A HISTORY OF LONDON no property." The case of Richard Hun arose from his refusal to give a mortuary for his infant child." A committee had been appointed by the Court of Aldermen in 1501 to confer with the curates,"^ and occasional entries in the City records show that vain negotiations were going on." Early in 1 5 1 8 it was proposed to appeal to the Court of Rome, and in Sep- tember six of the City clergy were chosen to represent their fellows,^* including Dr. John Yonge, Bishop of Gallipoli — Fitz James' suffragan, who was also Archdeacon of London and Master of St. Thomas of Aeon — and Rowland Philips, a famous preacher who had just been made rector of St. Michael Cornhill."' The negotiations which followed *° seem to have failed because the clergy would not give up their demand for personal tithes ; but in 1520 various preachers at Paul's Cross were reported to have said that the citizens need not pay these, but were 'discharged' if they paid 14^. for each 6s. %d. rent." In August 1527 a committee of citizens appointed to present to the mayor and aldermen ' enormities generally prejudicial to the common weal ' complained of the rectors' excessive demands, and suggested that the bull of Pope Nicholas should be not only read openly four times a year, but trans- lated into English and set up in every church.*^ The bishop and archbishop were asked to intervene, but apparently were prevented from considering the question.^' In 1529 the Common Council, having first taken steps to ascer- tain the value of each living, and obtained from the clergy a full statement of their case, effected a temporary settlement." The clergy had ignored the bull, and said that every householder had once been bound to pay d. for every loj. rent on 100 days in the year (i.e. 4^. 2d. in the pound per annum), but that as this was ' noyous ' to their parishioners the curates had agreed that IS. 2d. a year should be paid on every noble (i.e. 3J-. 6d. in the pound), and this they had been receiving time out of mind, while ' well-conscyoned ' men ' in times past ' had also paid personal tithes." But the Act of Common Council decreed that payments should be made according to the bull — d. for every ioj. rent on each of eighty-two offering days, 2d. a year from persons paying less than los. rent. This decision seems to have put an end to the attempts of the rectors to secure more than was their due under the agreement of 1475 ; up to 1529 it was the citizens who wished to abide by the bull of Pope Nicholas, but when the controversy reappears in 1532 the rectors are defending and the citizens attacking it. Among Bills read once in the House of Commons " Original at P.R.O. ; calendared twice in L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 5725 (2) ; ii, 1315 ; cf. ibid, i, 5725 (l), of which the original has not been found. " Vide supra, p. 237. ^ Rec. Corp. Repert. i, fol. 8o3, 83^. " Ibid, i, 132 ; ii, fol. 156 ; iii, fol. 134, 183^, 210b. " Ibid, iii, fol. 196^, 235*. '^ Hennessy, Novum Repert. ; Diet. Nat. Bug. ^ Rec. Corp. Repert. iii, fol. 272 ; v, fol. io63, 109, ill^, 117, 127^ " Ibid. V, fol. 154.. " Rec. Corp. Letter Bk. O, fol. 47, 49. ° Ibid. Repert. vii, fol. 248, 253 ; for other notices of the controversy see Repert. viii, fol. 1 1 ; Letter Bk. O, fol. i24(^. " Repert. viii, fol. igi, 21, 27^; Letter Bk. O, fol. 140^ at seq. 142, 143, 144^, 145. Cf. Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, i, 384-5. " Of the sixteen other articles contained in the document six were concerned with details of assessment, six with other sources of profit — mortuaries, offerings of those who were not householders, offerings of wax and money at ser'ices in commemoration of the dead — two with the parson's rights in the churchyard. It was demanded that the parishioners should repair the chancel as of old (cf L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, 2619), and that no person should make a will without inviting the curate to be present. 250
