London and the Kingdom Volume I Part 29

In March, 1539, the City presented two pet.i.tions to the king, one desiring that the late dissolved houses might be made over to them, together with their rents and revenues, in order that relief might be provided for the sick and needy, and the other asking that Henry would be pleased to convey to them the churches of the late four orders of friars, together with their lands and tenements, so that the mayor and citizens might take order for the due performance of divine service therein to the glory of G.o.d and the honour of the king.(1217) These pet.i.tions having been either refused or ignored, the Court of Common Council, on the 1st August, 1540, authorised the mayor and aldermen to make diligent suit to the king for the purchase of the houses, churches, and cloisters of the dissolved friars, and to make an offer of 1,000 marks for them "yf thei can be gotten no better chepe."(1218) Henry upbraided the City for being "pynche pence" or stingy in their offer,(1219) but as no better offer was made the matter was allowed to stand over, and nothing was done for four years.

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Henry meanwhile took the opportunity afforded him by a full treasury, which rendered him independent of the favour of the citizens, of robbing them of their right of measuring linen-cloth and other commodities, and conferring the same by letters patent on John G.o.dsalve, one of the clerks of the signet. The City's right was incontestable, and had been admitted by the king's chancellor, as well as by the Chancellor of the Court of Fruits and Tenths (a court recently established), and the mayor and aldermen represented the facts of the case to the king himself by letter, dated the 21st July, 1541.(1220) Another "variance" occurred about this time between the City and the Crown touching the office and duties of the City's waterbailiff.(1221)

Again, in the spring of 1542, an incident occurred which caused the relations between parliament and the City to be somewhat strained. The sheriffs of that year-Rowland Hill,(1222) an ancestor of the founder of the Penny Post, and Henry Suckley-had thought fit to obstruct the sergeant-at-mace in the execution of his duty, whilst attempting to remove a prisoner, who was a member of parliament, from one of the compters. The arrest of a member of parliament has always been a hazardous operation, and the sheriffs after a time thought better of it and gave up their prisoner. The Speaker, nevertheless, summoned them to appear at the Bar of the House and finally committed them to the Tower. They were released after two or three days, however, at the humble suit of the mayor.(1223)

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In the following year (1543) the plague returned, and extra-precautions had to be taken against the spread of the disease, now that the houses of the friars were no longer open to receive patients and to alleviate distress. Besides the usual order that infected houses should be marked with a cross, the mayor caused proclamation to be made that persons of independent means should undergo quarantine for one month after recovery from sickness, whilst others whom necessity compelled to walk abroad for their livelihood were to carry in their hands white rods, two feet in length, for the s.p.a.ce of forty days after convalescence. Straw and rushes in an infected house were to be removed to the fields before they were burnt, and infected clothing was to be carried away to be aired and not to be hung out of window. The hard-heartedness engendered by these visitations is evidenced by the necessity of the mayor having to enjoin that thenceforth no householder within the city or liberties should put any person stricken with the plague out of his house into the street, without making provision for his being kept in some other house. All dogs other than hounds, spaniels or mastiffs kept for the purpose of guarding the house were forthwith to be removed out of the city or killed, whilst watch-dogs were to be confined to the house.(1224) In October the mayor was ordered to resume the weekly bills of mortality, which of late had been neglected, in order that the king might be kept informed as to the increase or decrease of the sickness.(1225) The Michaelmas Law Sittings had to be postponed until the 15th November, and were removed to St.

Albans.(1226)

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Whilst the city was being wasted by disease the king was preparing for war with France.(1227) A joint expedition by Henry and Charles was to be undertaken in the following year (1544). A commission was issued early in the year for raising money in the city, and the lord chancellor himself, accompanied by officers of State, came into the city to read it. Finding that the lord mayor's name appeared third on the commission instead of being placed at its head, the chancellor ordered the mistake to be at once rectified by the town clerk and a new commission to be drawn up, whilst the rest of the lords agreed that at their several sessions on the business of this subsidy the lord mayor should occupy the seat of honour.(1228) By the end of April the chancellor (Audley) had died. His successor, Lord Wriothesley, had not long been appointed before the Court of Aldermen sent a deputation to desire his lords.h.i.+p's favour and friends.h.i.+p in the city's affairs, and agreed to make him a present of a couple of silver-gilt pots to the value of 20 or thereabouts.(1229) On the 24th May the Common Council agreed to provide a contingent of 500 or 600 men at the discretion of the mayor and aldermen, the men being raised from the livery companies.(1230)

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Just as the king was about to set sail for the continent, he issued letters patent (23 June, 1544) re-establis.h.i.+ng the hospital of St.

Bartholomew on a new foundation, with the avowed object of providing "comfort to prisoners, shelter to the poor, visitation to the sick, food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, and sepulture to the dead."(1231)

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Henry crossed over to France, leaving the new queen, Catherine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, whom he had recently married, regent of the realm. After a long siege, lasting from July until September, he succeeded in taking Boulogne. On Thursday, the 25th September, an order was received by the Court of Aldermen from the lord chancellor, on behalf of the queen regent, to get in readiness another contingent of 500 men well harnessed and weaponed, 100 of whom were to be archers and the rest billmen. The last mentioned were to be provided with "blak bylles or morys pykes." The whole force was to be ready for s.h.i.+pment to Boulogne by the following Sat.u.r.day.

No time was to be lost. The wardens of the city companies were immediately summoned, and each company was ordered to provide the same number of men as on the last occasion. Each soldier was to be provided with a coat of grey frieze, with half sleeves, and a pair of new boots or else "sterte upps." The Corporation for its part appointed five captains, to each of whom was given the sum of 10 towards his apparel and charges, whilst 5 was allowed to each petty captain. These sums were paid out of the "goods"

of the mayor and commonalty.(1232)

Scarcely had the city recovered from this drain upon its population before it was again called upon to fill up the ranks of the army in France. On Sat.u.r.day, the 25th October, the Court of Aldermen was ordered to raise another force of 500 men by the following Monday. It was no easy matter to comply with so sudden a demand. The city companies were called upon to contribute as before, any deficiency in the number of men raised by them being made up by men raised by the mayor and aldermen themselves in a somewhat novel fas.h.i.+on. The Court of Aldermen had agreed that each of their number should on the Sat.u.r.day night make the round of his ward and select "fifty, forty, twenty, or ten" tall and comely men, who should be warned in the king's name to appear the next morning before seven o'clock at the Guildhall. On Sunday morning the mayor and aldermen came to the Guildhall, and took the names of those whom they had selected over night.

Two hundred men were eventually set apart to make up the deficiency of those to be provided by the companies. By six o'clock in the evening the whole contingent of 500 men was thus raised, and at nine o'clock on Monday morning they mustered at Leadenhall, whence they were conducted by the sheriffs and city chamberlain to the Tower Hill and handed over to Sir Thomas Arundel, who complimented the civic authorities on the appearance of the men, and promised to commend their diligence to the king.(1233) This same Monday morning (27 Oct.) the mayor received instructions to see that such carpenters and other artificers as had been "prested" for the king's service at Boulogne by the king's master-carpenter kept their day and presented themselves at the time and place appointed on pain of death.(1234) Search was ordered to be made in the following month for mariners lurking in the city, and if any were discovered they were to be forthwith despatched to the s.h.i.+ps awaiting them.(1235)

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By this time the king had ceased to take a personal part in the campaign and had returned home, the mayor and aldermen giving him a hearty welcome, and making him a suitable present in token of their joy for his return and his success in effecting the surrender of Boulogne.(1236)

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At the opening of the next year (1545) Henry demanded another benevolence after the rate of two s.h.i.+llings in the pound. The lord chancellor and others of the king's council sat at Baynard's Castle to collect the benevolence of the city, "callinge all the citizens of the same before them, begininge first with the mayor and aldermen."(1237) Richard Rede, alderman of the ward of Farringdon Without, resisted this demand as unconst.i.tutional, and was promptly despatched to the king in Scotland, where he was shortly afterwards made a prisoner of war. Another alderman, Sir William Roche, of Ba.s.sishaw ward, was unfortunate enough to offend the council and was committed to the Fleet.(1238)

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On the 8th February William Laxton, the mayor, was presented to the king at Westminster, when Henry took occasion to thank him and his brother aldermen for the benevolence they had given him. He informed them of the success that had recently attended the English forces under the Earl of Hertford and the lord admiral, Sir John Dudley, whom he had left as deputy of Boulogne, and dismissed them to their homes after conferring upon the mayor the honour of knighthood.(1239)

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In the following April volunteers were called for, and those in the city willing to follow the fortunes of war as "adventurers" were asked to repair to the sign of the "Gunne," at Billingsgate, where they would receive directions from John of Caleys, captain of all such adventurers, for their pa.s.sage to France.(1240) The sessions of the law courts were adjourned in order to give lawyers and suitors an opportunity of showing their patriotism by taking up arms.(1241) The city companies furnished 100 men appareled "with whyte cotes of penystone whytes(1242) or karsies,"

with a red cross of St. George before and behind, each being provided with a white cap to wear under his "sallett or scull."(1243)

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There yet remained a portion of the last subsidy to be collected, for which purpose the lord chancellor once more paid a visit to the city (12 June) and sat in the Guildhall. Every alderman was straitly charged to call before him every person in his ward who was worth 40 and upwards.

The king's affairs were pressing, and this last payment must be immediately forthcoming.(1244)

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A week later (19 June) letters from the king were read to the Court of Aldermen touching the levying of more forces and firing of beacons-a French squadron had appeared off the south coast. It was resolved to adjourn consideration of the message until the following Monday, when the lord chancellor and other lords of the council would again be coming into the city for the subsidy, and their advice could be asked. The outcome of these letters was that the City had to raise a force of 2,000 able men. To do this an a.s.sessment of a fifteenth was ordered to be levied on the wards, but in the meantime the money so to be raised was to be advanced by the aldermen.(1245) Not only were the aldermen on this, as on other occasions, mulcted in their pocket, but they were also called upon to personally share with the lord mayor himself and the sheriffs in the extra watch which in the "besye tyme of the warres" was ordered to be kept in the city.(1246) In the meantime a man was despatched by the Court of Aldermen to St. James' Fair to buy five wey of cheese for the city's soldiers who were already at Guildford. The cheese was to be sent by water as far as Kingston, whence it would be conveyed by "the good industrye and help of Master Judde, alderman," to its destination. The bakers of Stratford contracted to send two cart-loads of bread. It was further agreed on the same day that Christopher Fowlke should forthwith go to Guildford, and further if need be, "to guyde the seyd vytayle and to utter the same to the souldyers by tha.s.sistence of the sworde berer and the under chamberleyn. And to recyve money for the same."(1247) A flag and a drum were likewise to be despatched forthwith. The citizen soldiers were required to a.s.sist in driving out the French, who had effected a landing in the Isle of Wight; but before they arrived the enemy had disappeared.(1248)

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The French king now prepared to lay siege to Boulogne, and the citizens were again called upon to furnish soldiers. One thousand men were required, and this number was only raised by enlisting men who had failed to pa.s.s previous musters. However, there was no time to pick and choose.(1249)

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By this time Henry's resources were fast giving out. A parliament was summoned to meet in November, and again resort was had to confiscation for the purpose of supplying the king with money. An Act was pa.s.sed which placed 2,000 chantries and chapels and over 100 hospitals at Henry's disposal.(1250)

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All parties were, however, tired of the war, and in the following June (1546) a peace was concluded. Henry was allowed to retain Boulogne as security for a debt, and the French admiral soon afterwards paid a visit to the city, where he was heartily welcomed and hospitably entertained.(1251)

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Freed from the embarra.s.sment of foreign wars, Henry now had leisure to turn his attention to home affairs, and more particularly to the establishment of that uniformity which he so much desired, and which he endeavoured to bring about by getting rid of all those who differed in opinion from himself. Those who openly declared their disbelief in any one of the "Six Articles," and more particularly in the first article, which established the doctrine of the real presence, ran the risk of death by the gallows, the block or the stake. A city rector, Dr. Crome, of the church of St. Mary Aldermary, got into disgrace for speaking lightly of the benefits to be derived from private ma.s.ses, and, although his argument tended to minimise the effect of the recent confiscation of so many chantries, he was called upon to make a public recantation at Paul's Cross.(1252)

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Others were not so compliant. Among these was Anne Ascue or Ascough, a daughter of Sir William Ascough, of Kelsey, in Lincolns.h.i.+re, and sometimes known as Anne Kyme, from the name of her husband, with whom she had ceased to live. In June, 1545, she and some others, among whom was another woman, Joan, wife of John Sauterie, of London, had been arraigned at the Guildhall "for speaking against the sacrament of the altar"; but, no evidence being adduced against her, she was on that occasion acquitted and discharged.(1253) Scarcely a year elapsed before she was again in custody.

On the 18th June, 1546, she was tried at the Guildhall and condemned to be burned alive as a heretic at Smithfield, where the city chamberlain had orders to erect a "substantial stage," whence the king's council and the civic authorities might witness the scene.(1254)

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The insanitary condition of the city, occasioned for the most part by an insufficient supply of water, was not improved by the influx of disbanded and invalided soldiers, followed by a swarm of vagabonds and idlers, which took place at the conclusion of peace with France. To the soldiers licences were granted to solicit alms for longer or shorter periods, whilst the vagabonds were ordered to quit the city.(1255) The water question had been taken in hand by the Common Council towards the close of the preceding year (1545), when Sir Martin Bowes entered upon his mayoralty, and a tax of two fifteenths was imposed upon the inhabitants of the city for the purpose of conveying fresh water from certain "lively sprynges" recently discovered at Hackney.(1256) Bowes himself was very energetic in the matter, and before he went out of office he had the satisfaction of seeing a plentiful supply of water brought into the heart of the city from the suburban manor of Finsbury.(1257)

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Henry's reign was now fast drawing to a close. In April, 1546, he had bestowed an endowment of 500 marks a year on the city poor-houses on condition the citizens themselves found a similar sum.(1258) In January, 1547-a few days only before he died-he showed still further care for the city poor by vesting in the Corporation, not only St. Bartholomew's Hospital, thenceforth to be known as the House of the Poor in West Smithfield, but also the house and church of the dissolved monastery of the Grey Friars and the house and hospital of Bethlehem.(1259)

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The Corporation lost no time in getting their newly acquired property into working order. On the 6th May the late king's conveyance was read before the Court of Aldermen, and thereupon a committee, of which Sir Martin Bowes was a prominent member, was deputed to make an abstract of the yearly revenues and charges of the house of the Grey Friars and hospital of little Saint Bartholomew, and to report thereon to the court with as much speed as possible.(1260) From a purely monetary point of view the City had made a bad bargain, and had saddled itself with an annual expenditure out of the Corporation revenues to an extent little thought of at the time.(1261)

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On the 28th January, 1547, Henry died "at hys most pryncely howse at Westminster, comenly called Yorkeplace or Whytehall"-the palace which Cardinal Wolsey built for himself, and which Henry appropriated, extending its grounds and preserves in cynical contempt of public convenience and utter disregard of the chartered rights of the citizens of London.(1262) There his corpse remained until the 14th February, when it was removed at 8 o'clock in the morning to Sion House, near Richmond, and thence conveyed to Windsor on the following day.

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In the meantime the mayor, Henry Huberthorne, or Hoberthorne,(1263) had been sent for (31 Jan.) to attend the king's council at Westminster, where he received orders to return to the city and cause himself and his brother aldermen to be arrayed in their scarlet robes, in order to accompany the heralds whilst they proclaimed the new king in various parts of the city.

This being done, the mayor took steps for securing the peace of the city, and the citizens voted Edward a benevolence of a fifteenth and a half.(1264)