A HISTORY OF LONDON able,-' and the task could have been no easy one, considering that the priory, which was almost entirely burnt down in 1132,^- suffered great losses by fire again while under his rule. He appears to have secured powerful supporters for the house — King Stephen^' and Queen Maud,-^ two of whose children were buried in the church," and Henry II "^ — and it was to him that Pope Alexander III directed the bull of 1 162, granting the prior power to correct excesses in his priory, and to recall fugitives not- withstanding royal or other secular prohibition.^ Ralph, who died in 1167, had been a friend of Becket,^ a fact which was duly noted when all connexion with the martyr redounded to the glory of the house. At the time, however, when Gilbert Foliot was excommunicated by Becket, William, Ralph's successor, and the convent did not side with the archbishop, but joined their prayers to those of ' their mother, the church of London,' in interceding with the pope on behalf of the bishop of London. During the interdict of 1208 the canons were not deprived of the consolation of religion, for by the bull of Innocent III in 1207'" they were permitted in such circumstances to celebrate the divine offices with closed doors, without ringing of bells, and in a low voice. But their property must have suffered with that of all the clergy from the royal exactions, and it is the more surprising that they should have taken the king's side in his quarrel with the barons. They certainly seem at first to have refused, like the deans of St. Paul's and St. Martin's, to publish the sentence of excommunication and interdict " Stevens, op. cit. ii, 79. The author of the register says that the revenues increased to double their value through his wisdom.
- Ibid. 179. This date may be a mistake for
1 1 J 5, when a fire occurred which spread from London Bridge to St. Clement Danes. " Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 153. Queen Matilda confirms Stephen's grant to Ralph the prior and the monks of Holy Trinity of looi. land in Braughing in frankalmoign. -*Lansd. MS. 448, fol. 5. Queen Matilda grants the priory the church of Braughing. " See charter of Eustace, count of Boulogne, Cart. Antiq. R. N. 8. -°«Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 6242. Grant by King Henry to the canons of Christchurch, London, that they shall hold their tenements in peace with all the liberties which they had in the time of King Henry his grandfather (l 155-62). '" Rymer, Foedera (Rec. Com.), i fi), 21. '* Stevens, op. cit. ii, 79. The statements h«ve to be taken with caution. The author of the register says that the death of the archbishop was that night revealed to Ralph in a dream. Ralph, however, was certainly dead at the time of Becket's murder.
- ' Robertson, Materials for the Hist, of Thomas Becket
(Rolls Ser.), vi, 632-3. A similar letter was sent to the pope by Stephen, the next prior. Ibid, vii, 490.
- > Rymer, Foedera (Rec. Com.), i (i), 82.
against the City and the opponents of the king when they were ordered to do so by the abbot of Abingdon in pursuance of the papal mandate, but they must have ultimately given way, since Gualo, the papal legate, allowed them in 121 7 to appropriate the church of Braughing, co. Herts., 'for their devotion and obedience to Rome in the discord between the king and barons in which they have suffered not a little damage.' The priory about this time was under the guidance of Peter de Cornwall who, according to the fifteenth-century author of the register, possibly a partial critic, was the first of all the learned men of England of his day, and is said by his arguments to have converted a Jew to Christianity. ** He not only wrote much him- self, but appears to have encouraged others to write, for it is believed that the Itinerarium Ricardi I was the work of one of the canons, Richard de Temple, who succeeded him as prior. The Lady Chapel dedicated by Arch- bishop Stephen Langton '^ was added to the church by Prior Peter. The priory found itself involved in several struggles for its rights with the foreigners who came into England after the king's marriage, and must have heartily echoed the sentiments enter- tained by the clergy for Archbishop Boniface and by the inhabitants of the City for Queen Eleanor. The canons of Holy Trinity took the same stand as those of St. Bartholomew and St. Paul's in opposing the attempted visitation by the archbishop in May, 1250, and were excom- municated by him in consequence." The pope declared the sentence of excommunication null and void,'* but after two years decided the point in dispute against the priory, and condemned the convent to receive the archbishop as metropolitan to visit their churches, and to pay procurations." In the case of the church of Bexley, of which the archbishop had despoiled the priory without a shadow of justice,^" the papal court after long " Roger of Wendover, Ckron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 1 74. It is not stated, however, that the convent sent to the abbot a distinct refusal to obey, as the deans did. "Lansd. MS. 448, fol. 5 ; Cott. R. xiii, 18 (2). " The author of the register makes him prior from 1 197 to 1 22 I (Stevens, op. cit. ii, 80), but Newcourt {Repert. Eccl. Land, i, 5 60) gives Gilbert, 1214, between two priors, either of whom might be Peter de Corn- wall, as the initial letter of both names is P. " Stevens, op. cit. ii, 80. " Stubbs, Introd. to Memorials of Ric. I (Rolls Ser.), i, pp. Ixvi, Ixvii.
- Robert Grosteste, Epistohe (Rolls Ser.), 191.
" Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. v, 1 24. »* Cal. Pap. Letters, i, 264. " Ibid. 276.
- " The church had been given to them by William
Corbeuil, archbishop of Canterburj-, the grant being afterwards confirmed by Archbishops Theobald and Thomas Becket.and by Popes Innocent II,EugeniusIII, Innocent III. Lansd. MS. 448, fol. 9; KymcT, Foedera (Rec. Com.), i (i), 14, 15, 82. 466
