Chronicles of London Bridge. Richard Thompson
set on fire; and the people which were even now passing the Bridge, perceiving the same, would have returned, but were stopped by the fire: and it came to pass, that as they stayed or protracted the time, the other end of the Bridge also, namely, the South end was fired; so that the people, thronging themselves between the two fires, did nothing else but expect present death. Then there came to aid them many ships and vessels, into which the multitude so unadvisedly rushed, that the ships being thereby drowned, they all perished. It was said, that through the fire and shipwreck, there were destroyed above three thousand persons, whose bodies were found in part or half burned, besides those that were wholly burned to ashes, and could not be found.’
“Such is Stow’s account of this melancholy event, which is best confirmed by the ‘Annals of Waverley,’ page 173; but they state also, that under this year, ’1212, London, about the Bridge, was great part burned, together with the Priory of Southwark.’ Now, if we might credit the ‘Historiæ Angliæ’ of that wily, but elegant Italian, Polydore Vergil, we might be sure, that even at this period, London Bridge was built upon: ‘Ipso illo anno,’ says he, at page 276 of his book, setting out, however, with an erroneous date, ‘In that same year’—1211—‘all the buildings that were erected upon London Bridge, were, even upon both sides, destroyed by fire: the which is esteemed a place of wonder.’ Polydore Vergil, you know, was an Historian of the reign of King Henry VIII. so we shall refer to him hereafter; and his work, now cited, was written at that Monarch’s request, so late as about the year 1521. It is esteemed chiefly for its elegant diction; and the best edition of it is considered to be that printed at Leyden, in 1651, octavo; though the foregoing reference is to the last impression of the Basil folio, AD 1570.
“There does not appear, however, to have been any very effectual or speedy order taken for the restoration of London Bridge; for in the ‘Rotuli Clausi,’ or the Close Rolls, of the 15th Year of King John, 1213, Membrane the 3rd, is the following entry. ‘It is commanded to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, that the halfpence which are now taken of foreign Merchants, shall be given to the work of London Bridge. Witness Myself at the Tower of London, on the 18th day of December, in the 15th year of our reign.’—You will find the Latin of this printed in the second impression of Thomas Hearne’s edition of the ‘Liber Niger Scaccarii,’ London, 1771, 8vo. volume i. page *471; and the original record may be seen in the Tower of London, written in so small, delicate, and abbreviated a character, that it hardly makes two lines on the narrow parchment roll. And now that we are speaking of the repairs of London Bridge, I should observe, that they are closely connected with the history of the Bridge-House and Yard in Tooley Street, Southwark; since Stow tells you in his ‘Survey,’ volume ii. page 24, that they were so called and appointed, as being ‘a storehouse for stone, timber, or whatsoever pertaineth to the buildings or repairing of London Bridge.’ He adds too, that this House ‘seemeth to have taken beginning with the first foundation of the Bridge either of stone or timber;’ and that it is ‘a large plot of ground on the bank of the River Thames, containing divers large buildings for the stowage’ of materials for the repairs of London Bridge. Of events which particularly concern this place, I shall, however, speak more fully in their proper order of time.
“In the year 1235, you will recollect that Isabel, third daughter of King John, by his third Queen, Isabella of Angoulême, was sent with great splendour into Germany, to marry the Emperor Frederick II. She was attended by William Brewer, Bishop of Exeter, and a Privy Councillor to King Henry III., and also by the Archbishop of Cologne, the Imperial proxy, who had pronounced her Empress. Upon this occasion, according to the customs of the ancient Norman Law and the Feudal System, the King received an aid to furnish her dowry, of two marks out of every Knight’s Fee;—that is to say, as it is usually accepted, £1. 6s. 8d. from every person who possessed an estate of £20. per annum, which was granted by the Common Council of the kingdom. This rather uncommon aid, you find certified in Thomas Madox’s ‘History and Antiquities of the Exchequer of the Kings of England,’ London, 1711, folio, page 412; and in the voluminous collections of that eminent Antiquary, now preserved with Sir Hans Sloane’s Manuscripts in the British Museum, No. 4563, page 181 b, is the following very curious document, which connects this circumstance with the history of London Bridge. ‘To be remembered concerning the payments of Purprestures’—fines for enclosing and damaging of Land—‘and of Escheats’—accidental returns of estates to their principal owners—‘It is commanded to the Sheriffs, that they get all the arrears of all the above rents, and the issues of all Purprestures and Escheats; excepting the rents of London Bridge, and the remainder of the amerciaments belonging to the Circuit of W. of York,’—most probably Walter Grey, then Archbishop of York, and Lord Chancellor—‘as well in the County of Middlesex as at the Tower, and all the deficiencies (of the aid) for marrying the King’s sister, and for the passing over this sea into Gascony.’ In the Exchequer Rolls of the 32nd of Henry III., AD 1247, 12 a.
“Towards the latter end of the year 1248, King Henry vainly endeavoured to collect from his Barons, a sum sufficient to enable him to recover certain provinces in France; upon which, he offered a portion of his plate and jewels for sale to the Citizens of London, by whom they were bought. The King, displeased at finding they readily procured money for such a purpose, and yet pleaded poverty whenever he solicited a supply, resolved upon retaliation; and, to that end, kept his Christmas in the City, forced the inhabitants to present him with divers costly New Year’s gifts, and established a Market at Westminster, to last for fifteen days, beginning on the 13th of October, during which time all other fairs were suspended, and, in London itself, all commerce was prohibited. I think too, that we may trace the effects of Henry’s anger yet farther; for, in the Patent Roll of the 34th year of his reign, 1249, Membrane the 5th, is the following writ.
“ ‘Of taking the City of London into the hands of our Lord the King. The King, &c. to his faithful W. de Haverhull, his Treasurer; Peter Blund, Constable of the Tower of London; and Ernald Gerandin, his Chamberlain: Greeting. We command that without delay, you take into your hands our City of London, with the County of Middlesex, and London Bridge in like manner: so that the issues of the same be answered for to us at our Exchequer at our pleasure. And all the aforesaid shall be in safe custody, until the receipt of another mandate from us. In testimony of which thing, etcætera, Witness the King at Merton, on the 20th day of May.’ The original of this is of course in the Tower.
“In the same National depository of invaluable records, Mr. Geoffrey, there is, in the Patent Rolls of the 37th of Henry III.—1252—Membrane the 4th, an entry entitled ‘A Protection for the Brethren of London Bridge, concerning the charitable gifts collected for the reparation of the said Bridge.’ This, like the foregoing instrument, has not, as I can remember, ever been printed; and, translated into English, it is as follows. ‘The King to the Archbishops, &c. Greeting. Know ye that we engage for the protection and defence of our Brethren of London Bridge, and their men, lands, goods, rents, and all their possessions. And therefore we command, that they, the Brethren, and their men, lands, goods, rents, and all possessions, in their hands, ye should hold protected and defended. Nor shall any bring upon them, or permit to be brought upon them, any injury, molestation, damage, or grievance. And if it be that any thing hath been forfeited by them, amendment shall be made without delay. And we also desire of you, that when the aforesaid Brethren, or their Messengers, shall come to you for your alms for their support, or for that of the aforesaid Bridge, ye shall courteously receive them, and cause them to be so received in all your Churches, Towns, and Courts; and that ye will bestow upon them of your goods according to your charity and the sight of our precept, the alms which they desire. So that in reward thereof ye may be worthy of all the blessings of mercy, and our special thanks shall be due unto you. In testimony of which thing, &c. Witness the King at Portsmouth, the fifteenth day of July.’
“Really,” said I to Mr. Postern, as he concluded the last Charter, “your memory, Mr. Barnaby, is little less than miraculous! Why, it must be like a chain cable, to hold together the contents of all these musty Patent Rolls, with their endless repetitions. I myself am called by my intimates, ‘Memory Barbican,’ and I can recollect events and stories indifferently well; but you! you remind me of the Wandering Jew, who has lived eighteen hundred years, and never forgot any thing in his life!”
“Ah! my good Sir,” answered