CHAPTER XIII.
Proceeding against Empson and Dudley and their agents.
One of the first acts of the new king was to grant Letters Patent absolving the City of all trespasses committed before the date of his accession,[1026] and to offer restitution to all who had suffered at the hands of Empson and Dudley or their agents. Empson and Dudley were themselves committed to the Tower and afterwards executed. In the meantime an enquiry was opened in the city as to recent proceedings against Capel and others.
It was found that six men, whose names were John Derby, alias Wright, a bowyer, Richard Smyth, a carpenter, William Sympson, a fuller, Henry Stokton, a fishmonger, Thomas Yong, a saddler, and Robert Jakes, a shearman—all of whom had more than once been convicted of perjury, and on that account been struck off inquests—had contrived to get themselves replaced on the panel, and had been the chief movers in the recent actions against the late mayor and other officers of the city. They had, moreover, taken bribes for concealment of offences of forestalling and regrating. Being found guilty, on their own confession, of having brought false charges against many of the aldermen, the Court of Common Council adjudged the whole of the accused to be disfranchised. Three of them, who were found more[pg 344] guilty than the rest, were sentenced to be taken from prison on the next market day, on horseback, without saddles, and with their faces turned towards the horses' tails, to the pillory on Cornhill. There they were to be set "their heddes in the holys" until proclamation of their crime and sentence was read. The lesser offenders were spared the pillory, but were condemned to attend on horseback at Cornhill, whence all the offenders were conducted to the Standard in Fleet Street "by the most high ways," where the proclamation was again read. The culprits were then taken back to prison and made to abjure the city on pain of imprisonment at the pleasure of the mayor and aldermen.[1027] Among the charges brought against Derby was one to the effect that being on a jury he had received the sum of ten shillings and "a quarter of ffisshe for his howsehold," a bribe which a suitor had tendered by the advice and counsel of Thomas Yong, saddler, who was apparently acting as Derby's accomplice.[1028]
City gift on occasion of the king's coronation, 24 June, 1509.
On the occasion of the king's coronation, which took place on Midsummer-day soon after his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, the citizens presented the king and queen with the sum of £1,000 or 1,500 marks. Two-thirds of the gift was given expressly to the king, the remaining one-third being a tribute of respect to the queen. The money was to be raised in the city by way of a fifteenth, but the poor were not to be assessed.[1029] The procession from the Tower to Westminster was equal[pg 345] to, if it did not surpass, any spectacle that had yet been witnessed in the city for its gorgeousness and pomp. The streets were railed and barred from Gracechurch Street to Cheapside at the expense of the livery companies who lined the way,[1030] "beginning with base and meane occupations and so ascending to the worshipful crafts." The Goldsmiths of London were especially conspicuous for their marks of loyalty on that day. Their stalls, which were situate by the Old Change at the west end of Chepe, were occupied by fair maidens dressed in white and holding tapers of white wax, whilst priests in their robes stood by with censers of silver and incensed the king and queen as they passed.[1031]
The war with France, 1512-1513.
After three years of indolent and luxurious ease Henry became embroiled in continental troubles. In 1511 a holy league had been formed for the purpose of driving the French out of the Milanese, and Henry's co-operation was desired. A parliament was summoned to meet early in the following year.[1032] After granting supplies[1033] it unanimously agreed that war should be proclaimed against France. The campaign of 1512 ended ingloriously, and the French[pg 346] king threatened to turn the tables on Henry and to invade England. Henry rose to the occasion and at once set about strengthening his navy. On the 30th January, 1513, he addressed a letter to the Corporation of London desiring them to furnish him with 300 men, the same to be at Greenwich by the 15th February at the latest.[1034] Proclamation was thereupon made in the city for all persons who were prepared to join the war to appear at the Guildhall any time before the 10th February, where, if approved, they would be furnished with sufficient harness and weapons, without any charge, and also with sufficient wages at the king's cost.[1035]
The city was suffering at the time from great scarcity of wheat, and each alderman was called upon to contribute the sum of £5 towards alleviating the distress which prevailed. A contract was made with certain Hanse merchants to furnish the city with 2,000 quarters of wheat and rye respectively by Midsummer-day, whilst the royal purveyors were forbidden to lay hands on wheat, malt or grain entering the port of London.[1036] Under the circumstances it could have been no great hardship, but rather an advantage to rid the city of 300 mouths. On the 1st February, 1513, the aldermen were instructed to enquire in their respective wards as to the number of men each ward could furnish, and two days later the livery companies were ordered to find the sum of £300 to defray the expense connected with fitting out the men. If more than £300 were needed they were to draw on the Chamber, but any money not expended out of that[pg 347] sum was to be paid into the Chamber.[1037] The companies raised the sum of £405, the Mercers contributing £35, the Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers and Goldsmiths respectively £30, and the rest sums of smaller amount.[1038] There was some difference of opinion as to the nature of the uniform to be worn by the city's contingent. At length it was settled that the soldiers' coats should be white, with a St. George's cross and sword, together with a rose, at the back and the same before. Their shoes were to be left to the discretion of the muster-masters.[1039]
The Battle of Spurs, 16 Aug., 1513.
Henry himself now crossed over to France. The campaign proved more successful than the last, for the French being attacked at Guinegate, were seized with so great a panic that Henry achieved a bloodless victory. From the hasty flight of the French cavalry, the engagement came to be known as the Battle of Spurs. This victory secured the fall of Terouenne and was followed shortly afterwards by the capture of Tournay.
Peace with France, 1514.
Notwithstanding these successes, however, Henry found it necessary to make peace in the following year. His allies had got what they wanted, and the conquest of France was as far off as ever. It remained only to make as good a bargain as he could. The French king consented to the payment of a large sum of money, in return for which he was given Henry's sister Mary in marriage, although she was already affianced, if not married, to Prince Charles of Castile. This was the work of the king's new minister, Wolsey.
The New Learning.
To the apostles of the New Learning—as the revival of letters which commenced in the last reign came to be called—to Erasmus, to Archbishop Warham, to More and to Colet, the war at its outset had been eminently distasteful. With the accession of Henry VIII to the throne they had hoped for better things. War was to be for ever banished and a "new order" was to prevail.
Thomas More.
Of its connection with More and Colet the City is justly proud. At the opening of Henry's reign the future lord chancellor was executing the duties of the comparatively unimportant post of under-sheriff or judge of the Poultry Compter, a post which he continued to hold until 1517.[1040] He had received his education in the city at St. Antony's School in Threadneedle Street, a school which had already achieved a great reputation and afterwards reckoned among its pupils the famous Whitgift. Later in life he shut himself up for four years in the Charterhouse of London, living a life of devotion and prayer, but without taking any vow.[1041]
Dean Colet.
The father of John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, had taken an active part in municipal life. Henry Colet had been alderman first of Farringdon Ward Without and afterwards of the Wards of Castle Baynard and Cornhill,[1042] and as alderman of the last mentioned ward[pg 349] he had died towards the close of 1505. He had served as sheriff in 1477 and as mayor in 1486.
Education in the city.
Up to the time of Henry VI education had been carried on in the city chiefly by means of schools attached to the various city churches and religious houses. By order of Henry VI, and at the instigation of four city ministers,[1043] grammar schools were established in several parishes. The school of St. Antony attached to the hospital of the same name, of which Dr. John Carpenter was at the time master, received an endowment from Henry VI for the maintenance of scholars at Oxford. The school continued to flourish some time after the dissolution of the hospital. There was also a school attached to the hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, as famous in its day as that of St. Antony, but of which little is known until after the suppression of the religious houses by Henry VIII, when it passed into the hands of the Mercers' Company and became known, as it is to this day, as the Mercers' School.
The City of London School.
The Dr. John Carpenter just mentioned must not be confounded with the Town Clerk of that name, the compiler of the famous Liber Albus and the founder of the City of London School. There is little known of the foundation of this latter school beyond the statement made by Stow a century and a-half later, that he "gave tenements to the city for the finding and bringing up of four poor men's children with meat, drink, apparel, learning at the schools in the universities, etc., until they be preferred, and[pg 350] then others in their places for ever."[1044] Within the last few years the City Chamberlain's accounts—touching "the lands of Mr. John Carpenter, sometyme commen clarke of this cittie"—have been brought to light, and serve to supplement in a small way Stow's meagre but valuable statement. The rental or amount with which the Chamberlain charged himself for the year 1565 or 1566 is there set down as £41 0s. 4d., and the discharge—embracing a quit rent due to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and expenses incurred in overseeing, clothing and feeding four poor children "being founde at scoole and lerning by the bequeste of the sayde Master Carpenter"—amounted to £19 12s. 8d., leaving a balance to the City of £21 7s. 8d.[1045] From so modest a beginning arose the school which, situate on the Thames Embankment, now numbers over 700 scholars.
St. Paul's School.
There was a school attached to St. Paul's long before Colet's day, just as there is one now, independent of the school of Colet's foundation, and devoted mainly to the instruction of the Cathedral choristers. Soon after Colet's appointment to the Deanery in 1505 he experienced no little dissatisfaction with the Cathedral School, where great laxity prevailed, more especially in the religious education of the "children of Paul's," and so, about the year 1509—the year of Henry's accession—having recently come into a considerable estate by the death of his father, he set about acquiring a small property situate at the east end of St. Paul's Church for the purpose of establishing another school which would better realise[pg 351] his own ideal of what a school should be than the existing Cathedral School. Colet's School grew apace. In 1511 he was in negotiation with the Court of Aldermen for the purchase "of a certen grounde of the citie for an entre to be hadde into his new gramer scole."[1046] By January of the next year (1512) he had succeeded in obtaining the assent both of the Court of Aldermen and Common Council to the purchase by him of a "certen grounde in the Olde Chaunge for the inlargyng of his gramer scole in Powly's Churcheyerd" for the sum of £30.[1047] The property was conveyed to him by deed, dated the 27th September, which deed was sealed with the common seal on the 7th October following.[1048] The question as to whom he should entrust the management of his school caused Colet no little anxiety. He eventually decided to confide its revenues and management entirely to the Mercers' Company, and when asked the reason for his so doing replied that "though there was nothing certain in human affairs he yet found the least corruption in them."[1049]
Considerable rivalry existed among the various grammar schools of the city, more especially between the boys of Colet's School and the boys of the more ancient foundation of St. Antony, which, for a long time, had the reputation for turning out the best scholars. Public disputations were held in the open air. The St. Paul's boys meeting St. Antony's boys would derisively call them St. Antony's pigs, that saint being generally represented with a pig following[pg 352] him, and challenge them to a disputation; the latter would retaliate by styling their rivals "pigeons of St. Paul's," from the bird which then, as now, frequented St. Paul's Churchyard. From questions of grammar, writes Stow,[1050] they usually fell to blows "with their satchels full of books, many times in great heaps, that they troubled the streets and passengers." After the decay of St. Antony's School the rivalry was taken up, but in a more friendly way, by the later foundation of the Merchant Taylors' School.
Provincial grammar schools founded by citizens of London.
But the citizens of London did not limit their efforts in the cause of education to their own city. Throughout the country there are to be found grammar schools which owe their establishment to the liberal-mindedness and open-handed generosity of the city merchant.[1051] Their existence bears testimony to the kindly feeling which men who had grown rich in London still bore to the provincial town or village which gave them birth and which they had left in early life to seek their fortune in the great metropolis.
To take but a few instances: Sir John Percival, a merchant-tailor, who in 1487 filled the subordinate office of Lord Mayor's carver, performing his duties so well that the mayor, Sir Henry Colet, nominated him one of the sheriffs for the year ensuing by the time honoured custom of drinking to him at a public dinner, founded a school at Macclesfield. Stephen[pg 353] Jenyns, another merchant-tailor, did the same thing at Wolverhampton. Sir Thomas White, another member of the same company, founded two schools in the provinces, one at Reading and another at Bristol, besides the College of St. John at Oxford. Sir William Harper, yet another merchant-tailor, established a school at Bedford.
The Mercers' Company rivalled the Merchant-Taylors' in the number of schools established in the country through the liberality of its members. Sir John Gresham founded one at Holt, in Norfolk; Sir Rowland Hill, an ancestor of the originator of the Penny Postal scheme, another at Drayton, in Shropshire; whilst schools at Horsham, in Sussex, and West Lavington, in Wiltshire, were erected by two other mercers, Richard Collier and William Dauntsey. There exist at the present day at least four schools which owe their foundation to wealthy members of the Grocers' Company, the well known school at Oundle, co. Northampton, upon which the Company have expended on capital account the sum of £35,000, having been founded by Sir William Laxton; another at Sevenoaks, in Kent, by William Sevenoke, a native of the place, who rose from very humble circumstances to the chief magistracy of the city; another at Witney, in Oxfordshire, by Henry Box, and another at Colwall, co. Hereford, by Humphry Walwyn. Sir Andrew Judd, a member of the Skinners' Company, established a school at Tonbridge, whilst Sir Wolstan Dixie, another skinner, performed the same charitable act at Market Bosworth. Lastly, Sir George Monoux and Thomas Russell, both of them members of the Drapers' Company, founded[pg 354] schools at Walthamstow and at Barton-under-Needwood, co. Stafford, respectively.
Birth of the Princess Mary, Feb., 1516.
On the Feast of St. Matthew (21 Sept.), 1515, a messenger arrived in the city from Wolsey desiring the mayor and aldermen to attend that evening at St. Paul's to return thanks to Almighty God for the queen, who was quick with child. The summons was obeyed,[1052] and in the following February (1516) the Princess Mary was born.
The city and Cardinal Wolsey, 1516.
By this time Wolsey had risen to be a great power in the State. In 1514 he had been made Archbishop of York, and in the following year a cardinal. His high position as a prince of the Church, as well as his authority with the king, rendered it desirable for the citizens to keep well with him. On the 6th March, 1516, it was resolved to send a deputation to the cardinal for the purpose of securing his favour. No expense was to be spared in the matter, and all costs and charges were to be paid by the Chamber.[1053] In the following June the cardinal handed to the mayor a list of abuses in the city which required reform. Sedition was rife there; the commons were disobedient, the statute of apparel was ignored, vagabonds and masterless folk resorted there and unlawful games were allowed in houses. The king's council required an answer on these points within a few days, and an answer was accordingly given, but the purport of it is not recorded, although it was read to the Court of Aldermen before being despatched.[1054]
In November of the same year (1516) the City was in difficulties with the recently erected Court of[pg 355] Star Chamber, and Wolsey, who practically kept the whole business of government in his own hands, came to the City's assistance with advice. It appears that a subsidy was due on the 21st of this month and the City had not paid its quota. The mayor and aldermen were cited to appear before the cardinal and other lords of the council in the Star Chamber at Westminster. Being asked if they had "sworne for their assayng," to the king's subsidy, the Recorder answered on their behalf that such procedure was contrary to Act of Parliament. The cardinal thereupon advised them to agree to give the king £2,000 in order to be discharged of their oaths "or ells every of theym to be sworn of and uppon the true value of their substance within the sum of 100 marks." This took place on Saturday, the 22nd, and the mayor and aldermen were to give an answer to the Star Chamber by the following Wednesday. On Tuesday, the 25th, the Court of Aldermen met to consider what was best to be done under the circumstances. The decision they arrived at was that as the present assessment was less than the last, they would, in consideration of the king's letters, make up the sum then payable so that it should equal the last assessment.[1055]
Evil Mayday, 1517.
The seditious "brutes" or riots of which Wolsey had complained as daily occurring in the city were soon to assume a serious form. They were occasioned for the most part by the jealousy with which everybody who was not a freeman of the city was looked upon by the free citizen. The influx of strangers and foreigners has been daily increasing, notwithstanding the limitations and restrictions placed upon their[pg 356] residence and mode of trading,[1056] whilst the tendency of freemen had been to leave the city for the country.[1057]
Whilst the civic authorities were doing all they could to prevent the possibility of a disturbance arising on the coming May-day[1058]—a day kept as a general holiday in the city—occasion was taken by a minister of the church, whose duty it was to preach the usual Spital sermon on Easter Tuesday (14 April), to incite the freemen to rise up against the foreigner and stranger.[1059] When the 1st May arrived all might have been well, had not a city alderman allowed his zeal to outrun his discretion. It happened that John Mundy,[1060] Alderman of Queenhithe Ward, came across some youngsters playing "at the bucklers" at a time when by a recent order they should have been within doors, and he commanded them to desist. This they showed no disposition to do, and when force was threatened raised the cry for 'prentices and clubs. A large crowd quickly assembled and the alderman had to beat a hasty retreat. The mob, now thoroughly roused, proceeded to set free the prisoners in Newgate and the compters, and to attack the strangers and[pg 357] foreigners quartered at Blanchappleton[1061] and elsewhere. Rioting continued throughout the night, but early the following morning they were met by a large force which the mayor in the meantime had collected, and 300 of them were made prisoners, so that by the time that assistance arrived from the court quiet had been restored. A commission of Oyer and Terminer was opened at the Guildhall to try the offenders. John Lincoln, who had not so long ago been appointed surveyor of goods bought and sold by foreigners,[1062] was charged with being the instigator of the riot, and being found guilty was hanged in Cheapside, whilst twelve others were hanged on gallows in different parts of the city. Others received the king's pardon with halters round their necks in token of the fate they deserved.[1063]
The City anxious to regain the king's lost favour.
The civic authorities were not unnaturally anxious to make their peace with the king, and to disclaim any complicity in the late outbreak. The Court of Aldermen met on the 11th May to consider how best to approach his majesty on so delicate a subject. It was decided to send a deputation to the lord cardinal to "feel his mind" as to the number of persons that should appear before the king. The next day eight aldermen and the Recorder were nominated by the court "to go the Kinges grace and to knowe his plesure when the Mayr and Aldremen[pg 358] and diverse of the substancyall commoners of this citie shall sue to beseche his grace to be good and gracious lord un to theym and to accept theym nowe beyng most sorrowful and hevye for thees late attemptates doon ayeynst their wylles."[1064]
A deputation attends the king at Greenwich, 11 May, 1517.
Wolsey and other lords to be bought over with gifts.
The king's pardon obtained, 22 May.
The deputation forthwith proceeded, clothed in gowns of black, to Greenwich, whither the king had gone on the 11th May. The Recorder as usual acted as spokesman, and humbly prayed the royal forgiveness for the negligence displayed by the mayor in not keeping the king's peace within the city. The king in reply told them plainly his opinion that the civic authorities had winked at the whole business, and referred them to Cardinal Wolsey, his chancellor, who would declare to them his pleasure.[1065] With this answer the deputation withdrew and reported what had taken place to the mayor, who had wisely kept away. It was clear that above all things the favour of the cardinal had to be obtained. For this purpose a committee was appointed, whose duty it was to "devise what thinges of plesur shalbe geven to my lord Cardynall and to other of the lordes as they shall thynk convenient for their benevolences doon concernyng this last Insurreccioun."[1066] By the 22nd May matters had evidently been accommodated. On that date the king sat at Westminster Hall in great state, surrounded by the lords of his council and attended by the cardinal. The mayor and aldermen and chief commoners of the city, chosen from the leading civic companies,[1067] had arrived by nine o'clock in the morning clad in their best liveries, "according[pg 359] as the cardinal had commanded them."[1068] Wolsey knew the king's weakness for theatrical display. At Henry's command all the prisoners were brought into his presence. They appeared, to the number of 400 men and eleven women, all with ropes round their necks. After the cardinal had administered a rebuke to the civic authorities for their negligence, and had declared that the prisoners had deserved death, a formal pardon was proclaimed by the king, the cardinal exhorting all present to loyalty and obedience. It was some time before the effects of the late outbreak disappeared. Compensation for losses had to be made;[1069] some were bound over to keep the peace;[1070] and counsel were employed to draw up a statement of the points of grievance between the citizens and merchant strangers for submission to the king.[1071] In September there were rumours of another outbreak, but the civic authorities were better prepared than formerly, and effectually stopt any such attempt by putting suspected persons into prison.
Lest any unfavourable report should reach the cardinal, the Recorder and another were ordered to ride in all haste to Sion, where Wolsey was thought to be, and if they failed to find him there, to follow him to Windsor and to report to him the active measures that had been taken to prevent any further insurrection in the city.[1072] "Evil May-day" was long remembered by the citizens, who raised objection to Thomas Semer or Seymer, who had been sheriff at the[pg 360] time, being elected mayor ten years later.[1073] In May, 1547, all householders were straitly charged not to permit their servants any more to go maying, but to keep them within doors.[1074]
The epidemic of 1518.
With gibbets all over the city, each bearing a ghastly freight, and the summer approaching, it is scarcely surprising that the city should soon again be visited with an epidemic. "At the city gates," wrote an eye-witness, "one sees nothing but gibbets and the quarters of these wretches"—the wretches who had been hanged for complicity in the late disturbance—"so that it is horrible to pass near them."[1075] The "sweating sickness," which had again made its appearance in 1516, and had never really quitted the city (except for a few weeks in winter), now raged more violently than ever, accompanied by measles and small-pox. The king ordered all inhabitants of infected houses to keep indoors and hang out wisps of straw, and when compelled to walk abroad to carry white rods.[1076] This order, however, was badly received in the city and gave rise to much murmuring and dissatisfaction.[1077] The civic authorities did what they could to mitigate the evil by driving out beggars and vagabonds, and removing slaughter-houses outside the city walls,[1078] as well as by administering relief to the poorer classes by the distribution of tokens or licences[pg 361] to solicit alms. These tokens consisted of round "beedes" of white tin, bearing the City's arms in the centre, to be worn on the right shoulder.[1079] In the midst of so much real suffering, there were not wanting those who took advantage of the charitable feeling which the crisis called forth and were not ashamed to gain a livelihood by simulating illness. Such a one was Miles Rose, who on the 11th March, 1518, openly confessed before the Court of Aldermen that he had frequently dissembled the sickness of the "fallyng evyle" (or epilepsy) in divers parish churches in the city, on which occasions "jemewes" of silver, called cramp rings, would as often as not be placed on his fingers by charitable passers-by, with which he would quickly make off, pocketing at the same time many a twopence which had been bestowed upon him.[1080]
Marriage of the infant Princess Mary with the Dauphin, 5 Oct., 1518.
The city could scarcely have recovered its wonted appearance after the ravages of the pestilence before its streets were enlivened with one of those magnificent displays for which London became justly famous, the occasion being an embassy from the French king sent to negotiate a marriage treaty between Henry's daughter Mary, a child but two years of age, and the still younger Dauphin of France. The City Records, strange to say, appear to be altogether silent on this subject, and yet the embassy, for magnificent display, was such as had never been seen within its walls before. We can understand that the embassy was not acceptable to the thrifty middle-class trading burgess, when we read that it was accompanied[pg 362] by a swarm of pedlars and petty hucksters who showed an unbecoming anxiety to do business in hats, caps and other merchandise, which under colour of the embassy had been smuggled into the country duty free.[1081] The foreign retail trader was at the best of times an abomination to the free burgess, and this sharp practice on the part of the Frenchmen, coming so soon after the recent outburst against strangers on Evil May-day, only served to accentuate his animosity—"At this dooing mannie an Englishman grudged, but it availed not."[1082] The ambassadors were lodged at the Merchant Taylors' Hall, which, owing to the ill-timed action of the French pedlars, had the look of a mart. On Sunday, the 3rd October, the king, with a train of 1,000 mounted gentlemen richly dressed, attended by the legates and foreign ambassadors, went in procession to St. Paul's to hear mass; after which the king took his oath—a ceremonial which the French admiral declared to be "too magnificent for description." On the following Tuesday (5 Oct.) the marriage ceremony—so far as it could be carried out between such infants—was celebrated at Greenwich, and a tiny gold ring, in which was a valuable diamond, placed upon Mary's finger.[1083]
Preparations for the reception of the legate in the city, July, 1519.
In the following year (July, 1519) the streets witnessed another scene of gaiety. This time it was a visit of the legate, Cardinal Campeggio, for which the civic authorities made great preparations.[1084] In[pg 363] the first place the mayor and aldermen, in their gowns and cloaks of scarlet, were ordered to take up their position at 9 o'clock on the morning of Relic Sunday (i.e., the third Sunday after Midsummer Day) at St. Paul's stairs (the stayers wtin poulys). Next to them were to stand the Skinners, then the Mercers and other worshipful crafts in their order, clothed in their last and best livery. In this manner the street was to be lined on either side from the west door of St. Paul's down to Baynard's Castle. Upon the arrival of the lord cardinal and other lords at the Cathedral the mayor and aldermen were to head the procession and seat themselves in the choir to hear Te Deum sung. Bonfires or "pryncypall fyres" were to be lighted at St. Magnus corner, Gracechurch, Leadenhall, the conduit on Cornhill, St. Thomas "of Acres," the Standard and little conduit in Cheap, the Standard in Fleet Street, and in Bishopsgate Street; whilst cresset lights and small fires "made after the manner of Midsummer-night" were to add to the gaiety of the scene. Men-at-arms, well harnessed and apparelled, were to keep certain streets, whilst the aldermen and their constables were to keep watch and ward in their best array of harness. The ambassadors, who were to be lodged in Cornhill, were to be escorted home at night by the aldermen with torches, and to await their commands. There was one other, perhaps not unnecessary, direction to be followed, which was to the effect that if by any chance the strangers should be overcome by the hospitality of the city, or, in the words of the record—"yf eny oversyght be wt moche drynke of the strangers"—the citizens were to "lett theym alone and no Englishemen to medyle wt theym."
The legate lands at Deal, 23 July, 1519.
A story told of his passage through the city.
The legate landed at Deal on the 23rd July, and by slow stages was conducted with every mark of respect to London. His passage through the city was associated with an episode of a decidedly comic character if we are to believe the chronicler. A story is told[1085] that the night before Campeggio entered London, Wolsey sent him twelve mules with (empty) coffers, in order to give a semblance of wealth to the legate and his retinue. In Cheapside one of the mules turned restive and upset the chests, out of which tumbled old hose, shoes, bread, meat, and eggs, with "muche vile baggage," at which the street boys cried "See, see my lord legate's treasure!" The story, however, is on good authority deemed more malicious than probable.
The contest for the empire, 1519.
In January, 1519, the Emperor Maximilian died and left the imperial crown to be contested for by the kings of France and Spain. It eventually fell to the latter, and Charles V of Spain was elected Emperor Charles I, the event being celebrated by a solemn mass and Te Deum at St. Paul's, followed by a banquet at Castle Baynard.[1086]
The emperor's visit to the city, 1522.
Both France and Germany were eager to secure the co-operation of Henry. Charles anticipated the meeting which was to take place between Henry and Francis on the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold by coming over in person to England (May, 1519) and having a private conference with his uncle. The young emperor did not visit the city on this occasion; but in 1522, when war had broken out between him and Francis and he was again in England, he was[pg 365] escorted to the city with great honour and handsomely lodged in the palace of Bridewell. Nearly £1,000 was raised to meet the expenses of his reception and of furnishing a body of 100 bowmen for the king's service.[1087]
The king and his guest and ally were met at St. George's Bar in Southwark by John Melborne,[1088] the mayor, accompanied by the high officers of the city, clothed in gowns of "pewke," each with a chain of gold about his neck.[1089] A "proposicioun" or address was made by Sir Thomas More, now under-treasurer of England, who was afterwards presented by the City with the sum of £10 towards a velvet gown,[1090] whilst other speeches made in the course of the procession were composed by Master Lilly,[1091] of Euphues fame, the first high master of Colet's School.
Pestilence and famine, 1519-1522.
Between the first and second visits of the emperor the citizens had witnessed some strange sights and had gone through much suffering and privation. The city had scarcely ever been free from sickness, and famine and pestilence had followed one another in quick succession. In September, 1520, the fellowships or civic companies subscribed over £1,000 for the purchase of wheat[1092] to be stored at the Bridgehouse, where ovens were fitted up.[1093] Mills for grinding corn already existed in the Thames hard by.[1094] The following year the plague raged to such an extent[pg 366] that every house attacked was ordered to be marked with St. Antony's cross, "otherwise called the syne of Tav,"[1095] and citizens were forbidden to attend the fair at Windsor for fear of carrying infection to the court.[1096]
Again a scarcity of corn was feared, and the Bridge-masters were authorised by the Court of Common Council to purchase provisions, the corporation undertaking to give security for the repayment of all monies advanced by the charitably disposed for the purpose of staving off famine.[1097] Early in 1522 (15 Jan.) died Fitz-James, Bishop of London, carried off with many others by "a great death in London and other places of the realm."[1098]
Execution of the Duke of Buckingham, 1521.
The citizens had also in the meanwhile witnessed the arrest and execution of the Duke of Buckingham, son of the duke who figured so prominently before the citizens when the crown was offered to Richard III at Baynard Castle. He was seized one day whilst landing from his barge at the Hay Wharf, on a number of charges all more or less frivolous. His attendants were dismissed to the duke's "Manor of the Rose," in the parish of St. Laurence Pountney[1099]—on the site of which recently stood Merchant Taylors' School—whilst he himself was conducted to the Tower (16 April, 1521). An indictment was laid against[pg 367] him at the Guildhall before Sir John Brugge, lord mayor, and others (8 May). After a trial at Westminster which lasted some days, he was found guilty of high treason, and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered, and to suffer such other atrocities as usually accompanied the death of a traitor in those days. The king, however, satisfied with his condemnation, spared him these indignities, and the duke was allowed to meet his death at the block. His corpse was reverently carried from the Tower to the Church of the Austin Friars by six poor members of that Order.[1100]
The duke had other friends in the city besides these poor religious men, who thus requited in the only way they could many acts of kindness done to their Order by Buckingham in his life time, and his death gave rise to much disaffection and seditious language for some time afterwards.[1101]
City loan of £20,000 to assist the king against France, 1522.
Before the emperor left England he succeeded in committing Henry to an invasion of France. In order to carry out his object the king needed money, and the City was asked to furnish him with the sum of £100,000.[1102] Ten days later (26 May) the City agreed to advance £20,000. The livery companies were to be called upon to surrender their plate, and[pg 368] foreigners as well as citizens were to be made to contribute.[1103]
The aldermen to be assessed with the commoners and not to be severed.
The question arose whether the aldermen should be jointly assessed with the commoners or by themselves. The mayor and aldermen were willing to contribute the sum of £3,000,[1104] but this offer the Common Council "nothyng regarded," but sent the common sergeant to talk the matter over with them. After long consultation the mayor and aldermen sent back word that it was more "convenient" that they should be assessed with the commoners and not to be severed.[1105]
In the meantime a hasty valuation had been made by the command of Wolsey of the plate of the livery companies, and of the ready money lying in their halls, the whole value of which was estimated to be £4,000. This, together with the sum of £10,000 which the Court of Aldermen purposed raising among the wealthier class of citizens, was all that the cardinal was given to expect from the City.[1106] On the 24th May the deputation, which had ridden with all speed after the cardinal in order to make this report, returned to the city and reported to the Court of Aldermen that his grace was in no wise satisfied with the City's offer, and that he expected the City to furnish the king with at least £30,000, of which £10,000 was to be ready within three days.[1107] The matter was compromised by the City consenting to advance £20,000.
In June the Recorder had an interview with Wolsey respecting the security to be given for repayment[pg 369] of the loan. The cardinal refused to allow that certain abbots, abbesses and priors, who had been named, should enter into bond, and the citizens were obliged to be content with the personal securities of the king and Wolsey himself. Touching the plate of the halls, the cardinal wished only to take it in case of absolute necessity, and then only at a fair price. He desired the owners to bring it to the Tower, "there to be coyned and they [i.e., the government] to pay the seyd money that so shalbe coyned." The result of the Recorder's interview was reported to the Court of Aldermen the 17th June.[1108] A committee had already (2 June) to take an account of the plate brought in and to enter its true weight in a book.[1109]
A further loan of 4,000 marks.
Letter of thanks from Wolsey, 3 Sept., 1522.
The recent loan of £20,000 had scarcely been raised[1110] before the citizens found it necessary to make a further advance of 4,000 marks. Their liberality was repaid by a gracious letter from Wolsey himself, in which he promised to see the money repaid in a fortnight,[1111] and to extend to them his favour. What vexed the citizens more than anything was being compelled to make oath before the cardinal's deputy sitting in the Chapter House of St. Paul's as to the amount each was worth in money, plate, jewels, household goods and merchandise,—a system of inquisition recently introduced.[1112]
The City makes a stand against further loans. Nov., 1522.
Others follow its example.
As if all this were not enough Wolsey demanded another loan before the end of the year. This was too much even for the patient and open-handed[pg 370] London burgess. The Common Council determined (4 Nov.) to put a stop to these extortionate demands, and resolved that, "As touchyng the Requeste made by my lorde cardynalles grace for appreste or aloone of more money to the kynges grace, they can in no wise agre thereto, but they ar and wilbe well contendid to be examyned uppon their othes yf it shall please his grace so to do."[1113] The stand thus made by the citizens against illegal exactions gave courage to others. The king's commissioners were forcibly driven out of Kent, and open rebellion was threatened in other counties.[1114]
Appeal to parliament, April, 1523.
There was only one course left open to Henry, and that was to summon a parliament. For nearly eight years no parliament had sat. It was now summoned to meet on the 15th April, 1523, not at Westminster, but at the house of the Blackfriars.[1115] The names of the city's representatives are on record. The aldermen elected one of their body, George Monoux, and with him was associated "according to ancient customs," the city's Recorder, William Shelley; whilst the commons elected John Hewster, a mercer, and William Roche, a draper[1116]
A few days after the election a committee of fourteen members was nominated to consider what matters should be laid before parliament as being for the welfare of the city.[1117] Sir Thomas More was[pg 371] chosen Speaker. The enormous sum of £800,000 was demanded. Expecting some hesitation on the part of the Commons, Wolsey himself determined to argue with them, and suddenly made his appearance in state. Finding that his speech was received in grim silence, he turned to More for a reply. The Speaker, falling on his knees, declared his inability to make any answer until he had received the instructions of the House, and intimated that perhaps the silence of the Commons was due to the cardinal's presence. Wolsey accordingly departed discomforted.[1118] His attempt to overawe parliament marks the beginning of his downfall. He still kept well with the city, however, and rendered it several small services.
The City and Wolsey, 1523.
Emboldened by their recent success the citizens determined to make a stand against other exactions, and when in May, 1523, another demand was made for one hundred bowmen, as in the previous year, they sent their charter to the cardinal and begged that the article touching citizens not being liable to foreign service might remain in force. A similar demand was made in the following November, and again the assistance of Wolsey was called in.[1119] The City on the other hand had recently conferred a favour on the cardinal by discharging Robert Amadas, his own goldsmith, from serving as alderman when elected in March of this year.[1120]
The king and queen of Denmark in the city.
In June the king and queen of Denmark paid a visit to the city and attended mass at St. Paul's,[1121][pg 372] when the Court of Aldermen made them a present of two hogsheads of wine, one of white and another of claret, and two "awmes" of Rhenish wine, two fresh salmon, a dozen great pike, four dozen of "torchettes," and eight dozen of "syses."[1122]
England invaded by the Scots. 1523.
The joint attack of Henry and the emperor against France in 1523 proved as great a failure as that of 1522. In the midst of the campaign Henry was threatened with danger nearer home. The Scots marched southward, and created such a panic in the city that a solemn procession, in which figured Cuthbert Tunstal, Bishop of London (successor to the unfortunate Fitz-James), the mayor and aldermen, all the king's justices, and all the sergeants-at-law, took place every day for a week.[1123] After a futile attack upon Wark Castle the invaders withdrew and all danger was over.[1124]
Monoux refuses to accept the mayoralty a second time, Oct., 1523.
When the Feast of St. Edward (13 Oct.) came round, George Monoux, alderman and draper, who had already (1514-15) once filled the office of mayor of the city, was re-elected; but refusing to accept the call of his fellow-citizens he was fined £1,000. It was thereupon declared by the Court of Aldermen that anyone who in future should be elected mayor, and refused to take up office, should be mulcted in a like sum.[1125] Monoux's fine was remitted the following year, and he was discharged from attendance, although keeping his aldermanry, on account of ill health. In return for this favour he made over to the[pg 373] Corporation his brewhouse situate near the Bridgehouse in Southwark.[1126]
The king pledges himself to repay the City loan of £20,000.
Before the close of the year (3 Dec., 1523) the king pledged himself by letters patent to repay the loan of £20,000 which the City had advanced for his defence of the realm and maintenance of the wars against France and Scotland.[1127]
Formation of a league against France.
The disappointment experienced by Wolsey in not being selected to fill the Papal chair on the death of Adrian VI induced him to take measures for transferring his master's power from the imperial court to the court of France. In the meantime a league was formed between Henry, the emperor, and Charles, Duke of Bourbon, for the conquest and partition of France. During the formation of this league some correspondence between England and the Continent appears to have been lost in a remarkable manner, to judge from the following proclamation,[1128] made the 10th July, 1524:—
Proclamation for the recovery of lost letters, 10 July, 1524.
"My lorde the maire streitly chargith and commaundith on the king or soveraigne lordis behalf that if any maner of person or persons that have founde a hat with certeyn lettres and other billes and writinges therin enclosed which lettres been directed to or said soveraigne lorde from the parties of beyond the see let hym or theym bryng the said hat lettres and writinges unto my said lorde the maire in all the hast possible and they shalbe well rewarded for their labour and that no maner of person kepe the said hat lettres and writinges nor noon of them after this proclamacioun made uppon payn of deth and God save the king."
The king of France made prisoner at Pavia, 24 Feb., 1525.
Rejoicing in the city.
The news of the defeat and capture of the French king at Pavia (24 Feb., 1525) was hailed by Henry with great delight. The crown of France was now, he thought, within his grasp. On Saturday, the 11th March, a triumph was made in the city to celebrate "the takynge of the Frenche kyng in Bataill by Themporer and his alies."[1129] Bonfires were lighted at different places, one being in Saint Paul's Churchyard near the house where lay the foreign ambassadors. The Chamberlain was ordered to provide a hogshead of wine at every fire. The city minstrels filled the air with music, and the parish clerks attended with their singing children, who sat about the bonfires and sang ballads and "other delectable and joyfull songs." On the Sunday following the king and queen and officers of state attended a Te Deum at St. Paul's, the legate himself pronouncing the benediction.[1130]
The Amicable Loan, 1525.
Henry's first impulse was to take advantage of the French king's misfortune; the cardinal, on the other hand, saw danger in the predominating influence of Charles in Europe, and would gladly have seen his master join hands with Francis against the emperor. He was nevertheless bound to carry out the king's wishes as if they were his own, and money was necessary for the purpose. Instead of resorting to a benevolence—a mode of raising money already declared by parliament to be illegal—he suggested that the people should be asked for what was called an Amicable Loan, on the old feudal ground that the king was about to lead an expedition in person.[pg 375] The citizens were among the first to whom Wolsey made application. Were they of opinion, he asked, that the king should undertake the expedition to France in person? If so, he could not go otherwise than beseemed a prince, and this he could not do without the city's aid. The sum they were asked to subscribe did not, he said, amount to half their substance, which the king might very well have demanded. When it was objected that trade had been bad, Wolsey lost his temper and declared that it was better that some citizens should suffer rather than that the king should be in want, and that if they refused to pay it might "fortune to cost some their heddes."[1131] At length the citizens agreed to grant the king a sixth part of their substance, which Henry graciously acknowledged by letter (25 April),[1132] saying that it was not his wish to overburden them, for he valued their prosperity more than ten such realms as France. The letter was read, by Wolsey's express wish, to the Common Council on the 28th, when it was agreed to ask for a fortnight's grace before sending an answer to so important a missive.[1133] A deputation was forthwith despatched to Hampton Court to solicit the cardinal's mediation, but not being able to obtain an interview they returned, and steps were taken to raise the money required.
When the cardinal was informed later on that the alderman of each ward was holding an enquiry as to the means of the inhabitants he affected to be very angry. "They had no right to examine anyone," he said; "I am your commissioner, I will examine you[pg 376] one by one myself." The mayor (Sir William Bailey) thereupon threw himself at the cardinal's feet beseeching him that since it was by Act of Common Council that the aldermen had sat in their respective wards for the purpose of taking the benevolence—a procedure which he now perceived to be against the law—the Act should by the Common Council be revoked. "Well," said Wolsey "I am content," and he then proceeded to ask how much the mayor and aldermen then present were prepared to give. When the mayor incautiously remarked that if he made any promise there and then it might perhaps cost him his life, Wolsey again became furious. What! the mayor's life threatened for obeying the king's orders! He would see to that.
In the country the loan met with so much opposition that a rebellion was feared. At length, finding it was impossible to collect the money, Wolsey sent (19 May) for the mayor and aldermen and informed them that the king had given up all thoughts of his expedition to France, and that they were pardoned of all that had been demanded of them.[1134]
A truce between England and France.
French ambassadors lodged in the city, 1527.
Before many weeks elapsed Wolsey saw with satisfaction a truce made between Henry and the queen regent of France.[1135] Early in 1526 the French king regained his liberty by virtue of a treaty which he at once repudiated, and war between him and the emperor was renewed, but England remained virtually at peace. In the following year (1527) the cardinal[pg 377] himself paid a visit to the French king and superintended the drawing up of articles for a permanent peace. By September all was settled, and Wolsey returned to England. Ambassadors from France shortly afterwards arrived, and were lodged in the Bishop of London's palace in St. Paul's Churchyard. The City made them valuable presents at the instance of the lord cardinal.[1136]
Troubles over Wythypol's election as alderman, 1527-1528.
Wythypol again summoned to take office.
Committed to Newgate, 6 Feb., 1528.
Again summoned to take office, 22 May.
The election of Paul Wythypol,[1137] a merchant-tailor, as alderman of the Ward of Farringdon Within, in 1527, again brought Henry and the citizens into variance. The king desired Wythypol's discharge, at least for a time. The Court of Aldermen hesitated to accede to the request and consulted Wolsey.[1138] He recommended them an interview with the king at Greenwich. To Greenwich they accordingly went (24 Feb.) by water, where they arrived in time to give a formal reception to the cardinal, who landed soon afterwards from his barge. After a few words had passed between the cardinal and the municipal officers, the former entered the palace, whilst the latter waited in the king's great chamber till dinner time. When that hour arrived they were bidden to go down to the hall, where the mayor was entertained[pg 378] at the lord steward's mess, and the aldermen received like attention from the comptroller and other officers of state. The city's Counsel who had accompanied the mayor and aldermen were entertained at the table of "master coferer." Dinner over, the company returned to the great chamber, where they were kept waiting till the evening. At length the mayor and aldermen were bidden to the king's presence in his secret chamber. What took place there the writer of the record declares himself unable to say,[1139] and, although the mayor afterwards made a report of the matter to the court, no particulars are recorded in the City's archives. The practical outcome of the interview appears to have been that Wythypol was left unmolested for a whole twelve-month. When that time had elapsed he was again summoned before the Court of Aldermen either to accept office or take the oath prescribed.[1140] Refusing both these propositions he was committed to Newgate.[1141] This took place on the 6th February, 1528. On the 3rd March he appeared in person before the Court of Aldermen and desired a respite from office, or to be allowed to pay a fine. Being asked the amount of fine he was prepared to pay, he offered £40, and at the same time asked to be discharged from office for a period of three years. This offer was declined, and Wythypol was again ordered to take the oath prescribed for his discharge.[1142] Nearly three months were allowed to elapse before any further steps were taken, when, on the 22nd May, the court[pg 379] again ordered Wythypol to appear at its next meeting, and to take up office, or else take the oath, or pay such fine as should be assessed by the mayor, aldermen and common council.[1143] It is certain that he did not take office, so the conclusion must be that he availed himself of one or other of the alternatives open to him. John Brown was elected alderman of Farringdon Within shortly afterwards, but he was discharged by the Common Council, and the aldermanry was subsequently filled by John Hardy being translated to it from Aldersgate Ward.[1144]
A great dearth in the city, 1529.
In addition to an epidemic of sickness,[1145] the city was threatened the following year with a famine, notwithstanding the fact that large quantities of grain had been stored up in various parts of the city by order of the municipal authorities. The country had suffered recently by heavy rains, and large tracts of land had been inundated. In anticipation of trouble, a large stock of wheat had been laid in, but when it came to the point of disposing of it, the bakers of the city and the bakers of Stratford-at-Bow declined to take it except at their own price, until compelled by threats and, in some cases, imprisonment.[1146]
The legatine court at the Blackfriars, 1529.
For some years past Henry had been meditating a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, but it was not until 1529 that the assent of the Pope was at last obtained to try the validity of the marriage. The legatine court sat in the city at[pg 380] the house of the Blackfriars, where every arrangement was made to add dignity to the proceedings. At its head sat the two cardinals, Campeggio and Wolsey, on chairs covered with cloth of gold, and on their right sat Henry himself.[1147] The sudden suspension of all proceedings after the court had sat for some weeks, and the revocation of the cause to the Court of Rome, led to Wolsey's downfall. In October the seals were taken from him and given to Sir Thomas More, his furniture and plate were seized, and he himself ordered to remove from London.
The lord mayor's banquet, 28 Oct., 1529.
A few days after Wolsey's disgrace a banquet was held at the Guildhall on the occasion of the swearing in of Ralph Dodmer, the newly-elected mayor. It is the first lord mayor's banquet of which any particulars have come down to us, and they are interesting as recording the names of the chief guests. The mayor's court, the scene of the feast, was boarded and hung with cloth of Arras for the occasion. One table was set apart for peers of the realm, at the head of which sat the new lord chancellor and at the bottom the lords Berkeley and Powis. At either side of the table sat nine peers, among whom were the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the one being the treasurer and the other the marshal of England, Sir Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, the Earl of Oxford, high chamberlain, and the Earl of Shrewsbury, lord steward of England, Tunstal, Bishop of London, Sir Thomas Boleyn, Lord Rochford, whose daughter Anne was shortly to experience the peril of sharing Henry's throne, Lord Audley, and others. At two other[pg 381] tables, placed between the court of orphans and the mayor's court, were entertained a number of knights and other gentlemen, whose names are not recorded.[1148]
The fall of Wolsey, 1529-1530.
It was not long before further proceedings were taken against the king's late minister. On the 3rd November (1529), after the lapse of six years, parliament met in the city at the palace of Bridewell. The City was represented by Thomas Seymer, an alderman and ex-mayor, John Baker, the City's Recorder, John Petyte, grocer, and Paul Wythypol,[1149] the merchant-tailor whose election as alderman had recently created no little trouble. Among other members was Thomas Cromwell,[1150] a friend of Wolsey, and destined soon to take his place as the king's chief adviser. A bill for disabling the cardinal from being restored to his former dignities was carried by the Lords and sent down to the Commons (1 Dec.). There it is said to have met with the strenuous opposition of Cromwell. Of this, however, there is some doubt, as it is uncertain whether the bill provoked any discussion, parliament being shortly afterward prorogued (17 Dec.) and the unhappy cardinal left in suspense as to what fate was in store for him.[1151] At Christmas he fell ill, and the king's heart became so far softened towards his old favourite that early in the following year (Feb., 1530) he was restored to the archbishopric of[pg 382] York with all its possessions except York-place (Whitehall) in Westminster, which Henry could not bring himself to surrender. His colleges were seized; the college he had founded at Ipswich was sold; but his college at Oxford, known as Cardinal College, was afterwards re-established under the name of Christ Church. He himself was not allowed to rest long in peace. He was summoned to London on a charge of treason, for which there was little or no foundation, but the troubles of the last two years had rendered him so infirm that he died on the way.