The stately Palace rising straight from the water’s edge with its river-gate and stairs and its lofty face is Baynard’s Castle, so called from its first founder. Within, there are two spacious courts with rooms to accommodate hundreds of followers. It was formerly the House of the Castellain, for the rights and title of Castellain at first went with the possession of the Castle. When Robert FitzWalter in 1275 parted with Baynard’s Castle he reserved, so far as he could, these rights. They were exercised only in time of war, and at such a time it was the duty of the Castellain, mounted and caparisoned, with nineteen knights and his banner borne before him, to proceed to the great Gate of St. Paul’s, where he was met by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs, all arrayed in arms, the Mayor holding the City Banner in his hand, the ground of which was bright vermilion, or gules, with a figure thereon of St. Paul in gold—the feet, hands, and head of the Saint being argent.
At the West End of St. Paul’s was a piece of open ground upon which the citizens made muster of arms for the defence of the City under the inspection of the Lord of Baynard’s Castle. At the East End there was another piece of open ground where the citizens assembled for their folkmote and for making parade of arms for keeping the King’s peace. Here was Paul’s Cross, and here was the clochier or Campanile, the great bell of which summoned the citizens either to the folkmote or to the muster of arms. The following is the order of the ceremonies:—
TEMPLE CHURCH, LONDON
From an engraving by Measom.
“And as soon as the said Robert shall see the Mayor, and the Sheriffs, and the Aldermen, coming on foot out of the said church armed, with such banner, the said Robert (or his heirs who owe this service unto the said city) shall then dismount from his horse, and shall salute the Mayor as his companion and his peer, and shall say unto him: ‘Sir Mayor, I am come to do my service that I owe unto the city’; and the Mayor, and the Sheriffs, and the Aldermen shall say: ‘We deliver unto you here, as to our Banneret in fee of this city, this banner of the city, to bear, carry, and govern, to the honour and to the profit of our city, to the best of your power.’ And the said Robert, or his heirs, shall receive the banner in his hand, and shall go on foot as far as the outside of the gate, with the banner in his hand; and the Mayor of the said city, and the Sheriffs, shall follow him to the gate, and shall bring a horse unto the said Robert, of the price of twenty pounds; and the horse shall be saddled with a saddle with the arms of the said Robert thereon, and covered with cendal with the same arms thereon. And they shall take twenty pounds sterling, and shall deliver them unto the chamberlain of the said Robert, for his expenses of that day. And the said Robert shall mount the horse which the said Mayor has presented unto him, with the banner wholly in his hand.
And as soon as he shall be mounted he shall tell the Mayor to cause a Marshal to be chosen forthwith, of the host of the city of London. As soon as the Marshal is chosen, the said Robert shall cause the Mayor and his burgesses of the city to be commanded to have the communal bell of the said city rung; and all the community shall go to follow the banner of Saint Paul and the banner of the said Robert; the which banner of Saint Paul the self-same Robert shall carry in his own hand as far as Alegate. And when they are come to Alegate, the said Robert and the Mayor shall deliver the said banner of Saint Paul, to be borne onward from Alegate, unto such person as the said Robert and the Mayor shall agree upon, if so be that they have to make their exit out of the city. And then ought the Mayor to dismount. and the said Robert, and of each Ward two of the wisest men behind them, to provide how the city may best be guarded. And counsel to this effect shall be taken in the Priory of the Trinity, by the side of Alegate.
And before every city or castle that the said host of London besieges, if it remains one whole year about the siege, the said Robert ought to have for each siege, from the commonalty of London, one hundred shillings for his trouble, and no more.
And further, the said Robert and his heirs possess a great honour, which he holds as a great franchise in the said city, [and] which the Mayor of the city and the citizens of the same place are bound to do unto him as of right; that is to say, that when the Mayor wishes to hold his Great Council, he ought to invite the said Robert, or his heirs, to be present at his council and at the council of the city; and the said Robert ought to be sworn of the council of the city against all persons, save the King of England or his heirs. And when the said Robert comes to the Hustings in the Guildhall of the city, then ought the Mayor, or the person holding his place, to rise before him, and to place him near unto him; and so long as he is in the said Guildhall, all the judgments ought to be given by his mouth, according to the record of the Recorders of the Guildhall; and as to all the waifs that come so long as he is there, he ought to give them unto the bailiffs of the city, or unto such person as he shall please, by counsel of the Mayor of the said city.” (Riley, Liber Custumarum.)
Yonder is the mouth of the Fleet: as this stream is now, so was the Walbrook of old. On its western bank stands the Palace of Bridewell over against the House of the Blackfriars with its splendid group of buildings and its tall flèche. And now is London left behind us; there is no more trade along the banks of the river save a little at Westminster. These stairs upon the bank, and these carved and painted barges belong to the Palaces of the Bishops, Abbots, and great Lords. We pass Essex House, Arundel House, Somerset House, Burleigh House, the Savoy, Bedford House, Durham House, York House, all with gardens, terraces, and spacious courts. And so we come to the King’s Stairs, Westminster. Here is the King’s Palace, a crowded, busy, noisy place, and beyond is the Abbey of St. Peter, rich and famous. A noble church it is; but it is not so noble, nor is it yet so famous as the Church of St. Paul. Coronations, marriages, funerals, and tombs of kings do ennoble a great church, but there are other kinds of nobility. St. Paul’s is the centre, the heart of a City, which is the centre, the heart of the nation. As the people to the King, so is St. Paul’s Cathedral to Westminster Abbey Church.
[CHAPTER II]
PORT AND TRADE OF LONDON
The limits of the Port of London, never defined until the reign of Charles II., seem to have been always understood as reaching from the North Foreland to London Bridge. Queenhithe, which, early in the thirteenth century, employed thirty-eight men as carriers, was the oldest landing-place and port. Its present appearance is, save for the warehouses round it, nearly the same as it has always been, substituting the small vessels then in use for the barges and lighters which now lie in that muddy port. Billingsgate was another landing-place at which the King’s Customs were collected. As trade increased it was found necessary to provide increased accommodation, and the following places were appointed, but long afterwards, for the general lading and discharging places for all kinds of goods to be landed and shipped between sunrise and sunset. (Strype.)