Page:VCH London 1.djvu/573

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RELIGIOUS HOUSES Banstead by Mansel de Mowbray ; two weighs of cheese at 'Badleking' in the manor of King- ston Lisle in Berkshire ; lands at ' Waleton ' by Alexander Fitzgerald j 60 acres of land at ' Wadeland,' Foots Cray, by William de Warren; the tithe of his farm at Southwark, and con- firmation of grant of a stone building which had belonged to William de Pont de I'Arche, by King Stephen ; the church of All Saints, Graveney, confirmed to them by Archbishop Lanfranc ; and five City churches and many other advowsons from divers donors.^ On II July, 12X2, a terrible fire broke out on the Surrey side of the water, occasioning the loss of about 1,000 lives, in which the priory church, together with London Bridge with its houses and chapels, was consumed. The con- ventual buildings were also all destroyed save the frater.' In 12 1 5, when the prior and canons had moved into their new house, having temporarily occupied the hospital of St. Thomas, an impor- tant agreement was made between Prior Martin and the archdeacon of Surrey, warden of the hospital, which is cited in the subsequent account of the hospital. The rebuilding after the fire was materially helped by the munificence of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, who also built a spacious chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, which afterwards became the parish church of that name, and the south aisle of the priory church.* In 1244 Bishop William de Raleigh, having incurred the enmity of the king, dared not tarry in his episcopal house, which adjoined the priory, but took refuge with the canons, and thence escaped by boat down the Thames to France." On 15 February, 1260, there was a great gathering in the priory church of Southwark, when Henry de Wengham was consecrated bishop of London by the archbishop of Canter- bury, in the presenceof the bishops of Worcester, Chester and Salisbury, and Richard, king of the Romans.* In the time of Prior Stephen the rebuilding of the priory church was taken in hand. A thirty days' indulgence was granted in 1273 to all penitents who contributed to the fabric' ' These benefactions and several others are set forth in detail by Manning and Bray {Hist, of Surr. iii, 562-5) : original transcripts or abstracts of most of these charters are to be found in Cott. MS. Faust. A. viii, or in Nero, C. iii, where there are various original early charters of Southwark Priory on fol. 188, 196, 197, and 201. ' Matt. Paris, CAron. Maj. (Rolls Sen), ii, 536 ; Ann. Mon. ii, 82, 268. The date (1207) given for this in the Annals of Bermondsey is clearly a mistake.

  • Manning and Bray, Hist. ofSufr. iii, 560.

' Matt. Paris, Ckron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 285-6 ; Fbr. Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 270. •Ibid, ii, 443. ' Harl. MS. 5871, fol. 184. On 1284 John Peckham, archbishop of Can- terbury, visited the monastery, where it appears there was some friction among the brethren. On 21 May in that year he issued injunctions to the prior for the better order of the house. He commanded that no canon should on any account enter the city of London or the town of Southwark without another canon or lay brother, or eat or drink there unless with peers or prelates ; that silence should be maintained in the church, choir, cloister and frater ; that the sub-prior should not only study the dignity of religion, but also the bonds of charity, and should correct the faults of the brethren with due gentleness, especially in the absence of the prior; that the money of the house should be placed in the hands of two of the brethren, who should account for it to the prior. The archbishop in- veighed particularly against * the detestable crime ' of any of the brethren holding property, and put any so doing under excommunication. He at the same time removed Hugh de Chaucumbe, the cellarer ; William de Cristeshall, almoner and infirmarer ; and Stephen, the chamberlain and sacrist, injoining that one canon should not hold the offices of almoner and infirmarer.* The taxation roll of 1291 shows that the income then accruing from temporalities was considerable, viz. in Winchester diocese,

^27 IS. 3^., of which above ;^22 was for rents

in Southwark ; in Chichester diocese, _^2 is. t^d.; in Rochester diocese, ;^8 ; in Lincoln diocese, ^3 15J. ; and in London diocese, rents out of no fewer than forty-seven parishes, amounting to 3^7° 3^- Si^' Th^ °"'y spiritualities entered are a pension of 13J. ^d. for the prior out of the rectory of St. Mildred's Poultry, and 2s. for the canons out of the rectory of St. Bartholomew the Less. From an ecclesiastical taxation of a later date, cited in the priory register,' it appears that the priory then held the rectories of Graveney, worth yearly 8 marks ; Wendover, 42 marks ; Stoke Poges, 1 8 marks ; Reigate, 20 marks ; Betch- worth, 24 marks ; Banstead, 20 marks; Mitcham, 20 marks; Addington, 12 marks; Newdigate, 1 2 marks ; St. Margaret, 1 3 marks ; St. Mary Magdalen, 6 marks ; and Tooting, 40;. There were also pensions to the priory of 4$. from the church of St. Mary Magdalen, of 2s. from Newdigate, of 20s. from Woodmansterne, of 45. from Tooting, of 5 marks from Swanscombe (Kent), and of 13X. j^d. from Leigh. On the day of St. Philip and St. James, 1304, the following nineteen were the professed of the priory : William Whaleys, prior ; Adam de London, fraterer; Henry de Kersalton, pittancer; Henry de Blockele ; Peter de Cheynham, pre- centor ; Ralph de London, cook ; John de Gatton ; Geoffrey de Wendover ; John de Lech- 481 ' Reg. Epist. J. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), ii, 717-18. ' Cott. MS. Faust. A. viii, fol. i66b. 61