If there is a consistent thread that binds the complex tapestry of English history it is inconsistency. Forty years ago we were agog to join Europe … now? But I want to look back to the 13th century.
The Domus Conversorum (House of Converts) was founded by Henry III in 1232 where Jews could live and worship once they had converted to Christianity. I expect this bacon butty brigade were much dispised by those who remained faithful to Judaism. Anyway this royal hand of friendship was withdrawn after less than fifty years when Edward I passed the Edict of Expulsion. This law was not repealed until 1657 and that was by Oliver Cromwell. To digress, wouldn’t it sharpen up our erstwhile EU friends if we threatened an Edict of Expulsion for EU citizens living in the UK?
The chapel of the Domus Conversorum passed into the hands of the Master of the Rolls in 1377 under Edward III and the chapel became known as the Chapel of the Master of the Rolls and the almshouse used to store the rolls of the Court of Chancery. It would have been a fine place to visit but it was completely rebuilt in 1617 by Inigo Jones when John Donne preached at the consecration. From then on it is all downhill. It was again rebuilt in 1734, altered in 1784 and demolished in 1895. All that remains is one arch now placed above a bicycle shed.
The site of the chapel is within the Maughan Library, part of King’s College, on Chancery Lane and actually it is well worth visiting. The floor is a mosaic discovered when the library was being built and there are three remarkable funerary monuments from the original chapel any one of which would justify the trip. Here is Richard Alington (died 1561) and his wife Jane (died 1603) kneeling facing each other with their three children below.
Next is Edward Bruce, 1st Lord Kinross, and Master of the Rolls, died 1611.
Beneath him are, from left, his daughter Christian, his wife and his sons (the eldest in armour). Christian was married in the Rolls Chapel aged twelve to William Cavendish. James VI gave her away. Her husband became the 2nd Earl of Devonshire and on his premature death she ran his estates, as did Debo in the 20th century. His eldest son was killed in a duel with Sir Edward Sackville in 1613. Thomas, his brother on the right, inherited the title but was created Earl of Elgin in 1633.
I have been saving the best until last. Here is Dr John Yonge, Dean of York and Master of the Rolls in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The sculpture is by Pietro Torrigiano who also did the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey. Pietro’s other claim to fame is that he broke Michelangelo’s nose in a brawl. Dr Yonge died in 1516 of the sweating sickness aged forty-nine.
These remarkable monuments are in the Weston Room and there is free access to the public on production of ID. If you must spend some money, the Silver Vaults are just up the road.
Thanks for this London gem. Especially the Yonge memorial.
Wish I had had a look when we visited
Thanks for sharing
Interesting coincidence (or perhaps not) that Toronto’s main street is Yonge Street and that Toronto was originally called York. (We still have North York, East York, and York University.)
I have been told to pronounce Yonge as Young and that Yonge Street is the longest street in the world.