The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, vol. 4
Allen, Thomas
1827
This precinct is extra-parochial, and the right of presentation to the chapel is in the lord high treasurer, or the commissioners for executing that office. | |
The site of the Savoy Hospital was anciently the seat of Peter, earl of Savoy, uncle to Eleanor, queen to Henry III. on whose death it devolved on the said queen, who, by her letters patent, dated the , mo, gave it to her son, Edmund, afterwards earl of Lancaster, and his heirs. This grant was confirmed to him by his elder brother, king Edward I. by letters patent, dated the , in the year of his reign. From that time the Savoy was reputed and taken as parcel of the earldom and honour of Lancaster, and was used as their palace during their attendance on the court or in parliament; and descended with the honour to his son, Thomas, earl of Lancaster, who was beheaded for rebelling against Edward II. and the estate devolved on Henry, his younger brother, in the year of the reign of the same king. This Henry was earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Lincoln. He became possessed of the earl of Lincoln's estate, his brother having married the earl of Lincoln's daughter, in consequence of which marriage the Lincoln estate was settled on him and his heirs, after the death of Henry de Lacey, earl of Lincoln, and his wife Margery, countess of Salisbury. On the death of this Henry. earl of Lancaster, his son, of the same name, succeeded to these titles and estates, and was created earl of Derby of Edward III. and duke of Lancaster in the of the same king, by authority of parliament. At which time | |
379 | the duchy was erected, and the and county palatine vested in him in a more full and ample manner. He had power given him during life to appoint his own chancellor, as also his justices for pleas of the crown, and other common pleas within the county. He had also fines and forfeitures, and pardons of life and members, with all other liberties, and belonging to a county palatine, as fully and entirely as the earl of Chester had, and held within the county palatine of Chester. On the , of Edward III. the said duke died, and left his estate to his daughters, Matilda and Blanch, as coheiresses. Blanch was married to John of Gaunt, ( son of Edward III.) earl of Richmond, and afterwards created duke of Lancaster; and Matilda, married to the duke of Bavaria; who, dying without issue, John, duke of Lancaster, in right of his wife, became entitled to all these estates. From John, duke of Lancaster, they devolved on his eldest son, Henry, created earl of Derby in his father's life time, and on his death duke of Lancaster; who, coming afterwards to be king of England by the name and style of king Henry the , these estates, of which the duchy of Lancaster consisted, became merged in the crown; and an act passed in the year of his reign for separating the duchy from the crown of England. And the same year it was granted to his son Henry, with all its liberties and , to hold to his said son and his heirs, dukes of Lancaster, dissevered from the crown. And by an act passed in the of Henry V. whensoever any lands should come to the hands of the said king or his heirs, by reason of the duchy of Lancaster, by an escheat or forfeiture, in any future time, the same should in like manner be annexed and incorporated to the said duchy of Lancaster. And it further appears, by an act passed in the year of the reign of king Henry V. that no gifts, grants, &c. which concerned his sail duchy of Lancaster, or the lauds and profits of the same, or any parcel thereof, or which concerns any lands that in future time should emerge or arise thereto, should pass under any seal, save only the seal of the duchy of Lancaster; and that all others should be deemed and reputed to be void, and of no force or effect Upon the union of the houses of York and Lancaster by Henry VII. an act passed in the year of his reign, by which the duchy was to be governed by like officers, and passed by such seals as accustomed, separate from the crown of England, and possessions of the same, as Henry IV. Henry V. Henry VI. or Edward IV. held the same. By the statute of Edward VI. cap. xiv. all colleges, free chapels, and chantries: all land given for finding or maintaining a priest for ever, are given to the king, with a proviso, that all such lands as formerly were within the duchy should be under the survey, order, and government of the officers of the duchy. And lastly, by the statute of the and of Philip and Mary, reciting that the king and queen, regarding the |
380 | duchy of Lancaster as of the stateliest pieces of the queen's ancient inheritance; and that sundry lands, parcel of the duchy, had been exchanged, and the lands taken in exchange had not been annexed to the duchy, enacted, that all lands then parcel of the duchy, or which, on the of Edward VI. were united thereto, by parliament, letters patent, or otherwise, and which have been since sold off, granted, or otherwise severed from the duchy, and which are or shall be returned again to the hands of the said king and queen, or to the heirs and successors of the said queen, in possession or reversion by attainder, escheat forfeiture, or otherwise, and which now be in the hands of the said king and queen, shall, from the time the estates so reverted to king Edward VI. or to the queen, be united or annexed for ever to the duchy of Lancaster, with a clause for annexing lands not exceeding per annum. By the statute of Henry IV. the parliament declared very plainly their sense of the matter as to the king's taking the duchy of Lancaster in his royal capacity, and not in his natural and private capacity. The preamble to the statute is in these words: It appears by the statute for dissolving the lesser monasteries, Henry VIII. that all the lands and revenues thereunto belonging, were directed to be under the rule, government, and survey, of the court of augmentations, (afterwards, by the statute of the of queen Mary, annexed to the exchequer,) with a proviso that all such lands as should come to the king by virtue of this act, laying within the county palatine, or elsewhere, parcel of the said monasteries, and which were of the foundation of any duke of Lancaster, might, at the pleasure of the king, be appointed and assigned unto the order and survey of the duchy officers. And accordingly the said king, by letters patent, dated the , in the year of his reign, did appoint and assign several lands; namely, the lands of the late dissolved monasteries of Cartmell, Corningshead, Burstow, and Holland, to be under the survey of the duchy; and divers other lands were added, by consent of parliament, by Henry VIII. Edward VI. and also by Philip and Mary. By the statute Henry VIII. all colleges, chantries, and hospitals, having continuance for ever, and being chargeable to the -fruits and tenths, are given to the king; and are directed by the act to be under the rule and government of the court of augmentations without the clause in favour of the duchy, |
381 | with a clause directing the method of a commission or visitation. And for entering into such chantries and hospitals, and the lands belonging to them, where the governor, master, or incumbent, do not employ the profits according to the intention of the donors. And not only all lands given by virtue of this act, but all lands which shall hereafter accrue to the king's hands, by any such commission or visitation as is directed by the act, shall be within the survey of the court of augmentations. The hospital was accordingly visited in Edward the 's reign; and the then master and chaplains, by deed under their common seal, dated the , surrendered the revenues thereof, and, among the rest, the site of the Savoy to the said king , conformable to the directions in the act. The statute and Philip and Mary, on which the duchy officers lay so much stress, declares, that all lands which on the , Edward VI. were parcel of the duchy, and since separated, and which are or shall be returned to the queen, her heirs and successors, in possession or reversion; all lands, thus qualified, and coming to the crown, by escheat, forfeiture, or otherwise are directed to be in the survey of the duchy. But there is no general clause to give back to the duchy lands theretofore separated by king Henry VIII. or any former kings, which would be endless, and might be carried so far as to create the greatest confusion in the titles of the king's lands, and in the grants and letters patents that had been made thereof. And as it is plain from the tenor of that act that it only comprehended such lands as had been separated since the accession of Henry VI. ( Edward VI.) so the practice of the law immediately after the passing this act, when it must be supposed to be the best understood, was conformable thereto. This act passed and Philip and Mary; and the next year, viz. , and of those princes, the Savoy was refounded, and the site of the Savoy hospital in is granted them, under the great seal; and the same is there called as it is also called in the charter of foundations of the , in the of Henry VIII. The words of the tenendum of both these grants are as follow: and not as it would have been expressed if it had been intended to have been held by the duchy. And all proceedings since that time have passed constantly and regularly by authority of the great, or exchequer seal. |
There are few places (says Mr. Malcolm,) in London, which have undergone a more complete alteration and ruin than the Savoy hospital. According to the plates published by the society of antiquaries in , it was a most extensive and noble building, erected on the south side literally in the Thames. This front | |
382 | contained several projections, and rows of angular mullioned windows. Northward of this was the friery, a court formed by the walls of the body of the hospital, whose ground plan was the shape of the cross. This was more ornamented than the south front; and had large pointed windows, and embattled parapets, lozenged with flints. At the west end of the hospital was the guard-house, used as a receptacle for deserters, and the quarters for men and non-commissioned officers. |
Footnotes: [] Vide Vetusta Monuments, vol. ii. |
