A Survey of London. Reprinted From the Text of 1603. Originally published by Clarendon, Oxford, 1908.
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John Stow, 'Notes: Volume 1, pp.1-100', in A Survey of London. Reprinted From the Text of 1603, ed. C L Kingsford( Oxford, 1908), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-of-london-stow/1603/pp269-283 [accessed 2 December 2024].
John Stow, 'Notes: Volume 1, pp.1-100', in A Survey of London. Reprinted From the Text of 1603. Edited by C L Kingsford( Oxford, 1908), British History Online, accessed December 2, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-of-london-stow/1603/pp269-283.
John Stow. "Notes: Volume 1, pp.1-100". A Survey of London. Reprinted From the Text of 1603. Ed. C L Kingsford(Oxford, 1908), , British History Online. Web. 2 December 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/survey-of-london-stow/1603/pp269-283.
NOTES
For a list of abbreviations used in the citation of authorities see p. 389 below.
Page 1, ll. 1–25. As the Romane writers, &c. The original draft in
Harley MS. 538, f. 1, preserves a version which differs from either of the
printed editions:
'The foundacion of the Citie of London.'
'Aftar the common opinion, and as writithe Geffrey Monmouthe, Brute the first kynge of the Britaynes in this Ysle about the yere of the worlde 2855, the yere before Christes natiuite 1108, builded a citie nere vnto a riuar now called Thames, and named it Trenouantum, or new Troy. Kynge Lud repayred this Citie with fayre buildings, Towres, and Walls, and named it Cair Lud, or Lud's Towne, more he builded on the west parte of this citie a stronge gate naming it Lud gate, and this he did about the yere before Christes birthe 66. This Lud had yssue two sons, &c.'
The text of the early part of the Survey as now contained in Harley MS. 538 is much disordered. The third chapter, 'Of Riuers, Brooks, &c.,' is in fragmentary state; this is to be explained no doubt by the existence of a revised draft in Tanner MS. 464—see note below. The text of the early chapters in the Harley MS. agrees fairly closely with the edition of 1598, but with some occasional variations: e.g. p. 6, l. 20, 'faynt and cowardous hartes'; and p. 7, ll. 5–7, 'was naythar man of his handes nor good of counsel, but gyven to unlawfull &c.'
5, l. 14. the first that inwalled this Citie. For notices of the most recent discoveries on the Roman wall see articles in Archaeologia, lii. 615 (at Aldersgate), lix. 125–40 (at Newgate), lx. 169–250 (at various points between Moorgate and the Tower). Discoveries on the last occasion indicated that the wall was built about the end of the second century (lx. 183). Stow's citation of Simeon of Durham is an error; the reference to Helena is found only in Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Anglorum, 30.
9, l. 8. the wall on the southside. There is good reason to believe that Thames Street marks the line of the most ancient walls, and that the street was outside on the river-bank; the gates and wharves below have been recovered from the river. See Lethaby, London before the Conquest, 90.
11–21. Of Auncient and present Riuers, &c. A revised draft of this chapter is bound up with Stow's transcripts of Leland's Collections in Tanner MS. 464 (1), ff. 155–63. In its characteristics it is exactly similar to the principal portion of the original in Harley MS. 538. It supplies some variations of interest and importance, viz.:—
Title: 'Of Rivars, brokes, bournes, pooles, wells, and conduits of freshe watars servinge the citie. As also of the ditche 200 foote brode compassinge the wall of the same citie.'
Page 11, ll. 9–11. 'A runninge wattar called Walbrooke of running from the northe walle thrughe the midste of the city into the riuar of Thamis served the harte of the Citie.'
ll. 14–16. 'had his falle into the river of the Wells or Turnmill broke. Then was there among many other fayre waters thre principall fountaynes or wells in the subarbes.' l. 18. 'Riuilus [Rivulus] de Fags Well.' l. 27. 'served of swete and holsom waters.' l. 31. 'Thames the most excellent and famous River of England.'
Page 12, ll. 7–10. '3000 pore men be put a worke. The River of the Wells in the West parte of this Citie, that it was of olde tyme so called may be proved thus.'
Page 13, ll. 33–6. 'the wirke fayled, and no good was done, so that the broke by menes of incrochementes vpon the banques, gitinges over it, and castinge in of fullage is now worse than ever it was.'
l. 39–Page 14, l. 2. 'any ditche by the walls thereof betwene Bishopsgate … entred the walle and therefore was of the wall called Walbrooke.'
Page 14, l. 6. 'an olde writen booke.' ll. 24–5. 'so that the course of Walbrooke is now hardly knowne. ll. 31–4. 'Shareborne lane, devidinge into dyvers rills or rillets … called Langbourne Warde, and of the borne devidinge into shares Share-borne Lane toke that name.' l. 37. 'the names afore shewed.' l. 38. 'Olde borne or Holeborne.'
Page 15, ll. 19–22. 'The fountayne at S. Clement Danes … alwayes full and never wantithe.'
Page 16, l. 6. 'Riuulus de Fags Well.' ll. 20–1. 'the land water falling into the small portion remayninge, inclosed with brike, is but a fowle water and is cawled Smithfild ponde.'
Page 17, ll. 34–5. omits 'again … Lambe 1577'.
Page 19, l. 12. The separate title is omitted as in the 1598 edition.
ll. 20–22. 'Which ditche beinge made for defence of the Citie hath at all tymes since, bene clensed and mayntayned as nede required.' ll. 24–8. 'stopped up for garden plottes, and houses builded thereon, even to the very wall and on many places upon both ditch and wall. I can but wishe that reformation might be hadde.'
12, l. 19. the riuer of the Wels. The name is simply Stow's translation of the rivulus foncium of William's Latin charter. But since, as Mr. W. H. Stevenson points out, this in its turn is 'a mere translation of the O. E. wylri[th]e of the Old-English original, it cannot have been more than a small stream (ri[th]e) issuing from a spring or springs'. It is not clear that the words of the charter are intended to distinguish the rivulus foncium near the north corner (aquilonare cornu) of the wall from the running water which entered the city. Mr. Lethaby (London before the Conquest, 45–7) has argued that they were identical, and that the Well-brook is Walbrook itself (see further note below). If there was a brook draining west from the Moor, it must either have joined the Fagswell brook (see p. 272 below) or have run through the site of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, which before Rahere's time was but a marsh (Cotton MS., Vespasian, B. ix, f. 7vo); if so the Well-brook might be the stream running through the Hospital to Holborn Bridge, which was covered in by licence from Edward I' on account of the too great stench proceeding from it'. (Morley, Bartholomew Fair, 70.) In any case Stow's identification of the Well-brook with Turnmill-brook is an untenable conjecture; the latter was clearly the upper course of the Fleet, or that part of the Holeburn which ran parallel with Turnmill street.
Both the English and Latin texts of William's charter were edited by Mr. Stevenson in Engl. Hist. Rev. xi. 731–44: see also xii. 105–10.
l. 22. Booke of Parliament recordes: see Rot. Parl. i. 200. The original reads 'Holeburne', not 'Oldborne', and does not mention the river 'of Wells' as Stow's marginal note implies. The date should be 1306.
13, l. 13. a fayre Register booke. The fifteenth-century cartulary of the Hospital of St. John, Cotton MS., Nero, E. vi, ff. 22–3, deeds relating to land in 'Trillemelstrete'.
14, l. 2. of the wall called Walbrooke. William's Charter (see p. 270 above) has simply 'usque in aquam currentem que ingreditur ciuitatem'. The stream is called Walebroc in 1114–33 (Chron. Ramsey, 248; Cartul. de Rameseia, i. 139, Rolls Ser.). Mr. Lethaby has suggested that Walbrook is really the Well-brook or Rivulus Foncium. It may have received a stream from the west, but the main stream came from the north-east, and there seems to be no proof of the use of the name outside the wall. The course of Walbrook is shown by a dotted line on the map at the end of this volume. For another map, and documents illustrating its history, see J. E. Price, Roman Pavement in Bucklersbury, pp. 48–55. For notes on recent excavations see Archaeologia, lx. 178–83, 230–3. For the legend of Gualo see p. 286 below.
l. 16. to scowre. The reading of 1598, viz. 'to couer', seems the better. See Memorials, 43, and Letter-Book C, 71.
l. 20. Iohn de Beuer called John le Benere in Letter-Book B, 216, C, 70, 72. See also Cal. Wills, i. 196. His name is printed as John de Bever or le Bevere in Mun. Gild. II. i. 95, 97.
l. 26. Langborne water, see note on p. 307.
l. 31. Shareborne lane, see note on p. 307.
l. 38. Oldborne, or Hilborne. Stow usually writes Oldborne; here he gives Hilborne as an alternative. Neither of his suggested derivations can be maintained. If Oldborne were correct the original form would be Ealdborne. But in early documents it is always Holeburne or Holeborne (as Stow himself wrote in his MS., see p. 270); Holeburne, the stream, occurs in Domesday, i. 127, and in a charter of Henry II (Mon. Angl. iv. 85), and Holeburn strate in 1251 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 3). The meaning is no doubt the burn in the hollow or hole (Isaac Taylor, Words and Places, 186–7); compare the neighbouring Hockley in the Hole. This is accepted by the best authorities. But the notorious, though later, association of Holborn with the hill has suggested support for Stow's second form. For a prolonged discussion see Notes and Queries, 8th ser. ix, x, xii, 9th ser. i, and 10th ser. ii and v. See also a paper by F.G. Waller on The Holeburne in Trans. Lond. and Midd. iv. 97–123, with a map.
15, l. 32. Skinners well, neare vnto Clarkes well. Stow's authority for the history of all these wells is the Cartulary of the Priory of the Nuns at Clerkenwell (Cotton MS., Faustina, B. II). The most important document is one, dated April 1197, relating to the donations of Lecia de Montigny, widow of Henry Foliot, and daughter of Jordan Briset the founder; this is printed in Monasticon, iv. 83, and appears in another form in Feet of Fines, 7 and 8 Ric. I, No. 136, Pipe Roll Soc. 20. Skinners well is there described as lying in the valley between the Nuns' Priory and the Holeburn. It is traditionally said to have been on the west side of the Church of St. James, Clerkenwell. The Clerkes Well was fifty years ago still marked by a pump at the south-east corner of Ray Street (London Past and Present, i. 418, iii. 252). The two wells can have been only a little distance apart. So the Clerks' plays are described commonly as held at Skinnerswell. There does not seem to be any authority for the statement that the Skinners held plays. In Aug. 1385 the performance of the play that was customarily held at 'Skynneres welle' was forbidden (Letter-Book, H, 272). For other references to the plays see Malvern's continuation of Higden, ap. Polychronicon, ix. 47, 259; Nicolas, Lond. Chron. 91: Devon, Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, 244; Chambers, Mediaeval Stage, ii. 380.
16, l. 6. Fagges well. In 1197 certain lands are described as lying between the Garden of the Hospitallers and Smithfield Bar 'super rivulum de Fackeswell', and other lands as between that brook and 'Chikennelane'. (Feet of Fines, u. s.) This fixes the position of Faggeswell brook as approximately at the boundary of the City.
l. 7. Todwell.This is clearly a misreading by Stow of Cotton MS., Faustina, B. II, f. 27, where certain land is described as 'inter Skinners well et Godewelle subtus viam usque in Holeburn'; Stow has written 'Skinnerswell' in the margin. In Feet of Fines, u. s., Godewell is described as between the Priory and the Holeburne; apparently somewhat to the south, and on the far side of the valley.
l. 7. Loders wel. About 1200 Muriel de Montigny gave the 'fons qui vocatur Loddereswell' to the Nuns of Clerkenwell with a right of way thereto from the Priory (Cartulary, f. 32. vo.).
l. 8. Radwell. This comes from the same source, 'terram quam Osbertus tenuit in Redwell' (Cartulary, ff. 6, 39). The reference is apparently to Radwell in Hertfordshire.
l. 11. Dame Annis the cleare. 'A spring called Dame Annis de Cleare, called by the name of a rich London widow, called Annis Cleare, who, matching herself with a riotous courtier in the time of Edward I, who vainely consumed all her wealth, and leaving her in much povertie, there she drowned herself, being then but a shallow ditch or running water.' The Pleasant walks of Moore Fields: a dialogue between a Country Gentleman and a Citizen, 1607.
This well was neare Paul Street, Finsbury, in the neighbourhood of which there is still a St. Agnes Terrace. The name St. Agnes Clair Fields continued till a hundred years ago.
l. 13. Perillous pond. The site is in Baldwin Street, City Road. As 'Peerless Pool' it continued as a public bath till well into the last century; see for an account of it in 1831 Gent. Mag. Library, xvi. 213–14. For the pond in Stow's time see Dekker and Middleton, The Roaring Girl, Act II. sc. i: 'Push! let your boy lead his water-spaniel along, and we'll show the bravest sport at Parlous Pond.'
19, l. 14. was begun to be made. So in vol. i. p. 13, Stow writes of Walbrook 'before there was any ditch'. If he meant that there was no ditch before 1213 he was in error. Recent excavations have shown clearly that there was a ditch of Roman work. See Archaeologia, lii. 615, and lx. 203–7, and 212–3. The Roman ditch was, however, smaller than the great ditch of the thirteenth century. On the obstruction of the ditch see further vol. i. p. 164, and notes on pp. 297 and 369 below.
20, l. 4. to be clensed. The draft in Harley MS. 538, f. 5, then proceeds: 'and dyvars tymes sens, lyghtly once in xx yeres the same hath been observed, as myself have sene, but now of late no suche mattar, that charge is saved and greate profit made by suffringe or rather forsynge the decay thereof; a matter manifest to all, and nathelesse for me to write.' This passage takes the place of the whole remainder of vol. i. p. 20.
21, l. 2. by report of Bartholomew Linsted, alias Fowle. Stow's friend, William Lambarde, rejected the story, calling Prior 'Fowler' an obscure man, and his story 'without date of time or warrant of writing' (Dictionarium Angliae Topographicum, 176: first published in 1730, but written before 1585). See Chronicles of London Bridge, 33–8.
l. 20. the Timber Bridge. The earliest proof is in the record of the drowning of a witch at 'Lundene brigce' in King Edgar's time (Kemble, Cod. Dipl. dxci). The date of Swein's siege was 1013.
22, l. 25. Joseph Holland. One of Stow's associates in the old Society of Antiquaries. He was a native of Devon, and a herald and genealogist. Some of his manuscript collections are preserved in the British Museum and at the College of Arms (Hearne, Curious Discourses, ii. 436). A paper of his was included in John Dodderidge's Opinions of certain learned antiquaries on The Antiquities of Parliaments: London, 1658 and 1670, from Harley MS. 305.
23, l. 9. more towardes the west. Stow is in error. The Roman bridge was on the same place as the mediaeval bridge, just east of the existing bridge. This was shown by discoveries when the bridge was building about 1830. See Roach Smith, ap. Archaeological Journal, i. 112.
24, margin. William Packenton, Treasurer of Edward the Black Prince, and author of a Chronicle in French from 1208 to 1333. Leland (Collectanea, ii. 455) translates some extracts, which tend to show that this Chronicle was the second edition of the Brute. See Sir E.M. Thompson's edition of Chronicon Galfridi le Baker, pp. 183–4, and Dic. Nat. Biog. xliii. 95. Stow probably quotes from Leland.
25, l. 4. In the yeare1395. The date is wrong. David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, had licence to come to England for the tournament on Jan. 22, 1390, and was here till the end of May (Rotuli Scotiae, ii. 103). Stow's authority was Hector Boece (Scot. Hist. 335, ed. 1575, where there is no date), as shown in his MSS. An earlier account is given by Andrew Wyntoun. See Chronicles of London Bridge, 187–203.
26, l. 8. To conclude of this bridge. With Stow's account may be compared that of Lyly in Euphues and his England (ii. 192, ed. Bond): 'Among all the straunge and beautifull showes, mee thinketh there is none so notable as the Bridge which crosseth the Theames, which is in manner of a continuell streete, well replenyshed with large and stately houses on both sides, and situate upon twentie arches, whereof each one is made of excellent free stone, everye one of them being three score foote in height, and full twentie in distaunce one from another.' See for more exact dimensions Chronicles of London Bridge, 81.
29, l. 9. Aeldgate. Stow's derivation is wrong. If correct the old form should be Ealdgate. But it appears as 'Ealsegate' in the De Miraculis S. Edmundi of Hermann, written about 1095 (Memorials of St. Edmunds, i. 43, Rolls Ser.), and the normal forms throughout the Middle Ages are 'Alegate' and 'Algate'. Aldgate is the Eastgate of the English Chronicle (sub anno 1052), though the gate by the Tower is said by Stow (vol. i. p. 28) to have been the chief gate on that side till 1190. Norman, the first prior of Trinity (1108–47), rebuilt Aldgate from the foundation (Guildhall MS. 122, f. 13). Mr. Stevenson suggests that Algate was derived from Ealh, an owner or builder. The east gate of Gloucester was known as 'Ailesgate' from 'Æ[th]el' (Engl. Hist. Rev. xii. 491).
31, l. 23. The eldest note, &c. However, it occurs in Domesday (i. 128): 'Canonici S. Pauli habent ad portam Episcopi x. cotarios.' Gilbert Foliot (d. 1187) refers to his gate called 'Bissupesgate' (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 25).
32, l. 28. there builded a Posterne. The record from Letter-Book, I (ap. Memorials, 614) shows that what was done in 1415 was the enlargement of 'the little Postern, built of old in the wall of the said city'. The gardens, destroyed in 1498 (ii. 76–7), were laid out at the same time. For Moorfield, see further notes on pp. 369–70.
33, l. 5. Cripplegate. Abbo of Fleury does not describe the bringing
of St. Edmund to London. Hermann, who does, says that the procession
came in at Ealsegate (Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey, i. 43). In the
Nova Legenda Angliae (ii. 596–9, ed. Horstman) the gate is Algate.
Lydgate, however, writes in his Legend of St. Edmund and St. Fremund
(ap. Horstman's Sammlung Altenglischer Legenden, p. 436):
He kam to London toward eue late
At whos komyng blynde men kauhte syht,
And whan he was entred Crepylgate
They that were lame be grace they goon upryht.
The change was no doubt due to the fancied derivation of Cripplegate from cripples, who begged there, which appears in Liber S. Bartholomaei (Cotton MS., Vesp., B. ix, f. 15): 'Ad portam, que lingua Anglorum crepelsgate, Latine vero porta contractorum vocatur.' (This is the passage relating to Alfune which Stow quotes lower down: but the Liber was not written till about 1180; both here and in the English version on f. 54 there are notes of Stow's in the margin.) For later instances of this derivation see Baldwin's humorous version below, and Ben Jonson in Every Man in his Humour, 'As lame as Vulcan, or the founder of Cripplegate.' But 'cripple' in Cripplegate is connected with O.E. 'crepel', a burrow. So Cripplegate would mean the sunk, or covered, or perhaps the narrow (cramped) gate. Cripplegap is used in the north of England of a small hole left in walls for the sheep to pass through. There was a postern at Shrewsbury called Crepulgate, and connected with the Severn by a lode (O.E. lad) called Crepul-lode. (N. and Q. 9th Ser. i. 2.)
Cripplegate is one of the three gates named in the Laws of Ethelred about 1000 (Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes, p. 127). 'Crepelgate' is the most usual form of the name in early London wills and documents.
l. 26. Alfune. See above, and note on p. 360 below.
l. 36. I. de Blackwell. John de Bauquell, who was a prominent citizen at the time, ancestor of the later Blackwells. See pp. 336–7 below.
34, l. 1. Fabians Manuscript. This notice does not appear in the printed Chronicle of Fabyan. See further, Introduction, p. xxxv.
Margin. In a booke called Beware the cat. A most scarce and curious tale, published under the initials G. B., but now know to have been written by William Baldwin (see vol. i. p.x.). Only two copies, one printed in 1570, the other in 1584, are known; but ten copies were reprinted privately by J. O. Halliwell-Phillips in 1864. For its history see further Catalogue of the Huth Library, i. 80, and J. P. Collier, Bibliographical Account of Early English Literature, i. 43–7.
Beware the Cat is a tale professed to be told by one of Baldwin's friends, when they were keeping Christmas, 1552, in John Day's office at Aldersgate. It is a quaint medley of folk-lore, fairy-story, and broad jest, mingled with satire on popery, which opens thus:—
'Being lodged, as I thank him I have been often, at a friend's house of mine, which were rowmish within than garnish without, standing at Saint Martin's Lane end, hangeth partly upon the town-wall that is called Alder's Gate, either of one Aldrich, or els of elders, that is to say ancient men of the citie, which among them builded it, as bishops did Bishopsgate, or els of elder trees, which bischaunce, as they doe in the Gardines now there about, so while the comon there was vacant, grew abundantly in the same place where the gate was after builded, and called thereof Eldergate, as Moorgate took the name of the field without it, which hath been a very moore, or els because it is the most ancient gate of the cittie, was thereof in thereof in respect of the other, as Newgate, called the Elder Gate, or els as Ludgate taketh the name of Lud, who builded it, so most part of Haroldes (I know) will soonest assent Aleredus builded this, but they are deceived, for he and his wife Algag builded Algate, which thereof taketh the name, as Cripple gate doth of a Cripple, who begged so much in his life as (put to the silver weather-cock which he stole from Powles steeple), after his death builded it.'
'But whereof soever this gate, Aldersgate, took the name (which longeth chiefly to Historyes to know), &c.'
The whole passage reads like a piece of grave fooling, which proved too delicate for Stow's simplicity.
Stow himself is at fault in his derivation. Aldersgate is a corruption of Ealdredesgate, or Ealdred's gate, by which name it is mentioned about 1000 (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, &c., p. 127). Later forms are Aldredesgate in 1275, and Aldrichegate in 1243 and 1372 (Cal. Wills, i. 25, ii. 162; Mun. Gild. I. 106).
ll. 25–6. John Day … a late famous Printer. Dibdin (Typ. Antiq. iv. 41) writes of him thus: 'There are very few of our earlier printers to whom both literature and typography are more deeply indebted.' Day, who died 1584, had been a printer at Aldersgate from 1549, and published about 230 volumes. See Dict. Nat. Biog. xiv. 233.
35, l. 2. Newgate, as latelier builded. Recent excavations revealed extensive remains of the Roman wall and gate at Newgate (Archaeologia, lix. 125–40). This was no doubt also the Westgate of Saxon London—'Westgetum' in a charter, dated 857, of Burhred of Mercia, ap. Thorpe, Diplomatarium, 118. Probably the new gate was built after one of the great fires early in the twelfth century; but the Vita Arkenwaldi, which is quoted here and in vol. i. p. 69, describes only the buildings of Maurice and Richard about St. Paul's (Nova Legenda Angliae, i. 395–6, ed. Horstman). Saward de 'Nova Porta' is mentioned in a deed about 1162 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 5), and Newgate is referred to as a prison in the Pipe Roll for 1190. Its earlier name was Chamberlain Gate: see note on pp. 361–2. See also R.R. Sharpe, Memorials of Newgate Goal.
ll, 21–3. the high and large street … so crossed and stopped up. The greatest change appears to be that described in Wren's Parentalia, p. 272. 'Upon demolishing the ruins [of St. Paul's] and searching the foundations of the Quire, the Surveyor [Wren] discovered nine wells in a row, which no doubt had anciently belonged to a street of houses that lay aslope from the High Street [Watling Street] to the Roman causeway [Cheapside], and this street, which was taken away to make room for the new Quire [of 1256], came so near to the old [Norman] Presbyterium that the church could not extend further that way at first.' It has been argued from this that a Roman road ran diagonally to Newgate; but the theory is doubtful: see Lethaby, London before the Conquest, 150–2.
36, l. 19. Iohn Offrem. His real name was John de Frome. See Ann. Lond. 46, Lib. de Ant. Legg. 22, and Hist MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 14 b.
l. 38. In the yeare 1414, &c. Probably this refers to the occurrence in 1419, when, through the abuse of the privileges of Ludgate by persons 'more willing and Sheriffs abolished that prison, and removed the prisoners the Mayor and Sheriffs abolished that prison, and removed the prisoners to Newgate. This was in June. In November following, since many persons, 'by reason of the fetid and corrupt atmosphere that is in the hateful gaol of Newgate,' had died, Whittington ordered the use of Ludgate to be restored (Memorials, 673, 677).
38, l. 4.Ludsgate, or Fludsgate. Camden, Britannia(ii. 80, ed. Gough), 'Ludgate or Fludsgate, as Leland thinks, from the rivulet there.' Geoffrey of Monmouth (Hist. Brit.) speaks of it as 'the gate which to this day is called in the British tongue Porth-Lud, and in the Saxon Luddesgata.' The tradition may be old, and Mr. W.H. Stevenson (Eng. Hist, Rev. xii.491) has suggested again that the name is due to an owner called Ludd or Ludda. But 'ludgeat' is given in O.E. dictionaries as meaning a postern, and 'lidgate' is used of a swinging gate between a meadow and the highway (N.E.D.) See also Letha by, London before the Conquest, 84–6.
l. 11. Luds gate for the West. The chiefgate on the west was Newgate, see note above. But the postern at Ludgate was no doubt ancient.
l. 24. Hebrewe caracters. The Hebrew should probably be read— [Hebrew text, see original page 277]
41, l. 11. Downe gate, so called of the sodaine descending. 'Downe,' and its explanation, seem to be guesses of Stow's. A wharf 'apud Duuegate' is mentioned in an alleged charter of William I (Cotton Charter, vi. 3), which, though a fabrication, probably dates from the reign of Henry I. Stephen granted to St. Mary Overy the stone house of William de Pont de I'Arche 'contra seldas de Dovegata ' (Mon. Angl. vi. 172). In a charter of Henry II to Rouen, 1150–1, there is mention of the port of 'Duuegate' at London (Cal. French Documents, 34–5, ed. Round). 'Duuesgate' occurs in an early deed in the Clerkenwell Cartulary (Cotton. MS., Faustina, B. ii, f. 75; where Stow has written 'Dunesgate', but the third letter is certainly u). 'Douegate', or 'Douuegate', is the regular mediaeval form. In the sixteenth century it is 'Dow Lane' and 'Dovegate'. 'Duvegate' looks like a compound (O.E. *Dufangeat) of Dove, probably a woman's name. Camden (Britannia, ii. 80) writes: 'Dourgate, vulgarly Dowgate, or the Water gate'; this is an impossible derivation.
ll. 30–31. Guild hall of the marchants of Cullen. The Emperor's men are mentioned in the Laws of Ethelred II (978–1016), and the house of the merchants of Cologne appears in a charter of Henry II in 1157. (Lappenberg, Urkundliche Geschichte des Stahlhofes, II.3). Probably this was identical with the Gilda Aula Teutonicorum(see p. 319 below), for in 1235 certain property in All Hallows Hay-wharf is described as between the Guildhall of the Cologne merchants and Wancelines-lane (? Wyndgoslane —Anc. Deeds, A. 1791). Riley (Mun. Gild. I.p. xcvi) thought that the two were distinct; but the Gilda Aula Teutonicorumis first mentioned in 1260, and no notice of the Guildhall of the Cologne merchants occurs after that date.
42, l. 1. Wolfes gate. Probably a mere misprint for 'Wolses gate'; but the error has been perpetuated in all editions. In the Liber Albus (Mun. Gild. I. 242, 697) it appears as 'Wolsiesgate in Corderia', and as 'Wolsyesyate'. Stow himself on i. 235 has 'Wolses gate'. So also 'Wolsis lane', ap. Cal. Wills, i. 220.
43, l. 2. W.rex Angliæ, &c. The charter is contained in Cotton MS., Faustina, A. iii, f. 63vo, where, however,it reads 'terra Alunodide porta Sancti Bothulphi'.
52, l. 5. here to digresse a little. In Hearne's Curious Discourses (ii. 318, 2nd ed.) there is a note on sterling money which Stow had contributed to the old Society of Antiquaries. It is, however, very brief, and does not represent this long digression.
58, l. 7. In the yeare 1414. Oldcastle's escape was in Oct. 1413; the parliament of Leicester in May 1414.
60, l. 26. large summes of monies. The draft in Harley MS. 538.f.15 then continues: 'both presently in theyr lyves and also by theyr testaments at theyre deseace. Amonge the whiche by testament Robar Large, maior of London, in anno Christi 1439, gave 100 markes. Sir Stephen Forstar, maior in anno 1454, gave 20 li., Sir John Crosby, shryve, who deceased anno 1475, gave 100 li. to the wirkes of the newe towre of stone at the sowthe ende of London bridge. Richard Gardinar, maior in 1478, gave 100 li. to the buylding up of the voyd place upon London bridge. John Mathew, maior anno 1490, gave 10 markes, &c. This gate and towre was then both strongly and beautifully builded, and sens of late repayred'.
62, l. 33. The rights that belonged to Robert Fitzwalter, &c. The French original is in the Liber Custumarum (Mun. Gild. II. i. 147–51). Stow's translation is not quite accurate. Read —p. 63, I.12: 'the feet, hands and head, argent, with a sword in the hands of the said image'; l.16: 'shall salute the mayor as his companion and peer'; ll. 19,20:'to bear, to carry, and to gouern'; l. 20: 'to your power'; ll 34–5: 'chosen forthwith of the host of the City of London'; ll. 36–9: 'command the mayor and burgesses of the city to cause to be rung the common bell of the said city; and all the commons shall go follow the banner of St. Paul, and the banner of the said Robert; which banner of St. Paul the same Robert shall bear in his own hand as far as Algate'; p. 64, ll. 2–5: 'think good, if so be they must make any issue forth of the city. Then also must the said mayor, the said Robert, and two of the most sage persons of each ward dismount to foresee'; l. 3I: 'it is lawfull'; p. 65, 1. 6: 'at Wodewharf' (fn. 1); l. 13: 'his great Council.' Though omitted in the edition of 1598, 'The Rights of Robert Fitz Walter' appear in the draft in Harley MS. 538.
The second Robert FitzWalter had licence in 1275 to transfer Baynard's Castle and the Tower called Montfichet to Archbishop Kilwardby for the founding of Blackfriars (see i. 68), but with a reservation of all his franchises and privileges in the City. (C. P. R. Edw. I, i. 96.) It was in pursuance of this reservation that in 1303 he claimed his privileges. The claim was renewed by him in 1321, before the King's Justices, who refused to entertain it. It was for the last time advanced by John FitzWalter in 1347, but peremptorily rejected by the Mayor and Common Council. (Letter-Book F, 169.) See Riley's Introduction to Mun. Gild. II. i. pp. lxxvi-lxxxiv; and Memorials, p. 236. On the soke of Robert FitzWalter and the jurisdiction of the Lord of Castle Baynard on the Thames see Eng. Hist. Rev. xvii. 485–6, with a document edited there by Miss Bateson from Add. MS. 14252.
65, l. 29. This Robert deceased. Stow is in error in his genealogy. Robert FitzWalter, the baronial leader, died in 1234, and his son Walter in 1258. Robert II was an infant when his father died, and lived till 1325. He was succeeded by Robert III, who died in 1328. John, son of Robert, died in 1361. The male line of FitzWalter became extinct in 1432. Nicolas, Historic Peerage, 199; G. E. C., Complete Peerage.
l. 34. More of the Lord FitzWaltar. In the draft in Harley MS. 538, f. 17vo there follows a long account of the intervention of Walter, Lord FitzWalter, in defence of the City in their quarrel with John of Gaunt in 1377. FitzWalter offered his help as 'being by ancient inheritance standard-bearer to the city'. The passage, which is given in the Annales, p. 433, ed. 1605, is a translation from the Chronicon Angliae, pp. 121–3.
l. 36. how this honour of Baynards Castell fell, &c. The later Baynard Castle was not on the site of the old house of the FitzWalters at Blackfriars, but some distance to the east near Paul's Wharf. In a declaration made about 1446 it is stated that a certain deed was sealed 'in the duc of Yorkys place besyde Paulys warfe, in a chambyr in the est parte of the courte, were that my lord of Glowsetir lyith now' (Lappenberg, II. 71; the date of the deed seems to have been 1417). This enables us to identify the later Baynard Castle with the 'Hospice called le Old Inne by Pauls Wharfe', which appears amongst the possessions of Edward, Duke of York, who was killed at Agincourt (Cal. Inq. p. m. iv. 14). After the death of Humphrey of Gloucester it fell, with the rest of his property, to the crown (Rot. Parl. v. 132), but soon reverted to Richard, Duke of York. It is called 'Baynardis Castell' as Richard's house in 1457 (Chron. Lond. 168). It is possible that Edward, Duke of York, may have acquired the 'Old Inne' through his marriage to Philippa, widow of Walter FitzWalter (d. 1386)—see ii. 110 above.
67, l. 6. King of the Romaines. In Harley MS. 538, f. 19, 'fabian writer' is put in the margin. The notice does not occur in the printed Continuation, but see Chron. London, pp. 259, 260.
68, l. 33. as appeareth by their grantes. A longish explanation is inserted in Harley MS. 538, f. 19vo:—'Edward the first, the tenthe yere of his reigne, graunted to the maior and citizens of London to take toward the makynge of the wall and inclosure of the Citie certayn customes, as apperith by the graunt. Also Kyng Edward the second sent his writ commaundinge the Citizens of London to make the walle alle redy begon, and the Towre at the ende of the same walle within the watar of Thames, nere to the house of the Blake friars, of the profites rising of the customes before to them graunted; this writ was dated the 18 of Julii the 4 of E. the second. The wall was then finished, &c.'
69, ll. 1, 2. An other Tower … the King. In place of this sentence Harley MS. 538, f. 19vo, has:— 'A Tower or Castle there was in the west parte of the Citie, as William fitz Stevens hathe noted in these words: "The Citie of London saythe he (who wrote in the reigne of Henry the second) habet ab occidente arcem palatinam, ab oriente duo castella munitissima. It hath in the west a princely tower or castle. And in the east two towres or castles. Now for the first, to wite in the west, which was a princely Towre or Castle in the reigne of H. the second as the same FitzStephen notithe. It hath bene of longe since distroyed, and no monument thereof remayninge, wherefore I could nevar lerne where the same was situate, more than on the west parte of the Citie. I read that, &c."'
l. 5. foundation of a new Church. In Harley MS. 538 Stow then inserts: 'a wirke that men iudged would nevar have bene finished, it was to them so wonderfull for largenes.' And four lines lower, after successor: 'dyd also wonderfully increase the same chirche, purchasynge of his owne cost the large stretes about it.' The next paragraph—This Tower or Castle to large Chronicles—is omitted
70, l. 35. Base court. See note on p. 340.
71, l. 1. Tower Royall … king Stephen was there lodged. Stow was no doubt misled by finding Stephen at the turris regia, which, however, meant the Tower of London (cf. Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 336). The derivation of Tower Royal was quite different—see p. 324 below.
l.8. the Queenes Wardrobe. According to the City record (Memorials, 450) it was to the Great Wardrobe in Castle Baynard that Richard went.
l. 23.Sernes Tower. See note on p. 329.
72, l. 18. The three principall Churches, &c. See FitzStephen's text on ii. 221 above, where the churches are named as St. Paul's Trinity, and St. Martin's. But Stow's copy (see note ad loc.) did not name the churches. The Schools at St. Mary Arches (de Archa) and St. Martinle-Grand are mentioned in a deed, probably before 1141, of Henry of Blois (d. 1171), bishop of Winchester (Round, Commune of London, 117). The School at St. Paul's was as old as the reign of Henry I (Dugdale, St. Paul's, 6).
l. 27. Ingulphus … writeth thus. This passage (Gale, Scriptores, i. 62, 73) is one of the most noted in the spurious fifteenth-century chronicle falsely ascribed to Ingulph. The story is of course quite unwarranted.
73, l. 15. Our Ladie of Rounciuall. See note on p. 374.
l.27. foure other Grammer schooles. See i. 194 and note on p. 321.
74, l. 11. Mannor of the Rose. See note on p. 322.
l.39. reuiued in … Christs Hospitall. In the Annales sub anno 1555, Stow describes a disputation held here before the Mayor on St. Bartholomew's Eve, when the prizes were three silver pens, and the first was won by a scholar of St. Anthony's.
78, l. 12. Boltas Mootes. This appears in all editions of the Survey. But no doubt the true reading should be 'Boltes, Mootes, and putting of cases'. It is often difficult to distinguish a from e in Stow's handwriting. This will then agree with 'meetings, boltinges, and other learned exercises' a few lines lower down. Boltinges (or boltes) were discussions inferior to Moots. The holding of Moots has been of late years after long disuse revived: see 'Douthwaite, Gray's Inn, 80–7, and Fletcher, Pension-book of Gray's Inn.
79, l. 21. common cookerie or cookes row—see note on p. 322.
81, l. 21. the friendly water of Thames. Nash looks at the matter differently when he writes in Pierce Penilesse of 'Brewers that by retayling filthy Thames water come in few yeres to be worth fortie or fiftie thousand pound.' (Works, ii.33.)
ll. 26–7. the Shoomakers … to Saint Martins Le Grand. So Dekker in The Guls Hornbooke (Works, ii. 223): 'If thy quicksiluer can runne so farre on thy errant as to fetche thee bootes out of S. Martens.'
l. 37. Stationers of Paules Church yarde. In the sixteenth century the principal booksellers and publishers were gathered there. References in contemporary literature are of course common, e.g. 'Paul's Churchyard the peruser of every man's works, and Exchange of all Authors.' (Nash, Strange Newes, &c., ap. Works, ii. 207.) For a list of booksellers in St. Paul's Churchyard in 1582 see Arber's Transcript of Stationers' Registers.
82, l. 16. Thomas Clifford. This and the other quotation from Clifford (on ii. 105) clearly come from the 'Life of Edward the Confessor,' which was written for Queen Eadgyth within a few years of her husband's death.—See Luard, Lives of Edward the Conjessor, 417. In the Annales (p. 128, ed. 1605) Stow makes the same quotation from 'T. Clifford', but a little earlier (on p. 123) refers to the Vita Edwardi Regis as dedicated to Eadgyth by a nameless writer. On ii. 102 Clifford is cited for events in the reign of Edward l. Possibly Clifford was a friend who supplied Stow with information.
83, ll. 3, 4. quaffing … is mightily increased. Nash in 1592 writes thus: 'Superfluitie in drink, a sinne, that ever since we have mixt ourselves with the Low Countries is counted honourable; but before we knew their lingring warres, was held in ye highest degree of hatred that might be. Then if we had seene a man goe wallowing in the streetes, or line sleeping under the boord we would have spet at him as a toade, and warnd all our friends out of his company; now he is nobody that cannot drinke super nagulum, &c. He is reputed a pesaunt and a boore that will not take his licour profoundly' (Pierce Penilesse, ap Works, ii. 78).
Margin. W. Patten. He was son of Richard Patten (d. 1536), clothworker of London, and was Lord of the Manor of Stoke Newington. He was a lawyer by profession, and a member of the old Society of Antiquaries as late as Feb. 1590. (Stowe MS. 1045, f.2). His only known work is an account (reprinted in Tudor Tracts, ed. A. F. Pollard) of' The expedicion into Scotland' in 1548, in which he had taken part. See Dict. Nat. Biog. xliv. 50, and vol. i, p. 114, above.
84, l.2. I read that. Stow clearly follows the Anominalle Chronicle (517) for the erroneous statements that Richard's mother accompanied him in a whirlicote, and that Buckingham was present (see Oman, Great Revolt of 1381, pp. 63, 197: however, the City record—Memorials, 449—also gives the former). On the Anominalle Chronicle, see Introduction, p. xxxiii, and note on p. 366 below.
l. 14. the use of coatches. In the Annales (p. 867, ed. 1631) there is a notice added by Howes, which, however, reads like an expansion of the present passage, and may perhaps have come from Stow's collections: 'In the yeare 1564 Guilliam Boonen, a Dutchman, became the Queene's Coachman, and was the first that brought the use of coaches into England. … Then little by little they grew usuall among the Nobilities, and others of Sort, and within twentie yeeres became a great trade of Coachmaking. About that time began long Waggons to come in use, such as now come to London from Canterbury, Norwich, Ipswich, Glocester, &c., with passengers and commodities. Lastly, even at this time, 1605, began the ordinary use of Caroaches.' 'Caroach' was used of a town-carriage as distinguished from 'coach', a country-carriage.
Stow himself in the Summary Abridged (p. 260, ed. 1604), under date 1555, writes: 'This yeare Walter Ripon made a coach for the Earle of Rutland, which was the first coach (saith he) that euer was made in England. Since, to wit, in anno 1564, the said Walter Ripon made the first hollow turning coach, with pillers and arches, for her maiestie, being then her seruant. Also in anno 1584, a Chariot Throne, with foure pillars behind to beare a Canapie with a crowne imperiall on the toppe, and before two lower pillars, whereon stood a Lion and a Dragon, the supporters of the arms of England.'
S. Rowlands, in 1612, writes in Knave of Hearts, p.7:
Such Carting ne'er was seen before,
A Coach must carry to Church dore
An Asse that's with foure Horses drawne:
And Mistress Easie to the Pawne
Must passe upon two paire of Wheeles,
As though the poxe were in her Heeles.
85, l. 13. an account made by H. Leicester. A copy of this 'Record of Pontefract' was in possession of J. Watson Reid, F.S.A., who intended to publish it. See J.G. Nichols's Illustrations of Manners and Expenses, pp. ix,x, where a fragment is printed. See also Nichols's Leicestershire, i. 223. Stow's transcript seems to be faulty (cf. i. 86, l. 23); the first sum totals only 4,560l. 16s 8 1/2d., instead of 5,230l17s. 7½.d.; the second is correct, and the third and fourth are only a few pence out.
87, l. 27, margin. Rob. Fabian's manuscript. The quotation does not correspond so well with the printed Fabyan, pp. 632–3, as with the Vitellius Chronicle (Chron. Lond. 168). Fabyan's manuscript may have followed more closely the common original.
91, l. 19. sir Thomas Cromwel. Wriothesly writes in his Chronicle, i. 96: My Lord Cromwell had among them one m. men of gunners, morris pykes, and bowemen, goeing in jerkins after the socheners fashion, and his gentlemen goeinge by, to sett them in array, in jerkins of buffe leather, dublets and hose of white satten and taffata sarsenet, which he did for the honour of the city.'
96, l. 7. One other shew, &c. The original of this narrative is contained in two fragments amongst Stow's Collections, ap. Harley MS. 247, derived apparently from a continuation of Higden's Polychronicon. They are printed at the end of Sir E. M. Thompson's Introduction to the Chronicon Angliae(pp. lxvii and lxxxii). Stow has somewhat altered his original, which, for instance, in ll. 25–7 has 'with black vizerdes like deuils nothing amiable, seeming like legates'. 'From some forain Princes' is a gloss.
100, l.5. Roger Houeden. Hoveden (ii. 131) has only a brief note. Stow's source is the Gesta Henrici Secundi(ii. 155). The real date was June or July 1174. Mr. Round has shown by reference to the Pipe Roll for 1175, giving account 'de catallis Johannis Vetuli suspensi', that in John Senex we have an elegant Latinization of the well-known London surname 'Viel' (Commune of London, 112; cf. Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. 25).