RELIGIOUS HOUSES the strain in this instance it is impossible to say, for the corrodies and liveries may have been not the reason but the result of the need of money and a way of raising it.^^ Circumstances seem to have been sometimes unpropitious, since in 1282 the prior and convent had found papal bulls necessary to force their tenants to pay the rents due to them,*' and the bishop of London, in appropriating the church of Bromfield to their uses, spoke of the burdens due to their charitable works and difficulties caused by hostility in time of war." In 1318 again they alleged the sudden spoliation of the greater part of their substance as a reason for refusing Pope John's request to admit a certain John de Cantia as a canon.'* They were, doubtless, referring to the seizures of their manors of Braughing and Corney and various other lands of which they recovered seisin in 1318-19; but although they were awarded damages to the extent of ^432 18s. lod. against Masters Geofirey and John de Hengham and others, they had not received the money in 1324.*^ The canons found it easier to resist the pope than the king, who, not content with a provision for one of his clerks on the election of a new prior,*' attempted, and for a time successfully, to charge the priory with the main- tenance of some of his old and infirm servants. This method of performing a duty was too conve- nient not to be abused, and if Edward I obtained an asylum there for one** or two servants, his son provided in this way tor four.*^ At last the prior and convent had to protest, and Edward III, acknowledging in 1335 that such charges were contrary to the charters of the priory, promised " Eustace son of David de Staunford granted to the prior and convent in 1256 rents and land in London for an annuity of 6 marks. Guildhall MS. 122 fol. 827-8. In 1284 Michael of St. Albans and Gonilda his wife quitclaimed to the priory some land and houses, or rather the lease of them, and in return Michael could have board and lodging if he chose to live in the priory, or if he wished to live with his wife a certain allowance of money. Sharpe, Cal. of Letter Bk. A, 158.
- ' Rymer, Toed, i (2), 609.
" Cott. R. xiii, 18 (18). " Lond. Epis. Reg. Baldock and Gravesend, fol. 37. ^ Abbrev. Pkc. (Rec. Com.), 344. "In 1 3 1 6 the king sent to the convent requesting them to assign a suitable pension to his clerk John de Funtenay until they shall provide him with a suitable benefice. Cal. of Close, 1 313-18, p. 424; ibid. 1323-7, p. 506 ; ibid. 1330-3, p. 332 ; ibid. 1339-4'. P- (>y Sec. . . . ^ Cal. of Close, 1318-23, p. 694. Request to prior and convent to grant to William de Lughte- burgh, the king's envoy, for life such maintenance as Simon le Kew, deceased, had in their house at request of the late king. ^^ Cal. of Close, 1313-18 p. 69; ibid. 1318-23, p. 694; ibid. 1323-7, p. 345; ibid. 1331-3, p. 392. that the corrodies should cease with the lives of the holders,'" and although he did not alto- gether keep his word,'^ the practice soon after- wards died out. There are occasional hints of the great im- portance of the house. In 1294'^ and 1309 the prior acted as one of the collectors of the taxes on the clergy ; in 1340 he was appointed with the bishop of London and the dean of St. Paul's to collect and value the tax of the ninth sheaf, lamb, and fleece in the City ; '* and in 1 3 16 the Court Christian, before which John de Warenne brought a suit for divorce from his wife, the king's niece, was composed of two canons of St. Paul's and the prior of Holy Trinity.'* Like most monasteries it was used as a place for the deposit of valuables : a certain Tiged' Amadei had chests there in 1275;'* Bartholomew de Badlesmere, from the statement of his widow in 1327-8, evidently kept some of the charters of his estates in the priory ; " and during the London riots of 1326 a raid was made on the house, and the treasure placed there by the earl of Arundel was carried off."* But it is in its relation to the City that it is most interesting. It was one of the three London churches which had schools ' by privilege and authority of antiquity,' '* St. Paul's and St. Martin's being the others. In times of distress or of rejoicing the church of Holy Trinity was the goal of the solemn processions made through the City ; '" and it was in the priory that the mayor and the representatives of the wards assembled in time of war to consider the question of the City defences.*"^ That the prior as alderman of Portsoken took an active part in City affairs is shown by his being engaged with Thomas Romayn the mayor and others in 1 3 10 in choosing the London contingent of the army raised for the war with Scotland.*^ '» Cal. of Pat. 1334-8, p. 117. " Cal. of Close, 1343-6, p. 565. In 1345 Walter de Stodleye was sent to the priory to receive such maintenance as Master John de Stretford, deceased, had there at the king's request. " Ibid. 1288-96, p. 396. " Ibid. 1307-13, p. 227. " Cal. of Pat. 1340-3, p. z8. " Ibid. I 313-17, p. 434. ^ Cal. of Close, 1272-9, p. 233. " Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), ii, 430^. " Chron. of Edw. I and Edw. II (Rolls Ser.), i, 32'- " Liber Custum. in Mun. Gildhall Lond. (Rolls Ser.), ii (l), 5, ' privilegio et antiqua dignitate.' ™ Chron. of Edw. I and Edw. II (Rolls Ser.), i, 278. 1 315 was a year of great scarcity, and a solemn procession was ordained to go up to the church every Friday; ibid, i, 358, the procession of rejoicing for the taking of Berwick, 1333, went from St. Paul's to Holy Trinity. «' Mun. Gildhall Lond. (Rolls Ser.), ii (i), 149. ^' Cal. of Close, 1307-13, p. 307. 469
