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 A HISTORY OF LONDON William Gedney, elected 1382,"' resigned 1 39 1 i3« John Evton or Repyngdon, elected 1391 "' Simon Wynchecombe, occurs 1392 and 1393"' John Eyton, occurs 1394, died 1404"' John de Watford, occurs 1 406 and 1413,'** resigned 1414"^ William Coventree, occurs 1433 "^ Reginald, occurs 1437"' John, occurs 1439 '** Reginald Colyer, occurs 1445,^" 145 3,"° and i465,"Mied I47ii« Richard Pulter, elected 1 471,"' occurs 1473,^^ died 1480 >" Robert Tollerton, elected i48o,"'died 1484"' William Guy, elected 1484,^" occurs 1489, 1 501, and 1504"' William Bolton, elected 1505,^^* died 1532 '" Robert Fuller, elected 1532,"* surrendered I 539 159 "* He was the convent cellarer. Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 264. ™ Cal. of Pat. 1388-92, p. 359. '" He was a canon of Repyngdon. Ibid. 386. "* He is mentioned as one of the executors of a will. Cal. of Pat. 1391-6, pp. 252, 257. "' John occurs in I 394, the prior who died in 1 404 is called John de Eyton. Ibid. 498 ; ibid. 1401-5, p. 414. "° Cal. Pap. Letters, vi, 76, 392. "' In March, 1 41 2, he received a dispensation to hold for three years a benefice as well as the priory provided he resigned the priory within that term. He was evidently no longer prior in March, 141 5, since he is addressed by the pope as canon of St. Bartholomew's. Ibid, vi, 277, 463. '" Doc. of D. and C. of St. Paul's, A. Box 25, No. 645. '" Dugdale, Men. Angl. vi, 291. '" Ibid. It is not clear whether he became prior or was .ilready prior then. ■" Sharpe, Cal of Wills, n, 511. Colyer had at one time left the monastery without leave of his superior, and lived in the world though with- out abandoning his habit. The pope ordered the bishop of London to absolve him from excommuni- cation in 1424. Cal. Pap. Letters,, 11 :,. "•^ Cal Cod. MSS. Ratvlinson Bibl. Bodl. 182. '" Cal. of Pat. 1461-7, p. 497. "' Ibid. 1467-77, p. 260. '" Ibid. 265. ""'Add. Chart. 38861. '" Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 189. '" Ibid. 201. "' Dep. Keeper's Rep. ix, App. ii, 40. "* Cal. of Pat. 1476-85, p. 442. '^ William without any surname occurs at these three d.ites. Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 2173, B. 2056, B. 2204. "° Dugdale, op. cit. vi, 29 1. '" Lond. Epis. Reg. Stokesley, fol. 80. "* The canons left the choice of a prior to the bishop of London, Master Roland Lee, and John Olyver, who appointed Fuller, abbot of Waltham. Ibid. fol. 80-90. "'L.andP. Hen. VIII, xiv (2), 392 (2). A fine example of the common seal of the priory is attached to a charter of 1533.^°" The obverse represents St. Bartholomew, seated on a carved throne, holding a book in his right hand and a knife in his left. In the field, on the left a crescent, on the right a star, each between two groups of three small spots. The style of work is of the thirteenth century. Legend : — SIGILLVM : COMMVNE : PRIOR* ET : COVETV[s : SCI : ba]rtholomei : London' . On the reverse is a church, with central spire, a cross at each gable end, masoned wall imitating ashlar-work and traceried windows, standing on a ship with a castle at each end, that on the left pointed, that on the right square, on the sea. In the field at the sides the inscription : — Legend : — NAVIS ECCL K CREDIMVS : ANTE t DEVM I PROVEHI BARTHOLOMEVM PER A seal 'ad Causas ' of the fourteenth century ^^ is a pointed oval, and represents St. Bartholomew standing on a corbel, holding in his right hand a knife, in his left a long cross. Legend : — ET CONV. . . . lond' ad cavs THCL I 7. THE PRIORY OF SOUTHWARK The original name of this priory, St. Mary Overy, signified St. Mary over the river. Stow recites a tradition, which he had from the lips of Linsted, the last prior, that, long before the Conquest, there was at Southwark a house of sisters endowed with the profits of a ferry across the Thames ; but that afterwards it was con- verted into a college of priests who, in the place of the ferry, built the first wooden bridge over the Thames and kept it in repair. This tradi- tion, however, is not supported by any known authority. Whatever may have been the nature of any earlier foundation on the same site, it was in the year 11 06 that the order of regular or Austin Canons was established at St. Mary's, Southwark.i The founders or re-founders at this date were William Pont de I'Arche and William Dauncey, two Norman knights. It is said that Bishop GifFard lent them much assistance, and in 11 07 built the nave of the church ; hence he was sometimes termed the founder. The principal grants that were made to the canons in the twelfth century were the church of St. Margaret, Southwark, by Henry I, lands at '" Harl. Chart. 83 A. 43. '" B.M. Seals, Ixviii, 26. 1 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 430 ; iv, 374. 480