the order of Dominican Friars, and their establishment in England, is here offered as introductory to the survey above-mentioned.

The order of Dominican or Preaching Friars, also called the Black Friars, had their rise at the beginning of the 13th century, about the year of Christ 1213.

They had the appellation of Dominicans from their founder Dominic de Guzman, a Spanish gentleman, who distinguished himself as a scholar, embraced the ecclesiastical profession, and became a canon and sub-prior of the Cathedral of Osma.

Dominic accompanied his diocesan, the Bishop of Osma, to the court of France, whither the latter had been sent by Alphonso IX. King of Castile, to arrange a matrimonial negociation. The death of a princess of France rendered their mission abortive; but, instead of returning to Spain, they established themselves in 1206 in Languedoc; there, in concert with certain Cistertian abbots, on whom they enforced the necessity of the most humble apparel, to labour for the conversion of the Valdenses and Albigenses, who had embraced heretical doctrines.*

Pope Innocent III. proclaimed a crusade against these enemies to the faith, by which those who fought against them were admitted to equal privileges with those who had visited the sepulchre of Christ. Among the noble Crusaders who militated against the heretics of Languedoc, was the celebrated Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. In 1216 Dominic, in concert with de Montfort, founded the first convent of Dominican Friars at Toulouse, and in 1217 they obtained under authority of a bull of Honorius III. the church of St. James at Paris, where they were styled, from that circumstance, Jacobins. Establishments of their order were soon formed throughout Europe; in England, at London and Canterbury.

Their first monastic residence in London was erected in Holborn, about 1221, near the Old Temple, and in 1276, through the intervention of Robert Kilwarby, Archbishop of Canterbury, they obtained a grant from Gregory de Rokesby, mayor, and the barons of

*Moreri Dict. Historique.

London, as the aldermen were then often styled, of the ground between two lanes near Baynard's Castle, and of the site and materials of the tower of Montfitchet; these fortresses are pointed out by Fitzstephen as duo castella_munitissima,* and it is highly probable that while the Conqueror erected the Tower of London on the eastern wall of the city, for his own fortified palace and residence, those two powerful nobles, Montfitchet and Baynard, raised their castellated mansions on the western. The elevated site of the Tower of Montfitchet, which flanked the city wall at its southwestern angle, afforded an eligible and conspicuous site for the church of the Dominicans.

These newly constituted preaching friars gained a popularity which exalted them above the venerable monkish societies of the earlier ages. Pope Gregory IX. and Pope Innocent IV. recommended them to the peculiar favour and protection of all ecclesiastical authorities, and their exhortations to the attention of all Christian people.t

This preference for pretenders to extraordinary sanctity and mortified life is denounced with indignation by the honest monk of St. Alban's, Matthew Paris, who says, under the year 1246, that

"About this time the preaching brothers, however lately they professed to be the very outcasts of humble poverty, aimed now at ascending the highest grade of spiritual influence; they affected to be revered and held in awful respect by the prelates of the Church, and not only maintained themselves to be preachers, but also confessors, usurping to themselves the office of the ordinaries of the Church, and causing them to be held in contempt as insufficient in learning or authority to rule the people of God, and hold the reins of Church government. Whence to every discreet and thinking person it appeared that the order of the Catholic Church, confirmed by the holy apostles and the sacred fathers of the Church, was scandalously disturbed, and it is notorious that the order of St. Benedict, or that of the blessed Augustine, for the space of many ages, had not run into such excess as that, whose scions had scarcely been thirty years transplanted into Britain.”‡

So it has been and ever will be in all future time with fanatic teachers of novelty in religion; the useful, quiet, and unpretending portion of the Christian Church are borne down and consigned to obscurity by charlatans in doctrine. To the construction of a new church at the Blackfriars, on the site which has been described, Edward 1. and his distinguished consort Eleanor were great benefactors. The latter was indeed accounted the foundress of the building, and when she died her heart reposed within its consecrated walls. There also was deposited the heart of her son, the Prince Alphonso. A long list of noble personages whose mortal remains were entombed at the Blackfriars church is given by Stow, of whom a few may be here particularised.-Margaret, sister to the King of Scots, who died in 1244, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, both translated from the old church of the fraternity in Holborn,-Isabel, wife of Roger Bigod, Earl Marshal,Alice, daughter of Earl Warren, afterwards Countess of Arundel,-the Earls of March and Hereford,—Elizabeth, Countess of Arundel,-Joan, first wife of Guido de Brian,-the Duchess of Exeter,-Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester,-Tutchet, Lord Audley, (both beheaded for treason),-Courtenay, titular Earl of Devonshire, &c.

At the suppression of monasteries Sir Thomas Cawarden, of Blechingly, had a grant of the church and precinct of the Blackfriars, London, and of the parish Church of St. Ann within the

same.

He was at the siege of BouJogne with Henry VIII. and held the offices of Keeper of the Royal Tents and Toyles and Master of the Revels; the properties for the maskings and mummeries of the court he appears to have kept within the walls of the Blackfriars, for we find in the survey mention of a hall "where the king's revels lie." Cawarden having demolished the Church of St. Ann, Blackfriars, was obliged to find the parishioners a church, and appropriated to them a chamber in the precinct described by Stow as situate above a stair-it was, perhaps, that hall described as adjacent to the buttery in the Survey. A memoir of Sir Thomas Cawarden will be found in the volume of Loseley MSS. Cawarden died 25 Aug. 1559. Sir William More, of

Loseley, was his executor, to which circumstance is probably owing the preservation of the survey of the site and buildings at Blackfriars, which was found among several documents of Sir Thomas Cawarden's, preserved at Loseley House, the greater part of which have been printed in the volume before cited, and which relate to the revels of the English court.*

The following is a copy of the survey which appears to have been made under authority of the Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations of the Crown Revenue.

A survey there taken by me, Hugh Losse, Esquire, the King's Maties surveyor, as well of his highness londs and possessions within the countie of Middlesex, as also within the citie of London, as well of the scite and soyle of the late church of the late Black-friars, within the cyttie of London, as also of the churche yard, cloyster, leade, tile, slattes, tymber, stone, yron, and glasse, with certen aleis, (alleys,) edifications, and buildings thereunto belonging, the 4th daie of January, anno 4to. Regis Edwardi Sexti, by virtue of a warrant from the right worshipful Sir Richard Sackefeld, Knight, Chauncelor of the King's Matie Court of the augmentacons and revenues of the same, as herafter ensueth.

The scite or soyle of the said late churche called the Black-friars within the citie of London, with the two iles, chancell, and chapell to the same belonging, conteyning in bred (breadth) from the north church yard to the south cloister 66 fote, and in length from the lodging of John Barnet, Gent. on the west ende of the same churche to the garden belonging to the mansion or tenement belonging to Sir Anthony Ager, Knt. on the east ende of the same churche, 220 feet. The churche yard on the northe side of the body of the same church containeth in bred from the said churche unto certain brick wall, the houses, tenements, and gardens in the tenure of Peter Hesiar and Mr. Holte on the north side of the said churche yard 90 fote, and in length from the houses and tenements of Mystres Partridge, Mr. Southcote, and the Anker's Houset on the west ende unto a certen walle adjoyning to the Kings highwaie on the est end 200 foote. The soyle of the cloyster being on the southe side of the body of the said churche, conteyneth in bred from the

* Loseley MSS.

This was the cell of an anchorite or hermit, a common appendage of monas. tic establishments.

body of the said church to the lodging of the Lady Kyngston on the south side of the same cloyster 110 foote, and in lengthe from the walle belonginge to the lodgyng sometyme Sir Frances Braye's, and now Sir Anthonie Ager's, Knight, and Mr. Walsingham's on the east parte, to the lodging of Lord Cobham or John Barnet on the west parte 110 fote.

The Chapter House being on the west end of the said cloyster containeth in lengthe 44 foot, and in bred 22 foote, which all the said soile or grounde is valued in the hole (whole) to be worth by the year 81.

The stones of the arches of the body of the said churche, with the windowes, walles, buttresses, and towres, of the same churche, and the stones of the quere, and of one chapell over the north side of the said churche, and also the paving and frestone of the southe cloyster, valued in the hole at 667. 6s. 8d.

The sclatts (slates) and tiles of the east dorter (dormitory) and of the south dorter, with the tiles that covereth the ruf of a chamber now in the tenure of Sir Thomas Cawrden (Cawarden), over the olde kytchin, in the south end of the Lord Cobham's lodgyng, valued in the hole at 11.

The glasse of the same churche, as well within the bodie of the seide churche as also within the quere, chappell, and cloyster, valued in the hole at 487.

The contents of the hole lead of the body of the churche, of the two isles of the lead of the ruf of the vestery, the lead covering of the staiers out of the church to the dorter, the lead of the hole south cloystere, and a cesterne of lead in the old kychin, containing 112 fothers dim (and a half). The hole contents of the lead covering the frater (fratry), parcell of the seid friars, and the lead covering a shed adjoyning to the sayd frater, amounteth to 16 fother dim-every fother of the said lead valued and rated at 110 amounteth in the whole to 6097. 10s.

The rent or ferme of a certen tenement within the precinct of the saide late Blackfriars, called the Anker's house, late in the tenure of Sir Morris Griffith, Clerk, Archdeacon of Rochester, and renteth yearly 40s.

The rent or ferme of a lettle tenement

within the precinct of the late Blackfriars, situate and being against the tenement of Sir Thomas Cheynye, Knight, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, in the tenure of Sir Robert Kyrkham, Knight, and rentethe yearly 20s.

One void ground, with a decayed gateway therein, with void romes (rooms) thereunder, wherein old timbre and cart

wheles lieth, containing in length 98 foote, abutting against Bridewell dyche, on the west side, being in brede at that ende 74 foot, abbutting to the common highwaie and lane that guideth to the common staiers to the Thames side, on the east side, being in bred at that end 94 foot, abbutting to Mr. Harper's garden, and also Fraunces garden at the north side, and to Sir Christopher More's garden, on the south side. Ône kytchin yard and old kytchin, an entry for passage wyning to the same, containing in length 84 foot, abbutting to the lane aforesaid on the west side, being in bred at that end 74 fote, abbutting to Mr. Portinary's parlour, next the lane on the south side, and to the Lord Cobham's brick wall and garden on the north side.

*

One old buttery and an entry or passage, with a gate and staier therein, with cellars therunder, with a haule place at the upper end of the staiers, and an entry there to the frater over the same buttery, all whiche containeth in lengthe 95 fote, and in brede 36 foote, abbutting to the cloyster on the east side, the kychin on the west side to the Lord Cobham's house on the north side, and on the south side to a blind parlor that my Lord Warden did clayme. One house called the upper frater, containeth in length 107 foote, and in bred 52 foote, abbutting southe and este, to the Lady Kingston's house and garden north to a haule whear the king's revells lieth at thies presents, and west toward the Duchy Chamber, and Mr. Portinarie's house. A voyde rome being an entry toward the lettle kytchin and coal house, conteyning in lengthe 30 foote, and in bred 17 foot. One chamber called the Duchy Chamber, with a dark lodgyng therunder, containing in length 50 foote, and in bred 16 foote, abbutting against the north end of the said frater, and abbutting west upon Mr. Portinarie's parlour.

All whiche premisses be valued to be worthe by the year 661. 8s.

From this interesting old document the following particulars may be extracted concerning the Blackfriars. The church was in breadth 66 feet, in length 220; the lead which covered it and the adjacent buildings was valued at upwards of six hundred pounds, a very large sum at that period, and representing by comparison at least 40007. of our present currency. The cloister on the south side appears to have surrounded an area the sides of which

* i. e. Wending, going towards, from the Saxon pendan.

measured each 110 feet. There was a chapter house west of the cloister 44 feet in length by 22 in breadth. There was a fratry or common hall over the buttery of the noble dimensions of 95 feet by 36, and doubtless of proportionate height. In this spacious chamber several parliaments were held in the year 1529. Cardinal Campeius, the Pope's legate, with Cardinal Wolsey, held their court in it to determine on the validity of the marriage between the King and Catharine of Arragon.

In the fourth scene of the fifth act of Henry VIII. the stage note for the scene describes a hall in Blackfriars, and the entry of Campeius and Wolsey into it with great ceremony; in no ordinary chamber could such a splendid forensic pageant have been displayed.*

The precinct of the Blackfriars was bounded on the western side by a way which ran along the left bank of the river Fleet, in the Survey called Bridewell ditch. Here appears to have been a gateway opening into a court

*King Henry VIII. Act. 2, Scene 4. A Hall in Blackfryars. Enter two vergers with short silver wands; next them two scribes in the habits of doctors;

after them the Archbishop of Canterbury alone; after him the Bishops of Lincoln, Ely, Rochester, and St. Asaph; next them, with some small distance, follows a gen. tleman bearing the purse with the great seal; then two priests bearing each a silver cross; then a gentleman usher bareheaded, accompanied with a serjeant-atarms, bearing a silver mace; then two gentlemen bearing two great silver pillars; after them side by side, the two Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius, two noblemen with the sword and mace; then enter the King and Queen and their trains, &c. Hall, from whom Shakspeare derived much of the above, notices the place of the sitting of the Court of the Cardinals in this way: "In the beginning of this yere (21 Henry VIII.), in a great Halle within the Black Friers of London, was ordeined a solempne place for the two legates to sit in, with two cheyers covered with cloth of gold, and cusshions of the same, and a dormant table railed before like a solempne courte, all covered with carpettes and tapissery; on the right hand of the court was hanged a clothe of estate, with chayer and cusshions of riche tissue for the King, and on the left hand of the Court was a rich chayer for the Queen," &c. Hall, p. 757.

ninety-eight feet in depth; this was probably the principal approach_to the monastery, its church, and other buildings. The Emperor Charles V. on his coming to England in 1522 was lodged in the Blackfriars; and after the surrender of the monastery it became, from its pleasant situation, overlooking the river, a favourite residence for many distinguished persons attached to the court.

London, by the suppression of monasteries, and the destructive conflagration with which it was visited in the century succeeding that great ecclesiastical revolution, was indeed shorn of its ancient architectural splendour. The pointed style is peculiarly adapted to church architecture, and noble were the edifices which our forefathers erected in that mode of build. ing, in honour of Almighty God. The genius even of Wren has not been able to compensate for the loss we have sustained of the gothic churches of London of the middle age. All know the church of St. Saviour's Southwark, of which one half remains but the other a barbarous feeling has within our recollection destroyed. similar dimensions was the church of the Black or Dominican Friars, Priory Church in Southwark, that it possessing this advantage over the stood elevated on the rising ground chosen in the earliest ages for the site of London. The Blackfriars' sacred edifice has been laid low, the ashes of the noble dead which it contained scattered to the winds, and chance has now revealed the few architectural and sepulchral fragments connected with it which have found their last refuge in the Gentleman's Magazine. How truly is the press a sanctuary against the utter annihilation of many historical monuments!

A. J. K.

Of

* The reader may compare the following dimensions of the church of St. Sa viour, Southwark, with those of the Blackfriars church given in the survey. They were taken by myself before the fine old nave of St. Saviour's church was demolished. Length from the west door to the ancient altar-screen 211 feet, width of the choir with the side aisles, 61 feet 10 inches. The length of the Lady Chapel is 41 feet, the breadth 60 feet 6 inches. These are interior measurements.