RELIGIOUS HOUSES reason why the buildings and chapels were left unrepaired until their restoration by the warden, William Burstall, at his own cost,^* since it was to provide for their future main- tenance that at his request the house was an- nexed for ever to the Mastership of the Rolls in 1377- The accounts of the wardens '" and the grants occasionally made to converts ^°" show that the house was used for its original purpose for more than two centuries longer. The number of in- mates was, however, always very small : in the second year of Henry V " there were eight con- verts, but often there were not more than two. In 1534 three converts were in receipt of the usual portions of lO^d. a week,'^ and the hospital did not cease at the Reformation, for though there was no one there in i 552, two or three converts were certainly in residence from 157^ until 1608. The accounts then cease, so that it is im- possible to discover whether the hospital lasted until the Revolution. If it did, it probably did not survive it,^^' though it is said that a grant was made to two Jews in the reign of James 11.^^ The building itself was destroyed in I 7 1 7 to make room for the new house of the Master of the Rolls, who yet continued to be styled officially Keeper of the House of Converts, until 1873."' Among the earliest possessions of the house in London were a capital messuage in Friday Street,'* a 'seld' with shops in 'the Chepe,' ^' and rents in the parishes of St. Nicholas Aeon '^ and St. Mary Colechurch. In 1237 Henry III gave them also the church of St. Dunstan in the West,'* of which they received all the issues until the bishop of London ordained in 131 7 that a rector should in future be instituted there, and that he should pay to the converts the sum of £4. a year.^^ Their rents of assize in London and Oxford in 1279-80 amounted 10^^32 y. lod.*" No speci-
- ' Tovey, op. cit. 225.
" Ibid. The patent of Edward III was confirmed by Parliament in the first year of Richard II. Par/. R. (Rec. Com.), iii, ^la. Mr. Hardy shows (op. cit. 56), that most of the wardens from I 307 had been Masters of the Rolls. '" Hardy, op. cit. 60-5. '"= Ca/.'o/Pai. 1385-9, p. 397 ; ibid. 14.01-5, p. 216. " Hardy, op. cit. 60. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, xi, 66. "" Hardy, op. cit. 66. " Tovey, op. cit. 227. ^^ The custody of the hospital for his habitation was granted to him on his appointment to the Master- ship of the Rolls. Dej>. Keeper's Ref. Ivii, App. 28. " Cal. of Chart. R. i, 290. '= Ibid. 292. '« ibid. 309. " Ibid. 351. Cal. of Pat. 1232-47, p. 178. " Lond. Epis. Reg. Baldock and Gravesend, fol. 37.
- ° Hardy, op. cit 54. For their pr >perty in Oxford
see also Hund. R. (Ree. Com.), ii, 791, 798. men or description of the seal of this house appears to have survived. Wardens of the House of Converts Walter Mauclerc, bishop of Carlisle, the first warden ** Walter, occurs 1234** and 1240* Robert the chaplain, occurs 1245,*- 1248,*' and 1249 " Henry, appointed 1250" Adam de Cestreton, appomted 1266, died 1268 *^ Thomas de la Leye, appointed 1268, died 1270*^ John de St. Denis, appointed 1270,** occurs 1275,*^ 1280 '"and 1286" Robert de Scardeburgh, appointed 1287 *^ Richard de Climpinges, appointed 1289'^ Walter de Aymondesham, appointed 1290^* Henry de Bluntesdon, appointed 1298^' occurs 1300 * Adam de Osgoteby, appointed 1307" died 1316^8 William de Ayermin, appointed 1316,*^ resigned 1325 ^^ Robert de Holden, appointed 1325 *^ Richard de Ayremyn, appointed 1327,"^ resigned 1339°'
- °^ Mr. Hardy thinks the bishop was the master or
keeper for a short time, op. cit. 49. " Cal. of Close, 1 23 1-4, pp. 415, 503.
- '" Devon, Issues of the E.xch. 15.
" Cal. of Pat. 1232-47, p. 453. He was rector of the church of Hoo. " Cal. of Chart. R. i, 328. " Ibid. 339.
- Hennessy, Novum Repert. Eccl. Lond. 378. He
was vicar of St. Margaret's Friday Street. « Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid.
- " Cal. of Close, 1272-9, p. 159.
^ CaL of Pat. 1272-81, p. 376. " Ibid. 1281-92, p. 228. " The appointment was during the king's pleasure. Tovey, op. cit. 221. " During pleasure. Cal. of Pat. 1281-92, p. 335. " During pleasure. Ibid. 392. " He was the king's chaplain and almoner, and was appointed warden during pleasure. Ibid. 1 292-1 301, p. 341. '" Ibid. 491. " Ibid. 1307-13, p. 15. At first during pleasure, but in I 31 3 for life. Ibid. I 31 3-1 7, p. 16. '* Cal. of Close, I 313-18, p. 374. " Cal. of Pat. 1313-17. P- 534- "' He must have given up the office when he became a bishop. Ibid. 1324-7, p. 92. According to the patent he was elected bishop of Carlisle, but the see he in fact obtained was that of Norwich. Stubbs, Reg. Saa: Angl. 231. " Cal. of Pat. 1324-7, p. 176. «'Ibid. 1327-33, P- 42- ^ Ibid. 1338-40, p. 256. Newcourt gives a cer- tain Michael de Worth as appointed in 1334, but this would seem to be a mistake. 553 70
