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

Fig. 9.
The cross according to the use of Roncesvalles, from a stamp now used in the “Real Casa.” This ensign “unites in one figure the Cross, the Crozier, and the Sword.”

It is stated that over the doorway of each of these houses was sculptured a cross, according to the use of Roncesvalles. There also appears to have been a Latin inscription around or near the doorway of the chapel indicating the date of an addition or restoration in the time of Henry IV. The exact position occupied by the Hospital itself cannot be now identified unless, as is very probable, the chapel itself did duty both as a church and a hospital. The churchyard of the community was probably situated in the lands to the south-west of the conventual buildings. The situation of the chapel corresponds approximately to the middle section of Charing Cross Railway Station in alignment with York Gate and extending towards the land now occupied by Craven Street and Northumberland Avenue.

The Black Death (1348-49).

The event which seems to have done more than any other single cause to depress the fortunes and to change the future relationships of the foreign community of St. Mary was the catastrophe of the Black Death. The plague visited London in the autumn of 1348. Its ravages were serious in the early days of November, and the condition of affairs had produced so much alarm that Parliament was prorogued on January 1, 1349. A further prorogation occurred on March 10, the reason given being that the “pestilence was continuing at Westminster, in the City of London, and at other places, more severely than before (gravius solito).” It had diminished, or almost disappeared, in London by the end of that year. The clergy appear to have suffered throughout the country even more severely than the rest of the populace—evidence that they did not fail in their duties during that terrible period. Geoffrey le Baker, a clerk of Osney, says, “Of the clergy and cleric class there died a multitude known to God only.”[^[12]]

[12]. Creighton, “History of Epidemics in Britain,” 1891, Camb., i, chap. 3.

What actually happened at Charing Cross can only be guessed, but there are very clear indications that the Convent of St. Mary Roncevall suffered severely. The deaths among the brethren were probably numerous, for no one sufficiently important seems to have survived to uphold the interests of the parent House. The depressed state of the Convent is the more striking as the calamity occurred after a period of great prosperity.

When the plague ceased, and for some time after, the affairs of the Convent appear to have been in complete confusion. The immense mortality during the year of the prevalence of the plague disordered to a serious extent the whole executive of the country, and especially affected the Church. In some cases the community in the smaller convents died out entirely, in others the senior members and officials completely disappeared from the records, and in all cases serious losses must have occurred. This fatality was not confined to the monastic clergy alone; those holding benefices outside the religious houses perished probably in greater numbers. The consequence was that throughout the country rapid institutions to vacant benefices had to be made to carry on the duties of those who had fallen, and frequently unlettered, and in some cases unworthy, clerks succeeded to important charges. These difficulties must have been much accentuated in the case of alien houses. They suffered, as did all the other religious communities, and in addition, they felt the difficulty of being remote from the parent House. Officials who would have had the interests of the House at heart could not be sent from abroad to take charge on short notice, and the Prior at Roncesvalles, no doubt, did not even know of the deaths of his subordinates at Charing Cross. The vacant benefices in the possession of the alien houses were sought for and obtained by clergy on the spot who had influence, and there can be no doubt that the conclusion is correct, that many of these persons were more concerned in advancing their own interests and in retaining the possessions thus secured, than in guarding the rights of the foreign abbey or priory. Not only, however, did the local clergy secure the vacant benefices and property, but in many cases the property of the alien houses was taken possession of by their influential neighbours, sometimes without opposition, when the original possessors had entirely disappeared, at other times by the high hand when the rightful owners were few or feeble.

The Conflict of Interest between Alien and English Clergy at Saint Mary Roncevall (1350-1414).

In spite of these adverse conditions the house of St. Mary Roncevall survived, although new influences appear directing its affairs. The earliest records after the Plague show that English clergy were in possession of the Church and Hospital, and the title of Warden is made use of for the first time by the chief clerical official. Special interest appears to have been taken in its affairs by the Crown, perhaps because its estate afforded a ready source of revenue, but more likely on account of the proximity of the Convent to the Royal Palace at Westminster. The Church and Hospital afforded convenient opportunities of preferment and of income to the clergy connected with the Chapel Royal of St. Stephen or of the Royal Household.