THE MIDDLE TEMPLE.
In Mr. Frederick Devon's Pell Records, vol. iii. p. 34., there is an entry in the Issue Roll of Easter, 41 Henry III. 1257, of a payment.
"To the Brethren of the Middle Temple, £4. in part of £8. appointed alms for the support of three chaplains to celebrate divine service, at Easter Term, in the 41st year, by writ patent."
And in p. 88. is the following writ for payment at Easter Term, 4 Edward I. 1276:—
"Pay out of our Treasury, from the day of the death of the Lord King Henry, our Father, of renowned memory, for each year, to our beloved Master and Brethren of the Knights Templars in England, £8. which our father granted to them by his charter to be received yearly at our Exchequer, for the support of three chaplains, daily for ever, to perform divine service in the New Temple, London, one of whom is to perform service for our aforesaid father, the other for all Christian people, and the third for the faithful deceased, as was accustomed to be done in the time of our aforesaid father. Witness, &c."
I presume that there can be no doubt that the grant referred to in the last extract is that which is mentioned in the first. But if so, what is meant by "Brethren of the Middle Temple?"
Both entries are before the suppression of the order, and it was not till long after the suppression that the Temple was occupied by the lawyers as a place of study; nor till long after the establishment of lawyers there, that is to say, more than a hundred years after the date of the first extract, that the Temple was divided into two houses, called, as now, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple. Added to which, the church of the Temple is in that division which is called the Inner Temple.
Can any of your correspondents favour me with the precise words of the original record, or explain the meaning of the term used?
EDWARD FOSS.