Part 13 (1/2)

At the dissolution of the monasteries the Benchers of Gray's Inn had to pay this amount to the Crown, instead of to the Charterhouse at Shene

Charles II sold the rent to Sir Philip Matthews, and in 1733 the Benchers purchased it fro title from his co-heirs[114] The hall of Gray's Inn dates from 1560; the chapel is of unknown, but of ancient date

The New Tehts Te, who soed there Their chapel was the muniment house of the rolls of chancery; there the treasure and regalia were stored; and there Parliaments and Courts, both criminal and civil, were held Naturally, they needed their own _fratres servientes_, ere provided with food ”at the clerks' tables,” and yearly robes at Christmas ”of the suit of the free servants of the house”[115]

The chief lord was the Earl of Lancaster But when the Knighthood was suppressed, in 1308, their clerks were pensioned, and Edward II granted the property to Ay the issues, but holding the manor of the lord, to whom, however, he ranted the possessions of the Tehts of St John Upon the execution and attainder of Thoave the lordshi+p to Hugh le Despencer, who also obtained from the Prior of St

John's a feoffment of the houses and appurtenances,[116] and on the attainder of Hugh le Despencer, in 1327, the lordshi+p and also the fereford, clerk of the Prior and ”chief servitor of the King's religion,” in charge as ”fer's clerks to occupy;[117] and for so into chancery would take their oaths in the Teh sometimes at this period they would attend in the church of St Andrew in Holborn, Tho rector there It was Williaeford who, in 1335, took a lease froate ”fora hall and three fit chambers at his own expense, for the sessions of the Justices appointed to deliver Newgate Gaol”[118] This early Sessions House is described as being in the King's high street, on the way towards Holebourne It would have stood at the north-west corner of the present Newgate Street

The Temple contained an inner consecrated area, which was occupied by the Knights, and some houses adjacent on the west owned by them, but not improbably occupied by students of the law It appears that when theretained part of it, which, however, in 1338, he allowed them to purchase for 100, and fro held in the Teeford, whose services had secured to the Order the restitution of their property, the prior granted hies and places of the so from the lane called Chauncellereslane to the Teates of the New Temple” This lease was dated June 11th, 1339,[119] and the lawyers have held the property ever since

The consecrated and secular areas in of the division of the property into two Inns of Court; for the lease of 1339 obviously refers only to what is non as the Middle Temple

There is a tradition that the students of the Inner Temple came from Davy's Inn, which could hardly have existed at that time under that name, but it may be noted that in the records of that Inn it is stated, under date of 1525, that ”Master Barnardston is pardoned the office of Steward because he executed the office of Principal of Davy's Inn at the instance of this Society,”[120] thus showing that this Inn of Court had the right in that year of supplying one of its own members to that office

In 1521 the Prior of St John's made co his lands against his will; but at the dissolution of the religious houses in 1541, the rentals becaranted the property to the Benchers of the Middle and Inner Temples in perpetuity for a fixed rental of 20,[121] their several moieties of which Charles II allowed them to purchase in 1673 and 1675 respectively[122]

The ”round” of the church was co was ”restored” in 1842 at a cost of 70,000 The hall of the Middle Temple was built in 1572, that of the Inner Temple in 1870

The property on the west side of New Street, or Chancery Lane, had been granted to, or acquired by, the Knights Templars Henry III's Chancellor, Ralph Nevill, Bishop of Chichester, died at his house there in 1244, and the King arbitrarily authorised his Treasurer, William de Haverhill, to secure the property upon the Chancellor's death, so that neither the Templars nor any other person should lay hands on it[123]

To the north of it was a garden once held by Williahts of St John, who in turn had given it to St

Giles' Hospital for Lepers[124] In the year 1310, when Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, died, another Bishop of Chichester, John de Langton, was Chancellor, and was occupying the Inn of the see, whilst the hospital of St Giles was still receiving rent for Cottrell's garden No Black Friars house, therefore, ever existed here, nor did Henry de Lacy die here; and all traditions to the contrary can be disproved

In 1422 the Society of Lincoln's Inn, co probably from Holborn, took a lease of the Bishop of Chichester's property, and afterwards a lease of Cottrell's garden In 1537 Bishop Sa to the see to William and Eustace Sulyard, members of the Inn, from whom it descended to Edward Sulyard, who sold it in 1579 to the society Subscriptions for this purchase were received by the Benchers, as is evident froave to certain trustees a house in Newgate Market ”to hold to them and their heirs for ever towards the purchase of Lincoln's Inn and in the mean season towards the repairs of the same”[125] The hall of this Inn was pulled down and rebuilt in 1489; but since then, in 1845, a new hall, Gothic in character, and of great dignity and beauty, has been erected

The chapel, by Inigo Jones, dates froateway from 1518

The Inns of Chancery were at first independent of the four Inns of Court, but, inasmuch as serjeants were chosen only from the latter, it became the custom for students in the lesser Inns, when ”they caher Inns if they desired advancement Gradually each Inn of Court took special interest in certain of the lesser Inns, by sending to thee, until an ithened by various Orders in Council, that a certain governorshi+p of one over the other was a noral, and time-honoured institution And in a few instances the Inns of Court put the coping stone to this theory by purchasing the property of those lesser Inns, of which they were the patrons Thus Lincoln's Inn bought Furnival's on Dece previously held a lease of it, and Davy's on Noveht Lyon's Inn in 1581, which they sold in 1863, the Globe Theatre being built upon its site

It is doubtful whether Furnival's Inn was ever occupied by the Lords Furnival In 1331 the property belonged to Roger atte Bowe, a wool-stapler, who died in that year, leaving his tenearden in Lyverounelane to his children Hohen it came into the hands of the De Furnivals is not known; but in 1383 an inquisition _post mortem_ was taken by the Mayor, at which the jurors recorded that

”Williaht, did not die seised of any lands or tenements in the city of London nor in the suburbs thereof But that in his life ties with appurtenances in the street called Holbourne in the suburb of London situated between a tenement of Jordain de Barton on the east (_he was a Chauff-cier, ie, an officer of Chancery who prepared the wax for the sealing of writs to be issued_) and a teneed to Roger atte Bogh And Williae, parson of the church of Handsworth and John Redesere, chaplain, of the aforesaid ns for ever and they are still thereof seised And the age of the king by the service of 11s 4d for all services Williahter, wife of Thoed 14 years and 6 months”[126]

William de Furnival had succeeded his brother in 1364 Six years before he died--namely, in 1377--he was reported to be feeble and infirm, and it seems most probable from the above inquisition that his Inn was occupied by clerks Maude, the heiress of Thoe of Blackmere, as summoned to Parliament as Lord Furnival in 1442, and created Earl of Shrewsbury in 1446 His son, John Talbot, second Earl, was also Treasurer of England The fifth Earl, Francis Talbot, sold the property in 1547, then in a ruinous condition, to the Society of Lincoln's Inn,[127] who, after holding it for nearly 340 years, sold it to the Prudential assurance Company, in 1888, who demolished it for their present offices John Staynford was principal of the Inn in 1425, and John Courtenay in 1450 It was sometimes called an Inn of Court,[128] and had its own chapel, which, however, was in St Andrew's Church[129] A coloured drawing of its quaint little Hall, built in 1588, is in the Guildhall Library

Barnard's Inn, situated to the east of the second Lincoln's Inn, and opposite to Furnival's Inn, was so named from one Lionel Barnard, as in occupation of it in 1435 But the real oas John Mackworth, as Dean of Lincoln from 1412 to 1451 He had inherited it probably from his brother, Thomas Mackworth, of Mackworth, co Derby, who in 1431 beca[130] At an inquisition _ad quod daiven to Thomas Atkyn, citizen of London,

”An executor of the will of John Macworthe, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, to assign a e in Holbourne called Macworth Inne, now commonly called Barnard's Inne, to the Dean and Chapter of the aforesaid Cathedral towards this work, extraordinary fees were raised, and divine service in the Chapel of St George, in the southern part of the said church, where the body of the said John is buried, for the soul of the said John for ever, in part satisfaction of 20 of land which Edward III licenced the said Dean and Chapter to acquire The said e as is the whole city of London and is worth yearly beyond deductions sixand the said Thoh of lands, &c, to support all dues and services, &c, renment or whether he will be able to be sworn on assizes as before this donation the jurors are thoroughly ignorant; but the country will not by this donation in defect of the said Thomas be burdened”[131]

This Inn became attached to Gray's Inn In 1894 the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral sold it to the Mercers' Company for the Mercers'

School, and the old hall of the Inn is now used as a dining-room for the boys

Brooke House, to the west of Furnival's Inn, stood where now is Brooke Street, and was probably at one tin of Henry V it was held by John Gascoigne, who demised it to Justice Richard Hankeford,[132] who died in 1431, and whose heir, Thomasina, married Sir William Bourchier, brother of the Treasurer Henry, Earl of Essex In 1480 his descendant, Fulk Bourchier, died, and it was found that he had enfeoffed John Sapcote and Guy Wollaston, esquires of the King's body (_pro corpore dois_), and others, of his property in Holborn[133] His descendant, John Bourchier, was created Earl of Bath in 1536, and in 1623 Bath House passed into the possession of Lord Brooke and took his na the name of Staple Inn is in the will of Richard Starcolf, a wool-stapler, which was proved in the Court of Hustings on February 14th, 1334, and dated July 22nd, 1333, wherein he bequeaths his tenement in Holborn, called _le Stapled halle_, to be sold for pious uses[134] No less than four _stapled halles_ are known to have been in existence, at this ti of the title has been much discussed

[Illustration: LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CHANCERY LANE

_From an old print published in 1800_]

Richard Starkulf was a Norfolk in, and was admitted to the freedom of the city of London in 1310 He is described as a mercer, but no ing to a staple After his death, as his son Thomas was still a minor, his lands were placed in the custody of William de Ha's staple there, and to Richard de Elsyng, another mercer But the tenement of _le Stapled halle_, which he directed should be sold, ca,[135]