THE ROYAL FREE CHAPEL OF ST. STEPHEN, WESTMINSTER
The chapel of St. Stephen in the palace of
Westminster was, according to Stow, founded by
King Stephen. (fn. 1) There is no doubt that it
existed in the time of King John for the names
of two of the chaplains are recorded: Gervase
who became vicar of St. Mary's, Cambridge, in
1205, (fn. 2) and his successor in office, Baldwin of
London, clerk of the exchequer. (fn. 3)
Henry III appears to have taken a great interest in the chapel which he provided with vestments, (fn. 4) altar-frontals, (fn. 5) images (fn. 6) and tapestry (fn. 7)
and beautified in various ways. (fn. 8) It was rebuilt in
1292 by Edward I (fn. 9) who was assisted by the papal
indulgence offered to those visiting the chapel
on certain festivals, (fn. 10) but in 1298 it was burned
down (fn. 11) about four years after its completion. (fn. 12)
In 1330 a new chapel was begun, (fn. 13) apparently
on a more ambitious scale for masons were still
at work on it in 1337, (fn. 14) and it could not have
been finished very long before workmen were
again being employed in large numbers, (fn. 15) probably to make its appearance correspond to the
important change in its position recently made
by the king. There had been four chaplains in
the reign of Henry III (fn. 16) but they seem to have
been afterwards reduced to one (fn. 17) whose office
was regarded as of no great value, (fn. 18) when in 1348
Edward III ordained that there should henceforth
be a college there consisting of a dean, twelve
secular canons, thirteen vicars, four clerks and
six choristers to whom he assured an income of
£500, (fn. 19) the difference between this sum and
their revenues being paid to them from the
exchequer. (fn. 20) The pope, in answer to the king's
petition in 1349, gave to the dean power to correct the canons and exempted them from the
jurisdiction of the ordinary, stipulating, however,
that the dean should receive cure of souls from
the bishop and be subject to him in all things
relating to it. (fn. 21) He also empowered the dean to
enjoy the fruits of his benefices while residing in
the deanery. The king in 1354 exempted them
from the aids for knighting the king's eldest son and
marrying his eldest daughter, and from all other
contributions, tallages, fifteenths and clerical
tenths, (fn. 22) from payments for munitions of war (fn. 23)
and liveries of seneschals and marshals; (fn. 24) he forbade
the seizure of their goods and those of their men
by his provisors (fn. 25) and excused them from paying
any pension or corrody to the king or his heir
against their will; (fn. 26) he acquitted them and their
tenants of toll, pannage, pontage, kaiage, lestage
&c., scots and gelds, hidage and scutage, shire
courts, hundred courts, view of frankpledge and
murdrum. (fn. 27) He ordered moreover that the dean
and canons should have the amercements, fines and
forfeitures incurred by their men and tenants; (fn. 28)
that they should have wreckage and waifs and
strays on their lands, (fn. 29) sac and soc, infangenthef,
and outfangenthef, view of frankpledge, pillory,
tumbrel and gallows; (fn. 30) and granted them free
warren in all their demesne lands, (fn. 31) acquittance
of pleas of the forest and freedom from all charges
that the foresters could make. (fn. 32) They were to
have the return of all briefs and attachments of
pleas of the crown in all their lands and fees; (fn. 33)
the cognition and correction of small breaches of
the peace committed by the vicars or servants
within the college, and the cognition in their
courts of all pleas of those living on their lands. (fn. 34)
To provide accommodation for the members of
the college, the king gave them in 1354 a chamber in the gate of the palace and a hospice and
other buildings within the precinct, with a piece
of ground bounded by the chapel, the receipt of
the exchequer, Westminster Hall and the Thames
for a close. (fn. 35) The endowment of the college,
however, to the extent designed by the king,
could not be accomplished very quickly. By the
foundation charter the college received a large
hospice in Lombard Street, and the advowsons
of the churches of Dewsbury and Wakefield,
co. York, with licence to appropriate. (fn. 36) To
these the king added three more churches, Sandal (fn. 37) and Burton, (fn. 38) co. York, and Bledlow, (fn. 39)
co. Bucks, between 1351 and 1360; the sum of
£35 14s. 7d. from the ferm of the city of York
in 1351; (fn. 40) 'Sewtestower' in Bucklersbury in
1358; (fn. 41) rents amounting to £66 13s. 4d. from
houses in the Staple of Westminster before
1360; (fn. 42) and a hospice called 'La Reole'
in London in 1369. (fn. 43) Before his death the
king also enfeoffed John of Gaunt and others in
trust for the college, of the manors of Ashford,
Barton, Buckwell, Eastling, Mere, and Langley
by Leeds, with the advowsons of the churches,
a parcel of meadow in Eynsford, and the reversion
of the manors of Elham and Colbridge, co. Kent, (fn. 44)
and of Winchfield, co. Southants. (fn. 45) These the
feoffees let to the dean and canons for forty
years in 1382, but before the grant in mortmain which they intended could be effected, the
lands were seized by Sir Simon de Burley, who
held them by letters patent of King Richard.
Burley was attainted in 1388, and the lands
came in consequence into the king's hands.
The canons then put in their claim, and Richard
at first granted them the profits arising from the
lands for a term of years, but finally in 1398
carried out King Edward's wish and gave them
the lands themselves. (fn. 46)
The interest of Edward III in his foundation
was constant. It was at his request that the
pope offered an indulgence in 1349 (fn. 47) and again
in 1354 (fn. 48) and 1361 (fn. 49) to those who helped the
chapel by gifts or bequests or who visited it on
the feasts of the Assumption, of St. Stephen, St.
George, and St. Edward. It was to him, too, that
the canons owed their bell-tower with its three
large bells. (fn. 50) He also purchased a great missal
and an antiphon for the chapel (fn. 51) in 1362 at a
cost of £33. But perhaps there is nothing that
better illustrates the king's relations with the
college than his grant of £34 to the vicars, clerks,
and choristers in 1370 'in relief of their charges
because of the dearness of provisions.' (fn. 52) The
college probably owed something of the king's
generosity to their position. It was impossible
for him to forget men who were actually living
in the palace, many of the canons being moreover his clerks. But it was also a situation which
involved obligations, and if the college had a large
income, (fn. 53) they certainly needed it, for they seem
to have been expected to keep open house for the
nobles coming to the court. (fn. 54)
A quarrel which was to last for years began in
1375 (fn. 55) between the college and the abbey because the dean had proved the will and administered the estates of two inmates of Westminster
Palace. (fn. 56) The abbot and convent claimed that
as the church of St. Margaret and all the chapels
in the parish were appropriated to them, St.
Stephen's, which lay in the parish, belonged to
them, and the dean and canons had no right to
receive parochial tithes and oblations or exercise
jurisdiction in the parish or chapel. (fn. 57) They
therefore obtained letters from Pope Gregory XI,
and the dean was cited to appear before papal
delegates at St. Frideswide's, Oxford. (fn. 58) But the
matter now touched the crown, and in February,
1377, Edward III interposed, (fn. 59) and after a
declaration that his free chapels were exempt
from all jurisdiction, ordinary and delegate, except
that of his chancellor, forbade archbishops, bishops,
or others to hold any pleas concerning them to
his prejudice or to molest the dean. (fn. 60) The prohibition was renewed by Richard II in December, (fn. 61)
but in July, 1378, the dean and chapter were
excommunicated and suspended. (fn. 62) The king
then sent ambassadors to Pope Urban VI asking
that the case might be submitted to the chancellor, and his request was granted on condition
that an agreement was made between the parties
within a year. No settlement being arrived at
in that time, the matter was referred to Parliament in 1380, but with no result. A further
appeal was then made to Rome, (fn. 63) and sentence
was given against the college in 1382; (fn. 64) the
dean and chapter nevertheless refused to pay the
fine and costs (fn. 65) to which they were condemned,
and although they were excommunicated for
contumacy (fn. 66) they did not yield until 1393. (fn. 67)
The next year (fn. 68) an agreement was at length
made with the abbot and convent as follows: (fn. 69)
The chapel of St. Stephen's with the chapterhouse and the chapels of St. Mary in the Vault
and St. Mary of Pewe, as well as the cloister and
the houses within the precinct (fn. 70) inhabited by
the thirty-eight persons serving in the chapel,
the new kitchen of the vicars, and a room beneath
the star chamber, were to be exempt from the
jurisdiction of the abbot and convent; all other
chapels and places within the palace as well as
the houses of the thirty-eight if not inhabited by
them were to remain subject to the abbot and
convent; the dean and college were not to be
exempt for faults committed without the precincts
and in the parish of St. Margaret. The abbot
and convent were to have probate of wills of all
persons within or without the precinct except of
the thirty-eight persons, the probate of whose
wills belonged to the dean; the members of the
households of the thirty-eight were to be considered parishioners of St. Margaret's; the dean
and college should have free burial in their
chapel and cloister as far as the thirty-eight were
concerned, but in the case of others half of all
oblations should go to the abbey unless bequests
were made to a member of the college separately,
when the monks were not to participate; with
these exceptions all oblations and obventions
made in St. Stephen's were to go to the dean
and college, but those offered in the chapel of St.
John the Evangelist and all other oratories within and without the precinct were to belong to the
abbot and convent; the dean and college might
have a baptismal font for baptizing the children of
kings and magnates, but they were to administer
no other sacraments to any without the authority
of the abbot and convent especially granted; the
dean and college were bound to give the greater
tithes from their precinct to the abbey but not
the lesser; the dean was to receive investiture
from the abbot, and at his installation was to
take an oath to observe the agreement; as an
indemnity to the abbey the college promised to
pay an annual pension of 5 marks.
The interests of the crown were so bound up
with those of the royal chapel in the above controversy that during the period of its duration
some special sign of the king's favour might
almost be expected to occur, and it was in 1384,
after the judgement pronounced against the
chapel at Rome and while the dean and chapter
still refused to submit, that the king was arranging
to build a cloister for the college across the close
and a house for the vicars. (fn. 71)
The firm establishment of the college as a whole
had hitherto been the main concern. When this
was secured, attention could be given to details.
Thus the position of the vicars and clerks seems to
have received too little consideration, (fn. 72) until in
1396 King Richard ordained, on condition that
they observed the obit of the late Queen Anne,
that the vicars, clerks, and choristers should henceforth form a corporate body which should have a
common seal and power to acquire land, (fn. 73) and of
which one of the vicars, elected by themselves
without any necessity to ask the king's leave or
assent, should be warden. (fn. 74) This ordinance,
however, was not to affect the power of the dean
and canons to appoint the vicars and to exercise
authority over them. The king granted to them
in frankalmoign the houses which he had built for
them, and also a piece of land between the palace
and the river where they were making a garden
at their own cost.
The numerous grants made to St. Stephen's
during the next century for the maintenance of
anniversaries and chantries must have amounted
in the end to a considerable sum. Among other
gifts the college received £50 in 1399 for the
anniversary of Dean Sleford; (fn. 75) in 1410 a rent
from a messuage in Bishopsgate Street for that of
Canon Fulmere; (fn. 76) and £20 bequeathed to them
for the same purpose by Canon Adam de Chesterfield, who also left them a large missal worth
£11 6s. 8d., a great gradual worth £7 13s. 4d.,
and a new ordinal worth £5; (fn. 77) £50 in 1425
for the annual obit of Canon Orgrave; (fn. 78) £40 in
1427 for the anniversary of Canon Merston; (fn. 79)
100 marks in 1471 for Dean Kirkham's anniversary; (fn. 80) £82 in 1478 for the anniversaries
of two canons, (fn. 81) and tenements in Warwick
Lane in 1498 for the anniversary of another
canon. (fn. 82) Six houses in the staple of Westminster were made over to the college in 1442 as
the endowment of a chantry for the soul of
William Prestwyk, one of the masters in
chancery, either in the oratory of St. Mary of
Pewe or in St. Stephen's. (fn. 83) A chantry of two
priests was founded there in 1455 for the soul of
William Lindwood, bishop of St. Davids, (fn. 84) who
had been buried in the lower chapel in 1446, (fn. 85)
and who bequeathed to the college 600 marks of
the money owing to him by the crown for the
completion of the cloister and bell-tower. (fn. 86) A
sum of £100 was paid in 1471 for an obit and
a daily remembrance of Canon John Crecy and
Thomas Lord Stanley, (fn. 87) and in 1480 Richard
Green gave to the college 200 marks to provide
perpetual masses for his soul. (fn. 88) Among the benefactors of the college were numbered also Walter
Hungerford, knt., lord of Haytesbury and
Homet, treasurer of England, and Ralph, Lord
Cromwell, for whose anniversaries agreements
were made in 1428 and 1437. (fn. 89)
The chapel had perhaps more need of these
gifts and bequests than might be imagined. Its
income of £500 was certainly large for those
days, but it could never have allowed much
margin over the expenditure, (fn. 90) since Edward III
in 1360 gave the chapel £5 a year more because
the charges exceeded its revenues by that amount.
In 1437, indeed, the dean declared that
they needed at least £100 a year more to discharge their obligations. (fn. 91) The rents derived
from the houses in the Staple were no longer
paid, (fn. 92) and the money due from the exchequer
was not obtained without a great deal of trouble.
Henry VI, therefore, in place of these two
sums, which amounted to £110 7s. 11d., and
for the observance of the anniversaries of his
father and mother, granted to them the alien priory
or manor of Frampton, co. Dorset, estimated at
£166 13s. 4d. per annum.
Considering the close relations between the
sovereign and a free chapel and the particular
proof which the king had just given of interest
in St. Stephen's, it is strange to find one of the
canons, Thomas Southwell, accused in 1441 of
aiding Roger Bolingbroke in his attempt to kill
the king by necromancy at the instigation of
Eleanor Cobham. (fn. 93)
The king's favour to the rest of the college
was, however, unaffected by this incident. He
granted to the dean and canons in 1445 two
fairs in Frampton. (fn. 94) In 1453 he gave them the
custody of the clock-tower in his palace with
wages of 6d. a day, and the houses within the
precinct of the palace once occupied by Dean
Sleford. (fn. 95) Two years later they were deprived
of the wages by an Act of Resumption, but
they received them again in 1461 from Edward
IV, who besides confirming the grants made to
them by his predecessors added to their possessions in 1469 the alien priory or manor of
Wells and the rectory of Gayton, co. Norfolk, (fn. 96)
and in 1466 gave them power to appoint constables, reeves, and bailiffs in their manors and
fees, and exempted their men and tenants from
being elected as constables or other officers of
the king. (fn. 97)
The dean and canons followed the example
of the vicars and clerks in 1479, and obtained
permission from the king to form themselves
into a corporate body with a common seal and
power to acquire lands and to implead and be
impleaded. They also received licence to
acquire in mortmain lands, rents, knights' fees,
and advowsons to the value of £100 yearly,
and were acquitted of the payment of fees or
fines for royal letters or charters. (fn. 98)
The dean must have been in a special degree
the confidential servant of the king. It was
emphatically the case with the last two holders
of the office, Wolsey, (fn. 99) and his successor, John
Chamber, who was chaplain and physician to the
king. (fn. 100) Chamber seems to have been wealthy
as he spent 11,000 marks on building a cloister
at St. Stephen's, (fn. 101) and he sent twenty soldiers
to the army against France in 1544, as many as
the archbishop of Canterbury. (fn. 102)
This last expense certainly may have been
defrayed by the college, which could have well
afforded it, for its financial difficulties must have
vanished long before it was dissolved by Edward
VI in 1547. (fn. 103)
The pensions allotted were as follows:—To
the dean £52 10s., to each of the eleven canons
£18 7s. 4d., to each of the eleven vicars £6
13s. 4d., to four chantry priests £6 each, to one
of the clerks £6 13s. 4d. and to the other three
£6 each, and to every chorister, of whom there
were seven, 53s. 4d. (fn. 104) In Mary's reign six prebendaries and four choristers were still receiving
pensions. (fn. 104a)
Its revenues amounted in 1535 to £1,085
10s. 5d. gross, and £458 4s. 10¾d. net, £565
being paid yearly to the dean, canons, and
vicars. (fn. 105) Its possessions comprised tenements in
London and Westminster, and a small payment
from the ferm of the City; (fn. 106) rent of assize in
Lambeth, co. Surrey; (fn. 107) the manors of Wells
and Gayton, (fn. 108) and lands in South Lynn (fn. 109) and
Wiggenhall St. Mary's, (fn. 110) co. Norfolk; the
manor of Winchfield, co. Southants; (fn. 111) a payment of £35 14s. 7d. from the ferm of York;
the ferm of some mills there; (fn. 112) the manors of
Frampton and Burton and rents of assize in
Winterborne Came, co. Dorset; (fn. 113) land in
Bledlow, co. Bucks; (fn. 114) the manors of Elham,
Ashford, Queencourt, Eastling or Northcourt,
Bredhurst, Merecourt, Wichling, Langley, (fn. 115)
Colbridge, (fn. 116) Plumford and Painters, (fn. 117) and land
in Eynsford, (fn. 118) Iwade, (fn. 119) and Harty Isle, (fn. 120) co.
Kent; the manor of 'Codyngton,' (fn. 121) co. Sussex;
the rectory of Fen Stanton, (fn. 122) co. Huntingdon,
which had been given to them in 1394 by
Thomas earl of Nottingham; (fn. 123) the appropriated
churches of Wakefield with the chapel of St.
Leonard, of Dewsbury, Sandal, Penistone, (fn. 124) and
Burton, co. York; the rectory of Frampton
and the chapel of St. Lawrence in Burton, co.
Dorset; (fn. 125) and of Gayton in Norfolk. (fn. 126) In
1431 the dean held the manor of Overland in
Loningborough Hundred, co. Kent, by the service of a knight's fee in Elham. (fn. 127)
St. Stephen's, as the chapel in the king's
palace at Westminster, was of course particularly
rich in vestments and plate. In the long inventory of vestments, the total value of which was
estimated at £336 19s. 6d., (fn. 128) there were mentioned children's copes and albs, evidently those
worn by the boy-bishop and his attendants in
the festivities of St. Nicholas's Day, which seems
always to have been observed there. (fn. 129) At the
beginning of the fourteenth century the chapel
possessed many ornaments of gold or silver-gilt
adorned with precious stones and enamels, (fn. 130) and
at the Dissolution it had at least 2,250 oz. of
silver gilt and 436 oz. of silver parcel gilt
besides the jewels in the various articles and a
cross and chalice of gold. (fn. 131)
Deans of St. Stephen's College,
Westminster
Thomas Cross, appointed 1348, died 1349 (fn. 132)
Michael de Northburgh, D.C.L., occurs
1349 (fn. 133)
Thomas de Keynes, appointed 1355 (fn. 134)
Thomas Rous, appointed 1367 (fn. 135)
William de Sleford, appointed 1369, (fn. 136) occurs
1377, (fn. 137) 1383, (fn. 138) and 1395 (fn. 139)
Nicholas Slake, (fn. 140) appointed 1396, (fn. 141) occurs
1407 (fn. 142) and 1411 (fn. 143)
John Prentys, occurs 1425 (fn. 144) and 1437 (fn. 145)
William Walesby, occurs 1453 (fn. 146) and 1455 (fn. 147)
Robert Kirkham, occurs 1459, (fn. 148) 1461, (fn. 149)
1468, (fn. 150) died 1471 (fn. 151)
John Alcok, appointed 1471, (fn. 152) died 1472 (fn. 153)
Peter Courtenay, appointed 1472, (fn. 154) occurs
1477, (fn. 155) resigned 1478 (fn. 156)
Henry Sharpe, occurs 1478 (fn. 157) and 1480 (fn. 158)
William Smyth, occurs 1491 (fn. 159)
Edmund Martyn, occurs 1498 (fn. 160)
Thomas Hobbis, S.T.P., occurs 1507 (fn. 161)
William Atwater, occurs 1509 (fn. 162)
John Forster, occurs 1509 (fn. 163)
Thomas Wolsey, occurs 1514 (fn. 164)
John Chamber, appointed 1514, (fn. 165) was the
last dean (fn. 166)
Smith, Antiquities of Westminster, has included
among the deans of St. Stephen's several deans
of the chapel royal in the belief that the offices
were identical. It is certain, however, they were
not the same, for a document of 1377 mentions
Sleford as dean of St. Stephen's and Thomas
Lynton as dean of the king's chapel.
The common seal of the college in the fourteenth century (fn. 167) is a pointed oval representing
St. Stephen, a book in his right hand and three
loaves in his left, in a gothic niche of two arches
with carved canopy and sides; before him on
the right are five persons kneeling. In two
smaller niches overhead is the Virgin crowned,
with the Child on the left, and St. John the
Evangelist, with the eagle on a plaque and a
palm branch, on the right. In the base is the
shield of arms of Edward III, viz., quarterly,
1, 4, France (ancient), and 2, 3, England,
between four sprigs. Tabernacle work at the
sides. Legend :—
S. COVE . DECANI ET . COLLEGII . CAPELLE
SBI . STEPDI . WESTMONASTERII.
A fine seal of Dean William de Sleford,
1373, (fn. 168) represents the dean standing in a stall
and holding a book, beneath a gothic canopy
with tabernacle work at the sides. Legend :—
SIGILLVM . WILL'I . DE . SLEFORD.