RELIGIOUS HOUSES house was without inmates,"^ and the place appears to have been in much the same condition in 1384, when Thomas Orgrave, the master, with the consent of the treasurer, let to Elizabeth Lady le Despenser for her life, at a rent of 10 marks, practically the whole hospital, viz., the houses within the gate in front of the door of the principal hall, the hall with the upper and lower chambers at each end, the stone tower, the chamber over the entrance, the kitchen and bakery, the houses assigned to the master, and all the gardens and ground within the precincts.^' It is possible that the hospital was in need of funds just then, since a papal relaxation granted in 1393 ^' indicates that the chapel was being re- built, but money would hardly have been raised by a lease of the building of the hospital, if the inmates for whom the rooms were intended had been there to use them. Whether the hospital had any ground for the claims it made to privilege of sanctuary in 1403 it is impossible to say. A horse-thief had taken refuge in the chapel and the coroner had set constables to watch him, but one of the chap- lains told the men that no officers of the king ought to guard any felons there under penalty of excommunication, drove them away, locked the gates of the hospital and the church doors against them and allowed the felon to escape.'" Henry VI in 1449 granted to Eton College the perpetual custody of the hospital after the death of Thomas Kemp, then warden ; '" but Edward IV appears to have resumed possession of the house, for in 1467, when he made a re- grant of the reversion of the hospital to the college, one of his clerks was warden.'^ The college, however, certainly held St. James's from Mi- chaelmas 1480^" until the provost made it over to Henry VIII in October 1 53 1." The number of sisters during this period does not seem to have varied : in the time of Henry VII there were four, each of whom received j^2 I2s. and a quarter of a barrel of the best beer every year ;^* and at the dissolution of the hospital an annual pension of £6 13^. 4^. was assigned by the king to each of four sisters, three of whom were widows.'^ In the reign there were also two chaplains,^' this case being j^6 131. ^.d. of Henry VII the stipend in In the early fourteenth century the average income of the house was probably about £25y although in 1335 it was double that amount." At the Dissolution it was worth ;^ioo a year according to Tanner. It had been rated at half this amount in 1524 for the procurations due to Wolsey,'* but the religious houses on this occasion were for the most part estimated much below their real value. Its property then consisted of 160 acres bordering the high road from Charing Cross to Aye-hill, 1 8 acres in Knightsbridge, and some land in Chelsea and Fulham ;^' a tene- ment called the White Bear in the parishes of St. Mary Magdalen and All Saints, in Westcheap and Bread Street, London,*" and lands called 'Chalcotes' and 'Wyldes' in the parishes of Hendon, Finchley, and Hampstead,^ co. Middle- sex. Much of this the hospital already owned in the fourteenth century, as the master's ac- counts of that period mention arable and meadow land round the house and the lands to the north of London.*^ It also owned until 1465 the advowson of St. Alban's, Wood Street, with an annual pension of a mark *' of which it was pos- sessed in 1303.** Masters of St. James's Hospital, West- minster Turold, c. 1189-99*^ Guncelinus, occurs 12 1 8— 19** Roger, occurs 1242-3 *' James, occurs 1245-6** Godard, occurs 1252*' James, occurs 1252-3*' Walter, occurs 1256-7, 1257-8 and 1258-9 1262 64 -3, 1267-8,=^ '" Gasquet, TAe Great Pestilince, 97. " The royal confirmation of the indenture is given in Cal. of Pat. 1385-9, p. 215. '* Cal. Pap. Letters, iv, 466. ^Cal. of Pat. 1401-5, p. 328. '" Pat. 28 Hen. VI, pt. 1, m. 18, quoted by Tanner, l^otit. Mon. " Cal. of Pat. 1467-77, p. 63. ^' There are accounts of the receipts and expenses of the hospital from this date at Eton College. Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 353. "L. aid P. Hen. Fill, v, 606. ^* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 353. "Z, and P. Hen. nil. x, 775 (1-4). ^^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 353. I 545 James, occurs 1259-60, 1269-70," and 1272-3 " Acct. of John de Sydenham master of the hospital from Easter 1 3 3 I to Easter 1336, Doc. of D. and C. of Westm., Westm. pare. 2, box I. "L. anJP. H. Hen nil, iv, 964. »'Ibid. v, 406 (i).
- " Ibid, v, 606. It may have held rents and tenements
in other London parishes. Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, i, 16, 546, 601. " L. and P. Hen. VIIl, iv, 406 (4). "Acct. of John de Sydenham. "Newcourt, Repert. Eccl. Lond. , 236. ^Munim. Guildhdl, Lond. (Rolls Ser.), ii (l), 237. " Doc. of D. and C of Westm. Lond. M (2). He confirmed a grant made by the father of Richard bishop of London, and Richard Fitz Neal, who held the bishopric between 1 1 89-99, appears to be the person meant, for Turold also occurs temp. Henry Fitz Ailwin, mayor, i.e. c. 11 89-1 2 12, Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 7822. " Hardy and Page, Cal. of Lond. and Midd. Fines, " Ibid. 27. " Ibid. 30 " Tear Book of Edw. Ill, Mich, year 13 to Hil. year 14 (Rolls Ser.), 361. " Hardy and Page, op. cit. 35. " Ibid. 38, 39, 40. " Ibid. 41, 42, 45. "Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 1530. " Hardy and Page, op^ cit. 49. 13- 69
