RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the brethren on the following day devolved 

 their right on the bishop and asked him to 

 nominate. Wykeham's choice fell on Henry 

 Grygge, and he was duly appointed on 1 5 

 January 1393.' 



It appears that Grygge sold some of the 

 possessions of the house contrary to his oath 

 to Bishop Wykeham,^ and in 1399 he with- 

 drew into foreign parts, when the custody of 

 the hospital was committed to John Ayles- 

 bury, one of the brethren.' On 25 February 

 1 40 1 William Sharpe made his profession as 

 a brother of the hospital. On the morrow 

 the bishop renewed the custody to John 

 Aylesbury and issued a citation for Grygge 

 to appear.* In December following Grygge 

 received papal absolution.^ Whether he ever 

 returned to take up the duties of the office 

 of master does not appear, but in July 1414 

 John Reed, a brother of the house, was 

 elected and confirmed as master.* 



In 1436 the hospital of Sandon in this 

 county, being greatly reduced in revenue, 

 was united to this house.'' 



A letter from Sir Thomas More to Wolsey, 

 dated i6 March 1528, mentions the hospital 

 of Southwark, and that the master was old, 

 blind and feeble. Though in the gift of the 

 Bishop of Winchester, the king was informed 

 that Wolsey, as legate, might appoint a coad- 

 jutor, and he would like to have the 

 same for his chaplain Mr. Stanley. The 

 king had two reasons for asking this : first, 

 that Stanley was a gentleman born ; and 

 secondly, if he could get rid of him he would 

 like to have a more learned man in his 

 place.* 



Very shortly after this, namely on 20 May 

 1528, aged Richard Richardson resigned his 

 office, being allotted a pension of 40 marks.' 

 Richard Mabbot was elected his successor 

 on 22 May. 



On 26 September 1535 Richard Layton, 

 the monastic visitor, wrote to Cromwell to 

 the effect that he was going to visit the 

 exempt monastery of Bermondsey, South- 

 wark, and 'the bawdy hospital of St. Thomas' 

 on his return out of Kent.'" Layton's epi- 

 thets and general language were usually coarse 



> Winton. Epis. Reg. i. ff. 224-5. 

 ' Cal. of Papal Letters, v. 497. 

 » Winton. Epis. Reg., Beaufort iii. f. 315. 

 * Ibid. iii. f. 331. 

 5 Cal. of Papal Letters, v. 497. 

 ^ Winton. Epis. Reg., Beaufort, iii. 51, 52; 

 Stowe MS. 942, f. 330. 



7 Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, ii. f. 57. 



8 L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 4,080. 



9 Winton. Epis. Reg., Fox, v. f. 156b. 

 1" L. and P. Hen. VIII. ix. (i) 44 



and often untrustworthy, but in this case 

 his reference to the hospital seems justified, 

 for master Mabbot was undoubtedly lax in 

 discipline and bad in personal character. 



The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 gave the 

 clear annual value of the hospital at ;^309 

 IS. lid., of which sum only j^42 45. od. was 

 spent on the poor and infirm. There were 

 at this time three lay-sisters — originally the 

 sisters were also professed and of the Austin 

 rule — and there were forty beds for the poor. 



A complaint was addressed by certain 

 parishioners of St. Thomas' hospital to Sir 

 Richard Longe and Robert Acton, in July 

 1536, against the master and brethren of the 

 hospital, accusing them of maintaining im- 

 proper characters within the precincts, refus- 

 ing charitable relief to those in sickness, and 

 even to those willing to pay, — insomuch that a 

 poor woman great with child was denied a 

 lodging and died at the church door, while 

 rich men's servants and lemans were readily 

 taken in, — refusing baptism of a child till the 

 master had 3^. 4^., and other irregularities. 

 The master was charged with often quarrel- 

 ling with the brethren and sisters even in the 

 quire of the church, of which strange 

 instances were cited. As to the services in 

 the church they complained that the usual 

 three or four sermons in Lent had not been 

 given, they had often scant two masses in a 

 day, and they had been forced sometimes to 

 seek a priest about the Borough to sing high 

 mass. Moreover the master had put down 

 the free school formerly kept within the hos- 

 pital, although there was £^ a year for its 

 maintenance, was guilty of 'filthy and in- 

 decent ' conduct, openly kept a concubine, 

 claimed to be ' lord, king and bishop ' within 

 his precincts, and sold the church plate, pre- 

 tending it was stolen. The names of nine 

 witnesses were appended to these grave 

 allegations.^' 



On 4 July 1538 Robert More, one of the 

 priests of the hospital, confessed before Robert 

 Acton, justice of the peace, that before the 

 robbery of church plate the master sold two 

 silver parcel-gilt basins, a' silver holywater 

 stock and ' spryngyll,' a pair of parcel-gilt 

 silver candlesticks, a parcel-gilt silver censer, 

 and a pair of parcel-gilt silver cruets. He 

 delivered ^^5 to Robert as his portion. The 

 master was robbed of as much plate as would 

 go into a half-bushel basket. The master 

 consulted the brethren about selling his 

 house at Deptford Strand. More said if he 

 did so he would sore offend his prince. The 

 master bade them do as he commanded, and 



11 Ibid. xi. 168. 



