The Priory and Church of St. Bartholomew by Esther Singleton

CHARLES KNIGHT

Of all the persons whom the mighty business of providing sustenance for / the population of London leads among the pens, and crowds, and filth / of the great Metropolitan beast-market -- of all those whom pleasure / attracts to the gingerbread and shows, and gong-resounding din of the / great Fair -- or, lastly, of all those whom chance, or a dim remembrance / of the popular memories of the place, its burnings, tournaments, etc., / or any other motive, brings into Smithfield -- we wonder how many, as / they pass the south-western corner of the area, look through the / ancient gateway which leads up to the still more ancient church of St. / Bartholomew, with a kindly remembrance of the man (whose ashes there / repose) from whom these, and most of the other interesting features and / recollections of Smithfield, are directly or indirectly derived? We / fear very few. Time has wrought strange changes in the scene around; / and it is not at all surprising that we should forget what has ceased / to be readily visible. Who could suppose, from a mere hasty glance at / the comparatively mean-looking brick tower, and the narrow restricted / site of St. Bartholomew, that that very edifice was once the centre / only, of the splendid church of a splendid monastery -- a church which / extended its spacious transepts on either side, and sent up a noble / tower high up into the air, to overlook, and, as it were, to guard, the / stately halls, far-extending cloisters, and delightful gardens that / surrounded the sacred edifice? Or, again, who would suspect that the / site of this extensive establishment (now in a great measure covered / with houses), and most probably the entire space of Smithfield, was, / prior to the foundation of the former, nothing but a marsh "dunge and / fenny," with the exception of a solitary spot of dry land, occupied / by the travellers' token of civilization, a gallows? Yet such are the / changes that have taken place, and for all that is valuable in them our / gratitude is due to the one man to whom we have referred -- Rahere.

The history of the Priory is indeed the history of this singular / individual; and, by a fortunate coincidence, the historical materials / we possess are as ample as they are important. Among the manuscripts of / the British Museum is one entirely devoted to the life, character, and / doings of Rahere, written evidently shortly after his death by a monk / of the establishment, and which, for the details it also gives of the / circumstances attending the establishment of a great religious house / in the Twelfth Century, its glimpses into the manners and customs, / the modes of thought and feeling of the time -- and, above all, for its / marked superiority of style to the writings that then generally issued / from the cloister -- forms one of the most extraordinary, as it certainly / is one of the most interesting, of monastical documents.

Rahere, it appears, was a "man sprung and born from low _kynage_: / when he attained the flower of youth, he began to haunt the households / of noblemen and the palaces of princes; where under every elbow of / them, he spread their cushions with japes and flatterings, delectably / anointing their eyes, by this manner to draw to him their friendships. / And he still was not content with this, but often haunted the King's / palace, and among the noiseful press of that tumultuous court informed / himself with polity and cardinal suavity, by the which he might draw / to him the hearts of many a one. There in spectacles, in meetings, / in plays, and other courtly mockeries and trifles intruding, he / led forth the business of all the day. This wise to the King and / great men, gentle and courteous known, familiar and fellowly he / was. " The King here referred to is Henry I. Stow says Rahere was / "a pleasant-witted gentleman; and therefore in his time called the / _king's minstrel_."

To continue: "This manner of living he chose / in his beginning, and in this excused his youth. But the _inward / Seer_ and merciful God of all, the which out of Mary Magdalen cast / out seven fiends, the which to the Fisher gave the Keys of Heaven, / mercifully converted this man from the error of his way, and added to / him so many gifts of virtue. " Foremost in repentance as he had been in / sin, Rahere now "decreed himself to go to the court of Rome, coveting / in so great a labour to do the works of penance. And while he tarried / there, in that meanwhile, he began to be vexed with grievous sickness; / and his dolours little and little taking their increase, he drew to the / extreme of life. He avowed that if health God would him grant, that he / might return to his country, he would make an hospital in recreation / of poor men, and to them there so gathered, necessaries minister after / his power. " And not long after the benign and merciful Lord beheld this / weeping man, gave him his health, approved his vow.