The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, vol. 3

Allen, Thomas

1827

The Brethren of the Holy Trinity of St. Botolph without Aldersgate.

 

In St. Botolph's church in , the of Edward III. a brotherhood of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian was founded, which was subsequently confirmed by Henry IV. in the of his reign. The brothers and sisters of the fraternity were to find tapers of lb. of wax, to be lighted all on feast days, at all hours of the day, in the worship of God, his mother and Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, and of Allhallows, and on Sundays; on other common feasts, to be lighted at high mass.

It appears, from the chartulary of this religious guild, in the possession of Mr. Hone, that their landed property was considerable, and consisted of houses in , the , Lamb-alley, Fanchurch-street, and ; of these was held on the annual payment of a rose, others in fee. They were proprietors of the Saracen's Head-inn, and the Falcon-on-the-Hoop brewery. In the year of king Richard II. sir Rauff Kesteven, parson of St. Botolph, and the churchwardens, granted a lease for years to John Hertyshorn, of the Saracen's Head, with the appurtenances, at the yearly rent of ; the appurtenances were houses adjoining on the north side, and were included in that rental as worth each by the year, and on the south side, was valued at .

In the xxj yer of kyng Harry the vjte.,

the brethren received,

For the rent of ij yere of Wyll«m Wylkyns, for the Sarresyn head

vli.

vjs. viijd. paynge by the yer liiljs. iiijd.

--and

of the Fauconon-the-hope, for the same ij yer vili. that is to say, payng by the yer iijli. ;

but the same year they demised the Falcon brewhouse to Robert Halle and John Walpole, brewers, for years, at per annum. years before, there is, in the churchwardens' account, an item for

kerving and peinting of the seigne of the Faucon, vis.

The account of their pageantry is very curious. In the accounts of the wardens for

the x yer of king Harry the vtje.,

there is the charge of an

item to the wexchaundeler, for making of the sepulcr«, lyght iij tymes, and of other dyuers lyghts, that long ynto the Trinite, in dyu«s places in the chirche, lvijs. xd.

a large sum in those times, and must have produced a prodigious illumination. They also possessed

a blake palle of blake damaske, with a white crosse, a staynede bordere with the fyve wondys of owre lorde, and a border of blak, with the kyng«s armys and estryge ffethers conteyning« in len«th iij ells, iij q«rt«rs.

It. Rolle of velom«, cou«ed with a goldeskyn, contenyng diu«se pagents paynted and lemenyd with gold, that is to say of the holy Trinite, Seynt Fabyan, and Seynt Sebastyan, and Seynt Botulff; and the last pagent of the terement, and gen«all obyte, of the brether«n & suster«n, that be passed to God; with clayne obseruances & prayers, to stere the peple to the more devocion toward« the seyde bretherhode.

A myssall, new bounde, with derys leder, garnysshed wyth sylk; whereof the seconde lefe begynneth Asp« git aqua bened«ta, with claspys & burdons, weying iiij vnc.« iij c«r«t and a half.

A chaleys of sylver and gilt, with a criucifyx« in the fote, & a pateyn« to the same, with the Trinite enamelyd, weying xxv vnc«.

A keybande of derys leder, wyth a keveryng of cheverell, wyth purses thereuppon«, garnysslied, conteyning iij keyes, made and ordeyned alwey to be in the kepyng of the maist« for tyme beyng, accordyng to the statut«s and ordenaunces thereof made, as it apperith in this blake boke, the xxxj lefe.

A Blake Registre boke,This is the book from which Mr Hone makes his extracts. with a kalender, in the which is writen the dedes, testaments«, wylles, evidences, and other writyng«s, conc«nying« the lyvelode of the breth«hode; & there registred for the well and more surete of the same.

There does not appear in their registers any thing like a portion of the Scriptures; except we consider their

myssall,

which was most likely overlaid by prayers to saints, notices of indulgences, &c.

In the list of this fraternity appear the following names:

Thos« de Berkyng, Abbas de Seynt Osyes. Joh«es Roos, Armiger. Galfra Paynell, Armiger. D«us Joh«es Watford, P«or s«ti« Barthi. Ric«s Lancastre, Rex de Armis. Will«s Yrby, Armiger. P«or s«ti Barthi. Rogerus Audelby, Rector de White Chapell. D«us Joh«es Newport, Rector de Grascherche.

In the Henry V.

Ric'us Deerh'm, Ep'us laudau

was the master of the brotherhood.

This fraternity was of some celebrity; for John Heywood, in his

Four

P«s, a very merry enterlude of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedler,

brings in the Palmer relating that in his pilgrimages he has been at different parts of the world, and in enumerating them, he says,

At Saint Botulphe and Saint Anne of Buckstone, Praying to them to pray for me Unto the blessed Trinitie.Dodsley, Old Plays, edit. 1744, vol. i, p. 88.

64

 

The hospital wherein the fraternity resided stood where is at present situate; it belonged to the priory of Cluny in France, and was suppressed by Henry V. Henry VI. in the of his reign, , gave a licence to Dame Joan Astley, sometime his nurse, Robert Cawood, clerk of the pipe, and Thomas Smith, to refound the same, to the honour of the Holy Trinity, therein to be a master and custos, with brethren and sisters, &c. This brotherhood was endowed with lands more than per annum, and was finally suppressed by Edward VI.

 
 
Footnotes:

[] An account of this chartulary is printed by Mr. Hone in his Ancient Mysteries Described, &c. 8vo. 1823.

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 Title Page
 Dedication
 CHAPTER I: The site, extent, buildings, population, commerce, and a view of the progressive increase of London
 CHAPTER II: List of the parishes and churches in London, with their incumbents, &c
CHAPTER III: History and Topography of Aldersgate Ward
CHAPTER IV: History and Topography of Aldgate Ward
CHAPTER V: History and Topography of Bassishaw Ward
CHAPTER VI: History and Topography of Billingsgate Ward
CHAPTER VII: History and Topography of Bishopsgate Ward, Without and Within
CHAPTER VIII: History and Topography of Bread-street Ward
CHAPTER IX: History and Topography of Bridge Ward Within
CHAPTER X: History and Topography of Broad-street Ward
CHAPTER XI: History and Topography of Candlewick Ward
CHAPTER XII: History and Topography of Castle Baynard Ward
CHAPTER XIII: History and Topography of Cheap Ward
CHAPTER XIV: History and Topography of Coleman-street Ward
CHAPTER XV: History and Topography of Cordwainer's-street Ward
CHAPTER XVI: History and Topography of Cornhill Ward
CHAPTER XVII: History and Topography of Cripplegate Ward Within
CHAPTER XVIII: History and Topography of Cripplegate Yard Without
CHAPTER XIX: History and Topography of Dowgate Yard
CHAPTER XX: History and Topography of Farringdom Ward Within
CHAPTER XXI: History and Topography of Farringdon Ward Without
CHAPTER XXII: History and Topography of Langbourn Ward
CHAPTER XXIII: History and Topography of Lime-street Ward
CHAPTER XXIV: History and Topogrpahy of Portsoken Ward
CHAPTER XXV: History and Topography of Queenhithe Ward
CHAPTER XXVI: History and Topography of Tower Ward
CHAPTER XXVII: History and Topography of Vintry Ward
CHAPTER XXVIII: History and Topography of Wallbrook Ward