ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY charge only of the inhabitants of the close and the poor in the hospital, was to receive £ii 6s. Sd. yearly, with a suitable house, and to be assisted by another priest called a hospitaller in visiting and ministering to the poor people there. The other parish was to be called Christ Church ; its vicar received j£26 I3J-. 4^. with a suitable house ; he was expected to be able to preach, while apparently the vicar of St. Bartholomew's was not. Six other priests were to be attached to the church ; one, called the visitor, to attend to the prisoners in Newgate, and five to help the vicar. All the assistant clergy were to be paid, appointed, and if necessary dismissed, by the mayor and corporation.^'* The spiritual needs of the inhabitants of what had been the precincts of three religious houses were thus provided for ; in some parts of the City no similar arrangement was made, and the matter grew serious as more houses were built within such precincts. For example, at Holy Trinity Aldgate the people ' became utterly destitute of any parish church,' so they made themselves parishioners of St. Katharine Cree ; but they must have been always treated as outsiders, since more than eighty years later, when they built the church of St. James Duke's Place, they could be described as
- without benefit of a parish church of their own.' '"
The Grey Friars' church probably needed some reparation, for, like those of the Austin and Black Friars, it had been used as a storehouse for wine and herrings ; ^^* but it was re-opened on 30 January 1547. The Bishop of Rochester preached that day at Paul's Cross, ' and declared the king's gift to the City of London for the relieving of the poor people.'^" Unknown to the citizens who listened to his praises. King Henry was even then dead. A heavy indictment of the immediate results of his policy is contained in his own speech to Parliament in December 1545. He lamented the lack of charity among his hearers, — ' one calleth the other Heretic and Anabaptist, and he calleth him again Papist, Hypocrite, and Pharisee,' — and the misuse of the Bible, which was ' disputed, rhymed, sung, and jangled in every Alehouse and Tavern.' ' The clergy . . . inveigh one against another ; . . . few . . . preach truly and sincerely the Word of God,' while the laity ' rail on bishops, speak slanderously of priests, and rebuke and taunt preachers.'
- Virtuous and godly living was never less used, nor God Himself amongst
Christians was never less reverenced, honoured, or served.'^ Part IV — From 1547 to 1563 We obtain some idea of the size of the London parishes at the begin- ning of the reign of Edward VI from the Chantry Certificates of 1548.^ From these it appears that the majority of the parishes within the walls had from 200 to 400 ' houselling people,' i.e. communicants, three had 100 or "" Rec. Corp. Repert. xi, fol. 240, xii (2), fol. 319^, 3383, 34.23 ; Memoranda .... relating to the Royal Hospitals, App. ii-v ; Stow, Sart'. (ed. Kingsford), i, 316-19, 343. "' Stow, iurv. (ed. Dyson, 1633), 146-9. Cf. the case of Blackfriars ; ibid. ed. Kingsford, i, 341. For the history of another precinct see Tomlinson, The Minories, 164 et seq. The Bishop of London was given jurisdiction over the exempt precincts in 1550 ; Rymer, Foedera, xv, 224. '" Monum. Franc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 208. The White Friars' church was pulled down in 1545 ; ibid. 209. '" Wriothesley, Chron. (Camd. Soc), i, 177. '"' Hall, Chron. 37 Hen. VIII ; cf I atimer. Sermon on the Plough (preached in January 1548). ' Chant. Cert. 34.' There are complete returns for 99 out of 107 City parishes. 287
