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 tried to establish a similar claim against Elsing Spital, the hospital was declared a parish by itself, exempt from parochial dues elsewhere. The last arrangement of the kind was made in 1517, when the master of the Hospital of the Savoy agreed to pay the rector of St. Clement Danes 26s. 8d. annually, and to administer the sacraments to the inhabitants of the hospital, and in return was exempted from all parochial dues.

A list compiled in 1428 shows that the value of London churches had greatly increased since the 13th century. Eleven were worth only £6 13s. 4d. (the ordinary salary of a chantry priest ) or less; but over thirty were worth £20 or more, and ten exceeded £30 while the majority were between £10 and £20.

Perhaps as a result of this increase in value the City livings seem to have been occupied after about 1420 by men superior in character and attainments to their predecessors, and the tradition, very noticeable henceforth, that a London rector ought to be a 'learned man,' probably arose during the 15th century. One of the earliest of this type was the famous William Lyndewode, rector of All Hallows Bread Street from 1418 to 1433. Another was William Lichfield, rector simultaneously of All Hallows the Great and St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street, who wrote many books and composed 3,083 sermons; according to his epitaph he ornamented and enlarged his church and was a pastor vigil et studiosus, dear to the poor, an able adviser of those in doubt. An inventory made by the rector of St. James Garlickhithe in 1449, notes that he had given the church three 'cloths (pieces of tapestry?), with the life of James and John,' the crucifix in the rood-loft, the fourth bell in the steeple, and two great pairs of latten candlesticks. Such gifts from the clergy to their churches were common during the 15th century. The traffic in benefices was no longer a flagrant abuse, and there was probably a corresponding improvement in the behaviour of the clergy in other respects. An official list shows, however, that between 1401 and 1440 one priest a year, on an average, was punished for immorality. The guilty man was taken by the Ward beadle to the 'Tun' with minstrels playing; next day he was brought before the mayor and aldermen, proclamation was made that no