Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/599

Rh year of our Lord 1110, founded the house and hospital of St. John of Clerkenwell. No separate deed can be traced for the foundation, as in the above-quoted register the first charter is only a recapitulation of that for the nunnery of St. Mary. No record has been preserved of the erection of the first buildings, nor of how the funds were procured for the purpose. The register, after quoting the charter as above, proceeds at once to record the dedication of the priory church by Heracius, patriarch of Jerusalem:—“In ye yere of Christ 1185 ye vj of the Ides of Merche, ye dominical lettre being F ye chyrche of ye Hospitall of St Johns of Jerusalem was dedicatyd to ye honor of S John Baptiste by ye worshipful fader Aradius Patriarke of ye ressurection of Christe; ye same day was dedycated ye high Altre, and ye Altre of S John Evangelist by ye same Patryarke.”

Clerkenwell was then at a little distance from London, and was quite suburban. Fitz Stephen, in his “Description of the most noble City of London,” written in the time of Henry II., speaks of it as having “fields for pasture, and a delightful plain of meadow land, interspersed with flowing streams, on which stand mills, whose clack is very pleasing to the ear.” Two of these mills appear to have belonged to the Order, as we find the following entry, under the heading Clerkenwell, in the report of Philip de Thame, referred to in Chapter VII.: “Et ij molendina aquatica dimissa ad firmam Ffrancisco Bache tempore fratris Thome Larcher pro C’s.” As poor Thomas Laroher was accused of having wantonly made away with the property of the priory without due value received, we may presume that the rental of £5 for these two mills was a very good bargain for Francis Bach. Fitz Stephen refers to the “fons clericorum,” or clerks’ well, as one “frequently visited as well by the scholars from the schools as by the youth of the city when they go out to take air in the summer evenings.” Its name arose from the fact that the parish clerks of London were in the habit of acting miracle plays there.

The sisters of the Order were established at Bucklands in Somersetahire. William de Erlegh had founded at Bokeland a house of “Regular Canons,” which was suppressed by Henry II. on account of their turbulence, the canons having, amongst other offences, murdered one of his officials. In 1180 the king