Londina Illustrata. Graphic and Historical Memorials of Monasteries, Churches, Chapels, Schools, Charitable Foundations, Palaces, Halls, Courts, Processions, Places of Early Amusement, and Modern Present Theatres, in the Cities and Suburbs of London and Westminster, Volume 1
Wilkinson, Robert
1819-1825
The Parish Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill: In Cornhill Ward.
The Parish Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill: In Cornhill Ward.
If the tradition recorded upon the famous Foundation-Plate preserved in this edifice could be received as an authentic narrative, it would be rendered by far the most ancient and honourable Church in Britain: but the deficiency, obscurity, and uncertainty, of the ecclesiastical history of England previously to the arrival of Augustine, and the questionable character of those later annalists by whom its events are written, afford but little evidence or information as to the time when this building was really erected. Yet whatever may be the true value of this monument in point of proof,—as a genuine relique of some antiquity, and as exhibiting the age which has now been assumed for this Church for upwards of centuries,—the present historical notices will most properly commence with a copy of the inscription itself . a most accurate, though reduced, Fac-simile of the characters in which it is engraven, now published for the time,[a] —being given on of the annexed Plates. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Plate on which this inscription is sculptured, is of tarnished brass lacquered, inches by in the sight-measure of a handsome carved oaken frame, painted black and varnished, in which it is now preserved over the fire-place of the vestry of , In the century it appears to have been chained to a pillar in the Church itself; but though the inscription is considered to be only of about the time of Henry VI.,[c] the age when the plate was erected cannot now be ascertained from any of the parochial records, as the Vestrybooks do not contain a single order concerning it, though they have been preserved from the year . Probably the author by whom it is mentioned in print, is Raphael Holinshed, in the edition of his Lond. , folio, volume i. History of England, page for a, column . It is also referred to in Stow's , edition, , to. page ; where the author remarks that it was written, These words were continued in all the editions of this work brought out by Stow himself, but in that of , folio, published by Anthony Munday, page for , the passage is altered to and for the time a copy is given of the inscription, preceded by this notice:— In the same place the plate is entitled After this publication the inscription was printed or | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
70 | referred to in the works of Speed, Weever, Fuller, Howell, Sammes, Usher, Baker, Collier, Newcourt,[a] &c. though perhaps it was never until now given with perfect accuracy.—As the materials which illustrate the age of this Plate and the tradition recorded upon it, are chiefly to be found scattered through various historical and antiquarian works not generally perused,—some account of them may probably be expected in this place, and therefore a few extracts and remarks on the subject shall now be laid before the reader. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It is not here intended to enter into any enquiry as to the origin or truth of that history of Lucius and his opiscopal establishment so extravagantly set forth in the British History of Jeffrey of Monmouth, upon the slight and doubtful notices of Venerable Bede and Nennius, taken from , after Gildas, the most ancient genuine British author, had declared that he could not procure any historical records in Britain.[b] This examination will not be attempted here, as well on account of the length to which it would extend, as that it is to be found so well executed in numerous works, and is not required by the present inscription; which has very remarkably no reference to the fabulous parts of the history, but almost entirely agrees with that plainer statement of it, which is now generally supposed to have been the truth. Of Lucius himself it will therefore be sufficient to relate, that he is at the present time believed to have been a British Prince, not very distantly descended from that Cogidunus on whom the Emperor Claudius bestowed some cities, which authority was continued in the family.[c] The chief difficulty concerning him appears to be the situation of his kingdom; since if it stood on the north of Hadrian's Wall, he could have had no power over Carlisle and London, where he planted Metropolitan Sees, and if on the south, he must have been only a vassal of the Romans who could not so entirely have abolished heathenism as he is said to have done. The latter objection is, however, answered by the supposition that he retained the favour of the Romans; and Bishop Stillingfleet supposes that the place of his government was in the Counties of Surrey and Sussex, over the people called the Regni.[d] It is admitted that Christianity had been preached and received in Britain from even the Apostolic age, though the missionary who declared it has not yet been decided upon; but that by the time of Lucius the knowledge of it had from various causes greatly declined, and the country was especially deficient in religious instructors.[e] The King himself is considered to have been a believer in the Gospel, from the preaching of of the older British Christians; but that he could neither receive all the information which he desired for himself, nor convey the principles of the true faith to his subjects. The plainest narrative of his revival of Christianity at this period, is probably that contained in an ancient historical manuscript concerning the Cathedral of Landaff, cited by Dugdale,[f] which states that —Such being a general account of the person and history recorded on the Inscription-Plate in , some particulars concerning its probable age are next to be brought forward. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
With even the very printed notice of this Plate the statement upon it was questioned; since in the contained in the edition of Holinshed's ,[a] it is thus introduced. — William Harrison, referred to in this extract, was a student of and Oxford, and minister of Radwinter in Essex, where he died in . He was engaged, as a writer of history, as of the several assistants in the compilation of Holinshed's Chronicles, to which he contributed the very curious and valuable with which they commence: and in the edition of that work, , volume i., and book i., chapter , page , column , of the , the following passage was inserted for the time; being that alluded to in the preceding extract, containing a farther illustration of this subject.— [e] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It has been well observed by Baronius that no testimony of later authors is to be regarded concerning things of remote antiquity, unless supported by the evidence of ancient writers;[f] and the authenticity of this Inscription- Plate has been therefore the more rigorously examined and denied, because of the very old and doubtful story recorded upon it, for the proof of which it is infinitely too recent to be admitted. The most direct charge against it and enquiry into its age, are contained in the Rev. Samuel Pegge's very curious and learned printed in Nichols' [g] It is there observed that from the reference to the House of Franciscans, or Grey Friars, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
72 | at Gloucester, this record could not have been written since that monastery was founded by of the Lords Berkeley, not far from the south gate, in the Parish of St. Mary Crypt, before A.D. :[a] St. Francis of Assisum, the originator of the Order, himself not having been born until the year . It should be observed, however, equally in opposition both to this remark and the Inscription-Plate itself, that the tradition at Gloucester concerning the burial-place of Lucius, reports him to have been interred in the Parish-Church of St. Mary Lode, in which the monument of some religious personage of the century is absurdly pointed out as his.[b] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The historians who affirm that upon was the original Church founded by Lucius, appear not to be older than the century, and chiefly those of the following, in which case they also become too modern to allow of any considerable dependance being placed upon them as evidence. The authority cited by Stow for this statement is Joceline of Furness, a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of that place in the County of Lancaster, who died A.D. ; and who, beside other works, compiled a book concerning the Bishops of the British, in which the circumstance appears to have been recorded, but it is doubtful whether the work be now extant.[c] The event was also engraven upon certain historical Tables of brass, somewhat similar to the present, suspended in the old Cathedral of St. Paul, as mentioned by various authors,[d] which have been confidently referred to as proofs of the authenticity of that in ; of which it is not improbable they were the original. The oldest of these appears to have been that Table or Chronicle mentioned by Leland, containing an abridgement of the history of Jeffrey of Monmouth, with an epitome of the story of the Saxon Kings, and a continuation from the time of William the Conqueror to that of the author; which Tablet was of those given to the Church by Ralph De Baldock,[e] Bishop of London from A.D. to , when he died. Archbishop Usher states that it was suspended in the porch of the Chapter-house, and gives an extract of the passage in it relating to .[f] Another Table which is referred to as corresponding with that in , hung in the revestry, or vestry, of , on a pillar near the tomb of Roger Niger, Bishop of London, which stood between the easternmost column in the north aisle on the outside of the choir.[g] This was of a much later period than the former, since the historical events recorded upon it terminated with the death of Henry V., in the Bois de Vincennes near Paris, , and the Coronation of Henry VI. as King of France, , in the year of his reign. It commences with the ages of the world, and also comprises an abstract of the history of Jeffrey of Monmouth; with the Latin verses concerning the Oracle of Diana, the story of Brute, and the origin of London. In a brief notice of Lucius, it repeats the very uncommon tradition that he was buried at | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
73 | London;[a] which as it does not occur in any other chronicle, is a strong argument that the Plate at was compiled from and made in imitation of these in . Its age would thus be fixed to the middle of the century, or about the reign of Edward IV., when Stow relates that the Church of his own time was finished by various benefactors whose arms appeared within it. To this period also the language and orthography of the inscription in would refer it, or as Pegge supposes, to not earlier than the reign of Henry VII., even allowing,—as the order for making and erecting such a monument does not appear in the existing parochial records,—the present Plate to be only a substitute for much older, destroyed in the Fire of London, and engraven in characters which it is now impossible to exhibit. If, however, the letters, and especially the numeral figures, of the former table, be at all represented in that which is now extant, its original age must be referred to the beginning of the century and the reign of Henry VIII.;[b] and perhaps even this modern date may not be very erroneous, since the record does not appear to be mentioned by any historian earlier than Holinshed, and since Stow in calls the Inscription [c] It should, nevertheless, be observed, that the Tablet might have been then recently replaced in the Church, after the great repair to which he refers, as the passage in Holinshed speaks of in the building, which almost implies that it was not there in : and perhaps it is not unlikely to have been taken down for preservation, during the defacing of monuments and pretended superstitious images, in the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth.[d] In concluding these particulars it may be added, that Munday's total alteration of Stow's words concerning the writing of the Inscription to may perhaps be naturally enough referred to the additional lapse of years which had passed since the original passage was published. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Beside the testimony of this Inscription-Plate, it has been argued that the Cathedral founded by Lucius was erected on rather than at , because most, if not all, of the ancient Episcopal Churches were established in , such as London; which was so defended by the Romans long before the time of Lucius. The spot on which Monastery was founded at Thorney was a low marshy wilderness, overflowed by every tide, distant miles from the capital of the Trinobantes, unprotected by the Roman legions, and altogether a place unlikely for the archbishop to fix on as the principal See of the kingdom. , on the contrary, was in the heart of a walled City, and of the highest spots in London, like the site of , whereon it is supposed that there once stood a Temple to Diana, also changed into a Christian Church: added to which the remains of Roman temples yet existing on the Continent, shew that they were almost always erected on high places.[e] Another indication of the Church of St. Peter upon having been a Cathedral, might be supposed to be found in the school which was anciently belonging to it; because by a Decree of the General Council of Lateran, dated , it was ordained that a school should be attached to every Cathedral Church:[f] but the earliest date of the establishment connected with this edifice, as cited by Stow, is the year of Henry VI., , when it appears as of the parochial schools directed by the Parliament to be maintained in London.[g] Some other traces of archiepiscopal dignity have also been discovered in a custom which formerly prevailed here annually on Whit-Monday, when a great procession was made from upon to , of all the Rectors, Priors, and Abbots, of the City: in which the Rector of the former Church took precedence of all others, as successor to the ancient Archbishop, and was also styled the Metropolitan Rector. They were attended by the Mayor, Sheriffs, and Liveries of London, through and West-Cheap, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
74 | and were met on the north side of by the Provincials of the Cathedral.[a] Concerning this dignity there are some documents extant in the City-Records, consisting of copies of the Judgment of Thomas Stowe, LL.D. the Official of London, dated , in the year of Boniface IX., upon some differences which had then arisen about the procession. There is also a record of the Mayoralty of Henry Barton, in the of Henry V., , Book I., fol. ; with an exemplification of the same dated d, in the of Henry VI., ;—wherein occur the following inconclusive and equivocating words in Latin:—&c.—and in another part of the same:— With these entries appears the Pope's bull concerning the same, signed and dated, Martin V. the of the kalends of July and year of the Pontificate,—;—with the proceedings thereon of John Snell, the Archdeacon of London, dated , the year of Pope Martin.[b] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Whatever may be the real antiquity of this Church, Stow commences his account of it, by stating that the edifice of his time was finished in the roof and glazing in the reign of Edward IV., as appeared by the arms which it contained of Noblemen, and Aldermen of London, then living. There are, however, in various records, the following memorials relating to this Church at a much earlier period; when it seems to have been of some celebrity for the number of Chantries which had been established in it, the Chaplain-Clerks belonging to them, and, as is indicated by the following circumstances, as a Sanctuary: which privilege, according to tradition, was given to Christian Churches by King Lucius, and was therefore probably supposed to belong peculiarly to the present edifice.—In -, says Stow, citing the City record called the , the year of Henry III., Ralph De Wainefuntaines was stabbed with a knife by some unknown person in ; so that he died the day following. Geoffrey Russel, Clerk, was with him at the time he was struck, who immediately fled to the Church of St. Peter; and would neither come to the peace of our Lord the King, nor depart from the Church. According to the usual custom with contumacious offenders, the Sheriffs of London caused the Churchyard to be watched, to prevent his departing secretly or receiving food, though the refugee found means to escape from the custody.[c] Another extract from the same record, states, that in the year of Henry III. an inquisition was taken before the King's Justices at the Tower, concerning the death of Amice, Deacon of the Church of St. Peter de Cornhulle, who had been found slain in the door of Martin, Priest, in the Soke of Cornhulle, upon Eve; . It appeared that he had been killed by Avelac, and Walkelin, Vicar of , who fled: and that Martin, John, and Peter, Chaplains, and Robert, Clerk, of , , who were in the house where the body was found, were taken up on suspicion of the murder, and delivered to Master John De Ponte, Official of the Archdeacon of London; by Henry Fitz-Aucher, Chamberlain, Stephen Buckerell, Sheriff, and James Blund, John de Sabio, Bartholomew De Cornhulle, &c., Aldermen.[d] —In -, a Chantry established in this Church for Roger Fitz-Roger is returned as property belonging to him at his death.[e] —In that assessment of the tenths of all the ecclesiastical benefices in England and Wales granted by Nicholas IV. to Edward I. for years, and thence called the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, executed in , there are the following notices concerning the valuation of this Parish. [f] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the year in the return of an inquisition, it is stated, that [a] —In appears a presentation from the Dean of to a Perpetual Chantry in the Church of St. Peter upon , founded long previous for the soul of Robert De la Hyde;[b] and in the Parish received a number of extensive gifts and grants for the support of the celebrated Chantry of William, son of Henry Elliot, commonly called william of Kingstone. The original, and a transcript of his Will by which these were conveyed, are still preserved with the Parochial Records, and the following is a curious extract from this instrument. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The record of Chantry-constitutions and bequests belonging to the Church of St. Peter upon , commencing with the preceding, established by William of Kingston,—are preserved in a curious ancient volume compiled by John Whitby, Rector, and written by John Steward, Schoolmaster there, in . In the same book are also contained copies of the foundation-deeds and ordinances, charters, grants, leases, wills, &c. appertaining to the Fraternity or Guild of St. Peter, established in the Church by Henry IV. in , the year of his reign,[c] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
76 | chiefly for and by the Company of Fishmongers. To this Brotherhood was annexed and appropriated a Chantry founded in the same Church, by John Waleys, alias Coneysburgh, Poulterer, and John Foxton, Grocer. Of all these the Rectors of the Parish and Wardens of the Fraternity, for the time being, were the Patrons; and , Thomas Taylor was presented Chaplain to Chantry, by Hugh Damlet, Rector, and John Raynold, Grocer, and Richard Morlay, Tallow-Chandler, Wardens of Fraternity, and was inducted thereto by Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London.[a] With the other Parochial Records is also preserved the Will of Alice Brudenell, or Brydnell, dated in ; after which there is a lapse in their order until the year , when the Vestry-Books commence. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In -, the year of Henry VIII., was instituted the celebrated ecclesiastical survey of England, usually called the , under the authority of an act of Parliament, for ascertaining the value of all the possessions, lands, tenements, hereditaments, &c. of the monasteries, priories, churches, free-chapels and chantries, parsonages, vicarages, &c. of the whole kingdom; with Wales, Calais, Berwick, and the Marches: in which appear the following returns relating to this Church.
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To these Chantries and Guilds belonged messuages and tenements in the Parish of St. Peter, in the separate tenures and occupations of Lamb, Wright, Lindsey, Wait, and others; which in went to the King, by virtue of the Act for dissolving those establishments, and in , the year of Edward VI., they were sold to Edward Elrington and Thomas Bental.[d] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In appeared an Injunction from Thomas Cromwell, as Vicar-General of the King, dated , that Parish-Registers for weddings, christenings, and burials, should be kept by every parson, vicar, and curate, throughout every Diocess in the realm; in consequence of which many such records were immediately commenced, though from various causes comparatively few of them are now in existence. Those belonging to , though certainly kept with some accuracy, do not appear to have been entered in a volume until after that constitution of the year of the reign of Elizabeth, made by the Archbishop, Bishops, and Clergy, of the Province of Canterbury, and approved by the Queen under the Great Seal, dated ; declaring the very great utility of such registers, giving particular directions for their preservation, and ordering that proper persons should examine if such records were kept according to former ordinances, in neglect of which the parishofficers were to be fined.[e] It was most probably in consequence of these latter regulations that the Registers of this Church were commenced, since the earliest volume containing them begins on the reverse of the leaf | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
77 | in the following manner; the title being written in a large handsome black-letter, and the verses in a very delicate Italian hand in vermilion.
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This Booke was bought at the charge of the Parish of St. Peeter's upon , Maister William Ashboold, Doctor, being then Parson, and Maister David Powell and Maister William Partridge beeing then Church Wardens; the and twentith day of September in the Yeare of our Lord fiue nynety and .
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On the leaf, folium a, is written the following title in a handsome black text, with the verses beneath in an Italian hand in vermilion.
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The Registers then commence on the reverse of the leaf with the following words written in churchtext, with a blooming capital larger than that drawn to the titles, and an ivy-leaf delineated beneath the inscription. which retrospect is not uncommon in similar records. The entry is and the entries previous to when the book was begun, extend to the reverse of the leaf, closely and excellently written in separate columns in a small current text, each page being regularly signed by the Rector. After the entry on Sunday, -, folium a, appear the following verses in a beautiful Italian hand in black, to commemorate the decease of Elizabeth on the of the same month. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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On the reverse of the same leaf is written the following. Christnings. . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The baptisms contained in this volume extend to ; after which ensues another title in red with a large blooming capital, They commence and are written in the same fair and accurate manner as the baptisms. The burials before extend to the leaf, and the last in the volume is . The number of persons interred in the various about in the great Pestilence of , appears to have been considerable, though it be not summed into a total; but after that of there appears the entry [a] In this part of the Register appear the following entries; in illustration of which it should be observed that William Averell, the writer of this beautiful record, was master of the ancient grammar-school belonging to , and appears to have also officiated as Parish-Clerk for his kinsman, on the decease of whom he received the appointment. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The last division of this Register commences with the following title in red, and commence They occupy leaves previous to , and the last marriage in the volume is . For the preceding curious account of the interesting Registers of the Church of St. Peter upon , the Editor of the present work is entirely indebted to the kindness and intelligence of William Baker, Esq., the Vestry-Clerk of that Parish, who directed his attention to them, furnished him with his own notes and extracts, and also gave him access to the original records. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notwithstanding the many notices of the antiquity of as a foundation, the age of that building which existed at the time of the Great Fire, appears to have been very inconsiderable. The original edifice was probably destroyed by the Saxons before they embraced Christianity, or in some of the Danish invasions;[b] and Stow observes of that which was standing in his time, that it Perhaps the period to which he referred was the reign of Edward VI., when the porch at the south-east corner was taken down, and houses were erected upon the site. These buildings are referred to in an indenture-tripartite dated , the year of Edward VI., , made by the Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens, of London, as Patrons of the Church; Dr. Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Ordinary: and Dr. John Taylor, Rector of ;—conveying [c] —From an ancient representation of the Church of St. Peter upon in , the building then appears to have had a square steeple-tower at the western end, containing stories on the north side, each surmounted by battlements, with a large arched window looking over the roof of the church to the east. At the north-west angle of the tower is a tall narrow turret, reaching to the top of the upper battlements, also consisting of stories embattled, and terminating in a pointed dome or cupola, raised upon small and high clustered columns, and crowned by a vane. In the lower story of the tower, on the north, appears a large circular window, and in the same stage of the turret a clock with a lozenge dial, whence it was called the Clock Tower. The Church below seems to be composed of divisions of unequal height, each enclosed by a wall with battlements, that adjoining to the steeple being the lower; it | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
79 | contains an arched door and window, and was possibly that part of the edifice called the North Chapel.[a] Above the roof at this place appears a large separate building with lofty arched windows, which might perhaps represent the ancient Library and School-room belonging to this Church. In front of the tower are or houses with arched doors, overhanging stories, gables, and transom casement-windows, the largest of which was probably the Parsonage; and against the north-east side of the Church appear to be several low buildings, like small shops or sheds, by which it seems to have been always enclosed, similar to the manner in which it is at present. There are numerous entries in the Vestry-Books relating to these erections both as injurious and noxious to the Church to which they adjoined, and as parish property; and Newcourt has the following notices concerning them, before the time when those records commence. [b] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Having thus laid before the reader such particulars as are yet extant concerning the ancient history and appearance of this Church, the subsequent account of it will perhaps be best continued by the following series of original entries from the parochial records; which shew the principal changes that have taken place in the building, and frequently contain the most curious illustrations of the manners and customs of the times to which they refer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Footnotes: [a] This Fac-Simile, together with the other three engravings of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill, and the Plan of the Fire in Bishopsgate Street, &c.—all contained in the present work,—were originally designed to have formed part of the illustrations of an intended history of that Church and Parish: in which Mr. Robert Wilkinson, the original proprietor and publisher of these volumes, long resided, and to which he was greatly attached. The manuscript collections for it, with extensive extracts from the Parish-books, are now preserved in three volumes folio in the City Library at Guildhall; and have been carefully consulted for the ensuing pages. Entire sets of the plates, eighteen in number, in quarto, though never published, are occasionally to be found; and a list of them may be seen in Mr. William Upcott's Bibliographical Account of the Principal Works relating to English Topography, Lond. 1818.8vo. vol. ii. p. 709. [c] An attempt was made about the time of Henry VI., by an inscription on a plate in the Church, to prove that the original Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill was, that erected in A.D. 179, by Lucius, King of Britain; but the fallacy of the assertion appeared so clearly demonstrated, even by the words of the inscription itself, that it has been rejected by antiquaries with common consent. Londinum Redivivum, by J. P. Malcolm, vol. iv. Lond. 1807. 4to. p. 572. [a] The Historie of Great Britaine, by John Speed, Lond. 1611, fol. Vol. I. p. 223. paragr. 11.—Ancient Funerall Monuments, by John Weever, Lond. 1631. fol. p. 413.—The Church Historie of Britaine, by Thomas Fuller, Lond. 1655. fol. p. 13.—Londinopolis, by James Howell, Lond. 1657. fol. p 79.—Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, by Aylett Sammes, Lond. 1676. fol. p. 266.—Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, by James Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, Lond. 1687. fol. p. 36.—Chronicles of the Kings of England, by Sir Richard Baker, Lond. 1733. fol. p. 3.—An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, by Jeremy Collier, Lond. 1708. Vol I. p. 117. —History of the Diocess of London, by Richard Newcourt, Lond. 1708. Vol. I. p. 522.—A New View of London, by Edward Hatton, Lond. 1708, 8vo. Vol. II. p. 485; in which the inscription is stated to be on a south pillar.—A History of London, by W. Maitland and the Rev. J. Entick, Lond. 1772, fol. Vol. II. p. 1176.—Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, by John Nichols, Vol. VI. Lond. 1787. 4to. Art. vii. p. 4. The copy of this inscription given in the Rev. J. Strype's edition of Stow's Survey of London, Lond. 1720. fol. Vol. I. book ii. chap. viii. p. 138, is very inaccurate. [b] I will endeavour, says Gildas, only to set forth to the world those evils, which in the times of the Roman Emperors, Britain suffered, and also brought upon others, as well her own citizens as strangers; yet, nevertheless, not farther than I am able to declare them: not so much out of the chronicles of the country, or the monuments of its authors,—because, if there have been any such, they are either devoured by the fires of enemies, or have been long since transported into distant nations by the ships of our exiled countrymen, and do not now appear,—as by the relations of foreign writers; which, broken off with many interruptions, are not sufficiently clear.—Gildæ Supientis De Excidio Britannicæ, Liber Querelus, cap. ii. in the Historiæ Britannicæ, Saxonicæ, Anglo-Danicæ, Scriptores XV, by Dr. Thomas Gale, Oxon. 1691. fol. Vol. I. p. 10.—The particulars of Venerable Bede's foreign authorities, and of the origin and gradual increase of the legendary story of Lucius and his extensive episcopal establishment, may be seen in the very curious and learned Preface to An Historical Account of Church Government, by Dr. William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, Lond. 1684. 8vo. signature b. [c] History of England by the Rev. John Lingard, D.D. Vol. I. Lond. 1819, 4to. chap. i. p. 49. The most copious collection of the various details relative to the history and conversion of King Lucius is certainly that contained in chap. iv. of the Britannicarun Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, by Archbishop Usher; to whose diligence nothing material has been or can be added, nor have the conjectures of later ecclesiastical writers cast any additional light upon the subject. The same history will also be found discussed and illustrated in Sir Henry Spelman's Concilia, &c. in re Ecclesiarum Orbis Britannici, Vol. I. Lond. 1639, fol. pp. 12-16. Sammes' Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, pp. 261-268. Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicæ, pp. 58-68. Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Vol. I. pp. 12-18; History of Great Britain, by Robert Henry. D D. Vol. I. Lond. 1771, 4to. book i. chap. ii. sec. ii. pp. 136-139; and the Rev. John Milner's History, and Civil and Ecclesiastical Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester, Lond. 1798, 4to. Vol. I. chap. iii. pp. 37-43.—There are but very few circumstances relating to Lucius which can be stated with even probability; though his legendary historians have given a most extravagant account of his ecclesiastical acts, especially of his institution of the right of sanctuary attached to Churches. Beside these, says Stillingfleet. they make him to found and endow so many Churches, with such unlikely circumstances, as hath made others to question whether there ever were such a being in the world as King Lucius; that being the common effect of saying much more than is true, to make what is really true more doubtful and suspicious. [d] Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicæ, pp. 63-64: Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Vol.I. cent. ii. p.12; Sammes' Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, p.267. [e] The most probable period when Christianity was originally preached in Britain is supposed to have been between the government of Aulus Plautius, and the battle of Boadicea and Suetonius, A.D. 43 and A.D. 61.: St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, St. Simon Zelotes, Polycarp, Aristobulus, and Joseph of Arimathea, have all been named as the first preachers, though most of them with great improbability and none with unobjectionable claims. A full examination into the subject will be found in the following works: A Defense of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande, by John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, Lond. 1571, 16th Sept. fol. p. 12.; Usher's Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, chap. i. ii.; Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, vol. i. cent. i. pp. 2-12.; Bishop Godwin De Præsulibus Angliæ, pp. 1-26; The Historia Britonum of Nennius, by the Rev. W. Gunn, Lond. 1819, 8vo. pp. 134-136.—That the Christian Faith was partially preserved in Britain from the time it was first preached until the reign of Lucius, is asserted by Gildas, who states that though in the beginning it was received with indifference, it was in some places retained entire without the least abatement until the ninth persecution by the tyrant Dioclesian, about A.D. 303; in which the Church was subverted throughout the whole world, and all the Sacred Scriptures which could be found were burned in the streets; and flocks of priests ordained to the Lord, were slaughtered like innocent sheep, and therefore is it that now so little appears of the Christian religion in so few provinces, though it was found capable of being established. De Excidio Britannicæ, cap. vii. Gale's Scriptores XV. Vol. I. p. II. [f] Monasticon Anglicanum by Sir William Dugdale, Vol. III. Savoy, (in London) 1673, fol. p. 188. [a] Edit. Lond. 1577. fol. Vol. I. p. 57, for 75, col. i.—Second Edit. 1586. vol. ii. book iv, chap. 19. p. 52, col. 1. [e] Harrison's expression in this place refers to Jeffrey of Monmouth's notorious account of the conversion of the twenty-eight Roman Flamines and three Arch flamines established in Britain in the time of Lucius, into as many Christian Bishops and Archbishops: when the Metropolitan Sees of the latter were fixed at London, York, and the City of the Legions, upon the Uske in Glamorganshire.—See The British History of Jeffrey of Moumouth, Translated into English, with a large Preface concerning the authority of the History, by Aaron Thompson, 1718, 8vo. book iv. chap. 19.—An examination and exposure of this statement may be consulted in Spelman's Concilia, Vol. l. p. 13.; Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicæ, pp. 78-82., and Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Vol. I. p. 13. In the History of English Poetry by Thomas Warton, Lond. 1824, 8vo. Vol. I. Dissert. i. p. ix. note t, it is stated that there are no Flamines nor Archflamines mentioned in the original British History which Jeffrey of Monmouth translated: but the word Flamines is used to express Christian Bishops, in the proceedings of the Council held at Elvira in Grenada, A.D 305, capp. ii. iii. iv.—Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis, by Chas. Dufresne, Seign. Du Cange, Paris, 1733, fol.—An excellent enquiry into the authenticity and intention of Jeffrey's history is contained in Mr. Sharon Turner's History of England during the Middle Ages, Vol. IV. Lond. 1825, 8vo. book ii. chap. vi. pp. 339-355 [f] Quod enim a recentiore auctore de rebus adeo antiquis, sine alicujus vetustioris auctoritate profertur, contemnitur.—Annales Ecclesiastici: by Cesar Baronio Sorano, Augsb. 1738, Vol. I. col. 62. paragr xii. [g] Vol. VI. Lond. 1787, 4to. Art. vii. No. 1. [a] Notitia Monastica by Dr. Thos. Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph. Edit. by the Rev. James Nasmith, Lond. 1787, fol.—Xiii. Gloucestershire 10. [b] A New History of Gloucester, by Samuel Rudder, Lond. 1779, fol. p. 197.—Rev. T. D. Fosbroke's Original History of Gloucester. Lond. 1819, fol. p. 171. Parish of St. Mary de Lode, called also St. Mary before the Gate of St. Peter, St. Mary Broad Gate, and St. Mary Port. In the Church is a monument absurdly ascribed to King Lucius; but it is the figure of a religious person, and has the robe of a monk, and the arms crossed on the breast, the common attitude of these religious. It lies under an arch, and this shews that it is, as well as the Church in the main, of the style of the thirteenth century.—There is a considerable distance between the situations of the two places assigned for the burial-place of Lucius in Gloucester; the Grey Friars having stood in the south of the city, and St. Mary de Lode's Church on the north-west next the city-mead. That much legendary matter has been attached to the story of Lucius, says the Rev. T. D. Fosbroke as above cited, p. 15, is beyond a doubt; nor in his era was sepulture in Churches usual: but the certain antiquity of King's Holm; the term King Street, which led from thence to Gloucester; the existence of a palace, or of a castle or citadel, older than the Normans; the tradition of the interment of Lucius in St. Mary de Lode's Church, in which parish King's Holm lies;—certainly lead to the habitation of subordinate kings at Gloucester, whose place of residence was out of the station, and most probably on the site of the Mercian palace.—Another burial-place assigned to Lucius is in Winchester Cathedral, which he is also said to have built, the probable origin of which error is pointed out by the Rev. John Milner, in his History of Winchester, vol. ii. p. 62. The supposed tomb is a flat monument of grey marble, without any inscription or ornament, raised about two feet above the ground, lying beyond the two grand chantries in the middle of the centre aisle, before the entrance into the Chapel of the Virgin. It really belonged to Godfrey de Lucy, Bishop of Winchester from A.D. 1189 to 1204, the last founder of this part of the Cathedral, who here lies interred in the centre of his own work; and the similarity of whose name, especially in a Latin form, easily confounded him with Lucius. In July 1797 the tomb was opened, which it evidently appeared to have been before. There was then found in it a skull of the common size, with the thigh bones lying near it, and the remains of some silk garments of a yellow colour, which, however, might have been either purple or red: some parts of them had been embroidered with a stripe of gold.—Besides the interment of Lucius at Gloucester, London, and Winchester, Radulphus De Diceto states that he was buried at York, and supposes him to have been slain by the Picts. Dr. Gale's Seriptores XV. Vol. I. p. 555. [c] Usher's Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, p. 36.—Bibliotheca Britanico-Hibernica, by Dr. Thomas Tanner, Bishop of St. Asaph, Lond. 1748, fol. p. 429. [d] The following notice of one of the Plates in St. Paul's may be added to those mentioned above and in the ensuing notes.—Of this Lucius it is shewed in a Table hangyne vpon ye wall of the north syde of ye Isle in the back of ye Quere of Sainte Paule's Churche in London, that the said Lucius raigned ouer the Brytons lxxvii yeres. Fabyan's Chronicle, book iii, chap. 60. p. 45, col. i., and see also the table of the third part, signature A v. reverse. [e] In Tabulis, sive Chronicis, Radulphi de Baldoc, est abbreviato historiæ Galfredi Monemutensis. Tum præterea epitome historiæ Regum Saxonicorum. Postremo etiam a tempore Gulielmi Conquestoris ad sua tempora.—J. Lelandi Collectanea, Vol. L. (part ii) p. 357.—Istas Tabulas, cum suprascriptis, dedit huic Ecclesiæ Radulphus De Baldoc, bonæ memoriæ, quondam Episcopus London.—Ibid. p. 353. These tables also contained lists of the Bishops of London and Deans of St Paul's. Upon the credit of this chronicle the Prelate is included as an historian in Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 66; in which he is called a man of much reading and experience, especially in the affairs and acts of our Princes; who had procured for himself future renown if he, who was most worthy of credit, had related and delivered to posterity those things which he himself had seen. His English History, however, begins with the origin of this country, but the subsequent part by which it is excellently finished, is by far the most instructive. In a late careful reading of the Annals of English Affairs, by John, Abbot of Peterborough, in arriving at the 1292, I there met with a fair mention of the History of Ralph Baldock; upon which I took occasion to search after it, seeing that the book was not to be disregarded, and at length found it and read it through in the church of St. Paul. This passage evidently refers to another copy of the Prelate's Chronicle in a volume preserved in the Cathedral Library. [f] Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, p. 36.—The passage is as follows.—In the vestibule of the Chapter-house of the Church of St. Paul, we have seen,— namely, before the Fire of London,—a large Table fixed up: on which it was thus written:—'In the time of the Britons many Archbishops flourished in the City of London: but in the age of the Saxons their dignity was translated to Canterbury, and Mellitus had the first Bishop's See in the Church of St. Paul, London, when it was founded by Ethelbert, King of Kent.'—Also in the Chronicle of Ralf De Baldock, Bishop of London, we read thus:—'In the Year of our Lord 179, King Lucius founded the first church in London, namely the Church of St. Peter of Cornhulle, and there was the Metropolitan See for 4 0 years and more, before the coming of St. Augustine, the Apostle of the English.'—The like is on a hanging-table in the same church of St. Peter upon the Corn Hill, or Cornhill; which is commonly called Cornell.—These authorities, without any additional information, are also cited in Henry Wharton's Historia de Episcopis et Decanis Londinensibus et Assavensibus, Lond. 1695, 8vo. p. 5. [g] The Inscription-plates suspended in this part of the Cathedral, appear to have been three in number; of which there is not any other account in Dugdale's History of St. Paul's, than a copy of one, and an extract from another. Entire transcripts of them all with notices of their several situations, are, however, preserved at the commencement of a vellum MS. of the fifteenth century in the Harleian Collection, No. 565, 4to. consisting of A Chronicle of English Affairs, and especially of those relating to the City of London, from the 1st year of King Richard I., 1189 to the 21st year of Henry VI., 1442 inclusive: and in the Notes to the printed edition of it, entitled A Chronicle of London, 1827, 4to.—The first plate was suspended on a column next to the monument of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; and the inscription consisted of a statement of the various dimensions of the old Cathedral, terminating with an account of the depositing of certain reliques of Saints in the cross of the belfry, the 11th of the Kalends of August, 22nd July, 1339: a copy of it will be found in the Harleian MS., fol. 2 a, in Sir. H. Ellis' edition of Dugdale's St. Paul's, Lond. 1818, fol. p. 61, and in the Chronicle of London with an English translation, pp. 174, 181. The second was against the middle column, eastward between the tomb of the Duke of Lancaster, and that of Roger, sometime Bishop of London; and the inscription consisted of a chronology of events, concluding with the notice of an earthquake throughout all England, on May 21st, the 12th of the kalends of June, the fourth day before Pentecost, 1382, in the sixth (fifth) year of Richard II.: copies of it are in the Harleian MS. fol. 2 b., and the Chronicle of London, pp. 174, 181; and an extract from it is in Dugdale, p. 62. The third plate was designated the Great Table, and was affixed close to the tomb of the Bishop, still more to the east: its contents have been already stated above, and copies of it are in the Harleian MS. fol. 4 a, and the Chronicle of London, pp. 176, 183.—The inscription-plate at St. Peter's is of the plainest and most modern form of these tabular records those of the fourteenth century being frequently decorated with ornamental borders, and even armorial ensigns, as may be seen on those erected on the monuments of Sebba, and Ethelred, Kings of the East Saxons, and Sir Simon Burley, engraven in Dugdale's St. Paul's, pp. 64, 69. From these, and other specimens, they appear to have been generally of a long form, with a loop in the centre at the top for suspension, whence they received their general name of Pensile Tables. They were sometimes surrounded by a border and divided into compartments, by projecting ornamented lines, and were sculptured with a small black character.—A foundation-plate of brass, resembling in subject and design that at St. Peter's, was affixed to a column in Glastonbury Church, Somersetshire, and contained a very full account of the original establishment of that edifice by Joseph of Arimathea and his associates. It was of an octangular shape, with a separate piece beneath formed like a pedestal, measuring altogether 10 inches by 6 1/2 at the widest part, the two plates being affixed to the pillar by twelve projecting holes; and the inscription, enclosed by a line, was coarsely and deeply engraven in the Monkish Gothic character of about the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Impressions and counter-impressions of these plates are given in Sir Henry Spelman's Concilia, Vol. I. pp. 7-10, with remarks on their antiquity and authenticity: and from the appearance of the letters, the author concludes that they were not more than three centuries old at the publication of his work in 1639.—The subjects engraven on Pensile Tables appear to have been very various; since they included epitaphs, genealogies of persons buried in their place of suspension, indulgences granted to such as prayed for the deceased, registers of miracles, the foundations and dimensions of buildings, lists of Bishops, &c. gifts, histories, and chronicles, prayers, texts, and psalms, and the order of religious services for the priests who were to perform them. The material used for those which were intended as records, appears to have been always brass; but some temporary inscriptions were written on wood. Their use in Churches may probably be referred to that of the classical Tabula Votiva suspended in heathen temples as records of cures, deliverances, and vows and their performance: these were commonly made of copper. [a] The following is the passage taken from the copy preserved in the Harleian MS. fol. 6, Chronicle of London, p. 178. Anno millesimo ducentesimo quadrigentesimo quinto post mortem Bruti, Rex Lucius extat. Anno Gracie cmo. xxiiijto. Coronacio Lucii, primi Regis Christiani: regnantis lxxvij. annis. London sepullus est. [b] Rev. Sam. Pegge's Sylloge, &c. pp. 5, 6.—Richard Gough remarks that Roman letters appear cut on brass plates for inscriptions towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII.—Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain, Part ii. Lond. 1796. fol. p. ccxlix. The first book which is known to have been printed with the Roman letter in England, was the treatise De Arte Supputandi, by Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, executed by Richard Pynson in 1522.—Ames' Typographical Antiquities, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, D.D. vol. ii. Lond. 1812, 4to. Preliminary Observations to Pynson, p. viii.—It is supposed by Pegge that the old Inscription-Plate at St. Peter's was destroyed with the Church in the Great Fire, because Newcourt in his Diocess of London, Vol. I p. 524, states, that there remained in this Church before the burning thereof in 1666, a table which is now again renewed; but Strype appears to intimate that the ancient record had been saved from the conflagration, his words being this inscription is still preserved in the new built Church, and hangs in a table against a pillar. Strype's Stow's Survey of London, Vol. I. book ii. chap. viii. p. 138. [c] On the same page of the work last cited will be found an explanation by Stow himself, of his expression of late time, to wit, within these fifty years; and, supposing him to have meant the same space when writing of the Plate at St. Peter's, fifty years deducted from that when his Survey was first published, would bring the date to 1548, the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. [d] The first defacing of Monuments. In the time of King (Henry VIII.) Edward VI., and the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, such pretenders were some to zeal for a thorough reformation in religion, that, under colour of pulling down the images here, which had been superstitiously worshipped by the people, as then was said, the beautiful and costly portraitures of brass fixed on several marbles in sundry churches of this realm, and so consequently in this, escaping not their sacrilegious hands, were torn away, and for a small matter sold to coppersmiths and tinkers: the greediness of those who hunted after gain by these barbarous means being such, as that though the said Queen by proclamation bearing date at Windsor, 19th Sept. in the 2nd year of her reign, 1560, taking notice thereof, strictly prohibited any farther spoil in that kind; they ceased not to proceed therein, till she issued another in the 14th year of her said reign, charging the Justices of the Assize to be very severe in the punishment of such offenders. History of St. Paul's Cathedral, by Sir William Dugdale; Edit. by Sir H. Ellis, Lond. 1818. fol. p. 31.—See also Weever's Funerall Monuments, pp. 50-55. [e] MS. Collections of Mr. R. Wilkinson. (History.) Large folio, pp. 26, 36. [f] Article xxii.—Chronica Gervasii Dorobornensis.—Henr. II.—Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores X. by Roger Twysden, Lond. 1652, fol. col. 1454. [g] Strype's Stow's Survey of London, Vol. I. book ii. chap. viii. p. 139.—Rotuli Parliamenti ut et Petitiones et Placita in Parliamento. fol. Vol. V. p. 137. A.D 1447. 25th Henry VI. Petitions to the Commons Membr. 2. No. 1. [a] The following notice of this procession for the year 1554, appears in the continuation of Fabyan's Chronicle, p. 561. The xiii daie of Maie was Mondaie in Whitson weke, and then came the procession of St. Peter's in Cornhill, with diuers other parishes, and the Maior and Aldermen, Fisshmongers and Goldsmithes, vnto Poule's, after the old custom, and other processions all the three daies, as thei were wont to doe. Thomas White, Mayor. [b] MS. Collections of Mr. R. Wilkinson. (History.) Largefolio, pp. 26, 36. [c] The words Peace of the King in this passage, express a submission to the protection and authority of the laws or other institutions of the country, in contradistinction to the Peace of the Church, or Sanctuary, which any offender, excepting one guilty of high treason or sacrilege, could claim for forty days: after which he became an outlaw. The remarkable custom of watching and starving a prisoner who had fled to a common church or unprivileged refuge, is illustrated in the Rev. Samuel Pegge's excellent paper on the Asylum or Sanctuary, printed in the Archaeologia, vol. viii, 1787. art. i. pp. 7. 39, 40. [d] Strype's Stow's Survey of London, Vol. I. book ii. chap. viii. pp. 141, 142. The Liber Albus Transcriptorum, was probably so named from the white leather with which it is covered, and is supposed by Strype to have been compiled by John Carpenter, Town Clerk of London in the reign of Henry V., and a great benefactor to the City. It is dated November, 1419, in the Mayoralty of Richard Whyttington, and contains as it is stated on one of the opening pages, laudable customs, not written, wont to be observed in the City, and other notable things worthy of remembrance, written here and there scatteringly without any order. The nature of these articles was partly the cause of the title of the volume,—the White Book of Transcripts;—and they consist as the Latin prologue remarks, of short indexes to the other City books, rolls, and charters, which are cited by their names or marks. The manuscript itself is of parchment, and the contents are written in a small court-hand in Latin: in size it is a small folio, of moderate thickness, and the binding is of wood, covered with discoloured white leather, with metal bosses and clasps, now black with age. In the centre of the upper cover is a metal frame, holding down a plate of horn, beneath which is a piece of parchment bearing the title of the book in a clear black letter, with an inscription stating that its contents commence in the 4th year of Edward I., 1275, and finish in his 22d, 1293.—Some account of this, very valuable record is contained in the Preface to Strype's Stow's Surcey of London, First Edition only, 1720, Vol, I. pp. iii, iv. [e] Calendarium Inquisitiones Post Mortem. 13 Edw. I. No. 119. [f] Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliæ et Walliæ auctoritate P. Nicholai IV. Circa A.D. 1291. Vol. I. pp. 13b, 18. [a] Rotuli Parliamentorum, ut et Petitiones, et Placita in Parliamento. Vol. i. pp. 418, 419. A.D. 1324-25, 18th Edward II. No. 9.—Inquisition in consequence of a petition to the King from John De Oxenford that the place granted to him in the Draynes of London, for 12d. yearly, might be confirmed to him and his heirs, and that he might build upon the same to the profit of the King and for raising the said rent. [b] Newconrt's Diocess of London, vol. i. p. 523; from the volume in the Bishop of London's Registry called Baudake, fol. 61. [c] MS. Coilections of Mr. R. Wilkinson (History) Large folio. p. 66.—Henry IV. at the supplication of his Queen Johanna, granted to William Aghton, Parson, and Hugh Rybrede, John Bury, and Peter Mason, to found a Fraternity to the honour of God and St. Peter, they being to maintain two Chaplains; by Charter dated at Westminster the 26th day of April, and the 4th year of his reign, 1403. By virtue whereof the Fraternity was founded, and ordinances made first in English and then in Latin:—John Whitby, Clerk, John Hull, William Floodgate, and Walter Palmer, Wardens (Custodes); William Brampton, and William Askham, (Fishmongers) Aldermen; William Aghton, Parson; Hugh Rybrede, John Bury, Peter Mason, John Brygge, Walter Cecil, Robert Yelington, John Stachniden, John Waleys alias Conysburgh, and Richard Stondon alias Manhale, Brothers. Ibid. [a] MS. Collections of Mr. R. Wilkinson (History) Large folio, p. 66. [d] Strype's Stow's Survey of London, Vol. 1. book ii. chap. viii. p. 139. [e] Registrum Ecclesiæ Parochialis: the History of Parish Registers in England, by John Southenden Burn, Lond. 1829. 8vo. pp. 6, 17, 22. In this curious and excellent work the disputed subject of the real time of the establishment of these records is carefully examined and illustrated, pp. 4-15. [a] The following notices of the burials in the Parish of St. Peter upon Cornhill for some of the most remarkable years of Pestilence are taken from A Collection of the Yearly Bills of Montality from 1657 to 1758, &c. Lond. 1759, 4to. 1593, Buried 112; 5 of the Plague: 1625, Buried 318; 78 of the Plague: 1636, Buried 27; 7 of the Plague: 1665, Buried 136; 76 of the Plague: 1366, Buried 24; 4 of the Plague. [b] MS. Collections of Mr. R. Wilkinson (History) Large folio. p. 56. [c] Ibid.—Newcourt's Diocess of London. Vol. p. 523, from the volume in the Bishop of London's Registry called Bonner, fol. 284. [a] This interesting view of St. Peter's Church, and of several other ancient objects in the vicinity, is contained in Plate I. of the Antique Remains of the Parish of St. Martin Outwich, Lond. published by R. Wilkinson, 7th Jan. 1797, 4to. It is entitled Typus Parochiæ Divi Martini, vulgo St. Martin's Outwich, unâ cum parte Parochiæ Divi Petri in Cornhill, in Civitate Londini. Inventus et factus per Gulielmum Goodman, 1mo Januarii, A.D. 1599. A copy from this plate, including the Church of St. Peter, may be seen in the ancient north-east view of Cornhill, &c. given in the First Volume of this work.—In the large view entitled London the most flourishing City of Britain, by John Cornelius Visscher, published in Holland in 1616, the Church is represented on the southern side as a much more compact building with a clear roof surrounded by battlements, a regular series of arched windows in the body of the edifice, and the tower surmounted by a tall spire. [b] Newcourt's Diocess of London, Vol. I. p. 523; from the Episcopal Registers marked Bonner fol. 390, and Grindall fol. 9. |