London and the Kingdom Volume I Part 34

Preachers who took advantage of the lull which followed the Marian persecution and resumed disputatious sermons, as they did more especially in the city, were silenced by royal proclamation,(1483) which ordered them to confine themselves to reading the gospel and epistle for the day, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, without adding any comment.

They were further ordered to make use of no public prayer, rite or ceremony other than that already accepted until parliament should ordain otherwise.

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Parliament met in January, 1559, and at once acknowledged the queen's legitimacy and her t.i.tle to the crown, an acknowledgment which she had failed to obtain from the Pope. An Act of Uniformity was pa.s.sed forbidding the use of any form of public prayer other than that set out in the last Prayer Book of Edward VI, amended in those particulars which savoured of ultra-Protestantism. The same parliament also pa.s.sed an Act of Supremacy, which dropt the t.i.tle of supreme head of the Church with reference to the queen, but still upheld the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown over all ecclesiastics. Having accomplished this much, parliament was dissolved (8 May).

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On the following Whitsunday (14 May) Divine Service was conducted in the city in English according to the Book of Common Prayer.(1484) Commissioners were appointed in July "to ride about the realm for the establishing of true religion," four being nominated for the city, whose duty it was to call before them divers persons of every parish and make them swear to observe "certain injunctions newly set out in print."(1485) The election of a new mayor at Michaelmas was followed by the celebration of a "communion" in the Guildhall Chapel."(1486)

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The success of Elizabeth's policy was unfortunately marred by the excess of zeal displayed by the reformers. More especially was this the case in the city of London. Had the inhabitants bent their energy towards putting down the disgraceful trafficking that went on within the very walls of their cathedral church, shutting up gambling houses, and stopping interludes and plays which made a jest of religion, instead of leaving such abuses to be corrected by royal proclamation,(1487) their conduct would have met with universal approbation. Instead of this they again set to work pulling down roods, smashing up ancient tombs and committing to the flames vestments and service books-the work of years of artistic labour(1488)-until the wanton destruction was restricted, if not altogether stopped, by the queen's orders.(1489)

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In the meantime the state of affairs with France and Scotland demanded Elizabeth's attention. The marriage of Mary Stuart with the Dauphin of France had taken place in April, 1558, and the sudden death of Henry II of France by an accident at a tournament had soon afterwards raised her and her husband to the throne. Mary now a.s.sumed the arms and style of Queen of England, and the life-long quarrel between her and Elizabeth was about to commence. By the end of the year (1559) Mary had collected a sufficient force at her back to render her mistress of Scotland. In the following January a French fleet was ready to set sail. Nevertheless Elizabeth refused to take any active measures to meet the enemy and to prevent them effecting a landing. On the 6th she caused proclamation to be made for French subjects to be allowed perfect freedom as in time of peace, but English vessels were to be held in readiness "untill yt maye appeare to what ende the greate preparaciouns of Fraunce do entende."(1490) Long after the appearance of a French fleet off the coast of Scotland, and when it had been driven to take refuge in Leith harbour, Elizabeth still declared her intention of keeping, if possible, on friendly terms with France if only the "insolent t.i.tles and claims" of Francis and Mary might cease and Scotland left in peace.(1491) With the aid of soldiers and seamen provided by the City(1492) the French were forced to surrender, and, by a treaty signed at Edinburgh, agreed to leave Scotland and to acknowledge Elizabeth's right to the English crown.

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In 1561 Mary, who had declined to recognise the treaty of Edinburgh from the first, returned to Scotland, in spite of Elizabeth's prohibition, and soon succeeded in drawing over many Protestants to her side. In the following year an opportunity offered itself to Elizabeth for striking a blow at her rival-not in Scotland, but in France. A civil war had broken out between the French Protestants-or Huguenots, as they were called-and their Catholic fellow-subjects, and Elizabeth promised (Sept., 1562) to a.s.sist the leaders of the Huguenots on condition that Havre-or Newhaven, as the place was then known-was surrendered to her as security for the fulfilment of a promise to surrender Calais. The queen (23 July, 1562) applied by letter to the City of London for a force of 600 men to be held in readiness to march at a moment's notice. She had determined, the letter said, to put the sea coast into a "fencible arraye of warre."(1493) The men were ordered to muster at the Leadenhall on the 18th September.(1494) The aim and object of the expedition was set out in a "boke" or proclamation.(1495)

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In 1563 a peace was patched up, and the Catholics and Huguenots united in demanding from Elizabeth the restoration of Havre. The queen refused to surrender the town, and again called upon the City of London to furnish her with 1,000 men for the purpose of enabling her to secure Havre, and to compel the French to surrender Calais as promised.(1496) The Court of Aldermen hesitated to raise so large a force, and sent a deputation of three of their court to wait upon the lords of the Privy Council the same afternoon, with a view to having the number reduced to 500 on the ground that the City had supplied so many soldiers during the past year.(1497) The deputation having reported to the court the next day (3 July) that the Privy Council would make no abatement in the number of soldiers to be furnished, it was agreed to renew the application.(1498) Again the City's request was refused, and the full number of 1,000 men was apportioned among the livery companies.(1499) The citizens, jealous as they always were of the stranger within their gates, availed themselves of a too literal interpretation of a royal proclamation and seized all the Frenchmen they could find in the city with all their belongings. They even went so far as to attack the house of the French amba.s.sador, and would probably have gone yet further lengths had they not been stopt by peremptory orders from the queen.(1500)

On the 8th July the City was informed by letter from the queen that the French had already commenced the siege of Havre, and was asked to have 400 out of the 1,000 men ready to set sail with Lord Clinton by the 16th.(1501) This letter was immediately followed by another from Lord Clinton summoning every inhabitant of the city "usinge the exercise of eny kynde of water crafte" before the lord high admiral or his deputy at Deptford on a certain day.(1502) The Common Hunt, the city's water-bailiffs, two sergeants-at-mace and two sheriff's officers were appointed by the Court of Aldermen to "conduct" the city's contingent to the fleet lying in the Thames.(1503)

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Before the end of July Havre was lost.(1504) The garrison had been attacked by a plague, which for more than a twelvemonth had been rampant in London,(1505) and the Earl of Warwick, the commander of the town, found himself compelled to accept such terms as he could obtain. The garrison was allowed to leave with all munitions of war. Whilst proclaiming to her subjects the surrender of the town-not through any cowardice on the part of the garrison, but owing to a "plage of infectuous mortall sickness"

inflicted by the Almighty-Elizabeth pleaded for tender care and charity to be shown to the soldiers on their return, due precaution being taken by the princ.i.p.al officers of every city, town and parish against the spread of infection.(1506)

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The approaching end of the war with France is foreshadowed by an order of the Court of Aldermen (25 Nov., 1563) touching the re-delivery to the various civic companies of the "harness" which they severally provided for the war, and which had been forwarded from Portsmouth and was lying in the Guildhall Chapel.(1507) Peace was signed on the 13th April, 1564, and on the 31st July a proclamation was issued for disbanding the navy.(1508) Throughout the war Elizabeth had been careful to keep on good terms with Spain, and English vessels found molesting Spanish ships under pretext of searching for French goods were ordered to be arrested.(1509) An interruption of commerce with Flanders had been threatened, owing to the d.u.c.h.ess of Parma having forbidden the importation of English woollen cloth into the Low Countries for fear of infection from the plague, but Elizabeth retaliated by closing English ports to all Flemish vessels, and matters were accommodated.(1510)

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The period of peace and tranquillity which ensued enabled the citizens to bestow more attention on their own affairs. Their cathedral stood in urgent need of repairs. Its steeple had been struck by lightning in 1561, and 3,000 marks had already been expended on its restoration.(1511) An application to the City from the lord treasurer in 1565 for a sum of 300 towards roofing one of the aisles of the cathedral came as a surprise to the Court of Aldermen, who caused enquiries to be made as to the receipt and delivery of contributions already made, and returned for answer that the City of London had long ago delivered "all such mony as the sayd cyty dyd at eny tyme grant or agree to geve or paye towards the sayd work." His lordship was desired "no further to charge or burden the sayd cytye wth the payment of any more mony towards the sayd work."(1512) Nevertheless the City was called upon for a further contribution two years later (June, 1567), when negotiations were entered into between the City, the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of Saint Paul's, which ended in the Corporation agreeing to find forty foders of lead for roofing the south aisle of the cathedral, and lending a sum of 150 to the bishop and the dean and chapter, on condition the latter granted a further lease to the City of the manor of Finsbury for a term of 200 years beyond the term yet unexpired.(1513) Whilst repairs were being carried out in the cathedral itself, something was also being done outside the building to render the accommodation for hearing the sermons preached at Paul's Cross more convenient for the mayor and aldermen and munic.i.p.al officers. A gutter which conducted rainwater upon the heads of the lord mayor's suite at sermon time was removed; the bench on which the civic officials sat was enlarged for their better convenience, and places erected for the accommodation of aldermen's wives.(1514)

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The rapid increase of commerce under the fostering care of Elizabeth rendered the erection of a Burse or Exchange for the accommodation of merchants "to treate of their feate of merchandyzes" a pressing necessity.

The matter had been mooted thirty years before, but little had been done beyond ascertaining the opinion of merchants as to the most convenient site.(1515) The project, however, took root in the mind of Sir Richard Gresham, an alderman of the city, whose business had occasionally carried him to Antwerp, where he became familiar with the Burse that had been recently set up there, and in 1537 (the year that he was elected mayor) he forwarded to Thomas Cromwell, then lord privy seal, a design for a similar Burse to be erected in London. Finding little or no attention paid to his communication he again (25 July, 1538) wrote to Cromwell suggesting the erection of a Burse in Lombard Street-the site favoured by city merchants-at a cost of 2,000. If the lord privy seal would but bring pressure to bear upon Sir George Monoux, a brother alderman but a man of "noe gentyll nature," to part with certain property at cost price, he (Gresham) would undertake to raise 1,000 towards the building before he went out of office, and he would himself carry Cromwell's letter to Monoux and "handle him" as best he could.(1516) This application had the desired effect. On the 13th August Henry VIII addressed a letter to Monoux desiring him to dispose of certain tenements about Lombard Street which were required for the commonweal of merchants of the city, and to come to terms with Gresham as to the amount to be paid for them. Both parties having referred the matter to Sir Richard Rich, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations of the Crown, as arbitrator, the City agreed to pay a yearly sum of twenty marks for the houses that were required. Monoux refusing to accept this sum, another letter was despatched to him from the king urging him not to stand in the way of a project so useful to merchants and tending so much to the "beautifitye" of the city. To this second appeal Monoux gave way, and received the cordial thanks of Henry by letter dated the 25th November.(1517) Nothing more was done in the matter until it was taken up many years later by Sir Thomas Gresham, son of Sir Richard.(1518) Acting, as he did for a long succession of years, as Queen Elizabeth's agent in Flanders, Sir Thomas spent much of his time in Antwerp.(1519) When he was not there himself he employed a factor in the person of Richard Clough to conduct his affairs. In 1561 this Richard Clough, in a letter addressed to his princ.i.p.al from Antwerp (31 Dec.),(1520) expressed much astonishment at the City of London being so far behind continental towns:-"Consideryng what a sittey London ys, and that in so many yeres they have nott founde the menes to make a bourse! but must walke in the raine, when ytt raineth, more lyker pedlers then marchants; and in thys countrie, and all other, there is no kynde of pepell that have occasion to meete, b.u.t.t they have a plase meete for that pourpose." Indeed, Clough got quite excited over the thought that London, of all cities in the world, possessed no decent accommodation for merchants transacting their everyday business, and declared his readiness to build "so fere a bourse in London as the grett bourse is in Andwarpe" and that "withhoutt molestyng of any man more than he shulld be well dysposyd to geve."

It was not long before Gresham made up his mind that London should have a Burse, and in May, 1563, the Court of Aldermen deputed Lionel Duckett, who was also a mercer, to sound Gresham as to "his benevolence towards the makyng of a burse."(1521) But however desirous Gresham might be to prosecute the work, he was prevented from doing so by stress of business.

Commercial difficulties arose between England and the Low Countries owing to the proclamation of the d.u.c.h.ess of Parma. Up to the year 1564 Gresham was forced to make Antwerp his place of abode, and could only occasionally visit London; since that time, however, his business allowed him to look upon London as his permanent residence, and he only crossed over to Antwerp when special circ.u.mstances rendered it necessary. An additional reason for the delay in carrying out Gresham's project may perhaps be found in the fact that, during his absence on the queen's business in 1563, Elizabeth had, with her usual parsimony, cut down Gresham's allowance of twenty shillings a day for "his diets." Gresham complained bitterly of this abridgment of his income in a letter to Secretary Cecil, and also in another letter couched in more guarded terms to the queen herself.(1522) In both letters he set out the sum total of the money (830,000) which he had negotiated for the queen, and referred to his having broken a leg in her majesty's service and to his declining years.

Whatever may have been the cause of the delay, it was not until the 4th January, 1565, that a definite offer was made by Gresham to erect a "comely burse" at his own cost and charge, provided the City would furnish a suitable site. This offer was accepted.(1523)

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Difficulties at once presented themselves in finding a site. It was originally proposed to obtain from the Merchant Taylors' Company a plot of land between Lombard Street and Cornhill, but the company refused to part with the property and a new site had to be chosen.(1524) No sooner was this done, and a place selected to the north of Cornhill, than a difficulty arose between the City and the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury as to the terms of purchase.(1525) This having been successfully overcome and the site purchased, the next step was to invite subscriptions, not only from members of the livery companies, but from merchant adventurers beyond the sea.(1526) Such a liberal response was made to this invitation(1527) that on the 7th June, 1566, Sir Thomas Gresham was able to lay the first stone of the new building, a deed of trust between the City and Gresham having previously (14 May) been executed.(1528)

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It is curious to note the strong foreign element in connection with the building of Gresham's Burse. The architect as well as the design of the building came from abroad. The clerk of the works (Henryk)(1529) and most of the workmen were foreigners, Gresham having obtained special permission from the Court of Aldermen for their employment.(1530) Most of the material for structural as well as ornamental purposes (saving 100,000 bricks provided by the City)(1531) came from abroad, and to this day the Royal Exchange is paved with small blocks of Turkish hone-stones believed to have been imported in Gresham's day, and to have been relaid after the several fires of 1666 and 1838. It was the employment of these strangers which probably gave rise to an order of the Court of Aldermen (19 June, 1567) that an officer should be appointed to attend at the Burse daily "for a competent season," to see that no "misorder" be done to any of the artificers or other workmen there employed, and to commit to ward any that he should find so-doing.(1532)

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By the 22nd December, 1568, the Burse was so far complete as to allow of merchants holding their meetings within its walls, but it was not until the 23rd January, 1571, that the queen herself visited it in state and caused it thenceforth to be called the Royal Exchange. Her statue which graced the building bore testimony to the care and interest she always displayed in fostering commercial enterprise.

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On the door of a staircase leading up to a "p.a.w.ne" or covered walk on the south side of the building there had been set up the arms and crest of Gresham himself, which some evilly disposed person took it into his head to deface. A proclamation made by the mayor (16 Feb., 1569) for the apprehension of the culprit does not appear from the city's records to have proved successful.(1533) Some years later (21 March, 1577) the mayor had occasion to issue another proclamation for the discovery of persons who had defaced and pulled away "certen peces of timber fixed to thendes and comers of the seates"(1534) in the Royal Exchange, with what result we know not.

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In 1574 the Court of Aldermen appointed a committee to confer with Gresham touching the "a.s.surance" of the Royal Exchange.(1535) The connection between the new Burse and insurance is remarkable. The principle of insurance policies had been introduced into the city by the Lombards as early as the thirteenth century,(1536) and a Lombard Street policy became a familiar term.(1537) When the Lombard Street merchants quitted their old premises for the more commodious Exchange they carried thither their insurance business with them, and a part of the new building was devoted exclusively to this branch of commerce. A grant of letters patent which Elizabeth made to Richard Candler for the making of policies and registering of a.s.surances within the city was objected to by the Court of Aldermen, as being contrary to the liberties of the City, and a deputation was appointed to wait upon the lords of the Privy Council to have it revoked.(1538) This was early in 1575. A year later we find Candler making answer to a bill of fees drawn up by certain aldermen and citizens of London, respecting his office.(1539)

In order to put an end to the frequent disputes which arose in the Royal Exchange among merchants on matters of insurance, the Court of Aldermen appointed two of their number to consider the difficulty and to report thereon. They made their report to the court on the 29th January, 1577.(1540) They had, in accordance with the oft-repeated desire expressed to previous lord mayors by the lords of the Privy Council, consulted with their brethren the aldermen, as well as with merchants of the city, both Englishmen and foreigners, and had drawn up orders agreeable to those that had hitherto been used in Lombard Street, to which all countries had been accustomed to submit. The orders, however, not yet being completed, the Court of Aldermen decided upon appointing arbitrators from year to year to deal with all matters of insurance, and so relieve the lords of the Privy Council of the trouble which they had hitherto experienced on that score at a time when they had weightier matters to attend to. The arbitrators were to receive one penny in the pound amongst them in all cases, whether the claim were for whole losses, part,(1541) or averages. Their decision was to bind both a.s.surer and a.s.sured, and they were to sit twice a week (Monday and Thursday) "in the offyce howse of a.s.surances" in the Royal Exchange. They were to be attended by the "register of a.s.surances," whose business it was to summon witnesses. A poor-box was to be provided, to which the party a.s.sured, on judgment, should contribute twelve pence.

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On Sundays and holy days the Exchange was enlivened during a portion of the year with the music of the city waits, who were ordered by the Court of Aldermen (April, 1572) to play on their instruments as they had hitherto been accustomed at the Royal Exchange, from seven o'clock till eight o'clock in the evening up to the Feast of Pentecost, after which they were to commence playing at eight p.m., and "to hold on" till nine p.m. up to Michaelmas.(1542) There is another circ.u.mstance connected with the same building that deserves a pa.s.sing notice, which is that football used to be played within its walls, a game forbidden in 1576 to be played any longer either there or in any of the city's wards.(1543)

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The citizens of London are indebted to Sir Thomas Gresham for something more than their Royal Exchange. By will dated 5th July, 1575, proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting,(1544) Gresham disposed of the reversion of the Royal Exchange and of his mansion-house in the parish of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, after the decease of his wife, to the mayor and corporation of the city and to the wardens and commonalty of the Mercers' Company in equal moieties in trust (_inter alia_) for the maintenance of seven lectures on the several subjects of Divinity, Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Law, Physic and Rhetoric. In 1596 these two corporate bodies came into possession of the property, and in the following year drew up ordinances for the regulation of the various lectures. According to the terms of Gresham's will the lectures were delivered at Gresham House. When Gresham House, which escaped the Fire of London, became dilapidated, the City and the Company on more than one occasion pet.i.tioned Parliament for leave to pull it down and to erect another building on its site. The proposal, however, was not entertained, but in the year 1767 an Act was pa.s.sed vesting Gresham House in the Crown for the purpose of an Excise Office, and providing for the payment by the Crown to the City and Company of a perpetual annuity of 500 per annum. For some time the lectures ceased to be delivered for lack of accommodation. When they were next delivered it was at the City of London School, where they continued until Gresham College was erected in Basinghall Street.(1545)

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In the meantime Protestantism had been gaining ground in England as well as on the continent. Many who in the evil days of the Marian persecution had sought refuge in Switzerland and Germany had returned to England as soon as they were a.s.sured of safety under Elizabeth, and had introduced into the country the religious tenets of Calvin they had learnt abroad.

Elizabeth found herself confronted not only by Catholics but by Puritans.

As she felt herself seated more strongly on the throne she determined to enforce more strictly than hitherto the Act of Uniformity. In 1565 the London clergy were ordered to wear the surplice and to conform in other particulars. Between thirty and forty of them-and those the most intelligent and active of them-refused and resigned their cures. Their congregations supported them, and thus a large body of good Protestants were driven into opposition. But there all action against them ceased. It was otherwise with the Protestants on the continent, where a determination arrived at in the same year that Elizabeth enforced the Act of Uniformity, to suppress heresy, led to the most horrible persecution, and drove many of the inhabitants to seek refuge in England.

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Of the hundreds of foreigners who sought this country, driven from France or Spain by religious persecution,(1546) none was more hospitably received than the brother of the great Coligny, the Cardinal Chastillon. The Bishop of London having excused himself entertaining the cardinal at Fulham, his eminence was lodged and hospitably treated for a whole week by Gresham.

During his visit he paid a visit, Huguenot as he was, to the French Church established in the city, where his co-religionists were allowed to worship without fear of molestation. He further paid his host the compliment of visiting the Exchange, then approaching completion. At the end of the week he removed to Sion House, where accommodation had been found for him.(1547)

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The influx of refugees from the continent was far from being an unmixed blessing. Whilst some settled peacefully down and taught the London artizan the art of silk-weaving, others betook themselves to the river's side, where they defied the civic authorities.(1548) A fresh return was ordered to be made of their number.(1549) It became necessary to forbid aliens remaining in the city more than a day and a night; they might reside in other places if they liked, but not in the city of London.(1550) Mortality increased so much that a committee hud to be appointed (March, 1569) "to peruse about the cytie where apte and convenient places maye be had and founde for the buryall of the deade in tyme of plage and other tymes of gret deathe," and to report thereon to the Court of Aldermen.(1551) An acre of ground, more or less, near Bethlem Hospital was subsequently prepared as a cemetery by the civic authorities,(1552) whilst a friend of the mayor agreed under certain conditions to enclose it with a wall, erect a pulpit and make other improvements at his own cost.(1553)

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In the course of time the persecuted Netherlanders took heart of grace, encouraged by the gallant conduct of the Prince of Orange, their leader, no less than by the active a.s.sistance and sympathy of their brethren in England, who were continually pa.s.sing to and fro with munitions of war, in spite of proclamations to the contrary.(1554) "Whilst Elizabeth dribbled out her secret aid to the Prince of Orange the London traders sent him half-a-million from their own purses, a sum equal to a year's revenue of the Crown."(1555)