CHAPTER XVI.
THE TWELFTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.
First Charter, 1133.
The Prior obtained from the King a Charter, wherein, after providing for an independent election of a new prior by the monks in the event of Rahere’s death, and after confirming the privileges and possessions of the Priory, it was declared “I grant also my firm peace to all persons coming to and returning from the fair, which is wont to be celebrated in that place at the Feast of St. Bartholomew; and I forbid any of the Royal Servants to implead any of their persons, or without the consent of the Canons, on those three days, to wit the eve of the feast, the feast itself, and the day following, to levy dues upon those going thither. And let all people in my whole kingdom know that I will maintain and defend this Church, even as my crown; and if any one shall presume to contravene this our Royal privilege, or shall offend the prior, the canons, clergy or laity of that place, he, and all who are his, and everything that belongs to him, shall come into the King’s power.”
In addition to the King’s “firm peace,” and the usual privileges, it came to be believed that there were special miracles in store for those who braved the perils of distant travel in making pilgrimage to the Festival and Fair of St. Bartholomew. In Mr. Morley’s book will be found a long enumeration of these. “What wonder (he asks) if to see the miracles worked at the celebration of the Feast of St. Bartholomew, in the first years after the foundation of his Priory in Smithfield, the people came from far and near, and were to be found ‘shouldering each other’ as well as ‘dancing and rejoicing’ in a concourse at the fair”?
1154-86. We have it on the authority of Stow that Henry II. granted to the Priory the privilege of a fair to be kept yearly at Bartholomew tide for three days, to wit the eve, the day, and next morrow; to which the clothiers of all England and drapers of London repaired, and had their booths and standings within the Church Yard of this Priory, closed in with walls and gates, locked every night, and watched for safety of men’s goods and wares. A Court of Piepowder was daily during the fair holden for debts and contracts. But he adds a note in regard to the time of the fair—“that forrens [foreigners] were licensed for three days; the freedmen so long as they would, which was sixe or seven dayes.” It is clear that the venerable historian had mixed and confounded various and distinct events. I do not find other reference to this charter of Henry II. except by Hone, who says this charter gave the mayor and aldermen of the City criminal jurisdiction during the fair. The chief articles of commerce at the fair about this period were cloth, stuffs, leather, pewter, and live cattle.
1292. The first dispute between the City of London and the Priory of St. Bartholomew regarding the fair arose this year. It was on the subject of Tolls. The fair as we have already seen had spread beyond the Prior’s bounds. The Custos of the City—for in 1288 Edward I. upon a quarrel with the City seized its liberties, and Ralph Sandwich was appointed Custos to collect the Tolls for the Sovereign—applied for half the tolls. The Prior claimed the whole on the ground of ancient custom, &c. The King was at Durham, and the matter coming before him on the approach of the fair, made the following order:—
Dominus Rex &c.—The Lord the King hath commanded the Custos and Sheriffs in these words: Edward by the Grace of God, to the Custos and Sheriffs of London, greeting. Whereas the Prior of St. Bartholomew, of Smithfield in the suburbs of London, by the Charters of our progenitors, Kings of England, claimeth to have a certain Fair there every year, during three days viz. on the Eve, the Day, and on the morrow of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, with all Liberties and Free Customs belonging to the Fair; a contention hath arisen between the said Prior and you the said Custos, who sue for us concerning the use of the liberties of the said Fair, and the free Customs belonging to it. And hindrance being made to the said Prior by you the said Custos, as the said Prior asserteth, to wit, concerning a Moiety of the Eve and of the whole morrow aforesaid, concerning this We Will, as well for us as for the aforesaid Prior, that justice be done as it is fit, before our Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer, after Michaelmas day next within a month. We command you that sufficient security be taken of the said Prior for restoring to us on the said day the proceeds of the aforesaid fair, coming from the moiety of the foresaid Eve and from the whole morrow, if the said Prior cannot then show something for himself, why the said proceeds ought not to belong to us. We command you that ye permit the same Prior in the meantime, to receive the foresaid proceeds in form aforesaid; and thereto you may leave this Brief. Witness myself at Durham the 9th day of Aug. in the 20th year of our reign.
While the question was thus pending the disputants grew so warm that the City authorities arrested some of the monks, and confined them in the Tun prison on Cornhill. They were released by command of the King, but thereupon nine citizens forced the Tun and released all the other prisoners, by way of resenting the royal interference. The rioters were imprisoned in their turn, and a fine of twenty thousand marks was imposed upon the City; but the civic authorities proposed a compromise, and, for a further payment of three thousand marks, Edward consented to pardon the offenders, and to restore and confirm the privileges of the City.—Frost, pp. 10-11.