It is at first sight mysterious that Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, should, even though he was King Stephen’s brother, thus interfere in the affairs of another diocese. The explanation is that he was in fact acting as Bishop of London at that time, holding the See during its vacancy in commendam, or in charge. This fact enables us to fix the date. It must lie between 1138, when, according to the chronicler, Ralph de Diceto,[[46]] who was Dean of St. Paul’s, “the Pope with the King’s consent, committed the care of the church of London to Henry, Bishop of Winchester,” and 1140, when “the Empress (Matilda) was received by the Londoners for their lady, and she made Robert of the Seal, bishop of London.” Rival schoolmasters had no doubt taken advantage of the relaxation of discipline during the prolonged vacancy of the See, consequent on the Pope’s setting aside the election of the Abbot of St. Edmund’s Bury to it, to set up “adulterine” or unlicensed schools. When the See was placed under a strong guardian, the arm of the church was stretched out to defend the monopoly of its children.
But the injunction against rival schools was not, as has been represented by Dugdale,[[47]] any special favour to Henry the schoolmaster of St. Paul’s. It was merely in accordance with the common law of the church. We find precisely the same kind of proceeding going on at Winchester itself[[48]] at about the same time, and again as late as 1629; while copious instances of its use are to be found at Canterbury in the fourteenth, and at York and Beverley[[49]] in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Master Henry had been appointed schoolmaster by Richard Belmeis, Bishop of London, and his appointment is still extant among the archives of St. Paul’s, not only in a chartulary copy but in the actual original itself. As it is probably the oldest instrument of its kind in England, it is given in full.
Collation of the School[[50]]
Richard, by the Grace of God, Bishop of London, to William, Dean, and the whole assembly of his brethren, and to William of Oschendon his steward, and all his men, Greeting and blessing in Christ.
I make known to you, my beloved, that I have granted to Henry, my canon, the pupil of Master Hugh, the school of St. Paul’s, as honourably as the church in best and most honourable wise ever held it, and the land of the court (atrio) which the aforesaid Hugh enclosed there to house himself in; and the meadow which I had granted to the same Hugh in Fulham, 4 acres; namely, the whole land from the ditch to the Thames (he paying) 12d. a year by way of acknowledgment at Michaelmas; and, in alms, the tithes of Ealing and the tithes of Madeley.
Witnesses, William of Winchester, William of Occhenden, steward, and Hugh de Cancerisio.
On the strength of this and a previous document, Bishop Stubbs speaks[[51]] of Bishop Richard de Belmeis, de Bello Manso (or Fairhouse), as having “founded” the “schools” (sic) “of St. Paul’s.” The previous document is only preserved in a copy in the early chartulary called Liber A. It is addressed to W. Dean and the whole assembly of canons (fratrum conventui) and informs the bishop’s “best beloved sons” that he has “confirmed (stabilisse) to Hugh the Schoolmaster, ex officio as Master, and to his successors in that dignity, the place of Mr. Durand in the corner of the Tower, where Dean William placed him by my orders between Robert de Auco and Odo.” The Bishop then proceeds, “I grant to him and to the privilege of the school the custody of all the books of my church,” and orders the dean to have a list of the books made out in an indenture, one part of which is to be placed in the treasury, the other to be kept by the schoolmaster, who is to be given seisin of the books; while any books that have been lent out, whether theological (divinorum) or of secular learning, are to be returned, on pain of excommunication. Hugh was also “to have the keys of the cupboards” (armariorum, aumbreys as they are now somewhat affectedly called) “which I ordered to be made for the purpose.”
As no witnesses are recorded, the date of this cannot be fixed, except as being between 1111, when William became Dean, and 1127, when Bishop Richard died. It must, of course, be before the document appointing Henry as schoolmaster in succession to this same Hugh.
Neither of the two documents supports Bishop Stubbs’ statement that Bishop Richard “founded” the “schools” of St. Paul’s. It is odd that the Bishop should have fallen into this mistake, as Dugdale[[52]] described the documents quite accurately, as grants to the Schoolmaster of St. Paul’s. Both of the grants imply that the schoolmaster’s office or “dignity” was in existence before. The later document is, of course, as it is called, merely a collation; an appointment of a new master, Henry, who had himself been a scholar in the school, to succeed a deceased master, Hugh. The earlier one merely confirms, not grants, to an existing officer or dignitary of the cathedral the residence he already enjoyed, at the same time annexing that particular residence to the office, while giving him the apparently[[53]] new duty of taking care of the books belonging to the church. The title of Master applied to Durand suggests that he too had been schoolmaster before Hugh, and lived in the same house as Hugh did, but that the house, then only an ordinary prebendal house, was now definitely made the schoolmaster’s official residence.