RELIGIOUS HOUSES Outwardly then the Black Friars must have seemed much the same as ever during the reign of Henry VIII except that their numbers had probably decreased " considerably since the early fourteenth century : the church was still a centre of religious activity *^ and a favourite place of burial for all classes.*' But it appears as if the intimate connexion of the friary with the court had stifled much of the spirit of the house, for the religious changes of the sixteenth century met with the same acquiescence as the dynastic changes of the fifteenth. It is, however, impossible to judge of the character and feeling of the house by those of its head. Considering that John Hilsey as provincial was resident ** at the Black Friars and that he in conjunction with Browne, the Austin friar, had a commission from the king to visit the friaries throughout the king- dom, it is natural that no difficulty was made over the acknowledgement of the royal supre- macy, which was signed by the prior, Robert Strowdyll,*' S.T.P., on behalf of the convent, 17 April, 1534. This did not, however, secure Strowdyll in his post. Hilsey was entirely sub- servient to the king and Cromwell, and conse- quently a convenient head for the London priory, and the convent being in his debt was obliged to support his candidature.*^ The bishop of Rochester was accordingly made prior com- mendatory of the Black Friars of London, March, 1536,*' and finding Strowdyll difficult to live with he sent him to Dartford to be president there, to the disgust of the prioress.** Under such a prior,*' those who like Friar John Maydland were opposed to the New Learning and all its supporters '" would find it expedient " In 9 Edw. II there were seventy friars, at the Dissolution only sixteen or seventeen, though it seems probable that the difference in numbers would not have been as marked as this earlier in the reign. " The Fraternity of St. Barbara in this church was confirmed by the bishop of London in 1 5 1 1 . Lond. Epis. Reg. Fitz James, fol. 27. The Fraternity of the Conception of the Virgin Mary obtained the icing's licence 23 Hen. VIII. L. and P. Hen. Fill, V, 766 (7). " Nicolas, Teslamenta Vetusta, 490, 548, 588 ; Stow, Surv. of Lond. iii, 1 8 1 ; Rev. C. F. R. Palmer, ' Burials at the Priories of the Black Friars,' Anti(i. xxiv, 28, 76, 117, 265. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (2), 64. " Ibid, vii, 665. ^' Ibid. X, 597 (50). " Ibid, xi, 1322, 1323. ^ Ibid, xi, 1322. ^^ Sir Geoffrey Pole said the bishop of London had told him that Hilsey appointed heretics to preach at St. Paul's Cross (ibid, xiii (2), 695). His banishment was demanded by the Lincolnshire rebels of 1536, ibid. X, 585. " Ibid, ix, 846. The saying of Mr. John Mayd- land to J.asper Tyrell, 18 Nov., 27 Hen. VIII. ' Friar Maydland said he would like to see the head of every maintainer of the New Learning upon a stake to leave the house or suppress their opinions. The policy of Hilsey's appointment from the king's point of view was soon apparent : in the space of about two years he had become so con- vinced that the whole institution was anti- christian, that he wished the friars to change their habits, as he trusted those honest among them had changed their hearts.'^ The surrender of the house was made 12 November, 1538, by the prior and fifteen friars. Hilsey received a pension of £bo for the term of his life and the prior's lodging in Blackfriars" as he held it at the Dissolution. The income of the convent from rents of houses and shops within the precinct amounted to ;^I04 15^. ^d.^* and seems to have been exclusive of the various chantries and obits established there. Among these was the Corne- waill chantry already mentioned, one of 4 J marks for the soul of Henry VII, and another of the same amount for Thomas Rogers. A sum of ^13 65. %d. was also paid yearly by the Goldsmiths' Company partly for masses and partly for the maintenance of a schoolmaster." The amount of plate contained in the church was not as large as that owned by the Grey Friars, but comprised 400 oz. of gilt, 400 oz. of parcel gilt, and 332 oz. of white.'* During the short revival under Queen Mary the Friars Preachers were established at Smith- field." The only officer mentioned besides the prior is the sub-prior.'* 80 Priors of the Black Friars Walter, occurs 1244'° John de Darlington, occurs 1256 and 1262 John de Sevenak, occurs 1282*^ Nicholas, occurs 1286*' — that of his principal among them — and to see the king die a violent and shameful death and to see the queen burned . . .' " Ibid, xiii (2), 225. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 809 ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. ii, 28. J. Roffen occurs both at the beginning and end of the list. If one of the friars happened to be named Rochester there were seventeen inmates of the friary. "Aug. Off. Bks. 233, fol. 146^. " Dugdale, Mus. y^»_f/. vi, 1487. The tenements which had belonged to them and were afterwards let or sold seem to have been either in the precinct or adjoining. L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiv (l), 651 (55) ; XV, p. 559 ; xix (i), 80 (3) ; xix (2), 527 (25). " Ibid, xiii (2), 809. " Monastic Treasures (Abbotsford Club), 1 9. " Machyn, Diary (Camd. Soc), 171, 204. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 219. " Rev. C. F. R. Palmer, ' Prelates of the Black Friars of England,' Antiq. xx.ii, ill. ™ Ibid. « Ibid. ^' Ibid. ; Stevens, Hist, of Abbeys, ii, 197, mentions a Nicholas Trivet, son of the lord chief justice, who became prior of London and died in the friary there in 1328, aged 70. 501
