The Coming of the Brethren to England (1229) and the Foundation of the Convent at Charing.
The first knowledge we have of the presence in England of members of the Community of Roncesvalles is obtained from the letters of protection given to certain brethren by Henry III, in the year 1229. These letters were of the usual complete character, and it is clear that the intention of the deputation from Roncesvalles was to seek alms in England for the support of their House in the remote valley in the Pyrenees. This purpose was definitely encouraged by a special clause in the letters of protection.
The brethren seem to have been taken under the patronage of the younger William Marshall from the beginning. They may even have come to England on his invitation, for we find that he soon commenced to make arrangements to give them revenues and an establishment in this country. Very unfortunately for the Convent, the Earl died in the year 1231, soon after his return to England from Henry’s disastrous campaign in Poitou and Brittany, where he had held the chief command. But the record of his great gift remains, for on August 11, 1232, Henry confirmed at Wenlock “the grant to Saint Mary and the Hospital at Roncevaux (Roscida Vallis) of the gift which William Marshall, sometime Earl of Pembroke, made to them of all his houses at Cherring, and the houses and curtilages adjoining them formerly belonging to William Briwere, and of 100s. at Suthanton payable from the houses of the said Earl there, of 13l. of land in Netherwent in the moor of Magor, and of a carucate of land in Assandon, which he bought from Robert de Rochford.”
It was thus in consequence of the munificence of William Marshall the younger that the brethren of Roncesvalles obtained the land on the banks of the Thames at Charing where they subsequently built their conventual dwelling, their Hospital for the sick, and the Chapel by the riverside, which were to remain an important feature of London for over three hundred years.