A HISTORY OF LONDON to the great number of deaths than to an increase in the proportion of testators leaving money for that purpose. But the other reHgious bequests show a distinct increase in devotion ; such bequests, although numerous in wills enrolled between 1300 and 1348,' are far more numerous after the Black Death. For the next fifty years it was customary for testators to begin with bequests to the parish church and its ministers or rector.* Such legacies to the clergy, including those to the high altar, sometimes said to be for tithes forgotten or withheld, must have considerably increased the value of London benefices, which at the same time were probably less affected by the Black Death than those in the country, since they consisted of offerings proportionate to the rent of houses, and not of tithes. Bequests of ornaments or vestments become common.' For example, a hosier left to St. Mary le Bow (besides money for the new work of the belfry, for the purchase of a bell, and for chantries) a gilt chalice, ^^3 for painting an image of the Virgin in the quire and buying a crown for her, and £^ for a missal to be used at the high altar, in which a copy of his will was to be written. The religious fraternities ^^ are more frequently mentioned ; there are numerous bequests to the hospitals, to the various orders of friars, for the fabric or work of St. Paul's," and also (from i 342 onwards) for that of St. Thomas of Acon.^^ The anchor- ites and hermits in and about London seem to have been far more popular during the latter half of the 14th century than either before or after.'* Vicarious pilgrimages only appear in the wills of the same period. The place most often mentioned before 1380 is Santiago, but the four bequests after 1382 all refer to Rome. The Holy Land is mentioned three times, and
- Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, , 144.-508. The favourite object up to 1348 was still the maintenance of
lights (cf. supra, p. 192), especially that before the image of the Virgin ; others mentioned are torches in honour of the Eucharist, pp. 167, 193 ; before the rood, pp. 384, 449 ; the sepulchre light, p. 384. For references to church rebuilding see pp. 147, 229, 289, 364, 464, 467, 486, 499, and for bequests to the clergy pp. 196, 256, 311, 338, &c. ; these become more frequent after 1336, and those for rebu Iding after 1342. Some evidence from other sources confirms an inference from the Wills that even before 1349 several of the London parishes held considerable property ; Cat. And. D. ii, 73 ; Cal. Pat. 1 301-7, p. 351 (cf Cal. Close, 1318-23, p. 298) ; Cal. Pat. 1313-17, p. 449 ; Sharpe, Cal. Letter Bk. F, 134. ' Little definite information is available with regard to the mortality among the clergy during the pestilence, as the Episcopal Registers of both London and Canterbury are wanting. The rector of St. James Garlickhithe made his will on 23 Apr. 1349; ^'^ successor was appointed on 11 May, and there were fresh presentations on 20 July and 11 Aug. (Cal. Pat. 1348-50, pp. 286, 347, 354). Three more out of the seven City livings in the gift of Westminster, and both of those in the gift of St. Albans, became void in the spring and summer of i 349, and the deaths of at least eight other London rectors can be inferred from the enrolment of their wills or the appointment of their successors by the king. At Westminster the abbot and twenty-seven monks died, and the hospital of St. James was left with only one inmate ; others among the dead were the master of the hospital of St. Thomas and many of the brethren, the dean of the new college in the chapel of St. Stephen, the Prior of St. Mary Overy, and proba ly the Master of St. Katherine's. Possibly the Dean of St. Martin le Grand and about 100 of the Grey Friars should be added to the list. Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, i, 512-630 passim ; Cal. Pat. 1348-50, pp. 218, 282, 285, 286, 291, 309, 332, 347, 354, 369 ; article ' Religious Houses' in this volume. In Nov. 1348 the pope gave every one in the City leave until next Whitsuntide to choose his own confessor, who should have powers of plenary remission at death, the ordinary rules about confession being thus suspended ; Cal. of Papal Letters, iii, 309. ' Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, i, 640 et seq. ; cf. ii, Introd. p. iv, which applies especially to wills of this period. ' See, for the yean 1349-51 alone, Cal. of Wills, i, 588, 616-7, 624, 640, 642, 643 (a list given of books, vestments, &c., to be provided for a chantry), 651, 652, 657. Before 1349 there are only three bequests of the kind ; ibid. 1 93, 424, 458. '° The earliest of these are mentioned in the preceding period in connexion with the maintenance of lights ; Cal. of Wills, i, 384, 504, 526, 541. " See 'Religious Houses.' " IbiJ. " The first general bequest to them recorded in these wills was in 1342, and there are many between 1350 and 1385, after which they become less frequent, the last being in 1400; ibid, i, 454 to ii, ^^g passim ; cf. article on ' Religious Houses ' in this volume, and Issue R. of Thomas de Brantingkam (Rec. Com.), 395. 208
