Page:VCH London 1.djvu/622

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A HISTORY OF LONDON tin^uished persons,'" and amid the dissolution of so many monasteries and hospitals the king not only spared this house but in 1537 remitted the annual tenth, and the first fruits due from Gilbert Latham, who had been appointed master by Queen Jane Seymour.*^ The income of the house in 1535 was said to be ^^315 Ss. ^d.,^^ and its expenses ^284 85. J^d., ^^186 15J. being paid to the inmates of the hospital, viz., to the three brothers, ^^24 ; three sisters, ^24 ; three priests, ,^24 ; six clerks serving in the church, ^^40 ; ten bedeswomen, lo^d. a week each ; the master of the children, £?, ; for the main- tenance of the six children, £2^^ ; and ^5 each to the steward, butler, cook, and under- cook. The possessions of the hospital then included rents and ferms in the City and suburbs of London of an annual value of ;r2ii 19^. bd.,^* the manor of Queenscourt, with the farm of Berengrave," land in the parish of Rainham,^^ Rushindon Manor, with the farm of Daudeley,*^ in CO. Kent ; the manor of Quarley,^* co. Hants ; the manors of Chisenbury Priors ^^ and Carl- ton,™ CO. Wilts. ; and the manor of Queenbury, CO. Herts."^ In 1303 and 1428 the master held half a knight's fee in Reed, co. Herts.'^ The house also owned the advowsons of St. Peter, North- ampton, with its chapels of Kingsthorpe and Upton, of Queenbury,'* and of Quarley.'^ The advowson of Frinsted, co. Kent, had been granted to St. Katharine's in 1329 by Sir John de Crombwell,'^ who two years later obtained a papal mandate for its appropriation to the hospital." The religious changes must have greatly affected the house. The suppression of chantries " Stow, Suif. ofLond. (ed. Strype), ii, 627. " L. and P. Hen. VIII, xii (l), 795 (45). The surplus of the house in 1535 was X3'> which would not have sufficed for the tenth, amounting to ^31 11/. c,d. '^Mbid. ix, App. 13. According to the Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) it was £-i,t,'& 3/. 4a'. gross and £7,1 5 14/. zd. net. "^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, ix, App. 13. " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 386. " Hasted, Hist, of Kent, ii, 534. ^ Cal. Inq. p.m. Hen. VII, i, 606. " Valor Eccl. , 3&6. «> Ibid. ^ Ibid. ; Hoare, Hist, of Wilts., Elstub and Everley, 17. '" Ducarel, op. cit. 1 20. '^ Ibid. ; Ch.iincy, Hist, of Herts. 93. " Feud. Aids, ii, 433, 447. " Bridges, Hist, of Northants,, 445. " Chauncy, Hist, of Herts. 93. " The rectory of Quarley still belongs to the hos- pital. Lewis, Tofog. Diet, of Engl. " Cal. of Pat. 1327-30, p. 472. " Cal. of Pap. Letters, ii, 353. Hasted, however (op. cit. ii, 514), s.iys the advowson belonged to the owner of the m.inor, in which case St. Katharine's did not possess it. under Edward VI not only deprived it of much of its property but of the principal reason of its existence. The new order of things was marked by the king's appointment of a layman as master in 1549,'* and henceforth the post was regarded mainly as a reward for a servant of the crown. Fortunately most holders of the office held a more exalted view of their duty than Dr. Thomas Wilson, who used his position merely as an opportunity for plunder. He first attempted to sell the privileges of the liberty to the City Corporation, and when he was baulked in this by the action of the inhabitants, who appealed to Cecil in 1565,'^ he surrendered the charter of Henry VI to the queen and obtained a confirmation in 1566,*" omitting the grant of the fair, which he sold to the City for ^466 13J. 4^." The history of the house for more than a century was marked by no events of importance. In 1692 a certain Dr. Payne, in virtue of a patent he had obtained to visit exempt churclies, attempted a visitation of St. Katharine's, but the brothers absolutely declined to acknowledi;.e his jurisdiction,*- and were successful in maintaining the privileges of their house. Complaints against the master. Sir James Butler, caused a visitation to be made in 1698 by Lord Chancellor Somers, who removed Butler and drew up some rules for the government of the hospital.*' These order that the master shall be resident ; ^ that provision shall be made for the performance of religious services by the brothers ; ^^ that chapters shall be held *^ at which all business is to be considered ; ^ that the fines at the renewals of leases shall be divided into three parts, of which one is to be devoted to the repair of the church, another to be given to the master, and the third to the brothers and sisters ; ** any increase of the annual revenues shall be disposed of as follows : the allowance of the bedeswomen is to be doubled ; the stipend of ;^8 then given to each brother is to be increased until it reaches the sum of ^^40 ; the sisters' stipends are to be gradually raised to £10 each ; the surplus is then to go to the master until his whole income amounts to ;/^500 ; any further revenues shall be devoted to the main- tenance of an additional brother, of another sister, of two more bedeswomen, and if more '* Lansd. MS. 171, fol. 236. Elizabeth appears to have gone a step further when she made the lieutenant of the Tower master in 1560. Cal. of S.P. Dom. 1547-80, p. 150. Ducarel, op. cit., 23-7. " Ibid. 62-7.

  • ' Ibid. 22. According to Ducarel the sale of the

fair took pl.ice before the attempt on the privileges, but this can hardly be correct if, as he states, the appeal was made in 1565, for the confirmation of the charter is dated July 8 Eliz. i.e. 1566. Ibid. 32. Ibid. ^ Stowe MS. 796, foh so. «' Ibid. ^ Ibid. " Ibid, foh 52. «* Ibid, fol 54. 528