The invitation was extended to all, but with certain reservations. Nor was it merely a formal invitation; sanctuary was actually sought by multitudes, but traitors, Jews, infidels, and those who had committed sacrilege, were not received. In Durham Cathedral two men slept every night in the Galilee Chapel to admit any fugitive who might ring the bell or lift the knocker. Nay, sanctuary was actually converted into a city of refuge by the setting apart of a measured space, the whole of which was to be considered sanctuary. At Hexham, where four roads met in the middle of the town, a cross was set up on every one of the roads to show where sanctuary began. At Ripon and at Beverley a circle with a radius of a mile was the limit of sanctuary. At St. Martin’s-le-Grand the precinct was accurately laid down, and jealously defended. It included many streets, and the area is now almost entirely covered by the buildings of the General Post Office. At Westminster the whole precinct of the Abbey, church, monastery buildings, close, cloisters, and gardens were sacred ground.
In Archæologia (xvii. p. 198) is given the oath of sanctuary. I extract the whole passage:—
“Among the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum is a thin folio volume written upon vellum marked No. 4292, and containing the Register of Persons who sought sanctuary for different crimes at St. John of Beverley in Yorkshire, in the reigns of King Edward the Fourth, King Henry the Seventh, and King Henry the Eighth. The bookbinder, by whom it appears to have been rebound of later years, seems to have mixed some of the leaves, or, at least, to have put the entries of King Edward the Fourth’s time after some of those of King Henry the Seventh’s.
The greater part of the manuscript is of course confined to a list of names and crimes; but on the reverse of folio 17 is a copy of the oath taken by those who sought the peace of the place. I do not remember to have met with a sanctuary oath elsewhere. The bailiff of the town, by whom the oath was administered, is directed to inquire of the refugee ‘what man he killed, and wher with, and both ther names: and than gar hym lay his hand uppon the book, sayng on this wyse.
Catharine W. B. Ward.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. THOMAS
From a Copy, preserved in Canterbury Cathedral, of the almost obliterated Painting at the head of the Tomb of Henry IV.Sir tak hede on your oth. Ye shal be trew and feythful to my lord archbishop of York, lord off this towne, to the provest of thessame, to the chanons of this chirch, and all othir ministers’ thereof.
Also ye shall bere gude hert to the baillie and xii. governars of this town, to all burges’ and comyners of thessame.
Also ye shall bere no poynted wapen, dagger, knyfe, ne none other wapen ayenst the kyngs pece.
Also ye shal be redy at all your power if ther be any debate or stryf or other sothan case of fyre within the town to help to s’cess it.
Also ye shal be redy at the obite of Kyng Adelstan at the Dirige and the Messe at such tyme as it is done at the warnyng of the belman of the town, and do your dewte in ryngyng, and for to offer at the messe on the morne, so help you god and thies holy Evangelists.
And then gar hym kysse the Book.’”
The history of St. Martin’s-le-Grand is the history of a stalwart resistance and defence of the rights of sanctuary against the attacks of the citizens and others. For in a lawless age no rights, no privileges, no laws are obeyed. In Wat Tyler’s rebellion his followers paid no respect to sanctuary; they dragged from the very altars the tax-collectors who had hurried thither to be out of danger. Twenty years later the City itself protested against the abuses caused by the immunities of the sanctuary. But as yet the place was too strongly fortified by charters and papal bulls for any change to be effected. The King, on the other hand, took the line that it was by the negligence of the City magistrates that so many crimes were committed, and that so many claimants of sanctuary existed.
There is a story of sanctuary at St. Paul’s told by Riley (Mem. p. 24). It was in the 17th year of King Edward the First, and on the Day of St. George, that one Walter Bacon, a chaplain, or Parish Priest, took sanctuary in the Cathedral. Thither came, in consequence, the King’s Coroner, William le Mazeliner, the warden of the City (it was during the suspension of the Mayor’s office), John le Breton, Sir Baroncin, John de Banquelle, and other trustworthy persons. Then the Coroner, in the presence of the assembled company, demanded of the man for what reason he had taken sanctuary. Whereupon the man replied that it was because he had stolen sixteen silver dishes belonging to Sir Baroncin. The dishes being restored, the Sheriff was instructed to take charge of them in a sealed packet; and two days after the packet was opened by the Sheriff in presence of the Coroner, and the dishes were given back to the said Baroncin. What became of the chaplain is not stated.
Many examples have been preserved of those who sought safety within those walls. There is the case of one Henry who stole a signet ring, a pyx for consecrated wafers; had it ever been used he would have been debarred sanctuary for sacrilege; he also stole some money and other things. He took sanctuary, then he changed his mind and fled, leaving his stolen property behind him. The Dean’s officers seized it as a “waif” left within the soke or franchise of the College. There is, again, the case of Henry Ciprian, Canon of Waltham. He, for certain offences, took refuge at St. Martin’s. It was in the year 1430, the 9th of King Henry the Sixth. The Mayor and Sheriffs thereupon seized him and dragged him out. The Dean and Canons brought the case before the King, who ordered Ciprian to be restored to sanctuary. But the smouldering hostility of the City continued and increased. The Alderman of Aldersgate, Matthew Philip, on the imposition of a certain tax, called upon the Dean of St. Martin’s for his share, alleging that it was not a privileged place; and actually levied the money by distress. The King ordered it to be restored.
In the same year occurred the famous case of St. Martin’s-le-Grand, which, though it was decided against the City, strengthened enormously the case against sanctuary.
A certain soldier named Knight lay in prison at Newgate. His friends trumped up a case of debt against him, to answer to which he had to be taken to the Guildhall; therefore he passed the south side of St. Martin’s. Five of his friends lay in ambush in Panyer Alley, and as he passed they dragged him from the officers, and so into sanctuary, where they all remained. Surely this was an abuse of the privilege. The City thought so, evidently. The Sheriffs, Philip Malpas and Robert Marshall, with the Alderman of the Ward, the City Chamberlain, and a great multitude of people, crowded into St. Martin’s demanding the prisoners, whom the Canon refused to surrender. They therefore seized them by force, chained and manacled them, stripped them to their shirts, and led them off to Newgate. Evidently it was a case which excited the greatest indignation. The King, on receiving the complaint of the Dean, ordered the release of the prisoners by letters taken from Windsor to the Tower by Lord Huntingdon. The Mayor refused to open the letters. He said that the Tower was a privileged place outside his jurisdiction, and that he could perform no official act in it, not even the opening of a letter addressed to himself as Mayor. Lord Huntingdon then produced the King’s writ, which was received and considered in the Church of Allhallows Barking. Here, with the assistance of the City clerk, John Carpenter, they found some legal objection, which they conveyed to the King.
The matter, however, was heard in the Star Chamber. The case of the Dean was based, of course, on the Charters of the House, and on the antiquity of the privileges claimed. The case of the Sheriffs, where it did not depend upon a legal quibble, rested on the enormous inconvenience and the many mischiefs caused by the sanctuary. Thus one Stody deliberately murdered a woman, took refuge in the sanctuary, and succeeded in escaping; John Frowe, having a grudge against one Robert Dodmerton, dogged him till he was close to the gate of sanctuary, where he stabbed him in the neck, so that he died, when the murderer calmly took refuge in the sanctuary. One Lullay, a Cambridge man, did exactly the same thing in the same place. It was also argued that certain criminals in the reign of Henry the Fifth had been taken from sanctuary, that a lane of the precinct in which criminals assembled had been stopped by order of the King, and that church, precinct, and lane were all portions of the City itself. These arguments prevailed not. The Sheriffs had to give up the prisoners.
Another mischief caused by this privilege was the fabrication of counterfeit plate and jewels which was established there. The Goldsmiths’ Company, who had the right to examine all goldsmiths’ shops in the City, demanded admission to St. Martin’s Precinct in order to examine the workshops there. The Dean refused permission as a right, but invited them to come in and inspect the work. He himself went with them, and caused all bad work to be destroyed. Edward the Fourth, in a statute against fraudulent goldsmiths’ work, excepted the Precinct from its operation. It is interesting to note that makers of counterfeit plate and jewels continued in their old quarters long after the Dissolution. Thus Butler says:—