1921 AND ST. STEPHEN'S CHAPEL 227 The last two extracts would convey more to us, if we could attach an exact meaning to the phrase ' parliament house '. It sometimes seems to signify the house of commons, as is probably the case in the grant to Fane, and in certain contemporary passages in the Acts of the Privy Council, 1 but it is also possible that the term was at times applied to the house of lords, while elsewhere it seems impossible to decide which house is meant. After the execution of Fane in 1552, much of his property was given to Sir John Gates, 2 and the grant 3 conveying it is identical with Fane's, except for the omission of the Kentish estates. Containing as it does the same interesting details about the topography of Westminster, it has been briefly quoted by Malcolm, 4 while other historians of Westminster, such as Walcott 5 and J. T. Smith, 6 refer to both documents. Brayley and Britton 7 give a long summary of the grant to Fane, which they took from an incomplete transcript in the British Museum, 8 probably dating from the seventeenth century ; but their wording is inaccurate at the critical point where the king sets aside St. Stephen's as a house of parliament. Winifred Jay. Pat. 4 Edw. VI, p. 9, m. 22. Rex Omnibus ad quos etc. . . . salutem. Cum in consideracione fidelis et acceptabilis servicii nobis per Dilectum servientem nostrum Radulfum ffane Militem in guerris nostris . . . facti et impensi idem Radulfus ad ordinem statum gradum honorem et dignitatem baronetti 9 per nos erectus suscitatus et creatus extiterit . . . Sciatis quod nos tarn in considera- cione dicti servicii dicti Radulfi ffane nobis in forma predicta et aliter antehac facti et impensi Et ut idem Radulfus onus gradus et status sui predicti melius sustinere valeat et possit . . . dedimus et concessimus ac per presentes damus et concedimus prefato Radulfo ffane Militi [here follows a long list of Kentish estates, once belonging to Edward, duke of Buckingham]. ... Ac etiam damus et de uberiori gratia nostra certa sciencia et mero motu nostris et de advisamento predicto concedimus prefato Radulfo ffane totum domum et scitum nuper Collegii seu libere Capelle Regie sancti Stephani in Westmynster in Comitatu Middlesexie modo dissoluti Ac totam ecclesiam eiusdem nuper Collegii ac omnia domos edificia Capellas claustra cameras ortos pomaria gardina introitus terras et solum nostra ac alia commoditates et hereditamenta nostra quecumque 1 Ibid. iii. 400, v. 202. 2 For Fane and Gates see the Dictionary of National Biography. 3 Pat. 6 Edw. VI, p. 5, m. 28. 4 Malcolm, Londinium Redivivum, iv. 186. 6 Walcott, Memorials of Westminster, p. 231. 6 J. T. Smith, Antiquities of Westminster, p. 128. 7 Brayley and Britton, The Ancient Palace and late Houses of Parliament (1836), p. 431 f. 8 Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 6176, fo. 22. 9 This is the original of the well-known statement in Fuller'^ Worthies (1662, Part i, p. Ill) : 'Sir Ralph Fane in a Patent passed unto him, is expressly term'd a Baronet.' Q2
