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+The Survey of London+


                               MEDIÆVAL
                                LONDON

                         HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL




                      _UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME_

                         PRICE =30/= NET EACH


                                LONDON
                       IN THE TIME OF THE TUDORS

 _With 146 Illustrations and a Reproduction of Agas’ Map of London in
                                1560._

“For the student, as well as for those desultory readers who are drawn
by the rare fascination of London to peruse its pages, this book
will have a value and a charm which are unsurpassed by any of its
predecessors.”—_Pall Mall Gazette._

“A vivid and fascinating picture of London life in the sixteenth
century—a novelist’s picture, full of life and movement, yet with the
accurate detail of an antiquarian treatise.”—_Contemporary Review._


                                LONDON
                      IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS

_With 116 Illustrations and a Reproduction of Ogilby’s Map of London in
                                1677._

“It is a mine in which the student, alike of topography and of manners
and customs, may dig and dig again with the certainty of finding
something new and interesting.”—_The Times._

“The pen of the ready writer here is fluent; the picture wants nothing
in completeness. The records of the city and the kingdom have been
ransacked for facts and documents, and they are marshalled with
consummate skill.”—_Pall Mall Gazette._


                                LONDON
                       IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

_With 104 Illustrations and a Reproduction of Rocque’s Map of London in
                               1741-5._

“The book is engrossing, and its manner delightful.”—_The Times._

“Of facts and figures such as these this valuable book will be found
full to overflowing, and it is calculated therefore to interest all
kinds of readers, from the student to the dilettante, from the romancer
in search of matter to the most voracious student of Tit-Bits.”—_The
Athenæum._


[Illustration: EDWARD IV. AND HIS COURTIERS.

From MS. in British Museum. Royal 15 E4.]




                               MEDIÆVAL
                                LONDON

                                VOL. I
                          HISTORICAL & SOCIAL

                                  BY
                           SIR WALTER BESANT

                            [Illustration]

                                LONDON
                         ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
                                 1906




CONTENTS

                                PART I

                          MEDIÆVAL SOVEREIGNS

  CHAP.                                                             PAGE

  1. HENRY II.                                                         3

  2. RICHARD I.                                                        9

  3. JOHN                                                             13

  4. HENRY III.                                                       20

  5. EDWARD I.                                                        35

  6. EDWARD II.                                                       48

  7. EDWARD III.                                                      58

  8. RICHARD II.                                                      78

  9. HENRY IV.                                                        92

  10. HENRY V.                                                       103

  11. HENRY VI.                                                      111

  12. EDWARD IV.                                                     138

  13. RICHARD III.                                                   152


                                PART II

                          SOCIAL AND GENERAL

  1. GENERAL VIEW                                                    159

  2. PORT AND TRADE OF LONDON                                        185

  3. TRADE AND GENTILITY                                             216

  4. THE STREETS                                                     226

  5. THE BUILDINGS                                                   240

  6. FURNITURE                                                       255

  7. WEALTH AND STATE OF NOBLES AND CITIZENS                         259

  8. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS                                             264

  9. FOOD                                                            294

  10. SPORT AND RECREATION                                           307

  11. LITERATURE AND SCIENCE IN LONDON—

        § I. THE LIBRARIES OF LONDON                                 327

       § II. LONDON AND LITERATURE                                   330

      § III. THE PHYSICIAN                                           336

  12. FIRE, PLAGUE, AND FAMINE                                       341

  13. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT                                           349

  14. CHRISTIAN NAMES AND SURNAMES                                   372


  APPENDICES                                                         379

  INDEX                                                              405




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                    PAGE

  Edward IV. and his Courtiers                            _Frontispiece_

  Henry II.                                                            3

  Coronation of the “Young King”                                       5

  Becket disputing with the King                                       7

  Great Seal of Henry II.                                              8

  First Seal of Richard I.                                            10

  Cross of Knight Templar                                             12

  King John                                                           13

  Henry Fitzailwyn, Knt., First Lord Mayor of London                  14

  King John hunting                                                   16

  A Portion of the Great Charter                                      17

  Coronation of Henry III.                                            21

  Jews’ Passover                                                      27

  A Pope in Consistory                                                29

  Edward I.                                                           35

  Queen Eleanor of Castile                                            36

  Charing Cross                                                       41

  Parliament of Edward I.                                    _Facing_ 44

  Great Seal of Edward I.                                             46

  Head of Edward II.                                                  48

  Shrine of King Edward II., Gloucester Cathedral                     56

  Edward III.                                                         58

  A Joust or Tournament of the Period                                 63

  Sir Henry Picard entertaining the Kings of England, France,
    Scotland, Denmark and Cyprus                             _Facing_ 70

  John Wyclyf                                                         76

  Richard II.                                                         78

  King Richard II. and his Council go down the Thames in a Barge
    to confer with the Rebels                                         83

  Wat Tyler for his Insolence is killed by Walworth, and
    King Richard puts himself at the Head of the Rebels               85

  King Richard II. in Great Danger in the City of London              87

  Henry of Lancaster brings King Richard back to London               90

  How Richard II. resigned the Crown to the Duke of
    Lancaster                                                _Facing_ 90

  Henry IV.                                                           92

  Funeral Procession of Richard II.                          _Facing_ 94

  “The True Portraiture of Richard Whittington, Thrice Lord Mayor
     of London”                                                       98

  The Porch of the Church of St. Alphage, London Wall, formerly
    the Chapel of the Priory of Elsinge Spital                        99

  Henry V.                                                           103

  Ships at La Rochelle                                               106

  Marriage of Henry V. and Katherine of France                       108

  Henry VI. as an Infant                                             111

  The Duke of Bedford                                                115

  Henry VI.                                                          119

  Henry VI. at the Shrine of St. Edmund                              123

  White Hart Tavern, Bishopsgate Street                              130

  London Stone                                                       131

  Henry VI. and his Courtiers                                        133

  Edward IV.                                                         138

  Ships of the Period                                                141

  The Bastard of Falconbridge attacks London Bridge                  143

  “The Hierarchy of the Sciences,” as conceived by Mediæval Thought  149

  Richard III.                                                       152

  North-East View of Crosby Hall                                     153

  Interior of the Council Room, Crosby Hall                          153

  Sketch Map of London in the Fifteenth Century                      159

  The White Tower                                                    160

  St. Katherine’s by the Tower                                       161

  Chaucer                                                            163

  The Old Fountain in the Minories, built about 1480,
    demolished 1793                                                  175

  North-West View of the Ancient Structure of Merchant-Taylors
    Hall, and the Alms-Houses adjoining, in Threadneedle Street      179

  A South-East View of London before the Destruction of
    St. Paul’s Steeple by Fire, A.D. 1560                            181

  Temple Church, London                                              183

  A Household Dining                                                 203

  The Steelyard, Thames Street                                       207

  The Merchant                                                       213

  The Knight                                                         219

  Court of King’s Bench. Temp. Henry VI.                             221

  View of the Ruins of Part of the late Church of St. Leonard        229

  View of the Crypt on the Site of the late College of
    St. Martin Le Grand                                              229

  Arch of Blackfriars Priory, revealed by the Demolition of
    a Building in Ireland Yard, May 1900                             238

  Matthew Paris Dying                                                241

  Embassy from the King of England to ask the Hand of the
    Lady Isabella of France in Marriage                              243

  Hall of the Knights of St. John                                    247

  “The Ladies’ Bower”                                                249

  Whittington’s House in Swithin’s Passage, Moor Lane                250

  Builders at Work                                                   252

  Retinue of the Earl of Warwick                                     260

  House Servant and Porter, Early Fourteenth Century                 261

  Earl Rivers presenting his Book to Edward IV.                      262

  Knights preparing for a Passage of Arms                            265

  Queen Isabella and her Ladies out Riding                           269

  Making Tapestry                                                    271

  Honi Soit qui mal y Pense                                 _Facing_ 274

  Westminster Hall                                                   276

  Parting of St. Thomas and the Two Kings                            277

  Beggar Importuning Noble Lady                                      285

  Banquet in London. Temp. Edward IV.                       _Facing_ 296

  A Banquet                                                          301

  A Hunting Party                                                    311

  Types of Chaucer’s Characters                                      313

  A Banquet                                                          315

  King and Jester                                                    316

  Types of Chaucer’s Characters                                      317

  Tournament of the Earl of Warwick                                  321

  Coronation of Henry IV.                                   _Facing_ 322

  English Knights Travelling                                         323

  A Tournament in London                                             325

  John Lydgate presenting his “Life of St. Edmund” to Henry VI.      328

  Page from Pleshy Bible                                             331

  Lydgate at Work                                                    335

  The Doctor of Physic                                               336

  An Operation                                                       337

  Surgeon Operating on the Skull                                     337

  An Alchemist’s Laboratory                                          338

  The _Couvre-feu_                                                   341

  Prisoner being Sentenced and taken to Execution                    349

  The Tun, Cornhill                                                  355

  The Scold’s Bridle in Walton-on-Thames Church                      356

  A Beggar                                                           363

  A Hand-to-Hand Fight                                               367




                                PART I

                          MEDIÆVAL SOVEREIGNS




CHAPTER I

HENRY II

 [In considering the reigning Kings in order, I have found it necessary
 to reserve for the chapters on the Mediæval Government of the City the
 Charters successively granted to the Citizens, and their meaning.]


[Illustration: HENRY II. (1133-1189)

From his effigy at Fontevrault.]

The accession of the young King, then only three-and-twenty years of
age, brought to the City as well as to the Country, a welcome period
of rest and peace and prosperity. These precious gifts were secured
by the ceaseless watchfulness of the King, whose itinerary shows that
he was a most unwearied traveller, with a determined purpose and a
bulldog tenacity. From the outset he gave the whole nation, barons and
burgesses, to understand that he meant to be King. To begin with, he
ordered all aliens to depart. The land and the City were full of them;
they were known by their gait as well as their speech; the good people
of London looked about the streets, the day after the proclamation of
exile, for these unwelcome guests, whose violence they had endured so
long. They were gone “as though they had been phantoms,” Holinshed
writes. During his long reign, 1154-1189, Henry, who seldom stayed
in one place more than a few days, was in London or Westminster on
twenty-seven occasions, but in many of them for a day or two only.
These occasions were in March 1155; in April 1157; in March, July, and
October 1163; in April and September 1164; in September and October
1165; in April and June 1170; in July 1174; in May, August, and October
1175; in March and May 1176; in March and April 1177; in July 1178;
in August, November, and December 1186; in March 1185; in June 1186,
and in June 1188. And all these visits together amounted to less than
three months in thirty-five years. We may note that Henry held his
first Christmas at Bermondsey, not at Westminster. One asks in vain
what reason there was for holding the Court at a monastic house in
the middle of a marsh, much more difficult of access than that of
Westminster. It was here that it was decided that the Flemings, who had
flocked over during the last reign, should leave the country. Among
them was William of Ypres whom Stephen had made Earl of Kent. We hear
very little of the King’s personal relations with the citizens, by
whom he was respected as befits one of whom it is written that he was
“pitiful to the poor, liberal to all men, that he took of his subjects
but seldom times any great tributes, and, further, that he was careful
above all things to have the laws duly executed and justice uprightly
administered on all hands.”

In the year 1170 Henry II. had his eldest son Henry crowned King; but
the “Young King,” as he was called, never lived to occupy his father’s
place; after a career of rebellion he died of a fever in 1183.

Henry’s Charter gave the citizens privileges and liberties as large as
those granted by Henry I.—with one or two important exceptions. The
opening clause in the former Charter was as follows:—

 “Know ye that I have granted to my citizens of London to hold
 Middlesex to farm for three hundred pounds upon accompt to them
 and their heirs: so that the said citizens shall place as sheriff
 whomsoever they will of themselves: and as Justiciar whomsoever they
 will of themselves, for keeping of the pleas of the crown, and of the
 pleadings of the same, and none other shall be justice over the same
 men of London.”

Except for a few years in the twelfth century the sheriffs were always
elected by the Crown. In the reign of Stephen the citizens are said
to have bought the right of electing their sheriffs. The omission of
so important a clause indicates the policy of the King. It was his
intention to bring the City under the direct supervision of the Crown.
He therefore retained the appointment of the sheriff in his own hands;
he calls him “my sheriff,” _meus_ Vicecomes; and it was so kept by
himself and his successor Richard the First. When John restored to
the City the election of the sheriff, the post had lost much of its
importance because the communal system of municipal government had been
introduced under a mayor. Thanks mainly to the strong hand of the King,
who enforced peace and order throughout the country, the prosperity
of London greatly increased during his reign. As yet the City was
governed by its aristocracy, the aldermen of the wards, which were at
first manors or private estates. They endeavoured to rule the City as
a baron ruled his people each in his own ward: there was, however, the
Folk Mote to be reckoned with. The people understood what was meant
by meeting and by open discussion: the right of combination was but a
corollary.

It is at this time that we first hear of the licences of guilds. We
may take it as a sign of prosperity when men of the same craft begin
to unite themselves into corporate bodies, and to form rules for the
common interest.

In the year 1180 it is recorded that a number of Guilds formed without
licence were fined:—

 “The Gild whereof Gosceline was Alderman or President, thirty marks;
 Gilda Aurifabrorum, or Goldsmiths, Radulphus Flael, Alderman,
 forty-five marks; Gilda de Holiwell, Henry son of Godr. Alderman,
 twenty shillings; Gilda Bocheiorum, William la Feite, Alderman,
 one mark; Gilda de Ponte Thomas Cocus, Alderman, one mark; Gilda
 Piperariorum, Edward ——, Alderman, sixteen marks; Gilda de Ponte,
 Alwin Fink, Alderman, fifteen marks; Gilda Panariorum, John Maurus,
 Alderman, one mark; Robert Rochefolet, his Gild, one mark; Richard
 Thedr. Feltrarius, Alderman, two marks; Gilda de Sancto Lazaro,
 Radulph de Barre, Alderman, twenty-five marks; Gilda de Ponte, Robert
 de Bosio, Alderman, ten marks; Gilda Peregrinorum, Warner le Turner,
 Alderman, forty shillings; Odo Vigil, Alderman, his Gild, one mark;
 Hugo Leo, Alderman, his Gild, one mark; and Gilda de Ponte, Peter, son
 of Alan, Alderman, fifteen marks.” (Maitland, vol. i. p. 53.)

[Illustration: CORONATION OF THE “YOUNG KING”

From Vie de St. Thomas (a French MS., 1230-1260).]

If there were unlicensed guilds