Once a year—on the 15th of September,—while the school was flourishing, the boys marched in procession from Mile End along Aldgate, down Cornhill to Stocks Market, and thence to Austin Friars, with flags flying and drums beating. After the Dissolution the church was given to the Walloons, or French Protestants, who kept it, having rebuilt it after the Fire, to recent times. The school, which was not closed in 1561, was carried on as a Parish Grammar School until the Great Fire destroyed it. Afterwards it was not rebuilt. It is pleasing to note that the Dissolution of the Houses did not deprive the scholars or the bedesmen of their endowments. In the year 1565 the collector of the rents of the House of St. Anthony shows in his accounts the sum of £17, devoted to the instruction of the scholars in grammar, and £31: 4s. for the stipends of twelve poor persons for one year at the weekly charge of 1s. for each. Also 2s. was paid, as usual, to “le skavinger.” CHAPTER IX THE PRIORY OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM The history of this House belongs to the history of the Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitallers. The Order was founded about the year 1048, beginning, like all great orders, in a small and humble way, with a Hospital for pilgrims at Jerusalem; after the conquest of the city, the Brethren were incorporated into a religious body, bound by vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience; in the year 1118 they became a military body, sworn to defend the Holy Sepulchre. They became, in the course of two centuries, an extremely wealthy body, whose only rivals were the Templars. They wore a red surcoat over their armour, with a Maltese Cross enamelled white and edged with gold for a badge. Their motto was “Pro fide,” with the later addition of “Pro utilitate hominum.” There were nearly 40,000 knights scattered over the various Priories, Commanderies, and Preceptories of the Order; they were divided into eight “langues”—Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, Germany, and Castile. The Grand Prior of Clerkenwell ranked as the first Baron of England; he had absolute authority over the English branch; after the suppression of the Templars the Hospitallers obtained a nominal grant of all their estates, but these were so heavily burdened with legal and other charges, that the new owners were not greatly enriched.