CHAP. 166 CHURCH OF S. THOMAS ACON. after the capture of Acre (Ptolemais) in dutiful expiation, no doubt, for the sins of his father, in honour of, and called by the name of, S. Thomas the Martyr.3 There is no direct connection between these foundations and the church of S. Thomas of Acon in London. But there is no doubt that the church of S. Thomas Acon was built on the estate of Gilbert Becket, the father of S. Thomas, on the spot where the Martyr was believed to have been born. Twenty years after the Archbishop's murder, Agnes his sister, who was married to Thomas Fitz Theobold de "Helles, in conjunction with her husband, built a chapel and an hospital, "on the rule of S. Austyn," on the spot 'where her brother was born; and such was the respect for his sanctity, that, without waiting for his canonisation, 'the foundation was dedicated to the worship of God 'Almighty and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the said glorious Martyr.' De Helles and his wife gave to the Master and Brethren alle the lande with the appurtenances that sometime was Gilbert Becket's, father of the 'said Thomas the Marter.' The ancient Company of the Mercers were constituted the patrons of this foundation. On the suppression of the Monasteries, King Henry VIII. granted for a certain sum the church and the college of S. Thomas Acon to the Mercers; and the chapel of the Company stood on the site. The whole estate passed into the hands of that company, and upon it stands their hall.* On Whitsunday, the Mayor and City Dignitaries met at S. Peter's, Cornhill. This seems to have been the most splendid procession. The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, every one with his Livery (each of whom, according to his rank, received on that day gifts of robes and vestments of honour), the Sheriffs, and the great City Companies, pre Theatre of Honour, quoted by * See Herbert's History of the Twelve great Livery Companies, vol. i. p. 261. ceded by the Rectors of the London parishes, marched along Cheapside to the north-east corner of the churchyard. There they were met by the procession of the Cathedral Clergy, along the south side of the churchyard, through the close of Watling Street round to the great West door. There they stopped, while the hymn 'Veni Creator' was sung antiphonally by the Vicars-choral with the organ, and with the incense-bearers incensing as they went on. The Mayor and Aldermen then advanced to the high altar and made their offering. That ceremony was repeated on Whit Tuesday, only that they met and set forth from S. Bartholomew's. Two nobles were given by the Archdeacon of London to the club-men (city police), to keep off the pressure of the mob from the Rectors. On the day of his solemn inauguration, the new Lord Mayor could not but hallow his dignity by solemn attendance at the Cathedral. After dinner (the oaths had been taken before) the Mayor and Aldermen, who all had splendid accoutrements, set forth to S. Thomas Acon, thence to S. Paul's. At S. Paul's they first paid their reverence to the tomb of Bishop William the Norman, thence to the churchyard, where rested the remains of Gilbert Becket, the father of S. Thomas, and his family." This was especially called a scarlet day; but the City processions were not, it should seem, always clad in bright scarlet. On one day it was agreed, for the dignity of the City, that they should be arrayed in cloaks of green lined with green taffetta, or tartayn, under a penalty. One unfortunate or refractory Alderman, John Sely of Walbrook, appeared in a cloak without a lining. Whereupon the penalty was relentlessly inflicted, that the Mayor and other Aldermen should dine with the said John in his CHAP. VII. CHAP. house, and that at the proper cost of the said John, on the Thursday following.7 There can be no doubt that Gilbert Becket was a citizen of London, and that S. Thomas was born in London; nor is there any reason to doubt that Gilbert was buried in the churchyard of S. Paul's. We may conceive how the popular ballad sprung out of all these popular shows. So, notwithstanding the crowding churches which arose in every part of the metropolis, notwithstanding the dense forest of towers and spires, reflected on the Thames, the homage, the pride, the religion of the citizens was centred on the Cathedral. All acknowledged its supremacy, all held themselves tributary to, all were eager to offer their oblations, all reposed under the tutelary sanctity of the great Temple of S. Paul's. It was the Church of the City. It was overlooked, and was looked up to by wondering and worshipping London. The citizens of London asserted that S. Paul's originally was, might be again, and ought to be the Metropolitan Church of England. The fame of S. Thomas, who, though born in London, was martyred in Canterbury, might maintain the primacy for that church in perpetuity: much however might be alleged in favour of London. London had thirteen large conventual, one hundred and six smaller, parish churches.8 'Memorials of London, p. 466. 8 Liber Custumarum, p. 2. APPROACH OF THE REFORMATION. 169 CHAPTER VIII. S. PAUL'S, APPROACH OF THE REFORMATION. BEFORE and during the Reformation the Cathedral of the metropolis could not but be the battlefield throughout the long and obstinate strife. If the more learned controversial warfare was waged in the pulpits of the Universities and before the Court, Paul's Cross was the scene of the more popular and fiercer conflict, and appears to have been open at the same time (at least during a certain period) to the combatants of both parties, or alternately, as each gained predominant influence. Latimer was one day thundering against the abuses of the Church; on another Friar Forest was arraigning the King's ministers, and more than covertly glancing at the King himself. In truth, the sermons at Paul's Cross, if they could be recovered and arranged, would be a living and instructive chronicle of the Reformation, from, the first murmur about the King's divorce, the almost unanimous rejection of the Papal supremacy, the enactment of the Six Articles, the stern reassertion of all the Roman doctrines except obedience to the Pope, the rapid progress of the new opinions, even to the iconoclasm under the Protectorate and the reign of Edward VI., the terrible days of Queen Mary, the reorganisation and final reestablishment of the Anglican doctrines under Elizabeth. Each phase is, as it were, typified by its Bishop of London. We have seen the hard and narrow-minded Fitz CHAP. CHAP. VIII. James in collision with Colet. The gentle Tunstall withdrew to the more peaceful, or was honourably exiled to the more wealthy, Durham. In the more prominent station, his high and blameless character and quiet resolution (he had been counsel to Queen Katherine) might have stood in the way of the coming changes. Tunstall was succeeded by the versatile Stokesley, equally ready to burn Protestants and to acquiesce in the King's supremacy. Then came Bonner, as long as Henry VIII. lived a strong antipapalist, yet Bonner, eager to execute the stern enactments and light the fires in obedience to the Six Articles. Then the kind and gentle Ridley, with his tendency to Puritanism imbibed during his exile in Germany. Then Bonner again, now a fierce Papalist, and earning that fatal alliterative epithet, which clings to his memory, and which even the most charitable historian cannot strip away or soften. He will still be the bloody Bonner. Then Grindal, bowing before, yet not without a Churchman's, or rather a Christian's, inclination, and more than inclination, to resist the imperious Tudor Queen. Before the Reformation, during the reign of Henry VII., S. Paul's had already witnessed the ill-fated marriage, the seed-plot of all the coming momentous events. On Sunday, November 21, 1501, the wedding of Prince Arthur and the Princess Katherine of Spain was celebrated with the utmost splendour in the Cathedral. The Princess was received at the West door of the Cathedral by the Archbishop of Canterbury in full pontificals, the Bishops of Ely, Lincoln, Rochester, Llandaff, Bangor, the Abbots of Stratford, Bermondsey, Tower Hill, glittering in their gorgeous sacerdotal attire. She was led to the altar and made her offering. She was allowed a day's rest, after the fatigue of her journey, in the Bishop's Palace. The ladies and gentlemen who came out of Spain were lodged in the |