Page:VCH London 1.djvu/634

 A HISTORY OF LONDON Windsor, his clerk, of the gift of Joan Chaun- deler. This grant received royal confirmation in 1329." Stephen de Bykleswade's administration as master seems to have been careless, as he was several times suspended and the custody of the house assigned to others ; but in February, 1330, he was formally reinstated by the bishop, and continued in office until March, 1338.^^ This hospital, like almost every English re- ligious house, suffered sadly at the time of the Black Death. In 1349 Walter de Marlowe, brother of the hospital, sought and obtained dis- pensation from illegitimacy at the hands of Pope Clement VI, in order that he might be appointed prior or master. The petition stated that the mortality amongst the brethren had left no one so fit to rule as the said Walter.^' In 1350 a chantry was established in the Lady chapel for the soul of Ralph Nonley of Halstead.-' In 1357 the hospital presented an interesting petition to Pope Innocent VI, and obtained that which they sought. It was stated therein that the hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, founded in Southwark by the saint himself, was resorted to by such numbers of the poor and sick that the master, brethren, and sisters of the rule of St. Augustine could not support their charges with- out alms ; they therefore prayed for an indul- gence of two years and eighty days to those who visited the hospital at Christmas, Easter, the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter and St. Paul, and on Good Friday, and who lent a helping hand to the hospital. ^^ Henry Yakesley was appointed master by Bishop Edendon in 1 36 1. The election devolved on the bishop owing to the death of all the bre- thren save one, but a special reservation of the future right of the brethren was entered.'" In January, 1372, the bishop deputed three commissioners to visit the hospital.^' Nicholas de Carrew paid the king 20s. in 1379 for licence to alienate to the master and brethren six messuages, three shops and one garden in Southwark; one messuage and 2 acres of land in Lambeth ; five cottages and I acre of meadow in Bermondsey Street — in exchange for the manor called ' Freresmanoire,' a water-mill, and two gardens in Beddington, Croydon, Mitcham, and Carshalton.''- On the death of William de Welford in 1 38 1 the bishop, as patron of the house, committed the custody to John Okeham and Robert Eton, " Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 32. '^ Winton Epis. Reg. Stratford, fol. 9, 1 2, &c. Stovve MS. 942, fol. 280, 307. '" Cal. Pap. Petitions, i, 165 ; Cal. Pap. Letters, iii, 330. '' Stowe MS. 942, fol. 31-2, 324. " Cal. Pap. Petitions, i, 304. '° Stowe MS. 942, fol. 330. " Winton Epis. Reg. Wykeham, iii, fol. 626. '-' Pat. 2 Ric. II, pt. 2,m. 19. 5 the only two of the brethren then living." Dur- ing the vacancy on 9 December, 1 38 1, the bishop sent a letter to the two custodians in- structing them to admit Thomas Gouday, chaplain, to the fraternity.'* On the same day Brothers Okeham and Eton invited the bishop to appoint to the mastership, whereupon the bishop delegated John de Buk gham, canon of York, to admit Gouday as master, who took the oath of canonical obedience on 13 December. Licence was granted to Edmund Halstede on 2 July, 1385, to have mass said in the chapel within the graveyard of the hospital until fifteen days after Michaelmas.'^ The bishop gave notice of a personal visitation of the hospital on 28 June, 1387. In 1388 Thomas, the master, and the brethren were charged with having appropriated to them- selves a piece of ground outside their church, formerly common to the men of Southwark for selling and buying corn and other merchandise, and with stopping up a king's highway called ' Trynet Lane ' ; but it was found on inquisition that the hospital had enjoyed these premises since the time of King John, when the house was built.'« At the time of the death of Thomas Gou- day on 17 December, 1392, there were four brethren of the house in addition to the master, namely, John Okeham, Thomas Sallow, Henry Grygge, and John Aylesbury. The bishop as patron and diocesan granted them on 18 Decem- ber licence to elect ; but the brethren on the following day devolved their right on the bishop and asked him to nominate. Wykeham's choice fell on Henry Grygge, and he was duly appointed on 15 January, 1393.'' It appears that Grygge sold some of the pos- sessions of the house contrary to his oath to Bishop Wykeham," and in 1399 he withdrew into foreign parts, when the custody of the hospital was committed to John Aylesbury, one of the brethren. On 25 February, 1 40 1, William Sharpe made his profession as a brother of the hospital. On the morrow the bishop renewed the custody to John Aylesbury, and issued a citation for Grygge to appear.^ In December following Grygge received papal absolution.'*' Whether he ever returned to take up the duties of the office of master does not appear, but in July, 1 4 14, John Reed, a brother of the house, was elected and confirmed as master.^  Winton Epis. Reg. .Wykeh.im, i, fol. 119. " Ibid, i, 126. "Ibid, iii, fol. 218. '* Stowe MS. 942, fol. 181. '' Winton Epis. Reg. Wykeham, i, fol. 224-5. '* Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 497. " Winton Epis. Reg. Beaufort, iii, fol. 315. " Cal. Paf. Letters, v, 497. "Winton Epis. Reg. Beaufort, iii, 51—2; Stowe MS. 942, fol. 330. +0
 * » Ibid, iii, fol. 331.