Clerkenwell Priory
Encyclopedia
Clerkenwell Priory was a priory
of the Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitaller
s of St John
of Jerusalem, located in Clerkenwell
, London
. Run according to the Augustinian rule, it was the residence of the Hospitallers' Grand Prior in England, and was thus their English headquarters.
(along with a Benedictine nunnery alongside), and its church was consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem
, Heraclius
, in 1185. Henry held an aulic council at the Priory, at which Heraclius convinced the king to send English troops to a new crusade but was unable to persuade the barons to allow Henry to lead them personally (even when Henry was offered the crown of Jerusalem in return, and even after Heraclius shouted in a rage "Here is my head, here is my head; treat me, if you like, as you did my brother Thomas
. It is a matter of indifference to me whether I die by your orders or in Syria by the hands of the infidels; for you are worse than a Saracen.") Thomas Malory
was one of those later buried in this church.
recounts a party of Hospitallers setting out from the Priory in 1237 for Crusade thus:
This was the only Hospitaller priory in England not to be able to pay its own way, due to its having to support and entertain the Grand Prior and large number of pensioners and guests from the court - in 1337 alone it spent more than its entire revenue (its whole revenue was at least £8,000). Royal guests at the Priory included King John
in 1212, Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward I
) and his wife Eleanor of Castile
in 1265., Henry IV
in 1399 and Henry V
in 1413.
Though additions were made to the complex in Edward I
's reign, the mob of the Peasants' Revolt
burned it down. Nevertheless, a royal council was held there in 1485, at which Richard III
publicly decided against his earlier plan to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York
.
It was only fully rebuilt by 1504, the date of completion for the grand south gate erected by Sir Thomas Docwra
(the penultimate Grand Prior, also buried in the Priory church). William Camden
wrote that the rebuilt complex resembled a palace, and had in it a very fair church, and a tower-steeple raised to a great height, with so fine workmanship that it was a singular beauty and ornament to the city.
was chosen Protector of the Hospitallers, but he did not provide them the men and money (for their defence of Rhodes
against Suleyman the Magnificent) that he had promised. After the island finally fell the order's grand-master, L'Isle Adam, was received by Henry's son Henry VIII
. At his request, Henry confirmed the privileges of the knights, though he latter dissolved Clerkenwell and the rest of the order as part of his wider Dissolution
since they "maliciously and traitorously upheld the 'Bishop of Rome' to be Supreme Head of Christ's Church" and thus intended to subvert "the good and godly laws and statues of this realm." The king granted the last prior, William Weston
, and the order's other officers small annuities, and so they did not oppose their house's dissolution, and most of the Knights retired to their stronghold of Malta
, though three who did not were executed by Henry as traitors (one hung and quartered, the others beheaded). Henry granted the Priory church to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
for £1,000, and used it and the rest of the complex to store his hunting-nets. In 1540 ten newly-made serjeants-at-law hosted a great banquet at St. John's for London's mayor
and aldermen and for all the Lords and Commons, at which rings were handed out to the guests, and, according to Stow, at another of these feasts in 1531, thirty-four great beeves were consumed, besides thirty-seven dozen pigeons and fourteen dozen swans.
granted the Priory's remaining lands to other noblemen. John Stow
reports that, in the third year of Edward's reign, "the [Priory] church for the most part, to wit, the body and side aisles, with the great bell-tower (a most curious piece of workmanship, graven, gilt, and inameled, to the great beautifying of the city, and passing all other that I have seen), was under mined and blown up with gunpowder; the stone thereof was employed in building of the Lord Protector's house
in the Strand
." Other stone from the Priory was used to construct the porch of the church of Allhallows, in Gracechurch Street, and by Fuller's time the choir of the Priory church was in "a pitiful plight".
Mary I
(who had often stayed at the priory buildings during Edward's reign, making extravagant progresses with Catholic nobles from there to her brother's court at Whitehall Palace) revived the order and restored its possessions, whilst her Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Pole, built a new west front on the Priory church and made repairs to its side chapels. The church was sufficiently restored for the Merchant Taylors guild to celebrate mass there, during which offerings were made and the choir was hung with tapesteries. However, the order was once again sent back to Malta on the accession of Elizabeth
. During her reign her Master of the Revels, Edmund Tylney
, stayed in the Priory buildings, as did all his tailors, embroiderers, painters, carpenters, and the stage crews for court plays and masques - the great hall of the complex was used for rehearsals. James I of England
granted the buildings to Lord Aubigny
(removing the Revels Office to St. Peter's Hill), and it later passed to Sir William Cecil
then to the Earl of Elgin.
's reign, the Earl of Elgin turned the church into the Aylesbury Chapel, as his private chapel.
It later became a Presbyterian meeting-house, remaining so until 1710. Its pews were ripped out by the Sacheverell rioters to burn outside the nearby house of Bishop Gilbert Burnet
. The chapel was enlarged in 1721, and in 1723 was bought for £3,000 by the commissioners for building fifty new churches
to become the parish church of St John Clerkenwell
.
, in St John's Square, and an Early English crypt
remaining beneath the neighbouring parish church of St John
. The priory arch stone found its way to Exmouth in Devon where it was incorporated into the structure of the local branch of the St John Ambulance Brigade (see photos and more detail).
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
of the Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
s of St John
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
of Jerusalem, located in Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Run according to the Augustinian rule, it was the residence of the Hospitallers' Grand Prior in England, and was thus their English headquarters.
Foundation
Jordan Briset, a Norman baron, founded the Priory in the reign of Henry IIHenry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
(along with a Benedictine nunnery alongside), and its church was consecrated by the Patriarch of Jerusalem
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus...
, Heraclius
Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem
Heraclius or Eraclius , was archbishop of Caesarea and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Heraclius was from the Gévaudan in Auvergne, France. Like his later rival William of Tyre he studied law at the University of Bologna: his contemporaries and friends included Stephen of Tournai and Gratian...
, in 1185. Henry held an aulic council at the Priory, at which Heraclius convinced the king to send English troops to a new crusade but was unable to persuade the barons to allow Henry to lead them personally (even when Henry was offered the crown of Jerusalem in return, and even after Heraclius shouted in a rage "Here is my head, here is my head; treat me, if you like, as you did my brother Thomas
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
. It is a matter of indifference to me whether I die by your orders or in Syria by the hands of the infidels; for you are worse than a Saracen.") Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G. L...
was one of those later buried in this church.
Medieval heyday
Matthew ParisMatthew Paris
Matthew Paris was a Benedictine monk, English chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire...
recounts a party of Hospitallers setting out from the Priory in 1237 for Crusade thus:
This was the only Hospitaller priory in England not to be able to pay its own way, due to its having to support and entertain the Grand Prior and large number of pensioners and guests from the court - in 1337 alone it spent more than its entire revenue (its whole revenue was at least £8,000). Royal guests at the Priory included King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
in 1212, Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
) and his wife Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile
Eleanor of Castile was the first queen consort of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu in her own right from 1279 until her death in 1290, succeeding her mother and ruling together with her husband.-Birth:...
in 1265., Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
in 1399 and Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
in 1413.
Fire and reconstruction
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
's reign, the mob of the Peasants' Revolt
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the...
burned it down. Nevertheless, a royal council was held there in 1485, at which Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
publicly decided against his earlier plan to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until 1503, and mother of King Henry VIII of England....
.
It was only fully rebuilt by 1504, the date of completion for the grand south gate erected by Sir Thomas Docwra
Thomas Docwra
Thomas Docwra was Grand Prior of the English Knights Hospitaller.Thomas was admitted to the Knights Hospitallers at the age of 16, spending about four years as a novitiate. In 1480 he was in Rhodes with Sir Thomas Greene during the unsuccessful Turkish siege of the island. He later became...
(the penultimate Grand Prior, also buried in the Priory church). William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
wrote that the rebuilt complex resembled a palace, and had in it a very fair church, and a tower-steeple raised to a great height, with so fine workmanship that it was a singular beauty and ornament to the city.
Dissolution
In 1502 Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
was chosen Protector of the Hospitallers, but he did not provide them the men and money (for their defence of Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
against Suleyman the Magnificent) that he had promised. After the island finally fell the order's grand-master, L'Isle Adam, was received by Henry's son Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. At his request, Henry confirmed the privileges of the knights, though he latter dissolved Clerkenwell and the rest of the order as part of his wider Dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
since they "maliciously and traitorously upheld the 'Bishop of Rome' to be Supreme Head of Christ's Church" and thus intended to subvert "the good and godly laws and statues of this realm." The king granted the last prior, William Weston
William Weston
William Pritchard Weston was the third Premier of Tasmania.Born in Shoreditch, England, Weston emigrated to Tasmania in about 1830, purchasing a property near Longford, and lived there for several years. He also received a grant of 2500 acres . He was made a magistrate and with the Rev...
, and the order's other officers small annuities, and so they did not oppose their house's dissolution, and most of the Knights retired to their stronghold of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, though three who did not were executed by Henry as traitors (one hung and quartered, the others beheaded). Henry granted the Priory church to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland
John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, KG was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane Grey on the English throne after the King's death...
for £1,000, and used it and the rest of the complex to store his hunting-nets. In 1540 ten newly-made serjeants-at-law hosted a great banquet at St. John's for London's mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
and aldermen and for all the Lords and Commons, at which rings were handed out to the guests, and, according to Stow, at another of these feasts in 1531, thirty-four great beeves were consumed, besides thirty-seven dozen pigeons and fourteen dozen swans.
Edward VI to James I
Henry's son EdwardEdward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
granted the Priory's remaining lands to other noblemen. John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
reports that, in the third year of Edward's reign, "the [Priory] church for the most part, to wit, the body and side aisles, with the great bell-tower (a most curious piece of workmanship, graven, gilt, and inameled, to the great beautifying of the city, and passing all other that I have seen), was under mined and blown up with gunpowder; the stone thereof was employed in building of the Lord Protector's house
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
in the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
." Other stone from the Priory was used to construct the porch of the church of Allhallows, in Gracechurch Street, and by Fuller's time the choir of the Priory church was in "a pitiful plight".
Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
(who had often stayed at the priory buildings during Edward's reign, making extravagant progresses with Catholic nobles from there to her brother's court at Whitehall Palace) revived the order and restored its possessions, whilst her Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Pole, built a new west front on the Priory church and made repairs to its side chapels. The church was sufficiently restored for the Merchant Taylors guild to celebrate mass there, during which offerings were made and the choir was hung with tapesteries. However, the order was once again sent back to Malta on the accession of Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. During her reign her Master of the Revels, Edmund Tylney
Edmund Tylney
Sir Edmund Tilney or Tylney was a courtier best known now as Master of the Revels to Queen Elizabeth and King James. He was responsible for the censorship of drama in England. He was also instrumental in the development of English drama of the Elizabethan period...
, stayed in the Priory buildings, as did all his tailors, embroiderers, painters, carpenters, and the stage crews for court plays and masques - the great hall of the complex was used for rehearsals. James I of England
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
granted the buildings to Lord Aubigny
Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox
Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was the son of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox and his wife Catherine de Balsac. Stewart was involved in the Plantation of Ulster in Ireland and the colonization of Maine in New England...
(removing the Revels Office to St. Peter's Hill), and it later passed to Sir William Cecil
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter PC KG , known as Lord Burghley from 1605 to 1623, was an English peer.-Life:...
then to the Earl of Elgin.
17th century
In 1623 Joseph Hall, later Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, reopened the repaired choir and, in Charles ICharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
's reign, the Earl of Elgin turned the church into the Aylesbury Chapel, as his private chapel.
It later became a Presbyterian meeting-house, remaining so until 1710. Its pews were ripped out by the Sacheverell rioters to burn outside the nearby house of Bishop Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...
. The chapel was enlarged in 1721, and in 1723 was bought for £3,000 by the commissioners for building fifty new churches
Commission for Building Fifty New Churches
The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, with the purpose of building fifty new churches for the rapidly growing conurbation of London...
to become the parish church of St John Clerkenwell
St John Clerkenwell
St John Clerkenwell is a parish church in Clerkenwell, London. It is housed in a rebuild of the old Priory church of Clerkenwell Priory , purchased by the fifty new churches....
.
Today
In 1878 one of the large painted windows from the old church still survived at the parish church's east end, as did remains of Prior Docwra's church in the south and east walls, and capitals and rib mouldings of the former church underpinned the pews. All that remains of the complex now is Docwra's south gate, largely reconstructed in Victorian times and now known as St John's GateSt John's Gate, Clerkenwell
St John's Gate is one of the few tangible remains from Clerkenwell's monastic past; it was built in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra as the south entrance to the inner precinct of the Priory of the Knights of Saint John - the Knights Hospitallers. The substructure is of brick, the north and south...
, in St John's Square, and an Early English crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
remaining beneath the neighbouring parish church of St John
St John Clerkenwell
St John Clerkenwell is a parish church in Clerkenwell, London. It is housed in a rebuild of the old Priory church of Clerkenwell Priory , purchased by the fifty new churches....
. The priory arch stone found its way to Exmouth in Devon where it was incorporated into the structure of the local branch of the St John Ambulance Brigade (see photos and more detail).
External links
- 'Clerkenwell: (part 1 of 2)', Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 309–328. Date accessed: 6 June 2008.