Then was the bishop of Bathes inn, lately new built, for a great part thereof, by the Lord Thomas Seymour, admiral; which house came since to be possessed by the earl of Arundel, and thereof called Arundel house.
Next beyond the which, on the street side, was sometime a fair cemetery or churchyard, and in the same a parish church called of the Nativity of our Lady, and the Innocents of the Strand, and of some by means of a brotherhood kept there, called St. Ursula at the Strand. And near adjoining to the said church, betwixt it and the river of Thames, was an inn of Chancery commonly called Chester’s inn (because it belonged to the bishop of Chester), by others, named of the situation, Strand inn.
Then was there a house belonging to the bishop of Landaff; for I find in record, the 4th of Edward II., that a vacant place lying near the church of our Lady at Strand, the said bishop procured it of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, for the enlarging of this house. Then had ye in the high street a fair bridge called Strand bridge, and under it a lane or way down to the landing-place on the bank of Thames.
Then was the bishop of Chester’s (commonly called of Lichfield and Coventrie), his inn or London lodging: this house was first built by Walter Langton, bishop of Chester, treasurer of England in the reign of Edward I.
And next unto it adjoining was the bishop of Worcester’s inn: all which, to wit, the parish of St. Mary at Strand, Strand inn, Strand bridge, with the lane under it, the bishop of Chester’s inn, the bishop of Worcester’s inn, with all the tenements adjoining, were by commandment of Edward, duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward VI., and lord protector, pulled down, and made level ground in the year 1549; in place whereof he built that large and goodly house, now called Somerset house.
In the high street, near unto the Strand, sometime stood a cross of stone against the bishop of Coventrie or Chester his house; whereof I read, that in the year 1294, and divers other times, the justices itinerants sate without London, at the stone cross over against the bishop of Coventrie’s house, and sometime they sate in the Bishop’s house, which was hard by the Strand, as is aforesaid.
Then next is the Savoy, so called of Peter, earl of Savoy, and Richmond, son to Thomas, earl of Savoy, brother to Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, and uncle unto Eleanor, wife to King Henry III.
He first built this house in the year 1245; and here is occasion offered me for satisfying of some deniers thereof, to prove that this Peter of Savoy was also earl of Savoy: wherefore, out of a book of the genealogies of all the whole house of Savoy, compiled by Phillebert Pingonio, baron of Guzani, remaining in the hands of W. Smith, alias Rougedragon, officer of arms, I have gathered this:—Thomas, earl of Savoy, had issue by Beatrix, daughter to Aimon, earl of Geneva, nine sons and three daughters. Amades, his first son, succeeded earl of Savoy in the year 1253; Peter, his second son, earl of Savoy and of Richmond, in 1268; Philip, his third son, earl of Savoy and Burgundie, 1284; Thomas, the fourth, earl of Flanders and prince of Piemont; Boniface, the eighth, archbishop of Canterbury; Beatrix, his daughter, married to Raymond Beringarius of Aragon, earl of Province and Narbone, had issue, and was mother to five queens: the first, Margaret, wife to Lewes, king of France; the second, Eleanor, wife to Henry III. king of England; the third, Sanctia, wife to Richard, king of the Romans; the fourth, Beatrix, wife to Charles, king of Naples; the fifth, Johanna, wife to Philip, king of Navarre.
To return again to the house of Savoy: Queen Eleanor, wife to king Henry III., purchased this place afterwards of the fraternity or brethren of Montjoy;[287] unto whom Peter of Savoy, as it seemeth, had given it, for her son, Edmond earl of Lancaster (as M. Camden hath noted out of a register-book of the dukes of Lancaster). Henry, duke of Lancaster, repaired or rather new built it, with the charges of fifty-two thousand marks, which money he had gathered together at the town of Bridgerike. John, the French king, was lodged there in the year 1357, and also in the year 1363; for it was at that time the fairest manor in England.
In the year 1381, the rebels of Kent and Essex burnt this house; unto the which there was none in the realm to be compared in beauty and stateliness (saith mine author).[288] They set fire on it round about, and made proclamation that none, on pain to lose his head, should convert to his own use anything that there was, but that they should break such plate and vessels of gold and silver as was found in that house (which was in great plenty) into small pieces, and throw the same into the river of Thames: precious stones they should bruise in mortars, that the same might be to no use, and so it was done by them. One of their companions they burnt in the fire, because he minded to have reserved one goodly piece of plate.[289]