Historical sketches of old Charing. / The hospital and chapel of Saint Mary Roncevall. Eleanor of Castile, Queen of England, and the monuments erected in her memory.

by Sir James Galloway

Saint Mary Roncevall passes into the Hands of English Clergy (1414).

The end of the strife between the Navarrese and English clergy for supremacy in the House at Charing Cross was not far off. By the year 1414 the few remaining alien priories and convents were suppressed by Henry V, but what influence this final suppression had on the activities of the Convent of St. Mary Roncevall is not quite clear. English clergy were already in possession of the appointments in the Church and Hospital, and the services of the Convent to the people of London seem to have continued. There arose no question of handing over the property for secular purposes, and probably there was no serious dislocation of the usual work of the House. The management of its affairs must simply have been recognized to be entirely independent of the Prior and his officials. It is to the credit of both parties that this separation was accomplished without severe disturbance, for, as we shall see, communications between the Prior at Roncesvalles and the Warden of St. Mary Roncevall remained on what seems to have been a friendly basis. The English wardens who were now appointed were, so far as is known, men of note, and frequently in close relationship with the Court.

In 1417 Walter Sheryngton, Prebendary of Goderynghill, is confirmed in his possession of the estate and the “free chapel” of Rouncevall in the Diocese of London. During his tenure of office there appears to have been an action at law between the Prior of the Hospital and the Warden, the exact nature of which is uncertain; but during its course the conditions of the early foundation of the Convent at Charing Cross came under discussion.

In 1432 Roger Westwode, who was also a Prebendary of the Chapel Royal, St. Stephen’s, was Warden of the Chapel or Hospital of St. Mary Roncevall. He was clearly conscious of the advantages to be gained by the connexion with the House in the Pyrenees, as he obtained a royal licence to receive bulls and letters of indulgence for the profit of his own chapel from the Prior in Navarre, and also to remit alms for the poor and other monies to the Priory. An echo of the old difficulties can be noted in this document, as the royal licence states clearly that the said Priory is “outside our allegiance, and the licence is to continue so long as there is no war between us and the King of Navarre.”

The fortunes of the Hospital in the middle fifteenth century can only be judged by inference, but there can be little doubt that it continued to be useful, and that gradually its functions as a place for the cure of the needy sick became more developed. The co-operation of nursing sisters must have also become familiar to the London community by this time. The brethren and sisters had pursued their avocation in tending and in nursing the infirm from very early days in the history of the community of St. Mary both in Navarre and in England. As the religious house became more distinctly a hospital their services must have been in constantly increasing request.