A HISTORY OF LONDON that each prebend shall find a vicar priest for service in the church except the prebend of Maldon, which ought to have a vicar deacon, and the prebend of Norton which finds the vicar sub-deacon. In 1503 there were eight per- petual vicars who were priests,'^ so that it would seem that at one time there must have been in all ten vicars. There were seven vicars in 1235, for they witness a document," but whether there were more at that date it is impossible to say. In 1254 two chantries for the souls of Thomas Mauger and William de Winton, to be served by two perpetual vicars, were established in St. Martin's,^* and the terms of foundation leave
- t at least uncertain whether two new vicarages
were not then created." If, however, the number of vicars was complete in 1254, these chantries may be regarded as a first attempt to supplement the original provision for the vicarages. That something needed to be done in this direction was probably even then evident, but no general measures were taken until Dean Louis of Savoy ordained ^' in 1279 that as the vicars could not live on what they received, each was to have d. a week, and that the canons should have of the gift of Adam de Fyleby, chamberlain of the church, in compensation for the diminution of their commons, the manor of Parva Benfleet, 7 acres of land in Good Easter, and houses and rents in London. St. Martin's was one of the three churches in which the abbot of Abingdon ordered the sen- tence of excommunication and interdict against the baronial party and the city of London to be published,*' and the dean, Geoffrey dc Boclande, and the chapter were excommunicated with the canons of Holy Trinity and of St. Paul's for their refusal to obey. These three churches were no doubt selected for this work as the most important in London, but if a further reason for the choice is sought it may perhaps be found in the intimate connexion of the cathedral and priory with the City, and the peculiar position of St. Martin's, especially in relation to the crown. The possession of the honour of Boulogne and the kingdom of England for a time by one person would undoubtedly foster the idea that " Doc. ofD.andC. of Wesm. parcel 3 , No. 1 3 2 1 5 . " The settlement by Roger, bishop of London, about the church of St. Nicholas Shambles. Ibid. London, C. " Ibid. London, O-V. See also Inspeximus of John de Heselarton. Ibid. St. Martin le Grand, parcel 2. " ' Idem presbiteri nomina perpetuorum vicariorum fortiantur cum aliis vicariis ecclesie in mensa et dor- mitorio moraturi.' Ibid. London O-V.
- Ibid. St. Martin le Grand, parcel 2, Inspeximus
of Dean John de Heselarton ; ibid, parcel 3, No. 13215. " Roger of Wendover, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 1 74. St. Martin's was a royal chapel, and facilitate its becoming one in fact on the death of Count William. It is just after this event that the king first appears incontestably as patron,™ though the candidate for the post of dean had thought it expedient to use the influence of the abbess of Romsey, the representative of the Boulogne family." Richard *^ and John ^' subsequently appointed the dean as if by undoubted right. It was, however, some time before the point was reached when the king regarded an infringement of its privileges as an attack on his royal preroga- tive. When in the reign of Henry II an attempt was made by the archdeacon of Essex to exact dues from the church of Maldon, which was exempt as belonging to St. Martin's, it was the archbishop who intervened at the request of the canons.^ In 1225 a similar case occurred, but it was treated in very different fashion. The arch- deacon of Colchester tried to exact procurations from the church of Newport, and on the dean's refusal to pay impleaded him in virtue of papal letters before the archdeacon, chancellor, and dean of Oxford. The king, after ordering the archdeacon of Colchester in vain to desist from his suit, forbade the judges to proceed in the matter, as it might be prejudicial to his royal dignity." On another occasion, when Henry, rector of St. Leonard's, brought a cause in Court Christian in 1238 against Herbert, canon and procurator of St. Martin's,** about certain things touching the state and liberties of that church, the king directed that the case should be stopped until he had appealed to the pope. Again in 1250 Henry summoned Fulk, bishop of London, to answer for exacting jurisdiction in the churches of Newport and Chrishall which as prebendal churches of St. Martin's were not subject to the ordinary.*' The struggle thus begun continued for a century, and Henry's successors showed themselves equally determined in their mainten- ance of the exemptions of their chapel. ^ When the king made William son of Count Theobald dean subject to the consent of the bishop of Winchester (Cartulary, item 149). There is also no reason to doubt that the King Henry who gave a charter of protection to his free chapel of St. Martin's was Hen. II as supposed. Reg. fol. 7 ; Lansd. MS. 170, fol. 57.
- ' William son of Count Theobald says the king
gave him the deanery ' for love of my father, and at the prayer of the abbess of Romsey.' Cartulary, item 149. "Cart. Antiq. R., RR. (16). "Cart. Antiq. R., H. (l). " Reg. fol. 17 ; Lansd. MS. 170, fol. 6U ; Kempe, op. cit. 68. " Rol. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 80. ^ Cal. of Pat. 1 2 3 2-47, p. 2 1 8. " Reg. fol. 1 8 ; Lansd. MS. 1 70, fol. 70. 558
