Next to Cheape ward, on the north side thereof, is Coleman street ward, and beginneth also in the east, on the course of Walbrook in Lothbury, and runneth west on the south side to the end of Ironmongers’ lane, and on the north side to the west corner of Bassinges hall street.

On the south side of Lothbury is the street called the Old Jury; the one half, and better on both sides, towards Cheape, is of this ward. On the north side lieth Coleman street, whereof the ward taketh name, wholly on both sides north to London wall, and from that north end along by the wall, and Moregate east, to the course of Walbrook; and again from Coleman street west to the iron grates: and these be the bounds of this ward.

Antiquities to be noted therein are these: First, the street of Lothberie, Lathberie, or Loadberie (for by all these names have I read it), took the name (as it seemeth) of berie, or court of old time there kept, but by whom is grown out of memory. This street is possessed for the most part by founders, that cast candlesticks, chafing-dishes, spice mortars, and such like copper or laton works, and do afterward turn them with the foot, and not with the wheel, to make them smooth and bright with turning and scrating (as some do term it), making a loathsome noise to the by-passers that have not been used to the like, and therefore by them disdainfully called Lothberie.

On the south side of this street, amongst the founders, be some fair houses and large for merchants, namely, one that of old time was the Jews’ synagogue, which was defaced by the citizens of London, after that they had slain seven hundred Jews, and spoiled the residue of their goods, in the year 1262, the 47th of Henry III. And not long after, in the year 1291, King Edward I. banished the remnant of the Jews out of England, as is afore showed. The said synagogue being so suppressed, certain friars got possession thereof; “for in the year 1257,” saith Mathew Paris, “there were seen in London a new order of friars, called De Poenitentia Jesu, or Fratres de Sacca, because they were apparelled in sackcloth, who had their house in London, near unto Aldersgate without the gate, and had license of Henry III., in the 54th of his reign, to remove from thence to any other place; and in the 56th he gave unto them this Jews’ synagogue; after which time, Elianor the queen, wife to Edward I., took into her protection, and warranted unto the prior and brethren De Penitentia Jesu Christi of London, the said land and building in Colechurch street, in the parish of St. Olave in the Jury, and St. Margaret in Lothbery, by her granted, with consent of Stephen de Fulbourne, under-warden of the Bridge-house, and other brethren of that house, for sixty marks of silver, which they had received of the said prior and brethren of repentance, to the building of the said bridge.” This order of friars gathered many good scholars, and multiplied in number exceedingly, until the council at Lyons, by the which it was decreed, that from that time forth there should be no more orders of begging friars permitted, but only the four orders; to wit, the Dominicke, or preachers, the Minorites, or grey friars, the Carmelites, or white friars, and the Augustines: and so from that time the begging friars deceased, and fell to nothing.

Now it followed, that in the year 1305, Robert Fitzwalter requested and obtained of the said King Edward I., that the same friars of the Sacke might assign to the said Robert their chapel or church, of old time called the Synagogue of the Jews, near adjoining to the then mansion place of the same Robert, which was in place where now standeth the Grocers’ hall; and the said Synagogue was at the north corner of the Old Jury. Robert Large, mercer, mayor in the year 1439, kept his mayoralty in this house, and dwelt there until his dying day. This house standeth, and is of two parishes, as opening into Lothberie, of St. Margaret’s parish, and opening into the Old Jury of St. Olave’s parish. The said Robert Large gave liberally to both these parishes, but was buried at St. Olave’s. Hugh Clopton, mercer, mayor 1492, dwelt in this house, and kept his mayoralty there: it is now a tavern, and hath to sign a windmill. And thus much for this house, sometime the Jews’ synagogue, since a house of friars, then a nobleman’s house, after that a merchant’s house, wherein mayoralties have been kept, and now a wine tavern.

Then is the Old Jurie, a street so called of Jews sometime dwelling there, and near adjoining, in the parishes of St. Olave, St. Michael Basings hall, St. Martin Ironmonger lane, St. Lawrence, called the Jury, and so west to Wood street. William, Duke of Normandy, first brought them from Rouen to inhabit here.

William Rufus favoured them so far, that he sware by Luke’s face, his common oath, if they could overcome the Christians, he would be one of their sect.

Henry II. grievously punished them for corrupting his coin.

Richard I. forbad Jews and women to be present at his coronation, for fear of enchantments; for breaking of which commandment many Jews were slain, who being assembled to present the king with some gift, one of them was stricken by a Christian, which some unruly people perceiving, fell upon them, beat them to their houses, and burnt them therein, or slew them at their coming out. Also the Jews at Norwich, St. Edmondsbury, Lincoln, Stamford, and Lynne, were robbed and spoiled; and at York, to the number of five hundred, besides women and children, entered a tower of the castle, proffered money to be in surety of their lives, but the Christians would not take it, whereupon they cut the throats of their wives and children, and cast them over the walls on the Christians’ heads, and then entering the king’s lodging, they burnt both the house and themselves.

King John, in the 11th of his reign, commanded all the Jews, both men and women, to be imprisoned and grievously punished, because he would have all their money: some of them gave all they had, and promised more, to escape so many kinds of torments, for every one of them had one of their eyes at the least plucked out; amongst whom there was one, which being tormented many ways, would not ransom himself, till the king had caused every day one of his great teeth to be plucked out by the space of seven days, and then gave the king ten thousand marks of silver, to the end they should pull out no more: the said king at that time spoiled the Jews of sixty-six thousand marks.

The 17th of this king, the barons brake into the Jews’ houses, rifled their coffers, and with the stone of their houses repaired the gates and walls of London.

King Henry III., in the 11th of his reign, granted to Semayne, or Balaster, the house of Benonye Mittun the Jew, in the parish of St. Michael Bassinghaughe, in which the said Benonye dwelt, with the fourth part of all his land, in that parish which William Elie held of the fee of Hugh Nevell, and all the land in Coleman street belonging to the said Benonye, and the fourth part of the land in the parish of St. Lawrence, which was the fee of T. Buckerell, and were escheated to the king for the murder which the said Benonye committed in the city of London, to hold to the said Semaine, and his heirs, of the king, paying at Easter a pair of gilt spurs, and to do the service thereof due unto the lord’s court. In like manner, and for like services, the king granted to Guso for his homage the other part of the lands of the said Bononye in St. Michael’s parish, which lands that Paynter held, and was the king’s escheat, and the lands of the said Bononye in the said parish, which Waltar Turnar held, and fifteen feet of land, which Hugh Harman held, with fifteen iron ells of land, and half in the front of Ironmonger lane, in the parish of St. Martin, which were the said Bononies of the fee of the hospital of St. Giles, and which Adam the smith held, with two stone-houses, which were Moses’, the Jew of Canterbury, in the parish of St. Olave, and which are of the fee of Arnold le Reus, and are the king’s escheats as before said.

The 16th of the said Henry, the Jews in London built a synagogue, but the king commanded it should be dedicated to our Blessed Lady, and after gave it to the brethren of St. Anthonie of Vienna, and so was it called St. Anthonie’s hospital: this Henry founded a church and house for converted Jews in New street, by the Temple, whereby it came to pass that in short time there was gathered a great number of converts. The 20th of this Henry, seven Jews were brought from Norwich, which had stolen a christened child, had circumcised, and minded to have crucified him at Easter, wherefore their bodies and goods were at the king’s pleasure: the 26th, the Jews were constrained to pay to the king twenty thousand marks, at two terms in the year, or else to be kept in perpetual prison: the 35th, he taketh inestimable sums of money of all rich men, namely, of Aaron, a Jew, born at York, fourteen thousand marks for himself and ten thousand marks for the queen; and before he had taken of the same Jew as much as in all amounted to thirty thousand marks of silver, and two hundred marks of gold to the queen: in the 40th, were brought up to Westminster two hundred and two Jews from Lincoln, for crucifying of a child named Hugh; eighteen of them were hanged: the 43rd, a Jew at Tewkesbery fell into a privy on the Saturday, and would not that day be taken out for reverence of his Sabbath; wherefore Richard Clare, Earl of Gloucester, kept him there till Monday, that he was dead: the 47th, the barons slew the Jews at London seven hundred; the rest were spoiled, and their synagogue defaced, because one Jew would have forced a Christian to have paid more than two pence for the loan of twenty shillings a week.

The 3rd of Edward I., in a parliament at London, usury was forbidden to the Jews; and that all usurers might be known, the king commanded that every usurer should wear a table on his breast, the breadth of a paveline, or else to avoid the realm. The 6th of the said King Edward a reformation was made for clipping of the king’s coin, for which offence two hundred and sixty-seven Jews were drawn and hanged; three were English Christians, and other were English Jews: the same year the Jews crucified a child at Northampton, for the which fact many Jews at London were drawn at horse-tails and hanged. The 11th of Edward I., John Perkham, Archbishop of Canterbury, commanded the Bishop of London to destroy all the Jews’ synagogues in his diocese. The 16th of the said Edward, all the Jews in England were in one day apprehended by precept from the king, but they redeemed themselves for twelve thousand pounds of silver; notwithstanding, in the 19th of his reign, he banished them all out of England, giving them only to bear their charge, till they were out of his realm: the number of Jews then expulsed were fifteen thousand and sixty persons. The king made a mighty mass of money of their houses, which he sold, and yet the commons of England had granted and gave him a fifteenth of all their goods to banish them: and thus much for the Jews.

In this said street, called the Old Jury, is a proper parish church of St. Olave Upwell, so called in record, 1320. John Brian, parson of St. Olave Upwell, in the Jury, founded there a chantry, and gave two messuages to that parish, the 16th of Edward II., and was by the said king confirmed. In this church,[211] to the commendation of the parsons and parishioners, the monuments of the dead remain less defaced than in many other: first, of William Dikman, fereno or ironmonger, one of the sheriffs of London 1367; Robert Haveloke, ironmonger, 1390; John Organ, mercer, one of the sheriffs 1385; John Forest, vicar of St. Olave’s, and of St. Stephen, at that time as a chapel annexed to St. Olave, 1399; H. Friole, tailor, 1400; T. Morsted, esquire, chirurgeon to Henry IV., V., and VI., one of the sheriffs, 1436: he built a fair new aisle to the enlargement of this church, on the north side thereof, wherein he lieth buried, 1450; Adam Breakspeare, chaplain, 1411; William Kerkbie, mercer, 1465; Robert Large, mercer, mayor 1440; he gave to that church two hundred pounds; John Belwine, founder, 1467; Gabriel Rave, fuller, 1511; Wentworth, esquire, 1510; Thomas Michell, ironmonger, 1527; Giles Dewes, servant to Henry VII. and to Henry VIII., clerk of their libraries, and schoolmaster for the French tongue to Prince Arthur and to the Lady Mary, 1535; Richard Chamberlaine, ironmonger, one of the sheriffs, 1562; Edmond Burlacy, mercer, 1583; John Brian, etc.

From this parish church of St. Olave, to the north end of the Old Jewry, and from thence west to the north end of Ironmongers’ lane, and from the said corner into Ironmongers’ lane, almost to the parish church of St. Martin, was of old time one large building of stone, very ancient, made in place of Jews’ houses, but of what antiquity, or by whom the same was built, or for what use, I have not learnt, more than that King Henry VI., in the 16th of his reign, gave the office of being porter or keeper thereof unto John Stent for term of his life, by the name of his principal palace in the Old Jury: this was in my youth called the old Wardrobe, but of later time the outward stone wall hath been by little and little taken down, and divers fair houses built thereupon, even round about.

Now for the north side of this Lothburie, beginning again at the east end thereof, upon the water-course of Walbrooke, have ye a proper parish church called St. Margaret, which seemeth to be newly re-edified and built about the year 1440; for Robert Large gave to the choir of that church one hundred shillings and twenty pounds for ornaments; more, to the vaulting over the water-course of Walbrook by the said church, for the enlarging thereof two hundred marks.

There be monuments in this church,—of Reginald Coleman, son to Robert Coleman, buried there 1483: this said Robert Coleman may be supposed the first builder or owner of Coleman street, and that St. Stephen’s church, then built in Coleman street, was but a chapel belonging to the parish church of St. Olave in the Jury; for we read (as afore) that John Forest, vicar of St. Olave’s, and of the chapel annexed of St. Stephen, deceased in the year 1399.[212] Hugh Clopton, mercer, mayor, deceased 1496; John Dimocke, Anselme Becker, John Julian, and William Ilford, chantries there; Sir Brian Tewke, knight, treasurer of the chamber to King Henry VIII., and Dame Grisilde his wife, that deceased after him, were there buried 1536; John Fetiplace, draper, esquire, 1464, and Joan his wife; Sir Hugh Witch, mercer, mayor, son to Richard Witch, entombed there 1466: he gave to his third wife three thousand pounds, and to maids’ marriages five hundred marks; Sir John Leigh, 1564, with this epitaph:

By the west end of this parish church have ye a fair water conduit, built at the charges of the city in the year 1546. Sir Martin Bowes being mayor, two fifteens were levied of the citizens toward the charges thereof. This water is conveyed in great abundance from divers springs lying betwixt Hoxton and Iseldon.

Next is the Founders’ hall, a proper house, and so to the south-west corner of Bassinges hall street, have ye fair and large houses for merchants; namely, the corner house at the end of Bassinges hall street; an old piece of work, built of stone, sometime belonging to a certain Jew named Mansere, the son of Aaron, the son of Coke the Jew, the 7th of Edward I.; since to Rahere de Sopar’s lane, then to Simon Francis. Thomas Bradbery, mercer, kept his mayoralty there; deceased 1509. Part of this house hath been lately employed as a market-house for the sale of woollen bays, watmols, flannels, and such like. Alderman Bennet now possesseth it.

On this north side against the Old Jury is Coleman street, so called of Coleman, the first builder and owner thereof; as also of Colechurch, or Coleman church, against the great conduit in Cheape. This is a fair and large street, on both sides built with divers fair houses, besides alleys, with small tenements in great number. On the east side of this street, almost at the north end thereof, is the Armourers’ hall, which company of armourers were made a fraternity or guild of St George, with a chantry in the chapel of St. Thomas in Paule’s church, in the 1st of Henry VI. Also on the same side is King’s alley and Love lane, both containing many tenements; and on the west side, towards the south end, is the parish church of St. Stephen, wherein the monuments are defaced: notwithstanding, I find that William Crayhag founded a chantry there in the reign of Edward II., and was buried there:[213] also John Essex, the 35th of Edward III.; Adam Goodman, the 37th of Edward III.; William King, draper, sometime owner of King’s alley, the 18th of Richard II.; John Stokeling, the 10th of Henry VI.; John Arnold, leather-seller, the 17th of Henry VI.; Thomas Bradberie, mercer, mayor, the 1st of Henry VIII.; his tomb remaineth on the north side the choir; Richard Hamney, 1418; Kirnigham, 1468; Sir John Garme; Richard Colsel; Edmond Harbeke, currier; all these were benefactors, and buried there. This church was sometime a synagogue of the Jews, then a parish church, then a chapel to St. Olave’s in the Jury, until the 7th of Edward IV., and was then incorporated a parish church.

By the east end of this church is placed a cock of sweet water, taken of the main pipe that goeth into Lothberie. Also in London wall, directly against the north end of Coleman street, is a conduit of water, made at the charges of Thomas Exmew, goldsmith, mayor 1517. And let here be the end of this ward, which hath an alderman, his deputy, common councillors four, constables four, scavengers four, of the wardmote inquest thirteen, and a beadle. It is taxed to the fifteen at £15 16s. 9d.[214]