Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/356

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NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 th s. in. MAY e, m

Jordan was a real personage, and was buried in the " magna area. '

In the pedigree of the family of Robert Fitz Harding (' The Lives of the Berkeleys,' vol. i. p. 20) the name Jordan appears in connexion with at least three members of the family. Jordanus (Jordan) is a name which is frequently found in the twelfth century as a prefix to family names. As to the origin of the name see ' N. & Q.'

The building of the abbey was commenced by Robert Fitzhardinge, Provost of Bristol, in 1142, and the edifice was consecrated on Easter Day, 1148. The religious of this establishment belonged to the Order of St. Victor, a branch of the Augustinians, who were associated in name with the African Augustine (sometimes called "the Great"). It is, however, not very difficult to imagine that in Leland's time, or prior thereto, some- body had confused the two Augustines, hence the legend as to " St." Jordan and the English Augustine.

The statement that the celebrated con- ference (mentioned by Bede, 'Hist.,' ii. 2) between Augustine and the British bishops was holden in the open space (College Green), which is referred to in several county his- tories, rests entirely upon the assumption that "St." Jordan a mythical saint, assum- ing my theory to be worthy of credence whom Leland writes of in connexion with Augustine, had a chapel dedicated to or named after him.

The founder of the abbey, until a compara- tively recent period, was believed to be of royal (Danish) descent. Leland, at the time he visited Bristol, found the following record which he noted under the heading " Howses sumtyme of Religion in Bristow":

" Fanum Augustini, nunc S. Trinitatis. Inscriptio in porta : Rex Henricus 2, & dominus Robertus films Hardingi, filii regis Dacise, hujus Monasterii primi fundatores."

Thanks, however, must be given to Mr. A. S. Ellis, who, as the result of his painstaking labours in connexion with the compilation of the pedigree of the family of Fitz Harding, has clearly proved that the founder of the abbey, who was a Bristol merchant, was de- scended from Ealdnoth, staller, or horse thane, under King Edward the Confessor (' The Lives of the Berkeleys,' vol. i. p. 20).

My notes, made many years ago, confirm the accuracy of the REV. C. S. WARD'S quotation from Leland as to the burial of St. Jordan Inasmuch as I have no copy of Leland at hand for reference, I forwarded the proof of my reply to MR. WARD'S query to the editor ol

Leland in Gloucestershire,' who writes as follows :

1 You will "see from the enclosed [printed] tran- script of Leland, which I have the pleasure of pre- senting you with, that he positively speaks of the burial of St. Jordan in the Green. The monks did not stick at trifles in their efforts to magnify the grandeur of their abbey. When they had invented royal parentage for Harding, it was a small matter to turn a Jordan Fitzhardinge into a saint and make him a companion of the so-called converter of England."

G. E. WEARE. Weston-super-Mare.

Does the query repeated by MR. C. S. WARD refer to St. Jordanus of Saxony (1237)? He went with three companions to the village of Ursace in the Alps, and, on entering the inn, was informed by the host that he could not be served with food, as there were but two small loaves, and these the host required for himself. Jordanus commanded to bring them. He then invited the poor of the district, and about thirty hungry folk gathered round the door. The loaves were brought, and Jordanus served them out, first to the crowd at the door, then to his own companions, then to the host and his family, and lastly to himself. The legend is quoted in Brewer's ' Dictionary of Miracles.' GEORGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

THEATRE TICKETS AND PASSES (9 th S. ii. 348, 416; iii. 58, 116). In Wilkinson's ' Lon- dina Illustrata ' there are figured on his page of " Theatre Passes, or Tickets, of the London Theatres," two tickets which require some explanation.

The first is marked No. 4, and has on the obverse "Theatre Royal," with the busts ^of the king and queen; on the reverse, "lor the Pit, 1684." It is described in the letter- press, under the heading "Drury Lane Theatre," as "the bust of James II. and Maria d'Este his Queen, both looking the same way."

The second ticket is marked No. 5, and has on the obverse " Queen's Theatre," with the queen's head ; on the reverse, " For the Is Gallerie, 1684." In the description of this ticket, under the heading the "Duke's Theatre," it is stated to have been "struck after the accession of the duke to the throne, when the queen became patroness." <

There is evidently some confusion in regard to these two tickets. The Duke of York did not succeed to the throne until 1685, on the death of his brother Charles II. ; consequently in the case of the first ticket to which I allude, it must be a mistake for Charles II. and his queen.