226 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS April the same Chappell hath serued as a Parliament house '.* Later writers have often assumed that the change took place in 1547, the year of the passing of the act (1 Edw. VI, c. 14) which gave the chapel of St. Stephen, among other colleges and chantries, to the Crown. 2 But by the terms of the act the king was not entitled to take possession until the following Easter, 3 which in 1548 fell on 1 April, and therefore this is the earliest date at which any change could have been made. Beyond this point, however, except for Stow's statement, we should not know how and when the chapel of St. Stephen was assigned to the commons were it not for the grant to Sir Ralph Fane, printed below, 4 which is dated 22 July 1550. The most interesting clause in this document states that the king had lately assigned the upper part of the chapel of St. Stephen ' pro domo parliamenti et pro parliamentis nostris ibidem tenendis '. From this it is clear that Edward VI set aside St. Stephen's for the use of one of the houses of parliament somewhere between 1 April 1548 and 22 July 1550, though of course it does 'not follow that the commons had already assembled in the chapel by the latter date. Important altera- tions may have been thought necessary, before St. Stephen's could be put to its new use, but no detailed accounts of these have yet come to light. There is an imperfect series of pay- books relating to works at the palace of Westminster, dated 2-3 Edward VI, 5 but these contain no definite reference to changes in the chapel. The following entries from the Acts of the Privy Council show, however, that in 1549 alterations were going on in one or other of the houses of parliament : Feb. 28, 1549. ' The same Thresaurer had warrant for xvij 11 xiij s vj d to John S fc John for charges about the Lower Hows of Parliament appering by a bill of particulars.' 6 Aug. 20, 1549. ' The Recevour of the Duchy had warrant for C li in prest to Laurence Brodshawe towerdes the reparacion of the Parliament Hows, and of the Hows to kepe the Registres of the Kinges Majeste.' 7 Dec. 3, 1550. ' A warraunt to to paie xviij neli xviij 8 to Richard Pennythorne, in full contentacion of a bill of particulers writen the ij de of Decembre last, which arr for the workes about the Parlyament Howse.' 8 1 Survey of London (ed. C. L. Kingsford, 1908), ii. 121. 2 St. Stephen's is not expressly mentioned in the act, but the Ministers' Accounts for Middlesex, 1-2 Edw. VI, no. 298, ff. 55, 59, in the Public Record Office, contain a statement that it was one of the colleges vested in the Crown ' virtute cuiusdam Actus Parliamenti de huiusmodi Collegiis Cantariis Gildis ffraternitatibus dissolvendis apud Westmonasterium Anno regni sue Maiestatis primo editi et provisi '. These are the accounts cited by Brayley and Britton, The Ancient Palace and late Houses of Parliament (1836), p. 432 f., as 'an account Roll. . . in the Augmentation Office'. 3 Statutes of the Realm, iv. 25. 4 I am indebted for this reference to Professor A. F. Pollard. 5 Exchequer Accounts, Works, bundle 474, no. 20 (Public Record Office). 6 Acts of the Privy Council, New Series, ii. 245. 7 Ibid. ii. 316. 8 Ibid. iii. 172.
