The Story of LondonWheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
History
The Story of London
Wheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
London (England) -- History
The grand Crypt built soon after the foundation of the house of the
Priory of St. John at Clerkenwell, which was added to and afterwards
made to form an undercroft to the choir, is now one of the most
interesting of the remains of mediæval buildings in London. It is below
the Church of St. John, Clerkenwell, and has been restored with loving
care to much of its original beauty. Other portions of the old buildings
of the Priory are to be seen in the cellars of some of the houses round
about.
The position of the old Charterhouse buildings can still be traced,
although little of the old monastery exists, but the east and south
walls of the Chapel and Washhouse Court can be seen. The latter was
built by the monks to accommodate the lay brothers who acted as
servants to the convent. The walls of the monastic refectories surround
the present Brothers' Library. Beneath this is the Monks' Cellar.
The friaries situated within the walls of old London have left little
but their names to tell the Londoner of to-day of their existence. Still
even here something of the past remains. The Church of Austin Friars is
left to us, and the position of the choir of the great Franciscan house
of Grey Friars is marked by the present Christ Church, Newgate Street.
Some traces of the buildings of the Whitefriars have also been found
underground.
_Sanctuary._--One of the privileges of the Middle Ages, which continued
on into comparatively modern times, was that of sanctuary, and in its
belated form this caused many gross scandals. There are numerous stories
connected with the College of St. Martin's-le-Grand, which was under the
jurisdiction of the Abbot of Westminster. One of these relates to
Richard III. and Lady Anne. When the Duke of Gloucester desired to marry
Anne, the betrothed of the late Edward Prince of Wales, son of Henry
VI., her brother-in-law Clarence objected and hid her away. Richard
discovered her in London, disguised as a kitchen-maid, and placed her in
sanctuary at St. Martin's-le-Grand.[376]
In 1416 a man was sentenced to the pillory for slandering an alderman,
but he escaped and found sanctuary at the monastery of St. Peter's,
Westminster.[377]
Mr. G. M. Trevelyan, in his work on the _Age of Wycliffe_, gives a full
account of the great scandal which occurred in 1378, when two prisoners
escaped from the Tower and sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. The
governor of the Tower, with his soldiers, entered the nave and attempted
to drag one of the prisoners, who was attending Mass, out of sanctuary.
He fled for his life, and his pursuers chased him twice round the choir.
He was stabbed to death, and one of the attendants of the church,
interfering to save him, was killed in the scuffle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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