeks later (6 July). His head, too, was placed +on London Bridge, but his body was buried in the<pb n="394" /><anchor id="Pg394" /> +Tower, whither the remains of Fisher were afterwards +carried. On the 15th December the Court of Aldermen +publicly condemned a sermon preached by Fisher +"in derogation and diminution of the royal estate of +the king's majesty."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fo. 145.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536.</note> + +<p>When, in the following year (1536), the smaller +monasteries—those of less than £200 a year—were +dissolved by Act of Parliament, and the inhabitants +of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, taking fright lest the +king and Cromwell should proceed to despoil the +parish churches, set out on the Pilgrimage of Grace, +Henry sought the City's aid. On the 10th October a +letter from the king was read before the Court of +Aldermen, desiring them to dispatch forthwith to his +manor of Ampthill, where the nobles were about to +wait upon his majesty, a contingent of at least 250 +armed men, 200 of which were to be well horsed, and +100 to be archers.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 199.</p></note> The mayor, Sir John Allen,<note place="foot"><p>He had been elected mayor for the second time in October last (1535), +much against his own wish, at the king's express desire.—Journal 13, +fo. 452b; Wriothesley, i, 31. He presented the City with a collar of SS. +to be worn by the mayor for the time being.—Repertory 11, fo. 238.</p></note> lost no +time in issuing his precept to the livery companies for +each of them to furnish a certain number of bowmen +and billmen, well horsed and arrayed in jackets of +white bearing the City's arms. They were to muster +in Moorfields within twenty-four hours. The Mercers +were called upon to furnish the largest quota, viz., +twenty men; the Grocers, Drapers, Tailors and Cloth-workers +respectively, sixteen men, and the rest of the +companies contingents varying from twelve to two.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fos. 199, 199b.</p></note> +The Court of Aldermen at the same time took<pb n="395" /><anchor id="Pg395" /><index index="toc" level1="THE PILGRIMAGE OF GRACE." /> +the precaution of depriving all priests and curates, as +well as all friars dwelling within the city, of every +offensive weapon, so that they should be left with +nothing but their "meate knyves."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fo. 200.</p></note> The king sent +a letter of thanks for the city's contingent.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 200b.</p></note></p> + +<p>Later on, when Allen had been succeeded in the +mayoralty by Sir Ralph Warren,<note place="foot"><p>Son of Thomas Warren, fuller; grandson of William Warren, of +Fering, co. Sussex. He was knighted on the day that his election was +confirmed by the king (Wriothesley. i, 59). His daughter Joan (by his +second wife Joan, daughter of John Lake, of London) married Sir Henry +Williams, <hi rend="font-style: italic">alias</hi> Cromwell (Repertory 14, fo. 180; Journal 17. fo. 137b), by +whom she had issue Robert Cromwell, father of the Protector. Warren +died 11 July, 1533, and his widow married Alderman Sir Thomas White.—See +notes to Machyn's Diary, p. 330.</p></note> it was resolved that +each member of the court should provide at his own +cost and charges twenty able men fully equipped in +case of any emergency that might arise, whilst the +companies were again called upon to hold men in +readiness.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 9, fo. 209b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour, May, 1536.</note> + +<p>Henry in the meantime had got rid of his second +wife on the specious ground of her having misconducted +herself with more than one member of the +court, the real cause being her miscarriage<note place="foot"><p>Henry attributed her miscarriage to licentiousness; others to her +having received a shock at seeing her royal husband thrown from his +horse whilst tilting at the ring.—Wriothesley, i, 33.</p></note> of a male +child, to the king's bitter disappointment. Henry had +made up his mind to change his wives until he could +find one who would give him a male heir and thus +place the succession to the crown beyond all possibility +of doubt. The very next day following Anne +Boleyn's execution he married Jane Seymour. The +marriage necessitated the calling together of a +new parliament, when a fresh Act was passed settling<pb n="396" /><anchor id="Pg396" /> +the succession on Jane's children and declaring +both Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate. Nevertheless, +as soon as Mary made formal submission to her +father, the king's attitude towards her, from being +cold and cruel, changed at once to one of courtesy if +not of affection. He was thought to entertain the +idea of declaring her heir-apparent. Indeed, on +Sunday, the 20th August, she was actually proclaimed +as such in one of the London churches—no doubt by +some mistake.<note place="foot"><p>Chapuys to [Granvelle] 25 Aug., 1536.—Cal. Letters and Papers +For. and Dom. (Henry VIII), vol. xi., p. 145.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Convocation at St. Paul's, 9 June-20 July, 1536.</note> + +<p>Whilst parliament was sitting at Westminster +convocation was gathered at St. Paul's in the city, +and continued to sit there until the 20th July, presided +over by Cromwell as the king's vicar-general. The +meeting was remarkable for its formal decree that +Henry, as supreme head of the Church, might and +ought to disregard all citations by the Pope, as well +as for the promulgation of the ten articles intended +to promote uniformity of belief and worship.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 52-53.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparation for the new queen's coronation.</note> + +<note place="margin">She dies in childbed, 24 Oct., 1537.</note> + +<p>In September, 1536, the Court of Common +Council agreed to vote the same sum of money for +the coronation of the "right excellent pryncesse lady +Jane, quene of Englonde," as had been granted at the +coronation of "dame Anne, late queene of Englonde."<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fo. 103b.</p></note> +The money, however, was not required, for the new +queen was never crowned. Just one week after the +birth of a prince (12 Oct., 1537), afterwards King +Edward VI, there was a solemn procession of priests +from every city church, with the Bishop of London, +the choir of St. Paul's, the mayor, aldermen and<pb n="397" /><anchor id="Pg397" /><index index="toc" level1="JANE SEYMOUR—ANNE OF CLEVES." /> +crafts in their liveries, for the preservation of the +infant prince and for the health of the queen, who lay +in a precarious state.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 69.</p></note> A few days later (24 Oct.) she +was dead. The citizens caused her obit to be +celebrated in St. Paul's with truly regal pomp.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fo. 135b; Wriothesley, i, 71, 72.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Anne of Cleves arrives at Dover, 27 Dec., 1539.</note> + +<note place="margin">Her passage through the city, 4 Feb,. 1540.</note> + +<p>Two years later the citizens were preparing to +set out to Greenwich in their barge (the mayor, +aldermen, and those who had served the office of +sheriff, in liveries of black velvet with chains of gold +on their necks, accompanied by their servants in +coats of russet) to welcome Anne of Cleves, who +landed at Dover the 27th December, 1539.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 10, fos. 152b, 153; Wriothesley, i, 109, 111.</p></note> On the +3rd February, 1540, the Court of Aldermen was +informed that the king and queen would be leaving +Greenwich on the morrow for Westminster, and that +it was the king's wish that the commons of London +should be in their best apparel, in their barges, to +wait upon his highness, meeting at St. Dunstan's in +the East at 7 o'clock in the morning and arriving at +Greenwich by 8 o'clock.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 10, fo. 161. The circumstance that Henry carried his +new bride to Westminster by water instead of conducting her thither +through the streets of the city has been considered a proof of his want +of regard for her.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Cromwell's work of demolition in the city, 1537-1538.</note> + +<p>The insurrection which had taken place in the +country under the name of the Pilgrimage of Grace +was seized by the king as an excuse for suppressing +many of the larger monasteries and confiscating their +property. He had no such excuse for carrying out +his destructive policy in the city. Nevertheless, under +the immediate supervision of Cromwell, the work of +suppression went on, and before the end of 1538 was<pb n="398" /><anchor id="Pg398" /> +well nigh complete. The surrender of the houses of +the Black Friars, the Grey Friars and the White +Friars followed in quick succession, "and so all the +other immediatlie."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii. 807.</p></note> Cromwell by this time had +removed from his house near Fenchurch to another +near the Austin Friars in Throgmorton Street. +He had recently asked for a pipe of water to be +laid on to his new house, and this the Common +Council had "lovingly" granted.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fo. 113; Journal 14, fo. 30b.</p></note> In his private +concerns he showed as little regard for the rights +of others as in the affairs of State. He did not +scruple to remove bodily a small house, the property +of Stow's father, in order to enlarge his own garden, +giving neither warning beforehand nor explanation +afterwards, and "no man durst go to argue the +matter."<note place="foot"><p>Stow's "Survey" (Thoms's ed., 1876), p. 68.</p></note></p> + +<p>The hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, which had +ministered to the wants of the poorer citizens for +nearly 400 years, disappeared,<note place="foot"><p>The Mercers' Company applied for a grant of the chapel and +other property of the hospital; and this was conceded by letters patent, +21 April, 1542, upon payment of the sum of £969 17<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 6<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, subject to +a reserved rent of £7 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 10<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, which was redeemed by the company in +1560.—Livery Comp. Com. (1880), Append. to Report, 1884, vol. ii, p. 9.</p></note> and was soon followed +by the priory and hospital of St. Bartholomew, an +institution of even greater antiquity, the hospital of +St. Thomas, in Southwark, the priory and hospital of +St. Mary without Bishopsgate, known as St. Mary of +Bethlem, or "Bedlam," and the Abbey of Graces or +New Abbey (sometimes called the Eastminster to +distinguish it from the other minster in the west of +London) which had been founded by Edward III, +near Tower Hill.</p> + +<pb n="399" /><anchor id="Pg399" /><index index="toc" level1="THE DISSOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES." /> + +<note place="margin">The division of the spoil.</note> + +<p>A portion of the spoil was, as we have already +seen, distributed among court favourites. The site of +the house and gardens of the Augustinian Friars in +Broad Street Ward was occupied, soon after their +suppression (12 Nov., 1538), by the mansion-house of +that politic courtier the celebrated Marquis of Winchester, +who managed to maintain himself in high +station in spite of the changes which took place +under the several reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, +Mary, and Elizabeth, "by being a willow and not an +oak." The building known at the present day as +Winchester House, in Broad Street, stands near the +site of the old mansion-house and garden of William +Paulet, first Marquis of Winchester. The Friars' +church he allowed to stand; and in June, 1550, the +nave was granted, by virtue of a charter permitting +alien non-conforming churches to exist in this country, +to the Dutch and Walloon churches.<note place="foot"><p>On the re-establishment of the Dutch or Mother Strangers' +Church, at Elizabeth's accession, it was declared by the Privy Council to +be under the superintendence of the Bishop of London (Cal. State Papers +Dom., Feb., 1560). Hence it was that Dr. Temple, Bishop of London, +was memorialised in March, 1888, as superintendent of the French +Church in London.—See "Eng. Hist. Review," April, 1891, pp. 388-389.</p></note> The first marquis +dying in 1571, he was succeeded by his son, who sold +the monuments and lead from the roof of the remaining +portion of the church and turned the place into +a stable.<note place="foot"><p>Stow's "Survey" (Thoms's ed., 1876), p. 67.</p></note> The fourth marquis was reduced to parting +with his house, built on the site of the old priory, in +order to pay his debts, and appears to have found a +purchaser in a wealthy London merchant and alderman +of the city, John Swinnerton or Swynarton.<note place="foot"><p>Nichols' "Progresses of Queen Eliz.," iii. 598. For particulars of +Swinnerton see Clode's "Early Hist. of the Merchant Taylors' Company," +i, 262, etc.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="400" /><anchor id="Pg400" /> + +<note place="margin">The mayor's effort to save the destruction of the steeple of the Austin Friars Church.</note> + +<p>The steeple of the church, which was of so great +beauty that the citizens desired its preservation,<note place="foot"><p>Strype's Stow, bk. ii, pp. 114, 115.</p></note> was +sold by the marquis to Henry Robinson, who forthwith +set to work to pull it down on the ground that +it was in such a state of decay as to be a danger to +the passer-by. Swinnerton, who happened to be +mayor at the time, ordered him to stay the work of +demolition; he, however, not only hurried on the +more, but obstructed the officers sent to put a stop to +the work, for which he was committed to Newgate to +stay there until he gave security for restoring what he had +already pulled down. The thought suggests itself that +the fact of Swinnerton having purchased adjacent property +may have made him the more zealous in preventing +the demolition of the steeple than perhaps he might +otherwise have been. However that may be, he lost +no time in informing the lords of the council of the +state of affairs and asking their advice (16 Feb., +1612). The reply came three days later, and was to +the effect that as the City had had the option of +purchasing the steeple at even a less price than +Robinson had paid for it, and might have come to +some arrangement with the marquis to keep it in +repair, it could not prevent Robinson, who purchased +it as a speculation, making the best he could of his +bargain; so that, unless the City consented to accept +Robinson's offer to part with his property on payment +of his purchase-money and disbursements within a +fortnight, down the steeple must come.<note place="foot"><p>Remembrancia (Analytical Index), pp. 133, 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The priory of St. Helen without Bishopsgate.</note> + +<p>The priory of St. Helen without Bishopsgate +was one of the last to be surrendered. In 1542 the<pb n="401" /><anchor id="Pg401" /><index index="toc" level1="RELIGIOUS HOUSES FOSTERED BY THE CITY." /> +nuns' chapel, which at one time was partitioned off +from the rest of the church, was made over to Sir +Richard Williams, a nephew of Thomas Cromwell, +and ancestor of the Protector. The nuns' refectory or +hall passed into the hands of the Leathersellers' Company +and formed the company's hall until the close +of the last century. The conduct of the inmates of +the priory had not always been what it should be.<note place="foot"><p>In 1439 Reginald Kentwode, Dean of St. Paul's, having in a +recent visitation discovered "many defaults and excesses," drew up a +schedule of injunctions for their better regulation.—Printed in London +and Middlesex Archæol. Soc. Transactions, ii, 200-203.</p></note> +The last prioress, in anticipation of the coming storm, +leased a large portion of the conventual property to +members of her own family, and at the time of the +suppression was herself allowed a gratuity of £30 +and a pension.</p> + +<note place="margin">Friendly relations between the Corporation and +religious houses in the city.</note> + +<p>The relations existing between the civic authorities +and the religious houses in the city were often of +a most friendly and cordial character. When, in 1520, +the Friars of the Holy Cross wanted assistance for +the maintenance and building of their church, they +applied to the Corporation as being their "secund +founders."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 12, fo. 75.</p></note> For assistance thus given the friars +bound themselves to pray for their benefactors. +When, in 1512, the master of St. Bartholomew's +hospital obtained a lease for ninety-nine years from +the City of a parcel of land on which his gatehouse +or porch stood, it was on condition of payment of a +certain rent and of his keeping a yearly obit in his +church for the souls of the mayor, aldermen and +commons of the city; and when the master of the +hospital, two years later, attempted to back out of<pb n="402" /><anchor id="Pg402" /> +the terms of his lease and asked to be discharged +from keeping the obit on the ground that he thought +that the payment of the specified rent was sufficient +for the premises, the Court of Aldermen unanimously +decided that no part of the agreement should be +minished or remitted.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 185b.</p></note> When the house of the +Sisters Minoresses or Poor Clares, situate in Aldgate, +suffered from fire, the Corporation rendered them +pecuniary aid to the extent of 300 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 5, fos. 15, 15b, 82b.</p></note></p> + +<p>It was, however, to the Franciscans or Grey Friars +that the citizens of London, individually as well as in +their corporate capacity, were more especially attached. +Soon after their arrival in England in 1223, they +became indebted to the benevolence and generosity +of citizens, their first benefactor having been John +Ewen, citizen and mercer, who made them a gift of +some land and houses in the parish of St. Nicholas +by the Shambles. Upon this they erected their +original building. Their first chapel, which became +the chapel of their church, was built at the cost of +William Joyner, who was mayor in 1239; the nave +was added by Henry Waleys, who was frequently +mayor during the reign of Edward I; the chapterhouse +by Walter le Poter, elected sheriff in 1272; the +dormitory by Gregory de Rokesley, who was mayor +from 1274 to 1281, and again in 1284-5, and whose +bones eventually found a resting place in their church; +the refectory by another citizen, Bartholomew de +Castro; and lastly—coming to later times—a library +was added to their house by the bounty of Richard +Whitington, as already narrated. It became the custom +for the mayor and aldermen, as patron and<pb n="403" /><anchor id="Pg403" /><index index="toc" level1="INSTITUTION OF PARISH REGISTERS." /> +founders, to pay a yearly visit to their house and +church on St. Francis's day (4 Oct.). The custom +dates from 1508. In 1522 the visit was for the first +time followed by a dinner.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 2, fo. 185; Grey Friars Chron., pp. 29, 31.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Royal injunction for keeping Parish Registers, 29 Sept., 1538.</note> + +<p>In one respect at least, if in no other, Cromwell's +action in suppressing religious houses resulted in a +benefit to the city of London as well as to the country +at large, and this was in the institution of parish +registers, not only for baptisms, but also for marriages. +It had been his intention to establish them in 1536 to +remedy the inconvenience to the public arising +from the suppression of the smaller monasteries, +and it is evident that some instructions were given at +this time, inasmuch as the registers of two city parishes—viz., +St. James Garlickhithe and St. Mary Bothaw—commence +in November of this year,<note place="foot"><p>Sixteen other registers for city parishes commence in 1538, and +four in 1539.—See Paper on St. James Garlickhithe, by W. D. Cooper, +F.S.A. (London and Middlesex Arch. Soc. Trans., vol. iii, p. 392, note).</p></note> although +the royal injunction commanding that registers should +systematically be kept up, under penalty of fines, was +not published by Cromwell, as vicar-general, until the +29th September, 1538. The delay is to be accounted +for by the great discontent which the rumour of his +project excited in the country. It was reported that +some new tax on the services of the Church was contemplated, +and the first in the list of popular grievances +circulated by the rebels in the Pilgrimage of Grace +was the payment of tribute to the king for the +sacrament of baptism. In course of time, as matters +became quieter and the government began to feel its +own strength, Cromwell resumed a project never altogether +abandoned, and caused the injunction to be<pb n="404" /><anchor id="Pg404" /> +issued, an action for which posterity must ever be +deeply grateful.</p> + +<note place="margin">Great increase of London poor, consequent on the suppression of religious houses.</note> + +<p>On the other hand, the sudden closing of these +institutions caused the streets to be thronged with the +sick and poor, and the small parish churches to be so +crowded with those who had been accustomed to frequent +the larger and more commodious churches of +the friars that there was scarce room left for the +parishioners themselves. The city authorities saw at +once that something would have to be done if they +wished to keep their streets clear of beggars and of +invalids, and not invite the spread of sickness by +allowing infected persons to wander at large. As a +means of affording temporary relief, collections for the +poor were made every Sunday at Paul's Cross, after +the sermon, and the proceeds were distributed weekly +among the most necessitous,<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley's Chron. (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 11), i, 77, 78.</p></note> but more comprehensive +steps were required to be taken.</p> + +<note place="margin">Sir Richard Gresham's letter to the king for conveyance to the City of certain hospitals.</note> + +<p>Sir Richard Gresham,<note place="foot"><p>Descended from a Norfolk family. Apprenticed to John Middleton, +mercer, of London, and admitted to the freedom of the Mercers' +Company in 1507. Alderman of Walbrook and Cheap Wards +successively. Sheriff 1531-2. Married (1) Audrey, daughter of William +Lynne, of Southwick, co. Northampton, (2) Isabella Taverson, <hi rend="font-style: italic">née</hi> +Worpfall. Was the father of Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the +Royal Exchange and of the college which bears his name.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi>, 21 Feb., +1549. Buried in the church of St. Laurence Jewry.</p></note> who was mayor at the +time (1537-8), took upon himself to address a letter<note place="foot"><p>Cott. MS., Cleop. E., iv, fo. 222.—Printed in Burgon's "Life of +Gresham," i, 26-29.</p></note> +to the king setting forth that there were three hospitals +in the city, viz., St. Mary's Spital, St. Bartholomew's +and St. Thomas's, besides the New Abbey on Tower +Hill—institutions primarily founded "onely for the +releffe, comforte and helpyng of pore and impotent<pb n="405" /><anchor id="Pg405" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE DISSOLVED HOUSES." /> +people not beyng able to helpe theymselffes; and +not to the mayntenannce of Chanons, Preests, and +Monks to lyve in pleasure, nothyng regardyng the +miserable people liyng in every strete, offendyng +every clene person passyng by the way with theyre +fylthy and nasty savours"—and asking that the +mayor and aldermen of the city for the time being +might have the order and disposition of the hospitals +mentioned, and of all the lands, tenements and revenues +appertaining to the same. If his grace would but +grant this request the mayor promised that a great +number of the indigent sick would be relieved, whilst +"sturdy beggars" not willing to work would be +punished.</p> + +<note place="margin">Two petitions from the City, Mar., 1539.</note> + +<note place="margin">The City offers to purchase certain dissolved houses, 1 Aug., 1540.</note> + +<p>In March, 1539, the City presented two petitions +to the king, one desiring that the late dissolved houses +might be made over to them, together with their rents +and revenues, in order that relief might be provided for +the sick and needy, and the other asking that Henry +would be pleased to convey to them the churches of the +late four orders of friars, together with their lands and +tenements, so that the mayor and citizens might take +order for the due performance of divine service therein +to the glory of God and the honour of the king.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 14, fo. 129; Letter Book P, fo. 178.</p></note> +These petitions having been either refused or ignored, +the Court of Common Council, on the 1st August, +1540, authorised the mayor and aldermen to make +diligent suit to the king for the purchase of the houses, +churches, and cloisters of the dissolved friars, and to +make an offer of 1,000 marks for them "yf thei can +be gotten no better chepe."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 14, fo. 216b; Letter Book P, fo. 220b.</p></note> Henry upbraided the<pb n="406" /><anchor id="Pg406" /> +City for being "pynche pence" or stingy in their +offer,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 10, fo. 200.</p></note> but as no better offer was made the matter was +allowed to stand over, and nothing was done for four +years.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City in difficulties with king and parliament, 1541-1542.</note> + +<p>Henry meanwhile took the opportunity afforded +him by a full treasury, which rendered him independent +of the favour of the citizens, of robbing them of +their right of measuring linen-cloth and other commodities, +and conferring the same by letters patent +on John Godsalve, one of the clerks of the signet. +The City's right was incontestable, and had been +admitted by the king's chancellor, as well as by the +Chancellor of the Court of Fruits and Tenths (a court +recently established), and the mayor and aldermen +represented the facts of the case to the king himself +by letter, dated the 21st July, 1541.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 14, fo. 269.</p></note> Another +"variance" occurred about this time between the City +and the Crown touching the office and duties of the +City's waterbailiff.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 129.</p></note></p> + +<p>Again, in the spring of 1542, an incident occurred +which caused the relations between parliament and +the City to be somewhat strained. The sheriffs of +that year—Rowland Hill,<note place="foot"><p>Son of Thomas Hill, of Hodnet, co. Salop. He devoted large +sums of money to building causeways and bridges, and erected a +grammar school at Drayton-in-Hales, otherwise Market Drayton, in his +native county, which he endowed by will, dated 6 April, 1551 (Cal. of +Wills, Court of Hust., London, part ii, p. 651). See also Holinshed, +iii, 1021.</p></note> an ancestor of the founder +of the Penny Post, and Henry Suckley—had thought +fit to obstruct the sergeant-at-mace in the execution +of his duty, whilst attempting to remove a +prisoner, who was a member of parliament, from<pb n="407" /><anchor id="Pg407" /><index index="toc" level1="PRECAUTIONS AGAINST INFECTIOUS DISEASES." /> +one of the compters. The arrest of a member +of parliament has always been a hazardous operation, +and the sheriffs after a time thought better of it and +gave up their prisoner. The Speaker, nevertheless, +summoned them to appear at the Bar of the House +and finally committed them to the Tower. They +were released after two or three days, however, at +the humble suit of the mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 824; Wriothesley, i, 135. According to the Grey +Friars Chron. (p. 45), it was the sergeant-at-arms himself whom the +sheriffs detained.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Precautions against the spread of pestilence, 1543.</note> + +<p>In the following year (1543) the plague returned, +and extra-precautions had to be taken against the +spread of the disease, now that the houses of the +friars were no longer open to receive patients and to +alleviate distress. Besides the usual order that infected +houses should be marked with a cross, the mayor +caused proclamation to be made that persons of independent +means should undergo quarantine for one +month after recovery from sickness, whilst others +whom necessity compelled to walk abroad for their +livelihood were to carry in their hands white rods, +two feet in length, for the space of forty days after +convalescence. Straw and rushes in an infected house +were to be removed to the fields before they were +burnt, and infected clothing was to be carried away +to be aired and not to be hung out of window. The +hard-heartedness engendered by these visitations is +evidenced by the necessity of the mayor having to +enjoin that thenceforth no householder within the +city or liberties should put any person stricken with +the plague out of his house into the street, without +making provision for his being kept in some other<pb n="408" /><anchor id="Pg408" /> +house. All dogs other than hounds, spaniels or mastiffs +kept for the purpose of guarding the house were forthwith +to be removed out of the city or killed, +whilst watch-dogs were to be confined to the house.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation dated 13 Aug., 1543.—Journal 15, fo. 48b.</p></note> +In October the mayor was ordered to resume the +weekly bills of mortality, which of late had been +neglected, in order that the king might be kept informed +as to the increase or decrease of the sickness.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 55; Letter Book Q, fo. 93.</p></note> +The Michaelmas Law Sittings had to be postponed +until the 15th November, and were removed to St. +Albans.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 92b; Grey Friars Chron., p. 45.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Preparation for renewal of war with France, 1544.</note> + +<p>Whilst the city was being wasted by disease the +king was preparing for war with France.<note place="foot"><p>Writ to mayor and sheriffs for proclamation of war, dat. 2 Aug., +1543.—Journal 15, fo. 46b.</p></note> A joint +expedition by Henry and Charles was to be undertaken +in the following year (1544). A commission +was issued early in the year for raising money in the +city, and the lord chancellor himself, accompanied by +officers of State, came into the city to read it. Finding +that the lord mayor's name appeared third on the +commission instead of being placed at its head, the +chancellor ordered the mistake to be at once rectified +by the town clerk and a new commission to be drawn +up, whilst the rest of the lords agreed that at their +several sessions on the business of this subsidy the +lord mayor should occupy the seat of honour.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 32b.</p></note> By +the end of April the chancellor (Audley) had died. +His successor, Lord Wriothesley, had not long been +appointed before the Court of Aldermen sent a deputation +to desire his lordship's favour and friendship<pb n="409" /><anchor id="Pg409" /><index index="toc" level1="RENEWAL OF WAR WITH FRANCE." /> +in the city's affairs, and agreed to make him a present +of a couple of silver-gilt pots to the value of £20 +or thereabouts.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 65b.</p></note> On the 24th May the Common +Council agreed to provide a contingent of 500 or 600 +men at the discretion of the mayor and aldermen, +the men being raised from the livery companies.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 95; Repertory 11, fo. 74; Letter Book Q, fo. 109.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The re-establishment of St. Bartholomew's hospital, 23 June, 1544.</note> + +<p>Just as the king was about to set sail for the +continent, he issued letters patent (23 June, 1544) +re-establishing the hospital of St. Bartholomew on a +new foundation, with the avowed object of providing +"comfort to prisoners, shelter to the poor, visitation +to the sick, food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, +clothes to the naked, and sepulture to the dead."<note place="foot"><p>"Memoranda ... relating to the Royal Hospitals," 1863, +pp. 4-7.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The campaign in France of 1544.</note> + +<p>Henry crossed over to France, leaving the new +queen, Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, whom +he had recently married, regent of the realm. After +a long siege, lasting from July until September, he +succeeded in taking Boulogne. On Thursday, the 25th +September, an order was received by the Court of +Aldermen from the lord chancellor, on behalf of the +queen regent, to get in readiness another contingent of +500 men well harnessed and weaponed, 100 of whom +were to be archers and the rest billmen. The last +mentioned were to be provided with "blak bylles or +morys pykes." The whole force was to be ready for +shipment to Boulogne by the following Saturday. No +time was to be lost. The wardens of the city +companies were immediately summoned, and each +company was ordered to provide the same number<pb n="410" /><anchor id="Pg410" /> +of men as on the last occasion. Each soldier was to +be provided with a coat of grey frieze, with half +sleeves, and a pair of new boots or else "sterte upps." +The Corporation for its part appointed five captains, +to each of whom was given the sum of £10 towards +his apparel and charges, whilst £5 was allowed to +each petty captain. These sums were paid out of the +"goods" of the mayor and commonalty.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 106; Letter Book Q, fo. 116b.</p></note></p> + +<p>Scarcely had the city recovered from this drain +upon its population before it was again called upon to +fill up the ranks of the army in France. On Saturday, +the 25th October, the Court of Aldermen was ordered +to raise another force of 500 men by the following +Monday. It was no easy matter to comply with so +sudden a demand. The city companies were called +upon to contribute as before, any deficiency in the +number of men raised by them being made up by +men raised by the mayor and aldermen themselves +in a somewhat novel fashion. The Court of Aldermen +had agreed that each of their number should on +the Saturday night make the round of his ward and +select "fifty, forty, twenty, or ten" tall and comely men, +who should be warned in the king's name to appear +the next morning before seven o'clock at the Guildhall. +On Sunday morning the mayor and aldermen +came to the Guildhall, and took the names of those +whom they had selected over night. Two hundred +men were eventually set apart to make up the +deficiency of those to be provided by the companies. +By six o'clock in the evening the whole contingent of +500 men was thus raised, and at nine o'clock on +Monday morning they mustered at Leadenhall,<pb n="411" /><anchor id="Pg411" /><index index="toc" level1="A BENEVOLENCE RAISED IN THE CITY." /> +whence they were conducted by the sheriffs and city +chamberlain to the Tower Hill and handed over to +Sir Thomas Arundel, who complimented the civic +authorities on the appearance of the men, and promised +to commend their diligence to the king.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory, 11, fo. 118b; Letter Book Q, fo. 120b.</p></note> This same +Monday morning (27 Oct.) the mayor received instructions +to see that such carpenters and other +artificers as had been "prested" for the king's +service at Boulogne by the king's master-carpenter +kept their day and presented themselves at the time +and place appointed on pain of death.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 123; Letter Book Q, fo. 119.</p></note> Search was +ordered to be made in the following month for +mariners lurking in the city, and if any were discovered +they were to be forthwith despatched to +the ships awaiting them.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 124; Letter Book Q, fo. 122.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">City gift to the king on his return from France.</note> + +<p>By this time the king had ceased to take a +personal part in the campaign and had returned home, +the mayor and aldermen giving him a hearty welcome, +and making him a suitable present in token of +their joy for his return and his success in effecting the +surrender of Boulogne.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 120b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Opposition to a benevolence in the city, 1545.</note> + +<p>At the opening of the next year (1545) Henry +demanded another benevolence after the rate of two +shillings in the pound. The lord chancellor and others +of the king's council sat at Baynard's Castle to collect +the benevolence of the city, "callinge all the citizens +of the same before them, begininge first with the +mayor and aldermen."<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 151, 153; Grey Friars Chron., p. 48.</p></note> Richard Rede, alderman of +the ward of Farringdon Without, resisted this demand<pb n="412" /><anchor id="Pg412" /> +as unconstitutional, and was promptly despatched to +the king in Scotland, where he was shortly afterwards +made a prisoner of war. Another alderman, Sir +William Roche, of Bassishaw ward, was unfortunate +enough to offend the council and was committed to +the Fleet.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 346.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">William Laxton, mayor, knighted, 8 Feb., 1545.</note> + +<p>On the 8th February William Laxton, the mayor, +was presented to the king at Westminster, when +Henry took occasion to thank him and his brother +aldermen for the benevolence they had given him. +He informed them of the success that had recently +attended the English forces under the Earl of +Hertford and the lord admiral, Sir John Dudley, +whom he had left as deputy of Boulogne, and dismissed +them to their homes after conferring upon the +mayor the honour of knighthood.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 151, 152.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A call for volunteers for the French war. April, 1545.</note> + +<p>In the following April volunteers were called for, +and those in the city willing to follow the fortunes of +war as "adventurers" were asked to repair to the +sign of the "Gunne," at Billingsgate, where they would +receive directions from John of Caleys, captain of all +such adventurers, for their passage to France.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 239b; Letter Book Q, fo. 167b.</p></note> The +sessions of the law courts were adjourned in order +to give lawyers and suitors an opportunity of showing +their patriotism by taking up arms.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 240.; Letter Book Q, fo. 168; Wriothesley, i, 154.</p></note> The city companies +furnished 100 men appareled "with whyte +cotes of penystone whytes<note place="foot"><p>"A coarse frieze was so called from a small town in the West +Riding of Yorkshire. An Act of 5 and 6 Edward VI (1551-2) provided +that all "clothes commonly called Pennystones or Forest Whites ... shall +conteyne in length beinge wett betwixt twelve and thirtene +yardes."</p></note> or karsies," with a<pb n="413" /><anchor id="Pg413" /><index index="toc" level1="MORE LEVIES TO BE RAISED IN THE CITY." /> +red cross of St. George before and behind, each being +provided with a white cap to wear under his "sallett +or scull."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 193b; Letter Book Q, fo. 133; Wriothesley, +i, 154.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The last subsidy to be forthwith paid up.</note> + +<p>There yet remained a portion of the last subsidy to +be collected, for which purpose the lord chancellor +once more paid a visit to the city (12 June) and sat +in the Guildhall. Every alderman was straitly +charged to call before him every person in his ward +who was worth £40 and upwards. The king's affairs +were pressing, and this last payment must be immediately +forthcoming.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 155.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A force of 2,000 soldiers demanded of the City, June, 1545.</note> + +<p>A week later (19 June) letters from the king +were read to the Court of Aldermen touching the +levying of more forces and firing of beacons—a French +squadron had appeared off the south coast. It +was resolved to adjourn consideration of the message +until the following Monday, when the lord chancellor +and other lords of the council would again be coming +into the city for the subsidy, and their advice could +be asked. The outcome of these letters was that the +City had to raise a force of 2,000 able men. To do this +an assessment of a fifteenth was ordered to be levied +on the wards, but in the meantime the money so to +be raised was to be advanced by the aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fos. 203, 212b.</p></note> Not +only were the aldermen on this, as on other occasions, +mulcted in their pocket, but they were also called upon +to personally share with the lord mayor himself and the +sheriffs in the extra watch which in the "besye tyme +of the warres" was ordered to be kept in the city.<note place="foot"><p>30 July.—Repertory 11, fo. 215b. The Midsummer watch had +not been kept this year.—Wriothesley, i, 156.</p></note><pb n="414" /><anchor id="Pg414" /> +In the meantime a man was despatched by the Court +of Aldermen to St. James' Fair to buy five wey of +cheese for the city's soldiers who were already at +Guildford. The cheese was to be sent by water as +far as Kingston, whence it would be conveyed by +"the good industrye and help of Master Judde, alderman," +to its destination. The bakers of Stratford +contracted to send two cart-loads of bread. It was +further agreed on the same day that Christopher +Fowlke should forthwith go to Guildford, and further +if need be, "to guyde the seyd vytayle and to utter +the same to the souldyers by thassistence of the +sworde berer and the under chamberleyn. And to +recyve money for the same."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 213.</p></note> A flag and a drum +were likewise to be despatched forthwith. The +citizen soldiers were required to assist in driving out +the French, who had effected a landing in the Isle of +Wight; but before they arrived the enemy had disappeared.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 58.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Boulogne threatened.</note> + +<p>The French king now prepared to lay siege to +Boulogne, and the citizens were again called upon to +furnish soldiers. One thousand men were required, +and this number was only raised by enlisting men who +had failed to pass previous musters. However, there +was no time to pick and choose.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 216b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Act for confiscating chantries, &c., 1545.</note> + +<p>By this time Henry's resources were fast giving +out. A parliament was summoned to meet in November, +and again resort was had to confiscation for the +purpose of supplying the king with money. An Act +was passed which placed 2,000 chantries and chapels +and over 100 hospitals at Henry's disposal.<note place="foot"><p>Stat. 37, Henry VIII, c. 4.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="415" /><anchor id="Pg415" /><index index="toc" level1="ENFORCEMENT OF UNIFORMITY." /> + +<note place="margin">Peace with France proclaimed, 13 June, 1546.</note> + +<p>All parties were, however, tired of the war, and +in the following June (1546) a peace was concluded. +Henry was allowed to retain Boulogne as security for +a debt, and the French admiral soon afterwards paid +a visit to the city, where he was heartily welcomed +and hospitably entertained.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 299b; Letter Book Q, fo. 181; Journal 15, fo. +270; Wriothesley, i, 165.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Uniformity of religion enforced, 1546.</note> + +<note place="margin">Recantation of the rector of St. Mary Aldermary.</note> + +<p>Freed from the embarrassment of foreign wars, +Henry now had leisure to turn his attention to home +affairs, and more particularly to the establishment of +that uniformity which he so much desired, and +which he endeavoured to bring about by getting rid +of all those who differed in opinion from himself. +Those who openly declared their disbelief in any one +of the "Six Articles," and more particularly in the +first article, which established the doctrine of the real +presence, ran the risk of death by the gallows, the +block or the stake. A city rector, Dr. Crome, of the +church of St. Mary Aldermary, got into disgrace for +speaking lightly of the benefits to be derived from +private masses, and, although his argument tended to +minimise the effect of the recent confiscation of so +many chantries, he was called upon to make a public +recantation at Paul's Cross.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 856; Grey Friars Chron., p. 50.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial and execution of Anne Ascue.</note> + +<p>Others were not so compliant. Among these was +Anne Ascue or Ascough, a daughter of Sir William +Ascough, of Kelsey, in Lincolnshire, and sometimes +known as Anne Kyme, from the name of her husband, +with whom she had ceased to live. In June, 1545, +she and some others, among whom was another +woman, Joan, wife of John Sauterie, of London, had<pb n="416" /><anchor id="Pg416" /> +been arraigned at the Guildhall "for speaking against +the sacrament of the altar"; but, no evidence being +adduced against her, she was on that occasion acquitted +and discharged.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 847.</p></note> Scarcely a year elapsed before she +was again in custody. On the 18th June, 1546, she +was tried at the Guildhall and condemned to be +burned alive as a heretic at Smithfield, where the city +chamberlain had orders to erect a "substantial stage," +whence the king's council and the civic authorities +might witness the scene.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 181.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Improved water supply of the city, 1545-1546.</note> + +<p>The insanitary condition of the city, occasioned +for the most part by an insufficient supply of water, +was not improved by the influx of disbanded and +invalided soldiers, followed by a swarm of vagabonds +and idlers, which took place at the conclusion of +peace with France. To the soldiers licences were +granted to solicit alms for longer or shorter periods, +whilst the vagabonds were ordered to quit the city.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 247.</p></note> +The water question had been taken in hand by the +Common Council towards the close of the preceding +year (1545), when Sir Martin Bowes entered upon +his mayoralty, and a tax of two fifteenths was +imposed upon the inhabitants of the city for the +purpose of conveying fresh water from certain +"lively sprynges" recently discovered at Hackney.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 213b.</p></note> +Bowes himself was very energetic in the matter, +and before he went out of office he had the satisfaction +of seeing a plentiful supply of water brought +into the heart of the city from the suburban manor +of Finsbury.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, i, 162, 175.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="417" /><anchor id="Pg417" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AS GOVERNORS OF ROYAL HOSPITALS." /> + +<note place="margin">St. Bartholomew's Hospital, &c., vested in the City, 13 Jan., 1547.</note> + +<p>Henry's reign was now fast drawing to a close. +In April, 1546, he had bestowed an endowment of 500 +marks a year on the city poor-houses on condition the +citizens themselves found a similar sum.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fos. 245, 399b, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi></p></note> In January, +1547—a few days only before he died—he showed +still further care for the city poor by vesting in the +Corporation, not only St. Bartholomew's Hospital, +thenceforth to be known as the House of the Poor in +West Smithfield, but also the house and church of the +dissolved monastery of the Grey Friars and the house +and hospital of Bethlehem.<note place="foot"><p>"Memoranda ... Royal Hospitals," pp. 20-45.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A committee appointed to investigate the recently acquired property, 6 May, 1547.</note> + +<p>The Corporation lost no time in getting their +newly acquired property into working order. On the +6th May the late king's conveyance was read before +the Court of Aldermen, and thereupon a committee, +of which Sir Martin Bowes was a prominent member, +was deputed to make an abstract of the yearly +revenues and charges of the house of the Grey Friars +and hospital of little Saint Bartholomew, and to +report thereon to the court with as much speed as +possible.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 349b.</p></note> From a purely monetary point of view the +City had made a bad bargain, and had saddled itself +with an annual expenditure out of the Corporation +revenues to an extent little thought of at the time.<note place="foot"><p>In Sept., 1547, the citizens were called upon to contribute half a +fifteenth for the maintenance of the poor of St. Bartholomew's.—Journal +15, fo. 325b. In Dec, 1548, an annual sum of 500 marks out of the +profits of Blackwell, and in 1557 the whole of the same profits were set +aside for the poor.—Journal 15, fos. 398, <hi rend="font-style: italic">seq.</hi>; Repertory 13, pt. ii, +fo. 512.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king's death, 28 Jan., 1547.</note> + +<p>On the 28th January, 1547, Henry died "at hys +most pryncely howse at Westminster, comenly<pb n="418" /><anchor id="Pg418" /> +called Yorkeplace or Whytehall"—the palace which +Cardinal Wolsey built for himself, and which Henry +appropriated, extending its grounds and preserves in +cynical contempt of public convenience and utter +disregard of the chartered rights of the citizens of +London.<note place="foot"><p>Royal proclamation, 7 July, 1545, forbidding all pursuit of game +in Westminster, Islington, Highgate, Hornsey and elsewhere in the +suburbs of London.—Journal 15, fo. 240b.</p></note> There his corpse remained until the 14th +February, when it was removed at 8 o'clock in the +morning to Sion House, near Richmond, and thence +conveyed to Windsor on the following day.</p> + +<note place="margin">Edward VI proclaimed king in the city, 31 Jan., 1547.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the mayor, Henry Huberthorne, +or Hoberthorne,<note place="foot"><p>Son of Christopher Huberthorne, of Waddington, co. Lane, +Alderman of Farringdon Within. His mansion adjoined the Leadenhall. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi>, Oct., 1556. Buried in the church of St. Peter, Cornhill.—Machyn. +115, 352. It was in Huberthorne's mayoralty that the customary banquet +to the aldermen, the "officers lerned" and the commoners of the city, on +Monday next after the Feast of Epiphany, known as "Plow Monday," +was discontinued.—Letter Book Q, fo. 191b. It was afterwards renewed +and continues to this day in the form of a dinner given by the +new mayor to the officers of his household and clerks engaged in various +departments of the service of the Corporation. An attempt was at the +same time made to put down the lord mayor's banquet also.—Wriothesley, +i, 176.</p></note> had been sent for (31 Jan.) to attend +the king's council at Westminster, where he received +orders to return to the city and cause himself and his +brother aldermen to be arrayed in their scarlet robes, +in order to accompany the heralds whilst they proclaimed +the new king in various parts of the city. +This being done, the mayor took steps for securing the +peace of the city, and the citizens voted Edward a +benevolence of a fifteenth and a half.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15. fos. 303b, 305b; Letter Book Q, os. 192b, 194; +Wriothesley. i, 178.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Distribution of gowns of black livery.</note> + +<p>Edward on his part presented the mayor and +aldermen with 104 gowns of black livery, according to +the precedent followed at the decease of Henry VII.<pb n="419" /><anchor id="Pg419" /><index index="toc" level1="FUNERAL OF HENRY THE EIGHTH." /> +These gowns were distributed among the mayor +and aldermen, the high officers and certain clerks +in the service of the Corporation. Ten aldermen +accompanied the remains of the late king on their +way to Windsor, riding forth in black coats with the +rest of the mourners, the harness and bridles of their +horses being covered with black cloth. Two of the +aldermen, Sir William Laxton and Sir Martin Bowes, +had each four servants in their suite, whilst the rest +of the aldermen had three, all in black coats.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 304; Letter Book Q, fo. 195; Repertory 11, +fo. 335b.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="420" /><anchor id="Pg420" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XV.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">Accession and coronation of Edward VI, 1547.</note> + +<p>Provision had been made for the succession to +the crown on Henry's death by an Act of Parliament +passed in 1544, and the princesses Mary and Elizabeth +were thereby re-instated in their rights of +inheritance as if no question of their legitimacy had +ever been raised. As Edward, who was next in +succession to the crown, was but a boy, Henry had +taken pains to select a council of regency in which +no one party should predominate. This council was +soon set aside, and Hertford, the king's uncle, got +himself appointed Protector of the realm and took +the title of Duke of Somerset. At the time of his +father's death Edward was residing at Hertford Castle. +He was soon afterwards carried thence by his uncle +to London and lodged in the Tower, where the mayor, +Henry Hoberthorne, went to pay his respects and +received the honour of knighthood.<note place="foot"><p>"The lord mayor of London, Henry Hobulthorne, was called +fourth, who kneeling before the king, his majestie tooke the sworde of +the Lord Protector and made him knight, which was the first that eaver +he made."—Wriothesley's Chron. (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 11.), i, 181.</p></note></p> + +<p>On the 19th the young king passed through the +city to Westminster, the mayor riding before him +bareheaded with the mace of crystal<note place="foot"><p>This mace is still in possession of the Corporation. It is only +brought out for use on such occasions as a coronation, when it is carried +by the lord mayor as on the occasion narrated above, and at the annual +election of the chief magistrate of the city, when it is formally handed +by the Chamberlain to the lord mayor elect. The mace consists of a +tapering shaft of rock crystal mounted in gold, with a coroneted head +also of gold, adorned with pearls and large jewels. Its age is uncertain. +Whilst some hazard the conjecture that it may be of Saxon origin, +there are others who are of opinion that the head of it at least cannot +be earlier than the 15th century.</p></note> in his hand.<pb n="421" /><anchor id="Pg421" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VI." /> +The streets were lined with members of the livery +companies. The conduits, the standard and cross in +Chepe, the Ludgate and the Temple Bar had been +freshly painted and trimmed with goodly hangings of +Arras and cloth of gold for the occasion. At three of +the conduits, namely, the conduit in Cornhill, the +great conduit in Chepe, and the conduit in Fleet +Street, wine was made by artificial means to flow as +if from the "festrons" of the conduits themselves. +At the little conduit in Chepe were stationed the +aldermen of the city, in their scarlet gowns, and the +Recorder, who, in the name of the whole city, presented +his majesty with 1,000 marks in "hole new +sufferaynes" of gold in a purse of purple cloth of gold, +which his majesty deigned to accept with his own +hand. The next day Edward was crowned. The lord +mayor, according to custom, attended with his crystal +mace as the king passed from his palace to church, and +thence, after mass, to Westminster Hall, and received +for his services the customary gold cup, which on this +occasion weighed twenty ounces, with its cover and a +"leyer" (or laver) silver-gilt weighing six ounces.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 305; Letter Book Q, fos. 195b-196; Repertory 11, +fo. 334b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Opposition in the city to the sacrament of the mass, 1547-1548.</note> + +<p>The work of reformation was now about to be +taken seriously in hand. Something, it is true, had +been done in this direction under Henry, but in +<hi rend="font-style: italic">dilettante</hi> fashion. The ceremony connected with +the boy-bishop, which even Colet had thought +worthy to be perpetuated in his school,<note place="foot"><p>"All these chyldren shall every Chyldermasse day come to Paulis +Church and here the chylde bisshoppis sermon, and after be at the hye +masse, and eche of them offer a 1<hi rend="vertical-align: super">d.</hi> to the childe bisshop and with theme +the maisters and surveyors of the scole."—Statutes of St. Paul's School, +printed in Lupton's "Life of Dean Colet," p. 278b.</p></note> had been<pb n="422" /><anchor id="Pg422" /> +abolished by order of the mayor in 1538.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fo. 172b.</p></note> The ruthless +destruction of the shrine of St. Thomas at +Canterbury, and the erasure of his name from service-books, +had been followed in the city by an order +(1539) for a new common seal on which the arms of +the city were substituted for the original effigy of +the saint.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 14, fo. 158b; Letter Book P, fo. 197.</p></note> Henry himself only coquetted with +Protestantism; his chief object, if not the only one, +was to get rid of the papal supremacy; but among +the bourgeois class of the city there was an earnest +desire to see an improvement made in the doctrine +and discipline of the Church.<note place="foot"><p>See Brewer's Introd. to Cal. Letters and Papers For. and Dom., +vol. iv, pp. dcli-dcliii.</p></note></p> + +<p>Whilst the statute of the Six Articles was still +unrepealed, the sacrament of the mass frequently +provoked open hostility in the city. Thus, in August, +1538, Robert Reynold, a stationer, was declared upon +the oath of five independent witnesses to have been +heard to say "that the masse was nawght, and the +memento was Bawdrye, and after the consecracioun +of the masse yt was idolatrye." He was further +charged with having said that it were better for him +to confess and be houseled by a temporal rather than +a spiritual man.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book P, fo. 153.</p></note> Again, in February, 1543, Hugh +Eton, a hosier of London, was convicted of disguising +himself "in fonde fassyon," and of irreverently walking +up and down in St. Bride's Church before the sacrament, +disturbing the priests at mass and creating a +tumult. By way of punishment for his offence he was +set in the cage in Fleet Street, "disguised" as he was,<pb n="423" /><anchor id="Pg423" /><index index="toc" level1="THE REFORMATION." /> +with a paper on his head setting forth his offence. +He there remained until four o'clock in the afternoon, +when he was removed to the compter and condemned +to stay there a prisoner until he found sureties for +good behaviour.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 102.</p></note></p> + +<p>After the repeal of the statute by Edward's first +parliament, the opposition to the "sacrament of the +altar," as the mass was called, became greater than +ever.<note place="foot"><p>"Also this same tyme [Nov., 1547] was moche spekying agayne +the sacrament of the auter, that some callyd it Jacke of the boxe, with +divers other shamefulle names... And at this tyme [Easter, 1548] +was more prechyng agayne the masse."—Grey Friars Chron., p. 55.</p></note> A boy was ordered to be whipt naked in the +church of St. Mary Woolnoth for throwing his cap at +the host at the time of elevation.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 250b.</p></note> In February, +1548, information was given to the Court of Aldermen +of preachers having used "certain words" touching the +mass in the churches of St. Dunstan in the east and +St. Martin Orgar.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 423.</p></note> On the 5th May, 1548, the mayor +and aldermen resolved to appear the next day before +the Lord Protector Somerset and the council, and +explain the nature of the misdemeanours of certain +preachers, concerning which the mayor had already +had some communication with the Archbishop of +Canterbury.<note place="foot"><p>"After the redyng of the preposycioun made yesterday in the Sterre +Chamber by the lorde chaunceler and y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> declaracioun made by my lorde +mayer of suche comunicacioun as his lordshyp had w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi> the Bysshop of +Caunterburye concernyng the demeano<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> of certein prechers and other +dysobedyent persones yt was ordered and agreyd that my lorde mayer +and all my maisters thaldermen shall this afternone att ij of y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> clok +repayre to my lorde protectors grace and the hole counseill and declare +unto theim the seid mysdemeanor and that thei shall mete att Saint +Martyns in the Vyntrey att one of the clok."—Repertory 11, fo. 456b.</p></note></p> + +<p>In the following month (5 June) the Court of +Aldermen investigated a charge made against a city<pb n="424" /><anchor id="Pg424" /> +curate that, about a month before, after reciting the +common prayers at the choir door at high mass, he +had prayed among other things that Almighty God +might send the king's council grace and bring them +out of the erroneous opinions that they were then in. +The informer went on to say that Sir Clement Smith +and the Recorder, who were present, laughed at the +prayer. But inasmuch as the informer had not been +present himself, and that what he had laid before the +court was mere hearsay evidence, little attention was +paid to it.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 465.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Act for abolition of chantries, 1547.</note> + +<p>The abolition of chantries initiated by Henry +VIII was carried out to a fuller extent by his successor. +The statute (1 Edward VI, cap 14) by which +this was effected not only deprived a large number of +priests of a means of livelihood, but laid them open to +insult from those they met in the street. They complained +that they could not walk abroad nor attend +the court at Westminster without being reviled and +having their tippets and caps violently pulled.<note place="foot"><p>A proclamation against the evil behaviour of citizens and others +against priests, 12 Nov., 1547.—Letter Book Q. fo. 218; Journal 15, +fo. 335b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Redemption of charges for superstitious uses by the city and companies, 1550.</note> + +<p>The same statute—by declaring all chantries, +obits, lights and lamps to be objects of superstitious +use, and all goods, chattels, jewels, plate, ornaments +and other moveables hitherto devoted to their maintenance +to be thenceforth escheated to the Crown—dealt +a heavy blow to the Corporation of the City of +London, as well as to the civic companies and other +bodies who owned property subject to certain payments +under one or other of these heads. Three years after<pb n="425" /><anchor id="Pg425" /><index index="toc" level1="SUPERSTITIOUS USES." /> +the passing of the Act the Corporation and the companies +redeemed certain charges of this character on +their respective properties to the amount of £939 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> +5-1/2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> by payment to the Crown of no less a sum than +£18,744 11<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi><note place="foot"><p>By letters patent dated 14 July, 1550 (preserved at the Guildhall, +Box 17).</p></note></p> + +<p>The redemption of these and other charges of a +similar character, whilst very convenient to the Crown, +saving the trouble and expense of collecting small +sums of money, worked a hardship upon the Corporation +and the companies. In order to raise funds +for redeeming the charges they were obliged to +sell property. This property was often held under +conditions of reverter and remainders over, unless +what was now declared to be illegal was religiously +carried out. It was manifestly unfair that they should +be made to forfeit property because the conditions +under which it was held could no longer be legally +complied with. A petition therefore was presented +to the king in order to obviate this difficulty, and to +enable them to part with the necessary property and +at the same time to give a clear title.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 166b; Wriothesley's Chron. (Camden Soc., +N.S., No. 20), ii, 35. See also exemplification of Act of Parl. passed +a° 5 Edward VI, in accordance with the terms of this petition (Box 29).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Order for demolition of images, pictures, &c., Aug., 1547.</note> + +<p>In the meantime (Aug., 1547) an order had gone +forth for the demolition of all images and removal of +pictures and stained glass from churches. The instructions +sent to the lord mayor were very precise. +"Stories made in glasse wyndows" relative to Thomas +Becket were to be altered at as little expense as possible. +Images and pictures to which no offerings and no +prayers were made might remain for "garnisshement"<pb n="426" /><anchor id="Pg426" /> +of the churches; and if any such had been taken down +the mayor was at liberty to set them up again, unless +they had been taken down by order of the king's +commissioners or the parson of the church. If there +existed in any church a "storye in glasse" of the +Bishop of Rome, otherwise the Pope, the mayor +might paint out the papal tiara and alter the "storye."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 322; Letter Book Q, fo. 210b.</p></note> +These instructions, contained in a letter from the +king's council, were duly considered at a Court of +Aldermen held on the 22nd September, with the +result that every alderman was ordered, in the most +secret, discreet and quiet manner he could devise, to +visit each parish church in his ward, and to take with +him the parson or curate and two or three honest +parishioners, churchwardens or others who had had +anything to do with the removal of the images that +had already been taken down, and, having shut +the church door for the sake of privacy, to take a +note in writing of what images had formerly been +in the several churches, what images had offerings +and were prayed to, and what not; who had removed +those taken down, and what had been done +with them. A report was to be made on these points +by every alderman at the next court, so that the +lords of the council might be informed thereon and +their will ascertained before any further steps were +taken.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11. fo. 373; Letter Book Q, fo. 214.</p></note></p> + +<p>The havoc worked by the king's commissioners +in the city and throughout the country by the reckless +destruction of works of art was terrible. The +churches were stripped of every ornament, their walls<pb n="427" /><anchor id="Pg427" /><index index="toc" level1="SPOLIATION OF THE CHURCHES." /> +whitewashed, and only relieved by the tables of +the commandments. Early in September the commissioners +visited St. Paul's and pulled down all the +images. In November the rood was taken down +with its images of the Virgin and St. John. The great +cross of the rood fell down accidentally and killed +one of the workmen, a circumstance which many +ascribed to the special intervention of the Almighty. +From St. Paul's the commissioners proceeded to the +church of St. Bride, and so from parish church to +parish church.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., 54, 55; Wriothesley. ii, 1.</p></note></p> + +<p>In the following year (1548) the chapel of St. +Paul's charnel house was pulled down and the +bones removed into the country and reburied. From +a sanitary point of view their removal is to be commended. +There is no such excuse, however, for the +destruction of the cloister in Pardon churchyard +(April, 1549), with its famous picture of the Dance +of Death, painted at the expense of John Carpenter, the +town clerk of the city, of whom mention has already +been made. The fact was that the Protector Somerset +required material for building his new palace in +the Strand,<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 58. In May (1548) the duke applied to the +City for water to be laid on to Stronde House, afterwards known as +Somerset House.—Repertory 11, fos. 462b, 484; Journal 15. fo. 383b; +Letter Book Q, fo. 253b.</p></note> to enlarge which he had already pulled +down Strand Church, dedicated to Saint Mary and +the Holy Innocents.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 55.</p></note> The destruction of the cloister +necessitated a new order of procession on the next +Lord Mayor's Day (24 Oct.), when Sir Rowland Hill +paid the customary visit to St. Paul's, made a circuit<pb n="428" /><anchor id="Pg428" /> +of the interior of the cathedral, and said a <hi rend="font-style: italic">De profundis</hi> +at the bishop's tomb.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 29. Touching the ceremony of visiting the tomb +of the Bishop of London, to whom the citizens were indebted for the +charter of William the Conqueror, see chap. i, p. 35.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The citizens and the Grey Friars Church, 1547.</note> + +<p>Nor can the civic authorities themselves be altogether +acquitted of vandalism. They destroyed the +churches of St. Nicholas Shambles and St. Ewin, and +sold the plate and windows, but the proceeds were +distributed among the poor.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fos. 232, 234b; Repertory 11, fos. 356, 415, 431, +444b, 511b.</p></note> They went further than +this. They removed the fine tombs and altars, as well +as the choir stalls, from the church of the Grey Friars, +where mingled the ashes of some of the noblest and +best in the land. There was some excuse, however, +for these acts. The house and church of the Grey +Friars had been granted to the City at the close of +the last reign on the express condition that the +churches of St. Nicholas and St. Ewin should be +abolished, and that the church of the Grey Friars +should be established as a parish church in their +place under the name of Christ Church. It was +probably in order to render the old monastic church +more convenient as a parish church that they removed +much of what to the antiquary of to-day would +have seemed of priceless value, and at the same time +reduced the dimensions of the choir.<note place="foot"><p>"Item, at this same tyme [<hi rend="font-style: italic">circ.</hi> Sept., 1547] was pullyd up alle the +tomes, grett stones, alle the auteres, with stalles and walles of the qweer +and auters in the church that was some tyme the Gray freeres, and solde +and the qweer made smaller."—Grey Friars Chron., p. 54.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The "communion" substituted for the mass, 1548.</note> + +<p>At Easter, 1548, a new communion service in +English took the place of the mass.<note place="foot"><p>"At Ester followyng there began the commonion, and confession +but of thoys that wolde, as the boke dothe specifythe."—Grey Friars +Chron., p. 55; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Wriothesley (Camd. Soc, N.S., No. 20), ii, 2.</p></note> At the election<pb n="429" /><anchor id="Pg429" /><index index="toc" level1="THE TUNING OF THE PULPITS." /> +of the mayor on the following Michaelmas-day, on +which occasion a mass had always been celebrated at +the Guildhall Chapel since the time of Whitington, an +endeavour appears to have been made by the Court +of Aldermen to effect a compromise between mass +and communion, for whilst it ordered that a mass of +the Holy Ghost should be solemnly sung in English +in the Guildhall Chapel (which had been confiscated +by Henry VIII)<note place="foot"><p>The Guildhall college, chapel and library were restored to the +City in 1550, by Edward VI, on payment of £456 13<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>,—Pat. Roll +4 Edward VI, p. 9m. (32) 20; Letter Book R, fo. 64b.</p></note> as theretofore, it further ordered +that the holy communion should be administered to +two or three of the priests there at the same mass.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 11, fo. 493b.</p></note> +Orders were issued by the king's council that candles +should no longer be carried about on Candlemas-day, +ashes on Ash Wednesday, palms on Palm Sunday. +These practices were now considered superstitious, as +also was the "sensyng" which hitherto had taken +place in St. Paul's at Whitsuntide, but which the +Court of Aldermen now decreed to be abolished, and +the preaching of sermons substituted in its place.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 455. (431 pencil mark); Letter Book Q, fo. 237. "This +yeare in the Whitson holidaies my lord maior [Sir John Gresham] +caused three notable sermons to be made at Sainct Marie Spittell, +according as they are kept at Easter.... And the sensing in +Poules cleene put downe."—Wriothesley, ii, 2, 3. The processions +were kept up in 1554, "but there was no sensynge."—Grey Friars +Chron., p. 89.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin"> The "tuning of the pulpits."</note> + +<p>The people were at this time extremely distracted +by the various and contradictory opinions of their +preachers; and as they were totally incapable of judging +of the force of arguments adduced on one side or +the other, but conceived that everything spoken from +the pulpit was of equal authority, great confusion and +perplexity of mind ensued. In order to "tune the<pb n="430" /><anchor id="Pg430" /> +pulpits" and to effect uniformity of doctrine and +service, the Lord Protector resorted to proclamations, +which, although no longer having the authority of +statutes as in the reign of Henry VIII, practically +answered the same purpose. Preaching was thus +restricted to those who had previously obtained a +licence from the king, his visitors, the archbishop of +Canterbury, or the bishop of the diocese.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Journal 15, fo. 352b; Letter Book Q, fos. 230-252b. "This +yeare [1548] the xxviii<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> daie of September, proclamation was made to +inhibite all preachers generallie till the kinges further pleasure. After +which daie all sermons seasede at Poules Crosse and in all other +places."—Wriothesley, ii, 6.</p></note> The same +want of uniformity which appeared in the preachers +appeared also in their congregations; some "kepte +holy day and manny kepte none, but dyd worke +opynly, and in some churches servys and some none, +soche was the devysyon."<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., pp. 59, 62. Occasionally the chronicler is +overcome by his feelings, and cries out, "Almyghty God helpe it whan +hys wylle ys!" <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 67.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The insurrections of 1549.</note> + +<p>In the meantime great discontent had been caused +by the Protector's measures. The rich nobleman and +country gentleman said nothing, for their assent had +been purchased by gifts of church property, but the +tenants and bourgeois class suffered from increased +rents, from enclosures and evictions. Church lands +had always been underlet; the monks were easy +landlords. Not so the new proprietors of the confiscated +abbey lands, they were determined to make +the most out of their newly-acquired property.<note place="foot"><p>In some cases the new owners may have experienced some difficulty +in fixing a fair rent, as appears to have been the case with the City of +London and its recently acquired property of Bethlehem. When the +Chamberlain reported that the rents demanded for houses in the +precincts of the hospital were far too high, he was at once authorised +to reduce them at discretion.—Letter Book R, fo. 10b.</p></note> +Insurrection broke out in various parts of the<pb n="431" /><anchor id="Pg431" /><index index="toc" level1="CRANMER AT ST. PAUL'S." /> +country. Not only were enclosures thrown open and +fences removed, but a cry was raised for the restoration +of the old religion. Information of what was +taking place was sent to Sir Henry Amcotes, the +mayor, and steps were at once taken (2 July, 1549) +for putting the city into a state of defence and for the +preservation of the king's peace. A "false draw-brydge" +was ordered (<hi rend="font-style: italic">inter alia</hi>) to be made for +London Bridge "in case nede should requyer by reason +"of the sterrynge of the people (which God defende!) +to caste downe thother."<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 11b.</p></note> The city gates were constantly +watched and the walls mounted with artillery.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 60; Wriothesley, ii, 15, 16.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Cranmer at St. Paul's, 21 July, 1549.</note> + +<p>In the midst of these preparations there was a +lull. On the 21st day of July, being the 6th Sunday +after Trinity, came Archbishop Cranmer to St. Paul's. +He wore no vestment save a cope over an alb, and +bore neither mitre nor cross, but only a staff. He +conducted the whole of the service as set out in the +"king's book" recently published, which differed but +slightly from the church service in use at the present +day, and he administered the "Communion" to himself, +the dean and others, according to Act of Parliament. +The mayor and most of the aldermen occupied +seats in the choir. Cranmer's object in coming to the +city on that day was to exhort the citizens to obey the +king as the supreme head of the realm, and to pray the +Almighty to avert the trouble with which, for their +sins, they were threatened.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 16, 17; Grey Friars Chron., p. 60.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king passes through the city, 23 July.</note> + +<p>Two days later (23 July) the king himself left +Greenwich and rode through the city to Westminster,<pb n="432" /><anchor id="Pg432" /> +accompanied by the Lord Protector and other nobles. +The mayor and aldermen rode out to Southwark, the +former in a gown of crimson velvet, the latter in +gowns of scarlet, to meet the royal party, and conducted +it as far as Charing Cross, where the aldermen took +their leave, the king saluting them and "putting of +his capp to everie of them." The mayor rode on to +Westminster, where the king and the Protector +graciously bade him farewell.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 19.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Ket's rebellion in Norfolk. 1549.</note> + +<p>The aspect of affairs began to look black indeed. +By the end of the month Exeter was being besieged +by the rebels, and on the 8th August the French +ambassador, taking advantage of the general distraction, +bade the Lord Protector open defiance at +Whitehall.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 20; Grey Friars Chron., p. 61.</p></note> At midnight instructions were sent to +the mayor to seize all Frenchmen in the city who +were not denizens, together with their property. +By this time, however, Exeter had been relieved and +the insurrection in the west had been put down. +The western insurgents had demanded the restoration +of the mass and the abolition of the English liturgy. +Contemporaneously with this religious movement +another agitation was being made in the eastern +counties, and more especially in Norfolk, which had +for its object the destruction of enclosures. With the +eastern rebels, who placed themselves under the +leadership of Robert Ket, a tanner of Wymondham, +the Protector himself sympathized at heart, and the +council had to exercise no little pressure before he +could be induced to send an efficient force to put them +down. At length the rebels were met and defeated<pb n="433" /><anchor id="Pg433" /><index index="toc" level1="KETS REBELLION." /> +by a force under the command of the Earl of +Warwick, the son of the extortionate Dudley who +was associated with Empson in oppressing the city +towards the close of the reign of Henry VII. Ket +galloped off the field, leaving his followers to be +ridden down and killed by the earl's horsemen. He +was shortly afterwards captured in a barn, and +eventually brought up to London, together with his +brother William, and committed to the Tower. +Being arraigned and convicted of treason, they were +handed over to the high sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. +Robert was hanged in chains on the top of Norwich +Castle, whilst his brother William suffered a similar +fate on the top of Wymondham Steeple.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 982-984.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The fall of Somerset, 1549.</note> + +<p>Somerset's fall was now imminent. The citizens +hated him, not for his favouring the reformers, but +for the injury he had caused to trade and for his +having bebased the coinage still further than it had +been debased by Henry VIII. His colleagues in the +council, who had been pampered with gifts of church +lands, were angry with him for the favour he had +shown towards those who raised the outcry against +enclosures, and they began to show their independence.</p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from lords of the council to the City accusing the Protector, 6 Oct.</note> + +<p>On the afternoon of Sunday, the 6th October, +1549, a letter was sent to the mayor subscribed by +Lord St. John, the president of the council, the earls +of Warwick, Southampton and Arundel, and other +members of the council, containing a long indictment +of the Protector's policy and conduct. He was proud, +covetous and ambitious. He had embezzled the pay +of the soldiers, with which he was building sumptuous<pb n="434" /><anchor id="Pg434" /> +houses in four or five different places. Whilst sowing +discord among the nobles, he flattered the commons +to the intent that, having got rid of the former, he +might with the aid of the latter achieve his scarcely +veiled design of supplanting the king himself. They +had hoped, the letter continues, to have persuaded +the duke by fair means to take order for the security +of the king's person and the commonwealth; but no +sooner was the matter broached to the duke than he +showed himself determined to appeal to the arbitrament +of the sword. Such being the case, they on +their part were no less resolved, with God's help, to +deliver the king and the realm from impending ruin, +or perish in the attempt. They concluded by asking +the civic authorities to see that good watch and ward +were kept in the city and that no <hi rend="font-style: italic">matériel</hi> of war +was supplied to the duke or his followers. Any +letters or proclamations coming from the Protector +were to be disregarded.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 40; Journal 16, fo. 36.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Letter from Somerset to the mayor, 6 Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>Determined not to be forestalled by his enemies; +the duke himself wrote the same day (6 Oct.) to the +mayor desiring the City to furnish him forthwith with +1,000 trusty men fully armed for the protection of the +king's person. The men were to be forwarded to +him at Hampton by the following Monday mid-day +at the latest, and in the meantime the citizens were +to take steps to protect the king and his uncle, the +duke, against conspiracy.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 39b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Conference between the lords and the City at Ely Place, 6 Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>Before these letters had been despatched the +mayor and aldermen had been summoned by the +Earl of Warwick, who now took the lead against<pb n="435" /><anchor id="Pg435" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY OPPOSED TO THE PROTECTOR." /> +Somerset, to meet him and other lords of the council +at his house in Ely Place, Holborn. A meeting had +accordingly taken place that Sunday morning, when +the state of affairs was discussed. After the meeting +separated Warwick came to the city and took up +his residence in the house of Sir John York, one of +the sheriffs, situate in Walbrook. Sir John Markham, +lieutenant of the Tower, was removed, and Sir +Leonard Chamberlain appointed in his place, whilst +the Court of Aldermen took extraordinary precautions +for safe-guarding the city.<note place="foot"><p>Acts of the Privy Council, ii, 331-332; Wriothesley, ii, 24-25; +Holinshed, iii, 1014; Repertory 12, pt. i, fos. 149-150.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Removal of the king to Windsor.</note> + +<p>As soon as Somerset was made aware of the +Tower being in the possession of his rivals he +removed from Hampton Court to Windsor, carrying +the young king with him, and despatched a letter to +Lord Russell to hurry thither with such force as he +could muster.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 1014-1015; Acts of Privy Council, ii, 333.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City joins the lords against Somerset, 7 Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>On Monday (7 Oct.) the lords of the council +sat at Mercers' Hall—they felt safer in London—and +thence despatched a dutiful letter to the king, and +another (explaining their conduct) to Cranmer.<note place="foot"><p>Acts of Privy Council, ii, fos. 333-336.</p></note> The +Common Council met at seven o'clock that morning, +having been warned on Sunday night.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 12, pt. i, fo. 150b.</p></note> The object of +their meeting so early in the day was that no time +might be lost before taking into consideration the +letters that had been received from Somerset and +from the lords. After due deliberation the citizens +agreed to throw in their lot with the lords and to +assist them "to the uttermost of their wills and<pb n="436" /><anchor id="Pg436" /> +powers" in the maintenance and defence of the +king's person.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 40b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The lords attend a Common Council, 8 Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>On Tuesday (8 Oct.) the Common Council again +assembled in the Guildhall to meet the lords by +appointment. Rumour had been spread to the effect +that it was the intention of the lords to cause a reestablishment +of the old religion.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 43-43b.</p></note> This the lords +assured the meeting was far from their minds. They +intended no alteration of matters as established by +the laws and statutes. All they wanted was to cause +them to be maintained as formerly, before they had +been "disformed" by the Lord Protector, and for this +they prayed the assistance of the citizens. Thereupon +the mayor, aldermen and common council, +thanking God for the good intentions of their lordships, +"promised their ayde and helpe to the uttermost +of their lieves and goodes."<note place="foot"><p>Acts of Privy Council, ii, 336, 337.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A meeting at Sheriff York's house, 9 Oct.</note> + +<note place="margin">The City agrees to furnish a contingent of soldiers to aid the lords.</note> + +<p>On Wednesday (9 Oct.) the lords met at the +house of Sheriff York, where they had dined the +previous day.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 26.</p></note> They had heard that Somerset had +seized all the armour, weapons and munitions of war +he could lay his hands upon, both at Hampton Court +and Windsor, and with them had armed his adherents. +They again sent letters to the king, the archbishop +and others, and declared Somerset to be unworthy to +continue any longer in the position of Protector.<note place="foot"><p>Acts of Privy Council, ii, 337-342.</p></note> +The Common Council, which met the same day—"for +divers urgent causes moved and declared by the +mouth of the recorder and of the lord mayor and +aldermen on the king's behalf"—agreed to furnish<pb n="437" /><anchor id="Pg437" /><index index="toc" level1="THE PROTECTOR LODGED IN THE TOWER." /> +with all speed 500 men, or if necessary 1,000 men, +well harnessed and weaponed, to proceed to Windsor +Castle for the delivery and preservation of his majesty. +It was subsequently arranged that 100 of the contingent +should be horsemen.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fos. 41-42; Journal 16, fos. 37, 37b. According +to Holinshed (iii, 1017, 1018), considerable opposition was made by a +member of the Common Council named George Stadlow to any force at +all being sent by the city. He reminded the court of the evils that had +arisen in former times from the city rendering support to the barons +against Henry III, and how the city lost its liberties in consequence. +The course he recommended was that the city should join the lords in +making a humble representation to the king as to the Protector's conduct.</p></note> By the afternoon of +Friday (11 Oct.) the men and horsemen were ready. +They mustered in Moorfields, whence they marched +through Moorgate, Coleman Street, Cheapside, and +out by Newgate to Smithfield, with the Sword-bearer +riding before them as captain. At Smithfield they broke +off, and were discharged from further service +for the time.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 26, 27.</p></note> There is no evidence to show that the +force was ever called upon to proceed to Windsor.</p> + +<note place="margin">The effect of the City's adhesion to the lords.</note> + +<note place="margin">Somerset brought to the Tower, 14 Oct.</note> + +<p>The adhesion of the City to the lords had in the +meanwhile added strength to their cause, many who +had at first held back now declaring themselves against +Somerset. In this manner they were joined by Lord +Chancellor Rich, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Chief Justice +Montague and others, whose signatures appear to a +proclamation issued on the 8th October setting forth +"the verye trowth of the Duke of Somersettes evell +government and false and detestable procedynges."<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 37; Journal 16, fo. 34; Wriothesley, ii, 26.</p></note> +By the end of the week (12 Oct.) the lords felt +themselves strong enough to proceed in person to +Windsor, where on their knees they explained their +conduct to the king, who received them graciously and<pb n="438" /><anchor id="Pg438" /> +gave them hearty thanks. The following day (Sunday) +was spent in removing some of Somerset's followers; +and on Monday (14th) Somerset himself was brought +prisoner to London, "riding through Oldborne in at +Newgate and so to the Tower of London, accompanied +with diuers lordes and gentlemen with 300 +horse, the lord maior, Sir Ralph Warren, Sir John +Gresham, Mr. Recorder, Sir William Locke and both +the shiriffes and other knights, sitting on their horses +agaynst Soper-lane, with all the officers with halbards, +and from Oldborne bridge to the Tower certaine +aldermen or their deputies on horsebacke in +every streete, with a number of housholders standing +with bils as hee passed."<note place="foot"><p>Stow's "Summarie of the Chronicles of England" (ed. 1590), +p. 545; Wriothesley, ii, 27, 28. The names are given differently in the +Acts of the Privy Council, ii, 344.</p></note></p> + +<p>At the sudden fall of one who for a short time +had been all powerful—a little more than a week had +served to deprive him of the protectorate and render +him a prisoner in the Tower—did it cross the mind of +any of the onlookers that he it was who carried away +from the Guildhall Library some cartloads of books +which were never returned?</p> + +<note place="margin">Bonner deprived of bishopric of London, 1 Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>There were some who looked upon Somerset's +fall as an act of God's vengeance for his having caused +Bonner to be deprived of his bishopric of London. +On the 1st September last Bonner had preached at +Paul's Cross against the king's supremacy. Information +of the matter was given to the council, and +Bonner was called upon to answer for his conduct +before Cranmer and the rest of the commissioners. +The informers on this occasion were William Latymer,<pb n="439" /><anchor id="Pg439" /><index index="toc" level1="THE KING ENTERTAINED BY SHERIFF YORK." /> +the parson of the church of St. Laurence Pountney, +and John Hooper, a zealous Protestant, who afterwards +became Bishop of Gloucester. Whilst under +examination before the commissioners Bonner was +confined in the Marshalsea. Hooper in the meantime +was put up by Cranmer to preach at Paul's Cross, +and he took the opportunity thus afforded him of +inveighing strongly against Bonner's conduct. Bonner +failed to satisfy the commissioners, and on the 1st +October was deprived of office and committed to +prison during the king's pleasure. "But marke what +followeth," writes the chronicler of the Grey Friars, +within a week "was proclaymyd the protector a +traytor."<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., pp. 63, 64; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Wriothesley, ii, 24.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The king entertained by Sheriff York, Oct., 1549.</note> + +<p>On the 17th October Edward came from Hampton +Court to Southwark Place, a mansion formerly +belonging to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, when +it was known as Suffolk House. It was now used in +part as a mint, and was occupied by Sheriff York in +his capacity as master of the king's mint. After +dinner the king knighted York in recognition of his +hospitality and his past services, an honour personal +to York and not extended to his colleague in the +shrievalty, Richard Turke. From Southwark Edward +set forth to ride through the city to Westminster, +accompanied by a long cavalcade of nobles and gentlemen, +"the lord mayor bearinge the scepter before his +maiestie and rydinge with garter kinge of armes."<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 28.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Somerset released on parole, 6 Feb., 1550.</note> + +<p>Somerset's confinement in the Tower was not of +long duration. On the 6th February, 1550, the +lieutenant of the Tower received orders to bring his<pb n="440" /><anchor id="Pg440" /> +prisoner "with out greate garde or busyness" to Sheriff +York's house in Walbrook, where the council was +sitting; and on the duke entering into a recognisance +to remain privately either at Shene or Sion, and not +to travel more than four miles from either place, nor +attempt to gain an interview with the young king, he +was allowed to depart.<note place="foot"><p>Acts of Privy Council, ii, 384; Wriothesley, ii, 33.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Warwick and the reformers, 1550.</note> + +<p>With Warwick, who became the ruling spirit of +the council after the fall of Somerset and the abolition +of the protectorate, religion was a matter of supreme +indifference, and for a time it was uncertain whether +he would favour the followers of the old religion or +the advanced reformers. He chose to extend his +patronage to the latter. The day after Somerset's +release from the Tower, Bonner was again brought +from the Marshalsea, where he had been roughly used,<note place="foot"><p>For more than a week he had been compelled to lie on nothing +but straw, his bed having been taken away by order of the knight +marshal for refusing to pay an extortionate fee.—Grey Friars Chron., +p. 65.</p></note> +and the cause of his deprivation reconsidered by the +lords of the council sitting in the Star Chamber, the +result being that the previous sentence by Cranmer +was confirmed and Bonner again relegated to prison. +Bishops were now appointed directly by the king, +who in the following April caused Nicholas Ridley, +bishop of Rochester, to be transferred to London in +Bonner's place; and the see of Westminster,<note place="foot"><p>Thomas Thurlby, the last abbot of Westminster, became the first +and only bishop of the see. Upon the union of the see with that of +London Thurlby became bishop of Norwich. Among the archives of +the city there is a release by him, in his capacity as bishop of Westminster, +and the dean and chapter of the same, to the City of London +of the parish church of St. Nicholas, Shambles. The document is dated +14 March, 1549, and has the seals of the bishopric and of the dean and +chapter, in excellent preservation, appended.</p></note> which<pb n="441" /><anchor id="Pg441" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK." /> +had been created in 1540, was united to London. In +July Hooper was nominated to the see of Gloucester; +but some time elapsed before this rigid reformer could +be induced to overcome his prejudice to episcopal +vestments (which he denounced as the livery of Anti-Christ) +and consent to be consecrated in them.<note place="foot"><p>For objecting to the prescribed vestments, he was committed to +the Fleet by order of the Privy Council, 27 Jan., 1551, and was not +consecrated until the following 8th March.—Hooper to Bullinger, +1 Aug., 1551 ("Original Letters relative to the English Reformation." ed. +for Parker Society, 1846, p. 91).</p></note> As +soon as the ceremony was over he cast them off.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City and the borough of Southwark, 1550.</note> + +<p>For some time past the City had experienced +difficulty in exercising its franchise in the borough of +Southwark. That borough consisted of three manors, +known respectively as the Guildable Manor, the +King's Manor and the Great Liberty Manor.<note place="foot"><p>Their respective boundaries are set out in the Report of Commissioners +on Municipal Corporations (1837), p. 3.</p></note> The +first of these—and only the first—had been granted +to the City by Edward III soon after his accession. +The civic authorities had complained of felons making +good their escape from the city to Southwark, where +they could not be attacked by the officers of the city; +and the king, in answer to the City's request, had made +over to them the town or vill of Southwark.<note place="foot"><p>Charter dated 6 March, 1 Edward III.</p></note> This +grant was afterwards confirmed and amplified by +a charter granted by Edward IV in 1462, whereby +the citizens were allowed to hold a yearly fair in the +borough on three successive days in the month of +September, together with a court of pie-powder, and +with all liberties and customs to such fair appertaining.<note place="foot"><p>Charter dated 9 Nov., 2 Edward IV.</p></note> +In course of time the City claimed the right of holding +a market, as well as the yearly fair, twice a week in<pb n="442" /><anchor id="Pg442" /> +Southwark. This claim now led to difficulties with +the king's bailiff, Sir John Gate. A draft agreement +had been drawn up during Somerset's protectorate in +the hopes of arranging matters,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fos. 239b-241b.</p></note> but apparently without +success.</p> + +<note place="margin">Charter to the City, 23 April, 1550.</note> + +<p>At length the city agreed (29 March, 1550) to make +an offer of 500 marks for the purchase of the rights of +the Crown in Southwark,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 58b.</p></note> and eventually a compromise +was effected. For the sum of £647 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 1<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> +the king conveyed by charter<note place="foot"><p>Dated 23 April, 1550. A fee of £6 "and odde money" was +paid for the enrolment of this charter in the Exchequer.—Repertory 12, +pt. ii, fo. 458. This fee appears to have been paid, notwithstanding +the express terms of the charter that no fee great or small should be +paid or made or by any means given to the hanaper to the king's use. +According to Wriothesley (ii, 36), the "purchase" of Southwark cost the +city 1,000 marks, "so that nowe they shall have all the whole towne of +Southwarke by letters patent as free as they have the City of London, the +Kinges Place [<hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> Southwark Place or Suffolk House] and the two +prison houses of the Kinges Bench and the Marshalsea excepted."</p></note> to the City of London +divers messuages in Southwark, with the exception of +"Southwark Place" and the gardens belonging to it, +formerly the Duke of Suffolk's mansion, and for a +further sum of 500 marks he surrendered all the royal +liberties and franchises which he or his heirs might +have in the borough or town of Southwark. It was +expressly provided that this charter was not to be +prejudicial to Sir John Gate or to his property and +interests. The ancient rent of £10 per annum was +still to be paid, and the citizens were to be allowed +to hold four markets every week in addition to a fair +and court of pie-powder enjoyed since the time of +Edward IV. On the 9th May the lord mayor took +formal possession of the borough of Southwark by +riding through the precinct, after which the Common +Cryer made proclamation with sound of trumpet for<pb n="443" /><anchor id="Pg443" /><index index="toc" level1="THE WARD OF BRIDGE WITHOUT." /> +all vagabonds to leave the city and borough and the +suburbs and liberties of the same.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 38.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The ward of Bridge Without.</note> + +<p>It was originally intended, no doubt, that the +borough should be incorporated for all municipal +purposes with the city, and that the inhabitants of +the borough should be placed on the same footing as +the citizens. This, however, was never carried out. +Notwithstanding the fact that among the ordinances +drawn up (31 July) for the government of the +borough,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 80; Journal 16, fo. 82b.</p></note> there was one which prescribed the same +customary procedure in the election of an alderman +for the new ward of Bridge Without as prevailed in +the city;<note place="foot"><p>The custom in the city was for the inhabitants of a vacant ward +to nominate four persons for the Court of Aldermen to select one. As +there were no means of enforcing the above ordinance it was repealed +by Act of Co. Co., 16 June, 1558.—Letter Book S., fo. 167b.</p></note> the inhabitants of the borough have never +taken any part in the election of an alderman. The +first alderman, Sir John Aylyff, a barber-surgeon, was +"nominated, elected and chosen" by the Court of +Aldermen,<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 71b. The following particulars of Aylyff and +his family are drawn from the city's archives. From Bridge Ward +Without he removed to Dowgate Ward. At the time of his death, in +1556, he was keeper of the clothmarket at Blackwell Hall. His +widow was allowed to take the issues and profits of her late husband's +place for one week, and was forgiven a quarter's rent. Aylyff's son +Erkenwald succeeded him at Blackwell Hall. The son died in 1561. +After his decease he was convicted of having forged a deed. His +widow, Dorothy, married Henry Butler, "gentleman."—Repertory 13, +pt. ii, fos. 442b, 443, 461; Repertory 14, fos. 446b, 477b, 478; +Repertory 16, fo. 6b.</p></note> and was admitted and sworn before the +same body on the 28th May, 1850—that is to say, +some weeks before the ordinances just mentioned +were drawn up.</p> + +<p>The alderman of the ward continued to be +nominated and elected by the Court of Aldermen<pb n="444" /><anchor id="Pg444" /> +until 1711, when, by virtue of an Act of Common +Council, the ward was to be offered to the several aldermen +who had served as mayor, in order of seniority. If +no alderman could be found willing to be translated +from his own ward to that of Bridge Without, the +Court of Common Council was empowered by another +Act passed in 1725 to proceed to the election of an +alderman.</p> + +<p>The ward of Bridge Without has never sent +representatives to the Common Council, inasmuch as +its inhabitants refused to "take up their freedom" +and bear the burdens of citizenship, and there existed no +means for forcing the freedom upon them. In 1835, +however, a petition was presented to the Common +Council by certain inhabitants of Southwark asking +that they might for the future exercise the right of +electing not only an alderman, but common council-men +for the ward, and that the ordinances of 1550 +might be carried out according to their original +intention. The petition was referred to the Committee +for General Purposes, who reported to the +Common Council<note place="foot"><p>Printed Report. Co. Co., 20 May, 1836.</p></note> to the effect that, considering that +the borough of Southwark had never formed part of +the City of London, the charter of Edward VI notwithstanding, +and that the holding of wardmotes in +the borough would materially interfere with the duties +of an ancient officer known as a seneschal or steward +of Southwark, the petition could not be complied with, +except by application to the legislature, and that such +a course would neither be expedient or advisable. +Another petition to the same effect has quite recently<pb n="445" /><anchor id="Pg445" /><index index="toc" level1="UNPOPULARITY OF WARWICK." /> +been presented to the Court of Aldermen; but it was +equally unsuccessful.<note place="foot"><p>See Report Committee of the whole Court for General Purposes, +with Appendix, 31 May, 1892 (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Printed</hi>).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Growing unpopularity of Warwick, 1550-1551.</note> + +<p>Warwick had not long taken the place of +Somerset before he found himself compelled to make +peace with France (29 March, 1550). This he accomplished +only by consenting to surrender Boulogne. +The declaration of peace was celebrated with bonfires +in the city, although the conditions under which +the peace was effected were generally unacceptable +to the nation and brought discredit upon the earl.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 66. The surrender of Boulogne was "sore +lamented of all Englishmen."—Wriothesley, ii, 37.</p></note> +One result of the conclusion of the war was again +to flood the streets of the city with men who openly +declared that they neither could nor would work, +and that unless the king provided them with a +livelihood they would combine to plunder the city, +and once clear with their booty they cared not if +10,000 men were after them. It was in vain that +proclamation was made for all disbanded soldiers to +leave the city. They refused to go, and oftentimes +came into conflict with the city constables. At length +the mayor and aldermen addressed a letter on the +subject to the lords of the council (25 Sept.).<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 12, pt. ii, fo. 271b; Letter Book R, fos. 74, 85b; +Journal 16, fos. 66b, 91b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The debasement of the currency, 1551.</note> + +<p>In the following year the state of the city was +rendered worse by a proposal of Warwick to debase +the currency yet more. As soon as the proposal got +wind up went the price of provisions, in spite of every +effort made by the lords of the council to keep it +down. They sent for the mayor (Sir Andrew Judd) to<pb n="446" /><anchor id="Pg446" /> +attend them at Greenwich on Sunday, the 10th May, +and soundly rated him—or, as the chronicler puts +it, "gave him some sore words"—for allowing such +things to take place. On Thursday, the 28th, the +mayor summoned a Common Council, when the +Recorder repeated to them the king's orders that the +price of wares was not to be raised. The livery +companies were to see to it, and there were to be +no more murmurings.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 115; Journal 16, fo. 118.</p></note></p> + +<p>Warwick himself excited the anger of the city burgesses +by riding through the streets to see if the king's +orders against the enhancement of the price of victuals +were being carried out. Coming one day to a butcher's +in Eastcheap, he asked the price of a sheep. Being +told that it was 13 shillings, he replied that it was too +much and passed on. When another butcher asked +16 shillings he was told to go and be hanged. The +earl's conduct so roused the indignation of the butchers +of the city—a class of men scarcely less powerful than +their brethren the fishmongers—that they made no +secret that the price of meat would be raised still +more if the debasement of the currency was carried +out as proposed.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 48. The price of living became so dear that the +town clerk and the under-sheriffs asked for and obtained from the +Common Council an increase of emoluments.—Letter Book R, fo. 117b.</p></note> Yet, in spite of all remonstrances +and threats, a proclamation went forth that after the +17th August the shilling should be current for six pence +sterling and no more, the groat for two pence, the +penny for a halfpenny, and the halfpenny for a farthing.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 54.</p></note> +The price of every commodity rose 50 per +cent. as a matter of course, and nothing that Warwick<pb n="447" /><anchor id="Pg447" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FALL OF SOMERSET." /> +could do could prevent it. Seeing at last the hopelessness +of attempting to overcome economic laws by +a mere <hi rend="font-style: italic">ipse dixit</hi>, he caused a "contrary proclamasyon" +to be issued, and "sette alle at lyberty agayne, and +every viteler to selle as they wolde and had done +before."<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 72.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Duke of Somerset again arrested, 16 Oct., 1551.</note> + +<p>Warwick's increasing unpopularity raised a hope +in the breast of Somerset of recovering his lost power. +Some rash words he had allowed to escape were +carried to the young king, who took the part of +Warwick against his own uncle, and showed his +appreciation of the earl's services by creating him +Duke of Northumberland (11 Oct.). A few days later +Somerset was seized and again committed to the +Tower.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 56; Grey Friars Chron., p. 71.</p></note> The new duke vaunted himself more than +ever, and as a fresh coinage was on the eve of being +issued, he caused it to be struck with a ragged staff, +the badge of his house, on its face.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., pp. 72, 73.</p></note> Some of the +duke's servants thought to ruffle it as well as their +master, and offered an insult to one of the sheriffs, +attempting to snatch at his chain of office as he +accompanied the mayor to service at St. Paul's on +All Saints' Day, and otherwise creating no little +disturbance in St. Paul's Churchyard. The mayor +waited until service was over, and then took them +into custody.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pp. 71, 72.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Trial and execution of Somerset, 22 Jan., 1552.</note> + +<p>At the time of Somerset's second arrest the +Common Council and the wardens of the several +livery companies were summoned to meet at the +Guildhall to hear why the duke had been sent for the<pb n="448" /><anchor id="Pg448" /> +second time to the Tower, and to receive instructions +for safe-guarding the city. They were informed by the +Recorder that it had been the duke's intention to seize +the Tower and the Isle of Wight, and to "have destroyed +the city of London and the substantiall men +of the same."<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 57.</p></note> This was, of course, an exaggeration, +although there is little doubt that the duke was preparing +to get himself named again Protector by the +next parliament. On the 1st December he was +brought from the Tower by water to Westminster, +the mayor and aldermen having received strict orders +to keep the city well guarded.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 12, pt. ii, fo. 426; Letter Book R, fo. 157b.</p></note> He was arraigned of +treason and felony, but his judges, among whom sat +his enemy Northumberland himself, acquitted him of +the former charge, and those in the hall, thinking he +had been altogether acquitted, raised a shout of joy +that could be heard as far as Charing Cross and Long +Acre. When they discovered that he had been found +guilty of felony and condemned to be executed they +were grievously disappointed. As he landed at the +Crane in the Vintry on his way back to the Tower +that evening, and passed through Candlewick (Cannon) +Street, the people, we are told, cried "'God save him' +all the way as he went, thinkinge that he had clerely +bene quitt, but they were deceyved, but hoopinge +he should have the kinge's pardon."<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 63.</p></note> According to +another chronicler there were mingled cries of joy and +sorrow as he passed through London, some crying for +joy that he was acquitted, whilst others (who were +better informed of the actual state of the case)<pb n="449" /><anchor id="Pg449" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE ROYAL HOSPITALS." /> +lamented his conviction.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iii, 1032.</p></note> His execution took place +on Tower Hill in January of the next year (1552).</p> + +<note place="margin">The City and the Royal Hospitals, 1547-1553.</note> + +<p>In the meanwhile the civic authorities had been +energetically engaged in making regulations for the +hospital of the poor in West Smithfield, better known +as St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which they had recently +acquired, and in grappling with the poverty and sickness +with which they were surrounded. Instead of +trusting to the charity of those attending the parish +churches on Sunday for raising money for the poor, +the Common Council, in September, 1547, resorted to +the less precarious method of levying on every inhabitant +of the city one half of a fifteenth for the maintenance +of the poor of the hospital.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 325b; Letter Book Q, fo. 214b.</p></note> The voluntary +system, however, was not wholly abolished. In the +following April (1548) a brotherhood for the relief of +the poor had been established, to which the mayor (Sir +John Gresham) and most of the aldermen belonged, +each agreeing to subscribe a yearly sum varying from +half a mark to a mark.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 237; Repertory 11, fo. 445b.</p></note> In September governors +were appointed of St. Bartholomew's Hospital—four +aldermen and eight commoners<note place="foot"><p>Journal 15, fo. 384.</p></note>—and in the following +December the Common Council passed an Act for the +payment of 500 marks a year to the hospital, the sum +being levied on the livery companies.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book Q, fo. 261b; Journal 15, fos. 398, 401; Appendix vii +to "Memoranda of the Royal Hospitals," pp. 46-51.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">St. Thomas's Hospital.</note> + +<p>In 1551 the City succeeded in obtaining another +hospital. This was the hospital in Southwark originally +dedicated to Thomas Becket, but whose patron<pb n="450" /><anchor id="Pg450" /> +saint was, after the Reformation, changed to St. +Thomas the Apostle. Negotiations were opened in +February with the lord chancellor for the purchase of +this hospital.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 12, pt. ii., fos. 311, 312b.</p></note> They proceeded so favourably that by +the 12th August the hospital and church and part of +their endowment were conveyed to the City by deed, +whilst the rest of the endowment was transferred by +another deed on the following day.<note place="foot"><p>Both deeds are printed in Supplement to Memoranda relating to +Royal Hospitals, pp. 15-32.</p></note> The purchase-money +amounted to nearly £2,500.</p> + +<note place="margin">Christ's Hospital.</note> + +<p>Having thus cared for the sick and the poor, the +civic authorities next turned their attention to the +conversion of a portion of the ground and buildings +of the dissolved monastery of the Grey Friars into a +hospital for the reception and education of fatherless +and helpless children. In 1552 Sir Richard Dobbs<note place="foot"><p>Son of Robert Dobbs, of Batley, Yorks. Alderman of Tower +Ward. Knighted 8 May, 1552. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi> 1556. Buried in Church of +St. Margaret Moses.—Machyn, pp. 105, 269, 349; Wriothesley, ii, 69.</p></note> +was mayor. He took an active part in the charitable +work that was then being carried on in the city, and +his conduct so won the heart of Ridley that the +bishop wrote from prison shortly before his death +commending him in the highest possible terms:—"O +Dobbs, Dobbs, alderman and knight, thou in thy +year did'st win my heart for evermore, for that +honourable act, that most blessed work of God, +of the erection and setting up of Christ's Holy +Hospitals, and truly religious houses which by thee +and through thee were begun." In July the work +of adapting the old buildings, rather than erecting +new, was commenced, and in a few months the<pb n="451" /><anchor id="Pg451" /><index index="toc" level1="ALDERMAN DOBBS AND CHRIST'S HOSPITAL." /> +premises were sufficiently forward to admit of the +reception of nearly 400 children. The charity was +aided by the king's bestowal of the linen vestures +used in the city prior to the Reformation, and at that +time seized by the commissioners.<note place="foot"><p>Report, Charity Commissioners, No. 32, pt. vi, p. 75; Strype, +Stow's "Survey," bk. i, p. 176.</p></note> Just as the close +of the reign of Henry VIII had witnessed the reopening +of the church of the Grey Friars under the +name of Christchurch, and the celebration of the +mass once more within its walls, so now the close of +his son's short reign witnessed the restoration of their +house and buildings, and their conversion, in the cause +of education and charity, into Christ's Hospital.</p> + +<note place="margin">Bridewell Hospital.</note> + +<p>There was yet another class of inhabitant to +be provided for, namely, those who either could not +or would not work. On behalf of these a deputation<note place="foot"><p>Among the names of those forming the deputation appears that +of Richard Grafton, whose printing house, from which issued "The +Prymer"—one of the earliest books of private devotion printed in +English as well as Latin—was situate within the precinct of the Old +Grey Friars.—Repertory 12, p. ii., fos. 271b, 272b.</p></note> +was appointed by the City to present a petition to +the king that he would be pleased to grant the +disused palace of Bridewell to the municipality for +the purpose of turning it into a workhouse. The +deputation was introduced by Ridley, who himself +wrote in May of this year (1552) to secretary Cecil +on the same subject.<note place="foot"><p>Strype, Stow's "Survey," bk. i, p. 176.</p></note> The efforts of the bishop and +the deputation were rewarded with success. In the +following spring (1553) the king not only consented +to convey the palace to the municipal body, but +further gave 700 marks and all the beds and bedding +of his palace of the Savoy for the maintenance of<pb n="452" /><anchor id="Pg452" /> +the workhouse.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, 83; Repertory 13, fo. 60.</p></note> The City having thus become +possessed of the several hospitals of St. Bartholomew, +St. Thomas, Christ's and Bridewell, the king, a few +days before his death, granted the mayor, aldermen +and commonalty a charter of incorporation as +governors of these Royal Hospitals in the city.<note place="foot"><p>Charter dated 26 June, 1553.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="453" /><anchor id="Pg453" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XVI.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="NORTHUMBERLAND'S CONSPIRACY, 1553." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Northumberland's conspiracy, 1553.</note> + +<p>The death of Edward VI took place on the 6th +July, 1553, although it was not generally known until +two days afterwards. By his father's will the Princess +Mary became heiress to the throne. Northumberland +was aware of this. He was equally aware that if +Mary succeeded to her brother's crown matters might +go hard with him. He therefore persuaded Edward +to follow the precedent set by his father and re-settle +the succession to the crown by will. He succeeded +moreover in getting the late king to name as his successor +the Lady Jane Grey, grand-daughter of Mary +Duchess of Suffolk, the younger sister of Henry VIII, +and he took the further precaution of marrying her to +his own son, Lord Guildford Dudley. It was in vain +that the judges and law officers of the Crown pointed +out that the Act of Parliament which authorised +Henry to dispose of the crown by will, in the case of +his children dying without heirs, did not apply to +Edward. Councillors and judges, and even Cranmer +himself, were forced to signify their assent by subscribing +to the will, which was dated (21 June) a +fortnight only before Edward's death.</p> + +<p>Northumberland well knew the advantage to be +got by securing the co-operation of the city in prosecuting +his scheme, so he persuaded the mayor (Sir George +Barnes), a number of aldermen (including Sir John +Gresham, Sir Andrew Judd, Thomas Offley and Sir<pb n="454" /><anchor id="Pg454" /> +Richard Dobbs), and several of the leading merchants +of the city to append their signatures to the will.<note place="foot"><p>"Letters Patent for the limitation of the Crown," sometimes +called the "counterfeit will" of King Edward VI.—Chron. of Q. Jane +and Q. Mary (Camd. Soc., No. 48), pp. 91-100.</p></note> +The king had been already dead two days before +Northumberland sent for them to Greenwich and +acquainted them of the fact, exhorting them at the +same time to sign the document.<note place="foot"><p>Richard Hilles to Henry Bullinger, 9 July, 1553.—"Original +letters relative to the English Reformation" (Parker Soc.), pp. 272-274.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen, 10 July, 1553.</note> + +<p>On the 10th July the Lady Jane was brought from +Richmond and lodged in the Tower, and that same +evening was proclaimed queen at the Cross in Chepe. +The mayor took no part in the ceremony, and only +one of the sheriffs (William Gerard or Garrard) +attended the heralds. If Northumberland thought +that the citizens would favour Lady Jane merely +because she was a Protestant he was mistaken. The +proclamation was received with undisguised coldness, +and "few or none said God save her."<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., pp. 78, 79.</p></note> Nor was it +better received by the country at large. The eastern +counties rose and in a few days Mary was at the +head of 30,000 men. No time was to be lost, and +Northumberland at once set out from London to +meet her. As he passed through the city he noticed +that none wished him "God speed."</p> + +<note place="margin">Queen Mary proclaimed, 19 July.</note> + +<p>No sooner was his back turned than the lords +of the council, seeing how matters were going, and +eager to throw off the yoke which the duke had +placed on their necks, determined upon proclaiming +Mary queen. It was necessary, however, that the +City should first be informed of their intention, and<pb n="455" /><anchor id="Pg455" /><index index="toc" level1="MARY PROCLAIMED QUEEN IN THE CITY." /> +that, too, without creating too much attention. One +of their number therefore took the opportunity of +the mayor riding abroad on Wednesday, the 19th +July, to accost him privately and bid him and the +sheriffs, and such of the aldermen as he could +get together at short notice, to meet the lords +of the council within an hour at the Earl of +Pembroke's place at Castle Baynard. The mayor +hurried back, sent for the Recorder and some of the +aldermen, and with them proceeded to the place +appointed, where they found the council assembled. +They were informed of the intention of the lords, and +the mayor was bidden to accompany them to Cheapside +for the purpose of proclaiming Queen Mary. +Their object soon got wind; a crowd followed them +to Cheapside, and when the proclamation was made +there was such a throwing up of caps and such cries +of "God save Queen Mary" that nothing else could be +heard. The civic authorities, as well as the lords of +the council, thereupon proceeded to St. Paul's to hear +a <hi rend="font-style: italic">Te Deum</hi>; after which the lords withdrew from the +city, leaving orders, however, for Queen Mary to be +proclaimed in other parts of the city according to +custom. The next day (20 July) they returned and +dined with the mayor, sitting in council, after dinner, +until four o'clock in the afternoon, whilst the church +bells rang all day long.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 88-90.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Northumberland sent to the Tower, 25 July.</note> + +<p>As soon as Northumberland heard of the turn +affairs had taken, he caused Mary to be proclaimed +at Cambridge, where he happened to be quartered, +"castinge up his capp after as if he had bene joyfull +of it." His simulated enthusiasm, however, availed<pb n="456" /><anchor id="Pg456" /> +him nothing, and orders were issued for his arrest. +Special precautions were taken to avoid disturbance +on the day (25 July) that he passed through the city +on his way to the Tower, every householder in the +several wards through which he and his fellow +prisoners were to pass being instructed to hold himself +in readiness within doors with a clean halberd, and a +bill or "pollox" for such service as the alderman +might appoint.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 262b; Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 68.</p></note> No disturbance took place, the +populace contenting itself with cursing the duke and +calling him traitor, and making him take off his hat as +he passed through Bishopsgate and continue his +journey bareheaded.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 90, 91; Grey Friars Chron., p. 81.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Queen Mary enters the city. 3 Aug.</note> + +<p>On the evening of the 3rd August Queen Mary +made her first entry into the city, accompanied by +her sister Elizabeth. She had come from Newhall, +in Essex, where a few days before she had been +presented with the sum of £500 in gold by a +deputation of the Court of Aldermen accompanied by +the Recorder.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 69.</p></note> On the 2nd August it was decided +that the lord mayor and his brethren should ride out +the next afternoon to meet her majesty at the Bars +without Aldgate, and taking their places appointed by +the herald-of-arms, should accompany the royal procession.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 70b.</p></note> +The reception which the new queen met +with in the city must have been gratifying. The +mayor, on approaching her, handed to her the civic +sword, which was given to the Earl of Arundel to +carry before her. The mayor himself bore the mace. +By express permission of the Court of Aldermen a<pb n="457" /><anchor id="Pg457" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MASS RESTORED." /> +number of Florentine and other merchant strangers +were allowed to attend on horseback, and to erect a +pageant at Leadenhall.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 69b.</p></note> The whole length of the +streets through which the queen had to pass on her +way to the Tower had been lavishly decorated, and +was lined with members of the various civic companies +in their livery gowns. Nothing was omitted that +could please the eye or ear.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, 93-95.</p></note></p> + +<p>A touching scene took place as Mary was about +to enter the Tower. The widow of the Duke of +Somerset, to whose policy as protector Mary had +offered a steady opposition, met the queen at the +Tower gate, and in company with the Duke of +Norfolk, Stephen Gardiner and others, who had been +confined in the Tower in the late reign, knelt down +and saluted her. Mary, in a charitable mood, kissed +each of them, claimed them as her own prisoners, and +shortly afterwards granted them their liberty.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, p. 14; Wriothesley, ii, 95.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Mary releases the bishops and restores the mass.</note> + +<p>A week later (10 Aug.) the remains of the late +king were carried from Whitehall to Westminster and +laid in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, the service +being conducted wholly in English, the communion +taking the place of the mass, and the priests being +vested in a surplice only, in accordance with the provisions +of the Book of Common Prayer. For a short +time after Mary's accession it was thought that she +would be content if the Church were restored to the +position it was in at the time when Henry VIII died. +It was not long before the new queen shewed this +opinion to be erroneous. The Prayer Book of King<pb n="458" /><anchor id="Pg458" /> +Edward VI was set aside, the high altars that had +been removed were restored, and mass was restored. +Ridley was sent to the Tower and Bonner brought out +from the Marshalsea and reinstated in the bishophric +of London. Gardiner, who had been deprived of his +see of Winchester and kept prisoner in the Tower, not +only recovered his freedom and his see, but was made +the queen's chancellor. On the other hand, Cranmer +and "Mr. Latimer" were sent to the Tower.</p> + +<note place="margin">Disturbances in the city.</note> + +<p>The change that was being wrought caused some +little disturbance in the city. When Doctor Bourne, +who had been put up by the queen to preach at +Paul's Cross one Sunday in August, began to pray for +the dead, and to refer to Bonner's late imprisonment, +one of his hearers threw a knife at him whilst others +called the preacher a liar. The queen was so angry +at this that she sent for the mayor and aldermen and +told them plainly that she would deprive the city +of its liberties if they could not better preserve peace +and good order within its walls.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 83; Wriothesley, ii, 96-98.</p></note></p> + +<p>A few days later she issued a proclamation in +which, whilst making no secret of her wish that +everyone would conform to the religion "which all +men knew she had of long tyme observed, and ment, +God willing, to contynue the same," she deprecated +men calling each other heretic or papist, but willed +that everyone should follow the religion he thought +best until further orders were taken.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, p. 24.</p></note> The mayor in +the meantime had also issued his precept against any +sermon or lecture being read other than the Divine<pb n="459" /><anchor id="Pg459" /><index index="toc" level1="CORONATION OF QUEEN MARY." /> +Service appointed until the queen's further pleasure +should be made known.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book R, fo. 270; Journal 16, fo. 261b.</p></note></p> + +<p>Lest any disturbance should arise on the following +Sunday (20 Aug.), when Bishop Gardiner's chaplain +was to preach at Paul's Cross, the queen sent the +captain of the guard with 200 men, who surrounded +the pulpit, halberd in hand. The mayor, too, had +ordered the livery companies to be present "to +herken yf any leude or sedicious persons made any +rumors"—a precaution which much pleased the +queen.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 99, 100; Holinshed, iv, 3.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Election of Thomas White mayor, 29 Sept., 1553.</note> + +<p>When Michaelmas-day (the day on which the +election of the new mayor for the ensuing year was +to take place) came round, the choice of the citizens +fell upon Sir Thomas White.<note place="foot"><p>Citizen and Merchant Taylor. Son of William White, of Reading, +and formerly of Rickmansworth. Founder of St. John's College, +Oxford, and principal benefactor of Merchant Taylors' School. Alderman +of Cornhill Ward; when first elected alderman he declined to +accept office and was committed to Newgate for contumacy (Letter +Book Q, fo. 109b; Repertory 11, fo. 80b). Sheriff 1547. Knighted +at Whitehall 10 Dec., 1553 (Wriothesley, ii, 105). His first wife, Avice +(surname unknown), died 26 Feb., 1588, and was buried in the church +of St. Mary Aldermary. He afterwards married Joan, daughter of +John Lake and widow of Sir Ralph Warren, twice Mayor of London. +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi> 11 Feb., 1566, at Oxford, aged 72.—Clode, "Early Hist. Guild of +Merchant Taylors," pt. ii, chaps. x-xii; Machyn's Diary, pp. 167, +330, 363.</p></note> In accordance with +the new order of things, the election was preceded by +the celebration of mass in the Guildhall Chapel as +of old.</p> + +<note place="margin">The queen's coronation, 1 Oct.</note> + +<p>The day after the election of the new mayor +the queen passed through the city from the Tower +to Whitehall for her coronation. The streets presented +their usual gay appearance on this occasion, +and the queen was made the recipient of the<pb n="460" /><anchor id="Pg460" /> +"accustomed" gift of 1,000 marks on behalf of the +city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 261; Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 74b.</p></note> On the day of the coronation (1 Oct.) the +daily service at St. Paul's had to be suspended +because all the priests not under censure for Protestantism +or for having married were summoned to +assist at Westminster.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 84.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Mary's first parliament, Oct.-Nov., 1553.</note> + +<p>When Mary appeared before her first parliament<note place="foot"><p>Met in October, 1553. The names of the city's representatives +are not recorded. The Court of Aldermen, according to a custom then +prevalent, authorized the city chamberlain to make a gift of £6 13<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> +to Sir John Pollard, the Speaker, "for his lawfull favor to be borne +and shewed in the parlyment howse towardes this cytie and theyre +affayres theire."—Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 92.</p></note> +she found her subjects in many points opposed to her. +They were willing to restore the worship and practice +of the Church as they existed before the death of +Henry VIII, but they showed a determination neither +to submit to Rome nor to restore to the Church the +property of which it had been deprived. They knew, +moreover, of her anxious wish to marry Philip, son of +the emperor Charles V, and yet did not hesitate to +present to her a petition against a foreign marriage. +It was a bold step for parliament to take in those +days, and showed that it was determined to win back +its ancient rights and no longer to be the tool of the +crown. Mary was not one likely to yield in a matter +on which she had once set her heart. Rather than +take its advice she dissolved parliament. The result +was an insurrection.</p> + +<note place="margin">Trial at the Guildhall of Lady Jane Grey, Cranmer and others, Nov., 1553.</note> + +<p>In the meanwhile the aged Cranmer and the +youthful Lady Jane Grey—she "that wolde a been +qwene"—her husband and two of her husband's +brothers had been brought to trial at the Guildhall<pb n="461" /><anchor id="Pg461" /><index index="toc" level1="WYATT'S REBELLION." /> +(13 Nov). The axe was borne before them on their +way from the Tower, as if in anticipation of the +verdict. The Lady Jane is described as clad in a black +gown, with velvet cap and black hood, having a black +velvet book hanging at her girdle, whilst she carried +another in her hand.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 85; Wriothesley, ii, 104; Chron. Q. Jane +and Q. Mary, p. 32. There is preserved in the British Museum a small +manual of prayers believed to have been used by Lady Jane Grey on +the scaffold. The tiny volume (Harl. MS., 2342) measures only +3-1/2 inches by 2-3/4 inches, and contains on the margin lines addressed to +Sir John Gage, lieutenant of the Tower, and to her father, the Duke +of Suffolk.</p></note> Each of the accused pleaded +guilty, and sentence of death was passed; its execution +was, however, delayed owing to the outbreak known +as Wyatt's Rebellion.</p> + +<note place="margin">Outbreak of Wyatt's Rebellion. Jan., 1554.</note> + +<p>The ostensible cause of the rebellion was the +queen's determination at all hazards to marry Philip, +whose ambassadors arrived at the opening of the new +year (1554). The civic authorities had been warned +to treat them handsomely, a warning which was +scarcely necessary, for the citizens have never allowed +political differences to interfere with their hospitality; +and accordingly one of the ambassadors was lodged +at Durham Place, near Charing Cross, another at the +Duke of Suffolk's house hard by, whilst a third +shared apartments with the chancellor "Nigro" +(Philip Negri) in Sir Richard Sackville's house at +the conduit in Fleet Street. To each and all of +the guests the City sent presents of wax, torches, +flour and every kind of meat, game and poultry.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 283.</p></note> +Formal announcement of the intended match was +made by the chancellor on the 14th January, but +it was received with every sign of discontent and +misgiving, "yea and therat allmost eche man was<pb n="462" /><anchor id="Pg462" /> +abashed, loking daylie for worse mattiers to growe +shortly after."<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, 35.</p></note> The following day (15 Jan.)—the +day on which the rebellion under Wyatt broke +out in Kent, to be followed by risings in Devonshire +and Norfolk—the mayor and aldermen were summoned +to court and ordered to bring with them forty +of the chief commoners of the city, when the lord +chancellor informed them of the queen's intention, +and exhorted them as obedient subjects to accept her +grace's pleasure and to remain content and quiet. He +warned them, at the same time, to see that the +queen's wishes respecting religious services in the city +were strictly carried out, on pain of incurring her high +indignation.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 106.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city put into a state of defence.</note> + +<p>Steps were taken for putting the city into a proper +state of defence. The civic companies were ordered +to set watches as on similar critical occasions, and +no gunpowder, weapons or other munitions of war +were allowed to be sent out of the city. Chains were +set up at the bridge-foot and at the corner of New +Fish Street. The borough of Southwark was called +upon to provide eighty tall and able men, well +harnessed and weaponed, for the safeguard of the +queen's person and of the city,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fos. 116, 116b, 117, 117b, 119-122b.</p></note> whilst the livery +companies at a few hours' notice furnished a force of +500 men to be speedily despatched by water to +Gravesend.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 107.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The queen's speech at the Guildhall, 1 Feb., 1554.</note> + +<p>Whatever faults Queen Mary had, she was by no +means deficient in courage. On the same day (1 Feb.) +that Wyatt appeared with his forces at Southwark,<pb n="463" /><anchor id="Pg463" /><index index="toc" level1="QUEEN MARY AT THE GUILDHALL." /> +she came to the Guildhall<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 121.</p></note> and there addressed a +spirited harangue to the assembled citizens.<note place="foot"><p>Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," vi, 414-415; Holinshed, iv, 16.</p></note> She +plainly told them that her proposed marriage was but +a Spanish cloak to cover the real purpose of the +rebellion, which was aimed against her religion. She +was their queen, and they had sworn allegiance to +her; they surely would not allow her to fall into the +hands of so vile a traitor as Wyatt was. As for her +marriage, it had been arranged with the full knowledge +of the lords of the council, as one of expediency for +the realm. Passion had no part in the matter. She had +hitherto, she thanked God, lived a virgin, and doubted +not she could, if necessary, live so still. At the close +of her speech, which, we are told, was delivered in +a loud voice so that all might hear, she bade the +citizens to pluck up heart and not to fear the rebels +any more than she did. She then quitted the hall +and went up into the aldermen's council chamber and +there refreshed herself, after which she rode through +Bucklersbury to the Vintry, where she took barge to +Westminster.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the Spanish ambassadors had +taken fright at Wyatt's approach and had "sped +themselves awaie by water, and that with all hast."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iv, 15.</p></note> +Many inhabitants of the city had also deserted their +fellow burgesses at this critical time, and their names +were submitted to the Court of Aldermen for subsequent +enquiry.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 124.</p></note> They were, according to Foxe, +afraid of being entrapped by the queen and perhaps +put to death.</p> + +<pb n="464" /><anchor id="Pg464" /> + +<note place="margin">A force of 1,000 men raised in the city.</note> + +<p>In response to the queen's speech the citizens at +once set to work to raise a force of 1,000 men for the +defence of the city, the mayor and aldermen each in +his own ward taking a muster. So busy was everyone +on Candlemas-day (2 Feb.) that the civic +authorities omitted to attend the afternoon service at +St. Paul's, and the mayor's serving-men waited upon +him at dinner ready harnessed.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, iii, 109.</p></note> Even the lawyers +at Westminster "pleaded in harness."<note place="foot"><p>Stow.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Wyatt and his followers before Ludgate.</note> + +<note place="margin">Wyatt made prisoner and lodged in the Tower.</note> + +<p>The defensive precautions taken by the mayor +and aldermen were sufficient to prevent Wyatt making +good his entry into the city by Southwark and London +Bridge. Foiled in this direction he sought to approach +the city from another side, but had to march as far as +Kingston before he could cross the Thames. Many +of his followers in the meantime deserted him.<note place="foot"><p>Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," vi, 415.</p></note> +Nevertheless he continued to make his way, with +but little opposition, to Ludgate, which, contrary to +his expectation, he found shut in his face. He had +been recognised by a tailor of Watling Street, who +seeing the force approaching cried, "I know that theys +be Wyettes ancienttes," and forthwith closed the +gate.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 87.</p></note> That Wyatt had supporters in the city may be +gathered from the half-hearted opposition that he met +with in Southwark, as well as from the fact that many +of the soldiers raised in the city and neighbourhood +deserted to Wyatt at the outset of the rebellion.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, p. 43; Wriothesley, iii, 107, 108.</p></note> +Wyatt himself exhibited no little disappointment +at finding Ludgate closed against him instead of the<pb n="465" /><anchor id="Pg465" /><index index="toc" level1="SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION." /> +aid which he evidently had expected. "I have kept +touch" said he, as he turned his back on the city.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 87.</p></note> +He had scarcely reached Temple Bar before he was +overcome by a superior force and yielded himself a +prisoner. After a short stay at Whitehall he was +removed to the Tower.</p> + +<note place="margin">Execution of Lady Jane Grey, Wyatt and others.</note> + +<p>The failure of the revolt was fatal to Lady +Jane Grey, and she was beheaded within the Tower +(12 Feb.) almost at the same time that her husband +was being executed outside on Tower Hill. By the +strange irony of fortune, it fell to the lot of Thomas +Offley to perform the duties of sheriff at Dudley's +execution, although he had himself been one of the +supporters of the Lady Jane in her claim to the crown. +For the next few days the city presented a sad +spectacle; whichever way one turned there was to be +seen a gibbet with its wretched burden, whilst the +city's gates bristled with human heads.<note place="foot"><p>Machyn, 45. The gibbets remained standing till the following +June, when they were taken down in anticipation of Philip's public +entry into London.—Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, 76.</p></note> Wyatt himself +was one of the last to suffer, being brought to the +block on Tower Hill on the 11th April. His head +and a portion of his body, after being exposed on +gallows, were taken away by his friends for decent +burial.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 89.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Measures for preserving the peace.</note> + +<p>On the 17th February proclamation was made +for all strangers to leave the realm, on the ground +that they sowed the seeds of their "malycyouse +doctryne and lewde conversacioun" among the queen's +good subjects;<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 283; Letter Book R, fo. 288.</p></note> and this had been followed in the city<pb n="466" /><anchor id="Pg466" /> +by precepts to each alderman to call before him all +the householders of his ward, both rich and poor, on +Wednesday the 7th March, at six o'clock in the morning, +and strictly charge them that they, their wives, +their children and servants behave themselves in all +things and more especially in matters of religion, +following the example of the queen herself. All +offenders were to be reported forthwith.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 131.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The lord mayor before the Star Chamber.</note> + +<p>A report having got abroad in the city that the +lords of the council had endeavoured to extract a +confession from Wyatt implicating the Princess Elizabeth +in the late rebellion, the mayor was ordered +by Bishop Gardiner to bring up the originator of the +rumour before the Star Chamber. When Sir Thomas +White appeared with the culprit, one Richard Cut by +name, a servant to a grocer in the city, he was soundly +rated by Gardiner for not having himself punished the +offender, and when he replied that the party was +there present for the Star Chamber to deal with +according to its pleasure, was again rebuked:—"My +lord, take heed to your charge, the Citie of London +is a whirlepoole and a sinke of evill rumors, there +they be bred, and from thence spred into all parts +of the realme."<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iv, 26.</p></note> Cut paid the penalty for his love +of gossip by being made to stand two days in the +pillory and by the loss of his ears.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 153; Letter Book R, fo. 293.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Demand of money from the city, 1554.</note> + +<p>The suppression of the revolt left Mary at liberty +to carry out her matrimonial design. But before +accomplishing this she was determined to place such +a garrison in or near London as should prevent similar<pb n="467" /><anchor id="Pg467" /><index index="toc" level1="MEN AND MONEY DEMANDED OF THE CITY." /> +outbreaks in future. For this purpose she applied to +the citizens for a sum of 6,000 marks. Thus called +upon to supply a rod for their own backs, the citizens +demurred. They at first proposed to offer the sum of +1,000 marks, or at the most £1,000; they afterwards +agreed to contribute double the first mentioned sum,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 130; Journal 16, fo. 284b.</p></note> +and this was accepted. The money was raised by +contributions from the different livery companies, the +Merchant Taylors, the Mercers, the Grocers, the +Drapers, the Fishmongers, the Goldsmiths, and the +Haberdashers being called upon to subscribe the sum +of £100 respectively, whilst the rest of the companies +paid sums varying from £80 to forty shillings.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 138b.</p></note> No +sooner had the citizens satisfied the queen in this +respect than they were called upon to send 200 +soldiers to Gillingham, in Kent, there to be embarked +for foreign service under the Lord Admiral. The City +again demurred, and asked to be excused the necessity +of forwarding the men beyond Billingsgate or the +Tower Wharf and also of providing them with +accoutrements. It was to no purpose, both men and +accoutrements had to be found.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 142b, 146b.</p></note> On the 10th April +the chamberlain received orders to see that the city's +artillery was in readiness and to increase the store of +gunpowder.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 147.</p></note> Wyatt was to be executed the next +day, and these orders were probably given in anticipation +of a disturbance.</p> + +<note place="margin">Trial at the Guildhall of Nicholas Throckmorton, 17 April.</note> + +<p>That Wyatt still had friends in the city is shown +by the bold attitude taken up by the jury in the +trial (17 April) of one of his accomplices, Nicholas +Throckmorton, against whom they brought in a<pb n="468" /><anchor id="Pg468" /> +verdict of not guilty.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 115.</p></note> For this they were bound +over to appear before the Star Chamber. Four of the +twelve made submission; the rest, among whom were +Thomas Whetstone, a haberdasher, and Emanuel +Lucar, a merchant tailor, were committed some to +the Tower and the rest to the Fleet, where they +remained for six months. In the meantime the +Court of Aldermen wrote (19 July) to the council in +their favour, but with little success.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 186b.</p></note> A month later +(19 August) a deputation waited on the Court of +Aldermen for advice as to what future steps had +best be taken for obtaining the release of their +brethren in the Fleet, when they were told that the +wives of the prisoners or the prisoners' friends should +first make suit to the council for their release, after +which the court would see what they could do.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 190b.</p></note> At +length the prisoners were summoned once more +(26 Oct.) before the Star Chamber, when they one +and all declared that they had only acted in accordance +with their conscience, whilst Lucar, more outspoken +than the rest, asserted that "they had done in the +matter like honest men and true and faithful subjects." +Such plain speaking ill suited the judges, who thereupon +condemned the offenders to a fine of 1,000 +marks apiece and imprisonment until further order. +Eventually five out of the eight were discharged +(12 December) on payment of a fine of £220, and ten +days later the rest regained their liberty on payment +of £60 apiece.<note place="foot"><p>Howell's "State Trials," i, 901, 902; Chron. of Q. Jane and +Q. Mary, p. 75.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="469" /><anchor id="Pg469" /><index index="toc" level1="THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE." /> + +<note place="margin">The queen's marriage, July, 1554.</note> + +<p>A parliament which met in April (1554)<note place="foot"><p>It sat from 2 April until 5 May.—Wriothesley, ii, 114, 115. The +city returned the same members that had served in the last parliament +of Edward VI, namely, Martin Bowes, Broke the Recorder, John Marsh +and John Blundell.</p></note> gave its +consent to Mary's marriage with Philip, but refused +to re-enact the old statutes for the persecution of +heretics. On the 19th July Philip landed at Southampton, +and on the 21st Mary herself notified +the event to the citizens of London,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 295b.</p></note> who for +some time past had been making preparations for +giving both queen and king a fitting reception, and +who immediately on receipt of the news of Philip's +landing caused bonfires to be lighted in the streets.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fos. 165, 166, 166b, 170.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The passage of the king and queen through the city, 19 Aug.</note> + +<p>Mary rode down to Winchester to meet Philip,<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, p. 77.</p></note> +and on the 25th became his wife. It was not until +the 17th August that the royal pair approached +the city. On that day they came by water from Richmond +to Southwark, the king in one barge, the queen +in another. After taking refreshment at the Bishop +of Winchester's palace, and killing a buck or two in +the bishop's park, they retired to rest.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 78.</p></note> Special +orders were given to the aldermen to keep a good +and substantial double watch in the city from nine +o'clock in the evening (17 Aug.) until five o'clock the +next morning, such watch to continue until further +notice.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 263.</p></note> The authorities differ widely as to the +precise day on which the royal party passed through +the city. The city's own records point to the afternoon +of Sunday the 19th August as the day. On the +morning of that day the Court of Aldermen sat, and<pb n="470" /><anchor id="Pg470" /> +a letter from the queen commending them for their +forwardness in "making shewes of honour and gladnes" +for the occasion was read to the wardens of all +the companies for them to communicate to the +members. The wardens were further enjoined to +give strict orders to the members of their several +companies to honestly use and entreat the Spaniards +in all things, both at their coming in with the king +and queen and ever afterwards. The same morning +a speech which the Recorder had prepared for the +occasion in English was handed over to the master of +St. Paul's School to be turned into Latin. None too +much time was allowed the worthy pedagogue for +the purpose, for he was to give it back that same +afternoon so that the Recorder might "make and +pronounce yt to the kinges majesty at his comynge +in."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 191. A full account of the pageants, etc., +will be found in John Elder's letter.—Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, +Appendix <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">X</hi>.</p></note></p> + +<p>A curious incident is related in connection with +the royal procession through the city. The conduit +in Gracious Church Street, which had been newly +painted and gilded, bore representations of the "nine +worthies," and among them Henry the Eighth and +Edward the Sixth. Instead of carrying a sword or +mace like the rest, Henry had been portrayed with a +sceptre in one hand and a book bearing the inscription +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Verbum Dei</hi> in the other. This catching the eye of +Bishop Gardiner as he passed in the royal train, he +was very wroth and sent for the painter, asked him +by whose orders he had so depicted the king, called +him "traitor" and threatened him with the Fleet<pb n="471" /><anchor id="Pg471" /><index index="toc" level1="RECONCILIATION WITH THE POPE." /> +prison. The poor painter, who for the first time had +been made to realise the change that was taking +place, pleaded that what he had done had been done +in all innocence, and hastened to rectify his mistake +by removing the bible from the picture and substituting +in its place a pair of gloves.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, pp. 78-79.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The reconciliation with Rome, 1554.</note> + +<p>In November (1554) a new parliament<note place="foot"><p>Martin Bowes, of the old members, alone continued to sit for the +city, the places of the other members being taken by Ralph Cholmeley, +who had succeeded Broke as Recorder; Richard Grafton, the printer; +and Richard Burnell.</p></note> was +called, which proved more ready than the last to +comply with the queen's wishes. It re-enacted the +statutes for burning heretics and agreed to a reconciliation +of the Church of England with the See +of Rome, but it refused to sanction the surrender +of Church lands. Bonner had already taken steps +to purge his diocese of heresy by issuing a series +of articles (14 Sept.) to which every inhabitant, +clerical and lay, was expected to conform.<note place="foot"><p>Chron. of Q. Jane and Q. Mary, 82; Wriothesley, 122.</p></note> That +there was room for improvement in matters touching +religion and public decorum there is no doubt, otherwise +there would have been no need of proclamations +such as those against the arrest of persons whilst +conducting service in church,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, part i, fo. 111b.</p></note> against wrangling over +passages of scripture in common taverns and victualling +houses,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 193.</p></note> or against carrying of baskets of +provisions and leading mules, horses or other beasts +through St. Paul's.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 300. Bishop Braybroke, nearly two centuries +before, had done all he could to put down marketing within the sacred +precincts, and to render "Paul's Walk"—as the great nave of the +cathedral was called—less a scene of barter and frivolity.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="472" /><anchor id="Pg472" /> + +<p>The mayor and aldermen endeavoured to set a +good example by constant attendance at the services +and by joining in processions at St. Paul's as in former +days.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 251b.</p></note> The law forbidding the eating of meat in +Lent, except by special licence, was vigorously enforced.<note place="foot"><p>In 1558, a man convicted of breaking this law was ordered to +ride through the public market places of the city, his face towards the +horse's tail, with a piece of beef hanging before and behind him, and a +paper on his head setting forth his offence.—Repertory 13, fo. 12b.</p></note> +Ale-houses and taverns were closed on +Sundays and holy days, and interludes were forbidden.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 193; Letter Book S, fo. 119b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Opposition to the reestablishment of the old religion.</note> + +<p>Nevertheless the attempt to restore the old +worship within the city was often met with scornful +mockery, sometimes attended with violence. A dead +cat, for instance, was one day found hanging in +Cheapside, its head shorn in imitation of a priest's +tonsure, and its body clothed in a mock ecclesiastical +vestment, with cross before and behind, whilst a piece +of white paper to represent a singing-cake was placed +between its forefeet, which had been tied together. +Bonner was very angry at this travesty of religion, +and caused the effigy to be publicly displayed at +Paul's Cross during sermon time. A reward of twenty +marks was offered for the discovery of this atrocious +act, but with what success we do not know.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 285b; Letter Book R, fo. 290b; Repertory 13, +pt. i, fo. 147; Wriothesley, ii, 114.</p></note></p> + +<p>On another occasion, when the Holy Sacrament +was being carried in solemn procession through +Smithfield on Corpus Christi-day (24 May), an attempt +was made to knock the holy elements out of the +hands of the priest. The offender was taken to<pb n="473" /><anchor id="Pg473" /><index index="toc" level1="THE MARIAN PERSECUTION." /> +Newgate, where he feigned to be mad.<note place="foot"><p>Grey Friars Chron., p. 89.</p></note> Again, on the +following Easter-day a priest was fiercely attacked +by a man with a wood-knife whilst administering the +sacrament in the church of St. Margaret, Westminster. +The culprit was seized, and after trial and conviction +paid the penalty of his crime by being burned at the +stake.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 95.</p></note> A pudding was once offered to a priest whilst +walking in a religious procession,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">ibid.</hi></p></note> the offender being +afterwards whipt at the "Post of Reformation," which +had been set up in Cheapside in 1553.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 78n.</p></note> But all this +defiance shown to Mary's attempt to restore the old +worship only led her to exercise more drastic methods +for accomplishing her purpose.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Marian persecution, 1555.</note> + +<p>By the opening of 1555 her own strong personal +will had overcome the conciliatory policy of her +husband, who was content to restrain his fanaticism +within the limits of expediency, and the Marian +persecution commenced. On the 25th January a +proclamation was issued in the name of the king and +queen, and bearing the signature of William Blackwell, +the town clerk of the city, enjoining the lighting of +bonfires that afternoon in various places in token of +great joy and gladness for the abolition of sundry +great sins, errors and heresies which lately had arisen +within the realm of England, and for the quiet renovation +and restitution of the true Catholic faith of Christ +and his holy religion.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 16, fo. 321b.</p></note> This proclamation was but a +prelude to other fires lighted for a very different +purpose, which the mind even at this day cannot +contemplate without a shudder. The first victim of +the flames for conscience sake was John Rogers, once<pb n="474" /><anchor id="Pg474" /> +vicar of St. Sepulchre's church and prebendary of St. +Paul's. He was burnt in Smithfield "for gret herysy" +in February of this year, in which month Hooper, +who had been deprived of his bishopric of Gloucester, +suffered the same fate in his own cathedral city.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 126; Grey Friars Chron., p. 94.</p></note> +In the following May another city vicar, John Cardmaker, +otherwise known as John Taylor of St. Bride's, +who had been a reader at St. Paul's and had publicly +lectured against the real presence, was burnt in Smithfield +with John Warne, an "upholder" of Walbrook.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 126n; Grey Friars Chron., pp. 56, 57, 95.</p></note></p> + +<p>Few weeks passed without the fire claiming some +human victim either in London or the provinces. +On the 9th February Thomas Tomkins, a godly and +charitable weaver of Shoreditch, and William Hunter, +a young London apprentice, were with four others +condemned to the stake. The two named met their +fate in Smithfield, one on the 16th March and the +other on the 26th. The rest were removed into +Essex and there consigned to the flames, three of +them in March and one in the following June.<note place="foot"><p>Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," vi, 717, 737, 740, vii, 114, 115.</p></note></p> + +<p>In October Bishops Latimer and Ridley were +burnt at Oxford. "Be of good comfort, Master +Ridley, and play the man"—cried Latimer encouragingly +to his fellow sufferer—"we shall this day light +such a candle, by God's grace, in England as I trust +shall never be put out." In March of the following +year (1556) Cranmer, after some display of weakness, +suffered the same fate, on the same spot, and with no +less fortitude. And thus for two years more the fires +were kept alive in London and in the country; the<pb n="475" /><anchor id="Pg475" /><index index="toc" level1="FOREIGNERS IN THE CITY." /> +Lollard's tower at St. Paul's serving as a prison for +heretics,<note place="foot"><p>"Item the v<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> day of September [1556], was browte thorrow +Cheppesyde teyd in ropes xxiij<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi>i tayd together as herreytkes, and soo +unto the Lowlers tower."—Grey Friars Chron., p. 98.</p></note> and proving more often than not but a step +to Smithfield.</p> + +<note place="margin">Renewed opposition to strangers in the city.</note> + +<p>Throughout Mary's reign the strife between the +citizens and merchant strangers was renewed. She +had herself added to the evil by her marriage with +Philip, causing the city to be flooded with Spaniards, +who took up their abode in the halls of the civic +companies.<note place="foot"><p>"At this time [Aug., 1554] there was so many Spanyerdes in +London that a man shoulde have mett in the stretes for one Inglisheman +above iiij Spanyerdes, to the great discomfort of the Inglishe nation. +The halles taken up for Spanyerdes."—Chron. Q. Jane and Q. Mary, p. 81.</p></note> A rumour got abroad early in September, +1554, that 12,000 Spaniards were coming over "to +fethe the crown,"<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">ibid</hi>.</p></note> and this accounts for precepts +being sent to the several aldermen of the city on +the 27th September enjoining them to make a return +of the number of foreigners that had come to reside +in their ward during the past nine or ten days, and +whence they came.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. i, fo. 205b.</p></note> The favour shown by the Crown +to the merchants of the Steelyard was especially +annoying to the freemen of the city.<note place="foot"><p>By an order in council, dated Greenwich, 13 March, 1555, the +merchants of the Steelyard were thenceforth to be allowed to buy cloth +in warehouses adjoining the Steelyard, without hindrance from the +mayor. The mayor was ordered to give up cloth that had been seized +as foreign bought and sold at Blackwell Hall. He was, moreover, not +to demand <hi rend="font-style: italic">quotam salis</hi> of the merchants, who were to be allowed to +import into the city fish, corn and other provisions free of import.—Repertory +13, pt. ii, fo. 384b; Letter Book S, fo. 76.</p></note> It was to little +purpose that the mayor and aldermen issued orders +from time to time against giving work to foreigners +and prohibiting all such from opening shops within<pb n="476" /><anchor id="Pg476" /> +the city.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fos. 399b, 404, 406; Letter Book S, fos. 70, 93b.</p></note> The struggle between citizen and stranger +still went on. In 1557 the corporation made an +effort to induce the king and queen to revoke the +favours shown to the merchants of the Steelyard in +prejudice of the liberties of the city,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 508b.</p></note> and eventually +the privileges were revoked on the ground that the +merchants of the Hanse had not kept faith with the +Crown.<note place="foot"><p>Wheeler's "Treatise of Commerce" (ed. 1601), p. 100.</p></note> In the same year the exclusiveness entertained +by the citizens towards foreigners made +itself felt more particularly against that class of +foreigner which kept open school in the city for +teaching writing. Certain scriveners, freemen of the +city, made a complaint before the Court of Aldermen +against foreigners keeping writing-school within the +city and its liberties.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fos. 507b, 520b, 540.</p></note> The chamberlain's conduct of +shutting in the shop windows of foreigners teaching +children to write was approved by the mayor and +aldermen,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 529.</p></note> whilst freemen were allowed to keep open +school provided they entered into a bond not to engross +deeds.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 526b.</p></note> Occasionally foreigners were successful in +obtaining licences from the civic authorities for teaching +writing, but it was only on condition they kept +their lower windows closed.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 534b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Philip leaves England, 4 Sept., 1555.</note> + +<note place="margin">The queen obtains a City loan of £6,000, Aug., 1556.</note> + +<note place="margin">War declared against France, 7 June, 1557.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the disposition of the queen +towards heretics became more relentless in proportion +as her temper became more soured from ill-health, by +disappointment in not having off-spring, and by the +increasing neglect of her by her husband. Tired of<pb n="477" /><anchor id="Pg477" /><index index="toc" level1="DECLARATION OF WAR WITH FRANCE." /> +her importunate love and jealousy, Philip took the +first opportunity of quitting her side and crossed over +to the continent (4 Sept., 1555) on a visit to the +Emperor Charles. The abdication of the latter towards +the close of 1556 made Philip master of the +richest and most extensive dominions in Europe, and +his greatest wish at the time was to engage England +in the war which was kindled between Spain and +France. In this he received the support of Mary, +who had in August (1556) succeeded in obtaining a +loan from the city of £6,000.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 420.</p></note> The seizure of the +castle of Scarborough by Thomas Stafford,<note place="foot"><p>Stafford had issued a proclamation from Scarborough Castle declaiming +against Philip for introducing 12,000 foreigners into the country, +and announcing himself as protector and governor of the realm. He +was captured by the Earl of Westmoreland and executed on Tower +Hill 28 May.—Journal 17, fo. 34b; Letter Book S, fo. 127b; Holinshed. +iv, 87; Machyn's Diary, p. 137.</p></note> second +son of Lord Stafford, in which he was reported to +have received encouragement from the King of France, +was made a <hi rend="font-style: italic">casus belli</hi>, and Henry was proclaimed an +open enemy (7 June, 1557).<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 37b; Letter Book S, fo. 131.</p></note> French subjects were +allowed forty days to quit the country, and letters of +marque were issued by proclamation on the 9th June.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fos. 37b, 38; Letter Book S, fo. 131b.</p></note> +On the 5th July Philip once more left England for +Flanders,<note place="foot"><p>Machyn, p. 142.</p></note> having succeeded in the object for which +he had come, viz., the declaration of war against +France.</p> + +<note place="margin">A City contingent joins the expedition to France.</note> + +<p>The citizens of London at once began to take +stock of their munitions of war. On the 22nd +June the Chamberlain was instructed to prepare with +all convenient speed four dozen good <hi rend="font-style: italic">splentes</hi> and<pb n="478" /><anchor id="Pg478" /> +as many good <hi rend="font-style: italic">sallettes</hi> or <hi rend="font-style: italic">sculles</hi> for the city's +use, and to cause a bowyer to "peruse" the city's +bows and to put them in such good order that +they might be serviceable when required.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 517.</p></note> In +the following month a large force crossed over +to France under the leadership of Lords Pembroke, +Montagu and Clinton. To this force the City of +London contributed a contingent of 500 men, the best +(according to Machyn<note place="foot"><p>"London fond v.c. men all in bluw cassokes, sum by shyppes +and sum to Dover by land, the goodlyst men that ever whent, and best +be-sene in change (of) apprelle."—Diary, p. 143.</p></note>) that had ever been sent. +They mustered at the Leadenhall on the 16th July in +the presence of Sir Thomas Offley,<note place="foot"><p>Merchant Taylor, son of William Offley, of Chester; alderman of +Portsoken and Aldgate Wards. Was one of the signatories to the +document nominating Lady Jane Grey successor to Edward VI, and +was within a few weeks (1 Aug.) elected sheriff. Knighted with alderman +William Chester, 7 Feb., 1557. His mansion-house was in Lime +Street, near the Church of St. Andrew Undershaft. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi> 29 Aug, 1582.—Machyn, +pp. 125, 353; Index to Remembrancia, p. 37, note. Fuller, +who erroneously places his death in 1580, describes him as the "Zaccheus +of London" not "on account of his low stature, but his great charity +in bestowing half of his estate on the poor."—Fuller's "Worthies," +p. 191.</p></note> the mayor, the +sheriffs and Sir Richard Lee, and were conveyed +thence by water to Gravesend and Rochester under +the charge of ten officers, whose names are duly +recorded.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fos. 521b, 522; Letter Book S, fo. 134.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City called upon to furnish another contingent of 1,000 men, 31 July.</note> + +<p>On the last day of July the queen informed the +civic authorities by letter of the departure of her +"deerest lord and husband" to pursue the enemy in +France, and desired them to get in readiness 1,000 +men, a portion of whom were to be horsemen, well +horsed and armed, and the rest to be archers, pikes +and billmen. The force was to be ready by the<pb n="479" /><anchor id="Pg479" /><index index="toc" level1="SOLDIERS FURNISHED BY THE CITY." /> +16th August at the latest, after which date it was to +be prepared to set out at a day's notice. The letter +contained a schedule of names of individuals to whom +the queen had made special application, and these +were not to be called upon by the municipal officers +to make any contribution, neither were the tenants +of those noblemen and gentlemen already on active +service in France.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 54b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The citizens make demur, but in vain.</note> + +<p>The Court of Aldermen was taken aback at such +a demand coming so soon after the setting out of the +previous force, and on the 4th August it instructed the +Recorder and one of the sheriffs to repair to the +queen's council "for the good and suer understandyng +of her majesty's pleasure" in the matter. The deputation +was further instructed to remind the lords of the +council not only of the ancient liberties and franchises +of the city on the point, but also of the city's lack of +power to furnish a number of men exceeding any it +had ever been called upon to furnish before.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 530.</p></note> It was +all to no purpose; the men had to be provided; and +the matter having been fully explained to the wardens +of the several livery companies, they succeeded in +raising the force required.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fos. 530, 532, 522b, 535; Journal 17, fo. 54.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The French king defeated at St. Quentin, 27 Aug., 1557.</note> + +<p>The defeat of the French king at St. Quentin +was celebrated in the city by a solemn procession +to St. Paul's, in which figured the mayor and aldermen +in their scarlet gowns.<note place="foot"><p>Machyn, p. 147.</p></note> The joy of the citizens +was shortlived. Philip's caution did not allow him +to avail himself of the opportunity thus offered +him of marching on the French capital, and before<pb n="480" /><anchor id="Pg480" /> +the end of the year matters had taken a different +turn.</p> + +<note place="margin">The loss of Calais, 7 Jan., 1558.</note> + +<note place="margin">A city force despatched, 24 Jan., 1558.</note> + +<p>In December a Spaniard named Ferdinando +Lygons was commissioned to raise 300 mounted +archers in the city of London and county of Middlesex.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 571.</p></note> +At the opening of the new year (2 Jan., 1558) +the queen wrote to the corporation desiring to be at +once furnished with 500 men out of the 1,000 men +the city had been ordered to keep in readiness since +July. As the matter was urgent they were not to +wait to supply the men with coats.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 55. See Appendix. They were ordered in the +first instance to be forwarded to Dover by the 19th Jan. at the latest, but +on the 6th Jan. the Privy Council sent a letter to the mayor to the effect +that "albeit he was willed to send the v<hi rend="vertical-align: super">c</hi> men levied in London to +Dover, forasmuch as it is sithence considered here that they may with +best speede be brought to the place of service by seas, he is willen to +sende them with all speede by hoyes to Queenburgh, where order is +given for the receavinge and placing of them in the shippes, to be +transported with all speede possible."—Harl. MS. 643, fo. 198; Notes +to Machyn's Diary, p. 362.</p></note> The force was +required for the defence of Calais, which was now in +a critical position. On the 9th January another +letter was sent by Mary marked, <hi rend="font-style: italic">Hast, Hast Post, +Hast, For lief, For lief, For lief, For lief!</hi> demanding +the full contingent of 1,000 men.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 56.</p></note> Calais had fallen +two days before,<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 140.</p></note> and Mary was determined not to +rest until the town had been recovered. Diligent +search was at once instituted throughout the city +for all persons, strangers as well as freemen, capable +of wearing harness;<note place="foot"><p>Order of the Court of Aldermen, 10 Jan.—Repertory 13, pt. ii, +fo. 582.</p></note> and the livery companies and +fellowships were called upon to provide double the +number of men they had furnished in July last.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 13, pt. ii, fo. 582b; Precept to the Companies.—Journal +17, fo. 56b.</p></note><pb n="481" /><anchor id="Pg481" /><index index="toc" level1="THE LOSS OF CALAIS." /> +On the 13th the queen wrote to say that a violent +storm, which had occurred on the night of the 10th +January, had so crippled the fleet that her forces +could not be conveyed across the channel; the +civic authorities were therefore to withhold sending +their force to the sea-coast until further orders, but +to keep the same in readiness to start at an hour's +notice.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 57. So furious was this storm, lasting four or five +days, that "some said that the same came to passe through necromancie, +and that the diuell was raised vp and become French, the truth +whereof is known (saith Master Grafton) to God."—Holinshed, iv, 93.</p></note> On the 19th January the citizens were +informed by letter that Philip's forces were on their +way to Flanders, under the Duke of Savoy, and that +the channel was being kept open by a fleet under +Don Luis Carvaial. One half of the force of 1,000 +men, furnished with armour and weapons and coats of +white welted with green and red crosses, was to be +despatched to Dover by the end of the month, thence +to sail for Dunkirk for service under the Earl of +Rutland. The City was to take especial care that +the contingent should be chosen from the handsomest +and best picked men, and superior to those +last sent.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 7.</p></note> The force mustered at the Leadenhall, the +24th January, for inspection by the mayor, and at +five o'clock in the evening were delivered over to +the captains for shipment.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 14, fo. 1b; Journal 17, fo. 58; Machyn, 164.</p></note> Three days later the +lords of the council instructed the mayor to make +a return of the number of foreigners residing still +within the city, and to make proclamation on the +next market day that it should be lawful thenceforth +for anyone to seize the persons of Frenchmen who +had not avoided the city pursuant to a previous order,<pb n="482" /><anchor id="Pg482" /> +and to confiscate their goods and chattels to his own +proper use.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fos. 59, 59b; Letter Book S, fos. 154b, 155.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A city loan of £20,000, March, 1558.</note> + +<p>Mary succeeded in March in raising a loan in the +city of £20,000 (she had asked for 100,000 marks or +£75,000<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 100; Wriothesley, ii, +140, 141.</p></note>) on the security of the crown lands. The +loan bore interest at the rate of twelve per cent., and +a special dispensation was granted to avoid the +penalties of the Usury Act.<note place="foot"><p>Stat. 5 and 6, Edward VI, c. 20, which repealed Stat. <hi rend="font-style: italic">37</hi>, Henry +VIII, c. 9 (allowing interest to be taken on loans at the rate of ten per +cent.) and forbade all usury. This Statute was afterwards repealed +(Stat. 13, Eliz., c. 8) and the Statute of Henry VIII re-enacted. The +dispensation granted by Mary was confirmed in 1560 by Elizabeth.—Repertory +14, fo. 404b.</p></note> The money was raised +by assessment on the livery companies. On the +16th March the Court of Aldermen summoned +the wardens of the twelve principal companies +to attend at the Guildhall at eight o'clock the +next morning, in order that they might learn how +much the lords of the council had "<hi rend="font-weight: bold">tottyd</hi>" against +each of them towards the loan. The smaller companies +were to attend in the afternoon of the same +day in order to be informed of the sums the Court of +Aldermen deemed fit that each should contribute to +assist their wealthier brethren. The total amount subscribed +by the greater companies was £16,983 <hi rend="font-style: italic">6s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi>, +of which the Mercers contributed £3,275. The lesser +companies subscribed £1,310, in sums varying from +£30 to £500.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 14, fo. 15b; Journal 17, fo. 63. A large portion of +this loan was repaid by Elizabeth soon after her accession.—Repertory 14, +fos. 236b, 289.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Death of Mary, 17 Nov., 1558.</note> + +<p>It is probable that Mary wanted this loan to +enable her to prosecute the war. The country was<pb n="483" /><anchor id="Pg483" /><index index="toc" level1="DEATH OF MARY." /> +not disposed, however, to assist her in this direction. +The people were afraid of rendering Philip too powerful. +Disappointed both in her public and domestic +life, she fell a victim to dropsy and died on the +17th November—"wondering why all that she had +done, as she believed on God's behalf, had been +followed by failure on every side—by the desertion +of her husband, and the hatred of her subjects." +The loss of Calais so much affected her that she +declared that the name of the town would be found +impressed upon her heart after death. On the +occasion of her funeral the City put in its customary +claim for black livery cloth, but more than one +application had to be made before the cloth was +forthcoming.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 14, fos. 94b, 96b.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="484" /><anchor id="Pg484" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XVII.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<head></head> +<note place="margin">The ascension of Elizabeth, 17 Nov., 1558.</note> + +<p>The accession of Elizabeth, after the gloomy +reign of her sister, was welcomed by none more joyfully +than by the citizens of London, who continued +to commemorate the day with bonfires and general +rejoicing long after the queen had been laid in her +grave.<note place="foot"><p>The commemoration was eventually put down by the Stuarts as +giving rise to tumults and disorders.—Journal 49, fo. 270b; Luttrell's +Diary, 17 Nov., 1682.</p></note> When news was brought of her sister's death +Elizabeth was at Hatfield. Within a week she +removed to London and took up her abode at the +Charterhouse. The sheriffs went out to meet her +as far as the boundary of the county of Middlesex, +the limit of their jurisdiction, dressed in coats of velvet, +with their chains about their necks and white rods in +their hands. Having first kissed their rods, they +handed them to the queen, who immediately returned +them, and the sheriffs thereupon joined the gentlemen +of the cavalcade and rode before her majesty +until they met Sir Thomas Leigh,<note place="foot"><p>Son of Roger Leigh, of Wellington, co. Salop, an apprentice of +Sir Rowland Hill, whose niece, Alice Barker, he married. Buried in +the Mercers' Chapel. By his second son, William, he was ancestor of +the Lords Leigh, of Stoneleigh, and by his third son William, grandfather +of Francis Leigh, Earl of Chichester.—Notes to Machyn's +Diary, p. 407.</p></note> the mayor, and +his brethren the aldermen. The sheriffs then fell +back and took their places among the aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>"The order of the sheryfes at the receyvyng of the quenes +highenes in to Myddlesex."—Letter Book S, fo. 183; Repertory 14, +fo. 90b.</p></note><pb n="485" /><anchor id="Pg485" /><index index="toc" level1="CORONATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH." /> +From the Charterhouse she removed after a stay +of a few days to the Tower, amid the blare of +trumpets, the singing of children and the firing of +ordnance.</p> + +<note place="margin">The queen's coronation, 15 Jan., 1559.</note> + +<p>The Court of Common Council (21 Nov.) agreed +to levy two fifteenths on the inhabitants of the city +for the customary present to be given the new queen +on her passing through the city to her coronation, +which was to take place on the 15th January following, +as well as for defraying the costs of pageants on +the occasion.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book S, fo. 182b; Journal 7, fo. 101b.</p></note> Committees were appointed to see +that the several conduits, the Standard and Cross in +Cheap, and other parts of the city were seemly +trimmed and decked with pageants, fine paintings +and rich cloth of Arras, silver and gold, as at the +coronation of Queen Mary, and better still if it conveniently +could be done.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 14, fos. 97, 98.</p></note> Among those appointed to +devise pageants for the occasion and to act as masters +of the ceremony was Richard Grafton, the printer.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 99.</p></note> +Eight commoners were appointed by the Court of +Aldermen (17 Dec.) to attend upon the chief butler of +England at the cupboard at the coronation banquet.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 102b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A strike among the painters.</note> + +<p>A curious instance of a strike among painters is +recorded at this time. The painters of the city, we +are told, utterly refused to fresh paint and trim the +great conduit in Cheap for the coronation for the sum +of twenty marks. This being the case, the surveyors +of the city were instructed to cause the same to be +covered with cloth of Arras having escutcheons of the +queen's Arms finely made and set therein, and the +wardens of the Painters' Company were called upon<pb n="486" /><anchor id="Pg486" /> +to render assistance with advice and men for reasonable +remuneration.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 14, fo. 103b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Elizabeth's policy of moderation, 1558.</note> + +<p>The main object which Elizabeth kept before her +eyes, from first to last, was the preservation of peace—peace +within the Church and without. Her natural +inclination was towards the more ornate ritual of the +Roman Church, but the necessity she was under of +gaining the support of the Protestants, whom even the +fires of Smithfield had failed to suppress, inspired +restraint. All her actions were marked with caution +and deliberation. From the day of her accession +religious persecution in its worst form ceased. Non-conformity +was no longer punished by death. Preachers +who took advantage of the lull which followed the +Marian persecution and resumed disputatious sermons, +as they did more especially in the city, were silenced +by royal proclamation,<note place="foot"><p>Dated 27 Dec., 1558.—Journal 17, fo. 106b.</p></note> which ordered them to confine +themselves to reading the gospel and epistle for the +day, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, +without adding any comment. They were further +ordered to make use of no public prayer, rite or +ceremony other than that already accepted until parliament +should ordain otherwise.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Act of Uniformity and Supremacy, 1558.</note> + +<p>Parliament met in January, 1559, and at once +acknowledged the queen's legitimacy and her title to +the crown, an acknowledgment which she had failed +to obtain from the Pope. An Act of Uniformity was +passed forbidding the use of any form of public prayer +other than that set out in the last Prayer Book of +Edward VI, amended in those particulars which +savoured of ultra-Protestantism. The same parliament<pb n="487" /><anchor id="Pg487" /><index index="toc" level1="RESTORATION OF THE PRAYER BOOK." /> +also passed an Act of Supremacy, which dropt the +title of supreme head of the Church with reference +to the queen, but still upheld the ancient jurisdiction +of the Crown over all ecclesiastics. Having accomplished +this much, parliament was dissolved (8 May).</p> + +<note place="margin">The restoration of the Prayer Book and abolition of the Mass, 1559.</note> + +<p>On the following Whitsunday (14 May) Divine +Service was conducted in the city in English according +to the Book of Common Prayer.<note place="foot"><p>Wriothesley, ii, 145.</p></note> Commissioners +were appointed in July "to ride about the realm for +the establishing of true religion," four being nominated +for the city, whose duty it was to call before them +divers persons of every parish and make them swear +to observe "certain injunctions newly set out in +print."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> <hi rend="font-style: italic">ibid</hi>.</p></note> The election of a new mayor at Michaelmas +was followed by the celebration of a "communion" +in the Guildhall Chapel."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 4, fo. 213b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Ultra-Protestant reformers in the city, 1559.</note> + +<p>The success of Elizabeth's policy was unfortunately +marred by the excess of zeal displayed by +the reformers. More especially was this the case in +the city of London. Had the inhabitants bent their +energy towards putting down the disgraceful trafficking +that went on within the very walls of their +cathedral church, shutting up gambling houses, and +stopping interludes and plays which made a jest of +religion, instead of leaving such abuses to be corrected +by royal proclamation,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fos. 120b, 168; Repertory 14, fo. 152; Letter Book T, +fo. 82b.</p></note> their conduct would have +met with universal approbation. Instead of this they +again set to work pulling down roods, smashing up +ancient tombs and committing to the flames vestments<pb n="488" /><anchor id="Pg488" /> +and service books—the work of years of artistic +labour<note place="foot"><p>"In some places the coapes, vestments, and aulter clothes, bookes, +banners, sepulchers and other ornaments of the churches were burned, +which cost above £2,000 renuinge agayne in Queen Maries time" +(Wriothesley, ii, 146; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Machyn, p. 298). Among the churchwarden +accounts of the parish of St. Mary-at-Hill for the year 1558-1559 there +is a payment of one shilling for "bringing down ymages to Romeland +(near Billingsgate) to be burnt."</p></note>—until the wanton destruction was restricted, +if not altogether stopped, by the queen's orders.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated 19 Sept., 1559.—Journal 17, fo. 267; Letter +Book T, fo. 5b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The claims of Mary Stuart, 1559-1560.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the state of affairs with France +and Scotland demanded Elizabeth's attention. The +marriage of Mary Stuart with the Dauphin of France +had taken place in April, 1558, and the sudden death +of Henry II of France by an accident at a tournament +had soon afterwards raised her and her husband to +the throne. Mary now assumed the arms and style of +Queen of England, and the life-long quarrel between +her and Elizabeth was about to commence. By the +end of the year (1559) Mary had collected a sufficient +force at her back to render her mistress of Scotland. +In the following January a French fleet was ready +to set sail. Nevertheless Elizabeth refused to take +any active measures to meet the enemy and to prevent +them effecting a landing. On the 6th she caused +proclamation to be made for French subjects to be +allowed perfect freedom as in time of peace, but +English vessels were to be held in readiness "untill yt +maye appeare to what ende the greate preparaciouns +of Fraunce do entende."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fo. 184b.</p></note> Long after the appearance +of a French fleet off the coast of Scotland, and +when it had been driven to take refuge in Leith +harbour, Elizabeth still declared her intention of<pb n="489" /><anchor id="Pg489" /><index index="toc" level1="THE WAR WITH FRANCE." /> +keeping, if possible, on friendly terms with France if +only the "insolent titles and claims" of Francis and +Mary might cease and Scotland left in peace.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated 24 March, 1560.—Journal 17, fo. 223b.</p></note> With +the aid of soldiers and seamen provided by the City<note place="foot"><p>In April the city was called upon to furnish 900 soldiers, in May +250 seamen, and in June 200 soldiers.—Repertory 14, fos. 323, 336, +339b, 340, 340b, 344b; Journal 17, fos. 238b, 244. It is noteworthy +that the number of able men in the city at this time serviceable for war, +although untrained, was estimated to amount to no more than 5,000.—Journal +17, fo. 244b.</p></note> +the French were forced to surrender, and, by a treaty +signed at Edinburgh, agreed to leave Scotland and to +acknowledge Elizabeth's right to the English crown.</p> + +<note place="margin">The French war, 1562-1564.</note> + +<p>In 1561 Mary, who had declined to recognise the +treaty of Edinburgh from the first, returned to Scotland, +in spite of Elizabeth's prohibition, and soon succeeded +in drawing over many Protestants to her side. In the +following year an opportunity offered itself to Elizabeth +for striking a blow at her rival—not in Scotland, +but in France. A civil war had broken out between +the French Protestants—or Huguenots, as they were +called—and their Catholic fellow-subjects, and Elizabeth +promised (Sept., 1562) to assist the leaders of +the Huguenots on condition that Havre—or Newhaven, +as the place was then known—was surrendered +to her as security for the fulfilment of a promise to +surrender Calais. The queen (23 July, 1562) applied +by letter to the City of London for a force of 600 men +to be held in readiness to march at a moment's notice. +She had determined, the letter said, to put the sea +coast into a "fencible arraye of warre."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fos. 57-60b. The livery companies furnished the men +according to allotment. The barber-surgeons claimed exemption by +statute (32 Henry VIII, c. 42), but subsequently consented to waive +their claim. The city also objected to supplying the soldiers with +cloaks.—Repertory 15, fos. 110b, 113.</p></note> The men<pb n="490" /><anchor id="Pg490" /> +were ordered to muster at the Leadenhall on the +18th September.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fo. 66; Machyn, pp. 292, 293.</p></note> The aim and object of the expedition +was set out in a "boke" or proclamation.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fo. 71.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Soldiers for the defence of Havre. 1563.</note> + +<p>In 1563 a peace was patched up, and the Catholics +and Huguenots united in demanding from Elizabeth +the restoration of Havre. The queen refused to +surrender the town, and again called upon the City of +London to furnish her with 1,000 men for the purpose +of enabling her to secure Havre, and to compel the +French to surrender Calais as promised.<note place="foot"><p>The queen to the mayor and corporation of London, 30 June, 1563.—Journal +18, fo. 124.</p></note> The Court +of Aldermen hesitated to raise so large a force, and +sent a deputation of three of their court to wait upon +the lords of the Privy Council the same afternoon, +with a view to having the number reduced to 500 on +the ground that the City had supplied so many soldiers +during the past year.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fo. 258.</p></note> The deputation having reported +to the court the next day (3 July) that the Privy +Council would make no abatement in the number of +soldiers to be furnished, it was agreed to renew the +application.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 259.</p></note> Again the City's request was refused, +and the full number of 1,000 men was apportioned +among the livery companies.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 263.</p></note> The citizens, jealous +as they always were of the stranger within their gates, +availed themselves of a too literal interpretation of +a royal proclamation and seized all the Frenchmen +they could find in the city with all their belongings. +They even went so far as to attack the house of the +French ambassador, and would probably have gone<pb n="491" /><anchor id="Pg491" /><index index="toc" level1="THE LOSS OF HAVRE OR NEWHAVEN." /> +yet further lengths had they not been stopt by +peremptory orders from the queen.<note place="foot"><p>The queen to the mayor, 2 Aug., 1563.—Journal 18, fo. 140. +Precept of the mayor.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 136; Repertory 15, fo. 279b; Machyn's +Diary, p. 312.</p></note></p> + +<p>On the 8th July the City was informed by letter +from the queen that the French had already commenced +the siege of Havre, and was asked to have +400 out of the 1,000 men ready to set sail with Lord +Clinton by the 16th.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fo. 128.</p></note> This letter was immediately +followed by another from Lord Clinton summoning +every inhabitant of the city "usinge the exercise of +eny kynde of water crafte" before the lord high +admiral or his deputy at Deptford on a certain day.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 119b.</p></note> +The Common Hunt, the city's water-bailiffs, two +sergeants-at-mace and two sheriff's officers were +appointed by the Court of Aldermen to "conduct" +the city's contingent to the fleet lying in the Thames.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fo. 265b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The loss of Havre, July, 1563.</note> + +<p>Before the end of July Havre was lost.<note place="foot"><p>Machyn, 312.</p></note> The +garrison had been attacked by a plague, which for +more than a twelvemonth had been rampant in +London,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fos. 139, 139b, 142, 151b, 152b, 154, 156b, 184, 189b. +With the sickness was associated, as was so often the case, a scarcity of +food.—Repertory 15, fos. 127, 133b, 138, 168, 178, 179b, etc. The +rate of mortality increased to such an extent that a committee was +appointed for the purpose of procuring more burial accommodation.—Repertory +15, fos. 311b, 313b, 333.</p></note> and the Earl of Warwick, the commander +of the town, found himself compelled to accept such +terms as he could obtain. The garrison was allowed +to leave with all munitions of war. Whilst proclaiming +to her subjects the surrender of the town—not +through any cowardice on the part of the garrison, +but owing to a "plage of infectuous mortall sickness"<pb n="492" /><anchor id="Pg492" /> +inflicted by the Almighty—Elizabeth pleaded for +tender care and charity to be shown to the soldiers +on their return, due precaution being taken by the +principal officers of every city, town and parish against +the spread of infection.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation dated 1 Aug., 1563.—Journal 18, fo. 141.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Peace between England and France signed, 13 April, 1564.</note> + +<p>The approaching end of the war with France is +foreshadowed by an order of the Court of Aldermen +(25 Nov., 1563) touching the re-delivery to the various +civic companies of the "harness" which they severally +provided for the war, and which had been forwarded +from Portsmouth and was lying in the Guildhall +Chapel.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fo. 284b.</p></note> Peace was signed on the 13th April, 1564, +and on the 31st July a proclamation was issued for +disbanding the navy.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fo. 249.</p></note> Throughout the war Elizabeth +had been careful to keep on good terms with Spain, +and English vessels found molesting Spanish ships +under pretext of searching for French goods were +ordered to be arrested.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 190b.</p></note> An interruption of commerce +with Flanders had been threatened, owing to +the Duchess of Parma having forbidden the importation +of English woollen cloth into the Low Countries +for fear of infection from the plague, but Elizabeth +retaliated by closing English ports to all Flemish +vessels, and matters were accommodated.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18, fos. 214, 215, 227, 291b, 354b; Holinshed, iv, 224.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The restoration of St. Paul's Cathedral, 1561-1565.</note> + +<p>The period of peace and tranquillity which +ensued enabled the citizens to bestow more attention +on their own affairs. Their cathedral stood in urgent +need of repairs. Its steeple had been struck by +lightning in 1561, and 3,000 marks had already been<pb n="493" /><anchor id="Pg493" /><index index="toc" level1="THE RESTORATION OF ST. PAUL'S." /> +expended on its restoration.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 17, fos. 320, 321, 331b; Letter Book T, fos. 42, 42b; +Repertory 14, fo. 491b. The fire caused by the lightning threatened +the neighbouring shops, and their contents were therefore removed to +Christchurch, Newgate and elsewhere for safety.—Journal 17, fo. 319b; +Letter Book T, fo. 42.</p></note> An application to the +City from the lord treasurer in 1565 for a sum of +£300 towards roofing one of the aisles of the +cathedral came as a surprise to the Court of Aldermen, +who caused enquiries to be made as to the +receipt and delivery of contributions already made, +and returned for answer that the City of London +had long ago delivered "all such mony as the +sayd cyty dyd at eny tyme grant or agree to geve +or paye towards the sayd work." His lordship +was desired "no further to charge or burden the sayd +cytye w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> the payment of any more mony towards +the sayd work."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fos. 474, 478.</p></note> Nevertheless the City was called +upon for a further contribution two years later +(June, 1567), when negotiations were entered into +between the City, the Bishop of London and the +Dean and Chapter of Saint Paul's, which ended in the +Corporation agreeing to find forty foders of lead for +roofing the south aisle of the cathedral, and lending +a sum of £150 to the bishop and the dean and +chapter, on condition the latter granted a further lease +to the City of the manor of Finsbury for a term of +200 years beyond the term yet unexpired.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fos. 227, 241b, 274; Letter Book V, fo. 108b.</p></note> Whilst +repairs were being carried out in the cathedral itself, +something was also being done outside the building +to render the accommodation for hearing the sermons +preached at Paul's Cross more convenient for the +mayor and aldermen and municipal officers. A gutter<pb n="494" /><anchor id="Pg494" /> +which conducted rainwater upon the heads of the +lord mayor's suite at sermon time was removed; the +bench on which the civic officials sat was enlarged +for their better convenience, and places erected for +the accommodation of aldermen's wives.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fos. 303b, 448. Among the Chamber Accounts of +this period we find an item of a sum exceeding £4 paid for "Cusshens +to be occupied at Powles by my L. Maio<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> and thaldermen, vz:—for +cloth for the uttorside lyning of leather feathers and for making of +theym as by a bill appearth."—Chamber Accounts, Town Clerk's Office, +vol. i, fo. 50b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sir Thomas Gresham and the City Burse. 1565-1566.</note> + +<p>The rapid increase of commerce under the +fostering care of Elizabeth rendered the erection of +a Burse or Exchange for the accommodation of +merchants "to treate of their feate of merchandyzes" +a pressing necessity. The matter had been mooted +thirty years before, but little had been done beyond +ascertaining the opinion of merchants as to the most +convenient site.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 13, fos. 417, 420, 435, 442b, 443.</p></note> The project, however, took root in +the mind of Sir Richard Gresham, an alderman of the +city, whose business had occasionally carried him to +Antwerp, where he became familiar with the Burse +that had been recently set up there, and in 1537 (the +year that he was elected mayor) he forwarded to +Thomas Cromwell, then lord privy seal, a design for +a similar Burse to be erected in London. Finding +little or no attention paid to his communication he +again (25 July, 1538) wrote to Cromwell suggesting +the erection of a Burse in Lombard Street—the site +favoured by city merchants—at a cost of £2,000. If +the lord privy seal would but bring pressure to bear +upon Sir George Monoux, a brother alderman but a +man of "noe gentyll nature," to part with certain +property at cost price, he (Gresham) would undertake<pb n="495" /><anchor id="Pg495" /><index index="toc" level1="THE INCEPTION OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE." /> +to raise £1,000 towards the building before he went +out of office, and he would himself carry Cromwell's +letter to Monoux and "handle him" as best he +could.<note place="foot"><p>Cotton MS., Otho E, x. fo. 45; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Burgon's "Life of Gresham," +i, 31-33.</p></note> This application had the desired effect. On +the 13th August Henry VIII addressed a letter to +Monoux desiring him to dispose of certain tenements +about Lombard Street which were required for the +commonweal of merchants of the city, and to come +to terms with Gresham as to the amount to be paid +for them. Both parties having referred the matter +to Sir Richard Rich, Chancellor of the Court of +Augmentations of the Crown, as arbitrator, the City +agreed to pay a yearly sum of twenty marks for the +houses that were required. Monoux refusing to accept +this sum, another letter was despatched to him from +the king urging him not to stand in the way of a +project so useful to merchants and tending so much +to the "beautifitye" of the city. To this second +appeal Monoux gave way, and received the cordial +thanks of Henry by letter dated the 25th November.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 14, fos. 124, 124b.</p></note> +Nothing more was done in the matter until it was +taken up many years later by Sir Thomas Gresham, +son of Sir Richard.<note place="foot"><p>By Sir Richard's first wife Audrey, daughter of William Lynne, of +Southwick, co. Northampton. Sir Thomas is supposed to have been +born in London in 1519. Having been bound apprentice to his uncle, +Sir John Gresham, he was admitted to the freedom of the Mercers' +Company in 1543. Married Anne, daughter of William Ferneley, of +West Creting, co. Suffolk, widow of William Read, mercer.</p></note> Acting, as he did for a long +succession of years, as Queen Elizabeth's agent in +Flanders, Sir Thomas spent much of his time in +Antwerp.<note place="foot"><p>The queen's business kept him so much abroad that her majesty +wrote to the Common Council (7 March, 1563) desiring that he might +be discharged from all municipal duties.—Journal 18, fo. 137.</p></note> When he was not there himself he<pb n="496" /><anchor id="Pg496" /> +employed a factor in the person of Richard Clough to +conduct his affairs. In 1561 this Richard Clough, in +a letter addressed to his principal from Antwerp +(31 Dec.),<note place="foot"><p>Printed in Burgon's "Life of Gresham," i, 409.</p></note> expressed much astonishment at the City +of London being so far behind continental towns:—"Consideryng +what a sittey London ys, and that in +so many yeres they have nott founde the menes to +make a bourse! but must walke in the raine, when +ytt raineth, more lyker pedlers then marchants; and +in thys countrie, and all other, there is no kynde +of pepell that have occasion to meete, butt they +have a plase meete for that pourpose." Indeed, +Clough got quite excited over the thought that +London, of all cities in the world, possessed no decent +accommodation for merchants transacting their everyday +business, and declared his readiness to build "so +fere a bourse in London as the grett bourse is in +Andwarpe" and that "withhoutt molestyng of any +man more than he shulld be well dysposyd to geve."</p> + +<p>It was not long before Gresham made up his +mind that London should have a Burse, and in May, +1563, the Court of Aldermen deputed Lionel Duckett, +who was also a mercer, to sound Gresham as to "his +benevolence towards the makyng of a burse."<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fo. 237b.</p></note> But +however desirous Gresham might be to prosecute the +work, he was prevented from doing so by stress +of business. Commercial difficulties arose between +England and the Low Countries owing to the proclamation +of the Duchess of Parma. Up to the year +1564 Gresham was forced to make Antwerp his place +of abode, and could only occasionally visit London;<pb n="497" /><anchor id="Pg497" /><index index="toc" level1="SIR THOMAS GRESHAM." /> +since that time, however, his business allowed him +to look upon London as his permanent residence, and +he only crossed over to Antwerp when special circumstances +rendered it necessary. An additional +reason for the delay in carrying out Gresham's project +may perhaps be found in the fact that, during his +absence on the queen's business in 1563, Elizabeth +had, with her usual parsimony, cut down Gresham's +allowance of twenty shillings a day for "his diets." +Gresham complained bitterly of this abridgment of his +income in a letter to Secretary Cecil, and also in another +letter couched in more guarded terms to the queen +herself.<note place="foot"><p>Burgon, ii, 30-40.</p></note> In both letters he set out the sum total of +the money (£830,000) which he had negotiated for +the queen, and referred to his having broken a leg in +her majesty's service and to his declining years. Whatever +may have been the cause of the delay, it was +not until the 4th January, 1565, that a definite offer +was made by Gresham to erect a "comely burse" at +his own cost and charge, provided the City would +furnish a suitable site. This offer was accepted.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fos. 406b, 407.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Difficulties of obtaining a site.</note> + +<p>Difficulties at once presented themselves in finding +a site. It was originally proposed to obtain from +the Merchant Taylors' Company a plot of land +between Lombard Street and Cornhill, but the company +refused to part with the property and a new site +had to be chosen.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fos. 410b, 412.</p></note> No sooner was this done, and a +place selected to the north of Cornhill, than a difficulty +arose between the City and the Dean and Chapter of +Canterbury as to the terms of purchase.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 417b, 431.</p></note> This having +been successfully overcome and the site purchased,<pb n="498" /><anchor id="Pg498" /> +the next step was to invite subscriptions, not only +from members of the livery companies, but from +merchant adventurers beyond the sea.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fos. 31b, 32b, 43b; Letter Book V, fos. 5, 7b, 8, +17, 21b.</p></note> Such a liberal +response was made to this invitation<note place="foot"><p>The amount of subscriptions and charges is set out in a "booke" +and entered on the City's Journal (No. 19, fos. 12-20; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Letter Book +V, fos. 70b-79); see also Repertory 16, fo. 126.</p></note> that on the +7th June, 1566, Sir Thomas Gresham was able to lay +the first stone of the new building, a deed of trust +between the City and Gresham having previously +(14 May) been executed.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 18. fo. 398.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Strong foreign element in connection with the building of the first Burse.</note> + +<p>It is curious to note the strong foreign element +in connection with the building of Gresham's Burse. +The architect as well as the design of the building came +from abroad. The clerk of the works (Henryk)<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 316.</p></note> +and most of the workmen were foreigners, Gresham +having obtained special permission from the Court of +Aldermen for their employment.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 406b.</p></note> Most of the +material for structural as well as ornamental purposes +(saving 100,000 bricks provided by the City)<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fo. 268b.</p></note> came +from abroad, and to this day the Royal Exchange is +paved with small blocks of Turkish hone-stones believed +to have been imported in Gresham's day, and +to have been relaid after the several fires of 1666 +and 1838. It was the employment of these strangers +which probably gave rise to an order of the Court of +Aldermen (19 June, 1567) that an officer should be +appointed to attend at the Burse daily "for a competent +season," to see that no "misorder" be done +to any of the artificers or other workmen there<pb n="499" /><anchor id="Pg499" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ROYAL EXCHANGE COMPLETED." /> +employed, and to commit to ward any that he should +find so-doing.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 229.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Burse opened by Q. Elizabeth, 23 Jan., 1571.</note> + +<p>By the 22nd December, 1568, the Burse was so +far complete as to allow of merchants holding their +meetings within its walls, but it was not until the +23rd January, 1571, that the queen herself visited it +in state and caused it thenceforth to be called the +Royal Exchange. Her statue which graced the +building bore testimony to the care and interest she +always displayed in fostering commercial enterprise.</p> + +<note place="margin">Wanton damage done to the new Burse.</note> + +<p>On the door of a staircase leading up to a "pawne" +or covered walk on the south side of the building +there had been set up the arms and crest of Gresham +himself, which some evilly disposed person took it +into his head to deface. A proclamation made by +the mayor (16 Feb., 1569) for the apprehension of the +culprit does not appear from the city's records to +have proved successful.<note place="foot"><p>"A proclamacioun concernyng the cutting of the crest conyzans and +mantell of the arms of S<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> Thomas Gresham."—Journal 19, fo. 150b; +Letter Book V, fo. 222.</p></note> Some years later (21 March, +1577) the mayor had occasion to issue another proclamation +for the discovery of persons who had +defaced and pulled away "certen peces of timber +fixed to thendes and comers of the seates"<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. ii, fo. 341.</p></note> in the +Royal Exchange, with what result we know not.</p> + +<note place="margin">Insurance business carried on at the Royal Exchange.</note> + +<p>In 1574 the Court of Aldermen appointed a +committee to confer with Gresham touching the +"assurance" of the Royal Exchange.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 18, fo. 362.</p></note> The connection +between the new Burse and insurance is +remarkable. The principle of insurance policies had<pb n="500" /><anchor id="Pg500" /> +been introduced into the city by the Lombards as early +as the thirteenth century,<note place="foot"><p>"Law and Practice of Marine Insurance," by John Duer, LL.D. +(New York, 1845), Lecture ii, p. 33.</p></note> and a Lombard Street +policy became a familiar term.<note place="foot"><p>At the present day the form of policy used at Lloyds and commonly +called the "Lloyd's policy" contains the following clause:—"and +it is agreed by us the insurers, that this writing or policy of +assurance shall be of as much force and effect as the surest writing or +policy of assurance heretofore made in Lombard Street or in the Royal +Exchange or elsewhere in London."—Arnould, "Marine Insurance" +(6th ed.), i, 230.</p></note> When the Lombard +Street merchants quitted their old premises for the +more commodious Exchange they carried thither their +insurance business with them, and a part of the new +building was devoted exclusively to this branch of +commerce. A grant of letters patent which Elizabeth +made to Richard Candler for the making of policies +and registering of assurances within the city was +objected to by the Court of Aldermen, as being contrary +to the liberties of the City, and a deputation +was appointed to wait upon the lords of the Privy +Council to have it revoked.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 18, fo. 362b.</p></note> This was early in 1575. +A year later we find Candler making answer to a bill +of fees drawn up by certain aldermen and citizens of +London, respecting his office.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 523.</p></note></p> + +<p>In order to put an end to the frequent disputes +which arose in the Royal Exchange among merchants +on matters of insurance, the Court of Aldermen +appointed two of their number to consider the difficulty +and to report thereon. They made their report +to the court on the 29th January, 1577.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 19, fos. 166b, 168.</p></note> They had, +in accordance with the oft-repeated desire expressed<pb n="501" /><anchor id="Pg501" /><index index="toc" level1="INSURANCE BUSINESS AT ROYAL EXCHANGE." /> +to previous lord mayors by the lords of the Privy +Council, consulted with their brethren the aldermen, +as well as with merchants of the city, both Englishmen +and foreigners, and had drawn up orders agreeable +to those that had hitherto been used in Lombard +Street, to which all countries had been accustomed to +submit. The orders, however, not yet being completed, +the Court of Aldermen decided upon appointing +arbitrators from year to year to deal with all matters +of insurance, and so relieve the lords of the Privy +Council of the trouble which they had hitherto +experienced on that score at a time when they had +weightier matters to attend to. The arbitrators were +to receive one penny in the pound amongst them in all +cases, whether the claim were for whole losses, part,<note place="foot"><p>The reader is here reminded that there is an essential difference +between life policies and fire or marine policies of assurance. The latter, +being policies of indemnity, recovery can be had at law only to the +extent of the actual damage done, whereas in life policies the whole +amount of the policy can be recovered.</p></note> +or averages. Their decision was to bind both assurer +and assured, and they were to sit twice a week +(Monday and Thursday) "in the offyce howse of +assurances" in the Royal Exchange. They were to +be attended by the "register of assurances," whose +business it was to summon witnesses. A poor-box +was to be provided, to which the party assured, on +judgment, should contribute twelve pence.</p> + +<note place="margin">Music and football at the Exchange.</note> + +<p>On Sundays and holy days the Exchange was +enlivened during a portion of the year with the music +of the city waits, who were ordered by the Court of +Aldermen (April, 1572) to play on their instruments +as they had hitherto been accustomed at the Royal +Exchange, from seven o'clock till eight o'clock in the<pb n="502" /><anchor id="Pg502" /> +evening up to the Feast of Pentecost, after which +they were to commence playing at eight p.m., and +"to hold on" till nine p.m. up to Michaelmas.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 17, fo. 300.</p></note> There +is another circumstance connected with the same +building that deserves a passing notice, which is that +football used to be played within its walls, a game +forbidden in 1576 to be played any longer either there +or in any of the city's wards.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 19, fo. 150.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Gresham College and Lectures.</note> + +<p>The citizens of London are indebted to Sir +Thomas Gresham for something more than their +Royal Exchange. By will dated 5th July, 1575, +proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting,<note place="foot"><p>Cal. Wills, Court of Hust., London, ii, 698.</p></note> +Gresham disposed of the reversion of the Royal +Exchange and of his mansion-house in the parish of +St. Helen, Bishopsgate, after the decease of his wife, +to the mayor and corporation of the city and to the +wardens and commonalty of the Mercers' Company in +equal moieties in trust (<hi rend="font-style: italic">inter alia</hi>) for the maintenance +of seven lectures on the several subjects of Divinity, +Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Law, Physic and +Rhetoric. In 1596 these two corporate bodies came +into possession of the property, and in the following +year drew up ordinances for the regulation of the +various lectures. According to the terms of Gresham's +will the lectures were delivered at Gresham House. +When Gresham House, which escaped the Fire of +London, became dilapidated, the City and the +Company on more than one occasion petitioned +Parliament for leave to pull it down and to erect +another building on its site. The proposal, however, +was not entertained, but in the year 1767 an Act was<pb n="503" /><anchor id="Pg503" /><index index="toc" level1="GRESHAM COLLEGE." /> +passed vesting Gresham House in the Crown for the +purpose of an Excise Office, and providing for the +payment by the Crown to the City and Company of +a perpetual annuity of £500 per annum. For some +time the lectures ceased to be delivered for lack of +accommodation. When they were next delivered it +was at the City of London School, where they continued +until Gresham College was erected in Basinghall +Street.<note place="foot"><p>Printed Report "Gresham College Trust," 29 Oct., 1885.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Act of Uniformity strictly enforced, 1565.</note> + +<p>In the meantime Protestantism had been gaining +ground in England as well as on the continent. +Many who in the evil days of the Marian persecution +had sought refuge in Switzerland and Germany had +returned to England as soon as they were assured of +safety under Elizabeth, and had introduced into the +country the religious tenets of Calvin they had learnt +abroad. Elizabeth found herself confronted not only +by Catholics but by Puritans. As she felt herself +seated more strongly on the throne she determined +to enforce more strictly than hitherto the Act of +Uniformity. In 1565 the London clergy were ordered +to wear the surplice and to conform in other particulars. +Between thirty and forty of them—and those +the most intelligent and active of them—refused and +resigned their cures. Their congregations supported +them, and thus a large body of good Protestants were +driven into opposition. But there all action against +them ceased. It was otherwise with the Protestants +on the continent, where a determination arrived at in +the same year that Elizabeth enforced the Act of Uniformity, +to suppress heresy, led to the most horrible<pb n="504" /><anchor id="Pg504" /> +persecution, and drove many of the inhabitants to +seek refuge in England.</p> + +<note place="margin">Gresham's hospitality to Cardinal Chastillon, 1568.</note> + +<p>Of the hundreds of foreigners who sought this +country, driven from France or Spain by religious +persecution,<note place="foot"><p>A return made in 1567 by the livery companies of foreigners +residing in the city and liberties gives the number as 3,562.—Repertory +16, fo. 202. Another authority gives the number as 4,851, of which +3,838 were Dutch.—Burgon's "Life of Gresham," ii, 242, citing Haynes, +p. 461.</p></note> none was more hospitably received than +the brother of the great Coligny, the Cardinal +Chastillon. The Bishop of London having excused +himself entertaining the cardinal at Fulham, his +eminence was lodged and hospitably treated for a +whole week by Gresham. During his visit he paid a +visit, Huguenot as he was, to the French Church +established in the city, where his co-religionists were +allowed to worship without fear of molestation. He +further paid his host the compliment of visiting the +Exchange, then approaching completion. At the end +of the week he removed to Sion House, where +accommodation had been found for him.<note place="foot"><p>Burgon's "Life of Gresham," ii, 271-275.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city crowded with refugees from the continent.</note> + +<p>The influx of refugees from the continent was +far from being an unmixed blessing. Whilst some +settled peacefully down and taught the London artizan +the art of silk-weaving, others betook themselves to +the river's side, where they defied the civic authorities.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 164.</p></note> +A fresh return was ordered to be made of their number.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 116.</p></note> +It became necessary to forbid aliens remaining +in the city more than a day and a night; they might +reside in other places if they liked, but not in the city +of London.<note place="foot"><p>Precept of the mayor to that effect, 19 Oct., 1568.-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 132b.</p></note> Mortality increased so much that a<pb n="505" /><anchor id="Pg505" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY FLOODED WIH POLITICAL REFUGEES." /> +committee hud to be appointed (March, 1569) "to +peruse about the cytie where apte and convenient +places maye be had and founde for the buryall of +the deade in tyme of plage and other tymes of gret +deathe," and to report thereon to the Court of +Aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 451.</p></note> An acre of ground, more or less, near +Bethlem Hospital was subsequently prepared as a +cemetery by the civic authorities,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 180; Letter Book V, fo. 245.</p></note> whilst a friend of +the mayor agreed under certain conditions to enclose +it with a wall, erect a pulpit and make other improvements +at his own cost.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book V, fo. 246. Holinshed (iv, 234) and others give the +whole credit of providing the cemetery to the liberality of Sir Thomas +Rowe, the mayor.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Prince of Orange receives substantial assistance from the citizens.</note> + +<p>In the course of time the persecuted Netherlanders +took heart of grace, encouraged by the gallant +conduct of the Prince of Orange, their leader, no less +than by the active assistance and sympathy of their +brethren in England, who were continually passing to +and fro with munitions of war, in spite of proclamations +to the contrary.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation (15 July, 1568) against suspected persons landing in +England or returning "with any furniture for mayntenaunce of ther +rebellion or other lyke cryme" against the King of Spain.—Journal 18, +fo. 115; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Letter Book V, fos. 181, 246b.</p></note> "Whilst Elizabeth dribbled +out her secret aid to the Prince of Orange the London +traders sent him half-a-million from their own purses, +a sum equal to a year's revenue of the Crown."<note place="foot"><p>Green, "Hist. of the English People," ii, 418.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The decline of Antwerp London's opportunity.</note> + +<note place="margin">The queen applies to the merchant adventurers for a loan.</note> + +<p>The decline of Antwerp which followed Alva's +administration marks the foundation of London's +supremacy in the world of commerce. Hitherto the +queen had been accustomed through Gresham, her<pb n="506" /><anchor id="Pg506" /> +factor, to raise what money she required by loans from +merchants abroad. Merchant strangers were well +content to lend her money at ten or twelve per cent., +seeing that the City of London was as often as not +called upon to give bonds for repayment by way of +collateral security.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 15, fos. 162, 164, 166b, 241b, 258, 267b, 297, etc.</p></note> When that door was closed to +her she turned to her own subjects, the Company of +Merchant Adventurers, to whom she had shown considerable +favour. Her first application to this company +for a loan was, to her great surprise, refused. The +matter was afterwards accommodated through the +intervention of Sir Thomas Gresham; and as the +confidence of the city merchants increased, loans were +afterwards frequently negotiated between them and +the Crown, much to the convenience of one party and +to the advantage of the other.<note place="foot"><p>Strype, Stow's "Survey" (ed. 1720), bk. i, p. 283.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The first public lottery, 1567-1569.</note> + +<p>As another means of raising money Elizabeth had +resort to a lottery—the first public lottery ever held +in London, although the game called "The Lott" was +not unknown in the city in the reign of Henry VIII.<note place="foot"><p>Journal II, fo. 253.</p></note> +The lottery was advertised in 1567 as being a very +rich lottery general, without any blanks, containing a +number of good prizes of ready-money, plate and +divers sorts of merchandise, the same having been +valued by expert and skilful men. The lottery was, +as we should say at the present day, "under the +immediate patronage" of the queen herself, and the +proceeds, after deducting expenses, were to be devoted +to the repair of harbours and other public works conducive +to strengthening the realm. Besides the prizes, of<pb n="507" /><anchor id="Pg507" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FIRST PUBLIC LOTTERY." /> +which a long list is set out in the city's records, there +were to be three "welcomes" or bonuses given to the +first three winners of lots. The first person to whom +a lot should happen to fall was to have for "welcome" +a piece of silver-gilt plate of the value of £50, and +the second and third fortunate drawers were to have +respectively, in addition to their prizes, a piece of gilt +plate of the value of £20. The prizes, the chief of +which amounted to £5,000 sterling, although the +winner was to receive only £3,000 in cash, the rest +being taken out in plate and tapestry,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fos. 55-58; Letter Book V, fos. 115b-117b.</p></note> were exhibited +in Cheapside at the sign of the Queen's Arms, the house +of Antony Derick, goldsmith to Elizabeth and engraver +to the Mint in this and the preceding reign.<note place="foot"><p>Price's "London Bankers" (enlarged edition), p. 51.</p></note> The +mayor and aldermen agreed to put into the lottery +thirty "billes or lottes" at the least under one posy, +viz.:—<hi rend="font-style: italic">God preserve the Cytye of London quod M and A.</hi> +Any profit that might arise from the lots was to be +equally divided between them.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book V, fo. 139.</p></note></p> + +<p>The livery companies of the city were also invited +to subscribe to the lottery as well as the Company of +Merchant Adventurers.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 314.</p></note> On the 4th August the livery +of the Merchant Taylors' Company were summoned +to their hall to declare the amount each individual was +ready to venture—"all under our posy in the name of +this Common Hall," the posy subsequently determined +upon being the following:—</p> + +<lg> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">"One byrde in hande is worthe two in the woode,</l> +<l rend="margin-left: 2">Yff wee have the greate lott it will do us good."<note place="foot"><p>Clode, "Early Hist. of the Guild of Merchant Taylors," pt. ii, +pp. 229-230.</p></note></l> +</lg> + +<pb n="508" /><anchor id="Pg508" /> + +<p>The "reading" of the lottery was postponed till +the 10th January, 1569.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 133b.</p></note> It took place at the west +door of St. Paul's, commencing on the 11th day of +that month, and continued day and night until the +6th May following.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iv, 234.</p></note> It was reported at the time that +Elizabeth withdrew a large sum of the prize-money +for her own use previous to the drawing of the lots, +and this report, whether well founded or not, created +no little disgust among the subscribers.<note place="foot"><p>"Mesmes j'entendz que de la blanque, qu'on a tirée ces jours +passés en ceste ville, ceste Royne retirera pour elle plus de cent mille +livres esterlin, qui sont 33,000 escuz; de quoy le monde murumre assés +pour la diminution qu'ilz trouvent aulx bénéfices qu'ilz esperoient de +leurs billetz"—wrote De la Motlie Fénélon, the French ambassador in +London.—Cooper's "Recueil des Dépéches, etc., des Ambassadeurs de +France (Paris and London, 1838-1840)," i, 155.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">English merchants in Antwerp arrested by order of Alva, 1568.</note> + +<note place="margin">Elizabeth retaliates by seizing treasure on board Spanish vessels.</note> + +<p>Before the close of 1568 Alva had severed the +last links connecting England with the Low Countries +by suddenly seizing and imprisoning all English merchants +found at Antwerp on the ground that certain +Spanish treasure-ships had been detained in England. +Such conduct on his part was characterized by +Elizabeth as "verie straunge and hertofore in no tyme +used betwixt the Crowne of England and the House +of Burgondye w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi> owt some manner of former conferrence +proceedyng and intelligence had of the +myndes and intentions of the prynces themselves +on both sides," and she forthwith issued a proclamation +for the seizure of Spanish vessels and +merchants found in English ports by way of reprisal.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, 6 Jan., 1569.—Journal 19, fo. 139; Letter Book V, +fo. 210.</p></note> +She was careful to show that any former detention of +Spanish vessels served as a mere pretence for Alva's +conduct. Certain Spanish vessels of small tonnage,<pb n="509" /><anchor id="Pg509" /><index index="toc" level1="SEIZURE OF SPANISH VESSELS." /> +called "zabras," had, it was true, entered English +harbours in the west country, and the bullion and +merchandise had been discharged on English soil; but +all this had been done in order to prevent the ships +and cargo falling into the hands of the French ships +which threatened them. Some of the treasure had +been even "borrowed"; but this was not contrary to +the honorable usage of princes in their own dominions. +The Spanish ambassador had called upon her majesty +to ask that the vessels and cargo might be given up, +"pretending the monye to appertaine to the king his +maister," which her majesty had declared her willingness +to assent to as soon as she should have had +communication from the west country. The ambassador, +who was asked to return in four or five +days to receive the ships and treasure, had failed to +appear, and her surprise was great to find that orders +had been given for the arrest of her subjects at +Antwerp on the very day (29 Oct.) that the Spanish +ambassador was with her majesty. Such was the +account of the matter as given in the queen's proclamation +to the citizens of London. But there are +other and contradictory accounts. Whoever may +have been the rightful owner of the treasure, which +in all probability was on its way to Flanders for +payment of Alva's soldiers,<note place="foot"><p>See letter from Sir Arthur Champernowne, William Hawkins and +others to the lords of the council. 1 Jan., 1569.—Cal. State Papers +Dom. (1547-1580), p. 326.</p></note> the opportunity of +dealing a blow to Spain and at the same time of +replenishing the Exchequer at home afforded by the +presence of the ships in English waters was thought +too good to be lost.</p> + +<pb n="510" /><anchor id="Pg510" /> + +<note place="margin">Order to seize Flemish merchants and their goods in London, Jan., 1569.</note> + +<p>On the 5th January the mayor received orders +from Sir Nicholas Bacon to seize all Flemings' goods +to the queen's use, inasmuch as it was quite possible +that what had taken place in Flanders had been +done without the King of Spain's commission. The +following day the mayor informed the council that he +had arrested the bodies and goods of certain merchant +strangers in the city.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 326.</p></note> Throughout the greater part of +the month frequent letters passed between the city, +the merchant adventurers, the merchants of the +staple and the lords of the council concerning Alva's +proceedings and measures to be taken by way of +reprisal. The citizens showed themselves very +anxious to devise measures of retaliation and to avail +themselves to the utmost of the opportunity afforded +them of avenging themselves of their foreign rivals, +as the following memorial signed by the mayor and +nine of the principal merchants of the city proves:—<note place="foot"><p>Cotton MS., Galba C, iii, fo. 151b. This letter was signed by +John Gresham, Thomas Offley, John White, Roger Martyn, Leonell +Duckett, Thomas Heaton, Richard Wheler, Thomas Aldersey and +Francis Beinson.</p></note></p> + +<p>"First, we doe thinck it very needfull and necessary +that w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> all possible speed the bodies, shipps +and goodes of all the subiects of the said king be +had under arrest, and their bodies to be sequestred +from their houses, comptinghouses, books, warehouses +and goods; and they themselves to be +committed unto severall and sure custodie and +keeping. And that alsoe comission may be granted +to sage persons to enquire and trie out all coulorable +transports and contracts don since the <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">XX</hi><hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> of +December last by any of the subiects of the said<pb n="511" /><anchor id="Pg511" /><index index="toc" level1="THE DUKE OF ALVA'S ENVOY IN THE CITY." /> +king or by any other nation. And that a proclamation +be made by the queene's ma<hi rend="vertical-align: super">tes</hi> aucthorite +forthw<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> for the avoiding of collorable bargaines, +transports and contracts hereafter to be made."</p> + +<p>Thomas Rowe<note place="foot"><p>Citizen and Merchant Taylor: Alderman of the Wards of Portsoken +and Bishopsgate; Sheriff, 1560-61. <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ob.</hi> 2 Sept., 1570. Buried +in Hackney Church. He bestowed the sum of £100 for the relief +of members of his company "usinge the brode shire or ell rowinge of +the pearch or making of garmentes" during his lifetime, and some +landed estate in the city by his will for like purpose.—Letter Book V, +fo. 274b; Cal. of Wills, Court of Husting, ii, 686.</p></note> (he had not yet received the +honour of knighthood), who was mayor at the time, +happened to be a connection by marriage of Sir +Thomas Gresham, having married Mary, the eldest +daughter of Sir John Gresham, of Titsey, Sir Thomas's +uncle. It was owing to this connection that the +mayor received information of Alva's arbitrary proceedings +before the news reached the ears of Secretary +Cecil; for Gresham's factor at Antwerp, Richard +Clough, had lost no time in despatching a special +messenger to his master, who, immediately after +hearing the news, broke in upon the mayor's slumbers +at twelve o'clock on the night of the 3rd January in +order to communicate the same to him. The next +morning the mayor wrote to Sir William Cecil +informing him of what had occurred and how under +the circumstances he (the mayor) had taken upon +himself to stay the despatch of letters abroad for a +while.<note place="foot"><p>Letter printed (from original among State Papers Dom.) in +Burgon's "Life of Gresham," ii, 287.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Alva's envoy demands restitution.</note> + +<p>Towards the end of January, 1569, the Duke of +Alva sent over an agent, Monsieur D'Assoleville, to +demand the restitution of the treasure. The mayor +deputed John Gresham and another to escort the<pb n="512" /><anchor id="Pg512" /> +envoy from Gravesend to London, where he was +lodged at Crosby Place, at that time the mansion +house of William Bond, alderman of Candlewick +Street Ward.<note place="foot"><p>Sir Thomas Rowe, mayor, to Secretary Cecil. 23 Jan., 1569.—Cal. +State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 329; Burgon's "Life of +Gresham," ii, 295-296.</p></note> At first he demanded an audience +with the queen herself, but was fain to be content +with a reference to her council.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, 25 Jan.</p></note> The treasure in the +meantime had been removed to London for greater +security.<note place="foot"><p>Cooper's "Dépêches, etc., des Ambassadeurs de France," +i, 176-177.</p></note> Negotiations proving fruitless the agent +returned to Antwerp, "having succeeded in obtaining +from Elizabeth nothing beyond the assurance that +she was ready to surrender the treasure when his +master promised indemnity to all her subjects in the +Low Countries, and agreed solemnly to ratify the +ancient treaty of alliance between the Crown of +England and the House of Burgundy."<note place="foot"><p>Burgon's "Life of Gresham," ii, 297.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Gresham suggests minting the Spanish treasure, 14 Aug., 1569.</note> + +<p>That such a large amount of treasure should be +lying idle did not commend itself to the mind of so +astute a financier as Sir Thomas Gresham. He +accordingly suggested to Sir William Cecil by letter +(14 Aug., 1569) that the queen should cause it to be +minted into her own coin, and thereby make a profit +of £3,000 or £4,000. As for repayment, her majesty +could effect it by way of exchange, to her great profit, +or give bonds for a year or more to the merchants +who owned the money, and who, in Gresham's opinion, +would willingly accede to such proposal.<note place="foot"><p>Lansd. MS., No. xii, fo. 16b.</p></note> Bold as +this suggestion was, it appears, nevertheless, to have +been carried into execution.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 22.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="513" /><anchor id="Pg513" /><index index="toc" level1="MEASURES OF RETALIATION AGAINST SPAIN." /> + +<note place="margin">The City Courts closed to Spanish suitors, 11 July, 1570.</note> + +<p>The hardships already experienced by Spanish +merchants from stoppage of commercial intercourse +with England must have been materially increased the +following year by an order of the Court of Aldermen +(11 July, 1570) to the effect that all matters and suits +brought by merchant strangers, subjects of the King +of Spain, in any of the Queen's Majesty's Courts +within the city of London for the recovery of a +debt should be stayed, and no manner of arrest or +attachment allowed until further notice, unless the +stranger suing were a denizen or a member of the +Church.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 17, fo. 36b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Failure of efforts to effect a mutual restoration of goods seized.</note> + +<note place="margin">Spanish goods ordered to be sold.</note> + +<note place="margin">The respective claims of England and Spain referred to arbitration.</note> + +<p>By proclamation made the last day of June, 1570, +English merchants who had suffered loss by Alva's +proceedings were desired to make a return of such +loss to the officers of one or other of the cities or +towns of London, Southampton, Bristol, Chester, +Newcastle, Hull or Ipswich, as they should find it +most convenient,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 247b; Letter Book V, fo. 301.</p></note> and on the 20th July following +every Englishman into whose hands any goods +belonging to Spanish subjects might have come was +ordered to make a certificate under his hand and seal +into the Court of the Admiralty, in the city of London, +for her majesty to take further order thereon as +should be thought meet.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 257.</p></note> Negotiations, which had +been renewed for mutual restitution, again broke +down, for when the terms on which restitution was to +be effected were to be reduced to writing, or, in +the language of the record, "<hi rend="font-style: italic">put into mundum</hi>,"<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 390b.</p></note> the +Spanish commissioners were found to have no<pb n="514" /><anchor id="Pg514" /> +authority to arrange matters, whilst at the same time +they wished to introduce clauses and conditions +which Elizabeth could in no wise accept. Seeing +that she was being played with, and knowing that +much of the goods of English merchants seized in +Spain and the Netherlands had already been sold, the +queen determined to put up for sale the Spanish +merchandise which for three years had been in +English hands. Proclamation to this effect was made +the 14th January, 1572.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 390b.</p></note> The queen showed every +desire to treat the Spanish merchants with consideration. +The sale was entrusted to Spanish +subjects, who, upon their oath, were to make sale of +all the ships, goods, wares and merchandise arrested, +to the utmost advantage they could; and Spanish +owners were allowed, either by themselves, their +factor or attorney, freely to enter the realm within +thirty days after the date of the proclamation to +attend the sale, provided they made no attempt +against her majesty or the peace of the country and +departed immediately the sale was over. This +proclamation, coupled with the hopelessness of Alva's +case and the manifestation of discontent displayed by +his own ruined merchants, led to articles being drawn +up (25 Mar.) between Elizabeth and the King of +Spain for an adjustment of their respective claims. +Sir Thomas Gresham had previously (4 Feb.) been +directed by letter from Lord Burghley and Sir Walter +Mildmay to deliver up certain bonds of the Governor +and Company of Merchant Adventurers to be cancelled +now that the whole matter was to be referred to +arbitration.<note place="foot"><p>Add. MS., No. 5, 755, fo. 58.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="515" /><anchor id="Pg515" /><index index="toc" level1="THE RISING IN THE NORTH." /> + +<note place="margin">Insurrection of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, 1569.</note> + +<p>To add to the queen's difficulties, Mary, who had +been deposed from the throne of Scotland and had +sought shelter in England, was importuning her for +assistance for the recovery of her lost crown. Whilst +Elizabeth hesitated either to replace her rival in power +or to set her at liberty, the Earls of Northumberland +and Westmoreland endeavoured to carry out a scheme +for marrying Mary to the Duke of Norfolk and forcing +Elizabeth to acknowledge her as successor to the +crown of England. The Duke of Norfolk obeyed +the queen's summons to attend the court, and was +committed to the Tower (Oct., 1569).<note place="foot"><p>In the following year he was removed to the Charterhouse, but +being discovered in correspondence with the deposed Queen of Scots was +again placed in the Tower. He was tried and convicted of treason, and +after some delay executed on Tower Hill.—Holinshed, iv, 254, 262, 264, +267.</p></note> The earls +refused to obey the summons, and rose in insurrection. +On the 24th November they were proclaimed traitors.<note place="foot"><p>The proclamation, which is set out in Journal 19, fo. 202b (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> +Letter Book V, fo. 267b), gives in detail the rise and progress of the +rebellion.</p></note> +Troops were sent against them, but they cowardly +left their supporters to their own fate and fled to +Scotland. The rebellion, fruitless as it proved to be, +caused no little excitement in the city.</p> + +<note place="margin">Measures taken for safe-guarding the city.</note> + +<p>The same day that the earls were proclaimed +traitors the Mayor of London issued his precept to +the several aldermen, enjoining them to take steps +for safe-guarding the city and taking into custody all +rogues, masterless men and vagabonds.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 202; Letter Book V, fo. 267.</p></note> On the +following day another precept was issued to the +several livery companies for providing a certain +number of soldiers, "well and sufficientlie furnyshed +w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> a jerkyn and a paire of gally sloppes of broad<pb n="516" /><anchor id="Pg516" /> +clothe, collor watchet, one calyver w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> flaske and +tuchebox, a moryan, a sworde and a dagger."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 202; Letter Book V, fo. 267.</p></note> +The soldiers were to be ready to serve her majesty +at an hour's warning. The Chamberlain received +orders to amend the several gates of the city and the +portcullises belonging to them, as well as to repair +the city's guns and put them in readiness, and lay in +a stock of powder and shot to serve as occasion +should require.<note place="foot"><p>Letter Book V, fo. 269.</p></note> By the 12th December all fear of +immediate danger had passed away, and the livery +companies were ordered to receive back the armour +and weapons supplied to the soldiers and to keep +them in their hall. The men were to be dismissed to +their several industries, but still to hold themselves in +readiness for service at an hour's warning if occasion +should require them. A week later the soldiers were +dismissed to their houses, those who had no house +being allowed sixpence a day until called upon for +active service.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fo. 206b; Letter Book V, fo. 270b; Repertory 16, +fo. 522b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Papal Bull of excommunication against Elizabeth, 1570.</note> + +<p>Although the rising in the north had failed, the +Catholics were not without hope. They were +encouraged by the issue of a Papal Bull excommunicating +Elizabeth and absolving her subjects from +their allegiance. This Bull was affixed to the door of +the Bishop of London's palace by a man named John +Felton. The queen was alarmed. She believed that +the long-threatened union against her of the Catholic +powers had at length been effected. Felton was +seized and tried at the Guildhall. He was found<pb n="517" /><anchor id="Pg517" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO." /> +guilty, and paid the penalty of his rashness by being +hanged, drawn and quartered.<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iv, 254.</p></note> His exemplary +punishment failed, however, to put a stop to Catholic +intrigues against Elizabeth.</p> + +<note place="margin">Rejoicing in the city after the battle of Lepanto, 7 Oct., 1571.</note> + +<p>The defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto by +Don John of Austria (7 Oct., 1571) was commemorated +two days later in London by a thanksgiving service +at St. Paul's,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, 262.</p></note> which was attended by the mayor, Sir +William Allen,<note place="foot"><p>From Hertfordshire, alderman of Billingsgate Ward.</p></note> the aldermen and members of the +companies in their liveries. In the evening of the +same day bonfires were lighted in the streets of the +city by precept of the mayor.<note place="foot"><p>Dated 8 Nov.—Journal 19, fo. 370b.</p></note> The immediate effect +of the victory was the release of a large number of +captives (variously estimated at 12,000 and 14,000)<note place="foot"><p>Holinshed, iv, 263.</p></note> +from Turkish slavery, for whose redemption the citizens +were constantly being called upon to subscribe.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 17, fos. 8b, 23, 27b, 29. 243, etc.; Repertory 19, fos. +24b, 154, etc.; City Records known as "Remembrancia" (Analytical +Index), pp. 51-55.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Peace and commercial prosperity, 1572.</note> + +<p>Whilst the Low Countries were winning their +way to freedom from the Spanish yoke, and France +was suffering the horrors of Saint Bartholomew's +day (24 Aug., 1572), England remained tranquil, and +the city merchant had little cause to complain, +except, it might be, on account of the number of +strangers who rivalled him in his business.<note place="foot"><p>Stranger denizens, carrying on a handicraft in the city, had +recently preferred a Bill in Parliament against several of the livery +companies. They were persuaded, however, to drop it, and refer their +grievance to the Court of Aldermen.—Repertory 17, fos. 302b, 335, +337. A return made by the mayor (10 Nov., 1571) of the strangers +then living in London and Southwark and liberties thereof gives the +total number as 4,631.—Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), p. 427.</p></note> For the<pb n="518" /><anchor id="Pg518" /> +better preservation of peace members of the French +and the Dutch churches were ordered (28 Sept.) not +to leave their houses after 9 o'clock at night.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 17, fo. 372.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The shifting policy of Elizabeth towards Spain and France, 1572-1574.</note> + +<p>So long as the Spanish king turned a deaf ear to +the exhortations of the Pope, and refused to make a +descent upon England, Elizabeth was able to cope +with Catholicism at home by peaceful measures. But +the time was approaching when she could no longer +refuse to give practical assistance to her struggling +co-religionists on the continent. The Netherlands +had for some time past been preparing for open revolt +against the barbarous government of Alva. In 1572 a +party seized Brill, and thus laid the foundation of the +Dutch Republic. It wanted but the active adhesion of +Elizabeth to enable the French to drive the Spaniards +out of the country, but this the queen was as yet unwilling +to give. Two years later (1574) she offered +her services to effect an understanding between Spain +and the Netherlands, but her mediation proved futile. +Both in 1572 and 1574 there are signs of military +preparations having taken place in the city. In the +first mentioned year Elizabeth held a review of the +city troops in Greenwich Park.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 19, fos. 407-408b, 417-417b; Repertory 17, fos. 292, +298b, 307, 308.</p></note> In 1574 the city +was called upon to furnish 400 soldiers for the queen's +service, and steps were taken to allot to the livery +companies their quota of men or money in view of +future calls.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. i, fos. 133b, 143b; Repertory 18, fo. 224b.</p></note> A store of gunpowder was also laid up.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. i, fo. 156b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Piracy rampant, 1575-1576.</note> + +<p>If one thing more than another was calculated +to precipitate a rupture between England and Spain it<pb n="519" /><anchor id="Pg519" /><index index="toc" level1="FURTHER CALLS FOR MONEY AND MEN." /> +was the action of English seamen, who roved the seas +and indirectly rendered assistance to the Netherlanders +by plundering Spanish vessels, in spite of all +proclamations to the contrary.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. i, fo. 252; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, pt. ii, fo. 280b.</p></note> The Londoner was +not behind-hand in this predatory warfare.</p> + +<note place="margin">A loan of£30,000, June, 1575.</note> + +<note place="margin">A city Chamberlain dismissed from office.</note> + +<p>In June, 1575, the queen borrowed a sum of +£30,000 from the citizens on security.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. i, fos. 228b, 239.</p></note> The money +was subscribed by the wealthier class of citizens, and +a moiety of the loan was repaid in little more than a +twelvemonth.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 19, fo. 98.</p></note> Whatever may have been her faults, +Elizabeth honestly paid her debts, and when she discovered +in 1577 that money which she had repaid to +certain officials had not reached the hands of the +original creditor, she forthwith issued a proclamation +commanding all such creditors to send in their claims +in writing to the chief officer of her majesty's household.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. ii, fo. 371.</p></note> +It is difficult to dissociate altogether this proclamation +from the removal of George Heton from +the office of Chamberlain of the City three months +afterwards.<note place="foot"><p>He was removed by order of Common Council, 13 Dec., <hi rend="font-style: italic">pre +diversis magnis rebus dictam civitatem et negotia ejusdem tangentibus</hi>.—Journal +20, pt. ii, fo. 376b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The city called upon to furnish soldiers, 1578.</note> + +<p>In February, 1578, the City was called upon to +provide 2,000 arquebusiers. Refusal was useless, +although an attempt was made to get the number +reduced to 500. The mayor had scarcely issued his +precept to the aldermen to raise the men before he +received another order for 2,000 to be trained as +directed in handling and using their weapons and kept<pb n="520" /><anchor id="Pg520" /> +in readiness for future service.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. ii, fos. 388b, 389, 394-395b. The queen to the +mayor, etc., of London, 12 March.—Cal. State Papers Dom. (1547-1580), +p. 586.</p></note> One hundred and fifty +men were ordered (12 June) to be ready at an hour's +notice for foreign service.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. ii, fo. 409b.</p></note> Strangers and foreigners +were not exempt.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 404, 408b, 412.</p></note> Some of the city companies were +slow in paying their quota of expenses of fitting out +the men, and pressure had to be brought to bear on +them by the Court of Aldermen.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 19, fo. 346b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Count Casimir at Gresham House, Jan., 1579.</note> + +<note place="margin">Death of Sir Thomas Gresham, 21 Nov., 1579.</note> + +<note place="margin">Count Casimir presented by the city with a gift of 500 marks.</note> + +<p>In the following year Casimir, Count Palatine +of the Rhine, paid a visit to England to answer a +charge brought against him by the English envoy in +Holland, of having used forces against the Netherlanders +which had been despatched from these shores +for their support. On the evening of Thursday, the +22nd January, 1579, the Count landed at the Tower, +where he was received by a party of noblemen and +others, among whom we may conjecture was the +Mayor of London and representatives of the city.<note place="foot"><p>This conjecture is made from the fact of a precept having been +issued on the 20th Jan. for certain persons to furnish themselves with +velvet coats, chains and horses, and a suitable suite, to wait upon the +lord mayor on the following Saturday.—Journal 20, pt. ii, fo. 404b.</p></note> +Thence he was conducted by the light of cressets to +Gresham's house, in Bishopsgate Street, where he was +received with music and lodged and feasted by the +worthy owner for three days. The honour thus +shown to Gresham is only one more proof of the +esteem and respect in which he was universally held +by all parties, and, "in truth," as his biographer +justly remarks,<note place="foot"><p>Burgon's "Life of Gresham," ii, 451-452.</p></note> "his great experience, his long and<pb n="521" /><anchor id="Pg521" /><index index="toc" level1="COUNT CASIMIR ENTERTAINED BY GRESHAM." /> +familiar intercourse with men of all grades and professions, +from princes and nobles—with whom ... +he was on as intimate a footing as the impassable +barrier of rank will permit—to the lowliest of his +own dependants, the knowledge of men and manners +which he must have derived from foreign travel, and +his acquaintance with all the languages of civilised +Europe, must have rendered him, towards the close +of his life especially, as favourable a specimen as +could have been selected of the English gentleman +of that day." Casimir's reception was one of the +last acts of public service performed by Gresham, for +before the close of the year he had died (21 Nov.). +On Sunday (25 Jan.) the Count was conducted to +Westminster for an interview with the queen, after +which lodgings were assigned to him in Somerset +House. The court of Common Council had already +(23 Jan.) voted "Duke Cassimerus" a gratification +"in moneye or anye other thinge" to the value of +500 marks.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, pt. ii, fos. 464, 480.</p></note> His visit was one round of feasting, +hunting and sight-seeing; one day dining with the +lord mayor, another with the merchants of the +Steelyard; one day hunting at Hampton Court, and +another day witnessing athletic sports at Westminster. +That the Count succeeded in clearing his character +may be surmised from the fact of his receiving the +Order of the Garter before his departure.<note place="foot"><p>Continuation of Holinshed, iv, 315.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The plague in the city, 1580-1583.</note> + +<p>In the following year the plague, which had been +very virulent towards the end of 1577, and from which +the city was seldom entirely free, appeared at Rye +(June, 1580). A twelvemonth later it was raging in<pb n="522" /><anchor id="Pg522" /> +London, but as the weather grew colder its virulence +abated, allowing of the resumption of the lord mayor's +feast. The respite was short. In the spring of 1582 +it was again rife in the city, increasing in fatality +during the hot season and continuing until the winter +of 1583.<note place="foot"><p>City Records known as "Remembrancia" (Printed Analytical +Index), pp. 306, 330, 331, 350-352; Journal 20, pt. ii, fos. 373, 379, 407.</p></note> Business was often at a standstill, the law +courts had to be removed to the country, and the +sittings of the London Husting suspended.<note place="foot"><p>Remembrancia (Index), pp. 207, 331, 334; Journal 21, fo. 235b.</p></note></p> + +<p>St. Paul's Churchyard, which served as the burial +ground to no less than twenty-three city parishes, +became overcrowded and greatly added to the insanitary +condition of the city by its shallow graves. +The mayor informed the lords of the council of this +state of affairs by letter (15 May, 1582), in which he +says that scarcely any grave was then made without +exposing corpses, and that the heat of the crowds +standing over the shallow graves caused noxious exhalations. +It was currently reported at the time that +the gravediggers were the cause of the shallow graves +"as being desirous to have the infection spred that +they might gaine by burieng."<note place="foot"><p>Remembrancia, vol. i, No. 331.</p></note></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n="523" /><anchor id="Pg523" /> +<index index="toc" /> +<index index="pdf" /> +<head>CHAPTER XVIII.</head> + +<p></p> + +<div> +<index index="toc" level1="PREPARATIONS FOR WAR." /><head></head> +<note place="margin">Preparations for war.</note> + +<p>The time was fast approaching when the queen +would find herself unable any longer to maintain her +frequent cry to the council board, "No war, my lords, +no war!" and she began to concert measures to +frustrate any attempt that might be made to attack +her crown and realm by the subtle device of the +Pope's emissaries or the more open hostility of +Philip.</p> + +<note place="margin">Troubles in Ireland, 1579-1583.</note> + +<p>There were two ways in which the Pope and +Spain could attack England, the one by making a +descent upon the coast, the other by undermining +the loyalty of the queen's subjects by the aid of missionaries. +A descent upon the English coast was, for +the present at least, out of the question, but it was +possible to wound England by fostering insurrection +in Ireland. Accordingly, in 1579, a large force landed +at Limerick under the authority of the Pope. It +was, however, overpowered and destroyed by Lord +Grey, the lord deputy.<note place="foot"><p>A reference to this defeat is to be found in the Dublin Assembly +Roll under the year 1581.—"Cal. of Ancient Records of Dublin" (ed. +by John T. Gilbert, 1891), ii, 155.</p></note></p> + +<p>Then followed the rebellion under the Earl of +Desmond, who six years before had regained his +liberty on a promise to use his influence to destroy +the Catholic religion in Ireland.<note place="foot"><p>Bright, "Hist. of England," ii, 539.</p></note> Throughout the<pb n="524" /><anchor id="Pg524" /> +Desmond rebellion the Londoners were constantly +being called upon to furnish men and munition of +war. The trouble was protracted by the landing of +a force of 800 men from Spain, with the connivance, +if not with the authority, of Philip. When the +rebellion was suppressed distress drove many Irish to +England, and the city became their chief refuge.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fos. 19, 34, 52, 53, 69b-71b, 78b, etc.; Repertory 20, +fos. 90, 117, 117b, 119b, etc.; Remembrancia (Analytical Index), +pp. 230-236.</p></note> A +special day was appointed for apprehending "all +suche rogishe and begging Ireishe people as well +men weomen as children" as should be found +wandering abroad in the city,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 329b.</p></note> and steps were taken +subsequently to convey all Irish beggars to Bristol +with the view of sending them back to their native +land.<note place="foot"><p>Among Chamber Accounts <hi rend="font-style: italic">circa</hi> 1585 we find the following:—"Pd. +the x of Dec. by order of Courte to Roger Warffeld Treasuro<hi rend="vertical-align: super">r</hi> of +Bridewell towards the conveyinge of all the Irishe begging people in +and nere London to the Citie of Bristowe v<hi rend="vertical-align: super">1.</hi>"—Chamber Accounts, +Town Clerk's Office, vol. ii, fo. 17.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The Jesuits in the city, 1580-1581.</note> + +<p>Whilst appealing to force to accomplish their +object in Ireland, the Catholics resorted to intrigue to +gain the same object in England and Scotland. For +some years past there had been a steady flow from +the continent of seminary priests, who worked silently +and secretly making converts to the old religion. +Every precaution was taken to prevent their inculcating +their dangerous opinions into the minds of the +inhabitants of the city and drawing them off from +their allegiance to the queen and to the established +Church. The aldermen were instructed to make +return of those in their ward who refused to attend<pb n="525" /><anchor id="Pg525" /><index index="toc" level1="JESUITS IN THE CITY." /> +church. This was in 1568.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 16, fo. 350.</p></note> In 1574 all strangers +who had crept into the city under colour of religion +and were found to be of no church were ordered to +leave.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 18, fo. 167.</p></note> In the following year (9 June, 1575) every +stranger was called upon to subscribe the Articles of +religion before he was allowed to take up his residence +within the city, and those who refused to subscribe +or to attend church were to give bond for their +appearance before her Majesty's Commissioners for +Ecclesiastical Causes to answer such matters as should +be objected against them.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 20, fo. 219b.</p></note> The aldermen were +instructed to make diligent search in their several +wards for such as held conventicles under colour of +religion and inter-meddled with matters of State and +civil governance.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 81b; Repertory 20, fo. 1b.</p></note> In 1580 a regular Jesuit mission, +under two priests, Campion and Parsons, was despatched +to England as part of an organised Catholic +scheme. Campion had at one time been a fellow +of St. John's College, Oxford. Their first step was +to remove a difficulty under which devout Catholics +had laboured ever since the issue of the Bull of +excommunication against Elizabeth in 1571. That +Bull had reduced them to the necessity of choosing +between disobedience to the Church and treason to +the queen. The new missionaries helped them out +of the dilemma by explaining that the censures of the +Church only applied to heretics; Catholics might +feign allegiance and the Church would say nothing.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Recusancy Laws, 1581.</note> + +<p>Under these circumstances it can scarcely be +wondered at that the government proceeded to strong<pb n="526" /><anchor id="Pg526" /> +measures—A proclamation was issued requiring +English parents to remove their children from foreign +seminaries, and declaring that to harbour Jesuit priests +was to harbour rebels;<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 90.</p></note> whilst parliament imposed +fines upon all who refused to attend the service of +the established Church, in addition to the penalties +imposed in 1571 upon those who claimed to absolve +subjects from their allegiance and to receive them into +the Church of Rome. In the city a strict watch was +again ordered to be kept on all those who failed to +attend regularly their parish church.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 114b, 135, 290, 322.</p></note> It was further +proposed to appoint special preachers to counteract +the baneful influence of the Jesuit priest, and the +Bishop of London was ordered to make a list of the +best preachers and to appoint them districts.<note place="foot"><p>Remembrancia (Analytical Index), pp. 364, 365.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Special preachers appointed for the city, 1581-1582.</note> + +<p>These instructions Bishop Aylmer forwarded to +the lord mayor with a request for a contribution to +enable him and his associates, the dean of St. Paul's +and the dean of Windsor, to carry them into effect. +The mayor replied (6 Sept., 1581) that, as for himself, +his office was already so burdensome, both in work +and expense, that it would go hard with him if +he was called upon to pay more than any other +parishioner in a Church matter. Both he and his +brethren the aldermen were no less desirous than others +to promote the knowledge of true religion and to inculcate +obedience to the queen by lectures in the city, +but the commons would have to be consulted first. He +enclosed a list of lectures already established in the +several parishes, and drew attention to the great +yearly charge incurred by the companies and private<pb n="527" /><anchor id="Pg527" /><index index="toc" level1="SPECIAL PREACHERS FOR THE CITY." /> +persons in the city in maintaining students at the +universities to serve the Church in the office of +preaching and reading.<note place="foot"><p>As early as 1554 students had been supported by the Corporation +and the Companies at the Universities.—Repertory 13, fos. 144b, 148, +150b.</p></note> This expense, the mayor +said, warranted the City and the Companies asking +to be no further burdened. The writer concluded +by intimating that, however willing the corporation +might be to assist in the good work, its ability to +do so had been much diminished by the indiscreet +demeanour of the bishop's own chaplain, Mr. Dyos, +who had recently defamed the citizens in a public +sermon at Paul's Cross, "as favorers of userers, of the +familye of love and puritanes," saying "that if the +appointing of preachers were committed to us we +wold appointe preachers such as should defend +usirie, the familie of love and puritanisme as they +call it." The City was liable to make mistakes, just +as the bishop himself had made a mistake in appointing +so indiscreet a person for his chaplain, but in other +respects they had no cause to reproach themselves +in the matter of appointments. In conclusion they +desired his lordship to take order for the reparation +of their good fame.</p> + +<p>Hitherto the City had received no direct communications +from the Privy Council on the subject, +but three days after the date of the lord mayor's +letter to the Bishop of London the lords of the +council made a direct appeal to the mayor and +aldermen suggesting that a collection should be +made among the clergy and other inhabitants of +the city in order to "oppose the supersticion of<pb n="528" /><anchor id="Pg528" /> +popery w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">ch</hi> by the coming over of divers Jesuits +and seminarie preistes hath ben of late much increased."<note place="foot"><p>Rembrancia, i, 250, 256 (Analytical Index, pp. 365, 366). Another +difference shortly occurred between the corporation and the Bishop of +London in October of this year. A dispute arose between them as to who +was responsible for keeping St. Paul's Cathedral in repair, each party +endeavouring to throw the burden upon the other (<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, Analytical Index, +pp. 323-327); and in the following March (1582) Bishop Aylmer found +cause to complain by letter of unbecoming treatment by the mayor, both +of the bishop and his clergy, and threatened, unless matters changed for +the better, to admonish the mayor publicly at Paul's Cross, "where the +lord mayor must sit, not as a judge to control, but as a scholar to learn, +and the writer, not as John Aylmer to be thwarted, but as John London, +to teach him and all London."—(<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, <hi rend="font-style: italic">ibid.</hi>, pp. 128-129).</p></note> +Little appears to have been done in the +matter by the civic authorities until the beginning of +the next year, when the first step was taken by the +appointment of a committee (25 Jan., 1582).<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 20, fo. 282.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Arrest and execution of Campion.</note> + +<p>Campion meanwhile had been arrested and subjected +to cruel torture. He was eventually executed. +Parsons, his companion, escaped to the continent, where +he continued to carry on an intrigue against the life +of Elizabeth in conjunction with Allen, who some +years before had established the famous seminary at +Donay for the purpose of keeping up a supply of +Jesuit priests for England.</p> + +<note place="margin">Breach with Spain, Jan., 1584.</note> + +<p>In 1583—soon after Edward Osborne<note place="foot"><p>Son of Richard Osborne, of Ashford, co. Kent. The story goes that +he was apprenticed to Sir William Hewet, clothworker, and that he +married his master's daughter, whom he had rescued from a watery grave +in the Thames at London Bridge. His son, Sir Edward Osborne, was +created a baronet by Charles I, and his grandson, Sir Thomas, made +Duke of Leeds in 1692 by King William III.</p></note> had been +elected to the mayoralty—a conspiracy, which had +long been on foot, for the assassination of Elizabeth +and the invasion of England by a French army was +discovered. Matters began to look serious, and it +behoved the queen to dismiss the Spanish ambassador<pb n="529" /><anchor id="Pg529" /><index index="toc" level1="PREPARATIONS FOR WAR." /> +from England (Jan., 1584) and to see to her forces. +Lord Burghley drew up "a memoryall of dyvers +thynges nesessary to be thought of and to be put +in execution for this sommer for y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> strength of +y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> realme to serve for martiall defence ageynst ether +rebellion or invasion,"<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 157. The right of holding +musters in Southwark was again questioned; and the claim of the city +was upheld by Sir Francis Walsingham. For this he received the thanks +of the lord mayor by letter dated 15 Feb.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 159.</p></note> containing suggestions for +holding musters and training soldiers. The navy was +got ready for sea.</p> + +<note place="margin">Muster of 4,000 men in Greenwich Park, 1584.</note> + +<p>In April (1584) the City received orders to muster +4,000 men and to revive the military shows on the +eve of the Feasts of St. John the Baptist and St. Peter +the Apostle as accustomed to be held in the days of +Henry VIII. These displays had gradually fallen into +desuetude; it was now the queen's policy to renew +them.<note place="foot"><p>"A lettre from the quenes ma<hi rend="vertical-align: super">t</hi>y for y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> mustringe of 4000 men, +and also for the shewes on the evens of St. John Baptist and St. Peter +thapostles."—Journal 21, fo. 421b.</p></note> The citizens showed themselves equal to the +emergency, and "mustered and skirmished" daily at +Mile End and St. George's Field, so that in little more +than a month they were in a fit state of discipline and +training to appear in Greenwich Park before the queen +herself, who thanked them graciously for their energy +and pains, and declared that she had no subjects more +ready to suppress disloyalty and to defend her person.<note place="foot"><p>Contin. of Holinshed, v, 599, 600.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Assassination of Prince of Orange, 10 July, 1584.</note> + +<p>In July news arrived of the assassination of the +Prince of Orange (10 July). Englishmen well knew +that those who plotted against his life were plotting +also against the life of their queen, and with wonderful +unanimity—Catholics and Protestants alike—they<pb n="530" /><anchor id="Pg530" /> +joined in a "Bond of Association" for the defence of +her majesty's person. The terms of the association +were afterwards embodied in a bill and submitted to +parliament, specially summoned for the purpose.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 388b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Dutch envoys to Elizabeth, June, 1585.</note> + +<p>Staggered by the sudden loss of their beloved +leader, the Netherlanders despatched envoys the +following year (1585) to England offering to acknowledge +Elizabeth as their sovereign. Upon their +arrival in London the envoys were lodged and +hospitably entertained—although not at the City's +expense—in Clothworkers' Hall,<note place="foot"><p>Stow's Annals (ed. 1592), pp. 1198-1201.</p></note> and on the 29th +June were received in audience by the queen at +Greenwich. After much hesitation, as was her wont, +she at last consented to take the Netherlands under +her protection and to despatch troops to their assistance, +but only on condition that the States gave +security for expenses to be incurred.<note place="foot"><p>Motley, "United Netherlands," i, pp. 318-324.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Recruits for service in the Low Countries, July, 1585.</note> + +<p>On the 9th July the mayor, Sir Thomas Pullison,<note place="foot"><p>For particulars of his life see Remembrancia (Analytical Index), +p. 284, note.</p></note> +issued his precept to the aldermen for each to make +a survey in his ward of all such persons as were suitable +and willing for service in the Low Countries, +where it was intended they should have good +allowance.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 448b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The fall of Antwerp and despatch of Leicester to the Low Countries, 1585.</note> + +<p>Every effort was made to save Antwerp, but it +was too late. By chaffering and bargaining with the +envoys Elizabeth had lost her opportunity and +Antwerp fell (19 Aug.). She could be resolute at<pb n="531" /><anchor id="Pg531" /><index index="toc" level1="THE FALL OF ANTWERP." /> +times, but it wanted much to rouse her into activity. +The news of Antwerp's fall administered to her the +necessary incitement to deal "roundly and resolutely" +with her new allies. Fresh forces were despatched +to Flanders under the Earl of Leicester, making in +all some 10,000 men that had already been sent +thither, nearly one-fourth of which had been furnished +by the city of London.<note place="foot"><p>"Thaccompte of the saide chamberlyn for the transportacioun and +necessary provision of <hi rend="font-variant: small-caps">MMCCCCXX</hi> soldiers into the lowe countryes of +Flaunders."—Chamber Accounts, vol. ii, fos. 56-58b.</p></note> The queen grumbled at +having to send so many—"I have sent a fine heap +of folk thither, in all ... not under 10,000 +soldiers of the English nation," said she to the +envoys in October<note place="foot"><p>Motley, "United Netherlands," i, 340.</p></note>—and she kept the earl so short +of money that he had to mortgage his estate.<note place="foot"><p>Chamber Accounts, ii, 134. The earl's honor of Denbigh, North +Wales, was mortgaged to certain citizens of London, and not being +redeemed, was afterwards purchased by the queen herself.—Repertory +22, fo. 287.</p></note> The +City did what it could and made him a present of +£500 in "newe angells," but the City itself was in +pecuniary difficulties and was compelled to borrow or +"take up" money to defend its title to its own +lands,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 21, fos. 308-311.</p></note> which had been in constant jeopardy ever +since the appointment of the royal commission to +search for "concealed lands" in 1567.<note place="foot"><p>For many years after the passing of the Act (1 Edw. VI, c. 14) +confiscating property devoted to "superstitious uses," the corporation +and the livery companies were the objects of suspicion of holding +"concealed lands," <hi rend="font-style: italic">i.e.</hi> lands held charged for superstitious uses, which +they had failed to divulge. The appointment of a royal commission +to search for such lands was submitted to the law officers of the city +for consideration, 9 Sept., 1567.—Repertory 16, fo. 276b. Vexatious +proceedings continued to be taken under the Act until the year 1623, +when a Statute was passed, entitled "An Act for the General Quiet of the +Subjects against all Pretences of Concealment whatsoever."—Stat. 21, +James I, c. ii.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="532" /><anchor id="Pg532" /> + +<note place="margin">The city flooded with strangers from France and Flanders.</note> + +<p>The direct effect of the fall of Antwerp upon +the city of London was to flood its streets more +than ever with strangers, and on the 30th October, +1585, the mayor was once more called upon by the +lords of the Privy Council to make a return of the +number of strangers within the city, and more +especially of the number of French and Flemish +strangers that had arrived "sithens the beginninge of +the presente trobles moved by the house of Guise +in Fraunce and the rendringe of the towne of +Andwerpe."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 1.</p></note> In April and May of the following +year (1586) the year of the disastrous battle at +Zutphen and of the death of the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Chevalier sans peur +et sans reproche</hi>, Sir Philip Sidney—another call was +made in the city for volunteers for service in the +Low Countries,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 26, 29.</p></note> and the civic companies were +ordered to lay in a stock of gunpowder to be ready +"uppon eny ymminent occacioun."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 37b; Repertory 21, fo. 288b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Discovery of the Babington plot, Aug., 1586.</note> + +<p>Whilst operations, more or less active, were +being carried on in the Netherlands against Spain, a +new Catholic conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth, +with Anthony Babington at its head, was discovered +by Walsingham. The delight of the citizens +at the queen's escape drew forth from her a letter +which she desired to be read before the Common +Council, and in which she testified her appreciation +of their loyalty. The letter was introduced to the +council by some prefatory remarks made by James +Dalton, a member of the court, in which he expatiated +upon the beauties of the reformed Church<pb n="533" /><anchor id="Pg533" /><index index="toc" level1="THE BABINGTON CONSPIRACY." /> +as contrasted with the Roman religion.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 52-53. Both the queen's letter and Dalton's +speech are printed in Stow's Continuation of Holinshed, iv, 902-904.</p></note> The discovery +of the plot led to stringent measures being taken +against suspected persons in the city, and returns +were ordered to be made setting forth for each ward: +(1) the names of the ablest men for service, (2) the +names of those past service, (3) the names of all who +were suspected as to religion, and (4) the names of +all strangers born.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 48, 57b, 58; Repertory 21, fo. 327.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Execution of Mary Stuart, 8 Feb., 1587.</note> + +<p>The discovery had also another effect: it +brought the head of Mary Stuart to the block. A +commission of peers sitting at Fotheringhay found +that the conspiracy had been "with the privitie of +the said Marie pretending tytle to the crowne of the +realme of England," and it only remained for +Elizabeth to sign the warrant for her execution to +remove for ever a dangerous rival. This, however, +the queen long hesitated to do, and when at length +prevailed upon she caused public proclamation to be +made of the reasons which induced her to take the +extreme course.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated Richmond, 4 Dec., 1586.—Journal 22, fo. 67b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A threatened famine in the city, Nov., 1586</note> + +<p>To add to the general gloom, England was +threatened before the close of the year (1586) with a +famine, caused partly by the inclemency of the +seasons and partly by a "corner" in wheat, which +some enterprising engrossers had managed to bring +about.<note place="foot"><p>Royal Proclamation against engrossers of corn, 2 Jan., 1587.—Journal +22, fo. 74.</p></note> In November the mayor caused the city +companies to lay in 6,000 or 7,000 quarters of wheat +and rye for the relief of those who had already<pb n="534" /><anchor id="Pg534" /> +suffered from the extreme dearth, and to raise a sum +of £2,500 over and above such sums as they had +hitherto disbursed for the provision of corn and +grain,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 64.</p></note> and the Court of Aldermen (3 Jan., 1587) +agreed to erect a new garner at the Bridgehouse.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 21, fo. 370b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Philip's preparations for invasion, 1587.</note> + +<p>After the execution of Mary Stuart, Philip of +Spain laid claim to the crown of England. For years +past he was known to have been preparing a fleet for +an invasion of the country. Preparations were now +almost complete, and in 1587 expectation was that +the fleet might be seen any day bearing down +upon the English coast. The inhabitants of villages +and towns on the south coast forsook their homes in +terror of the invasion and sought shelter inland.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 21, fo. 136b.</p></note> +The evil hour was put off by the prompt action of +Drake, who, with four ships of the royal navy and +twenty-four others supplied by the City and private +individuals,<note place="foot"><p>Motley, "United Netherlands," ii, 281.</p></note> appeared suddenly off the Spanish coast, +and running into Cadiz and Lisbon, destroyed tons +of shipping under the very nose of the Spanish lord +high admiral, and threw into the sea the vast military +stores that had been accumulated there. Having +thus accomplished the object for which he set sail—that +of "singeing the king of Spain's beard"—he +returned, and the sailing of the Armada was put off +for a year.</p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations in England, 1587-1588.</note> + +<p>Preparations were in the meanwhile pushed on +in the city to meet the attack whenever it should be +made. Ten thousand men were levied and equipped +in a short space of time.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 144, 161b, 166-167b, 170b.</p></note> Any inhabitant of the city<pb n="535" /><anchor id="Pg535" /><index index="toc" level1="PREPARATIONS TO MEET THE ARMADA." /> +assessed in the subsidy-book at £50 in goods, and +who, being under fifty years of age, was called upon +to serve, and refused, was forthwith committed to +Newgate.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 190.</p></note> If any fault was to be found with the +city's force it was the inefficiency of its officers, +whom the municipal authorities always claimed to +appoint. The Earl of Leicester, who was in command +of the camp which had been formed at Tilbury, held +but a poor opinion of Londoners as a fighting force.<note place="foot"><p>Only 1,000 men out of the force raised by the city went to +Tilbury, and the earl only consented to receive this small contingent +on condition they brought their own provisions with them, so scantily +was the camp supplied with victuals through the queen's parsimony.—Remembrancia +(Analytical Index), p. 244. Letter from Leicester to +Walsingham, 26 July.—Cal. State Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 513.</p></note> +"For your Londoners," wrote the earl to Walsingham,<note place="foot"><p>Leicester to Walsingham, 28 July, 1588.—State Papers Dom., +vol. ccxiii, No. 55.</p></note> +I see their service will be little, except they have +their own captains, and having them, I look for +none at all by them when we shall meet the +enemy." He declares that he knows what burghers +be well enough, even though they be "as brave and +well trained" as the Londoners; they would be +useless without good leaders,<note place="foot"><p>William of Malmesbury bears similar testimony to the courage of +Londoners under good leadership: <hi rend="font-style: italic">Laudandi prorsus viri et quos +Mars ipse collata non sperneret hasta si ducem habuissent</hi>.—Gesta +Regum (Rolls Series, No. 90), i, 208.</p></note> and on this he had +always insisted. He warns Walsingham against yielding +to the wishes of "townsmen" at such a critical +juncture, for they would look for the like concession +at other times. The Londoners were not peculiar +in their desire to have their own officers, according +to the earl's own showing, for the letter continues:—"You +and my lords all know the imperfection<pb n="536" /><anchor id="Pg536" /> +at this time, how few leaders you have, and the +gentlemen of the counties here are likewise very +loth to have any placed with them to command +under them, but well pleased to have some expert +man with them to give them advice." Two years +later a code of regulations for the "trayninge of +capytaynes" was forwarded by the government to +the city, and there put into execution.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 22, fo. 148b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City fits out sixteen ships and four pinnaces.</note> + +<p>In addition to the land force the City agreed +(3 April, 1588) to furnish and fully equip for war +sixteen of the largest and best merchant ships that +could be found in the Thames, and four pinnaces to +attend on them.<note place="foot"><p>A list of "the London shippes" (including pinnaces), dated +19 July, 1588, is preserved among the State Papers (Domestic) at the +Public Record Office (vol. ccxii, No. 68), and is set out in the +Appendix to this work. Two other lists, dated 24 July, giving the +names of the ships (exclusive of pinnaces) are also preserved (State +Papers Dom., vol. ccxiii, Nos. 15, 16). Each of these lists give the +number of vessels supplied by the city against the Armada as sixteen +ships and four pinnaces, or as twenty ships (inclusive of pinnaces). It +is not clear what was the authority of Stow (Howes's Chron., p. 743) +for stating that the city, having been requested to furnish fifteen ships +of war and 5,000 men, asked for two days to deliberate, and then +furnished thirty ships and 10,000 men. At the same time there does +exist a list of "shipps set forth and payde upon y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> charge of y<hi rend="vertical-align: super">e</hi> city of +London, anno 1588" (that is to say, the ships furnished by the city +for that whole year), and that list contains the names of thirty ships, +with the number of men on board each vessel and the names of the +commanders.—State Papers Dom., vol. ccxxxii, fos. 16, 16b.</p></note> A committee was nominated to sit +at Clothworkers' Hall and take the necessary steps for +fitting out the vessels, the cost of which was to be +met by an assessment on citizen and stranger alike.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 173. The assessment was afterwards (19 April) +settled at three shillings in the pound.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 175.</p></note> +Nothing was said at the time about victualling the +fleet, but we learn from a later entry in the City's +Journal that they were victualled for three months. +On the 16th July the City agreed to supply victuals<pb n="537" /><anchor id="Pg537" /><index index="toc" level1="THE ADVENT OF THE ARMADA." /> +for "those twentie shipps lately sett forth" for one +month longer, and on the 10th August the Common +Council again passed a similar resolution.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 193, 200b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The fate of the Armada, July, 1588.</note> + +<p>At last the blow fell. On Friday, the 19th (o.s.) +July, the Armada was sighted off the Lizard. A +strong wind from the south-west was blowing at the +time, and it was thought advisable to let the fleet +pass and to follow it up with the English vessels +then lying in Plymouth harbour. On the following +day the two fleets hove in sight of each other. +According to the report made to Walsingham by +Richard Tomson—a Londoner serving on board the +<hi rend="font-style: italic">Margaret and John</hi>, one of the ships furnished by the +City—the Spanish fleet numbered at that time 136 +sail, ninety of which were large vessels, whilst the +English fleet numbered no more than sixty-seven.<note place="foot"><p>Richard Tomson to Walsingham, 30 July, 1588.—Cal. State +Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 517.</p></note></p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the great superiority of the +enemy's fleet in numbers and tonnage, the English +admiral, Lord Howard, opened fire the next morning, +but took care not to come to close quarters. "We +had some small fight with them that Sunday +afternoon," reported Hawkins to Walsingham.<note place="foot"><p>Hawkins to Walsingham, 31 July, 1588.—Cal. State Papers +Dom. (1581-1590), p. 517.</p></note> +The admiral had other reasons for preserving caution. +His ships were but ill-furnished with provisions and +with ammunition, and even thus early he had to beg +the Secretary of State to send him "for God's sake +some powder and shot."<note place="foot"><p>Howard to the same, 21 July.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, p. 507.</p></note> The same deficiency of +ammunition was experienced the whole time that<pb n="538" /><anchor id="Pg538" /> +the two fleets were opposed to each other, and but +for this the enemy would not have got off so cheaply +as it did. Scarcely a day passed without some +cannonading taking place, but never a general engagement. +The English trusted to their superior +seamanship and to the greater activity of their own +light vessels compared with the heavier and more +unwieldly Spanish galleons. Again and again they +poured broadside after broadside into the enemy, but +always making good their retreat before the Spanish +vessels could turn in pursuit. On Tuesday (23 July), +wrote Hawkins, they had "a sharp and long fight" off +Portland, on Thursday "a hot fraye." And thus the +Armada made its way up channel, pestered with the +swarm of English vessels that would never leave it at +peace. On the Saturday following (27 July) it finally +dropped anchor in Calais roads, with the intention of +awaiting there the arrival of Alexander Farnese with +his promised aid before making a direct descent upon +the English coast. Farnese did not arrive for the +reason that he was blockaded by the Dutch fleet; +but the English received an accession of strength by +the arrival of Lord Henry Seymour with a squadron +of sixteen ships, which hitherto had been lying off +Folkestone.<note place="foot"><p>Sir William Wynter to Walsingham, 1 Aug., 1588.—Cal. State +Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 521.</p></note></p> + +<p>At this juncture the lord mayor (Sir George +Bond), having received information of the critical +state of affairs and that a general engagement was +imminent, issued his precept to the aldermen to +summon the pastors and ministers of each ward, and +bid them call their parishioners to church by toll of<pb n="539" /><anchor id="Pg539" /><index index="toc" level1="RICHARD TOMSON AND HIS EXPLOIT." /> +bell or otherwise, both in the morning and afternoon +of this eventful Saturday, in order that humble and +hearty prayers might be offered to Almighty God +"by preaching and otherwise," as the necessity of the +times required.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 196b.</p></note> Three days before (24 July) he had +given orders for a strict watch and ward to be kept in +the city, and for a goodly supply of leather buckets +in case of fire.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 196.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Richard Tomson and the London ship <hi rend="font-style: italic">Margaret and John</hi>.</note> + +<p>After more than one consultation together, the +English commanders determined to resort to stratagem. +They sent for a number of useless hulks from Dover, +and having filled them with every kind of combustible, +sent them all aflame on Sunday night into the thick +of the enemy. The result was a panic; cables were +cut and frantic attempts made to escape what seemed +imminent and wholesale destruction. The ships fell +foul of each other; some were wrecked and others +burnt. When Monday morning dawned only eighty-six +vessels out of 124 that had anchored off Calais +thirty-six hours before could be found, and these for +the most part were seen driving towards the coast of +Flanders. The English fleet at once prepared to +follow in pursuit, but attention was for a time drawn +off to the action of the flagship of the squadron +of galeasses, a huge vessel which had become disabled +by loss of rudder, and the crew of which +were endeavouring by the aid of oars to bring +into Calais harbour. The Lord Admiral Howard at +once bore down upon her in the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ark</hi>, but the water +proved too shallow. The London ship <hi rend="font-style: italic">Margaret +and John</hi> followed suit and, although of less tonnage +than the <hi rend="font-style: italic">Ark</hi>, got aground. Richard Tomson sent<pb n="540" /><anchor id="Pg540" /> +home a graphic account of the exploit that followed.<note place="foot"><p>Tomson to Walsingham, 30 July, 1588.—State Papers Dom., +vol. ccxiii, No. 67.</p></note> +Both ships sent out long boats to capture the rich prize +as she lay stuck fast upon the harbour bar. Tomson +himself formed one of the little band of volunteers. The +boats were soon alongside the galeass, its huge sides +towering high above them. There then ensued "a +pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," wrote Tomson, "but +they seemed safely ensconced in their ships, while we +in our open pinnaces and far under them had nothing +to shroud and cover us." Fortune at last favoured the +attackers. The Spanish commander fell dead on his +deck with a bullet through his head. A panic seized +the sailors, most of whom jumped overboard and +tried by swimming and wading to reach the shore. +Some succeeded, but many were drowned; whilst +those who remained on board signified their readiness +to capitulate by hoisting a couple of "handkerchers" +on rapiers. The English lost no time in clambering +up the sides of the monster, and at once commenced +plundering the vessel and releasing the galley slaves. +They were only waiting for the tide to take their +prize in tow and carry her off when they were warned +by the governor of Calais against making any such +attempt. They were free to plunder the vessel if +they liked, but make prize of the vessel itself they +must not, and this order the governor showed +himself ready and able to enforce by opening fire +from the fort. Tomson and his fellow volunteers +were heartily disgusted at having after all to surrender +their prize, "the verye glory and staye of the Spanish +armye, a thing of very great value and strength."</p> + +<pb n="541" /><anchor id="Pg541" /> + +<note place="margin">The naval engagement off Gravelines 29 July, 1588.</note> + +<p>This exploit being ended and the long boats +having returned to their respective ships, the lord +admiral started in pursuit of the Spaniards. Seeing +them coming up the Spanish commander immediately +prepared for action. An engagement—described by +Hawkins as "a long and great fight"—took place off +Gravelines and lasted six hours. The English pursued +the same tactics as before, and with like success. +Without losing a single ship of their own they succeeded +in riddling the best Spanish ships through and +through, and at last the Armada was forced to bear +away towards the open sea. The English followed +and made a pretence of keeping up the attack, but by +this time nearly all their ammunition as well as food +had given out.</p> + +<note place="margin">The Armada driven northward.</note> + +<p>From Tuesday (30 July) until the following +Friday (2 Aug.) the pursuit was, nevertheless, maintained +by Howard, Drake and Frobisher. On Sunday +(4 Aug.) the strong south-wester which had prevailed +rose to a gale, and the English fleet made its way +home with difficulty. It was otherwise with the +Armada. Crippled and forlorn, without pilots and +without competent commander, the great fleet was +driven northward past the Hebrides and eventually +returned home in a decimated condition by the west +coast of Ireland.</p> + +<note place="margin">Preparations in the city for receiving sick and wounded, 29 July.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the civic authorities took order +for receiving the sick and wounded and administering +to their comfort. Two aldermen—Sir Thomas Pullison +and Sir Wolstan Dixie—were deputed (29 July) by +their brethren to ride abroad among the innholders, +brewers, bakers and butchers of the city to see that +they did not enhance the price of provisions and that<pb n="542" /><anchor id="Pg542" /> +they well entertained all soldiers who arrived in the +city.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 21, fo. 578.</p></note> The City agreed, moreover, to re-victual the +ships it had furnished and to provide them with +munition and other requisites. A fresh tax was +imposed for the purpose of "marine and land +affairs."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 200b; Cal. State Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 510.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Reports as to the fate of the Armada, July-Aug., 1588.</note> + +<p>It was a long time before any certain news +arrived in the city of the ultimate fate of the Armada. +There had been rumours abroad that the English fleet +had been victorious—with so many Londoners serving +in the fleet, it would have been strange indeed if their +friends at home had been kept in absolute ignorance +of what was taking place in the channel—and bonfires +had been lighted, but these rumours were often incorrect +and sometimes lead to mischief. The mayor +therefore issued his precept to the aldermen on the +30th July—the day after the engagement off Gravelines—bidding +them see that the inhabitants of their +several wards refrained from crediting any news that +might be reported of the vessels at sea but what they +received from the mayor himself. The precaution +was necessary "for the avoyding of some dislike that +may come thereof."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 197.</p></note> On the 1st August, so critical +were the times, the mayor issued a precept by the +queen's orders forbidding householders to quit the +city, that they might the better be ready for the +queen's service if required.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 199b.</p></note> On the 4th the citizens +were informed that if they had any friend or servant +detained as prisoner in the Spanish dominion, or +bound to the galleys, whom they wished to set free,<pb n="543" /><anchor id="Pg543" /><index index="toc" level1="THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S." /> +they might have Spanish prisoners allotted to them +to assist towards ransom.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 200.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The queen attends a public thanksgiving service at St. Paul's, 24 Nov., 1588.</note> + +<p>The first public notification of the complete destruction +of the Armada was made in a thanksgiving +sermon preached by the Dean of St. Paul's on Tuesday, +the 20th August, at Paul's Cross, in the presence +of the mayor and aldermen and the livery companies +in their best gowns.<note place="foot"><p>Nichols' "Progresses of Q. Elizabeth," ii, 537.</p></note> In November the queen resolved +to attend a public thanksgiving service at St. Paul's in +person, Monday, the 18th, being the day that was +originally fixed. Great preparations were made for +the occasion. The livery companies were ordered to +take up their appointed stations at eight o'clock in the +morning and to follow in the train of the royal +procession until the "preaching place" was reached. +Places were to be kept by a detachment of the +"yeomanry" of each company sent on at six o'clock +for that purpose. The "governors of the hospital" +of each company were also to attend, staff in hand, +and repair to the "skaffold" for them appointed. +After dinner the companies were to return immediately +to their stations and to wait there until her +majesty returned to Somerset House.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 233, 235.</p></note> The day +was afterwards changed from Monday, the 18th, to +Sunday, the 24th, when the queen came in great +state to St. Paul's. After prayers she took her +seat in a closet built out of the north wall of the +church and facing Paul's Cross, where she heard a +sermon preached by the Bishop of Salisbury. That +being over she was entertained at dinner in the<pb n="544" /><anchor id="Pg544" /> +bishop's palace, and afterwards returned to Somerset +House.<note place="foot"><p>Nichols' "Progresses of Q. Elizabeth," ii, 538, 539.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Monuments in city churches to Frobisher, Hawkins and Martin Bond.</note> + +<p>Whilst the City is justly proud of its own share +in the defence of the kingdom at this great crisis +in the nation's history, it has not neglected to give +honour where honour was most due. Of the great +naval commanders the "sea dogs" of that age—the +faces of at least two of them were familiar to the +citizens. Both Frobisher and Hawkins owned property +in the city, and in all probability resided there, +like their fellow seaman and explorer, Sir Humphrey +Gilbert, who was living in Red Cross Street, in +the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in 1583, the +year that he met his death at sea.<note place="foot"><p>On the 7th Feb., 1583, previously to setting out on his last ill-fated +expedition, Gilbert addressed a letter to Walsingham from "his +house in Redcross Street."—Cal. State Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 95.</p></note> The same parish +claims Frobisher, whose remains (excepting his entrails, +which were interred at Plymouth, where he +died) lie buried in St. Giles's Church, and to whom a +mural monument was erected by the vestry in 1888, +just three centuries after the defeat of the Armada, to +which he had contributed so much. If Hawkins himself +did not reside in the city, his widow had a mansion +house in Mincing Lane.<note place="foot"><p>See the will of Dame Margaret Hawkins, dated 23 April, 1619.—Cal. +of Wills, Court of Hust., London, ii, 745. The will contains +many bequests of articles which savour of Spanish loot.</p></note> He, too, had probably +lived there, for although he died and was buried at +sea, a monument was erected to his memory and that +of Katherine, his first wife, in the church of St. +Dunstan-in-the-East.<note place="foot"><p>Strype, Stow's "Survey" (1720), bk. ii, p. 44.</p></note> There is one other—a citizen +of London and son of an alderman—whose name has<pb n="545" /><anchor id="Pg545" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CAMP AT TILBURY." /> +been handed down as having taken an active part in +the defence of the kingdom at this time, not at sea, +but on land. A monument in the recently restored +church of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, tells us that Martin +Bond, son of Alderman William Bond, "was captaine +in ye yeare 1588 at ye campe at Tilbury, and after +remained chief captaine of ye trained bands of this +citty until his death." The monument represents +him as sitting in a tent guarded by two sentinels, with +a page holding a horse.</p> + +<note place="margin">Disorganized state of the camp at Tilbury.</note> + +<p>It was well that the Spaniards suffered defeat at +sea, for had they been able to effect a landing they +would have made short work with the half-trained +and dissatisfied soldiers in the camp at Tilbury, and +London would have been at their mercy. Even the +presence of Elizabeth herself, riding on horseback +through the camp, as she did on the 8th August, was +but poor compensation to the soldiers for the want of +victuals and wages. Many sold their armour and +weapons to pay themselves as soon as the camp broke +up. Citizens of London were warned by royal proclamation +(20 Aug.)<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 202b.</p></note> against purchasing armour and +weapons offered by soldiers, who were declared to +"have most falsly and slanderously given out that +they weare compelled to make sale of them for +that they receaved noe pay, which is most untruely +reported." Any armour or weapons bought before +publication of the proclamation was to be delivered +up to the mayor with particulars as to the way the +purchase had been effected and compensation would +be allowed.</p> + +<pb n="546" /><anchor id="Pg546" /> + +<note place="margin">City loans of £30,000 and £20,000, Sept.-Dec., 1588.</note> + +<p>Notwithstanding the extreme parsimony with +which Elizabeth had fitted out both army and navy, +the cost of preparations to meet the attack of Spain +had been great, and she was obliged to borrow money. +In September (1588) the City advanced her the sum +of £30,000, receiving her bond for repayment in the +following March; and in the following December she +borrowed a further sum of £20,000 to be repaid by +the following April. Both sums were raised among +the livery companies.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 210; Repertory 21, fos. 590b, 593; Repertory 22, +fos. 15, 26b, 27; Cal. State Papers Dom. (1581-1590), p. 471.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Expedition to Spain under Norris and Drake, April-July, 1589.</note> + +<p>In March of the following year (1589) parliament +granted a liberal supply, but the grant was accompanied +by a request that Elizabeth would no longer +await the assaults of Spain, but carry the war into the +enemy's country. This the queen declared her inability +to undertake on the score of poverty. She +promised, however, to give what assistance she could +to any of her subjects who relished such enterprise. +Norris and Drake were at hand, ready and willing +to undertake the work on these terms. Already +(in January) the City had been called upon to furnish +them with 400 strong and able men.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 252; Repertory 22, fo. 16b.</p></note> At the end of +March 1,000 more were required, and each alderman +was instructed to search in his ward for all able and +masterless men and all other persons fit for service +that were householders and not charged with families, +and to bring them to the Leadenhall.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fos. 227b, 278.</p></note> With these +and other forces the expedition set sail, but beyond +storming Vigo and committing some damage at<pb n="547" /><anchor id="Pg547" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND DISBANDED SOLDIERS." /> +Corunna, it accomplished nothing and returned in +July.</p> + +<note place="margin">Disbanded soldiers and sailors in the city.</note> + +<p>Again the city was threatened with danger and +disease from the presence of disbanded soldiers and +sailors, who were apt to carry their freebooting habits +wherever they went, more especially when starvation +stared them in the face. Sir Martin Calthorp did what +he could to relieve them, paying out of his own pocket +no less a sum than £100. His conduct was applauded +by the lords of the council, who authorised him to +raise a further sum towards assisting the soldiers to +their homes in the country by allowing them a half-penny +a mile.<note place="foot"><p>Burghley and others to the mayor, 26 July, 1589.—Journal 22, +fo. 312.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Soldiers ordered to return to their own homes.</note> + +<p>A royal proclamation was subsequently (20 Aug.) +issued promising payment of any money due to +mariners who would make a written application to the +Admiralty. Soldiers were to return to the country +where they had been pressed and apply to the justices +or other officers who pressed them, and who would +make a certificate to the lieutenant of the county, +when the soldiers would receive "reasonable contentment."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 316b.</p></note> +This, however, failed entirely to remedy the +evil.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 345b; Journal 23, fo. 79.</p></note> Four days before this proclamation precept had +been issued to the aldermen for a good and substantial +double watch to be kept throughout the night of the +16th August until noon of the next day. There had +been a report abroad of a large meeting of soldiers +and sailors to take place as early as five o'clock on the +morning of the 17th in the neighbourhood of Tower +Hill.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 314.</p></note></p> + +<pb n="548" /><anchor id="Pg548" /> + +<note place="margin">Elizabeth and Henry IV of France, 1589-1591.</note> + +<p>The revolution which followed the assassination +of the French king by Jaques Clements about this +time (Aug., 1589) brought fresh anxiety to Elizabeth, +who felt bound to support the Protestant Henry of +Navarre with all the means at her command, as an +indirect way of carrying on the war against Spain. +Four thousand men were to be despatched for his +assistance, 1,000 of whom the City was called upon +to supply. As they were to be picked men the lords +of the council ordered double the number, or 2,000 men, +to be got ready, in order that expert officers might +review them and select the number required.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 22, fo. 321b.</p></note> +The demand was enforced by a letter from the +queen herself, in which she drew attention to the +necessity of assisting one whose preservation was of +so much importance to England.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 326.</p></note> The city's gates +were at once closed by the mayor's orders to prevent +the exodus of "lusty, strong, able and young men" to +avoid service.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 321.</p></note> Although Henry IV was materially +assisted by the arrival of English troops, their operations +were chiefly confined to Normandy.</p> + +<note place="margin">The City and the Earl of Essex, 1591.</note> + +<p>A further contingent of 400 men was shortly +afterwards (22 June) demanded by the queen, 300 +of which were to be got ready at once. More care +than usual was to be bestowed on their selection, as +they were to be employed under the Earl of Essex,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 35, 38.</p></note> +with whom the City happened at this time to be out +of favour. What was the precise cause of the City's +disgrace does not appear; we only know that the +civic authorities were anxious to recover the good will +of one so near the person of the sovereign, and to<pb n="549" /><anchor id="Pg549" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY AND THE EARL OF ESSEX." /> +this end made him a "small present," thanking him +for his past services, for the general defence of the +realm, and of all Christian estates professing the +Gospel and true religion of Almighty God, and +assuring him that they were not so much presenting +him with money, in sending him a gratuity, as with +"the hart of the citie." They begged that if some +private offence had been given to his lordship he +would "wrappe it up" in this public testimony of +their hearty good wills.<note place="foot"><p>July 24, 1591.—Remembrancia. i, 599 (Analytical Index, p. 408).</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City agrees to fit out six ships and a pinnace, 16 June, 1591.</note> + +<p>In the meantime the Common Council had, at +the queen's request, agreed (16 June) to fit out six +ships of war and one pinnace at a cost of £7,400, to +be levied on the companies. This sum was afterwards +raised to £8,000.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 31, 43b, 48b; Repertory 22, fo. 284b.</p></note> Towards the close of the +year (9 Nov.) the lord mayor and sheriffs were called +upon to levy 200 able men to be "pioners." They +were to be chosen out of the city of London and the +county of Middlesex, and to be despatched to Dieppe +for service under the Earl of Essex "a service +vearie necessarie and we hope not of any long +continuaunce,"<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 68, 68b; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cf.</hi> Cal. State Papers Dom. (1591-1594), +p. 48, where the date of the letter is given as "May."</p></note> wrote the queen. In addition to +men, the queen wanted money; and the Common +Council agreed (18 Sept.) to lend her £20,000 for +three months, afterwards renewed for six months.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 325b, 383b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Search to be made for Spanish emissaries in disguise.</note> + +<p>In the meantime Spanish emissaries, disguised as +soldiers, mariners, merchants, gentlemen with comely +apparel, and even as "gallantes," decked out in<pb n="550" /><anchor id="Pg550" /> +colours and feathers, had been doing the work of +Philip silently but surely. Some had resorted to the +Universities; some to the Inns of Court; whilst others +had insinuated themselves into private families; but +wherever they took up their abode, and in whatsoever +capacity, their one aim and object had been +to seduce the queen's subjects from their allegiance. +So successful had been their efforts that Philip +meditated another attack on England in 1592. At +length commissioners were appointed in all parts +of the country to search for these "venemous vipers." +Householders were at the same time directed to +enquire into the antecedents of those who lodged +with them, and to mark if they attended Divine +Service or not. A register or calendar of particulars +respecting them was to be kept, to be shown on +demand.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 45-46b.</p></note> Here is a description of one whose arrest +was desired in 1596:—"A yonge man of meane and +slender stature aged about xxvj<hi rend="vertical-align: super">tie</hi> w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> a high collored +face, red nose, a warte over his left eye, havinge +two greate teeth before standinge out very apparant, +he nameth himselffe Edward Harrison borne in +Westmerland, apparelled in a crane collored fustian +dublet, rounde hose, after the frenche facion, an +olde paire of yollowe knit neather stockes, he +escaped w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi>out either cloake, girdle, garters or +shoes."<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fo. 86.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Privateering expeditions against Spain, 1591-1592.</note> + +<p>Whilst all exportation of munitions of war, corn +and other victual into Spain or Portugal was strictly +forbidden,<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated 16 Sept., 1591.—Journal 23, fo. 47.</p></note> the merchants of London, as well as +noblemen and wealthy country gentlemen, were<pb n="551" /><anchor id="Pg551" /><index index="toc" level1="PRIVATEERING AGAINST SPAIN." /> +encouraged to deal blows at the enemy by fitting out +privateers for scouring the Spanish Main.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 73.</p></note> Many a +rich prize was thus brought home, the spoil being +divided by specially appointed commissioners,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 71.</p></note> whose +duty it was, among other things, to see that the +Crown was not defrauded of the custom due upon the +goods thus captured."<note place="foot"><p>Proclamations, dated 8 Jan. and 26 Sept., 1592.—Journal 23, +fos. 78b, 136.</p></note> The "fleet of the city of +London" was very successful in this kind of work, +and a sum of £6,000 fell to its lot as prize-money in +1591. This sum was ventured again in an expedition +undertaken by Raleigh in the following year,<note place="foot"><p>The queen to the lord mayor, 6 Jan., 1592.—Cal. State Papers Dom. +(1591-1594), p. 168. The same to the same, 25 Jan.—Journal 23, fo. 87.</p></note> with +the result that the City netted no less a sum than +£12,000, its share of the spoil of a rich "carraque" +that Raleigh had captured.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fos. 157, 167, 174, 224b; Repertory 23, fo. 29.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Proposal to build a pest-house for the city, 1592.</note> + +<p>This lucky windfall befell the citizens at a time +when money was sorely needed for building a pest-house +or hospital for sufferers from the plague, which +again visited the city at the close of 1592.<note place="foot"><p>It was in 1592 that bills of mortality, kept by the parish clerks, +were for the first time published.</p></note> The cost +of such a building was estimated at £6,000. Various +schemes were proposed for raising the money. At +one time (July, 1593) it was resolved that the several +livery companies which had taken shares in Raleigh's +venture should contribute twelvepence in the pound +of their clear gain towards the object.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 204b.</p></note> Later on +(May, 1594) the companies were called upon to +contribute one-third of their clear gain. Even this<pb n="552" /><anchor id="Pg552" /> +proved insufficient, and had to be supplemented by a +"benevolence" in each ward.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 266.</p></note> Another year went +by, and the hospital was still unfinished.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 400, 402.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The hysterical Anne Burnell.</note> + +<p>The strain which the continuation of the war +and the threatened renewal of a Spanish invasion +imposed upon the inhabitants of London at large was +a great one, and appears to have affected the mind of +a weak and hysterical woman, Anne Burnell. She +gave out that she was a daughter of the king of Spain, +and that the arms of England and Spain were to be +seen, like <hi rend="font-style: italic">stigmata</hi>, upon her back, as was vouched +for by her servant Alice Digges. After medical examination, +which proved her statement to be "false +and proceedinge of some lewde and imposterouse +pretence," she and her maid were ordered to be +whipt,—"ther backes only beeinge layd bare,"—at +the cart's tail through the city on a market day, +"with a note in writinge uppon the hinder part of +there heades shewinge the cawse of there saide +punishmente."<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 153.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Six ships, two pinnaces and 350 men provided by the City against Spain, July, 1594.</note> + +<p>On the 16th July, 1594, the queen informed the +citizens by letter of the king of Spain having made +preparations to get possession of the harbour of +Brest, and her determination to oppose him. She +had given orders for certain companies of soldiers to +be levied in divers counties, and she called upon the +citizens to furnish her with a contingent of 450 +men. They were to be well trained and supplied +with armour and weapons; their "coate and conduct +monye" would be found for them.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 290b. The number was afterwards reduced to 350 +men.—<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 296b; Remembrancia, ii, 3, 27, 30.</p></note> The Court of<pb n="553" /><anchor id="Pg553" /><index index="toc" level1="ALDERMAN SIR JOHN SPENCER." /> +Common Council met on the following day and +agreed to provide the number of soldiers required.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 290.</p></note> +It had already (15 July) agreed to furnish six ships +and two pinnaces for her majesty's service,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 289.</p></note> which +William Garraway and other owners of ships contracted +to find for the sum of £5,000.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 293. The names, tonnage and crews of the ships +are thus given (Remembrancia, ii, 26):—The Assention, 400 tons, 100 +mariners; The Consent, 350 tons, 100 mariners; The Susan Bonadventure, +300 tons, 70 mariners; The Cherubim, 300 tons, 70 mariners; +The Minion, 180 tons, 50 mariners; and The Primrose, 180 tons, +50 mariners. Only one pinnace is mentioned, of 50 tons, with +20 mariners.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Sir John Spencer and his daughter.</note> + +<p>On Michaelmas-day (1594) John Spencer—"Rich +Spencer" as he was called, from his extraordinary +wealth—was elected mayor for the ensuing +year.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 23, fo. 323b.</p></note> His daughter, much against her father's will, +married Lord Compton. To thwart the matrimonial +designs of a nobleman was in those days a perilous +task, and Alderman Spencer was committed to the +Fleet "for a contempt" in endeavouring to conceal +his daughter. "Our Sir John Spencer, of London"—writes +John Chamberlain<note place="foot"><p>Chamberlain's Letters, <hi rend="font-style: italic">temp.</hi>, Eliz. (Camd. Soc., No. 79), p. 50. +The writer was a son of Richard Chamberlain, a city alderman.</p></note> to Dudley Carleton +(15 March, 1599)—"was the last weeke committed +to the Fleet for a contempt and hiding away his +daughter, who, they say, is contracted to the Lord +Compton; but now he is out again, and by all +meanes seekes to hinder the match, alledging a +precontract to Sir Arthur Henningham's sonne. +But upon his beating and misusing her she was +sequestred to one Barkers, a proctor, and from +thence to Sir Henry Billingsleyes,<note place="foot"><p>Alderman of Tower Ward; Sheriff 1584-5; Mayor 1597.</p></note> where she yet<pb n="554" /><anchor id="Pg554" /> +remaines till the matter be tried. If the obstinate +and self-willed fellow shold persist in his doggednes +(as he protests he will) and geve her nothing, the +poore lord shold have a warme catch."</p> + +<p>A few weeks after Spencer's confinement in the +Fleet we find him at variance with his brother aldermen +for digging a pit on his estate near "Canbury," +or Canonbury, and thereby drawing off water which +should have gone to supply the poor of St. Bartholomew's +Hospital to his own mansion. A request was +sent to him by the mayor and Court of Aldermen +to cease the conveyance of water until further +order had been taken therein.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 24, fo. 410b.</p></note> Two years later +his "doggednes" once more got him into trouble, +and he was committed to Wood Street Compter +for refusing to pay certain small sums of money due +from him towards furnishing soldiers and armour.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 25, fo. 216b.</p></note> +He died the 30th March, 1609, leaving behind him +£80,000.</p> + +<p>His daughter, who inherited her father's money, +was possessed also of some of her father's spirit, and +Lord Compton appears to have got "a warme catch" +indeed to judge from a letter she addressed to him +soon after her father's death. After reminding her +"sweete life" of the care she had ever taken of his +estate and of her excellent behaviour, she begs him +to allow her £1,600 per annum, to be paid quarterly, +besides £600 a year for charitable works. She will +have three horses for her own saddle "that none +shall dare to lend or borrow; none lend but I, none +borrow but you." She will have so many gentlemen<pb n="555" /><anchor id="Pg555" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CAPTURE OF CADIZ." /> +and so many gentlewomen to wait upon her at home, +whilst riding, hunting, hawking or travelling. When +on the road she will have laundresses "sent away +with the carriages to see all safe," and chambermaids +sent before with the grooms that the chambers may +be ready, sweet and clean. Seeing that her requests +are so reasonable she expects her husband to find her +children in apparel and schooling, and all her servants +in wages. She concludes by declaring her will to +have her houses handsomely furnished, not omitting +"silver warming pans," warns her husband against +lending money to the lord chamberlain, and prays +him to increase her allowance and double her attendance +on his becoming an earl.<note place="foot"><p>The letter is printed <hi rend="font-style: italic">in extenso</hi> in Chambers' "Book of Days," +i, 464, and in Goodman's "Court of James I," ii, 127.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The capture of Cadiz, July, 1596.</note> + +<p>Spencer was succeeded in the mayoralty by +Sir Stephen Slaney, and the latter's year of office +proved a busy one. Spain was meditating another +descent on England "with a greate navy of shippes +by sea and huge powers of men by lande," and the +City was expected to furnish sixteen ships and 10,000 +men for land service. The naval demand was +extravagant, and after some remonstrance was reduced +to one for twelve ships and two pinnaces, +with a complement of 1,200 men.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 79b, 81, 82, 82b.</p></note> The City made +an attempt to get a reduction made also in the land +force, but with what success is not clear. This was +in December, 1595. The money was found by +imposing a tax of 2<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> 8<hi rend="font-style: italic">d.</hi> in the pound for goods +and 4<hi rend="font-style: italic">s.</hi> in the pound for lands on every inhabitant +of the city,<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 85b.</p></note> and by advances made by the livery<pb n="556" /><anchor id="Pg556" /> +companies.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 105, 144.</p></note> On the 8th January (1596) the queen +addressed a very gracious letter of thanks to the +City for the promptitude displayed in furnishing +the ships.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fo. 84b.</p></note> Instead of waiting for Spain to attack, +Elizabeth carried the war into the enemy's country, +and Cadiz was captured six months later by Essex +and Howard. This exploit, in which the city of +London took its share, has been described<note place="foot"><p>Macaulay's "Essay on Lord Bacon."</p></note> as the +most brilliant that had ever been achieved by English +arms between Agincourt and Blenheim, and it was +celebrated in London with bonfires and general +rejoicing.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fo. 145.</p></note> As soon as the Common Council heard of +the arrival of the fleet from its successful voyage it +despatched commissioners to see after the City's +share of prize money.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 146b, 149.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Calais falls into the hands of Spain, April, 1596.</note> + +<p>In the meantime (April, 1596) the queen's +tortuous and parsimonious policy had led to Calais +falling into the hands of Spain. She had called upon +the Londoners to furnish 1,000 soldiers to assist in +raising the siege, but it is a question whether they +ever got beyond Dover.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 110-111, 129b.; Repertory 23, fo. 594b.</p></note> Roused for the time to +a more energetic line of action, she determined to +prevent, if possible, the sister town of Boulogne +falling into the hands of Spain, and she called upon +the city of London to supply 405 men towards the +force to be despatched in the autumn for its defence.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 124, 154b, 157b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Reinforcements for the Netherlands, July, 1596.</note> + +<p>The necessity of recruiting the garrison of the +cautionary town of Flushing, from which troops had<pb n="557" /><anchor id="Pg557" /><index index="toc" level1="THE CITY REFUSES FURTHER SUPPLIES." /> +recently been withdrawn for service on the high seas, +compelled the queen to apply again to the City (July, +1596) for a contingent of 200 men.<note place="foot"><p>The queen to the mayor, 25 July; the lords of the council to the +same, 26 July.—Journal 24, fo. 142.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A demand for ten ships to be furnished by the City, Dec., 1596.</note> + +<p>This constant drain on the resources of the city +at length called forth a remonstrance. The city was +being threatened with famine at the close of the year +(1596), when another demand arrived for ten ships to +be fitted out for the public service. The matter was +referred to a committee, and a reply was drawn up, +which was practically a refusal to obey the commands +of the council.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 173, 175.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The City's reply.</note> + +<p>It set forth the utter inability of the citizens, +however willing they might be, to supply more ships. +They had already expended on sea service alone, +and irrespective of their disbursements in 1588, no less +a sum than 100,000 marks within the last few years; +so that the lords of the council would see that the +citizens had not been wanting in good will and affection +towards] that service. The same good will still remained, +but there was lacking the like ability, owing +partly to former charges by sea and land, but more +especially to the great scarcity of victual which had +continued in the city for the past three years, and had +compelled many who had formerly been well off to +reduce their expenditure, whilst others had been +obliged to relinquish their trades and break up their +households. As a proof of the poverty existing in the +city their lordships were reminded that when wheat +was offered at a very moderate rate many were too +poor to purchase any. The wealthier sort would<pb n="558" /><anchor id="Pg558" /> +therefore have to be called upon to subscribe towards +the maintenance of the poorer class, and so be rendered +less able to contribute to other demands. The +letter proceeded to draw their lordships' attention to +what after all was the reason which weighed most +with the citizens for refusing to contribute any more +to the naval service. "Besides theis defectes" wrote +the mayor and corporation "we may not conceale the +great discontentment and utter discouragement of +the common people w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi>in this citie touchinge their +adventure in the late viage to the towne at <hi rend="font-style: italic">Cales</hi> +[Cadiz] w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">ch</hi> albeit it was perfourmed w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">th</hi> soe great +honor and happy successe as that the enemye was +greatly weakned, the army enritched and such store +of treasure and other comodities (besides that w<hi rend="vertical-align: super">ch</hi> +was thear embeazelled) brought safe home as was +sufficient to defraye the charges of the whole voyage, +yet forasmuch as neither their principall nor any +parte thereof was restored unto them contrarie to +the meaninge of the contract set downe in writinge +under the signatures of two noble persons in her +highnes name, they are made hereby utterly unfitt +and indisposed for the like service to be done hereafter."<note place="foot"><p>The same dissatisfaction at the result of the Cadiz expedition so far +as it affected the citizens of London was displayed in a previous letter +from the mayor to the lords of the Privy Council (3 Nov.) in answer to +a demand for 3,000 men and three ships to ride at Tilbury Hope and +give notice of the approach of the Spanish fleet.—Remembrancia +(Analytical Index), pp. 243, 244.</p></note> +The Cadiz adventure—they went on to +say—had cost the City £1,900, a great part of which +sum was still not collected, whilst the City's Chamber +was already in debt to the extent of £14,000 and +utterly unable to afford relief. The writers, in conclusion, +expressed themselves ready to contribute<pb n="559" /><anchor id="Pg559" /><index index="toc" level1="THE TYRONE REBELLION." /> +towards the defence of the whole realm in like proportion +as others of her majesty's subjects, and with +this arrangement they felt sure her majesty would be +well content.</p> + +<p>What was the effect of this reply does not +appear; but in one respect the queen was more than +a match for the citizens. They had pleaded scarcity +of provisions and poverty as an excuse for not +carrying out her recent orders. Very good; let the +livery companies, whose duty it was to find men +and money when required, practise a little self-restraint +in the coming summer (1597). Let them, +she said, forbear giving feasts in their halls and +elsewhere, and bestow half the money thus saved +on the poor; and the order of the Court of Aldermen +went forth accordingly.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 24, fo. 60b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Affairs in Ireland, 1594-1599.</note> + +<p>For some years past it had always been feared +lest Spain should again endeavour to strike at England +through Ireland. A rising in Ulster under Hugh +O'Neill, known in England as the Earl of Tyrone, in +1594 was followed by an appeal to Spain for help in +1595. Philip acceded to the request and another +Armada was got ready; but the fleet had scarcely put +to sea before it suffered a similar fate to the Armada +of 1588 and was shattered by a storm (Dec., 1596). +The Tyrone rebellion necessitated further calls on the +City for men and money. In May, 1597, it was asked +to furnish 500 men, such as Sir Samuel Bagnall might +approve of.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 210b-213b, 216, 217.</p></note> In the following year—when Bagnall +met with a crushing defeat on the Blackwater—it +was called upon to supply a further contingent of<pb n="560" /><anchor id="Pg560" /> +300 men and to lend the queen a sum of £20,000.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 24, fos. 324b, 325, 329b; Repertory 24, fos. 268, 287, +306; <hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi> 25, fo. 4b. Elizabeth asked for £40,000, but only succeeded +in getting half that sum.—Chamberlain's Letters, p. 15.</p></note> +In 1599 Elizabeth sent her favourite Essex to conquer +Ireland in good earnest, to prevent the country falling +into the hands of Spain. She at the same time +called upon the City for more soldiers, and borrowed +another sum of £60,000 on mortgage.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fos. 34, 47b, 48; Repertory 24, fo. 352b. In July, +1600, a deputation was appointed to wait upon the lords of the council +touching the repayment of this loan.—Repertory 25, fo. 119b. It still +remained unpaid in Feb., 1604.—Journal 26, fo. 163b. By the end of +1606 £20,000 had been paid off.—Remembrancia (Analytical Index), +p. 188; Repertory 27, fo. 278. And by July, 1607, the whole was +repaid.—Howes's Chron., p. 890.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">A scare in London, July-Aug., 1598.</note> + +<p>In the meantime a report again got abroad that a +Spanish fleet was assembling at Brest for a descent on +England. On the 25th July, 1598, the lords of the +council wrote to the mayor calling upon him to see +that some twelve or sixteen vessels were provided +with ordnance and powder for the defence of the +Thames, and the court of Common Council at once +took the necessary steps for fitting out the ships as +well as for mustering a force of 3,000 men, afterwards +raised to 6,000.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fos. 74b, 75, 77b-78b, 81, 81b, 82b-84, etc.</p></note> The city's forces and the charge of +the river were confided to the Earl of Cumberland. +Sir Thomas Gerrard had at first been appointed colonel +of the Londoners, "but for an old grudge since the last +parliament they wold none of him."<note place="foot"><p>Chamberlain's Letters, p. 59.</p></note> It was proposed +to throw a bridge of boats across the Thames near +Gravesend, after the fashion of Parma's famous bridge +erected across the Scheldt in 1585, and the court of +Common Council (4 Aug.) gave orders for collecting<pb n="561" /><anchor id="Pg561" /><index index="toc" level1="INSURRECTION OF EARL OF ESSEX." /> +"hoyes, barges, lighters, boardes, cordes" and other +material necessary for the purpose.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fo. 79b.</p></note> This project +was, however, abandoned in favour of sinking hulks +in the channel of the river if occasion should arise. +Watch was ordered to be strictly kept in the city +night and day, lanterns to be hung out at night and +the streets blocked with chains.<note place="foot"><p>-<hi rend="font-style: italic">Id.</hi>, fos. 80, 80b.</p></note> It had been +rumoured that the Spanish fleet had been descried +off the Isle of Wight, and although the rumour +proved false it caused no little alarm in the city +and gave rise to these precautions.<note place="foot"><p>Chamberlain's Letters, p. 59.</p></note> After a few +days the supposed danger passed away. The fleet, +which had been rapidly got together, and included +twelve ships and thirty hoys furnished by the city +for the defence of the river, put to sea nevertheless, +whilst the land forces were gradually disbanded.<note place="foot"><p>Chamberlain's Letters, p. 61; Journal 25, fos. 81, 84b.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">The abortive insurrection of the Earl of Essex, Feb., 1601.</note> + +<p>The administration of Essex in Ireland was a +signal failure, and he made matters worse by quitting +his post without leave and forcing his presence upon +the queen. He had hoped to recover her good grace +by his unexpected appearance. Elizabeth was not +to be thus cajoled. She ordered him into custody, +deprived him of his offices, and, what was of more +importance to him, refused to renew his patent of a +monopoly of sweet wines. Although the earl soon +regained his liberty he could not forget his disgrace, +and his overweening vanity drove him to concert +measures against the government. In 1601 he rode +at the head of a few followers into the city, expecting +the citizens to rise in his favour. The mayor had,<pb n="562" /><anchor id="Pg562" /> +however, been forewarned, and 1,000 men were held +in readiness in each ward fully armed for the safeguard +of the city.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fo. 238.</p></note> The earl and his band proceeded +to the house of Thomas Smith, in Fenchurch Street, +one of the sheriffs, who had represented himself, or +been represented by others, as able and willing to +further the earl's cause. That the sheriff was thought +by his fellow citizens to have been implicated in +Essex's mad attempt is seen from the fact that within +a week he was deprived, not only of his sheriffwick, +but also of his aldermanry,<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25. fo. 245; Letter Book BB, fo. 85. He was deprived of +his aldermanry of the Ward of Farringdon Without and debarred from +ever becoming alderman of any other ward "for causes sufficiently +made known" to the Court of Aldermen.</p></note> but to what extent he +had compromised himself it is difficult to determine. +Finding the citizens averse to a rising and his passage +stopped by pikemen under the command of Sir John +Gilbert and Sir Robert Cross, who respectively had +charge of Ludgate and Newgate,<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 25, fos. 209b, 213.</p></note> and who refused +to surrender them except to the sheriff in person as +the queen's representative, the earl and his company +hastened to the riverside and returned to Essex House +by water. He was subsequently arrested and committed +to the Tower, together with two of his +accomplices, the Earls of Rutland and Southampton. +Another of his followers, the Earl of Bedford, was +committed for a while to the custody of Leonard +Holiday, a city alderman.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1598-1601), p. 546.</p></note> The queen, who had +shown no more agitation at the news of the attempt +to raise the city than "of a fray in Fleet Street,"<note place="foot"><p>Secretary Cecil to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and others, +10 Feb., 1601.—Cal. State Papers Dom. (1598-1601), p. 547.</p></note><pb n="563" /><anchor id="Pg563" /><index index="toc" level1="MOUNTJOY IN IRELAND." /> +took an early opportunity of thanking the citizens +and her subjects generally for the loyalty they had +displayed.<note place="foot"><p>Proclamation, dated 9 Feb., 1601.—Journal 25, fo. 240b.</p></note></p> + +<p>A sum of £200 was distributed by the civic +authorities among the officers engaged in the city's +defence, but the two knights at Ludgate and Newgate +refused to accept any gratuity.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 25, fos. 213, 246.</p></note> For a week or more +strict guard was kept at the city's gates, whilst bodies +of troops fully armed were kept in readiness at the +Royal Exchange and Saint Paul's Churchyard in case +of disturbance.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fos. 242, 243, 243b.</p></note> Essex was brought to trial on a +charge of treason, convicted and executed (25 Feb.). +Sheriff Smith was made to undergo a severe cross-examination, +but appears to have got off with his +life.<note place="foot"><p>Cal. State Papers Dom. (1601-1603), pp. 16, 26, 89, 90.</p></note></p> + +<note place="margin">Mountjoy's conquest of Ireland, 1600-1603.</note> + +<p>Lord Mountjoy, who had succeeded Essex in +Ireland, set to work systematically to bring the +country into complete submission. The conquest +was not effected without considerable aid from the +city of London. From 1600 to 1602 the citizens +were being constantly called upon to supply fresh +forces for Ireland.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 25, fos. 137, 161b, 166, 179, 189, 190, 218b, 223, 237, +237b, 262b-265b, 293, 295, 301, 302b, 313b, 315; Journal 26, fos. +16b-19.</p></note> A Spanish force which at length +came to Tyrone's assistance in 1601, and established +itself at Kinsale, was compelled to surrender. The +work of the sword was supplemented by famine; +until at last Tyrone himself was carried in triumph to +Dublin, and the conquest of Ireland was complete.</p> + +<pb n="564" /><anchor id="Pg564" /> + +<note place="margin">The parliament of 1601.</note> + +<p>Mountjoy's work could not be carried on without +money, and Elizabeth had been compelled in 1601 to +summon a parliament to obtain supplies. Hitherto +the Puritans, who began in the early part of the +reign to gain a hold in the House of Commons, and +had gradually increased in strength, had been content, +in the presence of a common danger, to refrain from +offering any systematic opposition to Elizabeth's +government. But now that the defeat of the +Armada, the death of Philip II and the firm +establishment of Henry IV on the throne of France +had removed all danger from abroad, they began to +change front. As soon as the House met the +Commons chose Croke (or Crooke), the City's +Recorder, their Speaker, an honour which the City +acknowledged by ordering (3 Nov.) a gift of forty +marks to be made to him.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 25, fo. 296b.</p></note> When the question of +supplies came before the House they were readily +granted, but a bill was introduced to abolish patents +of monopolies, which the queen had been in the habit +of lavishly bestowing upon her favourites by virtue of +her prerogative, and by which the price of nearly +every commodity had been grievously enhanced. It +was in vain that the minority in the House +found fault with the Speaker for allowing the +queen's prerogative to be called in question. The +majority had the nation at its back; and finding +this to be the case Elizabeth, who knew when +to give way, yielded with grace. When a deputation +of the Commons waited upon her and +expressed the gratitude of the House at her concession, +she replied in words full of kindness and<pb n="565" /><anchor id="Pg565" /><index index="toc" level1="THE LAST DAYS OF ELIZABETH." /> +dignity, thanking the Commons for having pointed +out her error, and calling God to witness that she +had never cherished anything but what tended to +her people's good, "Though you have had," she +assured them, "and may have, many princes more +mighty and wise sitting in this seat, yet you never +had, or ever shall have, any that will be more +careful and loving."</p> + +<note place="margin">The last days of Elizabeth, 1601-1603.</note> + +<p>These were the last words addressed by the +queen to her people, and their truth was borne out by +her conduct throughout her long reign. Under her +the country had become united and prosperous. By +the citizens of London she was especially beloved, for +they always found in her a supporter of trade and +commerce. If the Hanseatic towns behaved unfairly +to the merchant adventurers Elizabeth promptly +retaliated upon the merchants of the Steelyard. +She had threatened to close the Steelyard altogether +in 1578, when English merchants were ordered +to quit Hamburg, and twenty years later (1598), +when fresh difficulties had arisen, the threat was +carried out.<note place="foot"><p>Repertory 24, fos. 343, 354; Repertory 25, fos. 165-175. The +Steelyard was re-opened in 1606.—Journal 27, fo. 66.</p></note></p> + +<p>The queen rarely left London to make one of +her many gorgeous progresses from country house to +country house or returned home without some notice +being sent to the city to allow of its inhabitants taking +"the comfort of behoulding her royall persone."<note place="foot"><p>Letter from Sir Christopher Hatton to the mayor, 27 Nov., +1583.—Remembrancia (Analytical Index), p. 407.</p></note> +Her love of personal admiration and of handsome +men continued to the last. As late as November,<pb n="566" /><anchor id="Pg566" /> +1602, she commanded the mayor and aldermen and a +number of the "best and most grave" citizens to +attend her from Chelsea to Westminster, and the +mayor, knowing her weakness, ordered the livery +companies to choose the "most grave and comlie" +members to join the procession.<note place="foot"><p>Journal 26, fo. 42.</p></note> In the early +morning of the 24th March, 1603, she died at +Richmond, to the sincere regret of the citizens no +less than of the nation at large.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div> +<p>END OF VOL. 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