Pages 339-356
A Survey of London. Reprinted From the Text of 1603. Originally published by Clarendon, Oxford, 1908.
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Volume 1, pp. 301-end
301, l. 38. Beech lane. The Street called 'la beche 'in St. Giles with out Crepelgate occurs in 1257 (Anc. Deeds, A. 2263), 'Bechestrete' in 1285, and 'Beche lane' in 1333 (Cal. Wills, i.74,402). The name is therefore older than Nicholas de la Beech. It may be connected with the spring called 'Wittewellebech' mentioned in a charter of Henry II in 1182 (Cotton MS., Faustina, B. II. f.6; the 'Witebek' of Feet of Fines in 1197), and as 'Whittewellebeche' in 1381 (Memorials, 451).
302, l. 6. Abbot of Ramsey. There is mention of the Abbot's house in London in 1114–30 (Cart.de Rameseia, ii. 140, 242; ii.133). The Abbot's lodging of Ramsey in Whitecross Street was granted to John Gates (d. 1553)on 5 July, 1545 (Letters and Papers, xix(i).p. 623). Sir Drewe Drewrie (1531–1617) was a wealthy courtier of Elizabeth and friend of his neighbour, Lord Willoughby. See Dict. Nat Biog. xvi.54.
l. 31. Base Court. 'Le Bas Court by Crypelgate' was granted to Robert Ufford on the treason of John Maltravers in 1331 (C. P. R. Edw. III, ii. 73). On the death of William Ufford, second and last earl, in 1382, it passed to his nephew Robert, Lord Willoughby d' Eresby (Cal. Inq.p.m. iii. 40, 209). As 'Barrecan', otherwise 'Barbycare' or 'Bascourt', William, Lord Willoughby d' Eresby, held it in 1519 (Hardy and Page, Fines, ii. 24–5). His daughter and heiress, Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk, was mother by her second marriage of Peregrine Bertie (d. 1601), who refers in his will to his 'great mansion-house called Willoughby House or Barbican' (Five Generations of a Loyal House, i. 439).
'Barbican' has nothing to do with 'burgh-kenning'; the word came to English through the O.F. barbacane and Low Latin barbacana, an outwork. It is of uncertain, but possibly Oriental, origin. See N.E.D.
303,. l. 36. Shelly house. The rents and houses of Thomas Shelly, between the church of St. Mary at the end of Stanynglaneend and Adlyngstrete, were forfeited in Feb. 1400 (C.P.R. Henry IV, i. 193). Sir John Colepepper owned the tenement called 'Shelles' in 1482 (Cal.Inq.p.m. iv.408).
304,. l. 4. Sergeant Fleetwoods house. He commonly dated his letters as from Bacon house (cf. Lansdowne MSS.24 and 26, for 1576–78).
l. 32. Stayning lane. Professor Maitland suggested that the name was due to the fact that it once contained the haws of the men of Staines (Domesday and Beyond, 181). The Confessor had granted to St. Peter, Westminster, the manor of Staines, with the land called 'Staeningehaga' within London and all other things that had belonged to Staines (Kemble, Codex, dccclv). St. Mary Stayning is called 'Ecclesia de Staningehage' in 1189 in the Clerkenwell Chartulary (Cotton MS., Faustina, B. II.f. 9).
305, l. 7. Engaine lane, or Mayden lane. 'Englenelane' in 1282 (Letter Book A, 154) and 'Ingenlane' in 1382 (Cal. Wills, ii.236). Cf. vol. i.298.
l. 8. S. Iohn Sachary, or Zachary, from the Zachary to whom the Canons of St. Paul's granted the church of St. John the Baptist in the twelfth century (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 13b, 64).
l. 19. Iohn Adis … 1400. Munday (Survey, p.322, ed. 1633) gives the date from his tomb as Feb. 28, 1461; Strype as 1470.
l. 20. Iohn Francis, &c. According to the inscriptions given by Munday he died on Dec. 13, 1405, and his wife on Oct, 11, 1432. He was also called Godman (Cal. Wills, ii.364).
l. 21. I [ohn]Sutton… 1413. Munday gives the date from his tomb July 6, 1450, which shows that he was the alderman killed on London Bridge in Cade's rebellion (Chron. Lond.161), not the sheriff of 1413.
l. 22. Bartholomew Seman. He founded a chantry here, but directed that he should be buried at St. Andrew, Cornhill (Cal. Wills, ii. 456, 459).
l. 25. Christopher Eliot … 1505. Strype gives 1509, which is correct. Cf. i. 24.
l. 31. Iohn Cornish. In Harley MS. 538, f. 108vo., the epitaph is given:—
When I alyve was, bothe more and lesse, even in lyke case right so be ye,
In piteous array, as ye se may, it is no nay, so shall ye be.
Yourselfe make mone, or ye have gon, I pray eche one to pray for me
Without delay; past is the day, I may not pray. now pray ye.
Remembre your charitie, eueryche one for the soule of John Cornishe
hens gon,
a pater noster and ave.
The whiche in the monthe of June deceased the seventene day serteynly,
In the Yere of our Lord M.cccc four and seventy, with de profundis clamavi.
l. 36. as some haue fabuled. This is hardly fair to Grafton, who gives the story for what it is worth (Abridgment of Chronicles, p. 136,ed. 1572). Stow himself took the pains to copy it out as follows (Harley MS.367, f. 19):
The aforsayd maior Syr Bartilmew Rede Kept his maioralty in the golde smiths hall in london, And it happened on that tyme that the admirall and certeyn other noble men came as Ambassadors from the Frenche Kynge to the Kynge of England; whom the Kynge did very honourably feaste and entertayne, and comanded also the mayor to entertayne them in the citie of London in the best maner that he might. Whereupon he desired them to dinner. At whiche dinner the ambassadors, beinge accompanied with many lords and gentlemen to the nomber of an hundered persons and mo, were placed in the Goldsmiths Hall, where they filled thre longe tables, and were served with thre courses of all meates that might be gotten for money. At the first course everye messe was served with xv dishes. At the second xii dishes. At the third x dishes. So that in the whole there was servyd in the Hall xv messes and to every messe xxxvii dishes of meate. The first course was served all in vessels of new white silvar, the second in new silvar parcell gilt, the third in new silvar all gilt; beinge all marked newly with his owne marke. And no dishe nor meate was caried out of the hall untill the dyner was done, for as they were taken of the table, so they were set within a parke finely paled, and coningly dressed and garnished with all maner of swete and goodly flowers in the midste of the hall. And after diner the same meate was caried out at the gate, and immediatly given to the pore, that were orderly placed in the strete ready to receyve the same. After diner amonge the othere gestes was an Italyan, a Jeweller, and he shewed forthe a stone of greate vallue, and sayd that he had oferyd the same to the Emperour, the Frenche Kynge, and the Kynge of England, but none of them would give the vallue thereof. The maior hard hym, and sayd: "Have ye ofered it to our Sovereigne lord the Kynges grace?" The Straunger aunswered: "Ye." Then sayth the Maior: "Thinke you the kynges grace refused it for want of treasure; let me see it," sayd he, and askyd hym what he valued at. The straunger sayd a thousand markes. "And will that buy it," sayth the maior. "Ye" sayth the straunger. Then the maior toke the jewell, and comanded one to bring him a spice mortar and a pestle, and willed his officer to beate it to powder, and so he did. Then the maior called for a cup of wyne, and put it in the cup and dranke it of clene, and sayd to the Straunger: "Speke honorably of the kynge of England, for thou hast now sene one of his pore subjects drinke a thousand markes at a draught. " And then comanded his money to be payd hym. This I found writen in the maner that I have told it in the ende of an olde booke in the Grey friars library in London, writen by one friar Jones.'
306, l. 35. Epitaph., It is completed in Harley MS. 538 thus:
Wherfore Jhesu, that of Mary spronge,
Set theyr sowles thy sayntes amonge,
Thoughe it be underserved on theyr syde,
Yet good lord let them evermore thy mercy abyde.
And of your charitie say a pater noster and a ave mary.
307, l. 15. these verses. To be read thus:
Quos anguis tristi diro cum vulnere stravit,
Hos sanguis Christi miro tum munere lavit.
Similar verses occur elsewhere, as on the church at Champery in
Switzerland, and in Weever's Ancient Funeral Monuments.
l. 19. William Gregory. This is the possible author of part of Gregory's Chronicle. In his principal will he describes himself as of St. Mary Aldermary parish, and provides for his obit to be kept there (Collections of a London Citizen,pp. xlii-xlix). However, by another will he endowed a chantry at the church of SS. Anne and Agnes within Aldersgate for the souls of Margaret Holmhegge and others (Cal. Wills, ii.557; see also 556–7,567, 573).
l. 27. This colledge. See A. J. Kempe's Historical notices of St. Martin le Grand, where the Charter of William I (see note on pp. 270–1 above) is given on pp. 174–6, and other documents relating to the dispute in 1440 on pp. 117–33, together with the ordinance of 1457 on pp. 146–50 (the last is also given by Munday, pp. 327–30). The privileges of the Sanctuary had long been abused. Early in the sixteenth century Sir T. More (Hist. of Richard III) wrote of the sanctuaries at Westminster and St. Martin's 'What a rabble of theves, multherers, and malicious heyghnous Traitours, and that in twoo places specyallye. The tone at the elbowe of the Citie, the tother in the very bowelles.' Complaint of the disorders in St. Martin's was made to Burghley in 1593 (Kempe, u.s. pp.168–70). The privileges were abolished in the reign of James l.
l. 31. in the yeare aforesaid. That is in 19 Henry VI, which began on Sept. I, 1440, shortly before the end of Malpas's and Marshall's year of office. For a full exemplification of the record see C.P.R. Henry VI, iii. 569–70.
309, l. 5. Straungers borne. In Elizabeth's time the Liberty was occupied chiefly by foreigners, French, Dutch, and Germans, who worked as
shoemakers (see i. 81 and ii. 281), and manufacturers of counterfeit plate,
sham jewellery embroideries and lace. Hence Stow's covert description
of it as a den of thieves. So Dekker and Webster in Westward Ho!
Act 11. sc. i: "You must to St. Martin's to buy lace.' Richard Braithwaite, in 1658, in The Honest Ghost, p. 167:—
By this he travells to Saint Martin's lane,
And to the shops he goes to buy a chaine.
Bultler, in The Lady's Answer to Hudibras, 11. 59, 60, refers to:
false St. Martin's beads
Which on our lips you lay for reds.
l. 13. Northumberland house. Henry Percy, second Lord, had his house here in 1352 (cal. Inq. p.m.ii.174,288). Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland, gave it to his son Henry (Hostpur), at whose death in 1403 his two Inns in 'Aldrichgate strete' were granted to Richard, lord Grey (C.P.R.Henry IV, ii. 408; iii.214). By other grants on July 22, 1405, and April 8, 1406, they were given to Queen Joanna, who held them till her death (id. iii. 34, 169). On July 11. 1437, the king's place, formerly called 'Queen Johanne Wardrobe.' was granted to Thomas Aldenham (id. Henry VI, iii. 68,152, 240). The Percies were endeavouring to recover it in 1435(id. ii. 530–2), and eventually succeeded; for, on the attainder of the third Earl, this and the other Northumberland house in Aldgate were granted to George, Duke of Clarence (id. Edw. IV, i. 48, 199).
311, l. 21. Nicholas Farendon son to the said William. Stow's account of the Farringdon family is inaccurate. William died in 1294, leaving his property to his wife Isabella for life, and at her death to Nicholas, his son-in-law and Isabella his daughter. This Nicholas Farringdon, who was mayor in 1308, 1313, 1320, and 1323, was probably the Nicholas, son of Ralph le Fevre, to whom, according to a deed cited by Antony Munday (Survey, p. 336. ed. 1633.), William granted the aldermanry in 1293. Nicholas died in 1334, and was buried before the alter of St. Dunstan at St. Paul's Cathedreal (Hist. MSS. Comm.,9th Rep.3.). Through his daughter Roysia, or Rosia, he was grandfather of a second Nicholas Farringdon, who was never alderman, and dying in 1361 was buried at St. Peter's in Cheap (Cal. Wills, i. 112, 397, ii. 18). The undivided Farringdon Ward was called the Ward of Ludgate and Newgate in 1285–6, but Farndon Infra and Farndon Extra in 1319–20 (id. i. 702–4). Nicholas de Farndon bequeathed it in 1334 to John de Pulteney as the 'Aldermanry of Farndon within Ludgate and Newgate and without'.
314, l. 2. Iohn Sha. In his will he gave direction for the performance of the will of 'myn uncle Sir Edmonde Shaa knyght concernyng the continuance of dayly servyce to be songe and done withyn the parish church of St. Peter in Chepe … I wyll that my executors shall cause yesaid churche of Saint Petur to be bylded and made with a flat roofe. And also the Stepull there to be made up in a gode and convenient manner.' Trans, Lond. and Midd. iii. 348. The exact relationship of John and Edmond Shaw is given here alone.
l. 8. buried in this Church. Strype corrects the dates for Thomas Atkyns, ob. Aug. 15, 1486, and Richard Hardley, ob, Jan, 21. 1492, quoting the inscriptions. For Palmer he gives 1513, for Warley 1524, for Munday 1527. The Nicholas Farendon, who was buried here, was not the mayor but his grandson (see note above).
William Rus in his will (cal. Wills, ii. 483) directed that he should be buried at St. Michael, Cornhill. See i. 196, ii. 305 above. The list for St. Peter's Harley MS. 6069, f. 58, reads 'William Bowse.'
l. 33. Fauster lane. A Corruption of St. Vedast's it appears as 'Seint Fastes lane,' and 'Venella Sancti Vedasti' in the fourteenth century (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 13.)
315, l. 1. William Trist, Selerar. Meaning William Tristour, saddler, who died in 1425. Another William Trystour, saddler, was buried here in 1439 (Cal. Wills, ii. 442,489).
l. 15. Seale. The common seal still bears the inscription 'Sigillum Baronum Londoniarum' the City arms were substituted for the figure of Thomas Becket in 1539. See Price, Account of the Guildhall, 12–13.
l. 20. one great house. Ralph Neville had tenements in Silver Street at the corner of Mugwell (Monk's Well) Street in 1367. John Neville (d.1388) of Raby was his son. John's second wife, Elizabeth (d.1395), heiress of William, Lord Latimer, was mother of John Neville (d.1430), Lord Latimer. John, Lord Latimer, sold his barony to his half-brother, Ralph (d. 1425), first Earl of Westmorland, who died seized of 'Nevils' Inn' in St. Olave parish in Farringdon Ward. Ralph (d. 1484.), second Earl, held 'Neville Inn' in Silver Street (Cal. Inq.p.m.ii.281, iii. 102, 192; iv. 103, 419). Dorothy Neville, daughter of Ralph (d.1550), fourth Earl, married John de Vere, sixteenth Earl of Oxford; her only child, Katherine, married Edward, Lord Windsor (d.1574), whose tomb is in the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo at Venice; Lady Windsor died in 1600.
l. 25. Monks well street. See note on p. 339.
316, l. 19. he deceased in the yeare 1577. William Lambe died April 30, 1580. He was seized of 'le St. James Chappell at London Wall', and left it with other property to the Clothworkers for charitable and pious uses (Inq. p. m. London, iii. 99–101; Cal Wills, ii. 703). See Gent. Mag. Liberary, xv. 288–93, describing the ruins in 1825.
l. 37. stinking lane. No doubt the 'Stukandelane' or 'Stigandeslane' which was obstructed by the Grey Friars in 1275 (Hundred Rolls, i. 404).
319, l. 37. Monuments. Stow's list is based on that in the Register of Greyfriars in Cotton MS., Vitellius, F. xii, which is printed in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, v. 275–90, 385–98. The original contains many names and dates not given by Stow and supplies some corrections, viz: p. 321, l. 5, Bartholomew de Castro (or de Castle, see Cal. Wills i. 128); l. 22, 'two daughters of Alleyne Cheyny' (due filie); l. 29, 'Thomas Ap (a parr) et Johannes Mylwater'; l. 31. John water probably died in 1502; l. 34. William Huddy was not buried here, the entry refers to his wife Anne, who was widow of John Moyle. P. 322, l.8, Chyrcheerd; l. 11, Philip Pettys; I. 13, Henry Reston; I. 17, John Treaszawell.
'Patar, bishop of Carbon' (p. 320, l. 12) is Peter, bishop of Corbavia in Dalmatia, who was suffragan of London, Canterbury, and Winchester (Stubbs,Reg. Sacr. Angl.195, ed. 1897; Ann. Paul340). Henry Frowike (p. 322, l. 10) is the sheriff of 1275, who died in 1284 (Hist. MSS. Comm, 9th Rep. 46).
323, ll. 36–7. H. Reade … 1450. A misprint. His will, dated Sept. 6, 1420, was enrolled March 2, 1421 (Cal, Wills,ii. 423).
324, l. 7. Aedelbertus Rex, &c. This charter is contained in a register at St. Paul's whence it has been printed in Dugdale, History of St. Paul's, p. 288. Kemble, Cod. Dipl dcccclxxxii, Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, iii. 60. and Brich, Cartularium saxonicum, i. 14. It is marked as spurious or questionable both by Kemble and by Stubbs.
l. 15. Stortford, &c. This grant is an O.E. charter of William I, printed in Dugdale, St. Paul's, p.304.
l. 16. He also confirmed,&c. These two charters are printed in Dugdale, St. Paul's p. 298; viz. a Latin charter confirming the grant of Æthelberht, and the other appearing to be a Latin translation of a writ drawn up in O.E. The latter is given from Charter Roll, 9 Edw. II. No. 37, and Pat. I Henry V. Earlier and better texts occur in Cartae Antiquae, C.C. No 14 (circa 1200), and A 1, and BB. No. 9 (slightly later).
325, l. 28. place of assembly., For early (twelfth centry) regulations on the chief folkmotes, viz, at Michaelmas to hear the sheriff's charge, at Christmas to keep the wards and at Midsummer for watch against fire, see Eng. Hist Rev. xvii. 502, and Mun gild I. 118–9. The solkmote was to be summoned by the great bell at St. Paul's See also note on p. 278 above. For the pleas in 1320 see Mun. Gild. II. i. 338–43. For Folkmotes at Paul's Cross see i. 331, and note on next page.
327, l. 10. The height, &c. Wren measured the tower as 260 feet high, but estimated that the spire had been no more than 200 (Parentalia, 274). The dimensions of old St. Paul's are given variously. See Sparrow-Simpson's Documents illustrating the History of St. Paul's pp. 191–3.
l. 32. dance of death. Sir Thomas More (Works, p. 77, ed. 1557) alludes to the paintings at St. Paul's: 'But if we not only hear this word Death, but also let sink into our hearts the very fantasy and deep imagination thereof, we shall perceive thereby that we wer never so gretly moved by the beholding of The Daunce of Death pictured on Pawles as we shal feal ourself stered and altered by the feling of that imaginacion in our hearts. And no mervel. For those pictures expresse only the lothely figure of our ded bony bodies.' Lydgate's verses were printed at the end of Tottell's edition of The Falls of Princes in 1554; also in Dugdale's History of St. Paul's419–27, and in Dource's The dance of death. See also vol. i. p. 109 above.
328, l. 3. a fayre Librarie. Leland (Collectanea, iv. 47–8) gives a list of twenty-one manuscripts; there is a full list drawn up in 1458 in Dugdale's History of St. Paul's 393–9. Only three can now be traced; (1) A MS. of Avicenna; (2) The Chromicle of Ralph de Diceto in the Lambeth Place Library; (3) The Miracles of the Virgin in the Aberdeen university Library. A Psalterium now in the Cathedral Library was probably one of the Service-books of old St. Pauls See Sparrow-Simson, Gleanings from Old St. Paul's,37–9.
331. l. 8. The very antiquity of which crosse. It is mentioned in Lib. de Ant. Legg.9, under date 1241, when Henry III took leave of the citizens for his journey to Gascony 'ad crucem Sancti Pauli'. Stow's instance in 1259 was on a like occasion, when Henry met the citizens 'populo in Folkesmoto congregato' (Lib. de ant. legg. 42) On the early history of Paul's cross see Sparrow-Simpson, Hist of Old St. Paul's, 149–72.
l. 27. the steeple of Saint Paules. Stow's narrative is an abbreviation of his original Memorandum 'Anno 1561, ye 4 day of June, between 4 and 5 of ye cloke in ye aftar nonne, beynge Wedynsday and Corpus Crisit eve, ye stepull of Powlles was fyeryd by lyghtnynge, yewhiche lytenynge dyd take yestepulle, as it dyd seme to ye beholders, ye space of ij or iij yardes benethe yecrosse and so byrnt round abought in ye same place that ye toppe felle of with ye cross wnperushed (or wnbyrnt) and ye crosse fell southe, and so the sphere byrnt downe ward lyke as a condil consumyng, to yetone werke and yebells and so to yerouffe of ye churche, and thorow yerouffes of ye churche all fowre ways, east, west, northe, and sowthe. Within yeqwiers or chawnsyllas was bryant no thyng but only yecommunion table, and in yerest of yechurche was brynt nothing but a sartayn tymber werke whiche stode at yenorthe-west pyllar of ye stepull, which was fyered with ye tymber that fell in to ye churche owt of yesteple; whiche was a lamentable syghte and pytyfull remembraunce to all people that have ye feare of God before theyr eyes, consyderynge it was yehous of owre Lord, erectyd to prays hym and pray to hym, ye beawty of yestyle of London, ye beawty of yeholle Reallme. A mynster of suche worthy, stronge, and costly buldynge, so large, so pleasant and delectable, it passyd all comparyson, not only of mynstyrs within thys realme but ells where, as sure as travayll hathe taught ws in other realmes ethar Cristyn or hethyn. Wherfore feare we God that so sore hathe chatysyd us, and let ws well know that he whiche hathe not spayrd his owne hours wyll not spare owres, exsept we repent owr formor wykyd lyffe and serve hym in holynys and newenys of lyffe, with a parfytt faythe in God and partytt charytye to owr neyghbour, ye whiche our Lorde for his byttar passyon grawnt. Amen.' (Momoranda, p. 116.)
The account in the Survey is reproduced almost verbatiom from that in the Annales, p. 1095, ed. 1605. See for very similar accounts, Machyn, Diary, p. 259, and Hayward, Annals of Queen Elizabeth, p. 87, and three other contemporary accounts in Dr. Sparrow-Simpson's Documents illustrating the History of St. Paul's pp. 113–27, Camd. Soc.; and History of Old St. Paul's, 134–42.
332, l. 22. through whose default God knoweth. The reference to Grindal in the 1598 edition (see p. 256 above) has been supposed to him at some blame on his part. But this is unfounded. Hayward (Annals, p. 89) says that Grindal spent 720l. 'out of his proper estate.' Grindal was only too zealous, for if allowed he would have stripped the lead from St. Bartholomew's to cover St. Paul's (Strype, Life of Grindal, 93–6). The neglect of the Cathedral was, however, a scandal and in 1581 the Lord Mayor wrote to Grindal, then Archbishop, 'that the walls were laid open and greatly spoiled with rain,' and prayed for his intervention, understanding that while bishop he 'not only gave of his own, but like his predecessors, had liberally borne some ordinay and yearly charge', and asking for his advice and that' the yearly accounts of himself, his predecessors, and their officers might be seen for the city's information'. Grindal in reply wrote' that he did in his time as much, or more, than either by law or reason he was bound' (Remembrancia, 322–7). If Grindal could clear himself it seems less certain that Aylmer (or Elmer), his successor, with whom, in 1581, the Corporation was in controversy, was blameless. Aylmer's son had to pay in 1597 over £4,000 for dilapidation of the church and bishop's houses. The misapporpriation of the money is refered to in the play, Nobody and Somebody(Simpson, School of Shakespeare, i. p. 306):—
Nobody. I'le bring the tems through the middle of it, empty Mooreditch at my own charge, and build up Paules-steeple without a collection. I see not what becomes of these collections.
Clowne. Why, Nobody receives them.
Nobody. I, knave ?
Clowne. You, knave: or as the world goes, Somebody receives all, and Nobody is blamed for it.
Nobody and Somebody was probably written in 1592, when the question was revived in Richard Rowland or Verstegen's Declaration of the True Causes of the Great Troubles. Bacon, replying i Observations on a Libel, wrote of 'the gathering of Paul's steeple as 'being but a voluntary collection of that men were freely disposed to give, never grew to so great a sum as was sufficient to finsish the work, for which it was appointed, and so I imagine was converted to some better use'. (Life and Letters, i. 176, ed. Spedding.)
l. 25. Monumentes. See Kalendar and Lists of Obists observed in St. Paul's temp. Richard II, ap. Sparrow-Simpson, Documents,&c., pp. 61–106, and pp. 194–202; Holland, Monumenta Sepulcharia Saicti Pauli, and Dugdale, History of St. Paul's Catherdral
Stow's lists contain numerous errors, especially of dates. Note the following corrections:—
Hingham, 1311; Robert Monden, 1338 (Cal. Wills,i. 430— his brother John was already dead); Melford 1336; Gilbert Brewer (or Bruer), 1353; Richard Wendover, 1252; Adam de Bery (or Bury), 1386; Roger Holmes, 1395; Thomas Euers(or Eure), 1400; Thomas More, 1421. Also: Ralph Donion (or Dongon), was Canon in the time of Edward II; Richard Newport, Archdeacon of Middlesex 1309, is the bishop, who died in 1318; Swereford is a better form than Swarford.
334, l. 25. what I haue heard by report, and haue partly seene. Stow might have witnessed this ceremony in his youth, or he may refer only to its revival in 1557, of which Machyn (Diary, 141) writes thus:— 'The last day of June, Saint Pauls day, was a goodly procession at Saint Pauls. There was a priest of every parriche of the dyosses of London with a cope, and the bishop of London wayreng ys myter: and after came a fat buck, and ys hed with the hornes borne a-pone a baner-pole, and xl hornes blohyng afor the boke and behynd.'
For a longer account of the grants of William and Walter Baud see Dugdale, History of St. Paul's, p. 12(ed. Eills). Camden mentions that he had seen the procession in his youth, no doubt referring to the revival of 1557 (Britannia, ii. 81, ed. Gough).
335, l. 37. to serue Duke Humfrey. Munday, in his edition of the Survey (p. 642, ed. 1633), adds: 'In idle and frivolous opininon of whom, some men, of late times have made a soleman meeting at his tomb, upon St. Andrew's day in the morning, before Christmas, and concluded on a breakfast or dinner; as assuring themselves to be servants, and to hold diversity of offices under the Good Duke Humphrey. Likewise on May Day, tankard-bearers, watermen, and some other of like quality besides, would use to come to the same tombe early in the morning, and (according to the other) have delivered serviceable presentation at the same monument, by strewing hearbes, and sprinkling faire water on it, as in the dutie of servants, and according to their degress and charges in office. But as Master Stow hath discreetly advised such as are so merrily disposed, or simply professe themselves to serve Duke Humphrey in Paul's if punishment of losing their dinners dayly there be not sufficient for them, they should be sent to S. Albon's, to answere there for their dis obedience and long absence from their so highly well-deserving lord and master, because in their merrie disposition they please so to call him.
St.Paul's was used regularly as a meeting-place to transact business
(see note on p.316 above). Fleetwood, writing to Cecil, speaks as a matter
of course about going 'to Powles to learn some news', and of gossip, which
had 'occupied Powles all last week' (Lansdowne MS24, ff. 22, 196).
The arisles, and especially the neighbourhood of 'Duke Humphrey's
Tomb', were the recognished haunts of loiterers, needy adventurers, and
broken-down gallants. In Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour
Captain Bobadil is called a 'Paul's man', and in Every Man out of his
Humour (Act III.sc. i) another such rogue is described as: 'The most
strange piece of military profession that ever was discovered in Insula
Paulina.' This last jest is paralleled by Samuel Rowlands's satire on the
traveller in conceit, whose 'journey is in Paules, in the back Isles'
(Letting of Humours, &c, p. 46). From the loitering at St. Paul's of
these knights of industry, who hoped there to earn a meal by their wits,
'to dine with Duke Humphrey' became a proverb for to go dinnerless.
Rowlands begins a tale in his Knave of Clubs, p. 10, thus:—
Two hungry sharks did travell Paules,
Untill their guts cried out,
And knew not how with both their wits,
To bring one meal about.
Thomas Nashe in Pierce Pennilesse (Works, ii, 18, ed. Grosart) writes:— 'I hearing of this colde comfort …like a careles malecontent, that knew not which way to turne, retired me to Paules to seeke my dinner with Duke Humfrey.
Similar references abound. The third chapter of Dekker's Guls Hornbooke is entitled 'How a Gailant should behave himself in Powles Walkes', and is full of curious information (Non-Dramatic Works ii. 229–37, ed. Grosart). See also Milman's Annals of St. Paul's, pp. 283–8, and Sparrow-Simpson's History of Old St. Paul's, 235–50.
338, l. 11. a merry poet Holland, in his Monumenta Sepulchraria Sancti Pauli, which appeared in 1614, after quotion Stow, adds: And no doubt but the merry poet was the merry old man Stow himself." Stow, lines do not appear in the original draft inHarley MS. 538. Stow, of course, alludes to the mediaeval legend which made St. Christopher a giant. In a note on 'the longitude of men' in Lambeth MS. 306 one entry is: 'Crystoferus, xvij fote &viij ynches.
Hatton's tomb was one of the sights of London, and others than Stow
commented on its excessive size. So Corbet in his Iter Boreale:
Nor need the Chancellor boast, whose pyramis
Above the host and altar is.
John Davies has an epigram:
Titus, the brave and virtuous young gallant,
Three years together in the town hath been,
Yet my Lord Chancellor's tomb he tomb he hath not seen,
Nor the new waterwork, nor the elephant.
I cannot tell the cause without a smile,
He hath been in the Counter all the while.
339, l. 8. Pembrooks Inne. John of Britanny, Earl of Richard, had a house near Ivy Lane and Eldedenes lane (Warwick Lane) in 1312 (Letter Book D. 291; but see also vol. i. p. 342 above). Then Mary de St. Pol (d.1377), Countess of pembroke and widow of Aymer de Valence (d. 1324), lived there (Letter Book G, 132; Cal. Wills, ii. 195). In 1352 she is described as owning 'unum turellum, aedificatum cum cameris et cellario' (Mun. Gild. II.ii. 455). Her husband's heirs, the Hastings Earls of Pembroke, were lords of Bergavenny, and were represented in the female line by Henry Neville (d. 1587), Lord Bergavenny. William Beauchamp, Lord Bergavenny, held 'Pembrokes Inn' in 1411, and Johanna his widow in 1436 (Cal. Inq.p.m. iii.332,iv. 167).
340, l. 29. Margaret Queene of Scots. Clearly meant for Margaret of Scotland, who married first Hubert de Burgh and then Gilbert Marshal. See ii. 89.
l. 30. Robert de Attabeto. Robert of Artois, Count of Beaumont-le Roger, who died at London on Aug. 16, 1343. Stow's Ms. list of the burials at Blackfriars is in Harley MS. 544, f. 68, where he writes 'Attrabeto'; also 'Hothe' (Howth) for 'Lioth' (p. 341, l.4), and 'Nicholas Carre' for 'Nicholas Eare' (p. 341, l. 21). The list in Harley MS. 6033, f. 12, has 'the lord Hothe' and 'Nicholas Carrw'.
341, l. 13. John Cornwall He founded a 'Cornewaill Chapel' at Blackfriars in 1437 for himself and his wife Elizabeth of Lanecaster, Countess of Huntingdon (C.P.R. Henry VI, iii. 55–6): see Corrigenda.
l. 30. sir Thomas Carden. Carden or Cawarden had a grant of Blackfriars on March 12, 1550. He died on Aug. 29, 1559 (Inq. P.m. Lond., i. 191–5). He was Master of the Revels and appropriated St. Anne's Church on the ground that it was required 'to lay in his Matisa pavylyons, tentes, maskes, and reuels'. It was only under compulsion that he provided a room in its place (Chambers, Tudor Revels, 14, 15).
l. 39. saint Michaell ad Bladum. The meaning is shown clearly in the description of it in the reign of Henry III as St. Michael ubi bladum venditur (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 20; Cal. Wills, i. 3). In the list of 1303 it is St.Michael 'in Foro ad Bladum' (Mun. Gild. II. i. 229). Sometimes it is called simply St. Michael, Cheap, or St.Michael at Paul's gate. For AElfar, and his son Nicholas, priests of St. Michael about 1100, see Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville,309–10
342, l. 29. a small passage. In 1378 complaint was made that the common passage which had existed time out of mind had been blocked, and order was given that the door way should be reopened (Memorials, 417–18; Letter Book H, 89).
l. 37. the prerogatiue court. Robert de Avesbury, the historian, who was Registrar of the Court of Canterbury, lived in lvy Lane (Cal. Wills, ii. 7).
343, l. 4. Louels Inne. It was Lovell property in 1433(Cal. Inq.p.m., iv. 73), but was forfeited by Francis, Viscount Lovell, in 1486, and granted in 1488 by Henry VII to Sir John Risley (Campbell, Mat. Hist. Henry VII, ii. 260), and by Henry VIII in 1513 to William Compton (Letters and papers, i. 3761). Now represented by Lovell's Court.
l. 5. Eldenese lane. The original form was Elde-denes-lane, i.e. Old Dean's Lane, and there is reference to Venella Veteris Decani in the time of Henry III (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 9) and in 1286 (Cal. Wills, i. 78). In the next two centuries Oldedeneslane 1365, Eldeneslane 1379, and Eldedeneslane 1442, occur (id. ii. 85, 209, 497). In the sixteenth century it is Warwick lane, formerly called Alden's Lane. 'Werwyk lane' occurs as early as 1475 (Paston Letters, v. 223), and 'Warwicke lane' in 1506 (Chron. Lond. 261). Thomas de Beauchamp (d. 1369), Earl of Warwick, had his house in Eldeneslane, as also his son Thomas in 1401, and his grandson Richard in 1439, and Richard's daughterin-law, Cicely, Duchess of Warwick, in 1450 (Cal. Inq. p. m. ii. 294, iii. 277, iv. 191, 241).
345, l. 13. Thomas Tomlinson, &c. Stow's account is based on a note furnished by a friend, and now preserved in Harley MS. 367, f. 47 —
'A description of a vaute made for Thomas Tomlinson at the corner of Bredstree in Cheapside.
'The vaute being digged fifteene feete deepe there was found the said pavement like vnto that of Cheapside now, and at the farther ende of the vaute in Cheapside at ye channel was found a tree sawed into fiue steppes which were, as it shuld seme, to steppe over some brooke, and vppon the edge of the seid brooke (as it seemeth) there were found lying along the bodies of two greate trees, the endes whereof were than sawed, and were as firme timber then as at the first, when they fell; part also of the said trees remaine yet in the ground vndigged. It was all forced ground vntill they went past the trees aforesaid:
Stow wrote a note at the side, but the margin has been cut. Thomas Thomlinson, skinner, died in 1612 (Cal. Wills, ii. 735).
When the Saracen's Head in Cheapside was rebuilt in 1844 a Roman tessellated pavement was found 16 to 18 feet below the street level (London Topographical Record, iv. 56).
l. 29. Goldsmithes Rowe. The goldsmiths had long occupied this part of Cheap. The Orfaveria in foro London is mentioned in the time of Henry III (Cal. Inq.post mortem, i. 917, new ed.), and in 1290 there is reference to a shop in the Goldsmithery opposite St. Peter, Wood Street (Cal. Wills, i. 94). For Stow's time see Webster and Marston, The Malcontent, Induction: 'I'll walk but once down by the Goldsmith's Row in Cheap, take notice of the signs and tell you them with a breath instantly. They begin as the world did, with Adam and Eve. There's in all just five and fifty.' Paul Hentzner, the German, in his Travels in England during the Reign of Elizabeth (p. 3r, ed. Horace Walpole), writes: 'The streets in this city are very hand some and clean; but that which is named from the goldsmiths who inhabit it, surpasses all the rest; there is in it a gilt tower, with a fountain that plays. Near it on the further side is a handsome house, built by a goldsmith and presented by him to the City. There are besides to be seen in this street, as in all others where there are goldsmith's shops, all sorts of gold and silver vessels exposed to sale, as well as ancient and modern medals, as must surprise a man the first time he sees and considers them.'
346, l. 6. Watheling streete, &c. See Leland, Collectanea, ii. 361–2: 'Nobilium via Athelingstreate, Watelingstreate corrupte.' Athelingestrate occurs in 1212 (Anc. Deeds, A. 1499), and instances.' during the thirteenth century are common, though some may refer to Addle Street (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 2, 4; Cal. Wills, i. 13, 46, 157, 419–date 1336). The London 'Watling Street' seems to occur first in 1307 (id. i. 186). For drapers of Watling Street in Stow's time see Greene's Tu Quoque (Old Plays, xi. 207, ed. Hazlitt):— 'He fills his belly and never asks what's to pay: wears broad-cloth, and yet dares walk Watling St. without any fear of his draper.'
l. 26. Walter Turke, &c. This comes from a Cartulary of St. Mary Overy, as shown by Stow's note in Harley MS. 544, f. 100.
347, l. 7. two Priests of this church, &c. This is reproduced verbation from the London Chronicle in Harley MS. 540, f. 8vo
l. 22. little damnified thereby. Wriothesley given an almost identical account, except that he conclued: 'But the steeple was so perished that there was no mendinge of it but to take it downe' (Chronicle, ii. 146). Machyn (Diary, 209) says the dog was a spaniel.
l. 32. The yeare 1300 and odde, &c. The edition of 1598 reads 'Cornishe gentleman'; that of 1603 'Cornishe gentlemen'; the latter with its faulty punctuation led Munday to read '1300, and certaine Cornish gentle men 1312'. The true meaning appears in Harley MS. 538:—' about the yere of Christ 1300 and odd yeres. Cornishe, a gentleman, was buried there in the yere 1312.'
l. 33. William Palmer. Died 1349 (Cal. Wills, i. 538).
ll. 34–6. Iohn Shadworth … 1428. This is the date of his first will; he made a second in Jan. 1429. They were not proved till Oct. 1430 (Cal. Wills, ii. 452–3).
l. 37. Stephen Bugge, a draper, founded a chantry at St. Mildred's in 1430 (id.ii. 450).
348, l. 13. Basing lane. In spite of Stow's statement that he had not read of Basing 'to have anything there to do', the lane no doubt owed its name to an early owner. In 1275 Peter de Basinges made bequest of his house in Basing Lane (Cal. Wills, i. 20).
l. 22. On the South side, &c. This passage on Gerrard the Giant affords interesting illustrations of Stow's methods of composition, of his connexion with Holinshed's Chronicles, and of his rivalry with Grafton. The original draft in Harley MS. 538, f. 127, differs materially from the printed versions:—
'On the south syde of this lane is one greate house, of olde tyme builded of stone vpon arched vaultes vnder ground, with arched gates also of stone: but I haue not red who was the first builder thereof, neythar when the same was builded. It is at this present a comon Inn for recepte of travaylers, greatly frequented of carriers and of others: it is called Gerrard's Hall and sayde to be of a giaunte that ther dwelled, so named, but no authoritie is shewed, more than that of olde tyme the sayd howse hauinge a large and highe roofed hall, there stode in the midste thereof a mighty staffe, armed at the fore end with iron and stele; it reached from the grownde or flowre to the very toppe of the hall, even as it were to towche or pierce it. This staffe is sayde to be one of them, that the sayde Gerard the Giaunt vsed to runne withal in his warres. Sure he had nede of a very greate horse to cary hym, that should wild suche a staffe, but I thinke he was no horseman but went all on his fete. There stode also a lathar of the same height iust by the staffe. I have sene them ofte, and inquired of the tenaunts the cawse of they being there, but they could make to me none other aunswere than that the one was Gerar's staffe (as ye have herd) and the laddar to ascend to the toppe thereof, to se the same staffe to be saffe, and not decayed. Of late yeres this hall is altered in buildinge, and dyvers romthes made of it. Notwithstonding the staffe is removed to one corner of the hawle, whiche remayneth of height as afore, save that the poynt is broken off, but the ladder is broken or sawd shortar almoste by the one halfe, and the remenaunt thereof hanged on to a wall in the yarde. A servaunt of that howse (more curtise than his master) showed me the lengthe of the staffe by a wall's syde, where the sayd staffe was layde, whiles the romthes ouer the hall were in buildinge. I measured the ground and found it 50 foot in lengthe. But the master of the howse sayth the same to lak halfe a foote of 40 foote, which worde of his I must take for curraunt, for reason cowde he gyve me none. Neyther would he rise from his sete to show me eny ferther, but bad me rede the Chronicles, for there he had hard. This muche for the east syde of Bread Street.'
For the host's reference to the great Chronicles see William Harrison's Description of Britain, ap. Holinshed, Chronicles, i. 21: 'I could speake also of Gerard's staffe or lance, yet to be seene in Gerard's Hall at London in Basing lane, which is so great and long that no man can beweld it, neither go to the top thereof without a ladder, which of set purpose and for greater countenance of the wonder is fixed by the same.'
349, l. 3. John Leyland his Comentaries. As to Stow's transcripts of Leland, made in 1576, see Introduction, p. xxv. 'Reyne Wolfe's Chronicle' refers to Holinshed's Chronicles, to which was prefixed William Harrison's Description of the Island of Britain. Harrison charged Leland with having 'made his notes intricate of set purpose', being 'loth that anie man should easilie come to that knowledge by reading which he with his great charge and no less travell atteined unto by experience'. Hearne (ap. Leland, Collectanea, i. p. lv) censured Harrison for his 'unbecoming reflexions upon so great a man, from whom he borrowed the most valuable and judicious passages in his Description of Britain, his own Remarks being generally very mean and trivial.'
John Bagford, in his Letter relating to the Antiquities of London (id. i. p. lxix), wrote: "Tis my opinion that Stow had in his possession Leland's Antiquities of London, and for want of Learning most grievously mangled the Work on purpose to make it his own.' The suggestion is quite unfounded; Stow's Collections prove how fully his work was based on his own research; he sometimes follows Leland without express acknowledgement, but sometimes also corrects him silently; compare vol. i. p. 137 with vol. ii. p. 143, and see note on p. 290. Most of the references to Leland in the Survey appear to be to the extant Collectanea and not to any lost work, though the note on the Library at St. Peter's, Cornhill (vol. i. p. 194), does imply something more explicit than the bald reference in Collectanea, iv. 48.
l. 9. R. G. in his briefe collection of Histories. On f. ii of the Manuellpublished in 1565. For Stow and Grafton's quarrel see Introduction, pp. viii to xii.
l. 26. I reade that john Gisors, &c. Stow's account of the Gisors family here and on i. p. 248 is not clear. I cannot solve all difficulties, but some notes will be of service. The first John Gisors of importance was mayor in 1245 and 1259, and was prominent in civic history for many years after. He is probably the John, son of peter de Gysors, whose will was proved in 1282 (Cal. Wills, i. 57). For Peter, son of Laurence Gisors, see i. p. 245 above. John (d. 1282) was probably father of John Gisors, who was alderman of Vintry Ward circa 1283–93 (id. i. 702–3) and died in 1296, leaving by his wife Margery four sons, John, Anketin, Thomas, and Henry (id. i. 128). Margery died in 1305, when her son John was twenty-six years old and more (Calendarium Genealogicum, ii. 678). The third John Gisors became Alderman of Vintry Ward in 1307 (Letter Book C, 178). He was Mayor in 1311, 1312, and 1314, but as a consequence of the charge of having wrongfully admitted one guilty of felony to the freedom of the city—see i. 51 above—was removed from his Aldermanry in March, 1321 (Letter Book E, 138). He was a supporter of the Mortimers and of Queen Isabel, and was joint constable of the Tower in Nov. 1326 (Ann. Paulini, 305, 318), but took no further part in civic government. He died in Jan. 1351, and was buried at St. Martin in the Vintry. In his will he mentions John, his grandfather, his parents John and Margery, and two wives, Isabella and Alice. His heirs were his granddaughters Margaret (wife of Henry Picard) and Felicia (who married Thomas Travers—see i. 299), daughters of Thomas Gisors (apparently the Sir Thomas of i. 299); and two sons, Edward and Nicholas, and a daughter, Juliana (Cal. Wills, i. 643–5). In his will he is described as vintner (like most of his family), but is elsewhere called a pepperer. Anketin de Gisors was alderman of Aldgate from Jan. 1312 (Letter Book D, 15), and died before 1343 (id. G 3). Henry de Gisors (d. 1343), vintner, was alderman of Cornhill in 1330–4 (Letter BookE, 256, 281); it was he, and not William de Gisors (as stated on p. 349), who was sheriff in 1329 (id. F, 284; see also ii. 164, above). References to a Thomas Gisors, vintner, occur in the latter part of the reign of Edward III (Letter Book G, 286), and to John and Henry de Gisors under Richard II (C. P. R. Rich. II, iv. 3, 458). I have not been able to trace their relationship.
l. 36. Gerrards hall for Gisors hall. John de Gisors (d.1296) left to his son Thomas his New Hall in the parish of St. Mildred, Bread Street. John de Gisors (d.1351) left to his granddaughter, Felicia, his tenement called 'Gysors halle' in St. Mildred, Bread Street (Call. Wills, i. 128, 645). The Cartulary of St. John's, Clerkenwell (Cotton MS., Nero, E. vi.f. 35), contains some deeds headed 'Gysorshall'; but they relate to tenements in St. Mildred, Bread Street, which James Gusors held in 1365 as heir of Anketin Gysors. The feoffment, which Stow describes as having been made in 1386, does not appear to have been enrollede in the Court of Husting (Cal. Wills, i. 643 n.); but in that year Paul Gisors and others executed a release of certain shops and chambers by the Conduit of London lately belonging to John Gisors (Anc. Deeds, A 2049); this indicats that the family property was then being sold. 'Gisoreshalle' is mentioned in 1429 (Cal. Wills, ii. 453). It was an inn before 1479, when there is reference in the Paston Letters(vi. 34) to, 'The Crown, which as I conseive is called Gerardes Hall, in Bred Stret.' There was still an inn called Gerrard's Hall, in 1784. The crypt survived till 1852. The stonework was then removed to the Crystal Palace to be there set up; but this design was never fulfiled, and the stones were used for other purposes. see Gent Mag. Libr. xv.270–1. For an architectural account of Gisors Hall with illustrations see Turner and Parker Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages, ii. 186.
350, l. 14. howses for Merchants. See quotation from Dekker's Jests on p. 338
l. 17. the prisoners were remoused. For an Act of the Common Council ordering the removal, and dated 19th Sept. 1556, see Munday, Survey, 937, ed. 1633. The Bread Street Compter had been hired by the keepers from the Goldsmiths' Company. The letting of the new Compter was expressly for bidden. See also Wriothesley's Chronicle, ii. 42.
351, l. 10. S. I. Euangelist. Anciently it was called St. Werburga, viz. in 1249, 1278, 1303, and 1321 (Cal. Charter Rolls, i. 339 Cal. Wills,i. 34, 290; Mum. Gild. II.i. 230). In 1349 it is St. John Evangelist and St. Wereburga (Cal. Wills, i. 596). In Harley MS. 538 Stow adds dates of death, viz. Doggett, 1524; Askew, 1534; Dobbes, 1556; Dane, 1573; Allet 'deceased in his mayoralitie.'
l. 15 S. Margaret Moyses. The name may be due to 'Moyses sacerdos,' who occurs in deeds at St. Paul's about 1142. The church is called St. Margaret Moses in 1256 (Hist. MSS. Comm., 9th Rep. 15, 62, 68). Nicholas Bray founded a chantry here in 1449 (Cal. Wills, ii. 516).
l. 23. Distaffe lane. 'Distar' is an error of Stow's. The record of 1438 is a grant of 'Le Lambe' in 'Distaflane' to Robert Prilk and Richard Stanes (C. P. R. Henry VI, iii. 160, 193; for later grants see id. Edw. iv. i. 297, 437, and iii. 422; Campbell, Mat. Hist. Henry VII, i. 21; Letters and Papers, i 1070). 'Distravlane' occurs in 1260 and 1295, and 'Distaflane' in 1301 (Cal. Wills, i. 9, 123, 154), and so commonly thereafter.