confirmatõem ad utilitatem ecctie Roff' et dñi Epi comodu factas attendentes gratas et ratas habem? easdem et q"ntum in no₺ est auctoritate capti ñri illas confirmamus et psentis sigilli nostri impressione roboramus. Actu anno dñi M°cc°xlj°. Epatus uero dñi R. Roff" epi anno tercio. (Sealed with the seal of the Church of Rochester.) Translation. To all the sons of holy Mother Church who shall see these present letters, W. Prior of Rochester, and the convent of the same place, wishes eternal health in the Lord. Be it know to the whole of you that we have inspected the charter of our venerable father, Richard, by the Grace of God Bishop of Rochester, in these words. To all the faithful of Christ to whom this present writing shall come, Richard, Bishop of Rochester, (sends) health in the Lord. We wish that the knowledge should come to the whole of you that we have granted, and by this our charter have confirmed to Matthew de la Wike in fee farm all that our land of Northwood in the county of Middlesex, to hold and have of us and our successors freely and quietly, peaceably, entirely, and hereditarily, to wit in woods, in plains, in meadows, in pastures, in hedges, in ditches, homages, rents, services, and other liberties and customs accruing to the said land and belonging to us or to our successors, he and his heirs rendering yearly to us and our successors seven marks sterling at the four terms of the year, namely, at the feast of Saint Michael twenty and three shillings and four pence, at the Nativity of our Lord twenty and three shillings and four pence, at Easter twenty and three shillings and four pence, at the feast of Saint John the Baptist twenty and three shillings and four pence, for all services, customs, suits, exactions, and demands, saving the service of our lord the King. And saving that it shall be lawful for us to take the said land into our hands if by chance it should happen (which may it not!) that the said Matthew or his heirs in our time or the time of our successors should make destruction of the wood in the said land, and this should be properly proved against them, by means of which destruction we or our successors should be hindered from having the said rent of seven marks for ever from the said Matthew or his heirs. But we and our successors will warrant to the said Matthew and his heirs all the aforesaid land and its appurtenances as aforesaid against all men and women, for the rent of seven marks as aforesaid. These being witnesses, John de Cobbeham, then constable of the castle of Rochester; Sir Reginald, his brother; Sir Simon de Brelle; Nicholas de Ores; Hugh de Gillingham; Sir Michael de Wendever; Richard Davers; Robert de Weldeham; John of Rochester, clerk; John de Hammes Hyntumer; Richard l'anatar; John Mareschal; William Potin; Simon Potin; William, son of Alexander; Walter de Gillingeham; William, son of Godwin; Elias, the merchant; Henry, the porter; Henry de Baillel; Robert, of the infirmary; Matthew de Weldeham, clerk; William, his brother; Robert, son of Matthew the clerk; and others. WE, therefore, regarding the said grant and the confirmation of the said deed made for the benefit of the Church of Rochester and the Lord Bishop, hold the same good and true, and as much as in us lies we, by the authority of the said chapter, confirm the same, and with the impression of our present seal corroborate them. Done in the year of our Lord, 1241, and in the third year of the bishoprick of Richard, Lord Bishop of Rochester. My friend, John Gough Nichols, Esq. F.S.A., has kindly communicated the following particulars, elucidating the early history of the manor of Norwood: The way in which this estate came into the possession of the bishops of Rochester, together with several incidents of their tenure of it, may be traced in the records of that see which are printed in Registrum Roffense, folio, 1769. The church of Canterbury had possessed the manors of Harrow and Hayes, in Middlesex, for some centuries before the conquest. Northwood, which was part of the manor of Hayes, was alienated from the archiepiscopal see to that of Rochester by archbishop Anselm, who held the see from 1093 to 1109. This fact is thus stated in a catalogue enumerating the benefactors of the church of Rochester: "De datoribus beneficiorum ecclesiæ Roffensi.-Anselmus archiepiscopus dedit terram de Nortwode in villa de Hese."-(Reg. Roffense, pp. 2, 116.) The occasion of his liberality was his restoration to the see of Rochester of the manors of Freckenham, in Suffolk, and Iselham, in Cambridgeshire, after they had been for some time in the possession of the archiepiscopal see: and it seems to have been as some sort of recompense for the injury the church of Rochester had meanwhile sustained. The following are part of the words of the archbishop's charter to bishop Gundulph:-"et eidem supradicto episcopo Gundulpho con cedo quandam terram valentem xx. solidos per annum in nostro dominico manerio de Heisa quod est in Middlesexia."-(Reg. Roffense, pp. 32, 360.) In 1241, when the value of the estate had advanced to seven marks, or 4l. 13s. 4d., bishop Richard granted it to Matthew de la Wike, by the charter which has been rehearsed at length. This Matthew probably resided at the manor of "the Wyke,” in the neighbouring parish of Isleworth.-(See Aungier's History of Syon Monastery and Isleworth, 8vo. 1840, p. 210.) In 1253, Nicholas bishop of Rochester, being summoned before the barons of the exchequer, acknowledged that he held his manors of the king in chief, and not of the archbishop of Canterbury, "excepta modica terra apud Northwode."(Reg. Roffense, p. 70.) At the taxation of 1255 it was returned that the bishop had at Northwode seven marks rent per annum: whereof sixty shillings were required for the maintenance of houses at Lamhethe, i. e. Lambeth.-(Ibid. p. 64.) But, not long after, it appears that this estate was restored to the see of Canterbury; for, on the 14 kal. Aug. 43 Hen. III. (1259), in a composition between archbishop Boniface and Laurence bishop of Rochester, the latter quitclaimed to the former seven marks of annual rent at Northwood, in the county of Middlesex.-(Ibid. p. 84.) During the time the bishops of Rochester held the estate the grant was made to Matthew de la Wike, the record of which remains in the Inspeximus charter still preserved at Ironmongers' hall. When the manor came subsequently into the hands of the mystery of Ironmongers, this charter must have accompanied the other title-deeds: and on their next transfer it was accidentally left behind. In the absence of any other particulars as to the connection of the Ironmongers' Company with this estate, it may be added that Mr. Lysons further states, that Edward Cheseman, Esq., who died in the year 1510, was seized of the manor of Norwood held under the archbishop of Canterbury. His son, Robert, who died in 1547, left a daughter, Anne, married to Francis Chamberlayne, Esq.; and it seems to have been alienated by Robert Chamberlayne, Esq. to Gregory Fynes, Lord Dacre, about the year 1580.‡ It is possible that the manor of Nor * † Ibid. * Cole's Escheats, Harl. MS. No 756. Robert Chamberlayne, son (it is probable) of Francis, was lord of the manor from 1570 to 1574. Lord Dacre held his first court in 1580.- Lysons' Environs of London, vol. iii. p. 320. wood continued in the Ironmongers' Company, or in some of their members, as feoffees up to this period, as the family of Chamberlayne are frequently mentioned in their records about this time, and in 1580 there must have been a Robert Chamberlayne on the court, as he served the office of master in 1594. 1483. (1 Ric. III.) The common council appointed a certain number of persons from each of the companies to ride in murrey-coloured coats to meet the King on his entering the city. The Ironmongers are ranked tenth in the list of companies mentioned, and supplied ten men. On the 6th July in the same year, the Lord Mayor, Sir Edmund Shaa, attended by the aldermen and eleven members of the chief companies, proceeded in great state to Westminster, to officiate as Chief Butler of England at the coronation of the King and Queen. The particulars of this ceremony, with the Lord Mayor's claim, addressed to the Duke of Norfolk as Seneschal of England, are recorded in a contemporaneous manuscript, Liber L. preserved in the Town Clerk's Office, and were printed in a report to the Court of Common Council from the Committee of General Purposes in August, 1831. The whole of this entry is too important and interesting to be omitted: COPY OF THE CITY'S CLAIM AT THE CORONATION OF KING Coronacio Dñi Ricardi Tercii et Dñe Anne consortis sue, &c. Shewen unto your goode and gracieux lordship the mair and citizeins of the citee of London, that where, after the lib'ties and comendable custumes of the said citie of tyme that no man's mynde is to the contrarye, used, enjoyed, and accustumed, the mair of the same citie for the tyme being, by reason of thoffice of mairaltie of the said citie, in his owne psone oweth of right and ductie to 3ve the king our sovain lord in the day of his full noble coronacion after mete of wyne in a cup of gold of our said sovaign lord the king, in suche place as it shall pleas his highnes to take his spices, and the same cup wt the kevyng belongyng yeunto, and a ewer of gold, the said mair to have, and wt hym to bere away att tyme of his depting, for his ffee and reward; And also that divse other citezens that by the said mair and citie shall yeto be named and chosen owen of right by the said custume at the same day to 3ve in th'office of butlership in helpyng of the Chief Butler of England to the lords and estats that shall be at the said coronacion, as well at the table in the halle at mete as at after mete in the chambre: beseching your said lordship that Edmud Shaa, now mair, and oyer citezeins of the citie aforesaid to the said office and 3vice now chosen, whos names in a schedul hereunto annexed be spêfied, may be admitted to do the said ŝvice as their predecessors, mairs and citizens of the said citie, in case semblable have used in daies passed. Also the said mair and citezens praien that thei may sitte in the day of the said coronacion at the table next the cupboard of the lifte side of the hall like as of olde tyme it hath been used and accustumed, and that the saide mair may have and enjoy the said fee and rewarde accordyng to his duetye. A like bill was proffered to the same duke for the coronation of the queen, mutatis mutandis, &c. The Lord Richard the Third, King of England, and the Lady Anne, his consort, were crowned at Westminster on the 6th day of July, in the first year of the same king's reign, and on the day of the coronation of the same lord the king and lady the queen, after the banquet was finished, at which as well Edmund Shaa, the mayor, as the aldermen and other citizens elected by the common council to wait upon the Chief Butler of England as was the custom, were benignly and honourably treated; and the same mayor, after the banquet as aforesaid was finished, offered the said lord the king his wine in a cup of gold, with a golden ewer filled with water to weaken the wine; and, after the wine had been taken by the lord the king, the same mayor retained the said cup with the ewer aforesaid for his own use; in like manner the same mayor, after the same banquet was completed, offered the said lady the queen wine in a cup of gold, with a golden ewer filled with water to weaken the wine as aforesaid; and, after the wine had been taken by the same lady the queen, the same lady the queen gave to the same mayor the said cup with the ewer aforesaid, according to the privileges, liberties, and customs of the city of London in like cases usual, &c. |