This was the verdict of the people of Saltash in Cornwall on their vicar, John Crewkerne. In a letter to the Dean and Canons dating from around 1404 [SGC XI.K.6], they complained that he was “deaf and cannot hear confessions except to the scandal of the person confessing. He is a revealer of confessions because he is a drunkard and publicly discloses the confessions of parishioners…he has caused some of his parishioners to be outlawed and some to be deported overseas…[he] has sold the sacraments to his parishioners and would not minister the viaticum to those at the point of death when he was asked…”. They begged the Dean and Canons to “appoint another suitable and learned priest who can instruct us according to God’s law and exonerate you from this responsibility”.

The church of Saltash was one of the endowments which gave the College its income. Given by the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales, on 9 May 1351, it was one of the earliest properties given to the Dean and Canons, and part of their role as rector involved the appointment of the vicar. John Crewkerne had been appointed to the vicarage of Saltash in 1398, but within a few months problems arose surrounding the non-payment to the Dean of £100. This would appear to have been a sweetener to have allowed Crewkerne to exchange his living with another, but did not appear specifically as such in the bond of appointment. On being instituted as vicar, Crewkerne simply refused to pay.

This began a long series of legal action that continued for the next 9 years. Although their exact reasons are unknown, it is clear that the Dean and Canons wanted him gone. However, the living of Saltash was a rich one that Crewkerne did not intend to give up without a fight. Attempts were made several times to remove him through the Court of Common Pleas, the Husting Court, County Courts, King’s Court and ecclesiastical courts. In addition, the Pope was petitioned on a number of occasions to act in favour of the Dean and Canons. Finally, on 18 January 1408, the case was decided. Crewkerne was to resign the vicarage, but the Dean and Canons were to pay him an annual pension of £20 for life. As this represented the annual vicar’s income from Saltash anyway, Crewkerne was amply compensated for the loss of his position, and he received this money for the next 12 years until ultimately the King was petitioned and ruled in favour of the Dean and Canons.

The complaint of his parishioners is a small part of the whole quarrel. The fact that the people of Saltash took 6 years to make a complaint, refusing to pay tithes until the matter was sorted, suggests that it was an attempt to take advantage of the dispute. When threatened with excommunication, it would seem that they chose to make their peace with the winning side, blackening Crewkerne’s character and giving the Dean and Canons a bit of extra ammunition in the protracted legal battle for the income of a rich living.

Eleanor Cracknell (Assistant Archivist)

This blog was taken from a chapter by A.K.B. Evans in St George’s Chapel Windsor in the Fourteenth Century edited by N Saul (2005)

On 13 April 1598 the Edict of Nantes was issued by Henry IV of France, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots, a French Protestant community.

In England, freedom of worship had been granted to Protestants by Edward VI, by Royal Charter of 1550. Following this, many French Protestants flocked to London to escape the religious wars in France. On arrival in England they needed somewhere to worship.

St George’s Chapel had been given the hospital and advowson of St Anthony’s in the City of London by Edward IV in 1475. By 1563 the religious foundation was largely brought to an end, and the church building in Threadneedle Street was leased to the French Protestant community in London during Elizabeth I’s reign. The first such lease held in the College Archives is dated 4 August 1581 and describes the church as ‘the church called St Anthonies Chappell now commonly called the French Church for the use of people to resorte thither to their divine service’ [SGC XVI.2.2].

The original church was destroyed during the Great Fire of London, but a new one was soon built and the site continued to be leased by the College to the French Congregation until 1841, when the church was demolished to make way for the new Royal Exchange. The Dean and Canons demanded £2100 from the Corporation of the City of London in compensation for their interest in the French Protestant Church, Threadneedle Street [Chapter Acts, 22 January 1840: SGC VI.B.10].

Eleanor (Assistant Archivist)

Signature and seal of Nell Gwyn

St George’s Chapel Archives holds three leases, all dated 11 December 1684, conveying land and property to Eleanor ‘Nell’ Gwyn ([1651]-1687), the notorious mistress of King Charles II. Through the indenture pictured [SGC XI.N.7], the Dean and Canons of St George’s Chapel leased a garden in New Windsor to ‘Ellenor Gwinn’ at a cost of 12 shillings annual rent. Through the two additional indentures [SGC XI.N.5-6,9] Gwyn leased nearby properties on Priest Street and at a place called ‘the old Hawes’, lying to the south of the King’s garden. The leases are signed E.G. and hold the seal of arms used by Gwyn.

The tenements conveyed in these leases were but a few of the many properties leased and purchased for Nell Gwyn by the royal household. When these leases were signed in 1684, Gwyn already held the freehold for a house at the west end of Pall Mall and a lease for a summer residence at Bagnigge Wells House. The land and properties conveyed in the leases of 11 December 1684 were in fact intended as an enlargement of the property already leased by Gwyn in Windsor at Burford house. Gwyn’s properties at Windsor were situated at the back of the castle, meaning that they were conveniently located for rendezvous with the King.

John (Archives Assistant)

From its foundation until the nineteenth century, the College of St George held land and property throughout the country and it was whilst researching these links that I came across the following porcine tale relating to St Anthony’s Hospital in London.

A medieval privilege enjoyed by the master and brethren of St Anthony’s was the right to take from Smithfield, London’s meat market, pigs considered unfit for slaughter.  With a bell tied about their necks, these scrawny animals were released onto the streets of the capital where it was a Londoner’s responsibility to feed them.  Having been fattened at the citizens’ expense the pigs were then used to feed the poor and needy in the care of St Anthony’s Hospital.

It is thought that this custom is the basis for images of St Anthony being accompanied by a pig.  Whatever the reason however, one such early sixteenth century representation of the saint still survives in the Catherine Room, No.2 Canons’ Cloister, Windsor Castle.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)