A HISTORY OF LONDON seized him and another priest, Thomas Car- penter, as they were about to celebrate divine service in St. Clement Danes and kept them imprisoned. The archbishop, in October, directed the dean of Arches to command the master to set the prisoners at liberty within two days, and summon him and his accom- plices." What happened exactly it is diffi- cult to say ; all that is certain is that the brethren were absolved on 30 November from a sequestration following on their refusal of visitation,^' nothing more being said about Maupoudre's case. About the end of the thirteenth century the Templars claimed the custody of the hospital in virtue of an agreement with the chief master of the order of St. Thomas of Aeon. The brethren had no desire to become subject to another monastic body, and at their request Edward I interposed,*^ and as if the house were vacant *' appointed a warden to take charge of it during his pleasure.*' When this warden, Henry de Durham, died, the king in 1304 gave the post to his clerk, Edmund de London, for life." Edward II, however, soon after his accession forced Edmund to resign and gave the custody to the rector and convent of Ashridge, co. Herts.'" The brethren now found themselves in the very position they had tried to avoid, and laid their case before the pope '* and also before the king's council, who decided in 1315 '^ that if the rector were allowed to hold the hospital the wish of the founder would be rendered of no effect, and accordingly annulled the grant, and appointed Robert de Bardelby, king's clerk, to be warden until the return to England of Richard de Southampton, who had formerly been elected master. Independence was thus restored to the house, not, however, much to its benefit. Henry " Reg. Eplst. Johan. Peckham (Rolls Ser.), i, 75. " Ibid, iii, 1 020. The point is rather obscure, for the author of ' Annales Londinenses,' Chron. of Edw. I and Edtv. 11, says that in 1280 John de Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, visited London and excommunicated the brothers of St. Thomas of Aeon for their disobedience, but he does not specify in what the disobedience consisted. '^ He took the house into his hand. Add. MS. 4526, fol. 38. This king, according to Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 667, made a grant to the brothers of the advowson of the church of ' Rothelegh ' and the chapels annexed, but it appears rather to have been given to the Templars for their convent at Acre. " Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 131. " Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 287. " Cal. of Pat. 1 30 1-7, p. 208. »" Pari. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 287.
- ' Cal. Pap. Letters, ii, 73. The pope summoned
the rector to appear before him within four months with all the papers touching the case. "The case was being tried in April, 13 15, Cal. of Close, 13 1 3-1 8, p. 224, and Bardelby was appointed in June, Cal. of Pat. 13 13-17, p. 293. de Bedford,^' who succeeded Richard'* in 1318, was either careless or rapacious," and under his rule not only were the chantries neglected, but the house was reduced to great poverty, so that in 1327 outside intervention was again necessary, and the custody of the house was entrusted to the mayor and commonalty "' of the City, who were empowered to amend what- ever they saw amiss in its state. A few months later the church was broken into, and robbed of silver plate, books and vestments, and at the manor of Coulsdon some cattle were taken away. This connexion with the City probably ac- counts for the marked interest taken in the house by London citizens, as shown by the many bequests to the place and the number of chantries established there. In 1339 tenements and rent in Shiteburnelane (Sherborne Lane) and Candelwyk Strete (Cannon Street) were left by Matilda, widow of William de Caxton, to found a chan- try,'* and an annual rent of 7 marks from a ' seld ' in the parish of St. Mary le Bow was bequeathed by Walter de Salyngg" for the same purpose ; John Godchep provided for the main- tenance of two chantries by the bequest of a tenement in the parish of St. Mary le Bow ; ^ and chantries were established under the wills of Thomas de Cavendych, mercer and draper, 1348,^* and of Simon de Benyngton, 1368. There were also numerous legacies to the fabric and the work of the church. The hospital did not depend, however, entirely upon its fixed income. Like the Templars, the brothers of St. Thomas had papal indulgences to collect alms in churches once a year,'* and this may have been a profitable source of revenue, espe- cially after the suppression of the older and more "He was master Sept. 1 3 18. Ibid. 13 17-21, p. 205. "Richard occurs Oct. 13 17. Cott. MS. Tib. C. V, fol. 2493. A brother of the same name was reported by Henry de Bedford as a vagabond, and a mandate was issued for his arrest in 1 3 18. Cal. of Pat. 1 3 17-21, p. 260. " He was deprived for simony and dilapidation, and evidently resisted the attempt of Nicholas de Clifton, who had been appointed to his place, to take possession. Cal. of Pap. Letters, ii, 273. Cott. MS. Faust. B. i, fol. 216^ and 217- CaL of Pat. 1327-30, p. 58. " CaL of Pat. 1327-30, p. 280. Robbery in two places at the same time rather suggests spite on the part of the perpetrators. '» Sharpe, Cal of Wills, i, 458. Ibid, i, 436. See also Cal. of Pat. 1334-8, p. 422. '" Sharpe, op. cit. i, 441. "Ibid. i,_ 547. " Ibid, ii, 121. This does not exhaust the list. See ibid, i, 355, 535, 624, 636. " Ibid, i, 504, 571, 637, 648, 658, 662, 686, 688, 692, 696 ; ii, 139, 144, 220, 229, 302. " Cal of Pat. 1 301-7, p. 340. 492
