History of the "Domus Conversorum" from 1290 to 1891

<plain_text><page sequence="1">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM" FROM 1290 TO 189I. By Rev. MICHAEL ADLER, B.A. The subsequent careers of Jews who have deserted the fold must always possess an absorbing interest for us. The fame of a Heine or a Beaconsfield?to mention only two of the present century? remains a valued possession of our people, however deeply we deplore the apostasy of these men, for we can never forget that the Jewish temperament remains the same throughout life, whatever religious label be attached to the individual. It is for this reason that the story of the House of Converts, a portion of which I have the honour to unfold before you this evening, presents to us a theme worthy of the consideration of this Society. The subject has been already partially dealt with by Mr. Lucien Wolf,1 Mr. Sidney Lee2 and Mr. C. Trice Martin,3 but none of these gentlemen has given a complete history of the persons who resided in the House of Converts, nor has closely examined the numerous documents preserved in the Office of Public Records in Chancery Lane. The work of investiga? tion, that was suggested to me at a meeting of the Society's Research Committee, proved a highly attractive one, especially as I was in the 1 In his lecture on the Middle Age of Anglo-Jewish History. Papers of the Anglo-Je wish Historical Exhibition, 1887, vol. i. p. 53. 2 Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 26, Feb. 16, April 27, June 15, 1883. These articles, which were published unsigned, deal principally with the story of the Domus in the Pre-Expulsion period, and are based upon Tovey's Anglia Judaica. The concluding article has a few notes upon the Middle Period. 3 Transactions of the Jewish Hist. Soc, vol. i. p. 15, contains a history of the architecture of the Domus: several facsimiles of receipts given by the converts accompany the paper. 16</page><page sequence="2">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 17 unusual position of being engaged in the study of a region of Anglo Jewish history that had hitherto remained in a large degree unexplored. In the year 1232, King Henry III.1 issued an Order to the effect that he desired, " for the health of his own soul and for the souls of his ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God and of the glorious Virgin," to found a Home for destitute Jews converted to Christianity. This novel idea was, in all probability, suggested to the king by his clergy,2 who, by means of the substantial bribes of a free Home and maintenance, hoped to effect a conversion en masse of the English Jews. The king fixed the endowment of the establishment at 700 marks a year, and gave a site for the buildings in what is now called Chancery Lane. This Domus Cotiversorum, or Converts7 Jnn,s wTas situated upon the very spot where the investigations for this paper were conducted, and that is now covered by the new buildings of the Rolls Office. The history of the House from the year of its foundation until 1290, when the expulsion of the Jews from England took place, is full of interest, but I pass over these fifty-eight years with set purpose. I also omit all reference to the architectural history of the Domus, which Mr. Trice Martin has already detailed before the Society. I intend to devote this paper entirely to the Middle Period of Anglo-Jewish History (1290-1656), and hope to be able to throw some light upon the question of the presence of Jews in this country from the days of Edward I. until the days of Cromwell. In the year of the Expulsion, there were eighty 4 converted Jews in receipt of the royal bounty, which amounted to l?d. a day for 1 Dated Jan. 16, 1232. See Rymer, vol. i. p. 201. For the full text, see Appendix I. In April of the following year, 1233, a further Order was issued to the Bishop of Chichester. This is erroneously given in Tovey, p. 92, as the Foundation Charter of the Domus, but it merely supplements the first Order, and details the sources of income from certain confiscated lands, and from fines. The second Order is also given in Rymer, vol. i. p. 208. 2 See the preceding note. The two bishops whose signatures are appended to the Order are Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, the favourite of Henry III., and William, Bishop of Carlisle. 3 "Le Converse Inn" in Norman-French. See Hardy's Syllabus to Rymer, vol. i. p. 528. 4 Patent Roll, 1290, m. 19. VOL. IV. B</page><page sequence="3">18 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." a man (i.e. about 3s. 9d. of our present value) and Id. (i.e. about 2s. 6d.) for a woman. The persecutions of the preceding years had been so severe that it is remarkable that there were not many more faint-hearted Jews willing to avail themselves of the easy life of a royal pensioner, with a home and every comfort provided gratuitously. The decree of banishment that drove some 16,0001 of our co? religionists from England does not appear to have increased the number of residents in the Domus Conversorum. One of the inmates, Claricia2 the daughter of Jacob Copin, the richest Jew of Exeter,3 had deserted her faith and her home some ten years prior to the Expulsion, but her father surrendered all his wealth to share the fate of his persecuted brethren and once again to take up the wanderer's staff. As one man, the Jews departed from this land, holding steadfastly to their sacred Law. When we think of the history of the Spanish Jews, we are led to wonder why some of the people did not either conceal themselves in the country, or undergo baptism and enter the House of Converts, as a species of Marrano, in the hope of the storm passing over and allowing them to emerge at a favourable opportunity with open profession of their faith. In this same year, the affairs of the Domus fell into considerable confusion. Early in the year, two of the inmates, John de Havenak and Philip le But, of Cricklade,4 were appointed to collect the chevage,5 or poll-tax, that was levied upon the English Jews, from the age of twelve, for the support of the Home for their renegade brethren, and these two officials were authorised to summon before a Justice such Jews as did not render true returns of their wealth. Upon the refusal of any Jews to pay the chevage, Jorm and Philip were em? powered to distrain upon their goods or imprison them. The employ? ment of converts to collect debts due to the House was a common practice, and points to the strong belief in the financial skill of the Jew, whether converted or not! The results of this collection do not appear to have been satisfactory, and, moreover, the.Royal Exchequer 1 Vide Jewish Quarterly Revieiv, vol. vii. p. 445 ; Transactions of the Jewish Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. 79. 2 Vide List on p. 21, note 2. 3 Transactions of the Jewish Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. 91. 4 Patent Roll, 1290, m. 36d. Calendar, pf. 398. 5 Rymer, vol. i. p. 582. Tovey, p. 217.</page><page sequence="4">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 19 had more important matters to attend to than that of the payments to the Domus Oonversorum. In the year 1280, King Edward I. had issued precise regulations1 for the management of the Domus, and, included among the sources of income, was the chevage before mentioned. The departure of the Jews from the country destroyed this source of revenue, and the Treasury took no pains to substitute any other for it. The converts, finding themselves neglected, petitioned the king, three months after the Edict of Expulsion had been signed, and com? plained bitterly of their sad plight. They urged that they did not receive their full allowance, and that their Keeper w,as indifferent to their interests. They prayed that the rents of some churches, or escheats should be allotted to them, and that "the grants of deo dands2 be renewed to them for ever," unless, they generously add, '' the king had already granted their deodands to others." The king graciously complied with all the requests of his converts, except the one asking for the rents of some churches, which, he said, he would attend to when he had time. A Custos (Keeper or Warden), was appointed by the Chancellor, and, from about the year 1300, this office was united to that of the Master of the Holls. The king was especially kind in directing that an annual sum of ?202, 0s. 4d., equal to about ?7000 of our money, should be settled upon the Domus, in addition to the benefaction of the founder, Henry III.? from which amount the salaries of the Keeper, two chaplains, and one clerk were to be defrayed, the pensions to the converts paid, and their chapel, houses, and other buildings maintained in order. Upon the death of each convert the allowance was to lapse, and thus the expenses of the Domus would gradually diminish. The reason for this last injunction of the king is clear. In July of the same year, King Edward had signed the decree banishing all Jews from his realm, and he naturally hoped that the necessity for the existence of the Domus would very shortly cease. But this 1 See Appendix IL 2 Deodand: "Is a thing given, as it were, to God, to appease His wrath when a person comes to a violent death by mischance, or by any reasonable creature ; and is forfeited to the king, and sold and the money given away. Also, the goods and chattels of a felo de se were deodands."?Jacobs' Laiv Die tionary.</page><page sequence="5">20 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." expectation was far from being realised. The House continued to receive baptized Jews, almost without a break, to the days of James I., and, as late as the year 1717, an application was made for the pay? ment of the royal pension to a converted Jew in London. Eight years after the great Expulsion, the converts renewed their complaints to the king.1 The rents of certain property in the City had been allotted to the Domus, but these moneys had not been received. The king, ever ready to give ear to the appeals of his official converts, ordered the mayor and sheriffs of the City of London to bestir themselves and aid the inmates of the Domus to collect the debts due to them. Notwithstanding these royal commands, the Domus continued to be neglected. In the year 1305,2 a new Order in Council was issued, instructing the Barons and Treasurer of the Exchequer to pay out to the Warden of the House in Chancery Lane the sum of ?202, 0s. 4d. per annum, "as," continues the Order, "it appeared from a petition of the converts that they had received nothing for eight years." The heavy expenses of the wars that were being waged at this time against the Scots, who were led by Wallace and Bobert Bruce, probably caused the Treasury again to disregard the wishes of King Edward. The death of that monarch on his way to Scotland, and the coronation of his son in 1307, were important events for the Domus Conversorum, as the converts must have been present in their chapel when Bobert, Bishop of London, took the oath of fealty to the new king, kneeling before Sir John de Langton, Bishop of Chichester, who was also the royal Chan? cellor.3 In the following year, the converts appealed to their new sovereign for support.4 It may be that this petition came as a complete surprise upon the king, seeing that eighteen years had elapsed since the Jews had been expelled the land, and men had in all probability for? gotten the existence of the House of Converts. King Edward may have expected all the quondam Jews to have been dead by now, or to have left the Domus. Before, therefore, acceding to their request, the king sent Boger de Hegham and John de Sandal to hold a commission of 1 Patent Roll, 1298, p. 315. 2 Patent Roll, 1305, p. 393. 3 Close Rolls, 1307, p. 49. 4 Close Rolls, 1308, p. 90; also Inquisitiones ad quod damnum, 2 Edw. II., No. 126; and Rymer, vol. ii. p. 62.</page><page sequence="6">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 21 inquiry into the affairs of the institution. The full report of the commissioners is fortunately extant. At the outset, the royal officers narrate the story of the origin of the House, and of the grant made in 1280 by the previous king for the expenses of the estab? lishment. A complete list of the names of the inmates since 1280 is furnished.1 At that date, there had been ninety-seven persons in the Domus. In the twenty-eight years that had elapsed since 1280, seven? teen men and seventeen women had died, whilst four men and eight women had disappeared. There thus remained twenty-three men and twenty-eight women, for whom provision would have to be made. Speaking of the twelve persons2 who had left the House, the report says that, in the year 1280, they had been living in the Domus, but they were absent at the time of the inquiry, "and whether they are living somewhere else, or are dead, is altogether unknown." Is it possible that these men and women preferred to throw in their lot with their banished ex-coreligionists, and left the country with them in 1290 ? This suggestion is, however, certainly incorrect in one case,3 for we find that, seven years after the inquiry, a woman, Margery of Stamford, petitioned for her allowance to be restored to her, together with the arrears, as, at the time of the inquiry, she had been very ill, and unable to answer to her name. The king granted Margery's request.4?But to return to the report of Hoger de Hegham and John de Sandal. The ninety-seven names of converts are, unfortunately for us, without exception, the baptismal names adopted upon conversion. To the name of each person is usually affixed the town or village whence they came, demonstrating that the London House attracted to itself more provincial than metropolitan Jews. Some of the towns mentioned are as follows :?Canterbury, Merton, Winchester, Stamford, Lincoln, Bury, Arundel, Oxford, Cricklade, Northampton, Norwich, Leicester, Exeter, Bristol, and Nottingham. The men assumed such names as 1 See Appendix III. 2 Johannes de Wynton,[,Walterus de Goringes, Johannes de Croyland, Barna? bas de North, Margery de Staunford, Juliana de Bury, Basilia de Norwyco, Claricia de Exon (Exeter), Isoida de Oxon, Elizabeth de Byngham, Alicia de Wygorn, and Cecilia de Lutegarshall. 3 See also about Claricia of Exeter, pp. 18 and 26. 4 Patent Roll, 1315, p. 184.</page><page sequence="7">22 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." William, Martin, Richard, Hugo, Reginald, Roger, Gregory, Nicholas. One man was John of Paris, another John le Philiper, i.e. the skinner. Henry of Oxford was a clerk, whilst one Richard was a tailor. The women also received new fine-sounding names, such as Juliana, Alicia, Claricia, Elionora, Isolda, Ermentruda, Letitia, Cecilia. One woman was called Petronilla la Furbere, i.e. the polisher. How our con? verts, formerly styled Isaac, Jacob, Abraham, or Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, must have enjoyed the novelty of the change of name to these elegant Norman and Anglo-Saxon designations! Many of the women were, no doubt, the wives and daughters of the male converts; in some instances, this is distinctly stated. One woman, called Isabella la Converse,1 had had the good fortune to have as a godmother at the baptismal font, Queen Isabella,2 wife of Edward II., and sister of the King of France, and the generous queen granted her protegee an addi? tional 8d. per day of money of Paris. The outcome of this momentous inquiry was that King Edward renewed the Order to the Exchequer for the regular payment of the pensions to the converts, and all complaints on the part of the latter now cease. A part of the annual outlay incurred by the Exchequer was defrayed from, deodands that were paid in all parts of the country, for, in 1330, the sheriff of the county of Derby3 is instructed to pay half of the deodands to the Abbot and Convent of Newminster, in Northumberland, and the other moiety to the London Converts' House. In the same year, the sheriffs of Bedford and of Leicester 4 are ordered to devote a portion of the deodands to the same purpose. From the records, it is not altogether clear how the converts passed their time in the House. They had to attend service daily in their chapel to pray for the repose of the souls of their royal founders, Henry III. and Edward I., statues of whom, at the present day, adorn the new edifice that stands on the site of the ancient chapel. The converts thus formed a kind of religious brotherhood living in seclusion from the world. It is highly improbable that they took any part in the legal business that was transacted daily in 1 Probably identical with Isabella de Sancte Paulo. 2 Patent Rolls, 1331, p. 122. 3 Rymer, vol. ii. p. 247. 4 Close Rolls, 1330, p. 66.</page><page sequence="8">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 23 their chapel, and that is referred to very frequently in the contemporary records. In the regulations laid down in 1280 by Edward I. to the then Keeper of the House, John de St. Denys,1 the king instructs his Custos to select from among the converts a person who was "capellanus conversus idoneus et honestus," a suitable and honourable converted chaplain, and to appoint him to the post of " presbiter seu procurator," priest or proctor, over the other converts. Further, if any man was skilful in teaching, he was to give instruction to his fellows, whether it was in a handicraft or in letters. We can only hope that no Rabbis, or other officials of synagogues, ever entered the House to become chaplains, or priests, or proctors. Whether the inmates were permitted to engage in business is very doubtful. In one instance, however, we find a certain Martin the Convert2 who was unable to shake off the old Adam, for he continued both to lend and to borrow money whilst in the House. He borrowed from a certain Master Henry de Clyf, clerk, and the note of the transaction adds, that, in default of payment, the debt could be levied upon the land and chattels of the said Martin in London. This Henry de Clyf, who was appointed Keeper of the House about the year 1324, was a money-lender on a very large scale, both before and after his promotion3?and the inhabitants of the Domus must have looked upon him with awe as a worthy compeer of the great Aaron of Lincoln of a past generation. But I am anticipating events, and must therefore retrace my steps to the year 1315, twenty-five years after the great Expulsion. At this time, Adam de Osgodeby was Warden of the House, and his brother had married Alesia,4 the daughter of Martin the Convert above mentioned. The friendly relations thus established between this convert and his Keeper probably gave rise to keen jealousy on the part of other inmates, and a bitter quarrel broke out in the House.5 Two of the converts, Masters William of Cricklade and John of Northampton, chaplains of the Domus, headed a revolt against their 1 See Appendix IL, Tovey, p. 217. 2 Close Rolls, 1309, p. 151 ; 1310, p. 331. 3 Close Rolls, 1330, pp. 43, 136, 163, 323, 402, 407, 408, 525. 4 Patent Rolls, 1315, p. 356. 5 Close Rolls, 1315, June 11, p. 228.</page><page sequence="9">24 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Keeper, and formally laid complaint against him before the King and Council. It was alleged by " the said convert chaplains, who are charged and sworn from their infancy (sic) to pray for the king and his ancestors, and the conversi of London who are houseless," that, in spite of the charter of the founder of the Domus, the Keeper had been guilty of excluding the converts from the Close of the House, and had harboured his clerks there. He had also allowed strangers and horses to be harboured there, and had let some of the tenements of the converts, where they were entitled to be housed, to strangers, for the term of their lives by their common seal, without receiving their consent, and to the prejudice of the king, to whom the tenements ought to revert after their death. The petitioners, there? fore, pray that these lettings to strangers be annulled, because, if the converts should fall ill or become enfeebled, they had no place to re? sort to, being thus deprived of their Close, that was their own property, and, piously add the ex-Jewish proctors, "the matins and masses of the said chaplains of the alms of the kings, their founders, are worth as much as the paternosters of mere laymen."' The condition of affairs in the Domus that must have preceded the presentation of such a series of charges against the Keeper of the House may be easily imagined. Like a second Korah, Master William of Cricklade, who appears to have been the ringleader of the agitation, caused the whole community to seethe with discontent. The king at once ordered an investigation to be held. Two officers of the Chan? cellor's Court visited the Domus, and, in the chapel of the Domus, examined all the converts and their Keeper under oath. To the manifest surprise of the royal commissioners, it soon became evident that only very few converts sided with William the chaplain. The majority of them, probably led by Martin, whose daughter had married the Keeper's brother, vehemently repudiated the charges against their Warden. The report of the commissioners declares that it was proved to them by the sworn statements of the majority of the converts, that the said William was altogether a disreputable person and undeserving of the post of chaplain. He had never received a fixed residence in the Domus, but had occasionally been permitted to stay there in the time of the former Keeper, who had deprived him of his wages as a convert on account of certain crimes, whereof he had defamed the whole</page><page sequence="10">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 25 Community, and whereof he had accused them by letters to the Keeper. Of these crimes they had purged themselves to their Keeper, but the present Custos had been indulgent enough to pay William his wrages against the wish of the converts, who now desired that William should not be allowed to reside in their midst any more, and that it should be left to the Keeper's generosity whether he should continue the pay? ments or not. The letting of the tenements in the Close had been done with the full assent of all the converts, and, so far from their Keeper having let the tenements upon his own initiative, as William had alleged, Adam de Osgodeby had opposed the act of the converts and had only agreed to it with reluctance. The said William had also given his consent, and had, in fact, himself written out the notes of the transaction, it being the opinion of the community that a higher rent could be obtained for the tenements in dispute, and that, by strangers occupying the same, the converts would be saved the expense of keeping the dwellings in repair. In reply to the defence of the converts on behalf of their Keeper, the complainant, William, was examined by the royal commissioners, but his colleague, John, prudently withdrew his charges. When the King and Council had considered the report submitted to them upon the whole quarrel, they rejected the petition of William at every point, and ordered him to be handed over to the Keeper to be castigated, at the discretion of the Keeper, for his false complaints. What form the discretion of Adam de Osgodeby assumed we do not know, but, at any rate, we do not hear of any other inmates venturing to level charges against a Keeper of the Domus. Two years after these stirring events (1317), William de Ayremyne was appointed Keeper1 and remained in office for seven years, resigning the post when he became Bishop of Norwich. Seven years after his resignation, he petitioned the king to have an audit taken of his accounts when Keeper, as he knew that he had received money for which he could not afterwards account.2 The result of this audit is not given. In 1327 Richard de Ayremyne became Keeper, and in the third year of his Keepership he refused to pay her wages 1 Close Rolls, 1324, p. 9G. 2 Close Rolls, 1331, p. 245.</page><page sequence="11">26 HISTORY OF THE " DOM US CONVERSORUM." to a woman named Clarieia la Converse.1 This woman, who states that she was a daughter of Jacob Copin, thereupon petitioned the king for her rights. Her father, we learn from a record of the property possessed by the Jews of Exeter at the Expulsion,2 had been the wealthiest Jew of that town, and had left England together with the rest of his co-religionists. Clarieia asserted that she had been admitted into the House in the time of Edward I., and had received the usual wages during a number of years. In justification of his refusal to pay her, the Keeper urged that she had dwelt for a consider? able time in distant parts and was unknown to him. The king finally ordered the Keeper to ascertain whether Clarieia was a convert and had received the usual pension in the past, and, if so, to readmit her. Upon reference to the above-described Inquiry of 1308, mention is found of Clarieia of Exeter, who had been admitted in 1280, but was absent at the time of the Inquiry. It thus appears that Clarieia had remained out of the House for about nineteen years, and had returned to her birthplace, Exeter. During this period she had married, as, shortly after her readmission, her children joined her in the Domus. But of these children I shall have occasion to speak later. Hitherto, all the information set forth in this paper has been derived from the Close and Patent Rolls, from Rymer's Foedera, and from other contemporary records. With the year 1331, however, there begins a most valuable series of documents that pertain exclusively to the House of Converts,3 and that are carefully pre? served in their original skin pouches at the Rolls Office. These extend in an almost unbroken sequence to the year 1609, thus covering nearly the whole of the obscure Middle Period of Anglo Jewish history. In all, I examined some 200 documents, written either in Latin or Norman-French, and I have to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. W. J. Hardy and Mr. E. Salisbury, both officials at the Rolls Office, for their ever-willing assistance in over? coming the difficulties that abounded in the manuscripts. These records may be grouped under three heads:?A. The orders of the king for the admission of a convert, sometimes adding personal 1 Close Rolls, 1330, p. 64. 2 See p. 18. s Exchequer Accounts. Q.R.; Bundles, No. 250, 15-30; and Bundles, 251-255.</page><page sequence="12">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS C0NVERS0RUM." 27 details of an interesting nature.1 B. The statement of annual ex? penses of the Keeper, who is also styled Master of the Rolls. In these statements, which are all drawn up in identical form, the names of the resident converts are inserted.2 G. A large number of the annual receipts given by the converts for their pension of ?2. 5s. 7|d., usually left unsigned, but having a seal attached.3 The first annual Account4 is that of the above-mentioned Richard de Ayremyne, in the fourth year of his Keepership. The records prior to this date, 1331, have unfortunately been lost, with the sole excep? tion of that of 1280,5 referred to above. At this time there were eight men and thirteen women 6 remaining from the list given in the report of the Inquiry of twenty-three years before. One of the converts now bears the name of John le Ebreu, whereas in the earlier list he was called John of Havenak. Only one new convert had been admitted during these twenty-three years, as far as can be ascer? tained. He was a certain Walter of Nottingham, who had joined the fraternity very shortly before the year 1331. He was at once promoted to the post of chaplain in the converts' chapel, his colleague being the same John of Northampton who had been concerned in the quarrel of 1315. This position was certainly a distinguished one, as one of the duties appertaining to it was to proceed to the Treasury to receive the salaries of the Keeper and the officials and the pensions of the inmates.7 The rapid rise of Walter of Nottingham leads us to suspect that he may have been a Jew of some importance prior to conversion, perchance a Rabbi, which would account for his imme? diate selection for the chaplaincy. It should be borne in mind that, in addition to the two convert chaplains, there was a regular staff 1 See Appendix IV. 2 For specimens of these, see Appendices VI., VIII., XIV., XVII., XIX. 3 For specimens of these, see Appendix V. 4 Bundle 250, No. 15. See Appendix VI. 5 Bundle 249, No. 24. As this MS. is of considerable importance for Pre Expulsion history, and is the sole MS. remaining of the Domus' records prior to 1331, it is here printed in full for the first time. See Appendix VII. 6 See Accounts, printed on pp. 56 and 57. 7 See Accounts, p. 56 ; i&gt;er manus Walteri, per manus Johannis.</page><page sequence="13">28 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." of two chaplains and one clerk to attend to the spiritual and temporal affairs of the community. Whether Walter had been hiding in Eng? land, in the town of Nottingham, where there had once been a con? siderable Jewry, during the forty-one years that had elapsed since the Expulsion, or had come to England after the Expulsion, is a matter for speculation. The latter theory appears to have more foundation in fact, for, a few months after his admission, Walter received from the king a special safe-conduct1 to enable him to cross the seas, ad negotia sua, on private business. We are not told whither he went, but it was probably to France, and it may be that Walter went home to settle his affairs prior to his settling down in the peaceful atmosphere of Chancery Lane. He returned to London after his Continental trip, and lived for six years in the Domus. The number of inmates slowly dwindled, the men dying at a greater rate than the women, for, at the end of 1337, two men 2 are alive out of the twenty-three, and eleven women 3 out of the twenty nine, who had attended the royal Inquisition of 1308. In the same year, the year that witnessed the beginning of the Hundred Years' War with France, four new arrivals entered the House. Two of these were the children of Claricia of Exeter, named Richard and Katherine.4 It will be remembered that this woman Claricia had absented herself from the House for nineteen years.5 During this period she had married, and had left her two children behind in Exeter when she returned to the House, and six years elapsed before they joined her in London. There is a special clause in the royal Order of admission 6 for Richard of Exeter that permits the young convert to receive the customary l|d. per day, whether he resides in the House or alibi in regno, anywhere else in the kingdom. This last phrase occurs also in the Orders to admit, in the same year, John, son of Edward of 1 Patent Rolls, 1331, p. 82. 2 Henry of Oxford, who was a chaplain; and Richard, the tailor. B. 250, No. 18. 3 Johanna of Northampton and Anne of Merwelle had died. 4 B. 250, No. 18 ; and Patent Rolls, 1336, p. 259. 8 See p. 26. 6 Before entering the Domus, Richard and Katherine had been in receipt of the allowance as if they themselves were conversi. See Patent Rolls, loc. cit.</page><page sequence="14">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM. 29 St. John, and William his brother.1 The father of these two con? verts was a godson of King Edward IT., but was not sufficiently destitute to need the shelter of the Domus. His sons, however, had become impoverished, and were glad to enter the royal Home, where they remained for one year. What subsequently became of them we know not. Richard and Katherine of Exeter both elected to live with their mother in Chancery Lane, Richard dying thirteen years later. Mention is made above of a convert being the godson of King Edward IL, and consequently assuming the name of Edward. For the king himself to stand sponsor to a baptized Jew was an event of rare occurrence. But, as the Domus was essentially a royal institution, it is not surprising that the various kings took a warm interest in its welfare. This is further illustrated by the following act of King Edward. In the year 1339, the active campaign against France began that terminated seven years later with the crowning victory of Cressy. King Edward landed at Antwerp on his way to invade France from the North, and, whilst staying at the Belgian seaport, a Jew applied to him for admission to his London Home for Converts.2 The fame of the Domus must have spread very far for a Jew of Brussels to seek to participate in its benefits. Although he was busily occupied, King Edward found time to be present at Antwerp at the public baptism of this man, who was accordingly given the name of Edward. An Order was addressed to the Keeper of the House, with a special injunction to pay Edward of Brussels the sum of 2d. per day instead of ljd. Four months later, April 20, 1340, this Order was renewed, addressed this time direct to the Treasury. The terms of the royal command, which is in Latin, are more elaborate than usual, and may be repeated here :?" The King sends greeting to his Treasurer and his Associates. Inasmuch as our beloved Edward of Brussels has recently abandoned the super? stitious errors of Judaism and, through baptism, has accepted the Catholic faith, and because we rejoice in Christ over his conversion, and lest he should recede from the path of truth upon which he has 1 B. 250, No. 18 ; and Patent Rolls, 1337, p. 494. 2 Rymer, vol. ii. part ii. p. 1121; and Patent Rolls, 1339, p. 400.</page><page sequence="15">30 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." entered because of poverty, and inasmuch as we desire to provide him with the necessaries of life, we have granted to him, on the third of December last, a suitable home and habitation in our House of Converts, in the suburb of our city of London, to enjoy the same for the term of his life: and, further, we enjoin that he shall receive from our Exchequer the sum of 2d. a day, which is to be paid to him through the hands of the Keepers of the said Domus Conversorum for all his life, and we have issued letters patent to this end and purpose." In spite of these full instructions, there is no record of the fact that Edward of Brussels entered the London Home. The returns of expenses of the Keepers are quite complete throughout these years, but no trace of the Belgian convert is to be found in any of them. The royal Orders described above are taken from the Patent Bolls of the period. It is in the highest degree probable that Edward did not, or could not, cross the North Sea because of the war between England and France. Gardiner states, in his Student's History of England (vol. i. p. 239), that, in the year 1340, the date when Edward of Brussels was converted, " the French navy held the Channel, and had even burnt Southampton." Perhaps our Edward was captured by a French ship, or prudently did not venture to proceed to London to enjoy his pension in view of the troubled state of public affairs. There is also reference made in the Patent Rolls1 of the year 1345 to Orders from the king to admit Janato of Spain and John of St. Paul, but neither of these men ever entered the House. May we express the hope that they repented them of their apostasy and took refuge in a more tolerant land than England was at this time for Jews 1 or it may be possible that these three men, Edward of Brussels, Janato of Spain, and John of St. Paul were allowed to live outside the Domus, and their pensions were paid to them not by the Keeper but direct from the Treasury. Five years later, 1350, there were admitted William of Leicester, son of Johanna of Leicester, who had herself lived in the Domus for over twenty-eight years, and had died there eight years before, and 1 These names are given in Black's Catalogue of the Ashmolean MS., p. 829, and are said to be extracted from the Patent Rolls of 18 Edw. III. They are however, not to be found in the Calendar of Patent Rolls for that year.</page><page sequence="16">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 31 John of Hatfield,1 but both stayed only a very short period. William of Leicester died in the Domus after a brief residence of one month. By the year 1353, only Claricia of Exeter remained, the sole repre? sentative of converted Judaism in England, sixty-three years after the Expulsion. To minister to her spiritual needs, the same establishment of two chaplains and one clerk, in addition to the Master of the Rolls, was maintained. The Master of the Rolls received twenty marks a year (?13. 6s. 8d.), the two chaplains ?4 each, and the clerk the salary of two marks, or ?1. 6s. 8d. a year. Claricia died in 1356, at a very advanced age, and was the last survivor of the list of inmates given in the year 1280 ?seventy-six years before. A month or two after her death, John of Castile2 was admitted. This man may have been a refugee from the massacre of the Jews perpetrated in Toledo,3 during the Civil Wars that raged at this time in Castile. The Order of admission states that he had been converted from the rites of the Jews, and had lately arrived in England destitute of means of subsistence. In addition to his daily allowance, an extra grant of ?2 was awarded to him. The records of the Domus Conversorum for the years 1359 to 1386 have been lost, but the gap is partially filled from Rymer's Feeder a and the Patent Rolls. From these sources we learn that six men were admitted during this period.4 These were John de Sancte Marie, the Spaniard; Laurentius de St. Martin, probably also of Spain; John of Kingston, Thomas of Acres, Edmund, and Peter. Stow reports, in his Survey of London (p. 147, ed. by Thorns), that in the year 1382 a man named William Piers was sent to the House and received 2d. a day for life, by order of King Richard II. As the returns of the Keepers are missing of this period, there is no other reference to this convert.5 When the series of documents at the Domus recommences, only John de Sancte Marie is resident in the House.6 He had been baptized in the year 1371 in London, when he was christened in full John the Convert of the Annunciation of Saint 1 B. 250, No. 21. 2 B. 250, No. 24; Rymer, vol. iii. part i. p. 332; Close Rolls, 1356, p. 332 Tovey, p. 223. 3 Graetz, Ges. der Juden, vol. vii. p. 385. 4 Rymer, vol. iv. p. 100 ; Patent Rolls, 1384, p. 366 ; ibid., Dec. 7, 1384, p. 491. 5 Cf. Tovey, p. 226. 6 B. 250, No. 25.</page><page sequence="17">32 HISTORY OF THE &lt;; DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Mary, and the king granted him, in addition to his pension, the profits of the gardens adjoining the Domus.1 Our Spanish convert must have passed the time peacefully enough?he remained for thirty four years?undisturbed by the turbulence of the period and cultivat? ing his garden in what was at that time a rural suburb of the City of London. With reference to the arrival of these foreign converts in London, a wide field for speculation is open to the historical explorer. Two theories are worthy of consideration. The first is, that Jewish men and women came to these shores, by accident or by design, oblivious of the fact that the residence of Jews in England was prohibited. Some, upon learning of this law, left the country, whilst a few indi? viduals preferred to abjure their faith and enter the Domus Conver sorum, in order to enjoy its pecuniary advantages. The second theory is, that the report of the existence of the London Refuge for Converts had been disseminated abroad, and induced certain feeble-hearted per? sons to make their way to this country, where apostates received such substantial support. This was certainly the case with Edward of Brussels, mentioned above, and seeing that so many of the newcomers in Chancery Lane were of Spanish origin, it is possible that the fame of the institution had penetrated as far as the cities of Aragon and Castile. In narrating the history of the Jews of the Spanish Penin? sula of the latter half of the fourteenth century and of the fifteenth century, Gr?tz2 draws especial attention to the numerous conversions to Christianity that took place, and it is only a matter for surprise that the number of arrivals at the London Domus from that land was not considerably larger than we know it to have been. In the year 1386, when Chaucer was engaged upon the Canterbury Tales, there arrived at the Domus a French Jew and his wife, named Aseti and Perota Briarti.3 For seven years these three members of the convert community kept each other company, when they were joined by Thomas Levyn (probably meant for Levi), a Jew of Spain.4 This man remained in the House 1 Patent Rolls, 1384, p. 366. 2 Vols. vii. and viii. 3 B. 250, No. 25. 4 p. 251, No. 1. See Appendix VIII.</page><page sequence="18">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM.'; 33 for thirty-two days, probably bringing the latest news from Spain to his compatriot, John de Sancte Marie; but, at the end of that time, he ran away, and did not reappear. Perhaps Thomas decided to return to his ancestral faith, or, it may be, that the society of the other con? verts was not congenial to him. Did he stay in England, or return home ? Upon this interesting point we are altogether without any information. By the year 1393, John de Sancte Marie is again alone, and the Keeper of the House, finding that the number of his proteg?s continued so small, discharged one of the two chaplains, and so economised to the extent of ?4 per annum.1 In narrating the history of the Domus Conversorum, it must not be forgotten that there lived in England numerous converts who, not being paupers, did not enter the portals of the Chancery Lane institution. Frequent reference to such men and women is to be met with in the contemporary records; two of them, Ralph the Convert and Alexander the Convert, I have already dealt with in an article published in the Jewish Clironicle of August 5, 1898. In the year 1390, a Jew of Sicily 2 was publicly baptized in the presence of King Richard IL, at the Palace of Langley, by the Venerable Father Robert, Bishop of London; and, in honour of his royal god? father, the name of Richard was bestowed upon this convert. He was not sent to the Domus Conversorum, but an annuity of ?10 {i.e. about ?300) was settled upon him for life. In addition to this, he was paid the sum of fifty marks on the day of his conversion?his lot being certainly much happier than that of his confreres in the Domus. The secret of the apostasy of this man probably lies in the concluding words of the royal Order concerning him, that " he be permitted as a Catholic to traffic with certain Christians out of England." But to return to Chancery Lane. After Thomas Levyn had mysteriously disappeared, six years elapsed before a new inmate arrived, this time a woman, whose name is given as Elizabeth, the daughter of Rabbi Moses, episcopus Judaeorum, bishop of the Jews,3 i.e. 1 B. 251, No. 2. 2 Devon's Issues of the Exchequer, 13 Rich. II. p. 242. 3 B. 251, No. 4; Tovey, p. 226. VOL. IV. C</page><page sequence="19">34 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Rabbi or Dayan.1 In one of the receipts for her annuity, the clerk describes her father as Rabbi Moses, levesque des Jues de France et dalmaigne 2?- the bishop of the Jews of France and Germany; but this title existed probably only in the imagination of the writer. The fact of such a woman being a recipient of the royal bounty is carefully emphasised upon every occasion that the name of Elizabeth is met with. She is una Judaeorum ad fidem Christianorum conversa, the one Jewess converted to the faith of the Christians-^evidently a remark? able phenomenon. No woman had lived in the House since the aged Claricia of Exeter died, forty-three years before. What brought Elizabeth to England must, I suppose, for ever remain a mystery. For seventeen years she continued to dwell in the Domus, and four years after her admission3 a royal warrant was issued, allowing her an additional Id. per day by the grace of his Majesty the King. Among the receipts for the year 1409 is one from Elizabeth Pole, wife of David Pole,4 citizen and tailor of the city of London; whilst in the statement of the Keeper, John Wakering, for the same date, the only Elizabeth to whom money was paid is the daughter of Rabbi Moses, the bishop of the Jews. It therefore appears certain that this lady married Mr. Pole the tailor, but nevertheless continued an inmate of the Domus for a further seven years. David Pole must have been a Welshman or a Scotchman residing near Chancery Lane, and, in all likelihood, had been smitten by the charms of the fair Rabbi's daughter whilst attending service at the converts' chapel. Could he, as his name faintly suggests, have been a secret Jew, an English Marrano ? Again, lack of information baffles the hope of a reply to this conjecture. Elizabeth had been in the Domus for two years (1401), when another interesting convert entered. This man, named William of Leicester, signed his first two receipts 5 in Hebrew characters, William Leicester Convers. A facsimile of one of these receipts appears in 1 Vide Jacobs' Jeivs of Angevin England,- p. 372. 2 B. 251, No. 15. See Appendix X. 3 Ibid. No. 7, and Rymer, vol. viii. p. 299. This Order was renewed each year. See Appendix IX. 4 Ibid. No. 11. See Appendix XI. 5 Ibid. TSo. 5. See Appendix V.</page><page sequence="20">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM. 35 the first volume of the Transactions of this Society, in connection with the paper by Mr. Trice Martin upon the architectural history of the Domus. From the appearance of the caligraphy of this convert, William was a Spaniard, and was well acquainted with Hebrew. The remainder of his receipts?he was an inmate for sixteen years?bear only the ordinary seal, and we are left to regret that more of his Hebrew writing and more personal details concerning him have not come down to us. These three individuals, John of Sancte Marie, William of Leicester, and Elizabeth remained together until 1405, when the gardener, John of Sancte Marie, died. Four years later, two women entered the Domus, concerning whom certain details are given in the certificate of admission,1 sufficient to whet the appetite without satisfying it. The royal Order, written in Norman-French, and dated December 21, 1409, is addressed to the Keeper of the House, and sets forth that Johanna and her daughter Alice, of the royal city of Dartmouth, who were before Jewish 1 miscreants/ desiring to be of the Christian faith, had yielded up all their goods and chattels that they possessed in the gate of the royal city aforesaid, and had been converted and baptized according to the testimonies signed and sealed by and under the seal of the mayor and burgesses of that city. " It has sufficiently been made clear that the said Johanna and Alice have no proper means of sustenance. We have therefore considered this matter with reverence for God, and command you to admit them for the term of their lives and grant them the usual wages of the converts, Id. per day." What were these women doing in Dartmouth, and how long had they been known by the complimentary title of "Jewish miscreants " before embracing Christianity ? Had some ship landed them at the Devonshire seaport instead of taking them to France or Germany; or had Johanna's husband deserted her, after residing at Dartmouth with her for a period 1 It is highly improbable that Johanna's family had been hidden in Dartmouth, as Marranos, during the 119 years since the Expulsion. It is more likely that she was of some foreign country, but, for the rest, her life's story is shrouded in mystery. 1 Ibid. No. 11. See Appendix XII.</page><page sequence="21">36 HISTORY OF THE "DOMTJS CONVERSORUM." Johanna stayed for forty, and her daughter Alice for forty-five years in the Domus, In the same year that these two women were admitted, the com? munity reached a total of five, by the arrival of one, William of St. Jacques.1 This man, probably envious of the extra grant enjoyed by Elizabeth, the daughter of Rabbi Moses, petitioned the king for a similar privilege,2 and King Henry graciously allowed him his request, so that William of St. Jacques received 2jd. per day. As the number of inmates had increased to five, the Keeper of the House now asked the king for the services of a second chaplain,3 and was successful in obtaining his desire. The number of chaplains remained at two throughout the rest of the history of the Domus, even during those years, of which we shall shortly hear, when there were no con? verts at all in residence. It was about this time, in the year 1410, that there arrived in England an Italian Jew, named Elias Sabot, from Bologna (Boleyn la Crase), who was permitted by a royal decree to practise medicine in any part of the realm.4 It is possible that Doctor Sabot visited the Domus out of mere curiosity, although he adhered to his faith, but all details concerning his stay in England are unfortunately lacking. In 1413, a certain Henry of Woodstock,5 and his two sons, Martin and Peter, brought up the number of inmates to eight. Eor three years Henry enjoyed the shelter of the Domus, but at the end of that time he left,6 taking with him his younger son, Peter. The Keeper, Simon Gaunstead, reports that " Henry had returned to the country whence he had come, and a long time had elapsed without his coming back, or giving any one the power of attorney to receive his money for him." This suggestive note probably indicates that Henry had gone back to the Continent by permission of his Keeper, and was therefore entitled to receive his allowance during his absence. Strangely enough, five years later,7 a receipt is included among the records of the Domus, from Robin of Hyndringham (Co. Norfolk), who, acting as attorney for Henry of Woodstock and his sons, acknowledges the sum of .?18,12s. 3d., 1 Ibid. No. 11. 3 Ibid. No. 17. 5 B. 251, No. 16. 7 Ibid. No. 20. See Appendix XV. 2 Ibid. No. 12. See Appendix XIII. 4 Rymer, original ed., viii. p. 667. 6 Ibid. No. 19. See Appendix XIV.</page><page sequence="22">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 37 being five years' wages for Martin and Peter. It is difficult to under? stand why Peter continued to receive any wages, seeing that he had left the House with his father. Martin, however, remained at Chancery Lane, and takes second rank to Claricia of Exeter for length of resi? dence, living for fifty-five years a quiet life in the Domus, all heedless of the terrible War of the Roses that raged without. A year after the battle of Agincourt, Henry V. acted as sponsor in London to a Jew of Stratford, bestowing upon him his royal name, and granting him an additional l^d. per day.1 Henry of Stratford was sent to the Domus, where he was the companion of Martin of Woodstock and the other converts for twenty-five years (1416-1441). To pass more rapidly over the names of the converts of this century, of whom nothing explicit is told us by the records, the following men were admitted into the Domus : John Durdrang (or, as more correctly written in several instances, Durdraght), probably from Dordrecht,2 in Holland, 1425-1455; Alver (or Alfred) Oliver3 (probably Oliveira, a Spanish name), 1438-1446; and John Seyt,4 1448-1488. In the year 1440, King Henry VI. founded Eton College, and ten years later, a Jew, residing near the College, was baptized under the auspices of the king, and assumed the name of Henry of Eton.5 He remained only three years, leaving in the Domus, Alice of Dartmouth, who died the following year; Henry of Stratford, John Durdraght, John Seyt, and Martin, son of Henry of Woodstock. Eight years later, only Martin and John Seyt occupied the buildings in Chancery Lane, when they received a com? panion upon the entrance of Edward of Westminster.6 This man was publicly baptized in Westminster Abbey in the first year of the reign of the first of the Yorkist kings, Edward IV., from whom he received his name. Another Edward, Edward Brandon,7 joined the little com? munity in the seventh year of the reign of Edward IV., but, after a stay of two years, he absented himself for a time, returning, however, to the shelter of the Domus for a further period of two years. During 1 Ibid. Nos. 19 and 20. See Appendix XVI. : concerning the word filiol, cf. Cotgrave, sub voce. 2 Ibid. No. 25. 3 B. 252, No. 10. 4 Ibid. No. 16. 5 Ibid. No. 20. 6 Ibid. No. 24. 7 Ibid. No. 26. Brandon is the name of an English town.</page><page sequence="23">38 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." the struggle of Henry VI. to recover his throne from Edward IV., who had deposed him, the Royal Exchequer paid no heed to the requests of the Master of the Rolls for his salary,1 and the expenses of the Domus. As soon, however, as Edward of York had been firmly seated on the throne by Warwick the Kingmaker, a demand, which was duly honoured, was made for the arrears due to the Domus. A third Edward, with the surname of Beauchamp,2 arrived in the year 1482, but found in the Domus only John Seyt and Edward of Westminster. When Richard Crookback, after the murder of the princes in the Tower, ascended the vacant throne, Edward Beauchamp changed his name to Richard 3 Beauchamp, but quickly reverted to his former name when, in 1485, King Richard fell at the battle of Bos worth Field. The payments to the Domus had again become irregular during the troubled reign of Richard III., but the accession of Henry VII. quickly set matters in proper order again.4 The new king appointed a Welshman, David Williams, to the post of Master of the Rolls and Keeper of the House of Converts, and, in his third year, there entered John Fernando 5 (1487-1503) and Henry Vaughan 6 (1487-1488). The first-mentioned was unquestionably a Spaniard who had fled from Spain a few years prior to the great Expulsion by Ferdinand and Isabella, which emigration of about 300,000 Jews from the Iberian Peninsula had otherwise no effect upon the number of inmates in the London Domus. A few years after the Expulsion from Spain, when Henry VII. was negotiating for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Catherine of Aragon, the Spanish Ambassador in London complained 7 that many Jews who had been driven from Spain in 1492 had found an asylum in England. King Henry, in reply, politely swore by the faith of his heart that he would not harbour any people, including the Jews, who were the enemies of the King of Spain. How far the complaints of the Spanish Ambassador were justified we have little evidence to 1 Ibid. No. 29. 2 B. 253, No. 3. 3 Ibid. No. 4. 4 Ibid, No. 5. See Appendix XVII. 5 Ibid. 6 Z&amp;id. 7 Cal. Spanish State Papers, i. p. 164. I owe this reference to the article on u Elizabethan England and the Jews," by S. L. Lee, in the Publ. of the New Shaks. Soc., Series i., 1888.</page><page sequence="24">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 39 prove, but if Spanish Jews did come here, they succeeded in concealing their religion, and did not enter the Domus.1 The above-mentioned Henry Yaughan, by the adoption of his new name, contrived to pay a double compliment,?in the first place, to the king, and, in the second, to his Welsh Custos. In the following year, John Seyt and Edward Beauchamp died, and were replaced by Henry of Windsor (1488-1509) and Edward Brampton (one year, 1488).2 In the year of the banishment of the Jews from Spain, 1492, the first Jewess was admitted since the death of Alice of Dartmouth, thirty-eight years previously. She was a Portuguese woman, and bore the name of Elizabeth Portingale.3 For forty-six years she resided in the Domus and received the same pension as the men, viz. l|d, per day, as like wise did Elizabeth Baptista,4 who entered twelve years afterwards, in 1504, and stayed for twenty-seven years. A year before the con? version of Elizabeth Baptista, Edward Scales5 (1503-1527) joined the little band, and passed twenty-five years within the precincts of the Chancery Lane almshouses. When Henry VIII. had been seated on the throne eighteen years, Scales died, and the two Elizabeths, who had received their names from Queen Elizabeth of York, the mother of King Henry VIII., remained for five years the sole parishioners of the two chaplains of the converts' chapel. It was exactly at this period that King Henry was preparing for a secret marriage with Anne Boleyn, and, a few weeks before this act, Queen Catherine of Aragon and her daughter, afterwards Queen Mary, stood as godmothers to two foreign Jewesses, probably from the Barbary States or South Europe, and gave them the names of Katherine Wheteley and Mary Cook.6 This was in the year 1532, and on December 20 of that year, King Henry signed and sealed the fol? lowing warrant, addressed to Dr. John Taylor, the then Keeper of the House:7?"By the King,?Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And where ye be accustomed to pay yearly to all and singular such person and persons which be, from time to time, within this our realm of England, converted to our Christian and most Catholic faith 1 See L. Wolf, in article quoted above, pp. 59, 60. 2 B. 253, No. 6. 3 Ibid. No. 8. 4 Ibid. No. 17. 5 Ibid. No. 15. 6 B. 254, No. 3. 7 Foreign and Domestic Letters and Papers, 24 Hen. VIII.</page><page sequence="25">40 HISTORY OF THE &lt;:DOMUS CONVERSORTJM." [this was only a year before King Henry renounced his allegiance to the Pope] from any erroneous faith and misbelief, three halfpence by the day during the natural life of every such person and persons, for and towards their relief and finding (ye having from us knowledge of our pleasure by our warrant to you directed in that behalf), we let you wit that forasmuch as Katherine Wheteley, sometime called Aysa Pudewya, refused her erroneous faith and belief, and took and received baptism and our Christian and most Catholic belief within this our realm of England, our will and pleasure is, that ye pay or do cause to be paid yearly unto the said Katherine during her natural life three halfpence every day." A similar Order was issued on behalf of Mary Cook, previously styled Omell Faytt Isya. The pre-baptismal names of these women are somewhat strange. They are, of course, Hebrew, but have been corrupted by the English clerks, ignorant of the sacred language. Aysa Pudewya may be intended for Ayesha (or Asisa1) Bath (the daughter of) Iya (or Chiya), thus pointing to a Moorish origin; or for JWilB n^K, the woman of Padua,2 whilst Omell Faytt Isya may be read Merle or Male3 ( = Amelia) Bath Isaiah (or Josiah), or the word Isya may, in this name, be also the Hebrew nfc^K, a woman, which word Omell Faytt may have added when giving her Hebrew name to the clerk. Two years after the admission of Katherine and Mary, the famous Thomas Cromwell, the suppressor of the monasteries, and successor of Cardinal Wolsey, received from his royal master, among numerous other marks of affection, the Mastership of the Rolls,4 and took up his residence within the Chancery Lane institution. Cromwell was far too busily engaged with more vital matters of Church and State to interest himself in the welfare of the converts, whose Warden he nominally was. He therefore delegated one John Lambert5 to perform the active duties of the Keepership, but himself drew the salary as Custos to the full extent of ?13, 6s. 8d. per annum. He often held his public receptions of suitors in the Domus, and the three foreign women who lived there, Elizabeth the Portuguese, 1 Cf Zunz, Namen der Juden, in Ges. Schriften, i. p. 43. 2 Ibid. p. 59. 3 Ibid. p. 58. 4 B. 254, No. 5 ; and Patent Rolls, 26 Hen. VIII. part 2. 5 B. 254, No. 5, see Appendix XVIII.</page><page sequence="26">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 41 Katherine, and Mary, must have been deeply impressed by the throngs of nobles and bishops, and priests and nuns, who struggled for an audience with the great Minister of King Henry?for Cromwell was just at that time actively engaged in the suppression of the religious houses, and in the conflict with the Pope. It was probably only the comparatively trifling cost of the maintenance of the Domus that enabled it to escape the rapacious grasp of King Henry. The total annual expenses were ?29, 4s. 2|d., Cromwell, however, receiving as Keeper, in addition to his salary, certain rents amounting to ?25 per annum, and a tun of Gascon wine that had become a perquisite of each Warden since the year 1509.1 King Henry's Vicar-General held this sinecure for nearly four years. In the second year of the reign of Edward VI. (1549), only Mary Cook remained in the House, and two years later her name disappears from the return of expenses presented by the Custos, Sir Robert Bowes. From this date, 1551, until 1578, i.e. for twenty six years, the Domus was empty. Nevertheless, the successive Keepers, the two chaplains, and the clerk continued to receive their usual emoluments, and the annual statements of accounts are written with greater care and elegance than ever.2 The clerk had to do something for his fee of ?1, 6s. 8d., so he produced a beautifully written document for presentation at the office of the Royal Exchequer. At length, in 1578, there entered Nathanael Menda,3 who, we are informed, had previously been called Jehooda Menda. This man had come from the Barbary States,4 probably Morocco, and for six years had lived in London before resolving upon conversion. On the 1st of April 1577,5 the Church of All-Hallows in Lombard Street, City, witnessed a remarkable scene. In the presence of a crowded gathering of nobles and citizens, Menda read aloud, in Spanish, a statement of the reasons that led him to embrace Christianity. This confession was forthwith translated into English and printed. Menda shows himself to have 1 Foreign and Domestic State Papers, 1509, vol. i. p. 23. 2 See particularly B. 255, No. 8. See Appendix XIX. 3 B. 255, No. 10. 4 See Introduction to the Sermon by John Foxe, De Oliva Evangelica Concio: English translation by James Bell, 1578. 5 Ibid.</page><page sequence="27">42 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." been an excellent Hebraist and Biblical scholar. Among a long array of arguments in favour of Christianity, he points out that only in a Protestant country like England was it possible to attract Jews to the Church, as the idolatry existing in other lands was a hindrance to their desire for baptism. " Our fathers and elders,'' he says, "call the Christians of Spain and Portugal and other Catholic countries Baale Abodazara, idolatrous masters and lords of strange worship." He concludes as follows: "I protest to you that I utterly forsake my former ways and the steps that my nation walketh in, leaving with it not only that false looking for another Messhiach, but my name also, which was given to me at my circumcision, that is Jehuda, though in itself it be honourable; desiring that, as I have received a new gift from the Lord, so in token thereof I may be called Nathanael." The baptizing of Menda was followed by the delivery of a powerful sermon, by the Puritan preacher, John Foxe, the author of the Booh of Martyrs. Foxe's sermon, which was in Latin, must have taken at least four hours in delivery; but, so keen was the interest taken in the conversion of Menda?" from the natural contumacy of his native country"?that Foxe was invited to the house of Sir Francis Walsingham,1 the Queen's Secretary of State, who had been prevented by indisposition from attending the service, where he preached the sermon over again for Walsing? ham's private edification. Foxe had evidently discussed with Menda very minutely every objection brought by Jews against Christianity, as he dealt with these arguments seriatim, and parti? cularly seized upon Menda's preference for the Beformed Church as a text for a tirade against the abuses of Boman Catholicism. Foxe concluded his sermon with the hope that the "remnant of the circumcised race may be allured by the example of this Israelite stranger to be desirous of joining the same communion." The publication of the English versions of Menda's confession of faith and Foxe's sermon, in the year 1578, may account largely for the frequent allusions to Jews that are to be found in Elizabethan 1 Ibid.</page><page sequence="28">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 43 writers?-notably, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta and Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. But of this I shall have occasion to speak later. Menda's baptism took place on April 1, 1577, and he entered the Domus in January of the following year. His first receipt is attested by a certain Matthew Salwey, who states that Menda was personally known to him. There is one feature about all Menda's receipts, with one exception only,1 that is worthy of notice. He signs his name in Hebrew characters ^&amp;OrO&gt; and, in no instance, does he use a cross as his mark. This practice he maintained during the whole thirty years that he resided in Chancery Lane. On the other hand, a convert named Fortunati Massa,2 formerly called Cooba (meant, I presume, for Jacob) Massa, who joined Menda in 1581, invariably used a cross in acknowledging the receipt of his pension. Massa may also have come from Morocco, though we possess no personal details of his life, such as exist concerning Nathanael Menda. These two men kept each other company for seventeen years, until 1598, when Massa died. Their presence in the Domus coincided with a very stirring period of English history. The quarrels with the Catholics, the " singeing of the King of Spain's beard " by Drake and Raleigh, the destruction of the Invincible Armada, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the rise of Puritanism ? all these epoch making events were probably of very little concern to our two converts. Of more interest to them may have been the production of the two Elizabethan plays that have Jews as their central characters. Kit Marlowe wrote his Jew of Malta about 1590, whilst six years later the Merchant of Venice appeared on the stage. When we remember how near the Home in Chancery Lane was to the Blackfriars and Globe Theatres, it may not be extravagant to imagine that Menda and Massa may have been led by curiosity to visit the theatres and to listen, with mingled feelings, to the vile speeches of Barabbas of Malta, and to the mocking laughter of the audience, that, in those days, greeted the outpourings of Shylock of 1 The article by Martin, Transactions of the Jewish Hist. Soc, vol. i. p. 15, reproduces in facsimile one of Menda's receipts, and this happens to be the only one not signed in Hebrew. 2 B. 255, No. 11.</page><page sequence="29">44 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Yenice. It is further worth speculating whether Shakespeare ever visited the Doraus in order to obtain information upon Jewish dress and manners and religious customs. The public avowal of faith by Menda in 1577 had, no doubt, created a great sensation; the booklet containing his speech and the sermon of Foxe was on sale everywhere, and what more likely a result than that the ever-inquisitive and knowledge-absorbing Shakespeare ascertained by these means the existence of a converted Jew in London and went to him for informa? tion. This suggestion is strengthened by a careful examination of the references to Jewish matters in the Merchant of Venice. Shylock says to Bassanio (Act i. Sc. 3): "I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following ; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you." At the end of Act i., Antonio observes, "This Hebrew will turn Christian." Beferences to the conversion of Jews are frequent. Thus, Jessica (Act ii. Sc. 3) says, that if Lorenzo will keep his promises to her, she will "become a Christian and a loving wife." She further declares, "I will be saved by my husband: he hath made me a Christian," and, "He (Launcelot) tells me flatly that there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter; and he says, you are no good member of the commonwealth, for, in converting Jews to Christians, you raise the price of pork." We have allusions in the play to the Synagogue (Act iii. end of Sc. 1); to the "holy Sabbath" (Act iv. Sc. 1); and to the eating of pork (Act i. Sc. 3); Gratiano mocks at Shylock, saying, "In christening, shalt thou have two godfathers" : and, finally, the punishment meted out to Shylock after the trial is, that he should consent to become a Christian, and, to this, the broken and defeated Jew is forced to respond, " I am content." Whether these allusions in the Merchant of Venice do or do not owe their origin to Shakespeare's acquaintance with an ex-Israelite, the idea is exploded once for all, that, at the time of the production of the Jew of Malta and the Merchant of Venice, there were no Jews or quondam Jews in London from whom the dramatists might have derived their knowledge of Jewish affairs. Two years after the publication of the Merchant of Venice, there arrived at the Domus a convert, concerning whom more biographi? cal data are extant than of any other who ever resided in the House.</page><page sequence="30">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 45 Philip Ferdinandus1 has been honoured by a place in the Dictionary of National Biography? although in that work no mention is made of the fact of his having partaken of the charity of the Domus. Two of his receipts are in existence, the first signed in English and Hebrew,3 the latter carefully punctuated, with the word veofyvra added in Greek, and the second marked only with a cross. This man was born in Poland about the year 1555, and became first a Catholic, and subsequently a Protestant. Making his way to England, he entered as a poor student at Oxford University. His fame as a teacher of Hebrew soon spread abroad, and he gave lectures in several colleges. He then migrated to Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1596, and continued his Hebrew tuition, having most of the resident Professors as his pupils. A year or so later, Joseph Scaliger, the renowned Hebraist, secured for Ferdinandus the Professorship of Hebrew at Leyden University. Scaliger was very much attached to the convert, and told his friends that he had profited greatly by his intercourse with Ferdinandus. The latter, he said, was a remarkable Talmudist, but almost entirely ignorant of the grammar of Hebrew. According to a letter of Scaliger, Ferdinandus died in Leyden in 1598, and this statement is accepted in the Dictionary of National Biography, and by Mr. Lucien Wolf in his lecture on the Middle Period, delivered in 1887.4 But our documents of the Domus Conversorum disprove this assertion, as the receipts for his annuity are dated Feb. 1599 and Feb. 1600. It is probable that Ferdinandus left Leyden very suddenly, and, coming to London, entered the Domus, where all trace of him was lost. Whilst residing at Cambridge, Ferdinandus published a small book,5 dated 1597, in Latin, which is full of interest. In a preface, addressed to the scholars of Cambridge University, the Polish convert gives many autobiographical details. He tells us how he forsook the 1 B. 225, No. 16. 2 Vol. xviii. p. 333. 3 See Martin's paper for facsimile of this receipt: Philippus Ferdinandus, neophyta, Dn?i*T$ DI?^B. 4 Papers, Anglo-Jewish Exhib., 1887, vol. i. p. 67. 5 The full title is "Praecepta in Monte Sinai data Judaeis sunt 613 quorum 365 negativa et 248 anirmativa collecta ... et impressa Bib. B?mberg, anno a mundo creato 5288 Venetiis et authori Vox Dei appellata : translata in lingnam Latinam per Phillippum Ferdinandum Polonium." Cambridge, 1597.</page><page sequence="31">46 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." many errors in which he was nurtured, and how diligently he had studied that sacrosanda lingua, Hebrew. He does not write his book for gain, but in order to exhibit to those who desire to learn Hebrew specimens of Hebrew literature. He strongly advocates the study of that language, and undertakes to make students proficient in it in the shortest possible time. " Englishmen," he observes, " are so gifted with literary genius, that, if not born thereto, they are certainly made and formed for the mastery of the sacred tongue." The book consists of a Latin version of the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law, followed by numerous extracts from Rabbinical literature.1 Bearing in mind that this interesting work appeared in 1597, the book about Natbanael Menda in 1578, that Roderigo Lopez, the physician to Queen Elizabeth, had been brought to trial as a professed Jew, and executed in 1594,2 it is certain that Elizabethan England was in a position to become well acquainted with Jewish matters in general. Ferdinandus and Menda, being both excellent scholars of Hebrew, probably enjoyed many a hearty Talmudical discussion together to while away the tedium of their stay in Chancery Lane. Philip Ferdinandus died early in 1600, and, three years later, there entered a woman bearing the name of Elizabeth Furdinando,3 perhaps the wife of Philip. Her first name was, in all probability, given to her by Queen Elizabeth. This woman signs the only receipt we possess of her with the letter W or not a cross. Her name may have been originally Sarah. From 1603 to 1605, she and Menda were the sole tenants of the Domus, for whom, as hitherto, King James allowed the full staff of Warden, two chaplains, and a clerk. In the year of 1 Table of Contents :?1. 613 Precepts. 2. List of Biblical and Rabbinical Feasts. 3. Seven Precepts of Noah. 4. Dietary Laws of the Jews. 5. Classes of men not allowed to act as witnesses among Jews. 6. The four methods of capital punishment ordained by the Rabbis. 7. The thirteen Creeds of Maimon ides. 8. The opinions of R. Elias Levitas upon the Vowel System. 9. Com? mentary of R. Jacob Baal Haturimon the first chapter of Genesis. 10. Massoretic Notes: The twenty-four verses in the Bible that contain all the letters of the alphabet, &amp;c. 11. The thirteen exegetical rules of Rabbi Ishmael. 12. The poetical names of the Law of Moses as given in Psalm cxix., based upon the commentary by Kimchi. 2 See article by S. L. Lee, quoted above. 3 B. 255, No. 17.</page><page sequence="32">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 47 the Gunpowder Plot, a new inmate appeared in one Arthur An toe,1 who remained, as far as our records tell us, for four years. The clerk, who wrote out one of his vouchers for his pension, describes him as "a pagan born, but converted to the faith of Christ Jesus." Mr. Trice Martin 2 suggests that this man may have been a native American Indian brought to England by Drake or Raleigh ; but, if this were so, it seems strange that he should have been admitted into a Home intended solely for converts from Judaism. Moreover, the second receipt of Antoe merely styles him " a convert," and I prefer to think that the clerk's designation of him as " a pagan " is simply his extrava? gant description of the man's state of spiritual destitution prior to baptism. Antoe?which name may be abbreviated from Antonio, pointing to an Italian origin?was joined next year by a Jew from Germany, Jacob Wolfgang,3 and with these four converts in the Domus, Nathanael Menda, Elizabeth Furdinando, Arthur Antoe, and Wolfgang, the series of documents of the Domus Conversorum ends. Wolfgang was evidently fond of Hebrew study, because in the second year of his residence at Chancery Lane, he paid a visit to Oxford,4 and was one of the earliest visitors granted the privilege of reading in the newly-established Bodleian Library. He is described in the certificate of admission as "a man well deserving in the Hebrew tongue, and a convert from Judaism." Whether any converts entered the Domus after 1609, when our records end, we do not know; at least, there is no mention made of any such admissions subsequent to that date either in the State or Domestic Papers of that or the following periods.5 The Master of the Rolls, however, continued to receive his salary as Keeper of the Domus even in the present century, and it was only as recently as the year 1891 that the post of preacher of the Rolls Chapel was 1 Ibid. 2 See article quoted above. 3 B. 255, No. 17. 4 Oxf. Univ. Reg. (Oxf. Hist. Soc), ii. part i. p. 266, quoted from Mr. Lee's article : see above. 5 In his concluding article in the Jewish Chronicle, June 15, 1883, Mr. Lee mentions other admissions subsequent to 1609, but I have been unable to verify these statements, in spite of a careful examination of the records. Mr. W. J. Hardy also has no later references than 1609. See article by Mr. W. J. Hardy in Middlesex and Hertfordshire Notes and Queries, vol. ii. No. 6, p. 65.</page><page sequence="33">48 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." finally abolished by Act of Parliament,1 and the last trace of the Domus Conversorum swept away. Before concluding my survey of the history of the Domus, mention must be made of three petitions from converted Jews applying for aid from the Crown. The first is from Paul Jacob, addressed to King James I.,2 describing how he had been baptized by George, Lord Bishop of Londonderry, and soliciting his Majesty's help " to allow me a small portion to refresh me and my family in our great necessities." It is not clear whether Jacob knew of the existence of the Domus. There is no such doubt, however, in the language of the petition of Peter Samuel and Paul Jacob (perhaps the same as the above-mentioned) presented to King Charles II. immediately after the Hestoration in 1660.3 These two men recite the past history of the Domus with remarkable correctness, and state that they are "converts of the Jewish nation, of which there have been very few of late times." They declare that they are "altogether destitute of maintenance for the outward support and maintenance of themselves and families, notwithstanding their great painstaking in their callings." They discreetly make no allusion to the return of the Jews to England effected by Manasseh ben Israel four years previously. The signatures to the petition are in Hebrew characters, jron talDfc? "VttXQ and fcOpK SlKQ. No answer was vouch? safed to their prayer, although Tovey (p. 227) mentions that, in the year 1687, Peter Samuel and Jacob Maza, two converted Jews, were allowed ljd. a day towards their maintenance, and were the last two that enjoyed that benefit. In the year 1717, Henry Cotigno,4 citizen and draper, petitioned King George I. for a share of the charity for the relief of converted Jews, "and now distributable by the Master of the Holls, concerning which he had been informed that he was entitled." Cotigno had been converted in 1686 at St. Clement Danes in the Strand, and was now reduced to great poverty. He therefore pleads for a warrant to be issued on his behalf that he might receive the arrears of the past thirty years that he had just 1 Public Accounts and Charges Act, 1891 (54 &amp; 55 Viet. c. 24, sec. 5). 2 State Papers, Dom., Jacftes I., vol. 188. See Appendix XX. 3 State Papers, Dom.f James I., vol. ix., No. 171. 4 Treasury Papers, 1717, No. 119, p. 283.</page><page sequence="34">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 49 learnt were due to him, and thoughtfully adds, "I lodge at Mr. Jones', in Little Jermyn Street, St. James." The result of this pathetic appeal is unknown. The buildings formerly occupied by the converts were used as storehouses for the rolls of Chancery; even their chapel was filled with these legal documents. The houses and the chapel have now disappeared,1 and on their site stands that splendid pile of buildings, that looks out upon Chancery Lane, near the Fleet Street end, and that is known as the Record Office. The yearly grant of ?225, originally intended for the converts and the staff, was, in 1837,2 by Act of Parliament, set apart for the salaries of the preacher, the reader, and the clerk of the Rolls Chapel. When Sir John Romilly was appointed Master of the Rolls in 1851,3 his patent of appoint? ment professed to grant to him, for life, "the custody of the House, or Hospital, of Converts, for the habitation of the Keeper or Master of the Rolls, Books, Writs, and Records of the High Court of Chan? cery." This form of words did not appear when Sir George Jessel was appointed Master of the Rolls in 1873, or we should have had the remarkable paradox of a Jew holding the position of Keeper of the House for Converted Jews. As I have mentioned before, all trace of the Domus was abolished in 1891. For a period of 319 years, during the very years that no Jew was permitted by law to enter England, the documents of the Domus Con versorum tell us of a regular succession of Jews landing on the shores of this country. John Richard Green, in his Short History of the English People (p. 205, edition 1889), was certainly in error in assert? ing that "from the time of Edward I. to that of Cromwell, no Jew touched English ground." In all, there were thirty-eight men and ten women admitted into the royal institution at Chancery Lane after the great Expulsion of 1290.4 These figures account only for the Jews who abjured their faith and accepted the royal pensions. But I feel convinced, from a careful examination of the evidence, that in addition to these people there must have been considerable numbers of Jews 1 See Fifty-Seventh Annual Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, 1896, pp. 19 seq., with plans and drawings. 2 Ibid. p. 29. 3 Ibid. p. 28. 4 See Appendix XXI. VOL. IV. D</page><page sequence="35">50 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." who lived in England and succeeded in concealing their belief, or were even courageous enough to profess it openly. Dr. Roderigo Lopez remained unmolested for thirty-five years; Nathanael Menda lived in London for six years prior to conversion ; Johanna and Alice had been living in Dartmouth, evidently for some time, before entering the Domus in London. The same is probably true of most of the other converts. And, moreover, Mr. Lucien Wolf and Mr. Sidney L. Lee have produced further evidence to the same end.1 As Mr. Sidney Lee points out, the Decree of Expulsion in 1290 was an Order in Council, not an Act of Parliament; and, if a coach can be driven through an Act of Parliament, it is quite certain that Jews were able to circumvent an Order in Council, The smallness of the number of the inmates of the Domus, forty-eight, in a period of 319 years, is in itself an eloquent testimony to the fidelity with which Jews, as a whole, adhered to their ancestral faith, in spite of royal bounties, and in the face of incessant persecution. Driven from one land to the other, they possessed that stern stuff that makes heroes of men and that renders their memory a source of pride to those that come after them. 1 See articles quoted above.</page><page sequence="36">???????????????BnHnKr ROLLS CHAPEL. r n '</page><page sequence="37">APPENDICES i. Order of Henry III. for the Foundation of the Domus Conversorum (1232). Carta de septingentis marcis ad scac' percipiend' pro conversis a Judaismo ad fidem catholicam. H. Rex Salutem : Sciatis nos intuitu Dei et pro anime nostre et pro animabus antecessoruni et haeredum nostrorum, concessisse et hac charta nostra confirmasse, pro nobis at haeredibus nostris imperpetuum Deo et gloriose virgine Marie et ecclesie, Domui conversorum quam fundavimus suburbiov London5 in vico scilicet que vocatur Neustrate, in honore ejusdem Virginis, et conversis ibidem commorantibus et in posterum commoraturis septingentas marcas ad eosdem conversos sustentandos et ad constructionem ecclesie sue et edifieiorum suorum facienclam, percipiendas singulis annis ad scaccarium nostrum, videlicet imam medietatem ad scaccarium Pasclie, et aliam medietatem ad scaccarium sancti Michaelis, donee nos vel heredes nostri eisdem conversis uberius providerimus in terris sive redditibus, certo loco eis assignatis, linde se ipsos et familiam suam ad honorem Dei et predicte gloriose Virginis possint competenter sustentare. Volumus eciani, quod quicumque pro tempore fuerit justiciarius vel cancellarius Anglie quociens predicti conversi necesse habeant negocia aliqua nobis vel heredibus nostris exponere, alter eorum, si ambo presentes non fuerint, ostendat nobis vel heredibus nostris negocia predictorum con? versorum, si ipsi ad nos vel heredes nostros personaliter venire et ea ostendere non possint. Quare volumus &amp;c. pro nobis et heredibus nostris quod predicti conversi, in predicta ecclesia conversantes et in perpetuum conversaturi, percipiant predictas septingentas marcas ad scaccarium nostrum ad terminos predictos ad se sustentandos, et ad constructionem ecclesie sue et edifieiorum suorum faciendam bene et in pace, integre et pacifice, donee nos vel heredes nostri providerimus uberius in terris vel redditibus, certo loco eis assignatis, unde se ipsos et familiam suam ad honorem Dei et predicte gloriose Virginis Marie possint competenter sustentare, et quod quicumque pro tempore fuerit justi? ciarius vel cancellarius Anglie, quociens predicti conversi, &amp;c. &amp;c. Hiis Testibus Venerabilibus P. Winton ) _ . W. Carl' \ Ep^P1 H. de B?rg, &amp;c. 51</page><page sequence="38">52 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." II. Rules for the Government of the Domus (1280). Rex dilecto clerico suo&gt; Joharmi de Santo Dionis5 arcliidiacono Roff' custodi domus conversorum Lond' salutem. Quia ad augmentum fidei et cultus hominis Christiani conversionem Judaice pravitatis ad fidem Catholicam potissime credimus operari, nos ut ulli qui a cecitate hujusmodi ad lumen ecclesie sunt converse in ipsa fidei firmitate roborentur, et allii qui adhuc in errori illo persistimt, libencius et prompcius ad graciam fidei decetero se convertant, disposuimus^ auetore Domino, de ipsorum sustentacione salubriter provideri. Licet itaque omnia bona et catalla Judaeorum qui convertuntur ad fidem ad nos plenarie de jure et consuetudine pertineant, volentes tarnen eiis postquam filii et fideles ecclesie sunt affecti, Dei intuitu, graciam facere specialem, medietatem valoris omnium bonorum suorum ubicumque in regno nostro eisdem ad sustentacionem ?uam de domo nostro concedimus, aliam autem medietatem bonorum hujusmodi, bona eciam et catalla Judaeorum exnunc quacumque occasione dampnandorum, una cum bonis et catallis quorumque Judaeorum, que ex quacunque racione nobis forisferi contigerit, necnon et eleinosinam nostram, que deodanda vocatur post tempus concessionis nostri fratribus predicatoribus de elemosina ilia facta, una cum chevagio Judaeorum nostrorum Anglie, quae omnia colligi et deferri volumus ad scaccarium nostrum ad sustentacionem conversorum et convertendorum qui honeste conversacionis extiterint, usque ad septennium completum, duximus deputanda, eisdem per thes' et barones de scaccario ac per vos proporcionaliter assignanda. Et ut circa domus conversorum Lond' quoad permissa et alia propensius et cum majori sollicitudine pertractaretur volumus quod provideatis de aliquo idoneo presbitero de cujus industria et discrecione merito confidenda sit, qui in domo ipso continue resideat et capellae nostre ibidem cum uno socio vel duobus clericis personaliter deserviat: redditus ad dictam domum pertinentes colligat et bona et catalla supradicta ad dictum scaccarium nostrum recipiat de porciones conversis et convertendis assignatos distribuat, et ad alia negocia dicte domus fideliter procuranda vos abesse vel ad hoc personaliter vocare non possitis, de consilio et ordinacione vestra diligenter intendat; qui eciam racionalem sustentacionem suam, pro se et socio suo, seu clericis memoratis ad servicium Capelle necessariis, de redditibus et bonis predictis recipiat: et de omnibus receptis et misis suis compotum suum reddat coram Thes' et baronibus de scaccario, de anno in annum secundum quod in literis inde dictis Thes5 et baronibus directis, plenius continetur. Et si in domo predicta capellanus conversus idoneus et honestus extiterit, volumus quod presbiter seu procurator predictus ipsum pre ceteris in socium</page><page sequence="39">HISTORY OF THE "DOMTJS CONVERSORUM." 53 retineat ad administrandum una secum in capella predicta, si qui autem de conversis vel convertendis habiles fuerint ad doctrinam volumus quod scolas exerceant. Laici eciam, quos ad artiflcia seu ministeria scolaria addiscenda aptos esse noveritis, ad ea decetero deputentur, et habeant singuli eorum sustentaciones suas de portionibus eisdem, de bonis predictis racionabiliter assignandis. Quod si predicti scolares clerici aliquod beneficium ecclesiasticum adipisci valeant, de quo sustentacionem suam racionabilem habere possint, subtra hantur eis extunc porciones predicte, et eas aliis conversis seu convertendis indigentibus faciatis assignari. Et hoc idem fiat de laicis supradictis quam cito possint de artiriciis seu ministeriis sustentacionem competentem habere. Proviso inter cetera quod de redditibus et bonis predictis, que ultra sustentacionem conversorum, capellanorum et ministrorum ecclesie superesse contigerit, ad fabricani et ornatum Capelle predicte et divini cultus augmentum faciatis ibidem proinde deputari: et si que in domo predicta in personis aut rebus corrigenda seu reformanda videritis, ea corrigi et reformari cum omni diligencia faciatis prout indempnitati et honestati dicte domus magis videritis expedire. T. R. apud West' iii June. III. List of Inmates between 1280 and 1308. The list of names is as follows :? Alive in 1280, but since Dead.?Men; Johannes le Bel, Petrus de Merton, Henri de Wynton, Ricardus de Merwelle, Joh. son of Johannes de Havenaked, Bartholomeus de Wynton (Winchester), Laurencius de Nichole, Johannes de Lincoln, Reginald de Wynton, Thorn' de Lincoln. Johannes de Santo Salvatore, Robertus de Sutheby, Johannes de Bury, Willelmus his son, Johannes de Rossa, Ricardus de Cicest' (Chichester), Johannes de Stamford. Total?17. Women: Johanna de Bellesham, Glaricia la Convers, Alicia de Sancta Elena, Agnes de Walingford, Juliana de Northampton, Editha la Convers, Juliana la Bossue (i.e. the Hunchback), Emma de Sante Dionisio, Alic' derOxon, Lecia de Northamtone, Anne de Northt', Christina de Gelling ham, Constancia de Reding, Agnes de Staunford, Petronilla de Morwode, Petronilla de Line', Johanna de Norwyc. Total?17. Living at Time of the Inquiry.?23 Men; Willelmus de Winton, Johannes le Philiper, Martinus le Convers, Willelmus de Arundel, Johannes de Havenaked, Ricardus de Merwelle, Hugo de Kendale, Henry de Oxon, Johannes de Norht', Ricardus de Ware, Radulphus de Arcubus, Nicolaus de Oxon, Ricardus de Oxon, Willelmus de Sonnden, Robertus de Cant', Johan de Parys, Rogerus Bard, Saverus Convers, Reginaldus Becere, Thomas de Crick lade, Robertus de Cricklade, Willelmus de Cricklade, and Gregorius de Cant'.</page><page sequence="40">54 HISTORY OF THE "DOMTJS CONVERSORUM." 28 Women : Juliana the wife of Martin, MatilP de Merwelle, Alicia de Have naked, Cristina de Kendal, Matill' the daughter of Matill' de Merwelle, Isabella de Sancte Paulo, Johanne de Norht', Alienora Convers, Leticia Convers, Mabilla.de Arundel, Juliana de Norwyco, Alicia de Ponte, Cristine de Warwyk, Johanna de Leye' (Leicester), Mariota de Rosa, Matill' de Cant', Matill' de Wynton, Ermedruta de Cant', Cristine de Bristoll, Johanna de Nottingham, Juliana de Kendale, Alice de Exon, Hawys de Oxon, Agnes de Santa Radegund, Petronilla la Furberesse, Elena de Cant', and Alice de Wynton. IY. Royal Order of Admission for William of Leicester. Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 5. [1401.] m. 2. Henri par la grace de Dieu Roy Dengleterre et de France et Seignur Dirland. A notre ame clerc Thomas Stanley Gardein de notre meson de Conuers en le Suburbe de Londres saluz?Come de notre grace especiale et par consideration de Asmoigne et de charitee evns grantez a William Conuers de Leycestre nadgairs Iuwe et est conuert a la foy cristiene a ce que nous sumes enformez antieux gages a prendre durante sa vie par les mains de vous et de voz successours Gardeins de mesme la meson come sont accustumez a estre paiez a autres Iuwes conuers qui ount est receux illoeques a lenuor de nos progenitours et de nous auant ces heures. Vous mandons que au dit Wil? liam facez paier ses gages tieux come desus durante sa vie selonc le purport de notre grant auandite. Et volons que par cestes vous eueiez due allouance en votre aconte a notre Eschequer. Donnees sous notre priue seal a Westm' le quint iour de Marz lan de notre regne second. V. Receipts from William of Leicester and other Converts. Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 5. [1401.] m. 1. Nouerint vniuersi per presentes me Willelmum Conuers de Leycestre recepisse die confeccionis presencium de Thoma Stanley cleiico rotulorum Regis sex solidos et octo denarios datos de elemosinarios Henrici Regis Anglie, De quibus quidem sex solidis et octo denariis fateor me fore pacatum dictumque Thomam inde fore quietum per presentes sigillo meo signatas. Date apud London' vij die Marcii anno regni Regis Henrici quarti secundo. (Signed) fcrr&gt;2:?p ^vxvh ?\chyb\y</page><page sequence="41">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 55 Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 5. [1401.] Nouerint vniuersi me Johannem Conuers de sancta Maria recepisse et m- 3 habuisse die confeccionis presencium de Thoma Stanley clerico custode domus Conuersorum London' quindecim soli dos et quatuor denarios sterlingorum legalis monete in plenam solucionem omnium denariorum michi per prefatum Thomam debitorum ante datum presencium de quibus quidem quindecim solidis et quatuor denariis sterlingorum fateor me fore solutum dictumque Thomam et executores suos inde acquieto per presentes sigillo meo signatas. Date London' vicesimo nono die Septembris anno regni Regis Henrici quarti post conquestum secundo. [One seal attached.] Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. [1410.] Nouerint vniuersi per presentes Nos Johannam Conuersam de Dertemuth' ni. 1. et Aliciam filiam meam recepisse de Johanne Wakeryng' clerico custode domus conuersorum London' quatuor libras et sex denarios sterlingorum nobis a decimo nono die Decembris anno decimo vsque sextumdecimum diem Aprilis anno vndecimo pro vadiis nostris debitos de quibus quidem quatuor libris et sex denariis fatemur nos esse solutum dictumque Johannem inde acquietamus per presentes sigillis nostris signatas. Date in domo conuersorum predictorum sextodecimo die Aprilis suprac?eto anno regni Regis Henrici quarti post con? questum vndecimo. [Two seals attached.] Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. [1410.] Nouerint vniuersi per presentes me Willelmum de Sehrt Jakes nuper ad m. 2. fidem conuersum recepisse et habuisse die confeccionis presencium de magistro Johanne Wakeryng' custode domus conuersorum London' triginta et vnum solidos et octo denarios sterlingorum de quadam annuitate michi prefato "Willelmo per metuendissimum dominum Henricum quartum Regem1 et [Lsic] Francie concessa a duodecimo die Maii proximo preterito vsque in dictum diem confeccionis presencium De quibus quidem triginta vno solidis et octo denariis predictis fateor me fore solutum prefatumque Johannem inde acquieto per presentes. In cuius rei testimonium presentibus sigillum meum apposui. Date decimo septimo die Aprilis anno predicti domini Regis vndecimo. [One seal attached, broken.]</page><page sequence="42">56 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." VI. Return of Expenses of Richard de Ayrmynne (1331). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 250, No. 15. Particule Compoti Ricardi de Ayrmynne custodis domus conuersorum London' de receptis expensis et liberacionibus suis a festo sancti Michaelis anno quinto finiente vsquefestum sancti Michaelis proximo sequens et extunc vsque xvj diem Decembris proximo sequentem videlicet de toto anno sexto et primis xj septimanis et j die anni septimi Regis Edwardi tercii post conquestum. Idem Ricard us recepit per manus Ricardi de Caldebek' attornati sui super sustentacione eorundem conuersorum de Thesaurario et Camerario vij die Nouembris anno sexto vt patet in pellibus?xiijli. vjs. viijd. Item dicto Ricardo per manus Johannis de Norh't' Capellani xxix die Februarii eodem anno?iiijli. xixs. iijd. Item dicto Ricardo per manus Walteri de Notingham x die Augusti?vs. Item dicto Ricardo per manus Johannis de Norh't' xx die Nouembris anno septimo?xli. Item per manus Ricardi de Caldebek' xxiij die Februarii?vjli. xiijs. iiijd. Summa receptorum . xxxvli. iiijs. iijd. Annus Idem Ricardus computat in liberacione facta conuersis subscriptis vide sextus- licet Johanni le Ebreu conuerso a dicto festo sancti Michaelis anno quinto vsque ad idem festum anno reuoluto per vnum annum integ? rum percipiendo per diem jd. ob. . . . xlvs. vijd. ob. Johanni de Norh't' per idem tempus percipiendo ut supra ...... xlvs. vijd. ob. Willelmo de Crykelade per idem tempus percipiendo ut supra ...... xlvs. vijd. ob. Henrico clerico de Oxon' per idem tempus percipiendo ut supra . . . . . . xlvs. vijd. ob. Ricardo Cissori per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra. xlvs, vijd. ob. Waltero de Notingham per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... xlvs. vijd. ob. Thome de Crykelade per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... xlvs. vijd. ob. Nicholas de Oxon' a dicto festo sancti Michaelis anno quinto vsque iiij diem Mensis Septembris proximo sequentem quo die obiit vtroque die computato per cccxlij dies percipiendo per diem vt supra . xlijs. ixd. Rogero Bourd a dicto festo sancti Michaelis anno quinto vsque ad idem festum anno reuoluto per? cipiendo per diem vt supra . . . xlvs. vijd. ob. Summa . . . xxli. vijs. ixd.</page><page sequence="43">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 57 Johanne de Norh't' conuerse per idem tempus percipi endo per septimanam viijd. Johanne de Leycestr' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Johanne de Notingham per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Juliane de Kendale per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Matilde de Wynchestr' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Anne de Morwelle per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Alicie de Oxon' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra Petronille de Fourb' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Alicie de Bregg' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra Cristine de Bristoll' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra . . . . Elianore de seyn pol per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Isabelle de seynpol per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra ...... Claricie de Oxon' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra . . . . . Summa vadiorum mulierum conuersarum In stipendio vnitis capellani diuina celebrantis per dictum tempus ..... Et in stipendio vnius clerici seruientis ibidem per idem tempus ...... Et Ricardo de Ayrmynne custode dictorum conuers orum pro feodo suo per dictum tempus Summa totalis vadiorum istius anni cum xx marcis de feodo Bicardi de Ermynne custodis domus conuersorum xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxxiiijs. viijd. xxijli. xs. viijd. iiijli. xxvjs. viijd. lxjli. xjs. ixd. Idem Ricardus computat in vadiis dictorum conuersorum a festo predicto sancti Michaelis anno sexto vsque ad xv diem Decembris proximo sequentem videlicet:? In vadiis Johannis le Ebreu per lxxviij dies primo die computato et non vltimo percipiendo per diem jd. ob. . . . . . ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Johannis de Norh't' per idem tempus per? cipiendo per diem vt supra . . . ixs. vijd. ob.</page><page sequence="44">58 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." In vadiis Willelmi de Crykelade per idem tempus per cipiendo per diem vt supra . . . ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Henrici clerici de Oxon' per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra . . . . ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Ricardi Cissor per idem tempus percipiendo vt supra . . . . . . ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Walteri de Notyngliam per idem tempus per? cipiendo vt supra ..... ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Thome de Crykelade per idem tempus per? cipiendo vt supra ..... ixs. vijd. ob. In vadiis Rogeri Bourd a dicto festo sancti Michaelis vsque primum diem Decembris proximo sequentem die quo obiit vtroque die computato per lxij. dies vijs. ixd. Summa vadiorum hominum conuersorum lxxvs. jd. ob. In vadiis Johanne de Norh't1 a festo supradicto sancti Michaelis anno sexto vsque xv diem Decembris proximo sequentem percipiendo per septimanam viijd. per xj septimanas .... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Johanne de Leycestr' per idem tempus vt supra . . ... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Johanne Notyngham per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Juliane de Kendale per idem tempus vt supra . . . . . . vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Matillis de Wynchestr' per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Anne de Morwell' per idem tempus vt supra vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Alicie de Oxon' per idem tempus vt supra . vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Petronille la Pourbour per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Alicie de Bregg5 per idem tempus vt supra . vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Cristine de BristolF per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Elianore de seyntpol per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Isabelle de seyntpoll' per idem tempus vt supra ...... vijs. iiijd. In vadiis Claricie de Oxon' per idem tempus vt supra vijs. iiijd. Summa vadiorum mulierum . . iiijli. xvs. iiijd. In stipendio vnius capellani per idem tempus diuina celebrantis ibidem de rata per annum . . xvjs. xd.qa.</page><page sequence="45">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 59 Et in stipendio vnius clerici scriuentis ibidem per idem tern pus de rata per annum ... vs. viijd. Et Ricardo de Ayrmynne custodi dictorum conuer sorum per idem tempus de rata per annum . lvjs. iiijd.qa. Summa totalis vadiorum istarum xj septimanarum xijli. ixs. iiijd. Summa totalis vadiorum solutorum per vnum annum xj septimanas et j diem .... lxxiiijli. xiijd. Et sic habet superplusagium . . . xxxviijli. xvs. xd. VII. Return op Expenses of John of Saint Dionysius (1280). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 249, No. 24. Compotus lohannis de sancto Dionisio Custodis Domus Conuersorum m. 3. London' de omnibus et singulis Receptis eiusdem domus videlicet de Redditu assiso eiusdem de totali Cheuagio Iudeorum Anglie de Deodandis et de Denariis Scaccarii ac aliis Receptis vndecumque prouenientibus a festo videlicet sancti Michaelis anno Regni Domini Regis Edwardi octauo vsque ad festnm Natiuitatis sancti lohannis Baptiste anno Regni dicti Domini Regis Edwardi Quintodecimo videlicet per vj annos et dimidium et j quarterium anni. In primis reddit predictus procurator compotum de vniuersis receptis Redditus primi anni annorum predictorum videlicet a festo sancti Michaelis anno dicti JJ^aui^111 domini Regis Octauo vsque ad annum completum et sic de anno in annum vsque ad flnem annorum predictorum. Idem procurator reddit compotum de vj libris xv solidis et viij denariis et obolo de redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et suburbio London' in predicto termino sancti Michaelis. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris iiij solidis et iiij denariis et obolo de Redditu assiso eiusdem Ciuitatis et Suburbii in subsequenti termino Natalis Domini. Item idem reddit compotum de lxj solidis et iiij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon' in eodem termino. Item idem reddit com? potum de vj libris xvj solidis viij denariis et obolo de redditu assiso predicte Ciuitatis et Suburbio de termino Pasee proximo sequent! Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris iiij solidis et iiij denariis et obolo de redditu assiso eiusdem Ciuitatis et suburbii de subsequenti termino Natiuitatis sancti lohannis Babtiste.1 Item idem reddit compotum de lxj solidis et iiij denariis I1 sic.) de redditu assiso proueniente de villo2 Oxon' in eodem termino. Item idem (2sic.) reddit compotum de xiiij libris xiiij sol idis et ix denariis de totali Cheuagio Cheua c gium. Iudeorum Anglie proueniente de xj et lxxix capitibus Judeorum videlicet</page><page sequence="46">60 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM.,' Catalla assignata conuerse antequam . . . buer unt aliquid de Scac cario. Redditus assisus. Denarii Scaccarii. Cheua gium. Deodanda. pro capite cuiuslibet Judei iij denariis. Item reddit compotum de x solidis de catallis vnius conuerse de Oxon'. Item idem reddit compotum de xxx solidis et x denariis dequinque libris Rethorice etgramatice eiusdem conuerse venditis. Item idem reddit compotum de xl solidis de catallis Laurencie filii Ioscei London5 que tune se conuerit ad fidem. Summa recepte huius anni?1 libre xix solidi et v denarii. Recepta procuratoris predicti in vniuerso de secundo anno videlicet a Termino sancti Michaelis anno Regni Regis Edwardi Nono vsque ad annum completum. In primis idem procurator reddit compotum de xxvj libris et xiiij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et suburbio London' de toto anno predicto. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris ij solidis et viij denariis de Redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon' de toto anno predicto. Item idem redditu compotum de liij libris vj solidis et viij denariis receptis in Scaccario domini Regis videlicet in termino sancti Michaelis et in termino Pasee anni predicti. Item idem reddit compotum de xiiij libris viij solidis et iij denariis de totali Cheuagio Iudeorum Anglie de eodem anno proueniente de M.c. et liij capitibus Iudeorum Anglie. Item idem reddit compotum de xxj libris xij solidis et xj denariis de Deodanda Itineris Line5 collecta ibidem per duas vices ante guerram Wallie. Item idem reddit compotum de xxiiijor libris ij solidis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Deuon' de toto anno predicto. Item idem reddit compotum de xij solidis de vno equo vendito post colleccionem cheuagii predicti. Summa recepte huius anni?cxlvj libre v solidi et viij denarii. Redditus assisus. Denarii Scaccarii. Cheua gium. Recepta procuratoris predicti in vniuerso de Tertio anno videlicet a Ter? mino sancti Michaelis anno Regni Regis Decimo vsque ad annum completum. Idem procurator reddit compotum de xxvj libris et xiiij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et Suburbio London5 de toto anno predicto. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris ij solidis et viij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon5 de toto eodem anno. Item idem reddit compotum de liij libris vj solidis et viij denariis receptis in Scaccario domini Regis de Termino sancti Michaelis et de Termino Pasee eiusdem anni. Item idem reddit compotum de xiiij libris v solidis et obolo de totali cheuagio Anglie proueniente de M1. et c. et xxxv capitibus Iudeorum Anglie. Anno isto non sederunt Iusticiarii Itinerantes propter gwerram Wall'. Ita quod nichil interim habuerunt conuersi de Deodandis eisdem a Domino Rege concessis. Item idem reddit compotum de xx solidis de vno equo vadio vendito qui emptus fuit pro colleccione Deodande apud Line' in anno pre cedenti. Summa recepte huius anni?c libre xv solidi vj denarii et obolus.</page><page sequence="47">HISTORY OF THE "DOMTJS CONVERSORUM." 61 Recepta procuratoris predicti in vniuerso de anno Quarto videlicet a Termino sancti Michaelis anno regni Regis Edwardi vndecimo vsque ad annum completum. Idem procurator reddit compotum de xxvj libris et xiiij denariis de Redditus redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et Suburhio London de toto eodem assisus? anno. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris ij solidis et viij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon' de toto eodem anno. Item idem reddit compotum de xvj libris vij solidis et viij denariis de Deodanda Itineris Deodanda. Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Cornub' collecta ibidem post Octabas Pasee anni instantis per manum Iohannis de sancto Dionisio de Roffa per talliam contra dominum Willelmum de Moneketon' vicecomitem Cornub'. Item idem reddit compotum de x libris xij solidis et vj denariis de Deodanda proueniente de vltima sessione Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Line' per Octabas predictas receptis per manum domini Willelmi de Horton' capellani. Item idem reddit compotum de xiij libris xix solidis et xj denariis de totali cheuagio Iudeorum Cheua Anglie proueniente de m^c. et lj capitibus Iudeorum. Item idem reddit smm* compotum de xx solidis de vno nigro equo empto pro colleccione cheuagii predicti. Memorandum quod de toto anno isto nichil perceperunt conuersi de Scaccario Domini Regis propter mortem et mutacionem Thesaurarii. Summa recepte huius anni?lxxiiij libre iij solidi et xj denarii. Recepta procuratoris predicti in vniuerso de anno quinto videlicet a Termino sancti Michaelis anno Regni Regis Edwardi Duodecimo vsque ad annum completum. Idem procurator reddit compotum de xxvj libris et xiiij denariis de Redditus Redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et Suburbio London' de toto eodem assisus anno. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris ij solidis et viij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon' de toto eodem anno. Item idem reddit compotum de liij libris vj solidis et viij denariis receptis in Scaccario Denarii Domini Regis de Termino sancti Michaelis predicti et de Termino Pasee Scaccarii. subsequentis. Item idem reddit compotum de ix libris xvij solidis et v denariis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Bark' collecta Deodanda. ibidem post predictum festum sancti Michaelis per manum predicti Iohannis de Roffa et per talliam contra dominum Iohannem de Shodmers' vicecomitem Berk'. Item idem reddit compotum de xiiij libris x solidis et iij denariis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Leicestr' collecta ibidem per idem tempus per manum Iohannis le Bel conuersi et per litteram patentem Rogeri de Barewe clerici vicecomitis Leycestr'. Item idem reddit compotum de xviij libris de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Oxon' collecta ibidem ante quadragesimam per manum Iohannis de Rofa. Item idem reddit compotum de xj libris xiij solidis et ij denariis de Deodanda Itineris Iusti? ciariorum in Comitatu Warewyk' collecta ibidem per idem tempus per manum</page><page sequence="48">62 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Iohannis le Bel conuersi et per talliam contra Rogerum de Barewe clericum vicecomitem Warewyk'. Item idem reddit compotum de xj libris receptis Cheua- de claro de cheuagio totius Anglie quod custos tradidit certis personis ad gium. colligendum sumptibus suis et ad respondendum inde de peccimia predicta. Recepta procuratoris predicti de sexto anno videlicet a Termino sancti Michaelis anno Regni Domini Regis Edwardi tercioclecimo vsque ad annum completum. Redditus Idem procurator reddit compotum de xxvj libris et xiiij denariis de assisus. redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et Suburbio Lond' de toto eodem anno. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris ij solidis et viij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxon' de toto eodem anno. Item idem Denarii reddit compotum de xxvj libris xiij solidis et iiij denariis receptis in Scaccario Scaccarii. Domini Regis de predicto termino sancti Michaelis. Ab illo autem tempore detente sunt conuersis quateruiginti marce per annum quas assignauit Rex eisdem conuersis ad sustentacionem suam. Item idem reddit compotum de Deodanda. x libris de deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Norhampton' collecta ibidem post predictum festum sancti Michaelis per talliam contra Eliam de Preston'. Item idem reddit compotum de xij libris v solidis et v denariis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Essex' collecta ibidem per idem tempus per talliam contra dominum Willelmum de Lamborn, vicecomitem Essex'. Item idem reddit compotum de x libris ij solidis et j denario de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Bukingham collecta ibidem post festum sancti Hillarii proximo sequens per duas tallias contra dominum Willelmum de Boyvile vicecomitem Bukingham. Item XX idem reddit compotum de iiij libris et lxx solidis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Norf't SufP collecta ibidem per totum annum instantem 1 per quatuor tallias contra dominum Willelmum de Roenges vicecomitem eiusdem Comitatus. Item idem reddit compotum de xvj libris et vj solidis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Cantebregg' collecta ibidem post festum Natiuitatis sancti Johannis baptiste per talliam contra dominum Thomam de Belhus vicecomitem Cantebr'. Item idem Cheua- reddit Compotum de xij libris de claro receptis de Cheuagio Iudeorum gium. totius Anglie quod custos tradidit certis personis ad colligendum sumptibus propriis et respondendum inde de pecunia predicta. Recepta procuratoris predicti in vniuerso de dimidio anno et j quarterio septimi anni a Termino videlicet sancti Michaelis anno Regni Regis Edwardi xiiij0 vsque ad festum Natiuitatis sancti Iohannis baptiste proximo sequens. Redditus Idem procurator reddit compotum de xix libris xvj solidis ix denariis et assisus. obolo de redditu assiso proueniente de Ciuitate et suburbio London' de tempore predicto. Item idem reddit compotum de lxj solidis iiij denariis de redditu assiso proueniente de villa Oxonie per tempus predictum. Item</page><page sequence="49">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CON VERSORUM." 63 idem reddit compotum de xiij libris x solidis et ix denariis de Deodanda Deodanda. Itineris Iusticiariorum in comitatu Huntingdon' collecta ibidem post pre dictum festum sancti Michaelis per Talliam contra dominum Thomam de Belhus vicecomitem Huntingdon.' Item idem reddit compotum de vij libris de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in predicto Comitatu NorfF collecta ibidem per idem tempus per cedulam cirograffi contra dominum Willelmum de Roenges vicecomitem NorfP. Item idem reddit compotum de ix libris de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in eodem Comitatu per idem tempus et per talliam contra vicecomitem predictum. Item idem reddit compotum de vj libris xiij solidis et iiij denariis de Deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in Comitatu Bedeford' collecta ibidem post festum sancti Illarii sequens1 (lMS. "se per Talliam contra Willelmum de Boy vile vicecomitem Bedeford'. Item (luent' idem reddit Compotum de xxviij libris et j denario de deodanda Itineris Iusticiariorum in comitatu Suff' collecta ibidem per manum Iohannis de sancto Dionisio de Roffa sicut patet in Rotulis suis de colleccione eiusdem deodande de Comitatu ipso. Item idem reddit Compotum de ij marcis de una Deodanda levata in comitatu Hertford' per breve domini Regis que contigit in comitatu Bedeford' et adi?dicata fuit coram Iusticiariis Itineran tibus ibidem. [Endorsed]. Rotulus principalis de Receptis Iohannis de sancto Dionisio custodis domorum conuersorum. (The same return is given in m. 1 and 2, but in a briefer form.) VIII. Return of Expenses of John of Burton (1393). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 1. Partictile compoti Iohannis de Burton' clerici custodis Rotulorum Can cellarie Regis ac domus conuersorum London' tarn de f eodo suo unius Capellani et unius clerici quam de vadiis duorum conuersorum in eadem domo existen tum per breve Regis de magno sigillo suo datum primo die Octobris anno xvij? Thesaurario Baronibus et Camerariis de scaccario directum videlicet de huiusmodi feodis et vadiis a primo die Octobris anno xvj? vsque predictum primum diem Octobris anno xvij0 scilicet per vnum vt infra. Idem computat tarn in feodo suo proprio ad xx marcas?vnius capellani ad iiijli.?et vnius clerici ad ij marcas per annum a supradicto primo die Octobris anno xvj? vsque supradictum primum diem Octobris anno xvij0 scilicet per idem tempus xviijli. xiijs. iiijd. per breve predictum. Summa?xviijli. xiijs. iiijd.</page><page sequence="50">64 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Et in vadiis Iohannis de sancta Maria conuersi domus predicte capientis per diem jd. ob. scilicet per idem tempus?xlvs. vijd. ob. per idem breve. Summa?xlvs. vijd. ob. Et in vadiis Thome Levyn nuper Iudei de partibus Ispanum et iam vt dicitur fidei Christiane conuersi a xv die Aprilis dicto anno xvj? quo die Rex de gratia sua speciali concessit eidem Thome sustentacionem suam pro termino vite sue percipiendum in domo conuersorum supradicta sicut continetur in quodam brevi Regis de priuato sigillo suo dato eodem xv? die Aprilis anno xvj? eidem custodi inde directo et penes ipsum renianente vsque xvijm diem Maii proximo sequentem scilicet per xxxij dies capientis per diem vt supra? iiijs. per breve supradictum. Summa?iiijs. Nec computat idem Custos aliquos denarios per se solutos prefato Thome a predicto xvij0 die Maii anno xvj? vsque predictum primum diem Octobris anno xvij0 eo quod idem Thomas per idem tempus vacauit et vacat in presenti. Summa feodorum et vadiorum predictorum?xxjli. ijs. xjd. ob. IX. Royal Grant of an Additional Penny per Day to Elizabeth, Daughter of Rabbi Moses (1410). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. m. 7. Henricus dei gratia Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie Johanni Wakeryng' clerico Custodi domus Conuersorum London' salutem. Cum decimo die Aprilis anno regni nostri quarto de gratia nostra speciali conces serimus Elizabethe filie Raby Moyses Episcopi Iudeorum conuerse vnum denarium per diem vltra vnum denarium quern eadem Elizabetha vt vna Iudeorum ad fidem Christianorum conuersa per maims Custodis domus pre? dicte de summa pro huiusmodi conuersis ad scaccarium percipienda assignata singulis diebus percipit, habendum et percipiendum dictum denarium diurnum per nos eidem Elizabethe tenore presencium concessum vna cum dicto altero denario diurno quem, vt est dictum, percipit de dicta summa pro predictis conuersis assignata per manus Custodis domus predicte pro tempore existentis ad totam vitam ipsius Elizabethe prout in litteris nostris patentibus inde confectis plenius continetur : vobis mandamus quod eidem Elizabethe id quod ei a retro est de predictis duobus denariis diui nis a sexto die Decembri vltimo preterito soluatis iuxta tenorem litterarum nostrarum predictarum, recipiens a prefata Elizabetha litteras suas acquietancie que pro nob's sufficientes fuerint in hac parte per quas et presens mandatum nostrum</page><page sequence="51">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CON VERSORTJM." 05 vobis inde in compoto vestro ad scaccarium nostrum debitam allocacionem habere faciemus. Teste me ipso apud Westmonasterium xvj die Aprilis anno regni nostri vndecimo. Haseleye. X. Confirmation of Grant to Elizabeth, Daughter of Rabbi Moses (1413). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R, Bundle 251, No. 15. Henri par la grace de dieu Roy Dengleterre et de France et Seignur Dirlande. A notre ame clerc Thomas de Stanley Gardein de notre meson de Conuers en le Suburbe de Londres saluz. Come de notre grace especiale et par consideration de asmoigne et de charitee eons grantez a Elizabeth file dun Baby Moyses leuesque des lues de France et Dalmaigne conuersee ore a la foy cristiene a ce que nous stimes enformez ancieux gages le iour aprendre pur terme de sa vie par les mains de vous et de voz Successours Gardeins de mesme la meson come sont acustumez destre paiez as autres lues conuersez qui ont este receux illoeques a lenuoie de nos progenitours auant ces heures Vous mandons que la dite Elizabeth facez receuire en lauantdite meson de Conuers et a ese paier ancieux gages le iour come dessus pur terme de sa vie selonc leffect de notre grante susdite. Et volons que par cestes vous eueiez due allouance. Donnees souz notre priuie seal a Westm' le xvj iour de Decembre lan de notre regne primer. XI. Receipt from Elizabeth Pole (1412). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. Nouerint vniuersi per presentes me Elizabetham Pole vxorem Dauid m. 4. Pole conuersam recepisse et habuisse de Iohanne Wakeryng5 clerico custode domus Conuersorum London' triginta sex solidos et octo denarios michi ab vltimo die Aprilis vltimo preterito vsque sextum diem Decembris tune proximo sequentem de quadam annuitate michi per dominum Regem concessa debitos de quibus quidem triginta et sex solidis et octo denariis fateor me fore solutam et tarn prefatum dominum Regem quam prefatum Custodem inde quietos per presentes sigillo meo signatas. Date vicesimo die Decembris anno regni Regis Henrici quarti post conquestum vndecimo. [Endorsed] Elizabeth Conuers. [One seal attached?broken.] VOL. IV. E</page><page sequence="52">66 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." XII. Royal Order of Admission for Johanna and Alice of Dartmouth (1409). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. m. 13. Henri par la grace de Dieu Roy Dengleterre et de France et Seignur Dirlande. A notre tres eher clerc Iohan Wakeryhg' Garctein de notre maison de Conuers en la Suburbe de Londres saluz. Come noz bien amees Iohanne Conuersse de notre ville de Dertemuth5 et Alice sa fille nadgairs esteantes Iuwesses mescreantes et desir?ntes destre de la secte cristiene refuserent touz lour bons et chateulx que eles auoient et arriuerent en port de notre dite ville et y feurent conuertees et baptisees sicome par lettres testimoniales eut faces et sealees desouz les sealx des Maire et autres Burgeys de mesme la ville il poet assez apparon et naient les dites Iohanne et Alice dont lour mesmes susteigner ne gouner sicome nous auons entenduz. Si nous aiantz a ce consideracion a la reuerence de dieu volons et vous mandons que les dites Iohanne et Alice faeez admittre et receuire en ycelle maison pur terme de leur vies donnant et ministrant a elles et a chacune de eles antieux vivre et sustinance come autres femmes de leur condicion out eues et prinses en mesme notre maison par les mains du Gardein dycelle pur le temps esteant auant ces heures. Et volons que par cestes vous en eiez due allouance en votre acoftte a notre Eschequer. Donnees souz notre priuie seal a Westm' le xix iour de Decembre lan de notre regne disme. XIII, Royal Grant of an Additional Penny per Day to William of Saint Jacques (1410). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 11. m. 6. Henricus dei gratia Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie Custodi Domus Conuersorum London' salutem. Cum duodecimo die Maii proximo preterito de gratia nostra speciali et ad supplicacionem Willelmi de Seint lakes imper ad fidem conuersi concesserimus eidem Willelmo vnum obolum per diem percipiendum pro termino vite sue per manus Custodis domus Conuersorum London' qui nunc est vel qui pro tempore fuerit vltra vnum denarium et vnum obolum quos idem Willelmus vt vnus Iudeorum ad fidem Christianorum conuersorum per manus Custodis. domus predicte de summa pro huiusmodi conuersis ad Scaccarium percipienda assignata singulis diebus</page><page sequence="53">HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM. percipit prout in litteris nostris patentibus inde confectis plenius continetur : Vobis mandamus quod eidem Willelmo id quod ei a retro est de predicto vno obolo diurno a predicto duodecimo die Maii soluatis iuxta tenorem litterarum nostrarum predictarum. Recipiens a prefato Willelmo litteras suas acquietancie que pro nobis suffieientes fuerint in hac parte per quas et presens mandatum nostrum nos vobis inde in compoto vestro ad Scaccarium nostrum debitam allocacionem habere faciemus. Teste me ipso apud Westmonasterium xvj die Aprilis anno regni nostri vndecimo. XIV. Return of Expenses of Simon Gaunstede (1410). Exchequer Accounts, Q.B., Bundle 251, No. 19. Particule compoti Simonis Gaunstede clerici custodis rotulorum Cancel- m. 3. larie Regis ac domus Conuersorum London' tarn de feodo suo duorum capel- London lanorum et vnius clerici quam de vadiis iiijor conuersorum in eadem domo existentium per breve Begis de magno sigillo suo datum ix? die Februarii anno ix? Thesaurario Baronibus et Camerariis de scaccario suo directum et irrotulatum in Memorandis inter brevia directa Thesaurario et Baronibus de termino sancti Hillarii eodem anno Botulo xjm0 Willelmi Pakepuys attornati ipsius Custodis sicut continetur in Memorandis inter attornatos de termino sancti Hillarii eodem anno ix? ex parte Rememoratoris Begis pro eo videlicet de huiusmodi feodis et vadiis a predicto primo die Iulii dicto anno viij? vsque ixm diem Februarii supradicto anno ix? scilicet per vnum annum vnum dimidium annum et xlj dies vt infra. Idem onerat se gratis de lxiijs. xd. ob. nomine restitucionis pro totis Recepta denariis sibi in compoto suo tarn de feodis ipsorum Custodis Capellanorum et denari Clerici quam de vadiis diuersorum conuersorum Domus predicte a tercio die orulu* Iunii anno tercio vsque xxvijm diem Octobris anno iiijt0 hie ad scaccarium reddito allocatis Rotulo iiij^ Rotulo compotorum videlicet pro vadiis Henrici Wodestok' vnius Conuersorum predictorum ad j denarium obolum per diem per idem tempus et eidem Henrico aut alicui attornato suo minime solutis siuc satisfactis eo quod idem Henricus versus patriam de qua veniebat per longum tempus elapsum retroiuit et adhuc non rediit nee aliquis attornatus suus ipsum fore superst?em iurare ausus est. Et de viijli. vijs. xd. ob. similiter nomine restitucionis pro totis denariis sibi in compoto suo de feodis et vadiis huiusmodi a predicto xxvij die Octo? bris anno iiijt0 vsque primum diem Iulii anno viij hic ad scaccarium similiter reddito allocatis Rotulo vij? Rotulo compotorum videlicet pro vadiis eiusdem</page><page sequence="54">68 HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Henrici ad j denarium obolum per diem per idem tempus eidem Henrico aut alicui alii attornato suo minime solutis siue satisfactis in forma supradicta. Summa Receptarum?xjli. xjs. ixd. De quibus. Feoda. Idem computat tarn in feodis ipsius Custodia ad xx marcas, duorum capellanorum vtriusque ad iiij libras, et vnius clerici ad ij marcas, per annum videlicet per predictum tempus huius compoti iuxta ratam feodorum predict orum per idem tempus?xxxvjli. xjs. jd. per predictum breve supra in titulo huius compoti annotatum necnon tarn per tenorem litterarum domini Edwardi filii Regis Henrici progenitoris Regis nunc datarum xvj? die Feb ruarii anno regni sui xxmo quam per tenorem litterarum patentium domini Edwardi nuper Regis Anglie proaui domini Regis nunc datarum xj? die Aprilis anno regni sui lj? ad prosecucionem predicti Custodis hie ad scacca rium missarum cuidam brevi de mittimus quod irrotulatur inter brevia directa Thesaurario et Baronibus de termino sancte Trinitatis anno viij? attachiatarum et in ligula brevium de termino et anno predictis vna cum brevi predicto remanentium et prout huiusmodi feodis eidem Custodi pro seipso Capellanis et Clerico predictis in compoto suo inde proximo precedente alias allocantur. Et in vadiis Martini filii Henrici Martyn ac Iohanne Conuerse et Alicie filie eiusdem Iohanne Conuersorum dorn us predicte dicti videlicet Martini ad j denarium obolum, et dictarum Iohanne et Alicie vtriusque ad j denarium XX per diem videlicet per tempus predictum per d iiij viij dies?viijli. xjs. vjd. per breve et tenores predicta et prout huiusmodi vadia eidem Custodi pro huiusmodi Conuersis in dicto compoto suo proximo precedente similiter allocantur. Et in vadiis Henrici Stratford Conuersi filii patris Regis similiter ad j denarium obolum per diem a xxix0 die Ianuarii anno tercio vsque supra 11 dictum ixm diem Februarii anno ix? scilicet per mm ccj dies?xiijli. xvs. jd. ob. per breve Regis de priuato sigillo suo datum xix? die Ianuarii eodem anno ix? prefato Custodi inde directum et penes has partieulas remanens. Summa vadiorum et feodorum predictorum?lviijli. xvijs. viijd. ob. Et habet superplusagium?xlvijli. vs. xjd. ob.</page><page sequence="55">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORTJM." 69 XV. Receipt of Robert of Hyndryngham on behalf of Peter and Martin, Sons of Henry of Woodstock (1422). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 20. Nouerint vniuersi per presentes me Robertum de Hyndryngham attor natum Henrici de Wodestok' ac eciam Martini et Petri filiorum suorum conuersorum domus conuersorum London' recepisse et habuisse die confec cionis presencium de domino Simone Gaunstede Custode domus predicte decem et octo libras, duodecim solidos, et tres denarios in persolucionem vadiorum ipsorum Martini et Petri vtriusque ad vnum denarium et obolum per diem a tercio die Iunii anno tercio Regis huius vsque ad primum diem Iulii anno octauo de quibus quidem decem et octo libris, duodecim solidis, et tribus denariis fateor me nomine dictorum Martini et Petri fore solutum dictumque Custodem inde acquietum per presentes sigillo meo signatas. Date xxviij die Iulii anno regni Begis Henrici quinti post conquestum nono. [Endorsed] Acquietancia Petri et Martini Conuersorum. [Seal attached.] XVI. Royal Order about Henry of Stratford, Godson of King Henry (1422). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 251, No. 20. Henri par la grace de dieu Roy dengleterre Heritier et Regent du Roiaume de Fraunce et Seignur Dirlande. A notre bien ame Clerc Simon Gamstede Gardein de la meson des Conuerses en notre Citee de Loundres saluz. Come nadgairs nous eussiens grantez a Henri de Stratford Conuers filiol a notre treschier seignur et pere le Roy qi dieux assoille vn denier et maille le iour aprendre pur terme de sa vie par les mains du Gardein de la susdite meson pur le temps esteant et sur ce le vynt et noesisme iour le Ianuer lan de notre regne tierz par noz autres lettres desouz notre priue seal vous donasmes en mandement de paier au dit Henri de Stratford de temps en temps les vn denier et maille iournalx susditz sicome en noz dites lettres contenuz estoit plus au plein : Volons et vous mandons que ce qest due et aderere a lauantdit Henri de Stratford des ditz vn denier et maille le iour du susdit vynt et noesisme iour de Ianuer aencea et ensi mesmes les vn denier et maille iournalz desore enauant de temps taucome vous servez ensi</page><page sequence="56">70 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." Gardein de la dite meson facez paier au dit Henri de Stratford selonc leffect et purport de noz lettres susdites : Receiuantz de lui pur chacun paiement que vous lui ensi ferrez ses lettres dacquitaunce tielles come seront en ce cas pur nous sufficeantes par queles et par cestes nous volons que vous aiez due allouance en laconte quel serrez tenur a noz vendre en celle partie. Donne souz notre priue seal a Westm' le xix iour de Ianuer Lan de notre regne noesisme. XVII. Return of Expenses of David William (1487). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 253, No. 5. London*. Particule compoti Magistri Dauid William Custodis Rotulorum librorum et Recordorum Cancellarie domini Regis ac domus sine Hospitalis Conuer sorum London' tarn pro feodis et vadiis duorum Capellanorum et vnius clerici dicte domui deseruiencium quam quinque Conuersorum domus predicte suhscriptorum per breve domini Regis nunc Henrici septimi de magno sigillo suo datum xiijmo die Februarii anno regni sui tercio Thesaurario et Baronibus de Scaccario suo ac Camerariis suis eiusdem directum et irrotulatum in Memorandis eiusdem, videlicet inter brevia directa Baronibus de Termino sancti Hillarii anno regni sui tercio Rotulo ix? ex parte Rememoratoris Regis, in quo quidem brevi inter cetera continetur quod dominus Edwardus nuper Rex Anglie quartus ixmo die Ianuarii anno regni sui xviij per litteras suas patentes, quas dominus Rex nunc Henricus Septimus xiijmo die Nouembris anno regni sui primo confirmauerit, constituerit [lsic.) dilectum clericum suum Magistrum Robertum Morton Costodem1 Rotulorum Cancellarie ipsius nuper Regis, aceciam dederit et concesserit eidem Roberto Custodiam1 siue Hospitalis predicte : ac dictus dominus Rex nunc intelligens quod duo Capellani et vnus clericus in eadem domo deseruientes necnon quidem Iohannes Seyt, Edwardus de Westm', Edwardus Beauchamp, lohannes Ferrando, et Henricus Vaghan domus predicte Conuersi a festo sancti Michaelis anno regni dicti domini Regis nunc secundo vsque xxijm diem Februarii tune proximo sequentem in eadem domo continue deseruierunt et degerunt, nulla vadia seu feoda de dicto domino Rege seu de eodem nuper Custode pro eodem tempore percipientes : prefatis Thesaurario et Baronibus mandauit quod cum nunc Custode siue eius in ea parte attornato pro vadiis et feodis tarn dictorum Capellanorum et vnius clerici dicte domui deseruien tium quam dictorum Iohannis, Ed wardi, Edwardi, Iohannis, et Henrici domus predicte Conuersorum, eodem modo quo cum Custode domus predicte pro tempore existente pro huiusmodi vadiis et feodis ante hec tempora computari eolebat, a predicto festo sancti Michaelis vsque dictum xxij diem Februarii</page><page sequence="57">HISTORY OF THE " DOM?S CONVERSORUM." 71 tune proximo sequentem eomputent et eidem nunc custodi talia vadia et feoda pro predictis Capellanis, clerico, Iohanne, Edwardo, Ed wardo, Iohanne, et Henrico qualia huiusmodi Custoqli pro tempore existente pro feodis et vadiis huiusmodi ad Scaccarium predictum ante hec tempora allocata fuerunt allocent ac prefato nunc Custodi id quod ei per compotum huiusmodi pro predictis Capellanis, clerico, et conuersis a predicto festo sancti Michaelis vsque dictum xxijm diem Februarii aretro fore et deberi prefati Thesaurarius et Camerarii de thesauro Regis soluant prout in eodem breve plenius continetur. Idem computat in feodis duorum Capellanorum vtriusque ad iiij libras Feoda et per annum, et vnius clerici ad ij marcas per annum, dicte domui conuersorum va(iia vt premittitur deseruiencium, videlicet a festo sancti Michaelis anno secundo dicti domini Regis nunc Henrici septimi vsque xxij diem Februarii extunc proximo sequentem scilicet per cxlvj dies?lxxiijs. qa per breve Regis pre? dictum supra in titulo litterarum particularum annotatum et prout huiusmodi feoda allocata fuerunt in compotis precedentibus. Et in vadiis supradictorum lohannis Seyt, Edwardi de Westm', Edwardi Beauchamp, lohannis Ferrando, et Henrici Vaghan, domus predicte Conuer? sorum, cuiuslibet eorum ad j denarium obolum per diem videlicet a predicto festo sancti Michaelis anno secundo Regis predicti extunc proximo sequentem scilicet per cxlvj dies?iiijli. xjs. iijd. per breve Regis predictum ac per quinque separales acquietancias ipsorumlohannis, Edwardi, Edwardi, lohannis, et Henrici recepcionem summe predicte separaliter testificantur et penes has particulas rem ant es. XVIII. Authority given by Thomas Cromwell to John Lambert to make the Return of his Expenses on his behalf (1534). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 254, No. 5. Thomas Crumwell' armiger Custos siue Magister Rotulorum librorum et Recordorum Cancellarie domini Regis ac Custos Domus siue Hospitalis Conuersorum pro habitacione sua pro custodia dictorum librorum Rotulorum et Recordorum ponit loco suo Iohannem lambert attornatum suum ad reddendum pro eo domino Regi Compotum de officio predicto videlicet a xxix die Ianuarii anno regni domini Regis nunc xxvto vsque xxixm diem lanuarii tune proximo sequentem. Et ad omnia alia dictum Compotum tangentia, etc.</page><page sequence="58">72 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." XIX. Return of Expenses of William Cordell (1570). Exchequer Accounts, Q.R., Bundle 255, No. 8. London. Particule Compoti Willelmi Cordell' militis Custodis siue Magistri Rotu lorum librorum breuium et Recordorum Cancellarie domine Elizabethe nunc Regine ac custodis domus siue Hospitalis conversorum pro habitancia custodis siue Magistri Rotulorum breuium et Recordorum predictorum per progeni tores suos quondam Reges Anglie ab antiquo ad vsum predictum disposite limitate et annexate vnacum omnibus edificiis, ortis, gardinis, et pomariis eidem domo quoquo modo debito pertinentibus : Quequidem domus siue hospitalis scituatur in quodam vico siue placea vocata Chauncerie lane in parochia sancti Dunstani in le west London : tarn pro vadiis ipsius custodis quam duorum Capellanorum et vnius clerici in dicta domo conversorum predictorum de seruientum per breve dicte nunc Regine sub magno sigillo suo patens datum xxxm0 die lanuarii anno regni sui maiestatis tertiodecimo Thesaurario et Baronibus huius Scaccarii ac Camerario eiusdem directum et Irrotulatum inter Memoranda huius Scaccarii de dicto anno xiijmo predicte nunc Eliza? bethe videlicet inter recorda de termino sancti Hillarii Rotulo ex parte Rememoratoris Regine remanencia. In quo quidem breve continetur quod cum nuper Rex Phillipus et Regina Maria per litteras suas patentes de gratia sua speciali ac ex certa scientia et mero motu suis Constituerunt per dilectum et fidelem seruientem suum Willelmum Cordell militem Custodem siue Magis trum Rotulorum librorum brevium et recordorum predictorum: Et vlterius Dederunt et Concesserunt eidem Willelmo Custodiam domus siue Hospitalis predicte pro habitancia Custodis Rotulorum et Recordorum suorum, prout eadem per progenitores suos quondam Reges Anglie ab antiquo vsu disposita limitata et annexata f uit, Habendum tenendum et occupandum eidem Willelmo officium Custodis siue Magistri Rotulorum librorum brevium et Recordorum predictorum per se vel per sufficientem deputatum suum siue deputatos suos pro termino vite sue cum omnibus iuribus et pertinenciis quibuscumque ad officium illud siue domum vel hospitalem predictam pertinentibus siue spec tantibus, percipiendo annuatim in dicto officio vadia et feoda Comoditata et emolumenta ac proficua quecumque eidem officio debita et consueta, modo et forma prout aliqui alii Custodes siue aliquis Custos siue Magister dictorum Rotulorum librorum et Recordorum predictorum ac domus siue hosjDitalis (l sic.) predicte huiusmodi vadia feoda et cetera premissa ante hec tempore1 percipere consuerunt seu eorum aliquis consuevit: Et cum prefatus Custos siue eius in hac parte attornatus ante hec tempora Computare solebat pro vadiis et feodis (2 sic.) tarn ipsius Custodis quam duorum capellanorum vnius clerici in dicto domo, pro tempore existentum deseruientum, predicta nunc Regina Elizabetha per</page><page sequence="59">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 73 dictum breve suum mandauit eidem Thesaurario Baronibus et Camerario Scaccarii predicti quod computarent et allocarent eidem custodi talia vadia pro seipsis capellanis et clerico predictis qualia huiusmodi custodi pro tempore existenti pro vadiis et feodis huiusmodi ad Scaccarium predictum ante hec tempora allocata fuerint. Et quod lidem Thesaurarius et Camerarius de Thesauro eiusdem Regine soluant predicto Custodi id quod ei per compotum huiusmodi pro seipsis capellanis et clerico predictis invenerint areti o et debere a xxix? die mensis Ianuarii tune vltimo preterito anno regni eiusdem nunc Regine Duodecimo vsque eundem xxixm diem Ianuarii anno Tertiodecimo Regni predicti plenius continetur tarn in supradicto breue predictorum nuper Regis Philippi et Regine Marie quam in predicto breve dicte nuper Regine Elizabethe datum ut prefertur xxx die Ianuarii anno regni sui xiijtio dictis Thesaurario Baronibus et Camerario huius Scaccarii directum et Irrotulatum inter Memoranda eiusdem Scaccarii de termino sancti Hillarii anno xiijtio supradicto nunc Regine Elizabethe ex parte Rememoratoris Regine, videlicet, Computation per Willelmum Pratt attornatum suum a predicto xxix0 die Ianuarii anno regni predicte domine Elizabethe dei gratia Anglie Frauncie et Hibernie Regine fidei defensoris etc duodecimo vsque eundem xxix diem Ianuarii extunc proximo sequentem anno regni eiusdem nunc Regine. Tertio decimo scilicet per vnum annum integrum sicut continetur inter billas attor natorum de dicto termino sancti Hillarii anno terciodecimo predicto ex parte Rememoratoris Regine videlicet pro huiusmodi feodis custodis capellanorum et clerici predictorum. Idem computat in xxijli. xiijs. iiijd. pro feodis predictis, videlicet pro Feoda et feodo dicti custodis ad xiijli. vjs. viijd. per annum pro vadiis duorum capel- va(iia lanorum predictorum vtriusque eorum ad iiijli. per annum et vnius clerici ad xxvjs. viijd. per annum in dicta domo vt prefertur deseruientum videlicet a supradicto xxix0 die Ianuarii anno regni dicte nunc Regine duodecimo vsque eundem xxix diem Ianuarii anno regni dicte nunc Regine Tertiodecimo Scilicet per vnum annum integrum per breve predictum supra in titulo huius Com poti annotatum ac prout huiusmodi feoda et vadia allocata fuerunt dicto custodi domus predicte in anno proximo precedente ac diuersis aliis custodibus domus predicte in diuersis Compotis precedentibus. Summa feodorum et vadiorum predictorum?xxijli. xiijs. iiijd. XX. Petition of Paul Jacob to King James "I. The petition runs as follows :?"Dread Sir,?It is a wonder, if not a miracle, to see a son of Abraham, a child of that great King, owne your Majestie to be his natural soveraigne. To confess that the scepter is departed</page><page sequence="60">74 HISTORY OF THE "DOMUS CONVERSORUM." from Judah, the most obstinate of my brethren are compelled to doe, but that it is rightly devolved into your hands, is their stumbling-block, but my faith. For if onely true believers be the genuine children of Abraham, and you onely are that King of the true believers, it is a consequense undeniable, that you onely are the true King of the Jews, true successor and heir, in a mistery, of that King whose faith you defend, who was?though crucified ? the sonne of David, the heir of Abraham. And now, royall Sir, having insinuated my title unto your favour, being both your child and your subject, I beg your Majestie, not to cast me out as an Ishmalite?being by the faith embraced become your truly sonne Isaack?but allow me, amongst the rest of your loyall children, a small portion to refresh me and my family in our great necessities, and your poor Jew (converted by the pious industry of your most loyall and affectionate subject, George, Lord Bishop of Londonderry, in Ireland), shall ever pray," etc. XXI. Complete List of Inmates of the Domus from 1330 (the. First Record after the Expulsion). 1. Walter of Nottingham. 1330-1336 2. Richard, son of Claricia of Exeter. 1337-1350 3. Katherine, daughter of Claricia of Exeter .... 1337-? 4. John, son of Edward St. John.1337 5. William, son of Edward St. John.1337 Edward of Brussels.? (see p. 29) 1339 Janato of Spain . . . . . . ? (see p. 30) 1345 John of St. Paul ...... ? (see p. 30) 1345 6. William of Leicester.1350 7. John of Hatfield.1350 8. John of Castile. 1356-? 9. John de Sancte Marie of Spain. 1371-1405 10. Laurentius de Saint Martin.about 1375 11. John of Kingston.about 1375 12. Thomas of Acres ........ about 1375 13. Edmund.about 1375 14. Peter.about 1375 William Piers.? (see p. 31) 1382 15. Aseti Briarti of France. 1386-1393 16. Perota, his wife. 1386-1393 17. Thomas Levyn of Spain.1393 18. Elizabeth, the daughter of Rabbi Moses, Episcopus Judae orum. 1399-1416 19. William of Leicester ..1401-1417</page><page sequence="61">HISTORY OF THE " DOMUS CONVERSORUM." 75 20. Johanna of Dartmouth. 1409-1449 21. Alice, her daughter. 1409-1454 22. William of St. Jacques. 1409-1416 23. Henry of Woodstock. 1413-1416 24. Martin, his son. 1413-1468 25. Peter, his son. 1413-1416 26. Henry of Stratford. 1416-1441 27. John Durdraght. 1425-1455 28. Alver Oliver. 1438-1446 29. John Seyt. 1448-1488 30. Henry of Eton. 1450-1453 31. Edward of Westminster . . . (absent three years) 1461-1503 32. Edward Brandon. 1468-1472 33. Edward Beauchamp. 1482-1487 34. John Fernando. 1487-1503 35. Henry Vaughan. 1487-1488 36. Henry of Windsor. 1488-1509 37. Edward Brampton. 1488 38. Elizabeth Portingale. 1492-1538 39. Edward Scales ......... 1503-1527 40. Elizabeth Baptista. 1504-1532 41. Katherine Wheteley (formerly Aysa Pudewya) . . . 1532-1548 42. Mary Cook (formerly Omell Faitt Isya) .... 1532-1551 43. Nathaniel Menda (formerly Jehooda Menda) . . . 1578-1608 44. Fortunati Massa (formerly Cooba Massa) .... 1581-1598 45. Philip Ferdinandus. 1598-1600 46. Elizabeth Furdinando. 1603-? 47. Arthur Antoe. 1605-? 48. Jacob Wolfgang. 1606-? Total: Thirty-eight men and ten women, besides four men whose residence in the Domus is doubtful.</page></plain_text>