Volume 2, pp. 101–229
101, l. 3. an Hospitall of saint James. Turold was warden of the
Hospital of St. James by Charing (Cherringam) in the reign of Richard I
(Anc. Deeds, A. 7822).
102, l. 13. built by king Henry the eight. Thomas Cromwell drew up
in 1536 a memorandum of 'Things done by the King's highness sythyn
I came to his service'. He has purchased 'St. James in the Fields and
all the ground, whereof the new park of Westminster is now made: all
the old tenements in Westminster where now is builded the new garden,
the tennis plays, and cockfight' … 'He has newly builded … the place
at Westminster with the tennis plays and cockfight, and walled the park
with a sumptuous wall; and St. James in the Fields, a magnificent and
goodly house' (Letters and Papers, x. 1231). The gate by the gallery is
said to have been designed by Holbein; it was removed in 1750. The
other gate near the north end of the former King Street, and end of
Downing Street, was pulled down in 1723. See Smith, Antiquities, 20, 21,
with views (facing p. 24) showing the Gallery, Gate, and Tiltyard. See Anc.
Deeds, A. 13406, 13446–8 for lands purchased for these improvements.
l. 16. From this gate, &c. Ben Jonson, who knew Westminster well,
gives a summary of its topography in his Staple of News, Act III. sc. ii.
'Tattle. I have better news from the bakehouse in ten thousand parts
in a morning: or the conduits in Westminster: all the news of Tuttle
Street, and both the Alm'ries, the two Sanctuaries, Long and Round
Woolstaple, with King Street and Cannon Row to boot.
'Mirth. Ay! my gossip Tattle knew what fine slips grew in Gardener's
Lane; who kist the butcher's wife with the cow's breath: what matches
were made in the Bowling-alley, and what bets were won and lost; how
much grist went to the Mill, and what besides; who conjured in Tuttle
fields and how many.'
l. 16. Kings streete. Till long after Stow's time it was the only
way to Westminster from the north. The last part of it has now been
covered by the new Government offices in Parliament Street.
l. 16. Long ditch. A watercourse ran from the Thames by Canon
Row to the end of Gardener's Lane. 'From the west end of Gardener's
Lane it turned southward, and after passing down what is now called
Prince's Street, but was then Long Ditch, crossed Tothill Street a little
westward of the Gatehouse; then taking an eastern direction, it ran along
by the south wall of the Abbey garden, where College Street now stands,
to the Thames; and this is still the exact course of the common sewer which
was erected over it' (see Maitland, London, 1328; Smith, Antiquities,
2, 102). Prince's Street was known as Long Ditch till about 1750. For
houses on 'Langediche' between 1331 and 1367 see Samuel Bentley,
Abstract of Westminster Charters, 67–8.
l. 18. Chanon Row. It is called 'Chanen Row' in 1501 (Gairdner,
Letters, &c., Richard III and Henry VII, i. 406). Howel (Londinopolis,
350) says it is corruptly called 'Channel Row'. Smith argues that the
latter from is the original, and connects it with the channel or cut from
the Thames, referred to in the previous note (Antiquities, 3). However,
the name 'Channel Row' does not seem to occur before 1557 (Machyn,
Diary, 126; see also London Past and Present, iii. 325). An alternative
name, as Stow notes in the margin, and on p. 122, was St. Stephen's Alley.
l. 27. high Tower. See p. 122 and note on p. 379.
l. 31. the Woolestable. The Long Staple extended from the south end
of Canon Row to King Street, whilst the Round Staple, at right angles to
it, was about in the position of Parliament Street. For the history of the
Woolstable see Hall, History of the Custom Revenue in England, and
Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, vol. i, 4th ed.,
1905. For the Merchants of the Staple see Gross, Gild-Marchant, i. 140–7.
104, l. 13. vpon Enirode. This is obscure. Possibly it may be a
corruption of 'eny rode' (any riding or raid) as suggested by the reading
of 1633. Or it may refer to the 'roade' which Stow in his Annales (p. 437,
ed. 1605) relates to have been made by Sir Hugh Calveley in 1377. The
passage does not appear in the 1598 edition: that edition has, however,
the marginal note 'Manuscript French' which must consequently belong
to the next paragraph. The Staple had been fixed once more at Calais in
1376 (Foedera, iii. 1057).
l. 27. sixe wooll houses, &c. Granted on Nov. 16, 1442, and confirmed by Edward IV on July 16, 1461 (C. P. R. Edw. IV, i. 163; cf.
Smith, Antiquities, III-12). See further note on p. 378 below.
l. 33. Theeuing lane. Smith describes it as 'a turning still existing'
on the west side of King Street, 'very near its south end' (Antiquities, 27).
If the thieves had entered the Sanctuary, they must have been liberated.
Maitland (London, 1342) describes it as on the north of the Clochard.
105, l. 8. Sulcardus. He was a monk of Westminster about 1075,
and author of a treatise, De Constitutione Ecclesiae Westmonasteriensis.
It is merely by way of introduction to the Cartulary which he had
prepared at the command of his abbot, and of which two extended copies
are preserved in Cotton MSS., Titus, A. viii (early fourteenth century), and
Faustina, A. iii (late thirteenth century). The reference to the Temple of
Apollo appears in the latter MS. on f. 19vo,
l. 17. T. Clifford. See note on pp. 281–2 above.
l. 34. Charter. Stow's version of the charter, which is given
in facsimile, is manifestly incorrect. Some of the errors are probably
typographical, but others are due to the omission or addition of final
e, most of the early antiquaries having no idea that this letter meant
any more in Anglo-Saxon than it did in the orthography of their own
day. The words seo gifta in line three are redundant; the second word
perhaps arises from anticipation by the copyist of the immediately following gyfen. The charter is printed by Kemble, Cod. Dipl. dccclxi, from
the thirteenth-century copy in Cotton MS., Faustina, A. III, f. 110vo,
where the text is corrupt. Stow's text is superior in having the correct
Anglo-Saxon longap in 1.6 against the Middle-English longenof the
Cotton MS., and in some other minor details. It is possible that he may
have derived his text from the original charter, or from a better copy than
that contained in the Cotton MS.; but these superior readings in his text
may be due to corrections by some one moderately versed in AngloSaxon. The Cotton text, derived from the MS. itself and without
Kemble's accents and normalizations, is as follows:-
Edward king gret Willem bisceop andLeofstan andAlfsy porterefen and
alle mine burhtheynes on Lundene frendlice. Andicc cipe eow pæt icc habbe
segifen (sic) and unnen Crist and Sainte Petre pam halegen apostle into
Westminstre fulne fredom oferalle þaland þe longen into þare halagen stowe.
Stow omits two-thirds of the text of the charter. I have to thank
Mr.W.H. Stevenson for this note.
107, l. 13. the White Rose. In the Vitellius Chronicle (Chron. Lond,
258) it is stated that 'the tavern of the Sun' was pulled down. More
than one inn may have been destroyed.
l. 27. Peter a Painter. Pietro Torregiano, who came to England in
the reign of Henry VII, and remained till at least 1518. He contracted in
1512 to make 'well, surely, cleanly,workmanly, curiously, and substantially'
for the sum of £1,500 a tomb of marble with 'images, figures,beasts, and
other things, of copper gilt'. (Lethaby, Westminster Abbey, 236–7.)
108, l. 29. buried in this Church. Stow's printed list is based in part
on one of which he has preserved a copy in Harley MS.544, ff. 65 and
67vo; this latter list seems to have been compiled after 1499, for it
includes John, Viscount Welles, but before 1506, for it gives Catherine
of Valois as buried in the Lady Chapel. The burials are described under
the several chapels. Early printed lists are those in Camden's Reges,
Reginae, &c., published in 1603, Weever's Funerall Monuments (1631),
and Henry Keepe's Monumenta Westmonasteriensia (1682). For some
critical notes see Mr.Lethaby's Westminster Abbey and the King's
Craftsmen, pp. 332–50, giving extracts from the list in Harley MS. 544.
109, l. 10. Henry the fift. His tomb was plundered in 1546 (Acts of
the Privy Council, i. 328; Kingsford, Henry V, 386–7).
l. 18. remayneth above ground. Katherine's body remained unburied
till 1778, when it was removed to the Percy vaults. Finally, through the
care of Dean Stanley, she was buried in her husband's chantry in 1878
(Archaeologia, xlvi. 281–93).
110, l. 27. Johane Tokyne, &c. The list in Harley MS. 544, f.67,
reads 'the lady Joane Tokayne daughter of dabridgecourte'. Probably
the true reading is 'Cokayne'; for Joan, daughter of Sir John Dabridgecourt (d. 1415), married John Cokayne (d. 1447), though her tomb has
been supposed to exist at Ashbourne in Derbyshire (A. E. Cockayne,
Cockayne Memoranda, i.20, ii.195–6).
l. 38. in the Cloyster. According to Caxton, Chaucer was buried before
St. Benet's Chapel, close to the monument which Brigham set up in 1555.
111, l.6. mine owne paynefull labors. The edition of Chaucer was
Stow's first production. See Introduction, vol. i.pp. ix and lxxxvi. On
p. cccxl of his edition Stow writes thus: 'Here foloweth certaine woorkes
of Geoffrey Chauser, whiche hathe not heretofore been printed, and are
gathered and added to this booke by Iohn Stowe.' Of twenty pieces
thus added three are admittedly genuine, and Professor Skeat accepts
two others; of the remainder some are obviously by Lydgate or other
later poets. Professor Skeat writes: 'It is clear that Stow had no better
reason for inserting pieces in his edition of Chaucer than their occurrence
in this MS.(Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3,19), to which he had access.' 'Stow
in 1561 added more pieces to the collection, but he suppressed nothing.
Neither did he himself exercise much principle of selection.' See Skeat,
Chaucer, i. pp. 31–43,56, and v.p.x; and The Chaucer Canon, 117–26.
l. 31. Charter. The privileges of Sanctuary here set out are to be
found incorporated in the spurious Charter of Edward the Confessor,
professedly granted to Westminster in 1066. See Kemble, Codex,
dcccxxv, vol.iv.pp. 181–90, and especially pp. 186 and 188. I have not
been able to trace a more exact original.
113, margin. Liber Woodbridge. Now apparently perished (Mon.
Angl.vi.600).
116, l. 24. noted by Robert Fabian. From the lost manuscript. See
vol. i. p. xxxv above. The corresponding passage in the Vitellius
Chronicle (Chron. Lond. 2000) is somewhat different.
119, l. 39. the Starre Chamber. Smith (Antiquities, 29) has an
engraving of the Elizabethan ceiling decorated with roses, portcullises,
and fleurs-de-lys. The name is much older than the Court (established
in 1488); it occurs in 1378 (C.P.R. Richd.II, i.276).
120, l. 7. a great Chamber. This White Hall, in which the Court of
Wards and Liveries, and Court of Requests were held in Stow's time,
was one of the rooms of the old place of Westminster, and had of course
no connexion with the later Whitehall Palace. As the 'White chamber'
in the palace of Westminster it occurs in 1314 (Cal. Close Rolls, Edw. III,
vi. 339; see also Chron. Lond. 47, for 'White Hall' in 1399). The House
of Lords sat here from 1801 to 1834.
l. 10. S. Stephens Chappell. There are frequent references to it
during the reign of Henry III. It was refounded by Edward I in 1292,
and work was in progress there from time to time down to 1352. For
the history of the chapel and its decoration see Smith, Antiquities,
72–101, 144–64, and 171–250, with elaborate illustrations. See also
Lethaby, Westminster Abbey, 180–2, 188–91. For the foundation Charter
of Edward III, dated Aug. 6, 1348, see Mon. Angl. vi. 1349.
l. 19. He builded for those. Munday (Survey, 523, ed. 1633) altered
this to 'He builded it for them', which led Smith (Antiquities, 81–2, 101)
to censure Stow, since the chapel did not stand 'from the house of
Receipt, along nigh to the Thames, but this was actually the situation
of houses for the vicars'. The latter was clearly Stow's own meaning.
l. 21. there was also builded, &c. What Stow means here is not
clear; but probably he depends on a grant by Henry VI in 1438, which,
after explaining that the ground appointed for the dean's dwelling had
not been and could not be built on, confirmed to the Dean rooms
'situated within and on the wall of the king's said palace, adjoining "le
Wolbrigge" of the king's staple there on the east, and the Clock-Tower
of the palace on the west, and the palace wall on the south running along
from the said clock-tower to the Thames, and bounded on the north by
the way which runs between "le Weyhous" of the said staple and the said
"Wolbrigge"' (C. P. R. Henry VI, iii. 192). This grant itself is somewhat
obscure. The way from the Weyhouse to the Woolbridge was on the
line of the modern Bridge Street. On its north side were the six woolhouses referred to on p. 104. The ultimate additional buildings ran north
and south along the Thames and formed Cannon Row. See Smith,
Antiquities, 82, 101–6, III, with plan facing p. 124.
l. 25. a strong Clochard. Stow's ascription of this building to
Edward III was probably due to some confusion with the Clock-house
(see pp. 379–80 below). It did not belong to St. Stephen's; J. T. Smith
describes another tower, which appears to have been the bell-tower of
that Chapel, and formed before 1834 the state staircase of the Speaker's
house. The Clochard at the west end of the Little Sanctuary was an
isolated belfry, and was built in 1249–53. It was a massive tower about
sixty feet high, surmounted with a leaded spire. The spire was probably
destroyed before Stow wrote, but the tower survived till 1750. John
Norden, about 1600, wrote of: 'the Little Sanctuary, wherein is a very
ancient and old building and strong, now made a dwelling-house, sometime a tower, wherein was a bell of wonderful bigness weighing, as is
reported, 33,000 wt. and was rung only at coronations, which bell King
Henry VIII employed to other uses at his going to Boulogne' (Lethaby,
Westminster Abbey, 56–60, 155–6; Smith, Antiquities, 89–92). In
Maitland's time the ruined building was used as a tavern or wine-vault;
he describes it as 'a prodigious strong stone-building of two hundred
and ninety feet square, or seventy-two feet and a half the length of each
side, and the walls in thickness [at the base] no less than twenty-five feet'
(London, 1342). Stukely contributed an account of the building at the
time of its destruction to Archaeologia, i. 39–44, with plans; he regarded
it as the ruin of an asylum, connected with the Sanctuary, and described
the interior as two chapels, one above the other; his error has since been
often repeated.
121, l. 10. John Chambers, or Chamber, was appointed Dean in
1526, and died in 1549 (see Dict. Nat. Biog. x. 30). He gave lands to
St. Stephen's (Wood, Fasti Oxonienses, i. 89, ed. Bliss). For his cloisters,
which were on the north side of the Chapel, see Smith, Antiquities, 128,
148, 232. The College was dissolved in 1546. From that date till its
destruction in 1834 the Chapel was used for the House of Commons. Its
site is now St. Stephen's Hall.
l. 18. our Lady of the Piew. In his first edition Stow incorrectly
described the chapel of the Pew as a part of the house of Bethlehem
Hospital near St. Martin-in-the Fields (see p. 264 above). The Chapel
of the Pew was probably situated on the north side of St. Stephen's, for
at the creation of Henry, Duke of York, to be a Knight of the Bath in
1494, the knights 'toke their waye secretly by our ladie of Pieu, thorough
St. Stephen's Chapell on to the steyr foote of the Ster Chambre end'
(Gairdner, Letters, &c., Richard III and Henry VII, i. 391). Maitland
(London, 1341) cites a reference to Our Lady of the Pew in 1369. The
chapel occurs as 'the king's closet of St. Mary de la Pewe' in the reign
of Richard II. Froissart (ix. 409, ed. Luce), when describing the king's
visit to Westminster on June 15, 1381, says that 'Richard went to a little
chapel, with an image of Our Lady, that worked great miracles, wherein
the Kings of England have great trust.' The latest notice which I have
found is the record in Henry VIII's Privy Purse Expenses for 1531 of
the payment of 8l. 1s. 8d. 'to the clerk of the closet for money in charity
at our Lady of the Pewe' (Letters and Papers, v. p. 756). These
instances suggest that 'our Lady of the Pewe' owed its name to the
fact that the king's closet or pew was there (cf. N. E. D. s. v. pew).
As the king's private chapel its usefulness ceased with the abandonment
of the old palace; probably it was destroyed when Chambers built his
cloisters. Anthony, Earl Rivers, bequeathed his heart to be buried at
our Lady of Pue, and provided for a priest to pray there one year
(Excerpta Historica, 246–7). The 'Keeper of the chapel', named on
ii. 120, 1. 18 above, was keeper of 'la Pew'. Smith thought that the
name was connected with the French puits, since there was a well close
by. See Antiquities, 11, 101, 112–3, 116, 123–7.
l. 35. a Tower of stone. According to tradition this Clock-house was
built with the fine imposed on Ralph Hingham, the judge, in 1290, for
falsifying the record in order to reduce the fine on a poor man. This
story appears first in Coke's Institutes (iv.255), published in 1628. But
Justice Southcote (d. 1585) is reported on a like occasion to have 'said
openly that he meant not to build a clock-house' (Anecdotes and Traditions, 119, Camd. Soc.; Strype, Survey, vi. 55; Archaeologia, v. 427,
xxxiii.10). As a matter of fact the Clock-house was built for Edward III
in 1365–6—'Turris infra palatium pro quodam orlogio facta' (Archaeo
logia, xxxvii. 23–6, giving an account of the expenses, but confusing it
with the Clochard). The dimensions of the Clock-Tower were 24 feet
by 17 feet 6 inches. The bell, which was called 'Edward of Westminster'
or 'Great Tom', was presented by William III to St. Paul's. It then
weighed 9,261 lb., but it was cracked in the process of removal and has
since been twice recast with additional metal. The original bell had the
inscription:—
Tercius aptavit me Rex, Edwardque vocavit,
Sancti decore Edwardi signarentur ut hore.
The Clock-Tower was granted to the parish of St. Margaret in 1698, and
soon afterwards pulled down (Smith, Antiquities, 28, 261; Walcote,
Memorials of Westminster, 197–9). The grant to Walesby on June 23,
1453, was confirmed by Edward IV on July 16, 1461 (C.P.R. Edw. IV,
i. 163; for earlier grants of the office of keeper of the Clock-Tower see
id. Richd. II. i. 134, v. 648; Henry IV, i. 648; Henry IV, i. 84, iii, 385; Henry VI, ii. 184
540, iii. 131). Both Clock-Tower and fountain are shown in Hollar's
print of New Palace Yard, date 1643.
122, l. 12. a verie faire gate. 'Highgate (a very beautiful and stately
edifice) having occasioned great obstructions to the members of Parliament in their passage to and from their respective houses, was taken
down in 1706' (Maitland, London, 1341; see also Smith, Antiquities, 54).
123, l. 10. first Presse of booke printing…about … 1471. Stow's account
is very inaccurate. John Islip only entered the abbey in 1480, and did
not become abbot till 1500. Caxton's first book, The Recuyell of the
Histories of Troy, was printed at Bruges in 1474. His first book printed
at Westminster was The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers on
Nov. 18, 1477. He rented of the abbey in the ordinary way of business
a house in the Almonry called 'The Red Pale' (Blades, Life of Caxton,
i. 60, 65–8).
l. 19. Anne sister to Thomas the Lorde Buckhurst. She was the daughter
of Sir Richard Sackville, and married Gregory (not Gyles) Fiennes, tenth
and last Lord Dacre of the South. Dacre died in 1594, and his widow on
May 14, 1595. Her almshouse was for twenty poor persons, ten of each
sex, with a school for twenty children (Dict. Nat. Biog. xviii. 427–8). It
continued till recently as Emmanuel Hospital. The name of Stourton
House survives in Strutton Ground, close by.
l. 26. Petty France. Renamed York Street in honour of Frederick,
Duke of York, who lived at Dover House from 1789 to 1792.
l. 26. S. Hermits hill. Now St. Ermin's Hill, a blind-alley out of
Great Chapel Street. It occurs as St. Armin's Hill in 1610 (Cal. State
Papers, 1603–10, p. 582). In the eighteenth century it was called
Torment Hill, or St. Torment's Hill. Van Dun's almshouses, also
known as Red Lion almshouses, are placed by Strype in Petty France,
backing on St. Ermin's Hill; they are now abolished (N. and Q., 7th ser. v.
449–50, vi. 88, 213; 8th ser. ix. 242–3; London Past and Present, ii. 467,
iii. 424).
125, l. 21. Lucius. See note on p. 304.
l. 27. of the London Bishops. Stow clearly took some pains over his
list: but the result in its earlier part is not satisfactory. The British
archbishops are purely legendary, as Stow recognized (see Stubbs, Reg.
Sacr. Anglicanum, 2nd ed., pp. 215–16). The subsequent list down to
Swithulf is fairly correct, but for Ingwald's three successors read 'Ecgwulf,
Sigheah, and Aldberht'; the dates are also inaccurate. Deorwulf was
bishop as late as 862. From Swithulf to Robert, Stow's list is quite
wrong. The true succession with the approximate dates was: Ælfstan
(d. 898), Wulfsige (898–910), Heahstan, Theodred (926–51), Wulfstan,
Brihthelm (953–9), Dunstan (959–61), Ælfstan (961–95), Wulfstan II
(996–1003), Ælfwin (1004–12), Elfwig (1014–35), Elfweard (1035–44).
Stow himself refers elsewhere to Elfweard or Alfward, viz. on ii. 148 above.
See further, Stubbs, u.s. pp. 220–1.
128, l. 21. confirmed. A spurious Charter of Æthelbald. (Cod. Dipl.
lxvi.)
l. 31. Charter. Of Wiglaf of Mercia, spurious. (Cod. Dipl. ccxxxiii.)
l. 37. Charter. Of Berhtuulf of Mercia, spurious. (Cod. Dipl. cclxv.)
129, l. 7. buried. In the Flores Historiarum, i. 332–whence Stow
seems to get his list to this point—it is expressly said that their tombs
are unknown.
l. 9. Theodricus. Theodred, bishop of London, witnessed a charter
of Edred in 947. (Cod. Dipl. ccccxiii.)
l. 19. he confirmed. Stow has assigned to 'Edgare' acts which
should belong to Ælfstan, 'Ædelstanus' or 'Ælfstanus' of London
witnesses spurious charters to Winchester and Croyland in 966 (Cod.
Dipl. dxxiii, dxxviii). 'Eadgar presbyter' appears as witness to genuine
charters for 'Wulfrinton' (Wolverton) in 977 and 984 (id. dcxii, dcxlv).
l. 32. sate 17. yeares. Stow is in manifest error. William was
consecrated in 1051, in place of Spearhafoc, whom archbishop Robert
had rejected, and lived till 1075, when he was succeeded by Hugh de
Orivalle, or Orwell, who died in 1086. Bishop William's epitaph from
St. Paul's is given in Godwin, De Praesulibus, 174–5.
130, l. 11. Gilbertus Vniversalis. Consecrated Jan. 22, 1128, died
Aug. 10, 1134.
l. 13. Robert de Sigillo. Consecrated 1141, died 1151.
l. 20. deceased 1186. Should be Feb. 18, 1187.
132, l. 11. 1241. Fulco Basset. Though Roger Niger died on Sept. 29,
1241, Basset was not consecrated till Oct. 9, 1244.
l. 15. Henry Wingham. Consecrated Feb, 15, 1260.
l. 20. Richard Talbot. Not given by Stubbs; Sandwich was consecrated May 27, 1263.
l. 24. 1273. John Cheshul. Consecrated April 29, 1274, died Feb. 8,
1280.
133,. 1. 5. yeare 1307. Should be Jan. 30, 1306.
l. 13. Stephen Grauesend. Consecrated Jan. 14, 1319.
l. 17. Raph Stratford. Consecrated Mar. 12, 1340.
l. 23. Michaell Norbroke. Better Northburgh; consecrated July 12,
1355.
l. 25. Simon Sudbery. Consecrated Mar. 20, 1362.
l. 30. Robert Breybrooke. Consecrated Jan. 5, 1382.
134, l. 22. Robert Fitzhugh. Consecrated Sept. 16, 1431.
l. 26. Robert Gilbert. Consecrated Oct. 28, 1436.
l. 28. Thomas Kempe. Consecrated Feb. 8, 1450.
l. 35. John Marshal. There was no such bishop of London. A
John Marshall was bishop of Llandaff 1478–96.
l. 37. Richard Hill. Consecrated Nov. 15, 1489, died Feb. 20,
1496.
135, l. 13. deceased 1521. Should be Jan. 15, 1522.
l. 18. Cuthbert Tunstal. Consecrated Oct. 19, 1522.
l. 24. Edmond Boner. Consecrated April 4, 1540.
137, l. 16. John Elmere. Or Aylmer; consecrated March 24, 1577.
138, l. 7. parish churches. Stow's list may be compared with the
list of churches in the City proper in 1303 in the Liber Custumarum,
ap. Mun. Gild. II. i. 228–38. All the churches named by Stow appear
in the older list except St. Katherine's by the Tower, Trinity in the
Minories, St. Peter in the Tower, The Chapel in Guildhall, St. Anne at
the Blackfriars, and St. James by Cripplegate; the absence of these is
easily explained. Most of the remainder can be traced back to the
twelfth century, and many even further. See references in notes above,
and for churches belonging to St. Paul's see Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th
Report.
140, l. 14. New Mary Church. See notes on pp. 317, 328.
147,, l. 30. diuers old Registers. One was no doubt the London
Chronicle in Harley Roll, C. 8, which, unlike any other version with which
I am acquainted, begins with a Latin notice of the early government of
the City from the time of Edward the Confessor to 1189; the Roll contains
some notes in Stow's writing. I have not been able to trace the St.
Albans book; but like the Harley Roll it probably derived its information
from the account given in the Trinity Cartulary, which was printed by
Hearne in the notes to his edition of William of Newburgh (iii. 724–6),
Under the reign of William II the Roll has 'G. de Magum Vicecomes'
(see i. 121, 287 above) and 'R. de Pere, prepositus'; Hearne has 'G. de
Magnavilla' and 'R. del Parc.' Under Henry I the Roll has Hugh de
Boche (Hearne, 'Boch'), this is no doubt the well-known Hugh de
Bocland; and 'Rob. de Berquereola', Stow's 'Bar Querel', who may
possibly be one of the Bockerels; Aubrey de Vere, who was sheriff in
1125, was killed in 1141 (Round, Geoff. de Mandeville, 81, 309). Under
Stephen, Stow's 'Andrew Bucheuet' is the 'Andreas Buchuynt' of the
Roll, who was 'Justiciar of London' (id. 373, and Commune of London, 99,
108–13).
For the charter naming Alfward and Wolfgar see Letter Book C, 218;
the date must be 1042–4. Swetman is named in a Chertsey Charter
(Cod. Dipl. dccclvi), Leofstan and Aelfsi in two Westminster Charters of
Edward the Confessor (id. dcclvii, and dccclxi, see also ii. 105 above).
For a facsimile of William's London Charter see Sharpe, London and the
Kingdom, vol. i.
For a list of the early sheriffs see Record Office Lists, 9, p. 200. Of those
named by Stow, Peter FitzWalter, who held office 1174–6, was strictly
speaking 'custos' or 'bailiff', not sheriff; FitzNigel was sheriff in 1177,
Buchell or Buzell in 1178, and Fitzlsabel in 1156, 1162, 1176, 1178, and 1181.
149, l. 18. In the first yeare of king Richard the first, &c. This is
erroneous. Richard did not grant a Commune to London. That privilege
was not obtained till 1191, when the citizens took advantage of the quarrel
between John, the king's brother, and William Longchamp the Chancellor,
to extort this privilege from the former as the price of their support.
Round, Commune of London, 219–25; see also Eng. Hist. Rev., xix. 702–6.
l. 29. The names, &c. Stow probably based his list of Mayors and
Sheriffs on the current lists, of which examples are found in the London
Chronicles and in Fabyan. But these lists had in process of time been
much confused and corrupted. A chief cause of error was the numbering
of the civic officers under each king's reign separately. Regnal and
Mayoral years did not, however, coincide: thus the Mayor and Sheriffs
elected in the last year of Henry III (i. e. in Sept.-Oct. 1272) held office
during nearly the whole of the first year of Edward I; this may help to
explain the misdating by Stow of the Mayors and Sheriffs for the greater
part of Edward's reign. Other difficulties were caused by the removal
or death of Mayors and Sheriffs during their term of office. In consequence, the lists in the Chronicles and in Stow are hopelessly inaccurate
down to 1300. For the Sheriffs an authoritative list has been compiled
from records of the Exchequer in Record Office: Lists and Indexes, 9.
The names in this list agree so well with those in the Liber de Antiquis
Legibus (covering the period 1189–1274), that we may accept the latter
as a trustworthy guide for the names of the Mayors; I have checked it
by the attestation of documents in the Catalogue of Ancient Deeds. A list
of mayors and sheriffs from 1276 to 1320, prepared at the great Iter of
1320, is given in the Liber Custumarum (Mun. Gild. II. i. 291–4; another
list on pp. 239–46 is not free from error). There is a list of Mayors
and Sheriffs in Letter Book F (pp. 276–303), which was originally compiled in 1354, subsequent names being added from time to time down to
1548. In its earliest part this list presents similar errors to those of Stow;
but from about the end of the reign of Edward I it may be accepted as an
authoritative record. In addition to the foregoing there is a nearly contemporary list of sheriffs for the reigns of Richard I and John in Additional
MS. 14252, f. 107. A similar list of Mayors and Sheriffs, coming down
to 1222, is printed from the Trinity Cartulary by Hearne in his notes to
William of Newburgh, iii. 726–8. Both the latter resemble Stow in giving
Henry de Cornhill and Richard filius Reneri as sheriffs for I Richard I,
though they really vacated office early in that regnal year at Michaelmas,
1189. Hearne's list, like Stow's, gets the later dates right by omitting
Serlo le Mercer and Henry of St. Albans under 1206–7; this list seems
to represent the original of the lists in the Chronicles. In Add. MS.
14252 the Sheriffs are a year too late down to 'Martinus Aliz' and
'Petrus Bat' in the '16th' year; then comes the note: 'Sal. et hug.
de bar. Discidium inter regem et barones. Andr. Neu. et Johes.
trauers. Aduentus lodowici primus. Will's Albus trauers, B, Seint.'
Dr. Gairdner printed an annotated list from 1199 to 1470 in Collections
of a London Citizen, pp. 242–58, giving the chief variations of the lists in
the London Chronicles, and in Fabyan.
In revising the list on pp. 149–86 above, Stow's spelling has been preserved, wherever possible; and also his system of dating, the year A. D.
being always that in which the Mayor and Sheriffs named took office;
thus under 1400, John Francis is the Mayor who held office from Oct. 29,
1400, to Oct. 28, 1401, being the second mayoral year of Henry IV.
Throughout the whole period the Sheriffs took office on Sept. 29 and
the Mayor on Oct. 29; this overlapping sometimes causes confusion,
e. g. in 1247–8 both Peter Fitzalan and Michael Tovy occur as Mayor,
with William Vyel and Nicholas Bat, Sheriffs. (For an account of how
the Lord Mayor's day was changed to Nov. 9 see N. and Q., 10th ser., v. 30.)
The errors of date in Stow's list have affected his notices of events,
I have endeavoured to put these notices under their appropriate years;
thus the notes on Walter Brune, Henry FitzAlwin, and William Joyner,
which in the edition of 1603 appear under 1203, 1212, and 1239, are
put back to 1202, 1211, and 1238. Similarly the notices for Alen de la
Souch (1266), Gregory Rocksley (1274), and Henry Walleis (1281) are
all put back one year, in order that they may appear where these persons
are first mentioned, as they do in the text of 1603. For other notices
see notes below.
In the footnotes on pp. 149–86 the following abbreviations are used:—
A. = Additional MS. 14252.
F. = The list in Letter Book F.
G. = Dr. Gairdner's list.
H. = Hearne's list from the Trinity Cartulary.
L. = Liber de Antiquis Legibus.
O. = Official list in Record Office List, 9.
S. = Stow's list in the Survey for 1603.
149, l. 34. Their I. Maior. It is probable that Henry FitzAlwin's
term of office dated from the recognition of the Commune in 1191. But the
earliest mention of the Mayor of London seems to occur in 1193 (Round,
Commune of London, pp. 225–35). 'Fifteenth of King John' is an
error; FitzAlwin died on Sept. 19, 1212, in the fourteenth regnal and
thirteenth mayoral year.
151, l. 23. to chuse … a Maior. I leave this under the date to which
Stow assigns it; but there was no charter in 1208–9, and the reference
must be to the Charter of May 9, 1215 (Birch, 12). It is noteworthy
that the London Chronicles allege that the first mayor held office in
10 John (see Gregory's Chronicle, 60; Chron. Lond. 2).
152, l. II. the ditch. I leave this under 1213–14; but see vol. i,
p.19.
153, l. 9. Constantine Fits Alulf. Stow places under 1222–23; but
the true date was July-August, 1222. See Lib. de Ant. Legg.5; Gregory's
Chronicle, 63; M. Paris, iii. 71.
156, l. 13. The King graunted, &c. Stow places under 1250-I; but
see Lib. de Ant. Legg.19.
l. 19. The Liberties, &c. Stow places under 1252–3; but see Lib
de Ant. Legg. 21.
l. 21. The Maior, &c. I leave under 1254–5; but it would refer
better to 1257–8, cf. Lib. de Ant. Legg. 22, and 29–36
157, l. 3. the walles. Stow places under 1257–8, and it may refer to
M. Paris, v. 697; but more probably it refers to v. 634 and belongs to
1256–7.
158, l. 12. Thomas FitzTheobald. I leave this note under the year
where Stow gave it. But Fitztheobald and his wife Agnes, sister of
Thomas Becket, of course founded their hospital much earlier. See i. 269.
l. 22. Bow Church. Stow places under 1271–2; but the date was
Jan. 1271 (Ann. Lond. 81).
160, l. 3. Lawrence Ducket. Stow places under 1284–5; but it was in
the year that Goodcheape was sheriff. Cf. i. 254 and Ann Lond. 81.
For some light on the murder see references to another affair in
which Ducket and Crepin had been concerned in Hundred Rolls, i.
403 sqq.
l. 19. Raph Barnavars. In the Cotton MS. Julius, B. II (Chron.
London 7), Ralph de Sandwich is said to have been Custos 'usque in
crastinum Sancti Barnabi Apostoli, anno xxiio'. (So also the list in
Letter-Book, F, 282.) However, from the Liber Custumarum (Mun.
Gild. II. 292) it appears that in 1289 Sandwich was removed 'ante
festum Purificationis Beatae Mariae', and Ralph de Berners, deputyConstable of the Tower, was appointed in his place; but within a few
days Berners was succeeded as Custos by John le Breton. Then in
19 Edward I Berners and Breton were removed, and Sandwich
again made both Custos and Constable of the Tower. See also Ann.
Lond. 97.
l. 28. Three men. Stow places under 1293–4; but see Ann.
Lond. 102.
161, l. 13. the Tunne. Stow places under 1298–9; but it was before
August, 1298 (Letter-Book, B, 75). See note on pp.302–3 above.
165, l.9. Walter, Nele, Bladesmith. It should be 'blader', i. e. cornmonger, see note on p. 325 above.
l. 12. The king graunted. The date of this grant was June 10,1354.
(Birch, 63.)
166, l. 26. Aldermen. Edward II granted in 1319 that they should be
removeable every year on March 12, and not be re-elected (Mun. Gild. II.
i. 269). There was some doubt whether this meant that they must be
removed, or only that they might be removed. On November 12, 1376, it
was ordained that all the aldermen should vacate office on that day, and
not be re-elected. But on March 8, 1384, it was ordered that they should
not be removed except for some reasonable cause (id. I. 36, II. ii. 436;
cf. Letter-Book, H, 58).
169, ll. 16–17. Brember … beheaded. An error. Brembre was hanged
at Tyburn (Rot. Parl. iii. 238). Stow repeats the mistake in the
Annales.
186, l. 26. James Dalton. Stow in his Annales, p. 1217, ed. 1605, under
date 1586, writes of a letter from the Queen 'read openly in a great
assembly of the Commons in the Guildhall, August 22, before the reading
whereof, master James Dalton, one of the Counsellers of the City, in the
absence of the Recorder made this speech hereafter following, &c.'
James Dalton was made under-sheriff of London through Burghley's
favour in March, 1594 (Lansdowne MSS. 77 (31); and 34 (18), 77 (51)
and 79 (75)—three other letters from Dalton).
195, l. 37. the new fashion of flatte caps. Howes in 1631, with reference
to the time of Queen Mary and beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, writes
of the London apprentices: 'They also wore flat caps, both then and
many yeares after, as well Apprentices as Journey-men, and others, both
at home and abroad, whom the Pages of the Court in derision called
Flat-caps', Annales, p. 1041. Ben Jonson, in Every man in his Humour,
Act 11, Sc. i, writes:—
Make their loose comments upon every word,
Gesture, or look I use; mock me all over,
From my flat-cap unto my shining shoes.
And Dekker in The Honest Whore, Pt. 2:—
Flat Caps as proper are to Citty Gownes,
As to Armors Helmets, or to kings their Crownes.
Let then the City Cap by none be scorn'd
Since with it Princes heads have been adornd.
196, l. 5. Sir John White wore it. Stow in his Memoranda (pp. 127–8)
writes: 'Ser John Whit, beynge mayre, wore bothe a longe beard and
allso a round cape that wayed not iiij ounces, whiche semyd to all men, in
consideracyon of y e auncient bonyt, to be very uncomly.' Dekker in
The Honest Whore, Pt. 2, comments both on caps and shaving (Works,
ii. 110):—
For Caps are emblems of humility;
It is a citizens badge, and first was worne
By th' Romans; for when any Bondmans turne
Came to be made a Freeman: thus 'twas said,
He to the Cap was call'd; that is, was made
Of Rome a Freeman, but was first close shorne,
And so a Citizen's haire is still short worne.
In 1543 the Court of Aldermen had actually ordered that no one wearing
a beard 'of more notable prolyxyte or length than that worn by other
citizens should be admitted by redemption to the liberties and freedom
of the City as long as he should wear any such beard' (Repertory, 10,
f. 343, ap. Letter-book, D, p. xi).
196, l. 33. The author. Stow expressly conceals his name, whilst stating
that he was a Londoner born. From a reference at the head of p. 202
it appears that the writer was a young scholar at Oxford during the reign
of Queen Mary, and from another on p. 208 to have been a lawyer, familiar
with London constitutional government. The facts might suit James
Dalton, who was at Christ Church in 1551(Reg. Univ. Oxford, i. 217).
The occasion for writing seems to have been the proclamation against
new building in 1580(see note on pp. 367–8 above).
220, Descriptio Londoniae was written in 1174 by William FitzStephen as a prelude to his life of Thomas Becket. It is not, however,
found in all the extant copies of that work, and of the manuscripts used
for the edition in Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, vol, iii
(Rolls Series), Lansdowne 398 (in the British Museum) alone has it in
full, whilst Douce, 287 (in the Bodleian Library) has an imperfect copy.
Other copies are contained in Marshall MS. 75 (in the Bodleian Library),
and in the Liber Custumarum, preserved at the Guildhall and edited by
H. T. Riley in Mun. Gild. II. i. 1–15. Stow might presumably have
had access to the last; but his discussion on London Schools (vol. i.
71–3) shows that he had not made use of it. His original more nearly
resembled the Douce MS. which belonged to Lessness Abbey, near Erith,
and the Marshall MS. which Hearne thought Stow had used.
The Description of London has been several times printed, viz. by
Strype in his Survey (Appendix, pp. 9–11), using the Liber Custumarum;
by Thomas Hearne in vol. viii of Leland's Itinerary from the Marshall
MS.; by Samuel Pegge in 1772 with notes; and by W. J. Thomas in his
edition of the Survey, where the previous printed editions are collated
with the Lansdowne MS. The present text is based on a comparison
of Stow's text with the two versions in the Rolls Series, which I have
collated a new with the Lansdowne MS. I have further given some
references to Hearne's text and to the Douce MS.
The copy in the Liber Custumarum, though somewhat late in date,
is of peculiar interest for its civic origin. On the whole it agrees with
Stow's text more closely than does the Lansdowne MS. It has the
peculiarity of being divided into twenty-five chapters, as against the
eleven of Stow's version; the chapter De Pascuis et Sationalibus is
divided into two; the chapter De Dispositione Urbis has four divisions,
and that De Ludis no less than than. In the Lansdowne MS. there is no
division into chapters. In the present edition Stow's division (which is
also that of Hearne) is retained. As a rule the text follows that of Stow,
where he is supported by either of the chief MSS. No MS. appears to be
entitled to pre-eminent authority.
In the footnotes on pp. 219–29 above,
C. = Liber Custumarum.
D. = Douce MS. 287.
H. = Hearne's edition.
L. = Lansdowne Ms. 398.
S. = Stow's text of 1603.
Fitz Stephen adorned his narrative with an extraordinary display of
classic learning (much of it no doubt second-hand). I have given as
many references as I could find in previous editions or trace elsewhere.