The fourteenth century: Prior John Eyton

PRIOR JOHN EYTON alias REPINGDON (fn. 1)

1391–1404.

Apparently neither John Rankedych, who had already been passed over for Gedeney, nor any other of the canons was able or willing to take the position of prior; the convent therefore had to go outside for their choice. This caused delay, and it was not until the 22nd March that the king signified 'to Robert de Braybroke, Bishop of London, the royal assent to the election of John Eyton alias Repyngdon, canon of the Augustinian priory of Repyngdon' (fn. 2) (or Repton) in Derbyshire. The temporalities were restored on the 5th April. (fn. 3)

This prior is mentioned by name in a note in the hospital cartulary, wherein John Cok says that 'Prior John Repyngton and the convent ought to release to the master and brethren of the hospital, as promised by the mouth of the prior, but not yet done', certain quit rents (named) worth 25s. in return for which the hospital had released to the priory 50s. (fn. 4) by charter dated the 4th year of Henry IV (1402–3).

In the years 1392 and 1393 one Simon Wynchecombe appears in the Patent Rolls as executor, with the canon John 'Rondych', of the will of John Royston Esquire; and in each case Simon is described as 'Prior of St. Bartholomew's Smithfield'. (fn. 5) We consider this to be a pure error, as in the following year (1394), in the same Rolls, occurs 'John' Prior of St. Bartholomew's, (fn. 6) and Simon Winchcombe cannot have been acting temporarily as prior because he was neither a priest nor canon. He was the senior sheriff of the city in the year 1383, and in his own will (fn. 7) he is described as an 'armourer'. He left to his servant six complete suits of armour and implements of his craft as armourer; he made bequests to the priory and to the hospital, and provision for two chantries; Alice, his second wife, was to have by way of dower such share of his goods as of right and by the custom of the City of London she ought to have, 'and no more'!

The records during John Eyton's priorate are as follows:

On the 28th June, 1392, licence was obtained (fn. 8) by the prior, by payment of £40 to the king, for alienation in mortmain by John Mirfield (the physician already referred to) and by Robert Brian to the prior and convent for maintaining certain charges as John and Robert should order, of three messuages in the parish of St. Andrew, two shops in that of St. Nicholas Shambles, a messuage in that of St. Mary le Bow, and another in that of St. Sepulchre, held of the king in burgage.

On the 16th September in the same year an inquisition was held at Barnet (fn. 9) to say if it would be any damage to the king to allow John Mirfield and John Harpesfelde to assign the manor of Walhale (Wellhall, Herts.) to the prior and convent, and on the 20th September licence to assign was granted accordingly. (fn. 10) But on the same day the king announced (fn. 11) that this grant was in full satisfaction of the licence granted in the year 1337, to acquire £20 a year of lands and rents; and this fact is noted against the entry of the licence which had been made when it was regranted in the year 1355.

This manor of Wellhall, and also that of Stanmore, had been held of the Abbot of St. Albans, among other services by the service of doubling the rent of the manors as a relief after the death of every tenant, which relief was now extinguished by the acquisition in mortmain. It was therefore mutually agreed that on every voidance of the priory the abbot should receive from the prior and convent 5 marks from the manor of Great Stanmore and 24s. from that of Wellhall. (fn. 12)

In 1399 it is recorded in the Patent Rolls that all the goods of John Coldham of Clavering and of three others (named) were forfeited for their outlawry in not appearing at the Husting Court, in a plea of 8 marks, at the suit of the prior, John 'Repyndon'; but a grant of pardon by the king was made to them on the same day. (fn. 13)

There are various records in the 'Regesta' at Rome of mandates issued by the pope between the years 1398 and 1402, in connexion with the appropriation of a perpetual vicarage, (fn. 14) an indulgence, (fn. 15) an excommunication, (fn. 16) a reservation of a benefice, (fn. 17) and the rehabilitation of a Cistercian monk. (fn. 18) Most of these records have been already referred to in the chapter on the monastery. (fn. 19)

It was during the priorate of John Eyton, viz. in 1401, that the burning of heretics commenced. As the burnings took place in Smithfield immediately in front of the priory church, some account of the matter may be given here.

The year 1401 was that in which the statute De haeretico comburendo against the Lollards was passed, (fn. 20) whereby any persons found preaching the Lollard doctrines should be taken and presented to the bishop, and if they maintained their opinions they should be committed to secular hands and both they and their books should be burnt. (fn. 21)

The first to be condemned and executed in accordance with this statute was William Sautre or Chautris. He was a parish priest of the church of St. Osyth (or St. Scithe) the Virgin, afterwards known as St. Benet Sherehog in the ward of Cheap in London. He had, as early as 1399, when he was parish priest of St. Margaret's, Lynn, been charged with heresy before Henry Despenser, Bishop of Norwich. The charge was under eight counts; (fn. 22) the first that he said he would not worship the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ that suffered upon the cross. The second, third, and fourth were on the same subject. The fifth concerned the worship of angels, the sixth going on pilgrimage, the seventh the canonical hours, and the eighth he affirmed that, after the pronouncing of the sacramental words, the bread remained of the same nature that it was before, neither did it cease to be bread. Three months later he publicly recanted; but not long after he returned once more to his first conclusions. He was now charged before Thomas Arundel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, being steadfast, he was condemned at St. Paul's, as a relapsed heretic, to be publicly degraded. This was done on the 26th February, 1400/1. It consisted in taking from him, first, as priest, the paten and chalice, and his chasuble; secondly, as deacon, the book of the New Testament and his stole; thirdly, as sub-deacon, his alb and maniple; fourthly, as acolyte, the candlestick and taper; fifthly, as exorcist, the book of conjurations; sixthly, as reader, the book of the Divine Lections; seventhly, as doorkeeper and sexton, the keys of the church door; and finally, as a clerk, the tonsure was erased, and a layman's cap placed upon his head. He was then handed over to the civil authority, by a special decree of the king and council of the same date—26th February—addressed to the mayor and sheriffs of London, to be burnt 'in some public or open place within the liberties of the city'. (fn. 23)

Among the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum (fn. 24) is a book of sermons attributed to Prior Eyton labelled' Sermones Dominicales Prior. St. Barthol. Homiliae'. The first leaf is missing, but on the dorse of folio 17, at the conclusion of a sermon and in a different hand is written:

'Explicit liber sermonum dominicalium compositus a quodam priore Sancti Bartholomei Londoniis cuius animae propicietur deus amen qd. Gosselyn nomen prioris Repoun.'

(Here ends the book of Sunday sermons composed by a certain Prior of St. Bartholomew, London, on whose soul may God have mercy, quoth Jocelain, the name of the prior is Repoun.)

The index to the Lansdowne MSS. describes the volume as 'written in the fifteenth century, in which is contained the Sunday sermons of John Repoun or Repynton Prior of St. Bartholomew's London', and there is no reason to doubt that this description correctly describes the first 17 of the 339 folios of which the book is composed. But the rest of the book consists of sermons written (by a curious coincidence) by a man with the same surname, Philip Repington, Bishop of Lincoln, 1405–19. Copies of his works are at Caius College, Cambridge, No. 246 (492), also at Pembroke College, Cambridge, No. 198, but none of these copies contains the first 17 folios of the Lansdowne MSS. described above.

John Hovingham, Archdeacon of Durham, refers in his wills (June 12th, 1417) to sermons written by the late Prior of St. Bartholo mew's, which were probably those of John Repyngdon. Hovingham willed to be buried in the conventual church, and mentioned that Roger Walden had been his benefactor. (fn. 25)

It was during John Eyton's priorate that Roger Walden first appeared in connexion with St. Bartholomew's. His connexion with the priory was so intimate, the chapel that he built was so important, and his influence, as we believe, on the great alterations made in the quire was so great, that it is necessary to give his history somewhat fully.

Roger Walden is said to have been of humble origin, some say the son of a butcher (fn. 26) of Saffron-Walden in Essex, but the date of his birth is not known. The first record of him that we have is in the year 1374, when he was rector of Kirkby Overblow in Yorkshire. (fn. 27) He early became a chaplain of the king, and eventually he was his favourite. King Richard never seems to have missed an opportunity of giving him any ecclesiastical preferment that happened to be in his hands. By the extraordinary number of prebends and other benefices here enumerated, it seems evident that, while he discharged conscientiously and well high offices of State, his income was provided by the Church.

From the year 1382 to that of 1385 he was parson of Fenny Drayton. He was then presented to the church of Burton in Kendall. (fn. 28) In March 1387 we find him as Treasurer of Calais, deputed to buy oxen to victual that town. (fn. 29) In May for £100 the king granted 'the king's clerk, Roger Walden' a ship captured at sea. (fn. 30) On the 24th June he was instructed to survey five ships of Spain captured at sea and brought to Sandwich; (fn. 31) and on July 22nd (all in the same year), the temporalities of the bishopric being in the king's hands, King Richard made him Archdeacon of Winchester, (fn. 32) a position he held till 1395. (fn. 33) About this time he was also dean and rector of the Isle of Jersey. (fn. 34) In June 1389, the temporalities of the bishopric of Salisbury being in the king's hands, he granted Walden the prebend of Bedminster Prima; (fn. 35) and on the 17th October he granted him the prebend of Thame, in the cathedral of Lincoln. (fn. 36) Walden also held a prebend of Exeter (date not known). In 1390 the king granted him the deanery of the king's free chapel of St. Martin-le-Grand. (fn. 37) In the previous December (1389) Walden had, in his capacity of Treasurer of Calais, caused an Italian ship, bringing cargo from Spain to London, to be attacked at sea, and the crew to be taken to Sandwich as pirates. This resulted in a claim by the London merchants which was heard before the Bishops of Durham, St. Davids, and others; surely a remarkable prize court!

In March 1391 the king presented Walden to the church of Holy Trinity, Gloucester. (fn. 38) In the June following, he presented him to the church of Fordham (near Colchester), by reason of the lands of the late Earl of Pembroke then being in his hands. (fn. 39) On October 21st, 1391, Walden is still described in the Patent Rolls as Treasurer of Calais. (fn. 40) In May 1394 he succeeded to the prebend of Piper Minor in Lichfield. (fn. 41) In September there is a ratification by the king of Walden's estate, as parson of the parish church of Stayndrop, Durham, as prebendary of Horton, Salisbury, and as prebendary of Caistor, Lincoln. (fn. 42) In August of this year he went to Ireland in the king's retinue.

In 1395, on the death in September of John Waltham, Bishop of Salisbury, the king's favourite and Lord High Treasurer of England, Walden was raised to the dignity of Treasurer by the king; (fn. 43) and was also made Dean of York the same year. (fn. 44) The year 1389 is probably that when Roger Walden and his brother became high bailiffs of the king's castle and city of Guynes in Picardy. (fn. 45) In 1397 they are described as 'late holding that office', and at that time they were both made governors of the castle and town of Porchester, (fn. 46) an appointment revoked by Henry IV six weeks after he had come to the throne. (fn. 47) In February of the same year Walden was given the prebend of Willesden in St. Paul's (fn. 48) (which, however, he only held for eighteen months), and the prebend of Knaresborough in Yorkshire. (fn. 49)

In 1397 Thomas Arundel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for supposed high treason with his brother and others, was banished and, at the king's request, was translated to St. Andrews, whereupon (also at the king's request) the pope appointed Roger Walden, then the Dean of York, to succeed him; and he received the temporalities 21st January, 1398.

When Arundel, who had gone to Rome, came back with Henry of Lancaster, Walden was pronounced an intruder and, on the 21st October, 1399, Arundel was restored. (fn. 50) Walden, being deposed, was then placed under arrest (fn. 51) by the new king, Henry IV, as a sympathizer with King Richard, and went with the dukes of Exeter, of Surrey, and d'Aumale, to Westminster under the surety of the abbot. On the 17th December Walden was present at a dinner at the abbot's house. After dinner the three dukes, and others, went into a side council chamber and the plot to restore King Richard was arranged. (fn. 52) On the failure of the rising at Kingston, Roger Walden, the Bishop of Carlisle, and the Abbot of Westminster were committed to the Tower. (fn. 53) On February 3rd these three, with five others, were tried in the Tower and Walden alone was set free. (fn. 54) The Bishop of Carlisle and the abbot were sent back to prison; the other five were drawn to Tyburn, hanged, and beheaded. (fn. 55)

When Walden was arrested, the French Chronicler says: (fn. 56)

'Now Walden had a stepmother (fn. 57) (une belle mère) who dwelt at St. Bartholomew's; but the people of the new king left neither to mother nor son robe nor plate, but cleared the house of everything.'

His other possessions were also seized, but on the 23rd February he had full restitution from the king ' of all his manors, lands, rents, and possessions, with the exception of his goods in the custody of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury', (fn. 58) (referring, no doubt, to the jewels which Walden had removed to Rochester). (fn. 59)

After this narrow escape Walden lived in retirement for four and a half years until, by the death of Braybroke in August 1404, the bishopric of London became vacant. At the instance of Archbishop Arundel, the pope, by his bull of proviso dated the 10th December 1404, raised Roger Walden to the vacancy. (fn. 60) There were, however, other candidates whom the king preferred to the old favourite of King Richard; but eventually, Walden having diplomatically declared that he would not accept the post without the king's assent, licence was granted him to accept the position (by Letters Patent dated the 24th June 1405). (fn. 61) He was finally installed on the 30th June as bishop of the see by Prior Chillenden of Canterbury. It is recorded that, that being the day of the feast of the Commemoration of St. Paul, he followed the custom for the bishop with all his canons to walk in procession, wearing garlands of red roses. (fn. 62) The temporalities were returned on the 28th July.

Walden only enjoyed this last dignity for six months, for he died at his palace of Much Hadham, Herts, on January 6th, 1405/6, according to Bishop Arundel's register, on January 2nd (quarto nonas Ianuarii) according to the St. Albans Chronicle. (fn. 63)

Whether Walden was buried at St. Bartholomew's or at St. Paul's it seems impossible to say with any certainty, as there is evidence in favour of both places, but the balance favours St. Paul's. In his will (fn. 64) dated at Hadham on the 31st December, 1405, and proved on the 20th January following, Walden says (as translated from the Latin):

'I bequeath my body, when I shall have passed away out of the light, to be borne to burial within the church, either within the cathedral church of St. Paul, London, or in a certain new chapel which I have newly caused to be made in the convent church of the canons of St. Bartholomew next Smethfelde, according to the choice and ordinance of the most reverend father in Christ my lord Thomas by the grace of God Archbishop of Canterbury, who, when I was lying beneath the feet of men and in the dust, raised me to the head of the Church in London.'

On the 11th January Archbishop Arundel issued instructions to the prior and chapter of Canterbury to celebrate obsequies and mass of requiem for the soul of the bishop, whom he describes as 'devoted to the priestly ministry, not elate in prosperity, of honest life and always patient in adversity'. (fn. 65) As the archbishop paid him this honour, it would be reasonable to assume that he exercised the option left him by Walden, in favour of the greater honour, and ordained that he should be buried at St. Paul's. We have the contemporary testimony of an eye-witness, one John Prophete, Clerk of the Privy Seal and Dean of Hereford, (fn. 66) that this was so, for he thus describes the burial at St. Paul's: (fn. 67)

'Reverend lord on the fourteenth day of the present month of January, my lord of Worcester, (fn. 68) buried with great honour, in the church of St. Paul, London, the body, clad in its pontifical robes, of the venerable father and lord Roger Walden, late as you know Bishop of London; who, while yet he moved among men with a certain singular affection, used, as I hope, most tenderly to love your soul.

'And, among others now weeping tears of affection for so great a man dead, and now most devoutly mourning his loss, I was present, not slightly sorrowful, and I had, together with my lord and certain others standing by, looked on the bared face of the dead man, the thin veil having been removed, then almost as if sleeping, but more beautiful than customary. Many indeed think, truly recognizing his conversation, that among the others of his order the bishops of this realm for long past there has not died, than the aforesaid, one who was more devout, in adversity more patient, in prosperity more temperate, or more lovable to man, or more amply stayed with every good quality and virtue; whom, dying happily, all who come up blessing with loud voice, wonderfully commend his firm hope and faith and most devout contrition. Now these things I have thought should be inserted in this present letter in this form for the increase of your consolation, to the end that sighing, mourning, or lamentation should not sadden you too greatly, but rather that, lessened by ripe restraint, sorrow may sink to rest and may be more fitly subdued to the offering of prayers which edify the rather to salvation.'

Further evidence in favour of the burial having been at St. Paul's is that one John Drayton, goldsmith and citizen, in his will dated 27th September, 1456, left his lands and houses to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's, to find two priests to say mass daily, one in the church of All Saints, Tottenham, and the other in the chapel of All Saints in St. Paul's, where he says 'the corpse of Roger Walden, late Bishop of London, was buried'. (fn. 69) Mass was to be said for the repose of the souls of King Richard, Anne his consort, John Watham (whom Walden succeeded as Treasurer), John Walden, Esq., his brother, and Idonia, John's wife, and others, and the founding of this chantry at St. Paul's we know was carried out. (fn. 70)

Further, Walden in his will bequeathed the manor of Elmeden in Essex, with the reversion of the manor of Bonhunte, if his brother John Walden died without a son, to the prior and convent of St. Bartholomew's, on the condition that they should find three canons to celebrate for his soul and the souls of those to whom he was beholden, in the chapel which he had newly erected at St. Bartholomew's. As the manors of Elmeden and Bonhunte appear nowhere among the possessions of St. Bartholomew's, the founding of this chantry evidently was not carried out; in fact, we learn from certain articles drawn up by his principal executor, Robert Scott, of provisions in the will that had not been properly executed, (fn. 71) that John Walden had given Elmeden to two of his servants, and Bonhunte (or Bonham) to his wife Idonia. Moreover, although Roger Walden had bequeathed the residue of his estate for the health of the souls of himself, King Richard, and Queen Anne, still no chantry was founded at St. Bartholomew's; it is therefore not an unfair assumption that the real reason was that Walden's body had not sepulture in the church.

Wylie, in his History of England under Henry IV, (fn. 72) takes the view that Walden was buried at St. Paul's on January 14th, as John Prophete says. He also says, without naming his authority, that the body lay for a day or two in his new chapel at St. Bartholomew's before its removal to St. Paul's. (fn. 73)

The evidence, on the other hand, that Walden was buried at St. Bartholomew's is strong. For in the first place, John Stow, in the year 1598, when enumerating the monuments at St. Bartholomew's, next to that of Rahere gives that of ' Roger Walden, Bishop of London 1406'. Francis Godwin, writing in the year 1616, says of Walden (fn. 74) sepultus iacet in prioratu St. Bartholomaei iuxta Smithfeldiam'. Weever, in 1631, says, (fn. 75) when writing of St. Bartholomew's:

'Here sometime lay entombed the body of Roger Walden Upon his monument this epitaph was inlaid in brass:

'Hic lacet Rogerus de Walden episcopus Londinensis qui cum in Utraque fortuna plurimū laboravit ex hac vita migravit, 2 die Novem. an. dom. 1406.

Vir cultor verus Domini, iacet infra Rogerus
Walden: Fortuna cui nunquam steterat una.
Nunc requiem tumuli Deus omnipotens dedit illi.
Gaudet et in celis plaudet ubi quisque fidelis. (fn. 76)

'Here lies Roger Walden, Bishop of London, who, after toiling much in good and bad fortune, departed this life on the 2nd day of November, (fn. 77) 1406.

'A man, a true servant of the Lord, lies below, Roger Walden, for whom fortune had never remained constant; now Almighty God has granted him the repose of the tomb. He rejoices and in the heavens sings praises where are all the faithful.'

Stow is accurate in his statements about St. Bartholomew's. Weever is not, but the evidence of the two together cannot be ignored. It must, however, be remembered that the parish chapel, which was Walden's All Saints' chapel, had been destroyed by Henry VIII before Stow's time, and therefore we may assume that Walden's monument was also then destroyed; for in the year 1544, the king especially mentions in his grant to Rich that 'a certain chapel, called the parish chapel', had been taken away. However, Fuller in 1695, Newcourt in 1708, and Le Neve-Hardy in 1855, (fn. 78) all agree with Stow and Weever; but the fact that the investigation was not very deep is evidenced by Le Neve's quotation of Liber Lambeth as his authority for the burial at St. Bartholomew's. In doing so he has wrongly copied from Wharton, who quotes Liber Lambeth as his authority for the Walden arms, not for the burial. (fn. 79) The balance of the above conflicting evidence is seemingly in favour of burial at St. Paul's.

All the contemporary writers seem to agree in praising the character of Roger Walden. Adam of Usk wrote of him that he 'was a modest man, pious and courteous, in speech of profitable and well-chosen words'. They all took occasion to moralize on the fickleness of fortune.

Thus Walsingham: (fn. 80)

'Dom Rogerus de Waldene debitum naturae solvit; qui varia fortuna vectus, expertus est sub breve tempore quam sit—

Inconstans, incerta, volubilis ipsa,
Errans, instabilis, vaga, quae, dum stare putatur,
Occidit, et falso mentitur gaudia vultu.'

(Roger Walden paid the debt of nature, having been borne along by varied fortune, experienced in a short time how inconsistent, unsteady, flighty, roving, unsettled, and wavering she is; how, whilst she seems to stand, she is falling, and joys are changed by her feigned looks.)

In this connexion the preamble of his will, evidently written by himself, is worth quoting here (given in English from the Latin): (fn. 81)

'In the name of the most Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost, Amen. I Roger Walden, by the kindly mercy of God permitting, Bishop of London, undeserving and unworthy, knowing and feeling that the continuance of human life, so long as it is shipwrecked in the raging sea of this world, is all ofttimes tossed by the whirl of storms, and in the exile to which, for its trial, it is duly exposed, is ever made bare to sorrow and to toil; nor is there an end of its wretchedness until the spirit, an exile from its native land, leaves its wretched but too dear place of sojourn and seeks again its native abode where it hopes to enjoy its native land after exile, joy after grief, rest after toil; and whereas for those making their way thither it is necessary first to set their house well in order in accordance with the order the Lord gave to Hezekiah when appointed to die: Therefore whilst to me from the Lord there is granted a healthy soundness of reason and memory, I settle, order, and make this my will of my goods in the form which follows.'

His arms are variously given as 'sable, two bars, and in chief three cinquefoils, argent'; (fn. 82) as 'argent, on a chevron gules, cotised azure, between 6 martlets gules, 3 wings of the field'; (fn. 83) and as 'gules, a bend azure (qy. argent intended) and a martlet or'. (fn. 84)

There is no record when the Waldens came to St. Bartholomew's, but we have seen (fn. 85) that his 'belle mère' was here in the year 1400. We learn from Robert Scott, referred to above, that Roger Walden had bought a nine years' lease of two places within the close, so it is probable that there were two families of Waldens living there. There were certainly two John Waldens; one, described as 'clericus', died in the year 1404, and desired in his will (fn. 86) to be buried 'within the chapel of my lord, lord Roger Walden'. He left all his goods to Catherine Hunt, his mother, and to William Hunt, his brother. (It would seem that his mother had married again and that William Hunt was only his half-brother.) What relation he was to Roger Walden does not appear; he was possibly a cousin. The other John Walden Roger describes in his will as 'his brother John' and bequeathed him the Manor of Tottenham. This John Walden died in 1417. His wife's name was Idonia, the daughter of Johanna Lovetoft. Idonia's mother, Johanna Lovetoft, who also willed in 1397 (fn. 87) to be buried in the Walden Chapel, left her son-in-law John Walden a silver bowl and cover and her daughter her best cup and two best mazers. She left her third best mazer to one Isabella Walden, but what relation she was does not appear. The year before, on the 15th April 1396, John Newport (fn. 88) also willed to be buried 'within the chapel of the venerable lord, lord Roger Walden, Treasurer of England'. The chapel, therefore, could not have been built by Walden later than 1395, the year he was made Treasurer, and to about that date we may attribute Roger's advent. From February 1400, when his confiscated property was restored to him, to June 1405, when he was installed Bishop of London, Roger Walden lived a retired life, and it is a fair assumption that he was during that period more closely connected with St. Bartholomew's than during any other, and that it was he who instigated the great restoration which we attribute to about the year 1405. More especially does this apply to what the pope described as the rebuilding of the high altar, which involved remodelling the presbytery, and building, or rebuilding, the founder's tomb. The new transcript and translation of the Book of the Foundation, which we also attribute to Walden, was probably completed before the death of King Richard. (fn. 89) That Walden's interest in St. Bartholomew's was continued to the last is seen by the fact that at the time of his death the prior and convent had two vestments of his, which he bequeathed to them in his will. At the same time he bequeathed to the Archbishop of Canterbury a book of pastorals of St. Gregory, and to Christ Church, Canterbury, a cope for the quire of red cloth of gold, embroidered with pearls on the orphreys, in which were contained pictures of Archbishops of Canterbury; and on the back, on a shieldshaped hood, the martyrdom of St. Thomas. And he bequeathed to St. Paul's his best frontal for the high altar.

Walden's brother John in his will, dated on St. Luke's Day 1417, (fn. 90) also wished to be buried in his brother's new chapel. He directed that 140 masses by divers chaplains should be celebrated on the day of his funeral. He left to John Coventry, the prior, 40s., to each canon priest 20s., and to each novice 6s. 8d. He bequeathed his largest silver cup and cover, with his arms on the knob, to the sole use of the refectory in perpetual memory of himself. He had considerable possessions in Essex. (fn. 91) His widow Idonia survived him and married again. Her second husband was John Rote, who had served as sheriff in the year 1381, and him also she survived. She left two wills, one made in the name of Idonia, widow of John Rote, and dated 18th February, 1420/1, which was enrolled in the Court of Husting, in the year of her death, 1425: (fn. 92) the other will, made in the name of Idonia Walden, is dated the 17th January, 1424/5, and is entered in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. In both she willed to be buried in the same chapel as John Walden, her first husband. (fn. 93) In the first will she left a tenement in the parish of St. Bartholomew to maintain a chantry in the Walden chapel for the repose of the souls of Roger Walden, late Bishop of London, and of John Rote and John Walden, her former husbands. In default of the prior and convent accepting the bequest, the property was to go to the minister of the house and church of the friars Holy Trinity at 'Houndeslowe', Middlesex. We have no record as to whether this chantry was founded, but inasmuch as at the time of the suppression the brethren of Hounslow had possessions outside the north-east corner of the parish, it is probable that the chantry was not founded and that the tenement therefore went to the Hounslow house. (fn. 94) In the later will she directed—as her first husband had done—that 140 masses should be celebrated for her soul on the day of her death, and that with the residue of her property, not otherwise bequeathed, provision should be made for her soul and for those of her late husbands.

Prior John Eyton died in 1404, so he did not see Roger Walden enthroned as Bishop of London. Licence was granted to the sub-prior and convent to elect a successor on the 14th August of that year. (fn. 95)