the Savoy

Savoy, on the SE side of the Strand against Exeter Exchange. This was first built in the year 1245 by Peter, Earl of Savoy and Richmond, Son to the Earl of Savoy, Brother to Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury, and Uncle to Helleoner, Wife to King Hen. III. which Queen Helleoner purchased this place (of the Fraternity of Mountjoy, unto whom Peter of Savoy had formerly given it) for her Son Edmond Earl of Lancaster; and Henry Duke of Lancaster afterward repaired it, laying out thereon 52000 Marks.

John the French King lodged there in the year 1357 and 1363. for it was then one of the fairest Manors in England. But in the year 1381. the Rebels of Kent and Essex burnt this House, for the hatred they bore to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. It was after this coming into the hands of Hen. VII. he new built it for an Hospital of St. John Baptist, about the year 1509. and purchased Lands for the relieving 100 poor Children, and for the lodging of Pilgrims and Strangers. This Hospital, expending yearly 529 l. 15 s. was suppressed the 10 of June, in the 7 of Edw. VI. and the Revenue thereof given to Christ Hospital.

But this Hospital was again new built, and endowed by Queen Mary in the 4th of her Reign; and since the Parish took the Name of St. Mary in the Savoy, which was formerly called St. John in the Savoy.

Savoy, or Lancaster Palace, is situated to the westward of Somerset house, between the Strand and the Thames. This place obtained the name of the Savoy, from Peter Earl of Savoy and Richmond, who built it about the year 1245, afterwards transferred it to the friars of Montjoy, of whom Queen Eleanor, the wife of King Henry III. purchased it for her son Henry Duke of Lancafter. The Duke afterwards enlarged and beautified it, at the expence of 52,000 marks, at that time an immense sum. Here John King of France resided, when a prisoner in England in the year 1357, and upon his return hither in 1363, when it was esteemed one ot the finest palaces in England.

This edifice was burnt in 1381 by the Kentish rebels, on account of some pique they had conceived against John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was then the proprietor. But the ground afterwards devolving to the Crown, King Henry VII. began to rebuild it as it at present appears, for an hospital, for the reception of an hundred distressed objects; but that Prince not living to see it compleated, Henry VIII. his son, not only granted his manor of the Savoy to the Bishop of Winchester and others, the executors of his father's will, towards finishing the hospital; but by his charter of the 5th of July 1513, constituted them a body politic and corporate, to consist of a Master, five secular Chaplains, and four Regulars, in honour of Jesus Christ, his Mother, and St. John Baptist; the foundation to be denominated The hospital of King Henry VII. late King of England, of the Savoy.

This hospital was suppressed in the reign of Edward VI. when the revenues were found to amount to 530 l. per annum, which that Prince gave to the city of London towards making a provision for the hospitals of Bridewell, Christ-church, and St. Thomas: but Queen Mary converted it into an hospital again, and having endowed it anew, her Ladies and Maids of honour completely furnifhed it, at their own expence, with all necessaries. However the hospital was again suppressed upon the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne, and the revenues applied to the uses intended by her brother.

Nothing here is now to be seen, but the ruins of the ancient edifice built with free-stone and flints, among which is still remaining part of a great building, in which detachments of the King's guards lie, and where they have their Marshalsea prison for the confinement of deserters and other offenders, and to lodge their recruits.

A part of the Savoy was assigned by King William III. for the residence of the French refugees, who have still a chapel here, in which they conform to the church of England. Stowe. Dugdale's Mon. Ang.

Savoy, Strand,—entrance by 124, about the middle of the S. side, nearly op. Exeter-change.

Savoy, The, in the Strand, is a district so called, nearly opposite Catherine-street, and to the westward of Waterloo-bridge, between the Strand and the Thames. It is on the site of an ancient palace, built by Peter, Earl of Savoy and Richmond, in 1245, and afterwards transferred to the friars of Mountjoy, of whom Queen Eleanor, wife of Henry III., purchased it for her son, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, who, in 1328, enlarged and beautified it, so that it exceeded in magnificence every other structure in the kingdom. It was in this palace, that John, King of France resided, when a prisoner in England, in 1357.

This edifice, with all its furniture, was burned by the Kentish rebels, out of pique to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; but the ground devolving to the crown, Henry VII. began to rebuild it as an hospital for distressed poor. Henry VIII. granted it in 1513, to the Bishop of Winchester, and others, executors of his father's will, and constituted them a body corporate and politic, under the name of "The Hospital of King Henry VII., late King of England, of the Savoy."

It was suppressed in the reign of Edward VI., and its revenues, amounting to £529 15s. 7d. per annum, and all its furniture, given to the citizens of London towards the new foundations of Bridewell and St. Thomas's hospitals.

The Savoy became again the property of the crown, an act of resumption having passed in the 4th and 5th of William and Mary. It is now nearly all destroyed, but the ancient chapel is still remaining.— [See St. Mary-le-Savoy, and St. John the Baptist, in the Savoy.

Savoy (The), in the Strand, a house or palace on the river side (of which the chapel alone remains), built in 1245 by Peter, Earl of Savoy and Richmond, uncle unto Eleanor, wife to King Henry III. The Earl bestowed it on the fraternity of Montjoy (Fratres de Monte Jovis, or Priory de Cornuto by Havering at the Bower, in Essex), of whom it was bought by Queen Eleanor for Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, second son of King Henry III. (d. 1295). In 1293 a license to castellate was obtained.¹ Henry Plantagenet, fourth Earl and first Duke of Lancaster, "repaired, or rather new built it," at a cost of 50,000 marks, and here John, King of France, was confined after the battle of Poictiers (1356). The King, not long after his release, died on a visit to this country in his ancient prison of the Savoy. Blanche Plantagenet, daughter and co-heir of Henry, first Duke of Lancaster, married John Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of King Edward III. ("Old John of Gaunt"); and while the Savoy was in his possession it was burnt and entirely destroyed by Wat Tyler and his followers (1381). Mention is made in the Accounts of 1393–1394 of the annual loss of £4:13:4, "the rent of 14 shops belonging lately to the Manor of the Savoy annexed, for each shop by the year, at four terms 6s. 8d., the accomptant had nothing, because they were burnt at the time of the Insurrection, and are not rebuilt." In the Accounts the Insurrection is spoken of as "The Rumor" (or popular murmuring, post rumorem). The Symeon Tower was repaired this year, as were also the "Great Gates of the Manor," and the Water Gate; and 10s. were paid "for making one hedge for the protection of the Garden opposite the said manor of the Savoy." The "fruits and profits" of the garden were let for 13s. 4d. "Paid to divers labourers for making 2 perches of the wall on the west side of the garden, called 'mud-wall' between the Savoy and the Inn of the Bishopric of Carlisle, each perch at 9s. = 18s.; and paid for covering 10 perches of a certain old wall on the same western side, at 18d. a perch, 15s. Mem. for the Steward to inquire whether the burden of making this wall of right belongs to the Lord or not." Also "for 82 lbs. of iron, bought and worked into the form of a lattice and placed in the wall of the aforesaid [Symeon] tower, inclosing the window towards the east, for the safe keeping of the prisoners in the said tower, at 2d. the pound, 13s. 8d."^l The writer of the accompt received 2d. a day for wages.

The Savoy lay long neglected after this, nor would it appear to have been rebuilt, or indeed employed for any particular purpose before 1505, when it was endowed by Henry VII. as a Hospital of St. John the Baptist, for the relief of 100 poor people. The King makes particular mention of it in his will. At the suppression of the hospital in 1553, the beds, bedding, and other furniture were given by Edward VI. to the Royal Hospitals of Bridewell and St. Thomas. Queen Mary re-endowed it, and it was continued and maintained as a hospital till the first of Queen Anne (1702), when it was finally dissolved. Fleetwood, the Recorder of London, describes the Savoy in 1560 in a letter to Lord Burghley as a nursery of rogues and masterless men: "The chief nurserie of all these evell people is the Savoy, and the brick-kilnes near Islington." Queen Elizabeth, when taking the air "at her woode nere Islyngton was environed with a number of roges," and sent word to the Lord Mayor and Recorder, who took summary measures for the apprehension of all rogues and masterless people. But the master of the Savoy Hospital was unwilling to allow of their apprehension in his precinct, as he was "sworne to lodge claudicantes, egrotantes, et peregrinantes;" but in spite of his "curtese letter" they were "all soundly payd" before they were sent back.² The Savoy, long after sanctuary was legally abrogated, continued to be a refuge for debtors and disorderly persons, and the chapel was the last place in which the so-called Fleet marriages were performed in defiance of the law. [See St. Mary le Savoy.]

At the Restoration the meetings of the commissioners for the revision of the Liturgy took place in the Savoy (April 15–July 25, 1661); twelve bishops appearing for the Established Church, and Calamy, Baxter, Reynolds, and others for the Presbyterians. This was called "The Savoy Conference," and under that name is matter of English history. Fuller, the author of The Worthies, was lecturer at the Savoy, and Cowley, the poet, a candidate at Court for the office of master. "Savoy missing Cowley" is commemorated in the State Poems of that time. The successful candidate was Dr. Killigrew, the father of Anne Killigrew, who is buried in the chapel, and who still lives in the poetry of Dryden. King Charles II. established a French church here, called "The French Church in the Savoy." Now removed to Bloomsbury Street. The first sermon was preached by Dr. Durel, Sunday, July 14, 1661. The sick and wounded in the great Dutch War of 1666 were lodged in the Savoy. On the night of April 16, 1763, the recruits for the East India Service, temporarily confined in the Savoy, made a determined attempt to escape. They disarmed the guard and obtained possession of the keys, but before they could force the outer gate a detachment of soldiers arrived, and after a sharp struggle the recruits were forced back and secured, but not till three of their number had been killed and "several mortally wounded."¹

This Savoy House is a very great and at this present a very ruinous building. In the midst of its buildings is a very spacious Hall, the walls three foot broad at least, of stone without and brick and stone inward. The ceiling is very curiously built with wood, and having knobs in due places hanging down, and images of holding before their breasts coats of arms, but hardly discoverable. On one is a Cross gules between four stars or else mullets. It is covered with lead, but in divers places perished where it lies open to the weather. This large Hall is now divided into several apartments. A cooper hath a part of it for stowing of his hoops and for his work. Other parts of it serve for two Marshalseas for keeping Prisoners, as Deserters, men prest for military service, Dutch recruits, etc. Towards the east end of this Hall is a fair cupola with glass windows, but all broken, which makes it probable the Hall was as long again; since cupolas are wont to be built about the middle of great halls. In this Savoy, how ruinous soever it is, are divers good houses. First the King's Printing Press for Proclamations, Acts of Parliament, Gazettes, and such like public papers; next a Prison; thirdly a Parish Church [St. Mary-le-Savoy] and three or four of the churches and places for religious assemblies, viz. for the French, for Dutch, for High Germans and Lutherans; and lastly, for the Protestant Dissenters. Here be also harbours for many refugees and poor people.—Strype, ed. 1720, B. iv. p. 107.

On Tuesday a person going into the Savoy to demand a debt due from a person who had taken sanctuary there, the inhabitants seized him, and after some consultation agreed, according to the usual custom, to dip him in tar and roll him in feathers, after which they carried him in a wheelbarrow into the Strand, and bound him fast to the Maypole, but several constables and others coming in, dispersed the rabble and rescued the person from their abuses.—The Postman for July 1696, No. 180.

Sir Thomas Heneage appears to have removed from Bevis Marks [which see] to the Savoy in 1590, on being appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and he died at the Duchy House in the Savoy in 1595. In 1687 the Jesuits opened a chapel and schools in the Savoy, and offered to instruct gratuitously all youths who were "fit to begin Latin" in that language, Greek, poetry and rhetoric; but schools and chapel were closed and the Jesuits dispersed on the abdication of James II. The inscription on the monument at Acton to Mrs. Barry, the celebrated actress of the reign of Charles II., describes her as "of the parish of St. Mary Savoy." Alexander Cruden, author of the Concordance, lived here, and here Jacob Tonson had a warehouse. The last vestiges of the Savoy buildings were swept away in forming the approaches to Waterloo Bridge.²

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¹ Thirty-first Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Appendix I, p. 17.

¹ Archæologia, vol. xxiv. p. 299.
² Ellis's Letters, vol. ii. p. 285.

¹ Lambert, vol. ii. p. 193.
² Of the Savoy there is a scarce etching by Hollar (a river front), done in 1650, and a most careful survey and view by Vertue, done in 1736, for the Vetusta Monumenta. Its position and the connection of the buildings are well shown in Strype's Map, B. iv. p. 108.